5.30pm WATCH: Cameron's patriotic speech set to music, courtesy of Guido
4.45pm Adrian Hilton on Comment: Why Number 10 is wrong to pull Ministers from the Windsor Tory Renewal Conference
4pm MPsETC: Candidate applications open for five more seats
3.15pm James Frayne on Comment: Where the Tory campaigning operation is succeeding, and where it's lacking
3pm ToryDiary: "Just a small island … no one pays any attention to them…" (See above)
1.15pm MPsETC: Sajid Javid says he’d “embrace the opportunities” that leaving the European Union would bring
12.30pm Local Government: Council by-election results from yesterday
12.15pm On Comment, Peter Franklin discusses the benefits of real free trade in carbon: "The sooner we engage both with the urgency of the challenge and the flaws in the existing policy framework, the sooner we can get on with the real task at hand: the development and implementation of workable policies that stand a chance of succeeding."
10am ToryDiary: Whitehall reform isn’t just about ministers versus civil servants, but also ministers versus backbenchers
Missed advertising in the Fringe Guide? Advertise your event in ConservativeHome’s Daily Conference NewspaperOn Comment, the fifth and final article in our series on international aid comes from Justine Greening, Secretary of State for International Development: The key question on international aid is this – do you want to shape the world, or be shaped by it?
Also on Comment, Free School pioneer Mark Lehain reflects on the first full year of running the Bedford Free School: "We had a phenomenally successful first year of operation: all 200 places filled, a strong staff body, excellent feedback from students and their families and, perhaps most importantly, incredible academic progress: on average our students made 2 years’ progress in maths and English in just 10 months."
Iain Dale's Friday Diary: Yep, UKIP voters are the bisexuals of UK politics
On International, Tim Montgomerie's lists ten things you should know about Australia’s next prime minister, Tony Abbott
Local Government: Shelter backs subsidies for the rich over new homes for those in need
The Deep End's Heresy of the Week: What if fat people people aren’t responsible for the obesity epidemic?
Cameron reaches out to Merkel in an effort to curb migrants' benefits
"In an interview with The Times, the Prime Minister said that he was looking at restricting the ability of workers from new EU member states to work in Britain and limiting existing migrants’ access to benefits. … Speaking of the efforts to forge a consensus with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and other leaders, he said: 'Could the whole problems of immigration, problems with welfare tourism . . . be part of … making sure we have a European relationship that works for Britain? Yes of course it can.'" – The Times (£)
G20 summit 1): Britain wants some economic kudos
"Britain’s surging economy is leaving the rest of Europe in the slow lane, the government claimed today as world leaders met to compare the pace of growth. … Chancellor George Osborne cautioned against complacency, insisting the UK is ‘still in the early stages of recovery’ … A senior government source said the G20 summit in St Petersburg comes at a ‘good moment’ for the UK." – Daily Mail
G20 summit 2): Did Russia officially dismiss us as "just a small island"?
"Russia dismissed Britain as ‘just a small island no one pays any attention to’ last night as a summit of world leaders descended into acrimony over planned military strikes on Syria. … However as controversy erupted, Russian officials flatly denied the remarks – attributed to President Putin’s official spokesman Dmitry Peskov – had ever been made." - Daily Mail
G20 summit 3): The attendant leaders argue over Syria
"Barack Obama, US president, came under pressure on Thursday from China and the European Council chief to back away from the pursuit of military action in Syria. … Amid high diplomatic tension at a G20 summit in St Petersburg, Mr Obama arrived in Russia with the international community split on any response to the assumed chemical weapons attack on eastern Damascus last month." – Financial Times
"As world leaders gathered to discuss the crisis at the G20 summit in St Petersburg, the Prime Minister said those Labour and Conservative members who opposed military action in Syria would have to consider their consciences and 'live with the way they voted'" – Daily Telegraph
> Yesterday, by George Bathurst on Comment: Cameron's defeat in the Syria vote shows how urgently Conservative Renewal is needed
IDS versus his civil servants, in the scrap over Universal Credit
"Iain Duncan Smith accused his own civil servants of a lack of ‘professionalism’ yesterday as the row deepened over the Government’s troubled welfare reforms. … The Work and Pensions Secretary said he had ‘lost faith’ in the ability of Whitehall mandarins to deliver the flagship Universal Credit scheme, and had now turned to outside experts." – Daily Mail
"Robert Devereux, permanent secretary at the department for work and pensions, is likely to leave his post after two years as the impact of the National Audit Office report on Universal Credit reverberated around Whitehall on Thursday." – Financial Times
> Today on ToryDiary: The small stuff that’s preventing the Government from delivering the big stuff (such as Universal Credit)
> Yesterday:
as a parliamentary report says that civil service reform is "bound to fail"…
"Top officials are in denial about the challenge they face to turn around the failing civil service, the public administration select committee report said. … It found that the civil service resists change and too often individuals are 'scapegoated' when things go wrong. … Ministers criticise civil servants or the last Government for failings while officials point the finger at inexperienced ministers with party political agendas." – The Times (£)
…and another battle looms along Whitehall, this one over HS2
"Ministers are bracing themselves for a savaging by spending watchdogs over the ‘value for money’ of the Government’s controversial flagship High Speed rail project. … Parliament’s powerful Public Accounts Committee chaired by Labour MP Margaret Hodge is set early next week to deliver its own ‘damning’ verdict on official plans and costings for 225mph HS2 line linking London to the Midlands and the North." – Daily Mail
There's no excuse for industrial action by teachers, says Gove…
"The Education Secretary said there was ‘no excuse’ for the industrial action that will close thousands of schools and disrupt the education of millions of children. … Mr Gove accused the leaders of the National Union of Teachers and NASUWT of repeatedly peddling the damaging falsehood that teaching is a ‘depressing and demotivating activity’." – Daily Mail
"Britain could be hit by a wave of strikes if workers are not given bumper pay rises after five years of pain since the recession began, the boss of the TUC warns today." – Daily Mail
"A union-backed campaign which opposes the privatisation of the Royal Mail has lobbied MPs with notes that used the names and addresses of dead people." – The Times (£)
> Yesterday on ToryDiary: Michael Gove defending teachers from their unions
…as he's dragged into a row about bedrooms and academic potential…
"Michael Gove said having a ‘room of one’s own’ provided space to learn and read. … But he was immediately accused of hypocrisy as critics pointed out that new Government rules decree a child aged under 16 in a home receiving housing benefit has to share a room with a sibling of the same gender." – Daily Mail
…and denies a rift with Clegg over sex education
"Sex education lessons should include lessons in the ‘menacing’ impact [of internet pornography] on young girls, Nick Clegg warned today. … But the Deputy Prime Minister revealed his call for guidance given to teachers to be updated for the digital age is being block by Education Secretary Michael Gove. … [Gove] denied a rift with the Lib Dem leader, insisting: 'I didn’t hear Nick on the radio. I love Nick Clegg.'" – Daily Mail
Chris Grayling explains why he wants to change the judicial review system: "it is not a promotional tool for countless Left-wing campaigners"
"We will protect the parts of judicial review that are essential to justice, but stop the abuse. … Britain cannot afford to allow a culture of Left-wing-dominated, single-issue activism to hold back our country from investing in infrastructure and new sources of energy and from bringing down the cost of our welfare state. … We need to make decisions quicker and respond to issues more quickly in what is a true global race." – Chris Grayling, Daily Mail
The Tories are moving out of Millbank
"The Tories are moving. From February CCHQ will be at No4 Matthew Parker Street, which is the one that runs round the back of Methodist Central Hall. It's been planned for a while. Grant Shapps, the co-chairman, wanted to move operations closer to the Commons and back within the division bell to make it easier for MPs to drop in. He judged the current offices in the Millbank Tower complex too remote." – from Benedict Brogan's Daily Telegraph blog
Lib Dems claim that the Government will retreat over the Lobbying Bill
"Ministers have been forced into a U-turn over new anti-lobbying laws after a public outcry against the 'gagging' effect on charities. … Liberal Democrat sources said the government will retreat on some parts of the lobbying bill as early as next week, after charities raised serious concerns that it would have a 'chilling effect' on their ability to campaign." – The Guardian
Labour expected to include a £5,000 cap on political donations in its manifesto
"Labour is threatening to impose a £5,000 cap on donations to political parties and hand them more taxpayers' money without reaching agreement with the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. … The Labour manifesto at the 2015 general election is expected to include a pledge to 'take the big money out of politics'." – The Independent
US and UK spy agencies have cracked the encryption that protects our data, reports the Guardian
"US and British intelligence agencies have successfully cracked much of the online encryption relied upon by hundreds of millions of people to protect the privacy of their personal data, online transactions and emails, according to top-secret documents revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden. … The agencies insist that the ability to defeat encryption is vital to their core missions of counter-terrorism and foreign intelligence gathering." – The Guardian
Fraser Nelson: We need a proper law to put an end to gender-specific abortions
"No party has a position on the issue, and there is a tendency to avoid votes on it. Yet there is sufficient concern that the Council of Europe has recommended that its member states, including Britain, refrain from telling parents the gender of their child in case the information leads to a termination. The advice is, of course, ignored. It is as if prosecutors and ministers are petrified of the topic." – Fraser Nelson, Daily Telegraph
News in brief
And finally… Fun and games at the G20 meeting in St Petersburg
"Women dressed in elaborate Marie Antoinette style costumes met the world's most powerful men and women in a display which seemed to be a celebration of decadence and aristocracy within the luxurious surroundings of the Peterhof Palace in St Petersburg. … The night of revelry in which British Prime Minister David Cameron was seen quaffing wine while Putin placed a gentlemanly blanket over Angela Merkel's shoulders suggested a thawing of relations between the leaders." – Daily Mail
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