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Month: January 2011

Is this the age of the SPADs?

Is this the age of the SPADs?

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Jonathan’s Sunday Slot The surprise departure of Alan Johnson this week marked a significant milestone for British politics. A new generation of professional politicians, the ex Special Advisers (SpAds), are now in complete command of politics in this country. Is this a change for the better? Will we benefit from having people who understand Westminster and Whitehall in charge? Or are there risks? Can a clique, with negligible outside experience, run the country? Labour is led by ex-special advisers. In…

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Has this been the coalition’s worst week?

Has this been the coalition’s worst week?

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Is governing not as easy as it appeared last May? What a political week it has been topped off, of course, with the sensational resignations of Andy Coulson and Alan Johnson. Apart from this we’ve had amongst others:- The defeat over prisoners’ voting Unemployment rising markedly Inflation move worryingly upwards Fuel prices The Lords filibuster against the electoral reform plans The growing protests over the removal of EMAs The reception being given to the NHS reform plans Cameron’s alleged “betrayal”…

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Does this live up to the advance billing?

Does this live up to the advance billing?

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UPDATED Is it really a scandal “to rock Cameron’s government”? We’ve now got a glimpse of the Sunday Mirror front page and we can judge for ourselves whether the Sunday Mirror Tweet, re-Tweeted by Tom Watson and others, was correct earlier in the evening when it said it had news of a “Massive political scandal to rock Cameron’s government”. Even Sally Bercow thinks it’s a yawn. The problem about building something up which doesn’t live up to its billing is…

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Birrell tightens to 5-4 to replace Coulson?

Birrell tightens to 5-4 to replace Coulson?

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Is it between between him, Hari and Pascoe-Watson? Ladbrokes report that within a few hours of the book opening on Coulson successor Guto Hari was backed from 6/1 into 3/1 and George Pascoe-Watson was also slashed from 10/1 into 5/1. The favourite Ian Birrel was also the subject of a significant wager from a previously dormant account nudging his price into 5/4 (from 6/4) causing several raised eyebrows. Does somebody know something? Ben Brogan has drifted from 4/1 to 8/1…

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Is it really an Ed to Ed battle for policy?

Is it really an Ed to Ed battle for policy?

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Where does the Shadow Cabinet reshuffle leave Labour? Separating the meat from the chaff is one of the most critical skills in any form of betting and there’s certainly plenty of chaff in politics. Some events blaze briefly before dying to nothing, others are only ever distractions, a few matter. In the last two days, there’ve been three potentially big stories but only one is likely to have long-lasting implications. Blair’s reappearance at the Chilcot enquiry is already old news….

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Would Iain Dale be right for Coulson’s job?

Would Iain Dale be right for Coulson’s job?

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Is he worth a flutter at 33/1? Just looking down the possibles for Andy Coulson’s replacement and I wondered whether Iain Dale might be the man to take over. He politically astute, a hard worker and he’s very familiar with the Westminster environment. During the 2005 Tory leadership race he was David Davis’s top aide. As well as his blogging career, which he’s pulling out of, he’s a successful political publisher and a broadcaster. The only possible blot on his…

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Is this a good day to bury bad news?

Is this a good day to bury bad news?

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How much damage has this done Cameron? So he was professional right to the end. With Tony Blair giving evidence to the Iraq inquiry and Westminster still stunned by the Alan Johnson resignation the former News of the World editor and then Cameron’s press chief, Andy Coulson has decided that today’s the best day to announce that he’s quitting. By all accounts this is a big loss to Cameron for Coulson had built up a formidable reputation in the role….

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Can Balls stop Labour losing the blame game?

Can Balls stop Labour losing the blame game?

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Which is most to blame for the cuts? (YouGov) CON-LD coalition % Last Labour government % Both of them % Neither % 10/01/11 22 40 25 8 11/12/10 23 41 24 7 15/11/10 22 43 23 7 07/10/10 17 47 20 10 20/09/10 21 44 22 7 06/09/10 22 45 20 6 31/08/10 23 45 20 6 16/08/10 22 45 21 6 02/08/10 22 45 20 6 19/07/10 21 48 19 7 05/07/10 21 44 21 8 23/06/10 18 49…

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