Did it go wrong with his evasive PMQ responses? It’s perhaps hard to recall but just two days ago when the Baby P PMQ row first blew up it was running down towards the bottom of the bulletins. There were several other stories getting the attention and it looked as though Brown might have been able to move on. Not so today with further revelations about the handling of the case emerging and the Prime Minister having to make statements…
My first 2012 bet: Jon Huntsman at 200/1 When the first 2012 White House race betting prices were being compiled last week many of the names that came up were ones we were familiar with already – 2008 contenders and those who had been tipped at one stage or another as John McCain’s running mate. One person who has hardly been mentioned and, indeed, only one bookie is quoting a price is Jon Huntsman, governor of Utah and someone who…
How can Gord avoid Dave’s deliberate wind-ups? No doubt that on his flight across the Atlantic for the G20 meeting Gordon Brown will be reflecting on yesterday’s PMQs which seemed to go horribly wrong. Could the Cameron approach not have been the accident it appeared to be but was it part of a carefully worked out plan to undermine him? I’ve just been asked that question by a journalist who suggested that I might have predicted yesterday’s PMQ flare-up in…
Projected CON majority: 34 (+8) seats Whatever the rights and wrongs of yesterday’s fierce exchanges in the House of Commons the spread betting punters who risk shed-loads of cash on the commons seats markets have given their verdict by “buying” Conservative seats and “selling” Labour. On Tuesday, as I reported here after the Populus poll, the commons seat spreads from PB’s co-sponsor, Sporting Index were: CON 336-342: LAB 240-246: LD 43-46 seats. Taking the mid-point between the buy and the…
(According to the UK Polling Report seat guide the Nottinghamshire seat of Broxtowe is Tory Target number 42 and requires a swing of just 2.35%. Yet can Nick, who became the first MP poster prepared to contribute here under his own name four years ago, manage to hold on? In one sense he is honoured for his constituency is the first where betting has now opened. So the subject of incumbency is pretty close to Nick’s heart and he has…
click on picture to watch How would Blair have dealt with this? For Gordon Brown today’s PMQs should have been a breeze. The Governor of the Bank of England was broadly endorsing his tax cuts plan which should have provided the ammunition to embarrass Cameron. Instead we got a stinging exchange over the Haringey baby tragedy with, at one point, Brown accusing Cameron of “playing party politics” over the issue – a mistake. What struck me was how poor Brown…
Is Paddy Power’s the best Labour bet about? The Glenrothes by-elections and the narrowing of the gap in the latest Populus poll has renewed interest in betting on the outcome of the next general election – but the possibility of confusion has arisen over how you define “winner”. Most bookies and Betfair use this format – “Which of these parties will win the most Parliamentary seats at the next UK General Election?”. That seems simple enough though you could see…
Are we seeing politics turn upside-down? While the main story today has been the 90th anniversary of the ending of the First World War all three main party leaders have been casting their hats into the ring in the new war – that of who has the best tax cut policies. No doubt we’ll see more hostilities at PMQs tomorrow. Gone are the days, it seems, that before you put together a cutting proposal it had to be funded in…