Can the former Foreign Secretary make the speech his life? May is a long time ago and it’s probably been forgotten that in the early phases of this seemingly never-ending contest Sir Malcom Rifkind was joint second favourite at just 9/1. But it was always going to be hard for the Foreign Secretary in the last Tory Government who lost his seat in 1997. It took him eight years to get back to Westminster and on his return he faced…
Cherie Blair and Mandelson said to be encouraging him to stand The former Health Secretary, Alan Milburn, is reported by the Sunday Telegraph this morning to be ready to mount a challenge to Gordon Brown when Tony Blair eventually steps down as Labour leader. According to the paper’s political editor, Patrick Hennessy, a Milburn aide is reported as saying that “When the time comes, Alan will be very well positioned to challenge Gordon..He does not expect to win – but…
…… Take part in the PB.C survey With the Tory leadership election about to start in earnest at the Party Conference in Blackpool how do PB.C’s users rate the top four candidates in the betting on four key attributes? It is important that you give your ratings on how you think Tory members will assess Cameron/Clarke/Davis/Fox in each area – irrespective of your own political allegiances. The aim is to determine the collective judgement of the PB.C community. Please use…
Betting price implied probability of Blair remaining until Jan 2008 or beyond So what is happening with the Labour succession? The Tory leadership, the by-elections and the Walter Wolfgang eviction have over-shadowed what surely, because Labour is the governing party, the most important question in British politics – when will Tony Blair hand over to Gordon Brown? By Monday lunch-time things seemed a little bit clearer. One potential rival to Gordon Brown after another had given their public backing to…