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Month: August 2010

Does the “Why Labour Lost” poll tell us anything new?

Does the “Why Labour Lost” poll tell us anything new?

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Didn’t voters simply want change? Will Straw’s Left Foot Forward blog has just published a Yougov poll which seeks to find out why Labour lost. Issues like Gordon Brown, immigration, Iraq and Afghanistan are tested. Yet on looking at the survey the LFF questioning seems to have been far to introspective to Labour and focuses too much on issues. For the following, based on polling at the time are the reasons, surely, why David Cameron is now PM. The mood…

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Should the BBC become a mutual?

Should the BBC become a mutual?

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What do we think of Mili-D’s plan? According to Paul Waugh on his Standard blog the Labour leadership front-runner, David Miliband, together with Tessa Jowell have come up with an interesting new plan for the BBC. They suggest that it should become a “mutual” with TV licence payers having a “real say” in how the corporation is run. According to Waugh they will say: “Owned by the British public and paid for directly through each household’s TV licence, it is…

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Is Labour’s electoral system like “Animal Farm”?

Is Labour’s electoral system like “Animal Farm”?

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Should some animals be more equal than others? One of the aspects of Labour’s leadership election that has not really been questioned is the system itself. For unlike what has become the norm in other parties the choice of Labour leader is not determined by a membership ballot in which all votes have equal value. Instead different values are attached to each vote depending on whether you are an ordinary member, an MP/MEP, or you pay the political levy to…

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Could EdM’s tax credit gaffe cost him the leadership?

Could EdM’s tax credit gaffe cost him the leadership?

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Should there be higher rates for people in the South? I’ve just had this email from HenryG – our regular Labour commenter from the North East. He writes: ” CLP activists are up in arms at this idea of Ed Miliband’s to pay people South more in tax credits that those in the North. It was flagged up in my local paper today and one of our MPs has jumped on it. This is a dubious idea at the best…

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Is the coalition doing too many things too quickly?

Is the coalition doing too many things too quickly?

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From the previous thread: “The coalition is the most recklessly ambitious government that I can recall. It has started more controversial policies in three months than the average government takes on in a Parliament. I do not regard this as a good thing.” – antifrank Is he right? Mike Smithson

Why’s the best equipped contender set to come last?

Why’s the best equipped contender set to come last?

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Is Balls paying the price for supporting Gordon? Judging by the opinion polls, the list of nominations and the number of endorsements then the one near certainty about the race for the Labour leadership is that Ed Balls isn’t going to win. On all the measures he is a long way behind and it’s hard to see what could change in the final four weeks before the ballots go out. Yet if you look at what the five have said…

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Could Oona pip Ken for Labour’s London nomination?

Could Oona pip Ken for Labour’s London nomination?

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Is it worth 4/1 that she’ll be the one to take on Boris? Until now I have followed the received wisdom that Ken is a near certianty to secure his party’s nomination for London mayor in that other Labour election that will be taking place in the capital next month alongside the vote for next leader. The wily Ken, the argument goes, has been about for so long and he has such name recognition that he’s almost untouchable. But is…

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Should Ashdown be brought into the cabinet?

Should Ashdown be brought into the cabinet?

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Would this beef up his party’s fire-power? Yesterday I was having a natter with someone well connected within the Lib Dems who came up with an interesting idea to help Nick Clegg and the yellows with their current predicament – allocate one of the party’s five cabinet places to the former leader, Paddy Ashdown. An ideal position, given Ashdown’s former role as High Representative in Bosnia and early career as a soldier could be to replace the increasingly detached Liam…

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