“David Cameron today announces his plans for the first 100 days of a new Conservative government, promising radical tax cuts if he is re-elected as Prime Minister in 11 days’ time. … Mr Cameron pledges to scrap human rights laws and include a referendum on the European Union in his first Queen’s Speech on May 27 if he stays in Downing Street. … However, writing for The Telegraph, he warns that voters risk opening the door of Number 10 to Ed Miliband and Nicola Sturgeon, who will be ‘locked in a death dance’ that destroys Britain’s economy.” – Sunday Telegraph
And comment:
“Those close to him say Cameron is less nervous than he was at the start of the campaign. He is irritated, though, by the constant calls on him to show more passion. … Campaign insiders from both parties point to the unusually high number of undecideds – as many as one in five of those who intend to vote. Which way they jump will determine the result. Cameron regards reeling in this group, rather than angling for voters from the other parties, as the key challenge for the Tories.” – James Forsyth, Mail on Sunday
> Yesterday:
“David Cameron is under fire from two wealthy party donors over the Conservatives’ ‘lacklustre’ election campaign. … Investment boss Peter Hall and Pizza Express mogul Hugh Osmond, who have given more than £700,000 between them since 2005, said the Tories were uninspiring and the PM lacked passion. … They backed Boris Johnson for party leader if Mr Cameron loses the election.” – Sun on Sunday (£)
And comment:
> Yesterday:
“Ed Miliband was branded a back-stabber yesterday by Boris Johnson who vowed never to knife his own MP brother. … The London Mayor launched a blistering attack on the Labour leader over the ruthless way he snatched his party’s crown from his big bruv David’s head. … Tory Boris said he and his rising star brother Jo will stick to a Mafia-style code of “never, ever” turning on each other. … Mimicking the gruff tones of Vito Corleone in The Godfather, he declared: ‘It’s the family. We don’t do it like that… never, ever.'” – Sun on Sunday (£)
“Conservative backbenchers want the Treasury minister Andrea Leadsom to run in a future leadership contest – just as David Cameron appears to have tipped Culture Secretary Sajid Javid as a possible successor. … Both were part of the 2010 intake of MPs, but Mr Javid has risen more rapidly through the ranks, last year becoming the first Asian male Tory cabinet member. Mr Cameron said that the first black or Asian prime minister would be a Conservative.” – Independent on Sunday
“Johnson and May are certain to run, while Owen Paterson, Liam Fox, Chris Grayling and Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 committee, are understood to have talked to friends about a challenge from the right, believing May lacks the strength to defeat Johnson. … Sajid Javid, the culture secretary, is described as ‘on manoeuvres’, while former ministers and MPs have urged Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, to run as a modernising candidate who can appeal to non-Tories. … Other former MPs received calls last week on behalf of Andrea Leadsom, a Treasury minister well regarded by the 2010 intake. She is understood to be backed by Eurosceptic donors. … Those looking for a ‘clean skin’ untainted by the government are promoting Dominic Raab, who led backbench opposition to the European arrest warrant.” – Sunday Times (£)
> Today: ToryDiary – The Andy Warhol leadership election. Coming soon to a Conservative Party near you. (Or maybe not.)
“Britain will face its biggest constitutional crisis since Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 if Ed Miliband runs Britain with Nicola Sturgeon, Theresa May has warned. … In a dramatic intervention in the Election campaign, the Home Secretary questioned whether English voters would accept the ‘legitimacy’ of a Labour Government backed by Scottish Nationalists. … And she compared the effects of such a pact to the way Britain’s governing class was paralysed for months in the 1930s because of King Edward VIII’s affair with American divorcee Wallis Simpson.” – Mail on Sunday
And comment:
“A Labour deal with the Scottish National party would add £1,000 to annual mortgage bills, George Osborne has claimed as the Tories launch a final election offensive on the economy. … In an interview with The Sunday Times, the chancellor warned that the prospect of an Ed Miliband government propped up by the SNP would lead to a ‘clear and present danger’ of rising interest rates that would cause people to lose their homes, and companies to flee the UK.” – Sunday Times (£)
“It all comes down to the economy.” Read the Chancellor’s Sunday Times interview in full (£)
“Tory attempts to paint the SNP as a divisive force that would drain resources from the rest of the UK risks the future of the union, leading politicians and cultural figures said. … Liberal Democrat cabinet minster Danny Alexander, who is fighting to save his Scottish seat of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey from the SNP, told the Observer that he was appalled by the Tory campaign, which he said risked giving the SNP a grievance against England that the nationalists could use to push again for independence.” – The Observer
“Top Tories have vowed to ‘sort out’ what they claim is a Labour-leaning BBC if they win the election. … A series of ambushes have left fuming Conservatives wondering if BBC chiefs want Labour to win. … Last week BBC Newsbeat presenter Chris Smith repeatedly interrupted David Cameron and even bet him £1,000 the Tories would not win a majority. … A senior minister has vowed revenge, telling The Sun on Sunday: ‘Don’t worry, we’ll sort them out after the election.'” – Sun on Sunday (£)
“Vince Cable prides himself on being the Tories’ bogeyman in the Coalition Cabinet. … ‘I’m regularly voted their least popular Cabinet member,’ he says with his familiar hangdog smile. … But as we sit on the terrace of the quirkily named Barmy Arms pub by the Thames in his Twickenham constituency, Business Secretary Cable says something, which on first hearing, sounds even more barmy. … Not only is he ready to spend another five years helping the Tories run Britain, he wants to replace George Osborne as Chancellor.” – Mail on Sunday
“One of the country’s leading constitutionalists has described claims by Nick Clegg that a government would lack legitimacy if formed by the party that finished second as absurd. … Professor Vernon Bogdanor said there was a precedent for such a coalition between the smaller parties and whichever won the second largest number of seats. He added that the Liberal Democrat leader should instead be honest about whether he would politically prefer another alliance with the Conservatives.” – The Observer
And comment:
> Today: David Jones MP on Comment – In any post-election Coalition negotiations, the Right’s voice must be heard. Send for IDS and Grayling.
“Miliband has spent a lot of time in the US and believes his blooding as a leader resembles the two-year presidential election process. ‘I always felt this campaign was an opportunity to show the real me, not the caricature,’ he said after a day of promoting Labour’s campaign to ‘Save the NHS’. … ‘The job of leader of the opposition is definitely a good test of one’s resilience and mettle. Maybe I’ve been more resilient than some people have expected.'” – Sunday Times (£)
“Labour will slap a cap on rents, banning private landlords from increasing their costs by more than the rate of inflation in Ed Miliband’s latest populist pledge of state intervention. … The Labour leader will announce today that rent rises will be pegged to rising consumer prices as he launches a new election offensive on the cost of living. … The move is likely to cause controversy, with critics comparing it to the rent controls of the 1960s and 1970s.” – Sunday Times (£)
“Fewer than half of fines slapped on crooks to help victims are being collected, figures reveal. … Criminals are failing to hand over millions of pounds every year, leaving support projects short-changed. … Shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan, who uncovered the figures, said: ‘Under the Tories, criminals have been getting away without paying millions.'” – Sun on Sunday (£)
“Hospitals across England have suffered a ‘stealth cut’ amounting to more than to £2bn since 2010, because of reductions in the amounts paid to fund standard medical procedures, according to new research. … The tactic of reducing the amounts given to hospitals for different treatments is a false economy, said Dave Prentis, Unison general secretary.” – Independent on Sunday
> Yesterday: LeftWatch – If Labour cut NHS income from private patients how would they fund the shortfall?
“Law chief Alison Saunders was wrong to let Lord Janner off child abuse charges, an ex-Lord Chancellor said last night. … Lord Falconer said the decision by the Crown Prosecution Service boss was ‘suspicious’, given that it took place behind closed doors. … He added he could think of ‘nothing more awful’ for genuine victims than their cases were not heard. It comes after we revealed Director of Public Prosecutions Ms Saunders worked at the same legal chambers as Lord Janner.” – Sun on Sunday (£)
And comment:
“The error in the Duffy incident was not the live microphone but what was said down it. Forsyth should have dismissed Brown’s fear that the encounter was a total disaster and changed the subject, much like distracting a fallen toddler before they start to cry. … Instead, he indulged him by asking questions. And after his third such interjection: ‘What did she say?’, Brown uttered his fateful, throwaway description of Duffy as ‘just a sort of bigoted woman’.” – Damian McBride, Sunday Times (£)
“Nigel Farage and Ukip ‘hate modern Britain’ and have a ‘problem with race’, Chuka Umunna says in an interview with The Independent on Sunday. … The shadow business secretary, whose father was born in Nigeria, responded to the Ukip leader’s description of two of Ukip’s spokesmen as ‘fully black’ and ‘half black’ by saying there is a ‘virus of racism’ that runs through Mr Farage’s party.” Independent on Sunday
“Nigel Farage was at the centre of fresh controversy last night after National Front members turned up to campaign for him in the South Thanet constituency. … The row started after a group of far-Right supporters calling themselves the East Kent English Patriots supported Mr Farage at an event in Broadstairs on Friday evening.” – Mail on Sunday
“We are used to thinking of racism as Nigel Farage or the Tory tabloids egging on their readers to see the Aids-afflicted foreigner as the enemy. Indeed, it often appears that this is the only way we can think about it. The mirror image is just as foul and its foulness reached a nadir in London. The worst of Rahman’s corruption was not the purloined money, but the way he corrupted leftwing values.” – Nick Cohen, The Observer
“The collapse of the country into a permanent state of warfare will send waves of boat-people towards Western Europe or anywhere else they can find refuge. It is absurd for European leaders to pretend that they are doing something about ‘terrorism’ or the refugees drowning in the Mediterranean when they ignore the wars that are the root causes of these events.” – Patrick Cockburn, Independent on Sunday
And related news:
“Dozens of British climbers and travellers are feared missing or dead following the devastating earthquake in Nepal that triggered a massive avalanche on Mount Everest. … Desperate relatives have posted pictures and descriptions of loved ones online in the hope they can be found as the death toll continues to grow, with more than 1,500 people dead. … Latest estimates suggest as many as 50 British tourists are missing but the true number could be far higher.” – Mail on Sunday
“Britain’s super-rich have powered through the economic crisis and are now more than twice as rich as they were in 2009 when the economy was on the rocks, The Sunday Times Rich List 2015 reveals. … Today the wealthiest 1,000 people based in Britain are collectively worth £547bn, up from £258bn in 2009, an increase of 112%. … The rise has been greatest in the past 12 months. You need £100m to get on the list this year. That is £45m more than in 2009 and £15m more than last year.” – Sunday Times (£)
“David Cameron scored an own goal yesterday when he forgot which Premier League soccer club he supports. … In a speech to black and ethnic minorities, he urged them to support London club West Ham despite backing Birmingham side Aston Villa. … The PM, whose gaffe was ridiculed by rivals, blamed his slip on ‘brain fade’, adding: ‘These things sometimes happen on the stump.'” – Sun on Sunday (£)
> Yesterday: WATCH – “Brain fade” Cameron urges support for West Ham
“Councillor Karen, 31, wife of Labour MP Simon, said she would run for the party as soon as a constituency vacancy is available. … Karen, well-known for posting selfies of her cleavage to her 50,000 Twitter followers, said: ‘I think there needs to be more normal men and women in politics, somebody with their feet on the ground and in touch with reality.'” – Sun on Sunday (£)
“Entitled ‘Naughty Nicola’, the painting depicts her as a dominatrix in a short red dress, black suspenders on display and whip in hand. … But instead of being offended, Ms Sturgeon is ‘tickled’ by the image, so much so it is believed to grace the wall of her suburban Glasgow home after she was given it as a birthday gift by her husband, Peter Murrell.” – Mail on Sunday