ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

There is no 'Letwin waste review'

Questioned on Friday by ConservativeHome, David Cameron dismissed The Sunday Telegraph's recent suggestion that Oliver Letwin was conducting a new review into public sector waste.  I often read stories that have a detached relationship to reality, was the Tory leader's response to our question.

ConservativeHome was encouraged by the news at the time but the Shadow Chancellor's office assured us yesterday that there remained a strong commitment to find economies in the public sector.  We were told that the situation remains as set out by David Cameron in May.  George Osborne remains in charge of attempts to bring spending under control but works closely with relevant colleagues including Oliver Letwin, who oversees the overall policy process.  The Tories are looking to reduce the size of government in three main ways:

1. Eliminating waste and unnecessary programmes;
2. Getting better value for money via public sector reform (an issue addressed on CentreRight yesterday by Professor Nick Bosanquet).
3. A reduction in the long-term demands on the taxpayer by undertaking thorough social reform - including strengthening families, cutting welfare dependency and defeating drug addiction.

We were told that a 'big bang' announcement of public sector savings was unlikely.  More likely would be a continuation of one-off announcements where tax reforms would be presented alongside the savings to pay for them.

Speaking at a seminar hosted by the Reform think tank, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Philip Hammond dampened hopes that actual cuts in overall public spending were possible.  A cut in the overall level of public spending would be “politically extremely difficult".  "I don’t think it’s ever been done for a sustained period,” he continued.

ConservativeHome's view: "The Conservative leadership needs to understand that higher taxes to pay for an unreformed state will also be politically extremely difficult.  Although the scale of Labour's borrowing means that tax rises cannot be ruled out, it is certainly not the case that Britain is under-taxed.  Before we're willing to accept tax rises from an incoming Tory government we need to be convinced that everything possible has been done to end the misspending of this incompetent Labour government.  [That's our answer to your reasonable question, Danny Finkelstein]. Again and again the Tory frontbench have talked about "unfunded tax cuts" but everything is unfunded until you choose priorities.  The problem - until recently - has been the Tory leadership's inclination to prioritise unfunded public spending before unfunded tax cuts.  Surrounded by spokesmen for high spending ministries that's always where the political pressure is greatest and why the work of The TaxPayers' Alliance could not be more important."

Good council tenants should be helped to own their homes, recommends IDS

A wide-ranging report from Iain Duncan Smith's Centre for Social Justice think tank warns today that many social housing estates have degenerated into often violent and dysfunctional "ghettoes" and calls for urgent remedial action.  IDS writes of estates "where worklessness, dependency, family breakdown and addiction are endemic".

Central to the CSJ's action plan are rewards for tenants that are socially constructive.  Here is the key section of the report:

"We encourage an incoming government to look at releasing some of the value in social housing to sitting tenants who pay their own rent and make a contribution to the community. This could take the form of a  discount on the purchase price for those moving to outright or shared ownership.

However, the most radical approach is also the most important. We recommend that economic analysis be  commissioned into the rewarding of constructive behaviour in the community, including, but not limited to, a  genuine effort on the part of a social housing tenant to find work, by giving social housing tenants increasingly larger equity stakes in the home.

Having a stake in a home is both a privilege and a responsibility. It would inculculate the values of constructive social behaviour and create, from the vicious cycle, a virtuous cycle, that encourages social housing tenants to improve their own family’s future."

As Harry Phibbs has already noted, the report seeks to end the “stifling requirement” that social housing tenancy be secure for life.  Instead local authorities should be freed up to adapt tenure agreements to meet the needs and aspirations of clients.

> Download PDF summarising recommendations of report

Latest ComRes poll reduces Tory lead to one point

After a couple of encouraging polls in the immediate wake of the Pre-Budget Report, tomorrow's Independent carries a new ComRes poll which reduces the Conservative lead over Labour to a single percentage point.

The figures are:

If repeated at the next General Election this is projected to give Labour an overall majority of 10 in the House of Commons.

The poll was conducted between Friday and Sunday and shows a significant boost in Labour support among its working class support base (Labour backing rising from 35 per cent to 51 per cent in the last month among the DE social group).

The Tory lead is its narrowest in any poll since January, when an Ipsos MORI survey put Labour one point ahead.

Jonathan Isaby

7am, Tuesday: "Labour's private polling has found strong support among the party's traditional supporters for the Chancellor Alistair Darling's surprise decision to bring in a higher top rate of tax in 2011. One Labour source said last night: "People wanted to see decisive action taken on the economy. What is hurting the Tories is that they have boxed themselves into a corner where they are the 'do-nothing' party." Although some Tory MPs are worried that the party is suffering from a lack of economic policies, allies of David Cameron are urging them to "hold their nerve". They believe the polls will turn against Labour next year as the recession bites." - The Independent

A textbook example of Labour's mendacity AND incompetence

The Conservative Party has tonight published an email from Harriet Harman's office that sets up a meeting between officials in the Speaker's Office and in the Government machine - clearly designed to handle the outrage from MPs that is anticipated on Wednesday regarding Michael Martin's permission for counter-terrorist police to raid Damian Green's parliamentary offices.

Not only is such a meeting entirely improper - the Speaker is the servant of all MPs, not the executive/ government - but yet again Labour displays its incompetence; the email has only come to light because Ms Harman's office accidentally cc'd the office of a Tory frontbencher.

Here is the key section of the email:

 

PS The Damian Green ribbon is the brainchild of the irrepressible Tory Bear.

EPP proves again that it cannot be trusted

Many Eurosceptic MEPs are increasingly of the view that David Cameron will not take British Tories out of the EPP but will propose a new, strengthened ED sub-group as the way forward.  Charles Tannock MEP was recently seen to pave the way for a compromise option when, on CentreRight.com, he argued against Tory MEPs sitting on their own.  But could we believe in a new deal with the EPP...?

When Michael Howard decided that Conservative MEPs should remain with the EPP in 2004, he negotiated one important new condition: that the “European Democrats” should be allowed to recruit other parties to their pillar without fear of an EPP veto.

The EPP reneged on its part of the bargain when it expelled Roger Helmer from the EPP-ED despite the opposition of British Tories. In other words, far from being able to bring new MEPs into their section, the British Conservatives could not even decide on which of their own Members to keep.

Now, the EPP has abandoned any pretence of respecting an autonomous ED component. Lars Wohlin MEP, a former chairman of the Swedish Central Bank, who sits as a Swedish Christian Democrat, has asked to be reassigned from the EPP to the ED section, on grounds that he opposes the euro and the European Constitution.

The EPP-ED Rules of procedure are quite plain on this point: if that is what an MEP wishes to do, he may do it. But the EPP leadership have said that such a thing cannot happen without a vote of the whole Group; and, so far, they have refused to schedule such a vote.

Until now, supporters of the EPP link have argued that Conservatives have a moral obligation to remain with the federalists because that is what they agreed in 2004. But, now that the EPP has comprehensively abandoned that deal, why should the Conservatives remain bound by it?

Lars Wohlin told ConservativeHome:

“I wished to collaborate with the British Conservatives, because I am more comfortable with their vision of a Europe of nations than I am with the EPP’s commitment to a federal Europe. If anyone in Britain still doesn’t understand why David Cameron has promised to take his MEPs out of the EPP, I hope they will look at my case and reconsider.”

Statement from Home Office "mole"

A lawyer has made a brief statement on behalf of Christopher Galley, the (currently suspended) Home Office civil servant at the centre of the inquiry into leaks to Damian Green.

This is what he had to say (not verbatim):

Galley and Green first met in 2006 at the Commons and stayed in contact over two years.

Galley gave Green information that was important for the public to know in an open democratic and parliamentary system.

Green received it in that spirit and used it in the course of his parliamentary duties.

He believed it would be used in a responsible manner in the public interest.

Galley was arrested in dawn raid by anti-terror police on 19th November, held for 17 hours and released after exhaustive questioning, throughout which he cooperated.

Those who sanctioned that style of arrest should decide if it was necessary and proportionate.

"If there was ever a case of don't shoot the messenger this is it."

He has been bailed to return to the police in January.

Given that he is under active police investigation, he cannot answer questions or make any further statement.

The policy challenges for the Welsh Conservatives

With discussion going on elsewhere on the site today about what the Scottish Conservatives should be saying, I thought I’d take this opportunity to highlight a recent speech by Nick Bourne, the leader of the Tories in the Welsh Assembly.

Addressing the North Wales Policy Forum in Llandudno the weekend before last, he congratulated the party on a string of excellent local election results and even raised the prospect of the party winning a second seat in Wales at June’s European Parliament elections.

He also pointed out how Wales is being especially badly affected by the economic crisis.

“In Wales, we have been hit particularly hard. Unemployment rose by 24,000 in the last quarter, the biggest increase of any UK nation or region. By Christmas, 100,000 people will be out of work. Workers, homeowners and pensioners are rightly asking what Labour and Plaid are doing for them… This crisis shows the need for parties to work together, to help businesses remain productive. And to ensure families and workers stay in their homes and jobs.”

Mr Bourne then set out five policy challenges for the Welsh Conservatives and proposals which the Labour/Plaid-run Assembly Government should adopt, which I have summarised below.

William Hague: There are no circumstances in which the next Conservative Government will propose joining the Euro

The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, has reignited the debate about Britain's membership of the Euro by telling a French radio station that "the people who matter in Britain are currently thinking about [joining]."

Within the thread for today's homepage Richard Robinson suggests that Lord Mandelson leads those "people who matter".  In 2003, Mandelson linked membership of the Euro to his understanding of centre left politics:

“The euro issue goes to the heart of the UK's national economic interest. But Britain's place in Europe is also at the heart of the left's project in this country. You can be pro-European and not of the centre-left but you cannot be of the centre-left and not committed to Britain playing its full part in Europe. It is fundamental to our ambition of creating a Britain rooted in the best of centre-left values: greater equality, solidarity and opportunity. That's why Labour - as the party of full employment and higher living standards for working people in today's globalised economy - supports European integration and euro entry.”

Interviewed on Saturday, Lord Mandelson renewed his support for the euro but ruled out serious discussion of membership until the current economic crisis had passed.

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague - whose leadership of the Conservative Party did so much to prevent Britain joing the euro - has reacted by ruling out membership if the Conservatives form the next British Government:

“It is extraordinary that certain politicians are whispering to the EU Commission about joining the euro behind the British people’s backs. Keeping the pound is vital for Britain’s economic future. We need interest rates that are right for Britain, not the rest of Europe.  There are no circumstances in which the next Conservative Government will propose joining the Euro. If Labour ministers still want to get Britain into the euro they should come out and say so. We will be putting questions to the Government to find out what conversations have been going on.”

65% of Tory members recently said that they "never" wanted UK membership of the eurozone.

Should Conservatives back more power for Holyrood?

Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, the former Scottish Secretary, has given an interview today in which he states that those considering giving further powers to the Scottish Parliament are "off their heads".

The backdrop to his comments is the ongoing discussion of this very matter by the Calman Commission, whose first report is to be issued shortly.

The Commission - which is backed by the three main unionist parties in Scotland - has the following remit:

"To review the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998 in the light of experience and to recommend any changes to the present constitutional arrangements that would enable the Scottish Parliament to serve the people of Scotland better, improve the financial accountability of the Scottish Parliament, and continue to secure the position of Scotland within the United Kingdom."

Among the proposals it could make would be to give Scotland greater powers over taxation, a suggestion to which Lord Forsyth gives short shrift:

“I think it's amazing when the house is on fire that people are wondering if it might be a good idea to raise more taxes in Scotland."

When it was put to him that this could mean the Scottish Parliament having power to reduce taxes north of the border, he expressed incredulity at this ever happening.

The Scottish Parliament already has the abilitiy to vary the basic rate of income tax by 3p in the pound. But given that it has not yet used even that power, is it fanciful to be thinking in terms of passing yet more responsibilities to Holyrood?

Or is it that more significant powers are required if devolution arrangements are to be meaningful, since current powers only allow politicians to tinker at the edges?

Should Conservatives be thinking about making Scotland fiscally autonomous or do you believe that would be a step too far on the road to separation?

Jonathan Isaby

Dominic Grieve and Harriet Harman on the Damian Green arrest

6.30pm update:

The Telegraph reports that Damian Green has been instructing Michael Caplan QC, the eminent solicitor who famously represented General Pinochet, when the former Chilean dictator was arrested on a Spanish warrant while visiting London for medical treatment in 1998.

---

Sky News has just interviewed shadow home secretary, Dominic Grieve, and Harriet Harman, the leader of the House of Commons, on the issue of Damian Green's arrest.

Dominic Grieve was pretty scathing about the interview given earlier this morning by his opposite number, Jacqui Smith. He said the most important question needing an answer was what she knew and why she acted in the way that she did. Significantly, he said that from his interpretation of her answers (or lack thereof) on the Andrew Marr show, "I think she knew there was an MP involved in this investigation and she decided to simply sit back on her hands," meaning that she therefore has a great deal for which to answer to Parlaiment.

He added that it was wrong of her to insinuate that there were national security issues at stake in this investigation and that his view was that the grounds for arresting Damian Green and searching his homes an offices were "flimsy and trivial".

Interviewed shortly beforehand on Sky News, Hariet Harman sought to give an assurance that she appreciated the "big constitutional principle" involved over the arrest of an MP in these circumstances. "As Leader of the House, I am in no doubt how deeply MPs feel about it... MPs should be able to get on with their job without the interference of the law," she said.

But she refused to condemn the actions of anyone involved and after revealing that she had disucssed the matter with the Speaker, she refused also to disclose the contents of that conversation. She did say, however, that the Speaker "might well want to review the processes by which authorisation is given to search the Palace of Westminster."

Jacqui Smith refuses to apologise to Damian Green

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has today repeatedly refused to apologise for the way in which the police arrested Damian Green and searched his homes and offices under anti-terrorism laws on Thursday.

Interviewed by Andrew Marr this morning, she was given the opportunity to apologise on at least three occasions, but resolutely refused to do so. She said that she believed in the principle of operational independence for the police and that it would therefore be wrong to intervene.

She said that this was not an investigation into whether an opposition politician was using information he received to embarrass the Government, but rather into a "systematic series of leaks from a department dealing with some of the most sensitive and confidential information in government".

Ms Smith said that the leak investigation was initiated by the Cabinet Office alongside her permanent secretary, and that no minister has asked for it. She also reiterated that she was only told about Damian Green's arrest and the searches at his homes and offices after they had happened.

Earlier on the programme, former Home Secretary Kenneth Clarke compared Damian Green's arrest to the stuff of "President Nixon's America".

He said that if the Home Secretary/Prime Minister had not been told beforehand of the arrest then on being told afterward the least they should have done would have been to apologise to Damian Green and his family and to launch an inquiry.

Furthermore, he said that the Speaker and Serjeant-at-Arms should have told the police to "go away" when they sought to search a parliamentary office on the basis of "parliamentary privilege".

Was this the week that determined the result of the general election?

A week is a long time in politics, as the saying goes, and the last seven days are certainly testament to that.

The week began with Alistair Darling's Pre-Budget Report, which showed the country heading for record borrowing, and a devastating attack on the Government's economic record by George Osborne.

The following day, Nick Wood wrote on this website that Labour had made it virtually impossible for themselves to win the next election. And the opinion polls published this weekend - carried out since Monday's PBR - would seem to back up that assertion, showing Tory leads of 15 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.

But those polls were both taken before the full details emerged about the arrest of Tory immigration spokesmen Damian Green on Thursday afternoon.

And whilst his plight has understandably had less media prominence on account of the terrorist atrocities in India, I believe that the public will feel a sense of outrage about his treatment and the position of the Government in the whole affair, which, even if not complicit (as it claims), has stood by, unconcerned about the implications it has for democratic accountability of the executive.

Will we be able to look back in 18 months' time and conclude that this was the week which determined the result of the next election?

Jonathan Isaby

CCHQ launch new campaign materials

Earlier this week when conservatives.com launched a national debt clock you asked for it to be embeddable and personalised.

CCHQ have obliged.  Rather than showing the whole national debt the widget they've just launched (much more meaningfully) shows you your own share of Brown's debt... and click here to embed on your own blog.

The bombshell advert has also been updated to take account of Labour's likely intentions on VAT:

Mandelson: We shouldn't bash the Tories but leave them behind in the battle of ideas

I'm at the TUC HQ and the Annual Conference of "Progress" - speaking later on a panel with Hazel Blears about the Conservative party.  These are highlights from a captivating and often amusing interview just given by Lord Mandelson to The Guardian's Martin Kettle. Paraphrasing, not verbatim unless in quotation marks:

Being Lord Mandelson: It's a rejuvenating thing being in the Lords. Everyone else is a little older! The Lords are seriously-informed, very clever and unwilling to give up their line of questioning until they have an answer. I'm "conservative" about Lords reform. I respect it as it is and don't want it to rival the Commons.

Being "happier": I hadn't expected to return to UK politics. I'd expected to earn my living after Brussels and enjoy myself. Perhaps "a little boating"! I'm happier now in Government than last time. I feel more relaxed with my colleagues. They are less suspicious of me. Less jealous than when I was "Tony Blair's guy".  People made ridiculous assumptions about my influence [pause] "...by and large"!

'Me and Brown': "We had a famously difficult relationship". I've rediscovered in Gordon in what I saw originally. His big brain. His prodigious work ethic. His sense of humour "which has been well hidden from me for the last ten years!" We've begun again.

I'm more Heseltine than Benn: Who would have thought in 1997 that we would have to take majority stakes in some banks?  But "needs must".  Asked about news reports that he is drawing up a list of businesses that are essential to the wealth creating future he answered that he wanted to be more like Michael Heseltine, less like Tony Benn, in wanting to intervene before breakfast, lunch and dinner in the interests of British business. Thinking is preliminary.

Next steps for Labour: We have a real challenge at the next election to show that we haven't run out of steam. New policy ideas and a doubling of energy are essential. Three priorities are education, innovation and readiness for economic internationalisation.

In response to questions:

The Euro: Europe is our domestic market and our currency belongs in the euro. Within the currency we'll eliminate transaction costs and be part of the monetary policy decisions that so affect us. But there is enough to occupy us for the next year or two so immediate discussion of membership is off the agenda.

Obama is New Labour: His campaign was characterised by competence, dignity, ideas and enthusiasm. Nothing backward-looking. Nothing secretarian. Not imprisoned by old ideologies. Those are all old New Labour qualities.

How to beat the Conservatives: The Tories have reverted to the one club policies of the 1980s. The Conservative Party has become more laissez-faire again, not so interventionist - precisely at the wrong time. The Tories are stuck where Labour was circa 1997 believing that policies can be put on the back of a pledge card. The times are much complex today. Labour shouldn't bash the Tories but leave them behind in policy thinking and innovation.

Tim Montgomerie

This is not a police matter but about our democracy

Did you watch Gordon Brown say that this was not a matter for him but for the police?  Even if we believe his claims not to have known about Damian Green's arrest until after it had happened, his answers to Adam Boulton's questions were wholly inadequate.  The Prime Minister expressed no concerns at the simultaneous swooping of anti-terror police on a Member of Parliament's home, constituency office and parliamentary office.  He was silent about the implications of anti-terror police confiscating an MP's correspondence with constituents, his phone and computer and searching through historic love letters between Damian Green and his wife.  He said nothing about the disabling of Mr Green's parliamentary email service, such that constituents receive an automatic reply saying that the account has been disabled for security reasons. It's just a matter for the police, Mr Brown kept saying.  That was a completely inadequate answer from a man who regularly received leaked documents when Labour was in opposition.  The Prime Minister needs to realise that people are very concerned about the integrity of our democracy as a result of Thursday.

Most public anger from the Tory benches is, however, being directed at the House of Commons Speaker, Michael Martin.  The Daily Mail records the fury of Douglas Carswell MP - a regular critic of Mr Martin - and also of Iain Duncan Smith:

"If it turns out that the Speaker gave the go-a-head for this raid, I will be demanding to his face, on every occasion that I can, that Mr Martin now quit. The purpose of the Commons Speaker is to preside over an institution that holds government to account – not to give the green light to police raids against legitimate opposition... There needs to be a pretty good explanation as to why he sanctioned this raid. If the Speaker can’t provide one, he should go. I have spoken to MPs on both sides of the Commons who are shocked and outraged by this." - Douglas Carswell MP

"Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith wrote to the Speaker last night to protest at the ‘abuse of the principle of the supremacy of Parliament’. Mr Duncan Smith told Mr Martin that he and other officers of the House had a ‘prime responsibility to make sure that the agencies of government do not consider it their right to treat Parliament like any other department or agency in the land’. He demanded: ‘Who else will our constituents feel they can turn to, to settle legitimate grievances, if they come to believe that the police or any other agency can cow this House into subservience?’ Mr Duncan Smith called for a parliamentary inquiry into the affair and an emergency debate as soon as Parliament returns next week." - Daily Mail

How you can bring some festive cheer to our troops overseas

This year's Conservative Future Christmas social action project is seeing activists sending packs of supplies, food and presents to our troops overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan - and all ConservativeHome readers have been invited to get involved.

It's a fantastic way of bringing some festive cheer to the troops serving our country overseas and Anastasia Beaumont-Bott explains here how you can do your bit:

1. Shoe boxes. All packages under 2kg for troops will be sent out free of charge by Royal Mail! Shoe boxes are the perfect size for packing pressies and goodies and to ensure they arrive in time for Christmas, they have to be ready by 5th December for Afghanistan, and by 10th December for Iraq.
2. Goodies, foods, and pressies! This is the fun part. It's time to dig deep and come up with the goods. You know that can of soup in your cupboard that doesn't go out of date until 2012? Yeah, we'll have that for the packs. You know those nice pair of socks you got given for Christmas ages ago but have never worn and are still in the packaging? Yeah, we'll have them too! But you know that chocolate bar? Not so good, it will melt in the mail. Here are some other things you might want to think about including: magazines (though please be aware of what is culturally acceptable in Iraq and Afghanistan), soap, hand cream, biscuits (though not chocolate ones), paperback books, suduko puzzle books, packs of tissues, pic 'n' mix sweets (apparently VERY popular!), diluting juice powder sachets, soup sachets (think cup a soup etc...), deodorants (NOT aerosols though, only roll ons) etc.
   

ICM: Tories up to 45% and 15% ahead

An ICM poll for tomorrow's Guardian suggests voters are unimpressed with the PBR.

The Tory lead is up to 15%.

More here.

"Is it not a breach of Parliamentary Privilege for the police to arrest a Member of Parliament for using information he received for Parliamentary purposes?"

And other questions for ministers; all just released by the formidable brain of Dominic Grieve:

Cameron advocates taxpayer-underwriting of commercial lending to business

Last week in my analysis of the positioning of the parties in the economic crisis I suggested that the Tories were strongest on most issues but that Labour were in danger of 'owning' 'policy activism'.  Monday's poorly-received PBR illustrates the dangers of the wrong kind of activism but conscious of not appearing to "walk on by" during the recession, David Cameron today advocated "monetary activism" to help Britain escape recession.  Key sections of his speech to Policy Exchange are highlighted below.

Bank mistreatment of small businesses: "In recent months, I have been inundated with letters and emails from business owners. I want to read you just one. It’s from a married couple, in their sixties, who run a small computer consultancy business... They should have been looking forward to a well-earned retirement.  But at the end of September, because of a combination of holidays and sickness, there was a delay in processing their monthly invoice.  So they telephoned and wrote to RBS/NatWest to extend their overdraft temporarily – but nothing happened.  Not even a reply at first.  More calls were made, more letters written, visits to the local branch undertaken but still nothing.  In the meantime, their direct debits – which they asked to be stopped – were rejected, incurring charges.  They say: “As I write the overdraft is … well over £4,000; we continue to incur additional fees and interest rates on a daily basis, both by NatWest and by those whose payments we have missed”.  To top it all off, their “winter fuel payments have been consumed by the ongoing fees and charges”.  Their story is not unique.  Talk to virtually any business owner right now and they all say the same: We can’t get credit or the loans to tie us over. Rates are going up. We’re incurring charge after charge and being effectively strangled into submission. It has to be said. What a disgraceful way to treat good, honest, hard working people who are simply trying to provide for themselves and their family. What a shameful way for banks to act towards the very same people – the taxpayer - who have supported them in their hour of need."

Live highlights from David Cameron's 8am event

8am, Mr Cameron is due to be talking about the economy but my guess is that he'll be questioned on a certain other matter!  Highlights (not verbatim) follow:

8.07am: Begins with joke about host Policy Exchange. It's not always my favourite think tank!  He welcomes Neil O'Brien as new Head of PX.

8.08am: Economy speech begins with concern about banks' behaviour towards small businesses.

8,09am: Labour doesn't attempt to address real recession, only recession in its poll rating. It focus is politics, not policies.

8.11am: The Government is being distracted from the most important task: "Monetary activism".

8.12am: Monetary activism means lower interest rates and better credit lines to business.  Four-out-of-ten businesses are reporting poorer access to credit.  It was not for this that the Conservatives supported bank recapitalisation.  It is now clear that recapitalisation is failing.

8.15am: Labour's cut in VAT is the wrong solution. It may even make the recovery more difficult.

8.17am: Conservatives believe that there should be a new and temporary National Loan Guarantee Scheme to underwrite billions of facilities to business and require a commercial insurance fee, in return, to protect the taxpayer.  France has just introduced a similar scheme.

The "judicial intimidation" of Damian Green

Lots of posts last night so I thought I'd try and summarise what we know in one post:

What happened?  Damian Green was arrested yesterday and his Kent and House of Commons offices searched by nine counter-intelligence officers.  Mr Green spent nine hours in custody but has not been charged. He was apparently under investigation for handling four leaks of Home Office information on matters relating to the Government's record on immigration.

Why?  The authorities may have wanted to frighten Mr Green. They may have wanted to frighten all civil servants and MPs and stop the increasing regularity of leaks from Whitehall.

Mr Green has the Tory leadership's support: David Cameron is standing by Mr Green and is "very angry" at what some Tories are describing as "Stalinesque" behaviour by the authorities.  "Stalinesque" might be thought to imply suspicion of Gordon Brown's involvement but his office were very quick to deny involvement.  As Greg Hands has noted, however, it was a typical Brownian denial - not absolving him comprehensively from involvement.

When did ministers know?  This is now one of the most important questions.  Even if Brown didn't know when did the Home Secretary know?  Given that Boris Johnson and others received prior warnings - but were unable to act - it seems very unlikely that a Home Office Minister (who did have the power to stop the police and may have even had to sanction what happened) did not have prior knowledge.  Such is the reputation of this Government, few are likely to believe ministers' denials anyway.  If Jacqui Smith did know she should resign.

Why were counter-terrorism powers used?  This seems to be yet another example of their misuse.  As David Davis told Today, this had nothing to do with terrorism and comes close to "judicial intimidation".

MPs will be outraged at the police searching one of their colleague's offices: There is something worryingly undemocratic about the police entering an MP's Commons office and undertaking a search.  There is probably no coincidence in the fact that parliament wasn't sitting yesterday.  As Iain Dale noted in a superb post, if MPs had been sitting many might have "physically barred" the police's way.

Many, many MPs receive leaks: As the BBC's Norman Smith told Today listeners at about 6.30am if every MP who had been passed confidential information was arrested the Commons would be half-empty.  Jim Naughtie himself noted that Brown made his early reputation by receiving numerous leaked documents from inside Whitehall.  There's extraordinary hypocrisy here - not least from a Government that couldn't/ wouldn't keep its own Pre-Budget Report secret over last weekend. 

This is another PR disaster for the Government: It's not just the BBC that is incredulous.  The Daily Mail leads with the story and as the beneficiary of some of the leaks is going to be very sympathetic to Mr Green.  There are few areas of Labour's record that exhibit more incompetence that its record on immigration.  The public are unlikely to have sympathy with attempts to hide, for example, the fact that 5,000 illegal workers were cleared for security details.  That story is reportedly one of Damian Green's leaks and a very clear example of whistleblowing in the public interest.

Britain is not Zimbabwe: Yesterday's events were deeply worrying but Britain is not Zimbabwe and we must be careful about suggesting otherwise.  To do so risks insulting the suffering of women like Memory.  As Robert H Halfon has previously blogged: We must not trivialise real evil.

Tim Montgomerie

When did ministers know?

Newsnight reports that Boris Johnson was told of the police's intention to arrest Damian Green and objected.

That must mean the Home Secretary was also told and did nothing to stop the heavy-handed policy sting.  Unlike Boris, Jacqui Smith had the power to stop the sting.

Ben Brogan blogs that Brown knew nothing of this.  The Tory use of the term "Stalinesque" to describe today's events might suggest they think otherwise.

ConservativeHome's view: Damian Green was acting in public interest

The above story - click here - detailing the breakdown in security that has stemmed from Labour's failure to control our borders is one very good reason why Damian Green was certainly acting in the public interest when he received information of a confidential nature from within Whitehall.  Much is still unconfirmed but this - ConHome is being told - is one of the stories resulting from Damian Green's source(s).

There is also something extraordinarily over-the-top in how nine counter-intelligence officers were involved in today's operation against Damian Green.

And why today when Parliament has gone into temporary recess before the Queen's Speech?  Did the Government want to avoid awkward parliamentary questions?

Tim Montgomerie

11pm: Alistair Burt MP has left this (verified) comment:

"This man is my friend whom I have known for over thirty years. A more conscientious and public spirited politician you could not hope to find. I hope the Goverment has good lawyers to defend itself in due course, because Damian's friends will take them to the cleaners if he does not. When we think about the deception and deceit which has characterised this Government, the arrest of an Opposition politician just takes the biscuit. A step too far. We now have to remove not just a useless Government, but a dangerous one. And you can quote me."

Cameron "supportive" of Damian Green and angry at "Stalinesque" treatment of him

Damian Green was arrested in Kent. Taken into London to be interviewed by Met.

DG is saying his actions in exposing the Government's record on immigration were manifestly in public interest.

He denies any wrongdoing and stands by his actions.

The authorities' actions are being described by Tory sources as "Stalinesque" citing the fact that nine couter-terrorism police officers were involved in interviewing DG and searching his Kent home and Commons offices.

It is being said that it is "inconceivable" that Government itself weren't involved in authorising today's behaviour by police.

David Cameron said to be fully supportive of Damian Green and angry at today's events.

Tim Montgomerie

Treasury mole leaking to Damian Green?

Paul Waugh has more.

9pm: My understanding is that Damian Green, Shadow Immigration Minister, has been arrested but not charged for receiving information covered by the Official Secrets Act.

9pm from James Kirkup @ The Telegraph: "The following facts have just been supplied to journalists at Westminster by Conservative Party spokesmen: "Damian Green, the Conservative immigration spokesman was arrested earlier today. He was detained on suspicion of aiding or procuring misconduct in public office.  The arrest is connected to the disclosure of several Home Office documents over the last year. Police officers searched Mr Green's home in Kent and his Commons office. At the time of posting, he remains under arrest at a central London police station.  He has not been charged with any crime. Mr Green denies any wrongdoing and and has not been charged with any crime."

9.05pm: The papadoms have arrived at my table in the Indian, Rochester Row!

Tim Montgomerie

Brown's standing slides after PBR

"Since the last Populus poll on November 7 to 9, Mr Brown has dropped sharply as the best leader “right now, to deal with Britain's economy in recession”, from 52 to 42 per cent, with a big fall among the middle classes. But he is still ahead of David Cameron, on 36 per cent, up four points. Meanwhile, Mr Cameron is still ahead, by 41 to 33 per cent, as the preferred leader to take Britain forward after the next general election."  Much more in The Times here.

PS Coffee House is right. A Tory story (involving a shadow minister) is about to break...

Boris scraps westwards extension of congestion charge

In one of his biggest decisions since becoming Mayor - competing with the ousting of Ian Blair and the freezing of council tax - Boris Johnson has, as expected, scrapped the westwards extension of Ken Livingstone's congestion charge.

Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers - who differs with the Mayor on an alternative airport to Heathrow - welcomed the Mayor's honouring of West Londoners' views:

"Boris is today honouring an important election pledge to let local people decide on the future of the Western Extension of the congestion charge. Wherever they are in the country, it is always important that local congestion charging schemes are locally driven not forced on people from above. This consultation shows that residents in West London want the extension scrapped and Boris is right to respond to their views."

What should the online Brown shop sell?

Marking a year of Kevin Rudd our sister party in Australia have launched an online RuddShop and it has won some positive coverage.  The memorabilia that the shop promotes pokes fun at the Australian Labour PM's various faults and weaknesses.

If we had an online 'Brown Shop' what would it sell?

What should be Tory policy on the 45p tax band?

5pm update:

THE RESULTS OF TODAY'S POLL

• 41% of 711 people who answered the poll said the Conservatives should oppose the 45% tax band.
• 16% said we should support the band.
• 39% said we should wait and see.

WE'LL BE DEBATING ANOTHER IMPLICATION OF THE PBR IN THE MORNING.

***

The Conservative Party's clearest statement on Labour's plan to impose a 45p income tax band on those earning over £150,000 was made by our Number 2 Treasury spokesman, Philip Hammond.  This is what he said (as recorded by Coffee House):

“Clearly if the government is going to announce a huge package of additional borrowing today there will have to be large tax rises after the election.  Of course people on higher incomes will have to pay their share of that but don’t let anybody be deluded by the political spin into thinking that the black hole that Labour has created will be filled by a tax on a really quite small number of very higher earners, it won't.  We are talking about a couple of billions of pounds, the hole is likely to be a hundred billon pounds big, its going to require tax rises across the board and I’m afraid it will be ordinary families and businesses that are hit not just the very rich.”

What do you think the Tory position should be?

VOTE IN OUR SPECIAL POLL HERE.

Exclusive: How the Tories will save one million hours of police time

David Ruffley, the shadow minister for police reform, has exclusively revealed through a piece for the Platform blog this afternoon how the next Conservative Government will save one million hours of police time.

He pledges today that the Conservatives will reverse what he describes as the "bureaucratic madness" of allowing only Crown Prosecution Service lawyers to charge the vast majority offenders at police stations - a power that was taken away from police sergeants in 2003.

By doing so, he explains, the Conservatives will cut back on huge amounts of unnecessary bureaucracy and form-filling and save a similarly large amount of police time.

The comments thread below is closed so that all comments can be left below David's piece on Platform.

Jonathan Isaby

Two Tory MEPs caught up in Mumbai terrorist attacks

11pm

David Cameron has issued the following statement:

“I utterly condemn the attacks that have taken place in Mumbai, and the terrible loss of life that has occurred. My thoughts are with all those who have been caught up in these attacks. India and Britain stand together at this time in the face of terrorism.”

9.15pm update

The Times has a report here.

9pm update:

I've just had a text from Syed saying that he is OK but that his understanding from the ground is that 80 people are dead, 200 people are injured and that some tourists have been taken hostage. He gathers that more than 20 terrorists have been involved and says that there's a "long night ahead". Indeed so. We're all thinking of you, Saj and all the other victims of these atrocities, the horror of which is becoming more apparent by the minute.

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8.45pm update:

Syed has been quoted by the Daily Star website as having said that he managed to escape from the hotel as the gunmen arrived.

"I was staying at the Taj Mahal with a party of MEPs from the international trade committee on a fact-finding mission. I had just left the hotel when the gunmen arrived and now they’ve closed off the hotel and we have been told not to go back. As far as I know the Taj Mahal Palace, the Oberoi Hotel and the Leopold restaurant have been attacked. One of my friends said he walked past the gunmen as they arrived, one just looked at him then turned round and shot someone else. He’s in shock. We have been texting people trapped inside the hotel to see if they are okay. One German MEP Erica Mann is hiding in the kitchen and I think British MEP Sajjad Karim is still in the hotel. "

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Party donations published for July to September 2008

The Electoral Commission has today published the records of donations to political parties for the third quarter of this year.

Donations to the Conservative Party between July and September totalled £4,060,633, including £54,000 from Stuart Wheeler (pictured) - his largest single donation to the party since February 2006. A more detailed list of significant donations to Tory coffers is below.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party raked in £7,569,090 - although £2.25million of that came from loans (from Lord Sainsbury and Sir Gulam Noon) being translated into gifts.

The vast proportion of the Labour donations come from the unions, but the list also included gifts from several well known names including JK Rowling (£1million), Nancy Dell'Olio (£15,000), Alastair Campbell (£12,500), Tony Blair (£7,500), Sir Alex Ferguson (£7,500), Geoffrey Robinson (£7,934.40), David Blunkett (£5,000 to the Scottish Labour Party),

The Lib Dems received £599,177, including £10,495 each from Sir Elton John and David Furnish.

During the same period, the Greens and UKIP netted £188,000 and £33,663 respectively.

A solid performance from David Cameron at PMQs

Jonathan Isaby's verdict: Time and again Brown refused to admit the extent of the debt into which he is taking the country and was forced to accept, under questioning from David Cameron, that the VAT rise to 18.5% had effectively been considered. A solid and confident perfomance by Cameron, whom I would deem to have won the encounter, albeit not by a huge margin.   

12.29pm Tory MP David Jones asks why the value of the £ against the $ has fallen by a quarter since July. Brown uses the same line as at a recent PMQs, when he said Lady Thatcher said that Britons should never talk down the currency.

12.28pm The Speaker prevents Brown from quoting Andrew Lansley again.

12.28pm Tory MP Douglas Carswell tries to get Brown to admit that national debt will double to £1 trillion, as David Cameron had done unsuccessfully before. But he wouldn't, merely saying that the figures were oin the PBR.

12.22pm Nicholas Soames seeks an assurance that the defence budget not be cut. Brown does not give a straight answer.

12.20pm Brown announces that April 2nd will see the next meeting of the G20 in London and that President Obama expects to be there.

12.19pm Labour backbencher Ian Davidson reopens the class war by saying those born with silver spoons in their mouths can't understand the problems of most people.

12.17pm Cleggs says Brown's answer was bluster and calls for fair tax cuts by closing pensions loopholes for millionaires, for example, saying he toyed with the hope of British people and let them down.

12.15pm Nick Clegg says Alistair Darling's PBR included the word fairness eight times, but that it wasn't fair.

12.12pm Brown's pre-prepared taunt at Cameron is that he s a "do nothing leader of a do nothing party".

12.11pm Soundbites of the day from Cameron: "This Prime Minister has given us the debt levels of Italy and the accounting practices of Enron" and "The country's going bankrupt, he's be found out and New Labour is dead".

12.10pm Cameron compares debt levels to those seen when Denis Healey was Chancellor. Brown again asserts that the Tories want to do absolutely nothing and let the recession take it course.

1 2.09pm Brown taunts Cameron with a quote from Andrew Lansley that recession "Could be good for us". Cameron points out that Lansley has apologised - unlike Brown for what he has done to the economy.

12.08pm Cameron repeats the question about doubling the national debt.

12.06pm DC asks whether Brown's plans double the national debt. Brown replies by saying that it will still be lower as a proportion of GDP than many other European countries.

12.04pm Cameron quotes the VAT document that was available on the internet. He says the party may make some FoI requests on the issue, asking if an even higher rise was considered. Brown says all kinds of things were considered and instead asks what the Toires would do. DC says he'd freeze council tax and various other schemes the Tories have announced.

12.03pm David Cameron asks why the treasury minister signed the document suggesting a VAT rise to 18.5%. Brown claims he has learnt lessons from when the Tories raised VAT in the past.

12.01pm Long-serving Tory MP Sir Peter Tapsell kicks things off by asking for an apology from Brown for wrecking the British economy. 'Tis not forthcoming...

Jonathan Isaby

At the last minute Brown decided against announcing an increase in VAT to 18.5%...

...but the cancellation of the announcement doesn't mean that the tax rise itself has also been cancelled.  Read Ben Brogan's hugely plausible account of the behind-the-scenes differences between Brown and Darling.

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has reacted to the leaked reports that Labour were planning to raise VAT to 18.5% (after the temporary, 13 month cut):

"This is Labour's secret tax bombshell. It explains why there is a black hole in the PBR. Because at the last minute Gordon Brown clearly decided to keep secret his plan to hit everyone with an extra tax rise to pay for his borrowing binge. Gordon Brown told us that he would have no “hidden manifesto” and that “everything is above board”. But these documents show that Labour was planning to deceive the British public, and will raise VAT on everyone after the election. Labour have a secret tax bombshell set to explode under the British people if they ever get re-elected. It tells you all you need to know about Gordon Brown and Labour."  

***
After your comment yesterday Comstock we used The Guardian frontpage especially for you :-)

YouGov: Tory lead at 4% before dust settles on PBR

More in The Telegraph.

The poll was conducted yesterday evening and today; largely BEFORE the negative press coverage had an opportunity to impact and the leaked reports of a VAT increase to 18.5%.

Safe

After yesterday's "outstanding" Commons performance, a PoliticsHome survey of Westminster insiders finds that George Osborne is seen as safe as Shadow Chancellor.  46% of the panel of journalists, parliamentarians and thought leaders answered "yes" to the following question: After several weeks of criticism has George Osborne's response to the PBR now secured his position as shadow chancellor? 38% said he was safe anyway.  15% answered no.

But George Osborne's renewed strength isn't just because of his barnstorming performance.  The tide started turning in his favour last week.  Some of his positions, for example, on matching Labour's spending plans were indefensible and there have been rushed-out announcements that have struggled to withstand scrutiny; eg the recruitment subsidy but he made the right judgment call on the big strategic issue of borrowing.  He recognised that debt was the big issue and focused on it relentlessly. It will be interesting to see if Mr O bounces back in the next survey of grassroots Tories.

The end of Brown's "strategic relationship" with the Daily Mail

The Press Gazette notes an interesting confession by the Daily Mail's Political Editor Benedict Brogan. Ben, speaking in a personal capacity, comes close to saying that his newspaper has been played by Gordon Brown:

"Brogan said that although Tony Blair was seen by many as "the master of spin", he believed the Gordon Brown spin machine was "even more formidable than the one attributed to Blair". "When the time comes to write a record of Gordon Brown's time as chancellor, I think the record will show that Gordon Brown was phenomenally good at building strategic alliances with certain newspapers, mine included, and certain journalists and using that to his advantage," he said."

From the look of today's Mail front page, the "strategic relationship" is over.  The juxtaposition of a grinning Brown with the £1TRILLION debt figure is particularly strong.

National debt counter launched on conservatives.com

Click here to get depressed.