Afternoon:
8°c
Conservative conference diary
6 Oct 2009
In the air
All the polls show the Tories are up to two points further ahead among women voters. And their leader has boasted that the number of women Tory MPs will soar from 19 to 60 at the next election.
But could that change with today's apparent muddle over the plan to delay the retirement age to 66? David Cameron today denied his plan is to equalise the pension age at 66 by 2016 - which would mean women in their late fifties having to work three years longer than under the current Labour plans. But Theresa May confirmed the issue will be decided in a “review” later, which suggests strongly that it has not been thought out fully.
Conference whispers
Blogger Paul Staines is much in evidence in Manchester, although policemen must be bemused that his conference pass literally lists him as “Guido Fawkes”. Staines caused a frisson at the Channel 4 News Twitter event last night by emerging out of the ether to launch a diatribe against the latest social networking craze. “Twitter is s***” he declared to the stunned Twitterati.
Conference darling Dan Hannan has been busy pointing out that there is no real Eurosceptic backlash on the party's Lisbon referendum line. Hannan told a fringe meeting that he was perfectly confident that William Hague would deliver on his promise, but said he hoped that he would go even further. The MEP wants the British referendum to be not just on elements of the Lisbon plan, but also “Amsterdam and Maastricht”. Now that may cause Ken Clarke's hush puppies to squeak a bit.
Paul Waugh's blog
Click here to follow the action from Manchester on Paul Waugh's blog
