Friday, 19 April 2013

Our Thatcher legacy survey: Have Your Say
By Peter Hoskin
Follow Peter on Twitter
Is David Cameron the heir to Thatcher, the heir to Blair... or neither?
Which Conservative Cabinet members can fairly be described as Thatcherites?
Should the Conservative Party follow the path that Margaret Thatcher trod?
These questions, and more, await you in our latest survey. Click here to take part.
Today's top ConservativeHome features
Today's ConservativeHome newslinks
UK and IMF square up for high noon on austerity as George Osborne defends Plan A
OsborneGreenTie"The Chancellor is said by aides to be prepared to “aggressively” defend his policies when an IMF team arrives in London to make an annual assessment of the British economy, and is prepared to defy their recommendations if necessary.  Mr Osborne fears that an anti-austerity faction is winning an internal IMF power struggle and that the Fund will hand the opposition Labour party a propaganda tool by formally urging him to relax his fiscal plans. –Financial Times (£) 
Michael Gove says that long school summer holidays should be consigned to history
"The Education Secretary said it was wrong that terms were still scheduled for a time when children were needed to help out on farms and most mothers stayed-at-home. And he warned of more strikes ahead, accusing unions of lacking ambition and putting the needs of teachers before those of children in their care.  – Daily Mail 
Fraser Nelson: could the Education Secretary’s schools revolution be just another false start?
Nelson Fraser pink shirt"Mr Gove was simply saying aloud something that most of the Cabinet wonder in private: that if the bookmakers are right, and Mr Miliband wins the next election, will the Coalition have a legacy? Some Cabinet members refer to a “2015 strategy”, which is nothing to do with an election and everything to do with tying the hands of a future Labour administration. What defensive mechanisms are in place, to defend the best of the Coalition’s achievements? With education, another question looms: what if Mr Gove were to be moved to another departme nt? Would his reforms continue? – Daily Telegraph
Hunt pledges to halt health tourists
"A plan being drawn up by Jeremy Hunt would only allow people entitled to live in the UK to get full NHS numbers. Foreigners who are not British residents would instead get temporary numbers that only allow access to emergency care. It comes weeks after a top surgeon warned health tourists are costing the NHS billions a year." - The Sun 
Reckless to May: You've surrendered to Europe over Al Qaeda
Reckless Mark
"In a heated exchange during a Home Affairs Committee hearing, the MP for Rochester and Strood told her: “The reason we have not been able to get rid of Abu Qatada is because you have refused to test the law on this. “The problem is you are refusing to seek to send him back because you prefer to put yourself down before Strasbourg and have this continuing craven surrender to the European court when even our own court says under the European Convention he can be sent back.” - Daily Express
Loughton to Cameron (via the House Magazine): Number 10 is "unhelpful" and Cameron "oblivious"
"Mr Loughton, who lost his job in last September’s reshuffle, disclosed the shortcomings in the way the Prime Minister’s officials and closest advisers and operate in an interview with the House magazine. “I’m sure he was quite oblivious to some of the things that were going on and there should be much more regular meetings between ministers and Number 10 and the PM,” he said." - Daily Telegraph
Lord Ashcroft's latest evidence of Conservative failure with ethnic minorities
Screen shot 2013-04-19 at 08.51.34"Lord Ashcroft said: ‘We must do better than this – both because we should be a party for the whole country, and because we will find it increasingly difficult to win a majority without them…he released details of a poll showing that ethnic minority voters share the Tory creed that ‘if you work hard, it is possible to be very successful in Britain’. But when asked which party shares their values, they opt for Labour by a margin of more than two to one." - Daily Mail
> Today:
Labour bets the house with pledge to outspend Tories: Miliband rejects lesson of 1997 when Tony Blair promised to match the Tories' budget limits
 "Labour is preparing to fight the 2015 election on a bold but risky pledge to spend more than the Conservatives. Ed Miliband and Ed Balls will reject the more cautious approach – adopted by Tony Blair in 1997 – of sticking to the Tory government’s public spending limits in favour of a “new economic settlement” for Britain." - The Independent
Lord Howe: Thatcher was like Napoleon...
Screen shot 2013-04-19 at 08.52.46
"He cited Napoleon saying that the greatest happiness to befall any politician was that 100 years from their death they would still have enemies. “Margaret would hope for and expect no less,” he wrote in an obituary for The House Magazine. Lord Howe said that it remained “a source of deep sorrow” that her “misjudgments” on Europe and the poll tax had cost her the support of her Cabinet." - The Times (£)
...But as Cameron prepares to launch the Conservative local election campaign, a Cabinet Minister says that he must ditch modernisation and go Thatcherite
"Mr Cameron won the leadership promising to modernise the party, but one Cabinet minister said it should now “move on” to more “traditional” Conservative issues such as welfare reform and immigration control. “The 'toxic’ issue has been neutralised,” the minister said. “Now we can move on to the red meat Conservative issues.” - Daily Telegraph
  • Screen shot 2013-04-19 at 08.56.19Mark Thatcher says that his mother would have profoundly moved by funeral - Daily Telegraph
  • Clegg says that Osborne's tears show he's human... - Daily Mail
  • Blair could get same treatment, says Francis Maude - Daily Mail
  • Miner McLoughlin hits out at Thatcher critics - Daily Telegraph
Samuel Brittan: There IS no such thing as society
"Thatcher meant, I believe, that people should first try to solve their own problems and those of their families and friends, and only as a last resort rely on government. The government is simply a mechanism with which people can help each other and force would-be free riders to make a contribution. I interpreted her remarks as an expression of methodological individualism (although I pity any speech writer who sought to persuade her to say those words)." -Financial Times
> Yesterday:
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