5pm Alex Deane on CentreRight: China’s laws – backfiring once again
4pm Nile Gardiner on CentreRight: Brown to host despots in London
3.15pm Local government: Margaret Eaton is new Chair of the Local Government Association
1.30pm Alex Deane on CentreRight: Three years on, how are the Conservatives doing?
12.45pm ToryDiary: Alan Duncan: Britain is "uniquely equipped" to take advantage of clean coal
11am CentreRight: Peter Cuthbertson on the left-liberal blogosphere
Helen Rainbow on Platform: A new model of healthcare
Seats and candidates: The Guardian surveys 66 Tory candidates
PlayPolitical video: Jacqui Smith reacts to conviction of three men on terrorist conspiracy charges and Jon Stewart highlights the hypocrisy of Karl Rove, Bill O’Reilly and Dick Morris
Victory for ConservativeHome campaign…
Tories WILL ditch plans to match Labour spending
More newspapers confirm ConservativeHome’s exclusive (48 hours after we published it): The Times, The Sun, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Daily Mail.
The FT adds: "There is also a sense in Tory circles that Mr Osborne is in danger of being outflanked by Vincent Cable, his Liberal Democrat opposite number, who has committed the party to finding £20bn in public spending cuts. Mr Cable wants to use some of the savings to fund tax cuts for low and middle-income families, a sharp departure from the Lib Dems’ recent stance of championing higher public spending and tax rises for higher earners."
The Sun welcomes the shift: "It was bewildering that Tories self-righteously rejected so-called “unfunded” tax cuts while blithely signing up to Labour’s equally unfunded spending splurge. Now reality has dawned. About time, too."
The Evening Standard’s Paul Waugh is the only one to acknowledge our campaign and exclusive (thank you Paul!): "All of this represents a valuable victory of the folks at ConservativeHome.com, who have been leading the charge against the idea of matching Labour on spending." Our campaign began in January.
Labour decide on way to attack Conservatives
A briefing document is analysed by The Guardian: "Occasionally the mask slips and we see the dangerous, old- fashioned Tory rightwing instincts hidden underneath. They believe in unfettered free markets, cuts in public services to fund tax cuts for the richest, and a smaller, less effective government. David Cameron believes Britain would be stronger if we stand alone, rather than come together."
Tories capture the centre ground
"The Conservatives are occupying every piece of centre ground that Labour vacates: on schools, welfare and crime, they are taking up policies that Mr Blair would have adopted had he not been hampered by his party." – Rachel Sylvester in The Times
Overpopulation not meat-eating is the problem, says Boris
"It is time the world’s leaders had the wisdom and courage once again to talk the fundamental issue, rather than babbling about our diet. It’s not eating meat that does the damage. It’s the huge and remorselessly growing number of people who want to eat it." – Boris Johnson in The Telegraph
Neither is bragging, but Tories keep SNP in power – Hamish Macdonell in The Scotsman (subscription)
Darling to resist higher public sector pay in speech to TUC – BBC
LibDems back ‘top-up’ payments for cancer drugs by NHS patients – Times
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