11pm Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: Bush, The Dark Knight?
8.45pm Peter Cuthbertson on CentreRight: Muslim extremists are a substantial minority
7.15pm Seats and candidates: Mark Reckless readopted for Rochester and Strood
4.45pm Two PlayPolitical videos: Cameron gets his bike back and Brown insists he is getting on with the job as his critics plot
9.45am ToryDiary: Eight Tory lessons for the US Republicans
ToryDiary: Does it matter that 19 of 29 shadow cabinet ministers are millionaires?
Phil Taylor on Platform: Boris is prioritising crime, efficiency and quality of life in London
Two PlayPolitical videos:
Obama and the Tories
Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight highlights some "essential reading" for pro-Obama Tories.
Today’s must-read: The world’s problems won’t end when Bush goes
"In January, Bush will be history, leaving liberals all alone in a frightening world. Little else will change. Radical Islam will still authorise murder without limit, Iran will still want the bomb and the autocracies of China and Russia will still be growing in wealth and confidence. All those who argued that the ‘root cause’ of the Bush administration lay behind the terror will find that the terror still flourishes when the root cause has retired." – Nick Cohen in The Observer
Tories 24% ahead in key marginals – Sunday Telegraph | ToryDiary
Visit this page on the Telegraph website for how the political map of Britain is set to change.
David Cameron gets his stolen bike back… courtesy of the Sunday Mirror
Or did The Mirror steal it in the first place, wonders Guido?
Will it be Straw V Milliband?
"It emerged that two of the youngest stars in the Cabinet, James Purnell and Andy Burnham, will give Mr Miliband a free run for the top job in the event of a contest. Mr Purnell in particular had been tipped as a strong contender to rival Mr Miliband. The move – dubbed the "Primrose Hill Pact" for its echoes with the purported 1994 Granita deal between Tony Blair and Mr Brown – allows the Foreign Secretary to emerge as a clear contender from the Blairite, modernising wing of the Labour Party. The left, meanwhile, are coalescing around the Justice Secretary, Mr Straw." – Independent on Sunday
…ahead of a "suicide election"…
"Senior figures disillusioned with Gordon Brown want a senior Cabinet minister to take over the party leadership and head immediately to the polls either this autumn or next spring, even if defeat is the likely option. They believe such a move would be better than Brown clinging on to office until 2010 when, they fear, the party would face a wipe-out on the scale of that inflicted on the Tories by Labour in 1997." – Scotland on Sunday
…and still more unhappy holiday reading for Gordon Brown
"If Gordon Brown goes with dignity he will retain the respect of his party as a man who gave it his best shot but was big enough to recognise that modern political leadership requires qualities he just doesn’t have. If he is forced from office or, worse still, leads the party to a catastrophic defeat, the judgment will be just about as harsh as it gets." – Lance Price in The Sunday Times
"A man who looks like a winner waved from the doorstep of Number 10 yesterday morning, but his name wasn’t Gordon Brown. When Barack Obama’s visit was put in the diary, I guess the hope in Downing Street was that he would sprinkle some of his stardust over his besieged host. The actual effect of the encounter was to paint an excruciatingly painful contrast for Labour MPs between the senator’s magic touch and their leader’s dead hand." – Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer
The future of the UK
Simon Jenkins, The Sunday Times, says that the real message of Glasgow East may be that the United Kingdom is coming to an end.
Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday, predicts no more talk of ‘English votes for English laws’ from David Cameron as he starts to think of needing the votes of SNP MPs after the next General Election.
And finally…
The Speaker had his official portrait changed after he complained that his nose had been painted too large – The Sunday Times
PLEASE NOTE: Samuel Coates is no longer working for ConservativeHome. All email to Tim Montgomerie please.
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