Newslinks for Saturday 18th February 2012

4.30pm Kwasi Kwarteng MP on ThinkTankCentral: No-one we spoke to foresaw the rise of the Salafists. But we are optimistic about the future of democracy in Egypt

3.45pm WATCH: Cameron calls health summit but excludes BMA and other anti-Bill groups

12.45pm David T Breaker on Comment: "The real solution is fewer laws, less control and greater freedom. It's fairly simple: If you don't make laws that restrict people, except to physically protect others from their actions, then you won't need exemptions." Human rights are increasingly the enemy of freedom

11am WATCH: Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd repeatedly uses f-word in leaked out-takes video

ToryDiary: Nucleus - the new Tory-led group leading the Euro-enthusiast resistance?

J P Floru on Comment says that the Argies should keep their hands off Antarctica

Local Government: Conservative-run East Northamptonshire plans 3.5% Council Tax rise

LeftWatch: That Blasted Hilton! Leading Labour Blogger to Miliband - "I have come to fear that you might actually win the next general election."

WATCH: Obama - Congress "did the right thing" over payroll tax

Brokenshire flies back from Jordan.  May ready to jet off there - as the quest to deport Abu Qatada goes on...

"The Home Secretary intervened in the drive to reach a deal with Jordan by announcing yesterday that she was to negotiate directly with that Government. Mrs May is to travel to Amman in the hope of securing assurances that will allow the radical Muslim cleric to be deported from Britain. Her announcement that she would go to Amman “in the near future†came after James Brokenshire, the Security Minister, returned from Jordan, where he had held initial talks about a deal." - Daily Mail

...And Cameron returns from France.  His French election message? "I wish Sarkozy well for the battle ahead". (No, really.)

"At an Anglo-French summit clearly designed to show good relations between the two conservative leaders, Mr Cameron admitted recent “differences†– which have seen them trading insults at times – but said their friendship was “easily strong enough to survive the odd bump and bounceâ€.  When asked whether he would join Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, in campaigning for Mr Sarkozy in the upcoming French presidential elections, Mr Cameron demurred and said he was not sure his support would “have the effect my friend would like it to haveâ€. " - Financial Times (£)

> Yesterday on ConservativeHome: WATCH - Cameron says French nuclear deal will create 1500 jobs

Cameron should level with Scots over devolution offer - Scotsman

Hague: "We are not favouring the idea of anybody attacking Iran at the moment.â€

"Mr Hague points out that “all options are on the tableâ€. This is diplo-speak for military action, which Britain has not ruled out. And nor, he points out, have the Lib Dems, who as partners in the Coalition support the policy even if their manifesto is expressly opposed to a military solution against Iran. Britain’s involvement in the brinkmanship with Iran is the sharp end of a wider diplomatic effort that has, in his words, seen Britain advance on the world stage after years of retreat under Labour." - Daily Telegraph interview

China is playing a shrewd long game - John Redwood's Blog

Alleluia! Defender of faith Pickles restores council prayers

"Councils will be able to override a court ban and hold prayers, Eric Pickles said last night after rushing new powers on to the statute book. Mr Pickles, the Local Government Secretary, moved to supersede last week’s controversial ruling by signing a parliamentary order that came into effect at midnight. It brings forward a power contained in the Government’s Localism Act, which was due to come into force in April." - The Times (£)

“He has a social conscience for sure, but anything on the economy and he is an über-Thatcherite in a way that is quite mad"

"His frustrations have left everyone in Government wondering how long he will stick around. It is difficult to tell, say those around him, because he is “not naturally happyâ€. He is said to have told friends that he may consider a change of role within No 10 — the thought of becoming an MP is not said to excite him.  In any case, those at the heart of the Prime Minister’s operation say that his personal connection with Mr Cameron remains beyond doubt." - The Times (£) profiles Steve Hilton

The Daily Mail continues its war on Francis Maude by reporting that a female civil servant laddering a £5 pair of tights would get £4.50 compensation here

Centre for Social Justice says budget married couples tax break could be worth £1600 a year

"David Cameron was urged to tell his Coalition partners “enough is enoughâ€."Conservative MP Stewart Jackson said: “He has to say to the Lib Dems: ‘This is an important issue of fundamental principle to us and if you don’t like it, you can lump it’.†Last night sources indicated that the calls by the Centre for Social Justice think-tank were gaining backing within Government as Chancellor George Osborne seeks to provide a boost for the middle classes on March 21." - Daily Express

Matthew Parris: "Our own democracy would struggle to withstand half this pain. Theirs is far more fragile. Give the Greeks time"

"If Greek voters turned to parties of the extremes of right and left at their next election (their one-time occupying power, Germany, having hobbled and humiliated their mainstream parties), what would Brussels do then? For the precautionary and sometimes plodding nation that it is, Germany can show surprising bursts of overconfidence; of not thinking things through…if we smash up the Greek state now, we in the West are playing with fire." - Matthew Parris, The Times (£)

Court raps Cable over his £9,000 tuition charges that fail to comply with equality rules - Daily Mail

FSA probes ‘death bonds’ group with Lib Dem link - Financial Times (£)

Ian Paisley is out of intensive care - Newsletter

Green taxes are adding 15% to your energy bills - Daily Mail

Shadow Transport Secretary Maria Eagle backs two-thirds of coalition's transport spending cuts - The Guardian

Cameron to hold healthcare summit on Monday - Sky News

Rio Ferdinand Twitter latest 1) He tweets his support for Labour's campaign to stop Government reforms to the NHS - The Independent

Rio Ferdinand Twitter latest 2) Miliband tweet misspells footballer's name - The Sun

Miliband blunder latest: Child handed to Labour leader bursts into tears - Daily Mail

Bursting into tears latest: Mum weeps after Edwina Currie radio lashing - The Sun

John Bercow's aides asked official portrait artist to make sure Speaker was painted the same size as his taller predecessors - Daily Telegraph

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Newslinks for Friday 17th February 2012

5.30pm Martin Parsons on Comment: Does Trevor Phillips really believe in tolerating diversity?

5pm Today's Teatime newslinks include the all-smiles Cameron/ Sarkozy press conference and news that Theresa May is heading to Jordan to resolve the Qatada affair

3.30pm WATCH: Cameron - French nuclear deal will create 1500 jobs

1.30pm ToryDiary: Clever Trevor, stupid Phillips. The first spots the real target of Warsi's Vatican speech. The second hasn't grasped that human rights include religious ones.

12.30pm ToryDiary: Ken Clarke attacks ConHome as that "blasted website"

11.45am ConHomeUSA newslinks: The truth about Obama's stimulus

10.30am Local Government:

ToryDiary: It's Day Two of Maude's axe-swinging exploits (as the Mail questions his claims on Day One)

Columnist Bruce Anderson: David Cameron's speech yesterday was the best he has yet delivered. The Unionist fightback has begun.

Richard Harrington MP on Comment: Aid to India is in everyone's interests

Also on Comment: Lord Ashcroft - We should all join the Queen in saluting the achievements of 24 year old Chris Preddie OBE

Majority Conservatism: The fourth part in our "Building A Majority" series - Take the NHS off the table. Again.

Local Government:

ThinkTankCentral: Chris Nicholson: Including student migrants in the drive to cut immigration is harming economic growth

WATCH: U.N Assembly calls on Assad to go

Au revoir or adieu? Cameron in last pre-French election Sarkozy summit

"Britain will today sign the first concrete order for parts for a new generation of nuclear power plants, amid growing concern that the project could be scuppered if François Hollande wins the French presidential election. David Cameron will travel to Paris for his last summit with President Sarkozy before the election, where they will focus on increased energy and defence co-operation as well as calls for tougher action on Syria." - The Times (£)

Greece news:

> Yesterday on ConservativeHome: MPsETC - Leader of Tory MEPs, Martin Callanan, leads calls for Greece to be put out of its €uro misery

Trevor Phillips tells Christians: You’re no different to Muslims who want sharia law

" “To me there’s nothing different in principle with a Catholic adoption agency, or indeed Methodist adoption agency, saying the rules in our community are different and therefore the law shouldn’t apply to us. Why not then say sharia can be applied to different parts of the country? It doesn’t work.' [Phillips] added that religious groups should be free to follow their own rules within their own settings but not outside. “Once you start to provide public services that have to be run under public rules, for example child protection, then it has to go with public law" - Daily Telegraph

Hague after U.N Assembly Syria vote: Assad must go

"Following the vote, British foreign secretary, William Hague said the resolution "sent a clear signal of the international community's condemnation of the Syrian regime's actions and intention to hold to account those responsible for the ongoing atrocities." He added: "The message is unambiguous. The violence must stop immediately. President Assad and the Syrian regime must heed the call of the international community and allow a peaceful political transition to resolve the crisis." - The Guardian 

Cameron post-Scotland speech Salmond meeting is - unsurprisingly - deadlocked...

"David Cameron opened the way for years of bitter wrangling over Scotland’s future after a tense meeting with Alex Salmond ended in recrimination yesterday. The Prime Minister went to Edinburgh to offer Scotland more powers if it voted to remain in the United Kingdom. But the talks with Scotland’s First Minister about the shape of the referendum broke up sourly with Mr Salmond demanding proper details of the offer and Mr Cameron’s aides saying that he had found the meeting frustrating as Mr Salmond resorted to flannel." - Daily Mail 

...as Tories fret over devo-max

"Former Cabinet minister Lord Forsyth said: ‘Devo max would mean creating an English Parliament and a federal government. ‘If the Prime Minister is saying that Scotland could get more powers, that’s certainly not something the Government should do without consulting the people in England.’  Tory MP Philip Davies voiced the fears of many Tories that handing further powers to Scotland would leave English voters with an even worse deal." - Daily Mail

Scotland Comment:

> Yesterday on Conservative Home:

Huhne and Pryce only eight feet apart in the dock - but don't glance at each other once - during court hearing on perverting the course of justice claims

"Pryce, a respected economist, spent an anxious 15 minutes waiting for the hearing to start. Dressed in a brown jacket, a green velvet scarf and a black dress, she was visibly nervous, crossing and uncrossing her arms in a seat in front of the dock. Her ex-husband, in a dark suit and red tie, swept in with an entourage just a second before the 10am start of proceedings, striding past Pryce and ignoring her completely. He sat three seats away, turning his back to his former wife and staring in the opposite direction." - Daily Mail

> Yesterday on ConservativeHome: WATCH - Chris Huhne appears in court for speeding case

Maude says Whitehall savings will reach £5bn by April...

"More than £5 billion of efficiency savings will be made across Whitehall by this April through cutting spending on property, IT and consultancy, ministers will announce today. Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, will disclose that during the first eight months of the year, the Government has found £3.25 billion of savings. Combined with work carried out to reduce waste in fraud, error and debt, projected savings for the full year are now anticipated to be about £5 billion." - The Times (£)

…But the Mail queries his reduced headcount claims

"A claim by a Cabinet minister that the Whitehall headcount is lower than it has been since the Second World War was called into question yesterday. For while it is true that civil service numbers – those working directly for government departments – have fallen in recent years, the numbers working for quangos and national agencies has mushroomed." - Daily Mail

"Let's have real localism: local government needs a Magna Carta"

"How would we all respond if local government were truly set free from the clutches of Whitehall? That is the challenge currently opened up by Parliament's Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee, which is asking if we need to create a new and real financial and legislative autonomy for localities which can never, ever be rescinded by central government…This proposal is already gaining cross-party support: it offers a real economic and legislative basis not just for localism but for independence." - Philip Blond and Graham Allen MP - The Independent

Daily Telegraph takes same side as Brian Binley in Ebdon appointment row - Editorial

Nothing's too good for the workers (1): Brown makes £1m since leaving No 10 - The Independent

Nothing's too good for the workers (2): Arthur Scargill launches fight to claim £50,000 from former union - Daily Mail

Labour Councillor exposed for "liking" IRA bombings of Conservative conferences by CrashBangWallace (and then suspended) - The Times (£)

How to write about bankers responsibly: "We can’t move on until we expose the causes of the financial crash – and shame the culprits" - David Ruffley MP, Daily Telegraph

How to speak about bankers irresponsibly: "Hang a banker a week" - Ken Livingstone quoted in The Sun

Caroline Spelman's son wins extension to High Court injunction blocking "sensitive personal" story - Daily Mail

And finally...Win a free ConHome T-shirt for guessing which publication Ken Clarke described on yesterday's Question Time as a "blasted website?"*

* Offer withdrawn due to oversubscription

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Newslinks for Thursday 16th February 2012

7.30pm WATCH: Alex Salmond: The PM "should trust the Scottish Parliament and Scottish people to organise our own referendum"

5pm Reactions to David Cameron's Scottish speech and meeting with Alex Salmond lead our teatime newslinks

3.30pm LeftWatch: Tim Farron's proposal for permanent coalition-negotiating teams will shift the Lib Dems to the left

3pm Local government: Why isn't Mayor Rahman more famous?

1.45pm WATCH: David Cameron: "I believe in the United Kingdom, head, heart and soul"

12.30pm ToryDiary: Ten things you need to know about the group that really runs the Coalition

12.15pm Local government: Why do tree surgeons need to be CRB checked?

Noon ConHomeUSA: Romney struggles in Michigan as national polling shows big Santorum lead

11.45am MPsETC: Cameron gives the impression his decisions reflect the imprint of the last Liberal Democrat who sat on him, says Brian Binley MP

10.45am WATCH: Chris Huhne appears in court for speeding case

ToryDiary: Cameron should not forget the mood of the English in his defence of the Union

Columnist Andrew Lilico: "Civil partnership" vs "gay marriage" - Why does it matter what you call it?

Chris Skidmore MP on Comment: Labour has become the anti-reform, anti-competition, anti-choice, and above all, anti-patient party

MPsETC: Leader of Tory MEPs, Martin Callanan, leads calls for Greece to be put out of its €uro misery

Majority Conservatism: The third part in our 'Building A Majority' series - Ending windfarm subsidies

Christina Dykes on Local government: Councillors deserve more help to become leaders of the Big Society and Localism

"Inside the United Kingdom, Scotland – just as much as England, Wales and Northern Ireland – is stronger, safer, richer and fairer." - Writing for The Scotsman, David Cameron makes the case for Scotland staying in the UK

Penalty for paying off student loan early is lifted

"Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, had intended to introduce an early repayment penalty which would have cost graduates thousands of pounds if they cleared their debts within 30 years of leaving university. The Prime Minister is understood to have dropped the scheme earlier this week amid warnings that it would be unfair on the hundreds of thousands of people expected to repay their loans early." - Telegraph

Police Federation attack David Cameron’s plans to tackle binge drinking as ‘dangerous’ and ‘unhelpful’ - Daily Mail

Andrew Lansley faces questions after leaked emails reveal at least 25 senior staff have salaries paid to private companies, avoiding tax - Guardian

UK unemployment stuck at 17-year high as economy flatlines - Guardian

"The Office for National Statistics said the number of British-born workers with a job crashed by 208,000 last year. But this is the exact opposite of what is happening to foreign-born workers, with numbers jumping by 212,000 last year." - Daily Mail

Francis Maude: The Civil Service has been shrunk to its smallest size since the Second World War as part of a £5 billion package of savings in Whitehall this year - Telegraph

"Last year we proved that efficiency works, with £3.75 billion in savings, a figure confirmed this month by the National Audit Office. We are starting to build a totally new way of running the operations of government — focusing on what people spend their money on rather than just how much they spend... I can today reveal that our efficiency drive means we are on track to save an additional £5 billion this year. These savings are not the result of tinkering and trimming. We are creating a much leaner, more effective Whitehall machine that manages its finances like the best-run businesses and demands the best return for public money." - Francis Maude in The Telegraph

David Willetts to visit Falklands today in sign of Coalition's commitment - Times (£)

Some advice for Laura Trott, Cameron's new adviser on women's issues - Guardian roundtable

Zac Goldsmith says Cameron is too soft on big companies like BP, Costa Coffee and Tesco - Times (£)

Tory MP Aidan Burley could be charged over Nazi stag party as French prosecutors launch criminal investigation - Daily Mail

The leader of the Tory MEPs says Greece must default and devalue - Simon Richards at the Daily Mail wishes other Conservative politicians would follow Martin Callanan's lead and put the Greek people out of their misery.

We need a leveller up, not a leveller down - Camilla Cavenish explains why Les Ebdon is the wrong man to oversee universities access - Times (£)

> Yesterday's Jill Kirby column: Vince Cable's choice for university access tsar shows why Gove should be given control of higher education

Martin Kettle: The Liberal Democrats must abandon the doomed folly of Lords reform

"When the whistle blows for the start of the second half of the coalition's period in office, the Liberal Democrats will have a precious two years in which to prove to voters that they have made a positive difference in difficult but unavoidable times. That could, even now, be a much more runnable argument than many allow. But it will not deserve to succeed if they squander so much of the rest of their time in office on a half-baked and doomed folly that would not solve the constitutional problem and for which, in grim economic times, there is no demand anyway." - Martin Kettle in The Guardian

Labour last night defended its decision to ditch its opposition to elected police commissioners - The Sun

The Lords Communications Committee recommends tax breaks for newspapers - BBC

Academics calculate that knowing a cabinet minister is worth £113,000 a year to a lobbyist - Telegraph

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