Has Number 10 been wrong-footed again? Judging by the tone of much of the coverage this morning the Cameron moves yesterday have been fairly well received and there’s little doubt that Brown’s comments last night that all MPs’ receipts over four years must be scrutinised by an independent group was his way of countering it. He denied it, of course, but he needed to do something ahead of today’s PMQs which kick off in the house at noon. He’s helped…
How close is the ex-party chair coming to being expelled? No doubt every word from Lord Tebbitt’s comments today will have been noted at Number 10 and Gord will throw them at Dave tomorrow if he gets half a chance. Cameron made a not very veiled expulsion threat at his press conference this afternoon. Could a Norman Tebbit outside the party be an ongoing embarrassment to the leadership? Mike Smithson
Has Dave done enough to gain the initiative? Within the past half hour David Cameron has been holding a press conference announcing his party’s reaction to the revelations of questionable expenses claim by some of his party’s MPs, including members of the shadow cabinet. He listed and almost named and shamed ministerial colleagues who will pay some money back and he’s also announced the creation of a party scrutiny committee. This, of course, is pure politics. Cameron wants to be…
Who’ll get the job if/when Martin goes? With Adam Boulton on Sky News this afternoon reporting that there are suggestions that Michael Martin will hold on as Speaker until the general election and then stand down I thought a quick look at the betting might be a good idea. As far as I can see the only bookie with a market is William Hill which currently has Sir Alan Haselhurst (one of those named in the Daily Telegraph today) as…
Guardian online Will the Labour movement rise up against their leader? HenryG, a long-standing PB regular and contributor of guest slots about Labour’s internal workings, wrote on the previous thread that “…the big news today is the Polly Toynbee article on why Brown should go. Pretty devastating and gives clear instructions to the PLP.” The continuing expenses story, now with the focus on the Tories, has somewhat distracted from Polly’s totally damning column about Gordon and her call for a…
What can Cameron say to regain the initiative? It feels like day 27 (it’s actually day five) of the Telegraph MP expenses expose but there’s another batch in the paper this morning and this will dominate the political news agenda again. The paper’s introduction sums up the flavour of today’s focus and it is going to be tricky for the leadership to deal with – for it touches in some cases on a world that is totally different from that…
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REVISED CON 39(-4) LAB 26(-4) LD 22 (+4) What does this say about the expenses expose? The Times Populus survey for May is just out and shows Labour and the Tories both down four points with the LDs up by the same number. Like other recent polls there has been an increase in “others” – something that tends to happen ahead of the Euro elections. In its final Westminster voting poll before the 2004 Euro elections Populus reported an others…