Browsed by
Month: February 2007

Sean Fear’s Friday slot….on Saturday!

Sean Fear’s Friday slot….on Saturday!

So what’s going to happen in the East End? The East End of London will produce some of the most fascinating contests at the next general election. From the end of the First World War, until very recently, Tower Hamlets, Newham, and Barking & Dagenham were rock solid for Labour, at Parliamentary level. Indeed, from 1950 to 2005, Labour won every Parliamentary contest in these boroughs. That has all changed, and Labour faces real opposition in this part of the…

Read More Read More

DO you like the new line-up on our masthead?

DO you like the new line-up on our masthead?

…meanwhile PBC’s audience continues to rise We’ve had a bit of a shake-up of the faces on our masthead. In come the two leading contenders for the French presidency, Alex Salmond, David Miliband, Barack Obama and Assistant Commissioner Yates. There is no one with Lib Dem link because there is no real betting interest. I had thought of a Cheeky Girl but then thought that the most important person in UK politics today is Assistant Commander Yates. As the table…

Read More Read More

Is this where Blair’s fate could be decided?

Is this where Blair’s fate could be decided?

What poll news would be the “tipping point” for the Prime Minister? On the first floor of this ordinary looking office block next door to the Job Centre in Bedford is a 100 station calling centre operated by the pollster, ICM. It’s the firm’s largest facility and is where a whole or a large part of the field-work for not just ICM polls takes place. For it might come as a surprise to learn that ICM carries out surveying work…

Read More Read More

New Mori poll just out – Tory lead up to 4%

New Mori poll just out – Tory lead up to 4%

Lib Dems up and UKIP don’t even register So with the changes on December the main shares are CON 39 (+2): LAB 35 (-1): LD 19 (+1). Like all MORI polls the headline numbers are restricted to the views of those who are certain to vote. As we have discussed here before Mori have a very different approach to ICM and Populus. The pollster does not seek to predict the General Election but rather give a barometer of what current…

Read More Read More

…meanwhile this was CONHome’s big story yesterday!

…meanwhile this was CONHome’s big story yesterday!

While everybody else was focussed on the developments in the honours investigation this was the story that attracted the most interest on CONtinuityIDS yesterday – 46 comments against 31 for Blair. Good to see a sense of proportion there. Meanwhile Tim Montgomerie, who has done a good job developing the site, has asked me to write a piece for Monday. Will I be “the hero of the day?”. Mike Smithson

Do the calls for his early exit have public support?

Do the calls for his early exit have public support?

Would going early be seen as an admission of guilt? The above are a couple of screen shots that I took of Tony Blair on Sunday during his Davos BBC interview when everybody was commenting on how he looked and his whole demeanour. What we know now but did not not know then was that a couple of days beforehand he had had his second interview with the police and he must have been aware of what was likely to…

Read More Read More

MEMO: Those who stuck with Tony made money

MEMO: Those who stuck with Tony made money

Could losing the confidence of the House be what actually does it? One of the great adages on Politicalbetting is that “Nobody ever got rich betting against Teflon Tony”. Certainly he has proved the betting markets wrong time and time and again those who have had faith in his survival gene have made money. Just look at the record:- Getting on for four years ago, in the frenzy over the Hutton Inquiry following David Kelly’s death, Blair became odds on…

Read More Read More