Browsed by
Month: July 2011

Hacking: What are the polls going to say?

Hacking: What are the polls going to say?

Comments 0 Comment

Is the public as concerned as Westminster thinks it is? I’m hoping that we’ll see the first polls this evening on public reaction to the latest hacking allegations. There should be at least one and possibly two surveys which have been in the field yesterday and today. An interesting dimension is whether the News International daily poll, which is carried by the Sun and the Sunday Times, included any questions. The Sun, of course, has been one of a number…

Read More Read More

Is the BSkyB take-over now less likely?

Is the BSkyB take-over now less likely?

Comments 0 Comment

Has David Davis got this one right? Cameron did well at PMQs in answering Miliband’s points on a public inquiry into the hacking scandal but he was less at ease when pressed over the News International big take over all of BSkyB. On the face of it the decision this is all going ahead. The decision to allow the deal was taken by the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, three months ago and the process is near to completion. But as…

Read More Read More

Where’s the phone-hacking story going to go?

Where’s the phone-hacking story going to go?

Comments 0 Comment

Could the 7/7 victims have been targeted as well? Thanks to Marf for her take on the developing phone-hacking story which seems to get wider and wider. SkyNews has been reporting overnight that the father of a 7/7 victim says he’s been told by the police that they’d discovered a file with his phone number and address in it during their investigations into the affair. This comes on top of the reports that the parents of murdered Soham girls were…

Read More Read More

Is EdM’s position now much more secure?

Is EdM’s position now much more secure?

Comments 0 Comment

Does tonight’s PLP election reinforce his authority? In a couple of recent posts David Herdson has speculated on the gamble that Ed Miliband was taking by asking party MPs to vote to end the system whereby they elect the shadow cabinet. The result is just in and 88% of Labour MPs voted for the change on a turnout of 92%. This could have gone badly wrong for Ed if MPs had seen it as a vote of confidence. As it…

Read More Read More

Will Dave be going to Rebekah’s again this Christmas?

Will Dave be going to Rebekah’s again this Christmas?

Comments 0 Comment

Guardian 20 Jan 2011 Have the politics of phone hacking changed? The Speccie’s James Forsyth has got a good take on the hacking affair on the Coffee House blog following the revelations about the Milly Dowler case. He writes:“The politics of the phone hacking saga have changed dramatically in the last 24 hours. Up to now, it has been a scandal that has been of huge interest in political and media circles but hasn’t cut through to the public. But…

Read More Read More

Is Ed Miliband being written off prematurely?

Is Ed Miliband being written off prematurely?

Comments 0 Comment

Will he really be “sunk without trace”? The “Ed is crap” media narrative continues this morning with Professor John Curtice being quoted in the Indy as saying “Since 1979 all previous opposition leaders with unambiguously negative poll ratings at this stage in their leadership have eventually sunk without trace”. But Curtice’s 1979 date qualification excludes Margaret Thatcher. MORI wasn’t polling at this stage in her leadership but in March 1977 the firm had her at 36% satisfied to 51% dissatisfied…

Read More Read More

Bleak news for the Lib Dems from the South-West

Bleak news for the Lib Dems from the South-West

Comments 0 Comment

But will incumbency keep the losses down? There’s a poll out today from Marketing Means which has appalling news for Nick Clegg’s party about the state of opinion in one of their strong-holds, the SW of England. According to the hybrid phone/online poll the Tories are down one to 42%, Labour up 13 to 28% with the Lib Dem down from 35% in the region at the general election to just 16% now. On the face of it this would…

Read More Read More

Who’ll be out first – Bercow or Cameron?

Who’ll be out first – Bercow or Cameron?

Comments 0 Comment

How’s the Speaker/PM stand-off going to end? I’m just back from the longest break I’ve had from PB since it’s establishment in 2004 and am only now catching up on what’s happened in the past week and a half. The above encounter last Wednesday showing the readiness of the speaker to cut off the prime minister while in full flow in his final response to the opposition leader strikes me as being unprecedented which could have long lasting consequences. Certainly…

Read More Read More