Tories back wealth redistribution

The Conservatives should try to narrow the gap between rich and poor, the party's new policy chief has said.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Oliver Letwin said a future Conservative government should make wealth redistribution its goal.

New Tory leader David Cameron has put Mr Letwin in charge of an 18-month overhaul of party policy. Labour said the Conservatives lacked credibility on poverty and had opposed moves to reduce it.

Mr Letwin is in charge of six policy review groups, including a social justice team chaired by Iain Duncan Smith.

In his Telegraph interview, the Dorset West MP and former shadow chancellor said: "Of course it should be an aim to narrow the gap between rich and poor.

"We do redistribute money and we should redistribute money. But we have to find ways that empower people rather than reduce them to dependency."

*sigh*

I'm just amused its come to this. Someone had the genius idea that the way the Conservatives can beat New Labour is to sound like Old Labour. Totally bizarre. I wish they'd legalise dope already so I'd have some kind of method for coping with this insanity.

Well, if medical marijuana doesn't appeal, there is always Simon Heffer:

In an interview with my colleague Rachel Sylvester, Ollie decided to give millions of people the reason they have been searching for not to vote Conservative. He told them that his masterplan is to take the money they strive to earn by hard work and ingenuity, and that is already in the view of many of them incontinently taxed as it is, and give it away to others.

[...]

Ollie's commitment to Socialist-style redistribution is simply one of the most awesome and astonishing gaffes by a senior Tory in opposition that I can ever remember

[...]

With luck, the feast of alcoholic beverages over the next few days, and the general continuing irrelevance of the Tories, will help people to forget that Ollie ever went out in public and said something so humungously stupid.

I would warn his boss, David Cameron, however, that Ollie is likely to prove a serial offender in this regard. A period of permanent silence might be the best Christmas present for all concerned.

May I take this opportunity to thank Mr Blair on his shameful surrender on the EU Budget. Not content with bleeding us Brits to death with tax anyway, so now at the end of this parliament we will find ourselves £2 billion worse off to Europe.

If you'd enjoy feeling worse - take a look at the Spending and Taxation Spend-o-Meter from the Taxpayer's Alliance website so you can be assured this government wastes the rest of our money just as recklessly (figures as from April 6th)

Bah Humbug !!!


(seriously though guys, Merry Christmas!)

I think i've seen everything now... the conservative party launches a website to encourage liberal democrat voters to support David Cameron at the next general election.

What I would say is this - there indeed are obvious areas where the conservatives can learn from the lib dems; on civil liberties, on attention to the environment and global poverty (although as conservatives we should implement policies that actually work rather than just play the "feel good factor" like the left loves to do), and especially on devolution and localism - an area conservatives haave been shamefully lacking.

However we also cannot afford to compromise on areas where we disagree - on foreign policy, attitude toward Europe, how to run the economy, and support of family. We must be clear where to draw the line so we do not sacrifice our key principles.

Hey Guys!!

It's coming up to the end of the term and many of us are leaving. So i just thought i would say merry christmas to all - I think we had an excellent term and all deserve a pint !

I have just recieved an weekly CF email that has the suggested the webiste of the week is Bromsgrove CF - http://www.bromsgrovecf.org.uk/ - which im sure we can do alot better!

They decided it was website of the week because they were the first to use the new CF.com RSS feed giving them daily updated news and features.

I think it would be a good idea if we had this as well...

Merry Christmas!

Stanley "Tookie" Williams was executed today. The co-founder of "Crips, one of the world's biggest and deadliest gangs, in Los Angeles in 1971" was put to death by lethal injection after California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency.

Convicted of killing four people in 1979, he has always claimed his innocence. During his time in jail he has received nobel prize nominations for his influential books and teachings denouncing gang violence.

I would be interested to hear peoples views upon the death penalty in this case or more general if you wish. I cannot help but feel slightly disturbed at the death of Mr Williams after he demonstrated a reformed character, on top of the fact that he still claims his innocence. However some would argue that that was the main reason why he was denied clemancy.

Any thoughts?

Well, the website is offically on it's way! My original idea didn't quite work so i've had to start again but it's looking ok! Take a look, ideas ? Well post a comment, i'm interested to see what people think. BUT please remember this is just a work in progess and by no means the finished product, expect lots of changes over the coming week!

David Cameron is on Monday poised to announce a radical plan to increase the number of female Tory MPs.

Announcing a short-term freeze on candidate selection, Cameron is set to create an "A-list" of candidates, where women will feature strongly.

Half of the A-list candidates will be female and Cameron wants ethnic minority candidates to feature among its number.

Local Tory associations are being warned that they must select from the list unless they can prove there are 'exceptional circumstances'.

Commenting on the policy, deputy chairman Bernard Jenkin said: "The election of David Cameron as Conservative leader has demonstrated that there is a huge desire for change at all levels in the party.

"Members want to make sure that we have the best possible candidates at the next election and that the party is representative of Britain today."

I don't know about you but I am against this, it appears positive discrimination (if such a term is not an oxymoron) is being forced on us. Of course a am all for women being selected and then elected as MPs - but any selection policy should be done by the local association on the basis of merit and talent for the job, and not by the national party on the basis of whether or not you have a vagina.

Ken Clarke has branded David Cameron the most extreme eurosceptic ever to lead the Tory Party.

Europhile Mr Clarke condemned the new Tory leader's plans to cut the party's links with the European Parliament's main centre-right group.

He said pulling Tory MEPs out of the European People's Party would be a disastrous way for Mr Cameron to announce himself on the world stage.

He said Mr Cameron had been persuaded by Tory hardliners to look for allies "amongst the ultra-nationalist right".

"I hope he will take many months over his decision in the European Parliament and perhaps decide that being a more extreme eurosceptic than any of his predecessors is not the best way to launch himself on the international scene," he said.

Sour grapes? Probably. But it is quite correct that the Conservatives should be consistent and say the same things in Europe as they do at home - even if that means breaking "alliances". Cameron is right on this, and my respectful advice to Ken Clarke is to be quiet.

An ICM poll for the Daily Telegraph puts the Conservative Party two points ahead of Labour. In even better news, 40 per cent of those asked said that if Gordon Brown was to become the next Labour leader then they would vote for Cameron.

"A YouGov poll for the Sunday Times newspaper puts the Tories on 37 per cent, Labour on 36 per cent and the Lib Dems to 18 per cent". (http://www.epolitix.com/)

Also I cannot help but notice how much pressure Charles Kennedy is now under since Cameron became Conservative leader.

Boris Johnson has resigned as editor of the Spectator magazine to return to the Conservative front bench as Shadow Higher Education Minister.

Go for it Boris, you're just what we need for higher education. Congratulations.

Firstly here is a BBC news report on Blair's first ever performance as leader of the opposition:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/bb_rm_fs.stm?rhs=/
nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_4500000/newsid_4507400
/bb_rm_4507430.stm

As you can see, Cameron's was superior in so many ways. However as Nick Robinson rather amusingly pointed that - "Tony Blair, who always accuses the Tories of being obsessed with Europe, also mentioned precisely that subject".

Lastly if people missed it here is a superb and comedy genius report on the David Cameron campaign. A must watch...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/bb_rm_fs.stm?rhs=/
nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_4500000/newsid_4504900
/bb_rm_4504972.stm

He came unstuck at the end, which was a shame, but my confidence in the man just continues to rise. He is true gift to the Party

All these plus some quite funny comments can be found on the Nick Robinson newslog at

http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/

"Oh good, we've got sandwiches"

Now I don't often buy it cause its on display in the library but check out todays Western Mail.

It seems that the Govts White Paper for Wales is treating Welsh politics as the pauper to mighty Westminster:

To achieve a primary Law (ie One that the Scottish Parliament can pass as of right):

Assembly agrees
Sec of state agrees and does order in council
HOc and Lords agree

What a waste of a chance for civil rights equal to the Scots and a federal constitutional monarchy.

And don't get me started on how the changed to the electoral system are a blatant fix in favour of Labour on gerrymandering levels.

Come on cameron, sort out Hain and Wales gratitude may get you closer to outright victory at the next general!!

Here is David Cameron New Shadow Cabinet

Chancellor - George Osborne
Foreign Secretary - William Hague
Home Secretary - David Davis
Chairman - Francis Maude
Defence - Liam Fox
Chief Whip - Patrick McLoughlin
Policy director - Oliver Letwin
Education - David Willetts
Common Leader - Theresa May
Leader in Lords - Lord Strathclyde
International Development - Andrew Mitchell
Transport - Chris Grayling
Constitutional Affairs Secretary - Oliver Heald
Northern Ireland - David Lidington
Trade and Industry - Alan Duncan
Health - Andrew Lansley
Chief Secretary to the Treasury - Theresa Villiers
Wales - Cheryl Gillan
Scotland - David Mundell
Work and Pensions - Phillip Hammond
Culture, Media, Sport - Hugo Swire

Well guy's, a lot of political events have happened over the past few days and i thought it was time that I got down to write something.

It all starts (as we all know, or should know) with the Cameron election victory against his rival Davis. I’m sure that all of us are ecstatic with the decisive result, Cameron winning well over 2 to 1! This was vital because it means that Cameron now has a full strong mandate not only from his MP's but also us, the members. Lets say that he won by a thousand votes, then we would have been in serious trouble because the party would have been split… just like the past.

The next day came Prime Ministers Question Time and what a scene! Cameron played the cool yet confident figure that blew Blair apart! Cameron decided not to play the 'Punch and Judy' politics, however, I did see a hint of it. I think this works well in two ways, firstly, and u may hate me for this, but Cameron would probably lose against Blair if he performed in this manner. Secondly, it shows that we really have changed and the people will decide to listen to us! Can you remember when 'the Sun' actually supported us? well it was a long time ago - however - the tide is turning our way. It starts with the headline "Cam is King of Commons." Or if that doesn’t excite u, how about “virtuoso performance.” No? Well I’ll give u a little bit more - "Cameron hit the ground running and was totally in control." You may have read in earlier posts how I refer to the Sun, well there is a very good reason - 8 million people pick up the paper on May 5th and a lot of them decide who to vote for by the headline. I don’t need to remind you that the last election has Blair and Brown walking into No. 10 with football shirts with the headline "Come on you Reds"!

So another really exciting thing has happened! William Hague is back in the Shadow Cabinet! Here is a quick run through of the major changes so far:

Leader: David Cameron
Chancellor: George Osborne
Foreign: William Hague
Home secretary: David Davis
Party chairman: Francis Maude
Defence: Liam FoxEducation: David Willetts
Commons leader: Theresa May
Constitutional affairs: Oliver Heald

This is the first time since we lost the election in 1997 that we don’t have members from the Thatcher era, which is important even though we would argue they did a good job!

I don’t know about you but I think this is our chance, this is our chance to show that we are a credible opposition waiting for Government.

When Labour came to power 1997, public spending was £322.1 billion a year. In 2007 it will have risen to £580 billion. (a rise of 80%)

In 2000, total public spending as a proportion of GDP was 38%. In this (financial) year, it will be 42%. This is the most rapid increase in any advanced country in this time period.

Since Labour came to power, 750,000 extra people have been added to the public payroll. (Thats a lot of diversity officer under-secretaries methinks)

China currently accounts for 13% of global output. This is predicted to reach 19% in a decade's time. That would rank it equal with America and 2% above the combined 25 countries of the present EU.

The question is not whether we should cut spending and reduce taxes, but by how much. The Blairite/Brownite consensus cannot be sustained if this nation is to compete in the world economy and take up the challenge countries like China will present us. As our new leader (and hopefully our next prime minister) David Cameron simply must address this.

So its now official we have Cameron as leader.

Lets hope that the compassionate conservative talk is more than just that, talk.

The end of this government came closer today.

I got this through an email - i will post other stuff later, but im a little ill at the mo lol!

This test only has one question, but it's a very important one. Please don't answer it without giving it some serious thought. By giving an honest answer you will discover where you stand morally.The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation, in which you will have to make a decision. Remember that your answer needs to be honest, yet spontaneous. Thoughtfulness is important for this evaluation to be meaningful!
Ready?

Begin!
You're in Florida. In Miami, to be exact. There is chaos around you, causedby a hurricane and severe floods. This is a flood of major proportions.
You are a photo journalist working for a major newspaper caught in the middle of this great disaster. The situation is nearly hopeless. You're trying to shoot career-making photos. There are houses and people swirling around you, some disappearing under the water. Nature is showing all its destructive fury. You see a man in the water! He is fighting for his life, trying not tobe taken away with the water and debris.
You move closer. Somehow the man looks familiar. Suddenly, you know who itis ... it's George W. Bush! At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him under, forever.
You have two options. You can save him or you can take the most dramatic photos of your life.
You can save the life of George W. Bush, or you can shoot a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo, documenting the death of one of the world's most powerful men.Now, here's the question (please give an honest answer).
Would you select colour film, or rather go with the classic simplicity of black and white?

So on the eve of Cameron being crowned Conservative Party Leader he has a bit of a problem on his hands. Rumours have now been spreading for several days that Cameron intends to demote Davis from shadow home secretary to shadow defence secretary. Whilst this is still a significant position, those close to Davis has claimed that if the rumours are true then Mr Davis will refuse to be part of the shadow cabinet. Liam Fox is expected to become the new shadow Home Secretary.

On the issue of our yellow friends, Charles Kennedy has today rubbished any suggestions of a pact between the Conservatives and the Lib dems. Whilst Cameron has repeatedly claimed that he wants to reclaim the centre ground, Kennedy in his interview on Sky News Sunday stated that:

"We do best as a party, and the last two elections under my own leadership have shown this, where we campaign independently and then subsequently conduct ourselves independently in the House of Commons"

Thank goodness for that