Watch what you tweet-Tory Central Office is watching

If you feel inclined to tweet about David Cameron beware.Conservative Central Office is watching you.

This from the Kaiser's toiletwho fell victim to the anonomyous person

That's right, someone at Conservative Central Office has the job of sitting at a computer all day following mentions of David Cameron on search.twitter.com

What an awful job. How depressing. How glum that must be. I'm not quite sure what to make of all this. And every time my initial tweet gets retweeted, well, they keep coming back. May be they have to by some central office decree - may be they have been ordered to click on every link that is remotely connected to the two words

Glover on the Cameron Murdoch pact

The Indy's Stephen Glover speculates over what if any agreement there is between the Murdoch empire and David Cameron in his column this morning.

There is evidently some sort of understanding between Cameron and the Murdochs. Whether it is an actual deal, time alone will tell.

he concludes and refers to a speech by Matthew Freud, the PR mover and shaker and Rupert Murdoch's son-in-law,who

attacked Fox News, which he said "embarrassed" and "sickened" some members of the Murdoch family.

What are we to make of all this? A reasonable interpretation might go as follows. The Murdochs want to get rid of the impartiality laws so they can re-fashion Sky News as and how they please. But through Freud they also want to convey that they won't turn it into Fox News, which is regarded as beyond the pale even in America, and would be unacceptable in Britain – a less right-wing country.

No doubt we will have to wait and see

Run and run and run and run

I haven't had chance as yet to blog about Nick Davies scoop in the Guardian this morning.

According to former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil,this is going to run and run and writes that

If, as the Guardian claims, between 2,000 and 3,000 people were targeted and had their privacy breached in various ways, then some of the names already mentioned could get together to mount a multi-million pound class action against the Murdoch company. Just starting that process would almost certainly unseal the documents. Then more than the cat would be out of the bag ... and the potential damages unlimited.

The Spectator's James Forsyth meanwhile looks at David Cameron as he is stuck in a pincer movement between two extremes of journalism

David Cameron finds himself caught up in a war between two media tribes following the revelations about the phone hacking at the News of the World during Andy Coulson’s editorship. On the one side, there’s The Guardian—whose scoop it was—and the BBC; for the BBC this episode is a chance to both make an ideological point against tabloid journalism and the Murdoch press as well as gain some revenge for the fun that The Sun and The Times had with the BBC’s expenses. On the other is News International with other newspapers that have used similar methods looking nervously on from the sidelines.

Maguire on Cameron's license fee proposal

Kevin Maguire makes it perfectly clear what he thinks of David Cameron's proposal to freeze the license fee.

Writing in the Mirror this morning he says

You know dodgy Dave’s bankrupt of ideas when his big offer in a recession is to save you less than a penny a day on the TV licence.
Even naff hosts on home shopping channels would shy away from the worthless Tory tat Cameron’s peddling.

Which right wing papers will support Cameron

Stephen Glover believes that the right wing press are deserting David Cameron.

Writing in the Indy this morning,he reminds us that

The front page of The Times last Tuesday will have shaken the teacups at Tory HQ. At the top was a photograph of David and Samantha Cameron standing alongside David Ross and his girlfriend. Mr Ross is the chap in the soup over his shareholding in Carphone Warehouse. The headline over the picture was "The Party's over for Carphone playboy". The unwritten headline was "And Cameron is a silly ass for accepting donations from such a man".

The turning point for him came when Corfugate broke

the Times did not spare George Osborne for having unwisely hobnobbed with Oleg Deripaska, the controversial Russian billionaire – rather to its credit, since Mr Murdoch and his daughter Anna were among the cast of characters – while admittedly giving Peter Mandelson an equally hard time. It is not so much that the paper has fallen in love again with Gordon Brown; rather that it has taken against the Tory leader and his crew.

As we know all too well you need the press on your side to win the election,the question is who will be supporting Cameron?

Dacre-Has he given up on Gordon Brown?

Conservative Home asks whether Mail editor Paul Dacre,seen as the most influential newspaper editor in the Guardian's 100 earlier this week has given up on Gordon Brown.

Take a look at the paper's leading article this morning for more proof

From the very beginning, this paper has supported David Cameron. We are the first to concede, however, that we've had more than the occasional doubt about his substance and conviction.
That is why we feel an obligation to record what a remarkably good few weeks he has had.

Certainly this time last year,as with many of the electorate,the paper was rather sympatheic to the Prime Minister combined with some anxiety over David Cameron.

Its leaders over the last three days,firstly rounding on the Home Secretary,then on the Cahncellor and finally today's looks like the paper has noe firmly planted its flag at the door of the Old Etonian.Who next Murdoch or maybe even Rushbridger?

Conspiracy theories at the Sun.

I have already asked the question why the Mail has,more so than many papers hounded Derek Conway out of office.


Iain Martin over at Three Line Whip has a theory about the Sun and why it carried the Cameron crime story on its front page yesterday.By running the story on the front and relegating Mr Conway to page 2 and laying off the verbal attacks he suggests a possible solution

on the day the Conway row exploded, Tuesday, Business Secretary John Hutton also announced that the government would force Sky to sell its shares in ITV and take its holding below 7.5%. It could leave Sky, which shares an owner with the Sun, facing a hit of as much £250 million.
Did any anger from the high-ups filter down to the Sun? Was the paper on the look out for a way to annoy Gordon Brown and show how powerful it could be with all its weight thrown behind the Conservatives?

Mmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!

Another victim of the Microphone

Spare a thought for Sky news presenter Julie Etchingham,who became the latest in a long line of broadcasters to suffer the curse of leaving a microphone on.

Whilst Tory leader David Cameron was pontificating about immigration,the hapless Julie mumbled "extermination" as David was about to give his solution to the immigration problem

Has that ruined her chances of News at Ten?

Mail swings

Signs this morning that the Mail may be swinging round to apporoval of David Cameron with its front page.

After a fanfare for Gordon Brown and some scathing attacks on the Tories,the paper stands firmly behind Cameron's latest initiative

The Tory leader will "relentlessly focus" on graffiti, anti-social behaviour and the other minor crimes which can lead to more serious offending.
Making his most significant policy pledges yet, Mr Cameron promises that if put in power he would end the "mockery" of criminals being released early.

And its leader backs up the opinion with the headline"At last! Mr Cameron is talking like a Tory"

Not for the first time, David Cameron's Tories have proved themselves capable of serious thought about the causes of Britain's problems and their solutions.
They showed it when Iain Duncan Smith published his plans to support marriage. And again when John Redwood unveiled his proposals to boost competitiveness and ease taxes on hard-pressed families.
Now they've demonstrated it a third time with their mini-manifesto on tackling what they correctly identify as Britain's 'crime crisis' - whose very existence Labour refuses to acknowledge.

More work for Andy Coulson

It seems that David Cameron's clandestine meeting with the Mirror hasn't had the desired outcome at least judging form the headline in today's Mirror.

Yesterday the Tory Leader launched his blue print for transforming Britain contrasting his belief in letting people be responsible for their own actions.It's well covered in most of the papers generally in a positive light.

In the Mirror though

TORY LEADER'S RELAUNCH IS FLOP
DID YOU FORGET TO BRING YOUR POLICIES AGAIN, MR CAMERON?

Cameron snubs Murdoch

This from the First Post

"When politicians including Gordon Brown gathered for News
Corp tycoon
Rupert Murdoch's party on Wednesday, Cameron was conspicuously
absent. "David
has decided he doesn't need to kowtow to Murdoch," I'm told.
"His decision not
to attend the event was a real snub."
Cameron's
spokesman is quick to
downplay this suggestion: "Absolutely not," he puffs.
"It is just that David was
throwing a reception at home that night, which he
had had planned for sometime."

It appears that the leader of the Tories is after all then making his own stand against the media following his less than amicable meeting with the Mirror last week.

Sunday Media commentators

Peter Preston asks If the net is killing newspapers, why are they doing so well?

"global newspaper sales up 2.3 per cent last year (and
9.48 per cent in the past five years), ad revenues up 3.7 per cent and 15.7 per
cent over the same two spans. If this is doom and gloom, give me another
helping..."

The Independent gives Roy Greenslade a roasting

How kind of Roy Greenslade to give The Independent on
Sunday relaunch such attention on his blog at 'The Guardian'. When the old
dinosaur, on hols in Tuscany, finally got hold of a copy, his eagerly awaited
review was somewhat short on compliments. Those helpful types at 'The Guardian'
website also managed to forward many of his fans to our own site. Greenslade's
blog suggested that what this newspaper needed was "a dodgy proprietor and a
game, perhaps bingo, which he knows no one can win, so that he can con people
into buying the paper. But what kind of journalist would go along with that sort
of thing?" Well, his colleagues remember Roy best, when editing the 'Mirror'
(briefly), for presiding over a spot-the ball-competition that was fixed so no
one could win.

In the same paper David Randall reports on the BBC's aploogy to Alex Salmond following Thursday's newsnight.


James Cameron writes in the Observer as the "Gloves come off as Mirror and Cameron declare war".In the light of deteriorating relations between the two parties,

"The secret talks were requested by Cameron some time
ago, and took place in his office in Portcullis House on Wednesday, with no
aides or advisers present. He used it to complain about the Mirror's coverage,
comparing it to that endured by former Labour leader Neil Kinnock at the hands
of the Sun, claiming: 'You're treating me worse than the Sun treated Kinnock in
the 1980s."

And continues

Wallace, himself a former spin doctor, told Cameron
such criticism was par for the course for politicians, pointing out that as the
only card-carrying Labour paper, the Daily Mirror was duty bound to heap
opprobrium on the leader of the Conservative party on a near-daily basis.
He
referred to the Mirror's front-page on the morning of the last general election
- which depicted Cameron's predecessor, Michael Howard, as a vampire with a
stake through his heart - as an example of what was to come, noting that it was
'a proper piece of abuse'.
'I was quite shocked,' Wallace later told a
colleague. 'This is a man who wants to be Prime Minister, and he was whining
away like a little schoolboy'

Finally the paper's media diary tells us that

Peter Mandelson was invited on to the Today programme
last Friday to talk about the Royal Festival Hall - the brainchild of his
grandfather, Herbert Morrison - but the nation's favourite spin doctor couldn't
resist using his airtime to take a sly dig at newspaper editors. When the
Festival Hall first opened in 1951, some senior scribes got stuck in a lift,
John Humphrys reminded him, and a similar incident occurred nearly 50 years
later, when editors attending the opening of the Millennium Dome were stuck at
Stratford station. 'Editors were made of stronger stuff then,' Mandy sneered.
'They weren't nearly as craven or self-indulgent as they are now.'
Ouch!

Cameron under attack

Andy Coulson has gone to work for the Tory party to court the fleet street editors back into the Conservative fold.

The papers this morning show what a mammoth job he has in front of him,none more so than his former charge the News of the World.

It carries an interview with Tory Mp,Graham Brady,who:

In an exclusive article for the News of the World, says he was told to "shut up" about education if he wanted to keep his job as Shadow Europe Minister.
He ACCUSES the Tory leadership of picking a fight with "millions of ordinary working families."
And he BRANDS Mr Cameron's education policies "badly thought out" and inconsistent. Brady was reprimanded after opposing Mr Cameron's declared plans to block any new grammar schools at all.

But many of the papers are on the Cameron attack this morning.The Indy has a front page which asks

Mr & Mrs Greener: But are the Camerons what they seem?

The Telegraph leads with the story that

David Cameron's competence and credibility as a potential prime minister have been severely damaged by his party's bitter infighting over grammar schools.
The Conservative leader is seen as less capable and a weaker leader than Gordon Brown, an ICM poll for The Sunday Telegraph shows today. He is also behind on "hard" issues such as the economy, tax and the fight against terrorism.

And a lead article which says

Tomorrow David Cameron will return to Westminster from his family holiday in Crete, to face the dismal political fall-out from several weeks of botched policy presentations and party rebellion. Already he has sought to regain his equilibrium by dismissing the row over grammars as a political cappuccino of "froth and nonsense" whipped up by a mischievous media.
As an explanation, that simply will not do. The origin of the grammar schools policy debacle was a speech made by the shadow education spokesman, David Willetts, and read in full by Mr Cameron himself.

And the Mail on Sunday isnt happy either,Stephen Glover writing

After the grammar school furore, what DOES Mr Cameron believe in?

What worries me far more is that neither David Cameron nor the Tory education spokesman David Willetts, whose speech last week set the controversy raging, has any firm proposal, or indeed any proposals at all, about how to improve a defective State education system.
Without much conviction, both men have adopted Tony Blair's much vaunted City academies, saying that they point the way for the future, and are likely to offer talented children from unprivileged backgrounds a much sure route to a good education than the 164 remaining grammar schools do.

Watch this space

Cameron's Blog

I have always been a touch cynical about politican's blogs and Web Cameron was on of those in particular that makes one cringe.

However this latest post is pretty good and David is spending some time ,shall we say,out of the office.