Cchq

Thursday

Isabel Hardman

Candidate fury at CCHQ campaign demands

Conservative MPs and candidates are, it’s fair to say, pretty exhausted this afternoon after last-minute campaigning for the local and European elections and all-nighters watching the results come in. But with the Newark by-election drawing closer, they’re not flopping into their beds just yet. All candidates have been summoned to a 10am briefing in Newark on Sunday. They were only told on Monday that the meeting was taking place, and that it was compulsory, with Grant Shapps demanding a personal explanation from those who cannot make it. The email says: ‘There will be a briefing meeting for everyone on the Candidates List on Sunday 25th May at 10.00 am in

James Delingpole James Delingpole

Here’s why Tories shouldn’t do smear campaigns

‘Pick the target, freeze it, personalise it and polarise it.’ This is the best-known of Saul Alinsky’s Rules For Radicals, and even if you haven’t heard of the man or the book, you’ll be familiar enough with the technique. We saw a classic example a couple of weeks ago: the way that off-the-cuff remark on Keynes by Niall Ferguson was seized by his enemies on the left to ‘expose’ him as a wicked homophobe. We saw it again in the recent black-ops campaign conducted by Conservative Central HQ against Ukip. What CCHQ did, you’ll recall, is get all its spotty interns to go through the social media pages of every

Friday

Sebastian Payne

How much would Labour cost you?

Labour has decided that the cost of living is the best way to attack the Tories while it tries to fathom what its own policies are. This is a rich seam to mine, and the party wants to ask voters whether they are really any better off than they were five years ago. But Ed Miliband and his team may be reckoning without the energetic attack dog mood that the Tories are in at the moment. They are keen to fight Labour on this turf, too, rather than giving any ground. So confident are the Conservatives that rather than defend their record, they are also going on the defensive, launching

Tuesday

Jonathan Jones

Two versions of Osborne’s benefits speech

The Times’ Sam Coates picked up on a couple of discrepancies between the text of George Osborne’s Morrisons speech sent out by CCHQ, and the one published by the Treasury. Here’s the CCHQ text: ‘In 2010 alone, payments to working age families cost £75 billion. That means about one in every seven pounds of tax that working people like you pay was going on working age benefits.’ But the Treasury version reads: ‘In 2010 alone, payments to working age families cost £90 billion. That means about one in every six pounds of tax that working people like you pay was going on working age benefits.’ Osborne actually delivered the Treasury

Wednesday

James Forsyth

Change at Number 10

Gabby Bertin is one of David Cameron’s long-marchers; she has been with him since he won the leadership in 2005. Bertin has acted as his political spokeswoman for the last seven years, pushing the Cameron message and dealing calmly with the inevitable crises and mishaps. Few people know what Cameron thinks as well as Bertin does and are as prepared as her to tell him when he is going wrong. Cameron, for his part, values Bertin’s ability to, in his words, ‘see round corners.’ But in a fortnight’s time, she goes off on six months maternity leave. I understand that Susie Squire, currently running the press operation at CCHQ, will