More detail from Populus adds to the gloom It was almost exactly three years ago, while Tony Blair was still Labour leader, that I did a thread – “Why can’t Gordon do the “sincerity thingâ€? – on Brown’s inability to sound convincing when it is clear that he is telling porkies. I suggested that this was his greatest weakness. That observed that for much of the time, of course, politics is about organised hypocrisy and that “a key quality in…
Woodnewton Associates Even when things are going well their supporters are less certain Just look at the chart above which takes one series of numbers from the monthly Ipsos-MORI political monitors – the proportion of those saying they will support Labour and the Conservatives at the next election who are “100% certain to vote”. The period covered is the past fifteen months and includes times when Labour has been doing badly, like at the moment, and times when they are…
This is the first cartoon by PB’s cartoonist, Marf, for several months. She has been missed. Mike Smithson
How serious a contender is he? There’s lots of talk at the moment about the Labour leadership prospects of Ed Milband (younger brother of the foreign secretary) following supportive comments by Derek Simpson, of the Unite union, and his appearance at the TUC. The union boss was quoted at the weekend as saying “If I had to name one for the future I pick Ed Miliband. He has potential to be a lot more progressive”. Ed is still in his…
Is the “NO” campaign now just too far behind? We are not very far off the second Irish Lisbon treaty referendum which takes place on Friday October 2 – and the result will be known just as Conservative conference delegates begin heading for Manchester for the last of the party conferences before the general election. The result could have a big impact on the politics of the UK as well as the politics of Europe for if the Irish are…
SkyNews How potent is the rising jobless total? So as expected there’s been another big increase in the number of jobless and we are now back at levels not seen since the mid-90s when the Tory government was in power. The news comes on the same day that that ex-Tory leader, Iain Duncan Smith, unveiled plans costing nearly £3bn a year, to get half a million people off benefits and into work. This is not party policy but the funding…
Politics Home poll Could this be one of the big election themes? Over the past week I’ve been surprised by the public reaction to the compulsory vetting regime planned for those who have contact with children who are not their own. If I’d been asked to venture a view before this blew up I’d have said that virtually anything that helped clamp down on paedophiles would have been applauded by the Great British Public. Maybe it’s the way the initial…
Smart move or a sign of weakness?