Tuesday, 1 September 2009

Today's top ConservativeHome features

DRAFTSPEECH ToryDiary: Draft #1 of a speech for David Cameron to give at the Party Conference

JeremyHunt Jeremy Hunt MP on Platform: Sport is a powerful part of national identity and pride

Seats and Candidates Diary of a PPC: Julia Mulligan's week in Leeds North West includes lots of campaigning, a night of ten pin bowling and lunch with Jonathan Isaby...

Local Government: Why do only 0.7% of Looked After Children go to university?

Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: One hundred reasons why Ireland should say "No" (again) to Lisbon

LISTEN:

WATCH: Channel 4 News gets exclusive footage of the Lockerbie bomber in hospital in Libya

Highlights from the Bank Holiday Weekend

Weekend Highlights Frank Field MP writes exclusively for ConservativeHome about how British history should be taught in schools

William Hague remains top of members' Shadow Cabinet league table

Tory lead increases to 17% in Ipsos-Mori poll - as Labour fails to gain from a boost in economic confidence...

...and the latest YouGov poll also suggests that economic recovery won't rescue Labour

Should David Cameron announce tax rises before the general election?

David Davis is just one of the big beasts needed on the Tory frontbench

One in three Tory candidates is reportedly a "political insider"

Shane Frith: Can we get over this myth that the NHS is the envy of the world?

Ridley Grove praises the tax-cutting and politically incorrect Mayor of Doncaster

ConservativeHome's fringe schedule for Manchester is announced
Today's other newslinks

CAMERON IN CLASSROOM David Cameron describes the release of the Lockerbie bomber as a "fiasco" and a series of failures of judgment

"The first failure was the decision by Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, to release al-Megrahi on “compassionate grounds”... The second misjudgment was Gordon Brown’s failure to speak up clearly and promptly... And the third failure of judgment is emerging. From the outset the British Government has maintained that the decision was a “devolved matter”... But letters leaked to The Sunday Times show that Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, wrote to Mr MacAskill in December 2007 to suggest that it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” not to exclude al-Megrahi from the terms of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement between Libya and the UK... Whatever the circumstances, the British Government showed a failure of judgment by even suggesting that the release or transfer of al-Megrahi was an option." - David Cameron writing in The Times

"The Scottish Government is due to publish documents it says justify the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds." - BBC

> Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister David Lidington wrote yesterday on CentreRight: The British people deserve to be told the truth on Megrahi

> Friday's ToryDiary: David Cameron accuses Gordon Brown of "hiding behind the cloak of constitutional convention" over his refusal to voice an opinion on the release of the Lockerbie bomber

SHAPPS GRANT We won’t ignore inner-cities like the 1980s say Tories

"The Conservatives will today pledge to tackle the problems of inner-city tensions that led to riots when the party previously entered government at the height of an economic crisis with high unemployment. Fears about a “lost generation” of young unemployed, crime and the failure of Labour to tackle issues such as adequate social housing have led the Conservatives to commit to plans to give power back to local communities. But Grant Shapps, the shadow housing minister, in a speech today will admit that previous Tory governments have not properly grasped the issues that led to inner-city deprivation." - Daily Telegraph

Grayling accuses Government over its record on violent crime...

"More than half of violent crimes went unsolved last year, the lowest since records began, figures show... Police solved only 47 per cent of 903,993 violent attacks, compared to 77 per cent as recently as 1996, the year before Labour came to power... Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: 'Anyone who claims that we don't have a problem with violence in Britain is just putting their head in the sand. And the trouble is that more and more people are just getting away with it under this Government'." - Daily Mail

...and failure to get to grips with crime committed by foreign nationals

"A fifth of manslaughters or murders in the UK are committed by foreigners... Shock statistics show 79 (21%) of the 371 people accused or convicted of violent crimes last year were from other countries... Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: “The Government seems to have completely failed to get to grips with foreign nationals’ crime in the UK.” - Daily Star

Picture 11 Anne Robinson: The Tories wanted me to stand as London Mayor

"The television presenter Anne Robinson was approached by the Conservative Party to stand for them as London Mayor but turned down the offer, she reveals today in an interview in The Independent... "I don't think I've ever revealed this, but, before the Tories asked Boris to be their candidate for mayor of London, they asked me if I'd stand," Ms Robinson said. "Steve Hilton and I were walking on holiday in Switzerland and he asked if I'd consider it." - The Independent

Tories dismiss "Booze Asbos" as a gimmick

"Under powers available to courts from today, offenders responsible for alcohol-fuelled crime or anti-social behaviour can be subjected to a Drinking Banning Order... But the high-profile announcement was met with derision, as opposition critics pointed out that ministers have waited more than three years to bring the orders into force since passing the necessary legislation. Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Brokenshire claimed they were 'yet another headline-grabbing gimmick'." - Daily Mail

Alan Duncan sees his popularity plummet over rations remark - The Herald

> Sunday's ToryDiary: Support for Alan Duncan sinks still further

Oxford University tells OUCA: Don't use our name

"Oxford University has banned its students' Conservative Association from using its name after a race row. The university has severed all links with the Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) and ordered it to change its name." - Daily Mail

Sarah Wollaston Totnes PPC Sarah Wollaston "is still much more GP than MP"

"The Conservatives' new prospective parliamentary candidate for Totnes, Dr Sarah Wollaston, is still much more GP than MP. She has a soothing manner and wide, patient eyes with just the right dash of no-nonsense and NHS bossiness. David Cameron must be praying fervently for more political ingĂ©nues – the ordinary women and men he has encouraged to stand for the Conservative Party at the next election – with her warmth and electability." - Sarah Wollaston interviewed in the Daily Telegraph

City braces for Tories’ new financial crime force

"A new agency with beefed-up powers to tackle fraud and other financial crime could be created within the first year of a Conservative government, City lawyers believe." - The Times

Brown pledges bonus clampdown - FT

Philip Stephens: Cut the banks (and bonuses) down to size - FT

Sathnam Sanghera: I can read David Cameron like an open, leather-bound book - The Times

Chairman of Lords Appointments Commission warns party leaders over peerages for expenses scandal MPs - Daily Mail

Picture 10 Liam Fox's "shuttle diplomacy" lauded in the Sir Lankan press

"He already has the distinction of being the only western politician to be warmly welcomed in Sri Lanka by three consecutive governments – Chandrika Kumaratunga’s, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s and now Mahinda Rajapaksa’s – with equal warmth. This is indeed a feat, given the kaleidoscopic leadership styles and political ideologies of the three national leaders. Mr. Fox perhaps bagged an equally big achievement over the weekend, by getting TNA leader R. Sampanthan to say that he was willing to co-operate with President Mahinda Rajapaksa to ‘resolve the national issue’." - Sri Lanka Daily Miirror