All of the papers are reporting that Gordon Brown has killed off Tony Blair’s supercasino plans. The Mail can barely contain its delight: "To his huge credit, Gordon Brown is turning his back on the big-money interests that held his predecessor in thrall and is signalling that Britain’s first supercasino is dead in the water. […]
The traditionally right-of-centre newspapers give a warm welcome this morning to yesterday’s policy recommendations from Iain Duncan Smith. Although there is some discussion of the breadth of the report, the main focus is on the promises to help families. Daily Mail (not online): "For ten years, Gordon Brown has presided over a tax and benefits […]
The Tory-Mail relationship hasn’t been great of late so there’ll have been a few smiles within Team Cameron at this morning’s Daily Mail front page splash… The Mail’s enthusiasm for Iain Duncan Smith’s likely recommendation that action is taken to reduce the disincentives to marry within the tax and benefits system will be a test […]
34yr old Porter will take over from George Jones in October. He is The Sun’s Deputy Political Editor, and previously was the Deputy Political Editor of The Sunday Times, Telegraph Editor Will Lewis’ former paper. Deputy Editor
Iain Dale has already noted the BBC’s OTT coverage of Brown’s first day as Labour leader. Throughout this week I’ll be keeping a daily eye on the coverage of The Daily Mail and of The Sun of Brown’s first week as Tony Blair’s successor. Both newspapers will be crucial influences on whether Brown can maintain […]
Via under-the-table means, ConservativeHome readers had advance sight of David Cameron’s big speech last night. In a sign of the Cameroons keenness to repair relations with the newspaper-of-choice for Tory activists, The Telegraph didn’t have to get hold of its copy in such a way. The speech gets front page treatment today. There are also […]
If you picked up a copy of the Telegraph today, formerly known as the Torygraph, you’d have seen a story on the inside page entitled "Study shows grammars benefit poor pupils": "The row over academic selection was reignited last night after a study concluded that more grammar schools would boost the results of working class […]
Most Daily Mail readers will have gained a very negative sense of the current position of the Cameron project from their newspaper this morning. Ben Brogan has written a page six piece headlined "The Tories terrible week". The article’s three subheadings are: Willetts in jeopardy over grammar row; Outcry over red-top editor’s new PR role; […]
I’ve written for Comment is free about the difficult relationship between The Telegraph and the Tory leadership. I argue that The Telegraph should still matter to the Tories: "In the same way that Tony Blair pursued the endorsement of Rupert Murdoch and The Sun, David Cameron has devoted an enormous amount of energy to neutralising […]
Rumours around the Westminster village yesterday suggested that today would see an article appear in The Telegraph in which Michael Howard would question the new Tory policy on grammar schools. I was told that The Telegraph was "excited" by the piece. A member of Michael Howard’s office confirmed the existence of the article yesterday morning. […]
David Cameron has just responded to the grammar schools row on WebCameron: "I announced over a year ago that the party would not go back to a policy of opening new grammar schools or introducing the 11 plus and so am slightly surprised that the press has got so excited about this clear pledge being […]
I was on Sky News again last night to preview the newspapers. My fellow previewer was Alan Duncan. Whilst we were waiting to go on the show we started talking about Melissa Kite’s speculative Sunday Telegraph story about a shadow cabinet reshuffle. The story talked about demotions for William Hague and Liam Fox. Alan Duncan […]
On Thursday morning ConservativeHome gave The Sun a ‘Brown-noser’ award for its Budget coverage. The Sun talked of an "income tax gift" from The Chancellor to the British people and its leading article warned that the Tories’ opinion poll lead could easily melt in the spring sunshine. Well… a Populus survey for The Sun’s sister […]
Columnist Award: Jeff Randall. Mr Randall’s piece in this morning’s Telegraph is almost the only thing you need to read about yesterday’s Budget. It is magisterial in its analysis of what the Chancellor’s words mean for business, pensions and the nation’s finances. The article’s opening paragraph also wins the Best Quotation Award: "For most taxpayers, […]
"Today’s Tories are obsessed by the BBC. They saw what its attack dogs did to Hague, Duncan Smith and Howard. Cameron’s cuddly blend of eco-politics and work/life balance, his embrace of Polly Toynbee, a columnist who loathes everything Conservatism stands for, but is a totemic figure to the BBC, his sidelining of Thatcherism and his […]