ToryDiary: A very good week for the Conservatives
Steve Rathbone on Platform: This proud Tebbitite is rallying round David Cameron - and so must others if Britain's shocking decline is to be reversed
Local government: Tories propose any Town Hall salary over £150,000 must be approved by full council meeting
Natalie Elphicke on LeftWatch: The Unions are not fighting "The Bosses", they have become The Bosses
Parliament: Sir Patrick Cormack MP delivers his final speech as an MP
"I would say to the fourth estate, which sometimes seems hell-bent on destroying the other three, that the House of Commons is the ultimate defender of all our liberties."
WATCH: Statistics Authority rebukes Gordon Brown for using misleading statistics on immigration
Tories 6%, 10% and 12% ahead in last night's polls - Yesterday evening's ToryDiary
Cameron: 'People are gagging for change'
Cameron attacks America's refusal to back Britain over the Falklands - Daily Mail
Business leaders back Conservative tax pledge
"Bosses of some of the UK's biggest firms have backed Conservative plans to scrap part of a planned National Insurance rise if they win power. The 23 top executives, including the bosses of Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's and Next, welcomed the Tory pledge in a letter to the Daily Telegraph." - BBC
David Cameron's big idea is a big society
The Tories' plan for society is truly radical - Benedict Brogan in the Telegraph
"Yesterday Mr Cameron and his team of Shadow ministers launched the Big Society, their attempt to describe that future in more detail. The unmistakable allusion to the Great Society programme of President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s is misleading. Johnson expanded US welfare provision and the role of the state dramatically. Mr Cameron’s Big Society, by contrast, aims to devolve power from the State to civil society, and especially to voluntary associations." - Times leader
"[Cameron's] enthusiasm for a strong society is not actually shared by his party's more ideologically Thatcherite members, large numbers of whom still see cutting the state as a virtue in itself and are not overly fussed about the social consequences. These free marketeers are likely to see the Big Society's community initiatives as a waste of time and money." - Guardian leader
"Britain’s 500,000 civil servants will be expected to undertake regular community service under plans outlined on Wednesday by David Cameron, the Conservative leader, to build a “big society” in place of big government. The Tories also plan to train “a national army” of 5,000 community organisers to help local neighbourhoods tackle social problems, with the organisers then raising funds to pay their own salaries and get projects going." - FT
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: David Cameron promises "neighbourhood army" of 5,000 full-time community organisers
Telegraph: Cameron must discuss immigration
"Voters are ready for a mature debate, yet David Cameron has denied them one for fear of reviving accusations that the party is somehow racist. There is no time to waste. At current rates our population will rise by four million over the next decade." - Telegraph leader
"[Tories] should stress that some immigration since 1997 has benefited the British economy, but the sheer uncontrolled enormity of the process has disquieted many people, including immigrants of longer standing.
In some cases indigenous workers have been priced out of the jobs market, in others encouraged to remain on the dole as immigrants have filled low-paid jobs. The Conservatives must not be frightened of saying as much, and no one with half a brain in his head will take seriously any allegations of racism which New Labour may unleash in order to cover up its record." - Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Cameron must use the debates to hammer Labour on immigration
The extent to which Britain’s Tories and Europe’s leaders don’t understand each other is frightening - Economist
Government minister has demanded David Cameron acts against a Tory councillor over an alleged homophobic slur - Telegraph
Households have seen growth in their incomes dwindle rapidly during Labour’s three terms - FT
7th May General Election will cost £82.1m - Telegraph
And finally... Labour plan aggressive class war campaign
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