Conservative party

Saturday

Peter Hoskin

Osborne confirms that there will be no more Tory cuts this year

From our UK edition

David Cameron said as much in his Today Programme interview, but now we know for sure: we've heard everything we're going to about Tory spending cuts this year.  George Osborne confirms the news in an interview with the Guardian today: "In the interview, the shadow chancellor also disclosed, for the first time, that he would not reduce public spending by more than £6.5bn in the current financial year. He said £6bn would come from efficiencies, and £500m from cuts to child trust funds and working tax credits for the better off. There would be no further 'in year' cuts in his emergency budget, scheduled within 50 days of a possible Tory victory, he said." It's tempting to point out that £6.

Friday

Ed Howker

“The only good Tory is a dead Tory”

From our UK edition

Earlier this week, Coffee House pointed out that the Labour Party National Executive Committee's decision to exclude local candidates from the Stoke Central candidate short-list might cause trouble. And, lo, trouble it has caused. Similarly unimpressed by the state of Labour democracy, Stoke Labour member Gary Elsby has decided to stand independently and passionately annouced his candidature on the BBC World at One programme today. He has already garnered the support of my colleague Toby Young. Elsby later stated: "By taking this decision I feel that I am doing something positive for all the unpaid Labour Party volunteers who could be the next victims of those paid enforcers of the NEC hit squad.

Fraser Nelson

Why we shouldn’t confuse poverty with inequality

From our UK edition

The power of ideas is vastly underrated in British politics. It has become fashionable to dismiss them as "ideology" and declare oneself in favour of "what works".  But the idea of what works is, of course, driven by concepts. As Keynes put it: "Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slave of some defunct economist."   I write this because ConHome has just run a piece by Max Wind-Cowie saying, "Equality should not be a dirty word for the Conservatives". I do admire the way Demos, seeing Labour on the way out, is trying to inject as much of its agenda as possible into the Conservative party. But "equality" is, alas, a trap.

James Forsyth

The Tories still want to repeal the hunting ban

From our UK edition

It might be Good Friday, but with the election only a little more than a month away politics is continuing pretty much as normal. This morning, we’ve already had more business leaders coming out in support of the Tory position on National Insurance, a combative Bob Crow demanding that John Humphrys apologise for using the word rigged in connection with the RMT strike ballot and later on David and Samantha Cameron are making a joint appearance at a social action project in Hackney. One thing that surprised me in the papers this morning was a quote in the Indy from the head of the League of Cruel Sports suggesting that Cameron is backing away from his position on hunting. This doesn’t tally with everything that I’ve heard.

Peter Hoskin

A bad news day for Labour, as the Tories get positive

From our UK edition

Oh dear.  Today's frontpages form the most eclectic set of damaging headlines for Labour for quite some time.  On the front of the Mail and the Times: allegations that the government – specifically, Ed Balls – "interfered" with a report on the Baby P tragedy.  On the Independent: a claim that Brown "misled" the public over waiving VAT on a charity single for Haiti.  And on the Telegraph: news that more business leaders have backed the Tories' national insurance policy.  Even the Guardian wades in with the headline: "Labour and business fall out". Of these, the first story is potentially the biggest scandal.  But it's the latter two which more immediately threaten to alter the political mood music.

Thursday

Fraser Nelson

The joke’s on Brown

From our UK edition

It took a while, but I spotted Labour’s April Fool trick: an attack document on the Tory economic agenda. It looks real at first, but when you go through it the con becomes transparent. APRIL FOOL ONE: “The Conservative Party wants to face two ways at this election, promising extra tax cuts and spending commitments while at the same time claiming they would reduce the deficit further and faster than Labour’s plan to halve it in four years.” REALITY: Labour pretends to be unaware of the basic economic concept that if you have a lower tax rate, business grows faster – generating more revenues. There is such a thing as a self-financing tax cut, which is why the top rate of tax has fallen around the world over the years.

James Forsyth

Gordon Brown claims his inheritance tax policy recognises marriage

From our UK edition

Despite what the headline might make you think, this item is not an April Fool. In a web chat with Saga magazine, Brown said: “We made it possible for people to transfer their allowances so…between husband and wife…and that means widows for example can have the full benefit of the husband’s previous allowance, and that meant for a large number of people the effective point at which they started paying inheritance tax was above £600,000.

David Blackburn

Revolt fermenting in Surrey East

From our UK edition

Michael Crick reports that the Sunday Mirror will splash the news that 100 members of the Surrey East Tory association have signed a petition to urge David Cameron to de-select Sam Gyimah. The original selection process was controversial – members complained that the shortlist excluded straight white men. That dissent has never subsided. On Tuesday, Crick reported that dissent was turning to revolt. Private Eye’s allegations about Gyimah’s failing business interests, which were apparently suppressed during hustings, were the tipping point.   In reality, the infamous A-list has struck again.

David Blackburn

The High Court saves Labour’s bacon, for the moment

From our UK edition

Commuters won’t be alone in celebrating tonight. The High Court’s award of an injunction against the RMT’s planned Strike Action will have champagne corks popping in Downing Street. The Union movement’s sudden renaissance is both embarrassing and dangerous for the government. First, it has shifted the election spotlight back onto Labour. Before the BA strike, the Tories were driftwood – powerless to determine the direction in which they were headed. Unite’s political and social prominence exacerbated tensions within the Labour party, with divisions between New and quintessentially Old Labour becoming more stark. As Ed Howcker wrote last night, the next line in the prelude to internecine war is being written in Stoke.

James Forsyth

The Tories’ campaign is sharpening up

From our UK edition

As declaration day (the rather pompus name that news organisations have come up with for the moment when Gordon Brown actually calls the election) draws nearer, the Tory campaign is sharpening up. This morning’s operation on National Insurance was impressive, enabling the party to get a second set of headlines out of its plan to stop Labour’s National Insurance rise. The letter from 23 business leaders supporting the Tory position worked on several levels. First, it got the Tories’ tax cut back on the top of the news agenda along with its clear message: seven out of ten workers will be better off under the Conservatives. Second, it strengthened the Tory case that the risk to the economy is to increase the tax on jobs not cutting government waste.

Peter Hoskin

There’s a serious message behind the Tory April Fools’ campaign

From our UK edition

Most press releases don't really catch the eye.  But when one hits your inbox from The Department of Government Waste, you can't help but take notice.  In it, the Secretary of State for Government Waste, Robin Ewe (geddit?), celebrates 13 years of "waste-maximisation," and there are links to a departmental website, complete with reports and videos. No surprises that it's a Tory campaign.  And to up the fun quotient, CHHQ have even managed to plug it via a cheeky advert in the Guardian.  But although there's a comic tinge to it all, and although it's rather straightforward, this is still a smart message for the Tories to get out there.

David Blackburn

A morning of to-and-fro

From our UK edition

Who’s in the ascendant this morning? As Pete noted earlier, David Cameron’s barnstorming morning stalled on the Today programme when pressed to cost his National Insurance tax cut. The government went to it press conference scenting blood – understandably vague Tory tax pledges can be easily represented as indicative of general incoherence. Mandelson was in political warlord mode, flanked by Liam Byrne and Alistair Darling, his unlikely musclemen. But they blew it. First, Byrne and Mandelson asserted, with absolute certainty, that the Tories will raise VAT. Opaque pledges cannot be successfully criticised by baseless soothsayings.

Peter Hoskin

Cameron defends his spending cuts – and suggests there won’t be more before the election

From our UK edition

Want some more David Cameron?  Well, the Tories are happy to oblige.  After their party leader's speech yesterday, he is interviewed in the FT and appeared on the Today programme earlier.  The FT interview was certainly the more comfortable of the two.  In it, Cameron stikes a confident note – saying that his party have "come a long way," and that "people are gagging for change".  And he stresses that he thinks – and, apparently, Ken Clarke thinks – that George Osborne is "the right person" to be Chancellor. But Cameron had a tougher time in his Today Programme interview.  It started well, with Today highlighting the supportive letter that business leaders have written about the Tories' national insurance cut.

Wednesday

Fraser Nelson

A new Brownie Buster

From our UK edition

Michael Scholar: hero. The newish head of the UK statistics authority is finally coming to the aid of the statistics nerds who have been protesting that Gordon Brown makes things up. Normally, the ONS do not censure Mr Brown when he misrepresents their data: that's not their job. But as head of the Statistics Authority, Sir Michael has - wonderfully, inspirationally - written an open letter to the Prime Minister telling him not to lie. Well, not quite in so few words, but this is the plain implication. What is significant is that Sir Michael is using his job to protect  the integrity of statistics in Britain. One of my favourite ever facts is that "65 percent of the UK population do not believe statistics".

James Forsyth

Curbing the state

From our UK edition

This morning, David Cameron and a large chunk of the Shadow Cabinet were talking in some detail about how the Conservatives will enable a Big Society. To do that, they are going to have to stop state-run organisation crushing community initiatives.   Take the case of MyPolice. This website was set up to let people offer tips on how policing in there area could be improved. Earlier this month, they were contacted by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC) who told them that they were launching a site called MyPolice. The original MyPolice objected.But HMIC went ahead anyway, using the url mypolice.org.uk. This better funded website now comes top when you Google MyPolice.

James Forsyth

Money down the toilet

From our UK edition

I have heard two examples of government waste this morning which make you realise just how much money there is to be saved. The first was of a £1000 photocopier that cost £35000. The second was of a toilet worth £10000 bought for £50000. Both  of these examples of waste come from the education budget. Just imagine what the £34000 saved on a photocopier could have done in that school. No government can cut out waste entirely. But by moving away from central ordering and restoring discretion you can save money. If you doubt this just look at how much a tin of instant coffee costs in catalogues of office supplies compared to the supermarket.

Peter Hoskin

Cameron’s winning optimism

From our UK edition

Last week, it was all doom, gloom, debt, the deficit and austerity from the Tories – and rightly so.  But, this week, they've returned to the sunny uplands.  First, we had George Osborne's tax cut for seven out of every ten people.  And, today, we had David Cameron's closing speech at the Tory Big Society event.  I lost count of how many times he dropped words like "hope" and "change".  And, yes, he even namechecked Barack Obama.  But don't give up just yet  – there was more to it than that.

Peter Hoskin

Prepare for an annual Big Society Day

From our UK edition

The Tories have just distributed the policy document to go alongside their event today. There's stuff in there about new funds for social enterprises, a recruiment drive for community organisers, neighbourhood grants, and so on. But it's the last page of the document which caught my eye... Apparently, the Tories would introduce an annual, national "Big Society Day" to "celebrate the work of neighbourhood groups and encourage more people to take part in social action projects." Hm. I suppose that's all well and good, if you're into that kind of thing. But you can expect this to become a political sticking point, as the left questions whether it's really an annual Celebrate Conservative Government Day.

Peter Hoskin

The joys of DIY government

From our UK edition

One of the main problems with the Tories' Big Society/post-bureaucratic/responsibility agenda is how to sell it to the public. At the moment, it all sounds a bit too metropolitan, a bit too vanilla latte, a bit too wonkish. How do you better convey the often solid thinking that lies behind the management consultancy speak? Well, I think Grant Shapps has just given it a good go. He described the warm feeling that he gets from DIY work – from, say, putting up his own shelves – and then expanded this to wider society. Imagine being the person who helped rejuvenate a post office, or who set up a school, or who runs the local library. It's DIY government, so to speak. The analogy also highlights some of the problems with this whole idea, though.

Peter Hoskin

Hammond’s honesty

From our UK edition

Philip Hammond gave the first presentation at this Big Society event, and he admitted something that the Tories don't admit too often.  First, he attacked Gordon Brown for doubling the national debt. And then he added that, "unfortunately, we're on a trajectory where the national debt will double again over the next few years." Hammond's right to highlight this. The danger for a Tory government is that their attacks on Brown in 2010 could look hypocritical in 2015, when they would have presided over rising debt as well. The key thing is to pin the blame for this situation on Brown, and ask whether he can be trusted to keep it under some sort of control.