9pm David T Breaker on Comment: The world needs Mitt Romney
8pm ToryDiary: Cut EU spending. Cut aid. Charge for missed appointments. Cap family benefits. Tory members vote for their preferred deficit reduction measures…
4.30pm ToryDiary: IDS urges Eurosceptics to give Cameron more credit (while flirting himself with leaving EU)
3.45pm WATCH: Mitt Romney's closing pitch with 48 hours to go…
1.15pm ToryDiary update: Dom Raab MP rejects idea of extra council tax bands
Bernard Jenkin MP on Comment: If David Cameron doesn't adopt a clear European policy soon, Labour may beat us to it
Columnist Nadine Dorries MP: The more who disclose historical abuse, the more people will become confident enough to open up to share their own experience
Local government: Lambeth Council leader chosen as Labour candidate for Croydon North byelection
Justine Greening set to slash UK aid to India and divert savings to poorer countries (not UK taxpayers) – Mail on Sunday
"Greening will travel to India for talks with the government about the timetable for winding down her department’s aid payments. She is expected to make it clear that the UK’s commitment to India will change radically at the end of the current eight-year £1.6bn programme which lasts until 2015." – Sunday Times (£)
Douglas Carswell had secret talks with Ed Balls ahead of last Wednesday's EU rebellion – Mail on Sunday
Leaders of the European parliament vowed to block any EU budget deal that does not involve significant spending increases from 2014 to 2020 – Observer
While Angela Merkel "harbours no fondness for Mr Cameron, the Chancellor can also see the utility of having a fiscally sound ally among the EU spendthrifts" – In the Mail on Sunday Anne McElvoy previews Wednesday's meeting between 'the Merkelator' and David Cameron.
Germany no longer feels that Britain has some sort of financial genius from which the EU can benefit – Dominic Lawson in The Sunday Times (£)
Supporters in David Cameron's own constituency are ready to switch sides for the 2015 General Election if Conservatives do not offer an in-out referendum — and another party does – Sun
Andrea Leadsom: A united Tory Party wants "fundamental reform of the EU"
"Don’t be deceived by appearances: there’s violent agreement on the Conservative benches over Europe. Although MPs voted in different ways in Parliament last week, we’re all after the same thing – a better deal for Britain. In the end, we all want fundamental reform and a halt to the EU’s ever-encroaching power base." – Andrea Leadsom MP in The Sunday Telegraph
Sunday commentators dissect the EU row
Europe, energy and Trident are all testing bonds of Coalition – Iain Martin in The Sunday Telegraph
New txts between David Cameron and Rebekah Brooks are published
"New details of intimate texts exchanged between David Cameron and disgraced media boss Rebekah Brooks have been obtained by The Mail on Sunday. In one message, the Prime Minister thanks the former News International chief for letting him ride one of her family's horses, saying it was 'fast, unpredictable and hard to control but fun'." – Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday explains why it revealed the Merkel-Cameron txts: "The Government is immeasurably richer and more powerful than the massed battalions of Fleet Street, and routinely mishandles and mistreats powerless individuals. It also snoops on us without restraint, protected by the same laws that rightly punish journalistic phone hackers. Whatever proposals Lord Justice Leveson may have for press regulation, it is essential that they do not end by making the Government more powerful and unaccountable than it already is."
Voters find us ‘snooty and arrogant’, says Cheryl Gillan – The Sunday Times (£)
Cheryl Gillan issues her ten political commandments to the Conservative Party, including:
"Acknowledging the errors and apologising for them will allow the party to move forward. No one is perfect but reputations need to be rebuilt and all ministers must find out what is happening throughout their departments."
Could she be thinking about HS2?!
More in The Sunday Times (£).
This latest YouGov poll also finds that voters see Tory backbenchers as more in touch with public opinion.
Why do you keep rejecting Dave's invitation? – The Mail on Sunday suggests that Boris only when to Chequers after Sam Cam intervened.
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Cameron plays the “national leadership” card against Boris
The Sun makes the case for voting in the police commissioner elections
"The new commissioners will set local priorities and hold forces to account. If the commissioners fail, they will be booted out by the public. So they have an incentive to be tough. Trudging out to vote in freezing November is not much fun. But it might mean your streets once again become safe enough for your kids to play in." – The Sun Says
Joan Smith attacks the lack of diversity in Team Cameron
"It's actually weird that there were a dozen Old Etonians in the government last year, if we include government spokesmen in the House of Lords, but I bet it didn't seem so to the Prime Minister. When the country is run by an upper-middle-class white man, diversity and equality go out of the window." – Joan Smith in the Independent on Sunday
Unions plan to bombard Francis Maude with emails and txts in bid to sabotage working of his office – Sunday Star
Lord Heseltine's report doesn't tackle the key economic problem of lack of demand: "we need yet another significant devaluation" – William Keegan in The Observer
John Rentoul pours praise on Michael Moore's head – "It may be that, after the referendum, Moore will be counted the most successful Liberal Democrat in the Cabinet, and, even, the man who saved the United Kingdom" – Independent on Sunday
Vince Cable steps up Lib Dem campaign to bring in a mansion tax – Observer
Major companies who do not pay their staff a "living wage" of at least £7.20 an hour would be named and shamed under plans being considered by Ed Miliband – Independent on Sunday
David and Ed Miliband working together to put 'living wage' at heart of Labour offering
"David Miliband has joined forces with his party leader brother Ed behind Labour plans to deliver a "living wage" of well over £7.20 an hour – rising to more than £8.30 in London – for millions of workers in both the public and the private sectors. The Miliband brothers, whose relationship has been tense since Ed narrowly defeated David in the 2010 leadership contest, are working closely together on how to make the living wage – as opposed to the lower minimum wage – the new norm and a core economic policy for Labour at the next election." – Observer
Ed Miliband has called for the constitution of the NHS to be rewritten so mental health is treated as seriously as physical health – Sunday Express
SNP plan makes Scotland a colony, claims Gordon Brown – Scotland on Sunday
Mitt Romney can still win – and he deserves to – Janet Daley in The Sunday Telegraph
"What if, in an age of toppling institutions, economic upheaval, myth-busting and giant-killing, incumbency is becoming an electoral encumbrance?" – Matthew d'Ancona wonders if a defeat for Obama could be ominous for an incumbent like Cameron – The Sunday Telegraph
MP Tom Watson to speak out on 'paedophiles in highest places' – Sunday Herald
Jonathan Dimbleby warns of witch hunt against BBC stars as Savile crisis continues – Sunday Herald
Why aren't we more revolted by the schools giving contraceptive jabs to underage girls? – Peter Hitchens in the Mail on Sunday
Lord Ashcroft writes about his support for the Bomber Command Memorial
"I donated to the Bomber Command Memorial appeal because I wanted it built while some flying veterans, now in their late eighties and early nineties, are still alive. Bomber Command consisted of about 125,000 volunteers from Britain, the Commonwealth and Allied countries. They had to endure some of the most terrifying combat conditions of the Second World War. The average age of the aircrew was just 22 and the youngest were only 18. Three out of every five airmen became casualties: 55,573 men were killed, 8,403 were wounded and 9,838 became prisoners of war." – Lord Ashcroft in The Sunday Telegraph
> Please use the
thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to
ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been
given their own blog. Read our comments policy here.