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Today's major ConHome features

ToryDiary: The Party needs private money. But it should raise smaller donations from many more people.

David Alexander on Platform: Ending universal benefits may be the least worst option as the Government attempts to deal with the deficit

Local Government:

• Eric Pickles declares war on "street clutter"
• Cllr Colin Barrow: How Foundation Councils could help fight crime

“I’m a Conservative because… I believe in enterprise, reward for risk and hard work and the freedom of the individual." - Margot James MP answers ConHome's Twenty Questions for the Class of 2010

ThinkTankCentral: Bow Group authors hit back at Andy Burnham

International: Australia marked another electoral defeat for climate change

LISTEN: Listen again to Tories on Radio 4's Today programme

WATCH: David Miliband tries to explain what distinguishes him from his brother in the Labour leadership election

Today's other newslinks

Nick Clegg defends Budget against unfairness claims

"Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has defended the coalition government's analysis of the Budget. Mr Clegg said a report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), which said the Budget has hit poorest families the hardest, was "by definition partial". "It does not include the things we want to do to get people off benefits and into work," he said." - BBC

"Unfortunately, many people who have analysed the government’s decisions have adopted a purely numerical view of what fairness is about. The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ report on the emergency Budget, published on Wednesday, is a case in point. Its methodology ignores the impact of our increase in capital gains tax for those on high incomes, and makes impossible assumptions about the effect of reform to disability living allowance and tax credits. These are not technical quibbles. They matter." - Nick Clegg writing in the FT (£)

"The Mail hesitates to enter the battleground, except to point out that the effects on people in the same wealth bracket will vary widely according to the source of their income and how they choose to spend it. What’s clear is that it’s absurd to argue that ministers are setting out deliberately to target the poor (though this hasn’t stopped the BBC). On the contrary, by their approving use of the word ‘progressive’, they show they believe it’s self-evidently right that the harder people work and the more they earn, the more their share of the suffering should increase." - Daily Mail editorial

IFS director may replace Alan Budd at Office for Budget Responsibility - The Times (£)

> Yesterday's coverage on ConHome:

• The target of the IFS's fairness report isn't George Osborne. It's Nick Clegg.
• The Coalition cannot win on 'fairness' if the Left sets the terms of the debate
• Matt Sinclair on CentreRight: We can't allow Government decisions to be dictated by IFS graphs

Ministers told to prove impact of budget cuts on poor was assessed

"Nick Clegg was last night facing renewed pressure over the budget when Britain's equalities watchdog warned of action if ministers failed to carry out a statutory assessment of the impact of spending cuts on vulnerable people." -The Guardian

"What we have done is every department has to by law look at the impact of their policies on individual groups and we've done that, we've met our legal obligations." - Treasury minister Mark Hoban on Newsnight quoted onPoliticsHome

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: The invidious nature of Labour's equality legislation becomes all the more apparent

Brussels to defy Cameron’s call for EU spending cuts

"The European Union is defying David Cameron’s call for cuts to budgets in Brussels by planning an eight per cent increase in spending over the next three years. At a time of deep cuts to the British public sector, documents, seen by The Daily Telegraph, disclose controversial plans to snub the Prime Minister by raising the EU’s budget by more than £8.8 billion to £125 billion in 2013, a 7.6 per cent rise on this year’s spending levels. The increase will mean that the British contribution to the EU rises to £10.3 billion over the next three years." - Daily Telegraph

David and Samantha Cameron's daughter is named

"St Endellion! St Endellion! The name is like a ring of bells." Until now, the Cornish village was best known for this tribute by Sir John Betjeman in 1950. The calm was interrupted only by tourists and by the film crew for the ITV drama Doc Martin, filmed a mile down the road at Port Isaac. Yesterday brought a flurry of renewed interest when the two-day-old daughter of Samantha and David Cameron was named after the parish. The couple's latest addition, Florence Rose Endellion Cameron, surprised them by arriving just over two weeks early on Tuesday lunchtime, while they were holidaying in Cornwall." -The Independent

Should David Cameron take paternity leave now? - City AM

> Gazette: Florence Rose Endellion Cameron

> Nick Clegg congratulates the Camerons on Florence's birth

Big Eric Pickles may not be beautiful, but he's the Tories' action man

"Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, is a piggy-eyed, balding, overweight Yorkshireman who makes his way along the corridors of Westminster with the stately waddle of an out-of-condition sumo wrestler. The product of a West Yorkshire council estate rather than the wine bars of West Kensington, he occasionally addresses his colleagues, in an accent previously unknown to most of them, as "my old chum", or in the case of Sayeeda Warsi, the party chairman, as (very occasionally) "chuck".- Paul Goodman profles Eric Pickles in the Daily Telegraph

Harriet Sargeant: Why does David Willetts want to be a Stalinist social engineer?

"After only 100 days in power, the Tories’ David Willetts is sounding like a tired Labour minister bankrupt of ideas. Once again it is education and social mobility that is the issue. Mr Willetts, the Coalition’s higher education minister, is right to be concerned. But he is very wrong on who to blame and what to do about it. He wants universities to promote social mobility by accepting candidates from poor backgrounds - even if their A-levels are lower than those of middle-class applicants." - Harriet Sargeant in the Daily Mail

Andrew Mitchell soothes charities' fears over planned DfID cuts

"Development secretary Andrew Mitchell last night pledged to boost spending on a broad range of anti-poverty initiatives as he sought to allay fears expressed by charities about the government's root-and-branch study of its aid commitments. Responding to a letter signed by five leading UK agencies warning that they might consider withdrawing backing for the government's development strategy, Mitchell promised full consultation before any final decisions were made on the future of individual programmes." - The Guardian

Cutting immigrants will not damage ties with India, says Damian Green

"Plans to cut the number of immigrants entering Britain will not damage David Cameron’s hopes of a new 'special’ economic relationship with India, Britain’s immigration minister has claimed. Damian Green said Britain’s new immigration quotas were not “about erecting barriers and closing doors.” -Daily Telegraph

Former Plaid Assembly Member who joined Tories may be de-selected - Western Mail

MPs ‘intimidated and abused’ expenses staff

"Some MPs tried swearing, others shouted, while one attempted to get his way by making a veiled death threat. The lengths to which MPs have gone to cover the cost of their train ticket have been revealed in a new report that detailed their intimidating and foul-mouthed behaviour towards the staff who administer the new parliamentary expenses system." - The Times (£)

Swearing MPs describe expenses system as 'abortion' and call staff 'monkeys' - Daily Mail

New Statesman endorses Ed Miliband for Labour leader...

"It is Ed Miliband who has been most prepared to challenge New Labour orthodoxies, to use a different kind of language. He advocates a Labour agenda that is confident, forceful and empowering, committed to greater freedom, social justice and, above all else, reducing inequality." - New Statesman editorial

...as Jon Cruddas backs David Miliband...

"David is not just going down a checklist of policies; he seems to me to be echoing a more fundamental sentiment, in terms of what Labour needs to do. I'm much more interested in that, rather than in just reciting some policy options, because the scale of the defeat was so great. It's a much more fundamental question of identity that we need to return to." - Jon Cruddas quoted in the New Statesman

...and Ken Livingstone declares for Ed Balls

"Ken Livingstone weighed into the Labour leadership contest today by hailing Ed Balls as a “fighter” who had done most to boost London. In a letter sent to all Labour Party members, he said he had worked with all the candidates as Mayor and found Mr Balls the most effective." - Evening Standard

David Miliband says Labour should be inspired by Rab Butler - Daily Telegraph

Ed Miliband hits back at brother David in leadership spat- The Times (£)

Oona King is accused of using leaked lists as mayoral fight turns nasty -Evening Standard

Autumn tube strikes announced - Daily Mail

Arthur Scargill and allies stripped of full NUM membership

"Arthur Scargill yesterday lost his voting rights in the miners’ union he led for more than 20 years. The 72-year-old former NUM president, who headed the union during the bitter 1984-85 miners’ strike, was among a number of members to receive letters saying they were no longer qualified for full membership." - Daily Express

> Yesterday's LeftWatch: Arthur Scargill to be expelled from the National Union of Miners

Fugitive Asil Nadir returning to Britain today - The Times (£)

And finally... Cuba ends cut price cigarettes for the over-55s

"Cuba's elderly will no longer be entitled to state-subsidised cigarettes, the government has said. All Cubans 55 or older are allocated four packs of cigarettes a month for about 25% the normal price, but this privilege is being ended in September. The measure is President Raul Castro's latest attempt to cut the communist state's spending... A statement in the government-run Granma newspaper said the move was "part of the steps gradually being applied to eliminate subsidies". The health benefits were not mentioned." - BBC

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