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Month: July 2009

Has Brown now lost the “Tory cuts” war?

Has Brown now lost the “Tory cuts” war?

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And if he can’t fight on this then what? For the past three elections Labour core message to get its vote out was that a Tory government would make cuts that would eat into the heart of public services. This worked so brilliantly for so long long that until very recently the new Tory team, Cameron-Osborne, refused even to counter discussions about their post general election plans if this involved hacking back on Labour spending commitments on key services. That’s…

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Lessons from the European Elections

Lessons from the European Elections

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A guest article from Sean Fear The only good thing about the form of proportional representation used for the European Elections last month is that it allowed people to vote with their hearts, rather than their heads. There was no need to vote tactically. People just voted for the party that they most agreed with. Overall, the results were very good for eurosceptics. 25% of the vote went to parties that wished to withdraw from the EU, and a further…

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Will we ever see headlines like this again?

Will we ever see headlines like this again?

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What’s happened to the Lib Dem by-election machine? Another by-election has come and gone with another Labour loss and another gain for the Conservatives, only their second since losing power twelve years ago. That rarity says much about the Conservatives but it’s not as if governments haven’t lost by-elections in that time, it’s just that the Tories didn’t win them. The Lib Dems were the acknowledged masters of parliamentary by-elections. From the heady days of the Alliance onwards, a steady…

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Haven’t we seen this story once too often?

Haven’t we seen this story once too often?

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Mail Online Nothing’s happened after previous threats so why believe this? Well here we are taking a first look at the Sunday papers after another election disaster for Labour and what do we see? Yes threats by Labour MPs to try to force Brown to quit. The key part of the story is this: “The Mail on Sunday has been told that the ‘guerrilla MPs’ would start resigning at staged intervals throughout the summer and autumn, forcing a series of…

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Does Osborne’s background rule him out as a “cutter”?

Does Osborne’s background rule him out as a “cutter”?

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Guardian Unlimited Are we being prepared for Chancellor Hammond? The main lead in the Guardian today is that featured above and deals with the massive issue that will dominate the Tory government if they do indeed win the election – spending cuts. For me what’s interesting is the it’s based on an interview with Philip Hammond – not the shadow chancellor, George Osborne. On the face of it this seems odd and reinforces my earlier view that it’s Hammond not…

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Government of the Neophytes?

Government of the Neophytes?

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Could many newbies step straight into ministerial jobs? After yesterday let us assume a Conservative majority at the next General Election and if the betting markets are right then the incoming government would have upwards of 350 MPs. Of those only about 195 are Conservative MPs at present but taking account retirements and other factors only about 175 of the expected 350, about half, will have had any experience of serving in Parliament – a proportion that would increase if…

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Is Labour like its leader just too tired?

Is Labour like its leader just too tired?

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Or was today another boost for AJ4PM? So another battering at by the voters and if things run to form then there’ll be more leadership speculation followed by Brown’s September conference speech which all Labour loyalists will acclaim. We’ve been here before – the only difference now is that the election is much closer and Labour is finding it even harder to get people to vote for the party. Fourteen months ago at C&N the Tories achieved a massive swing…

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Will Labour’s lost voters return?

Will Labour’s lost voters return?

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Sky News ..Or does Norwich suggest that the decline is terminal? By the standards of C&N the result was a big disappointment to the Tories who failed to get the sort of vote uplift that we saw in the Cheshire by election last year. But in many ways it did not matter because the election underlined the big trend in British politics at the moment – the terrible collapse of the Labour vote. For UKIP and other parties can syphon…

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