I was? I thought I was noted for bunking off from class to watch rock videos on the VHS machine, but there you go. And I could never be angry with Henry. Thank you for the kind words, Henry. I recommend my latest, PASSION. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Passion-Louise-Bagshawe/dp/0755336100/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260136227&sr=8-1

or even effect change. Sorry.

Francis, given that everybody goes into politics with the desire to affect change you've got to forgive candidates for being impatient for elections. I was begging for one in 2007 too. We'd have won that, I remain convinced.

Exile, Tim's original post covered policies. I could go on like Brown listing them; a border police force, restoration of the military covenant, tough decisions on pay and pensions to tackle debt, welfare reform, flexible working, high speed rail links, no to current 3rd runway proposals, UK parliamentary sovereignty act...but rather than type up the list at http://www.conservatives.com, I wanted to tackle the main gap in Tim's retrospective - namely, that since 2005 this party has succeeded beyond most of our wildest dreams. Have a look at press coverage during the leadership election. Most of it suggested that whoever won had the job of improving the position during *this* parliament such that we could actually *win* in the next one. Almost nobody thought it could be done in one go. Now, almost nobody thinks it can't be.

Michael if you mean local council by-elections, while they are hugely important to ratepayers in those wards and we always fight hard for every vote, they are no good at all as a guide to the national polling picture - never have been. As to the Euro elections, the undemocratic party-list nature of the selections, and the natural lack of interest Britons have in the undemocratic monolith of Brussels, means that they will always, sadly, be the last vestige of the protest votes for UKIP and the BNP. As we've repeatedly seen with UKIP, ironically, outside the Euro-arena they mean less than nothing.

What an outstanding piece by Loanna and well worth all the raves it has gathered here today. I had the privilege of meeting this lady, my colleague, at party Conference, and she deserves to be far wider known. This is the kind of grassroots Tory we can all be incredibly proud of. I can't think of anybody better to fight for us in Bermondsey and hope to see her in Parliament soon.

I laughed heartily, I confess.

Jackie Ashley is a truly respected and reputable journalist. She would neither get her numbers mixed up on a story this big, nor feed what she knew to be Labour expectations managing propaganda. Ever since David Cameron was elected, and this is a point I have made many times before, the Tories have consistently outperformed their polls, in all national local elections, London mayoralty, C&N and NN. I can absolutely credit this sort of wipeout for Labour. None of that means that any of us PPCs will be even marginally complacent. Everybody I know is working their patch like mad. Being out of power for what will be thirteen years eliminates complacency. So Labour can't pin their hopes on that, either.

Amongst the other campaigning we're doing tomorrow, I'll be delivering leaflets in Raunds, R.; do come along and help. It's always good to see you!

Hooray.

for some reason it will not let me reply to Edward Huxley directly. Edward, that is sheer nonsense. Thatcher didn't apply it, did she? There is no "no" if a sovereign state decides "yes" and sticks to it, without expelling that same state. That is how Thatcher won a rebate after a negotiation had been concluded. Political will, remember that? `She had it, Blair didn't.

Blair should never have surrendered it.

Of course you can. Just as we presently don't accept the rules on the Euro or Schengen. There is no "laugh". We can veto accessions, withhold our contribution, any number of things. Once one simply decides to do X, the EU cannot force a state to do Y. Look at the concessions the Czechs have recently won simply by insisting. They have the option of expelling us, but I'm sure they would not go down that route. A long time ago, D'Estaing suggested this approach, which I have blogged on before for ConHome, as a "flexible Europe" - a core of inner central countries integrating, and others on the periphery with an agreed looser arrangement. In practice, as we retain the pound, this is already happening. A Lisbon opt-out policy would do little more than reinforce the existing status quo.

scroll up to my reply to J, Edward.

How do I belittle the Treatystution? I say it's unacceptable. I say that in order to fix the major things voters want, we must have control over that area of policy. I say that Britain will have to refuse to be bound by the worst aspects of Lisbon; but I say that we should not stress out if other countries want to swallow the treaty whole. Just like the Euro, I'm relaxed about it. As long as Britain keeps its own currency, the dissolution of central European nationhood is a matter for them. It's odd to see self-described Eurosceptics crying about how the EU "won't let us" repatriate powers or opt out. What option do they have? They said that when Thatcher got a rebate from a previously agreed budget. All it needs is a spine, and a demonstration that the British people are behind Cameron on this, which could be accomplished either via referendum or by a clear manifesto commitment and subsequent election victory.

Nope, no place in NY. Just East Northants. Far prettier than NY, I can tell you.

That's a bit of an old biog. I wrote this article from my home in Oundle, East Northants :)

No, it's rather like saying Europeans are free to drive on the right, but we'll drive on the left.

I suggest you go back and review YG's recent results, particularly the London Mayoralty. They are the gold standard. Louise Bagshawe

Of course it's stealing. Musicians deserve to get paid for their songs. As for the record companies going out of business, who do you think is going to pay the musicians of the future? If you love music, you've got to allow the guys who make it to make a living. It's a real entitlement culture that says 'you sweat your guts out over this, and I'll have it for free thanks'.

I wouldn't worry too much Steve. Nudging people to do the right thing, as in default ISP settings to block illegal download sites, is clearly preferred to punitive sanctions - it's just that these are still available in the worst cases. Also, don't ignore Jeremy's desire to widen what is currently allowed as "fair use" and therefore not subject to copyright restrictions.

I hope I've been clear that I think it was right for Phil to repay the money. £40k on the flat was within the rules. That doesn't change the fact that it's hard to explain to voters in our town. Like David Cameron, I think the rules themselves are too lax. Phil is doing the right thing in paying this money back.

thank you Andrew. One of the great joys of fighting in our seat has been working with utterly dedicated local councillors like yourself who would do anything for our area. Philip Hollobone is my parliamentary mentor and he is a beacon to me of what politicians should be. Labour's record in government is so woeful it gives us all more than enough to fight on. Sometimes the toughest part is knowing where to start. Meanwhile David Cameron is taking a hard line on expenses - and I fully support him.

We're on the streets of Corby and in the rest of the seat almost every day David. Danesholme tomorrow. Meanwhile, aren't you a supporter of UKIP, the party that's disgraced itself over EU expenses?

Now this IS good news. Janice is a media expert and will have Labour on the run in this seat in no time. I almost pity the Labour MP who has to defend his seat against such a hard worker. In today's climate a 6.8% swing is very much achievable for Janet and I'm sure Mike Wood is a worried man today - as well he should be, because the people of Batley and Spen can do so much better than his useless Government.