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Month: April 2011

Why’s Dave campaigning where there’s no Tory candidate?

Why’s Dave campaigning where there’s no Tory candidate?

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Bedford Today Didn’t someone tell him about the nominations cock-up? Campaigning visits by party leaders and sitting PM’s to specific locations during the local elections are something of a rarity. The leader’s time is a precious resource and has to be used where it can do most good for the party. So how come that Cameron found himself this week putting fire in the bellies of Tory activists in the Bedford Borough ward of Oakley? For this is the only…

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Why is the Tory vote share holding up?

Why is the Tory vote share holding up?

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What happened to the unpopularity Cameron predicted? It’s been an expectation of many pundits and politicians that introducing government cuts will make the government unpopular. Two months ago, David Cameron himself repeated that sentiment. It’s certainly true that for the Lib Dems, government has brought unpopularity but the Tory share has remained just about unchanged. Even the Lib Dems may not be suffering from the cuts in general. The tuition fees issue and trust issue generally has been corrosive and…

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How involved are you in the political process?

How involved are you in the political process?

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PB Easter Survey: How active are you in politics? Tick all that apply. I’m a paid up member of a local party I attend local meetings I regularly deliver leaflets I canvas by phone I canvas on the door-step I am a candidate in the May 5th elections I help out on election days I generally go to my party’s national conferences I do none of the above   

MORI: The Tories move to a 2pc lead in England

MORI: The Tories move to a 2pc lead in England

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Is this a pointer to the locals? As a follow-up to last night’s thread about the English local elections I thought it’d be useful to extract the England only data from this week’s Ipsos-MORI poll. The firm is the only which which shows such a breakdown. The totals are above for “certains to vote” are – CON 43(+1): LAB 41(nc): LD 10(+1) with CON 39(+1): LAB 41(-1): LD 13(+2) amongst all those expressing a preference. The changes are on the…

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Is England where Miliband will prove he’s an election winner?

Is England where Miliband will prove he’s an election winner?

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Is this the most important of the 4 battle-grounds? There are four distinct contests on May 5th but only one which will provide real pointers as to the scale of the Labour recovery – the English local elections. A good result in Wales looks like a banker but the Ed Miliband-backed YES2AV campaign looks doomed and the latest polling suggest that the red team’s hopes of coming out top in Scotland might have been thwarted. It was in England on…

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The SNP opens up double digit leads in Scotland

The SNP opens up double digit leads in Scotland

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Salmond’s party becomes favourite after new MORI poll There’s been a lot of betting activity overnight with the publication of a new Ipsos-MORI Scotland poll that suggests that the SNP is heading for a big victory in the devolved parliament elections on May 5th. In both parts of the survey – the constituency and the list – Ipsos-MORI found that the SNP have soared ahead opening up ten and eleven point gaps on Labour. As can be seen from the…

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Is EdM’s appeal going to lead anywhere?

Is EdM’s appeal going to lead anywhere?

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Why would Vince give up his cabinet job? Channel 4 news is making a splash tonight over comments made on a train by Ed Miliband in which the Labour leader appealed to Cable and other LDs to join Labour. The fact that this appeal has been made publicly means that there’s nothing in it. Genuine defections come about after secret talks and the first thing you hear is that the move has been made. In any case what’s in it…

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Introducing “Old Etonians say No2AV”

Introducing “Old Etonians say No2AV”

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Is this how YES could motivate Labour voters? This is just my bit of fun – but with time running out for the YES I was wondering what I would do if I was running the campaign. Is it possible to reverse the sharp trend to rejecting any change? Isn’t this the moment take a different approach? Given that we know that “Dress-down Dave” is sensitive about his background as a Toff why not remind voters that the privileged classes…

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