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Author: David Herdson

An SDP Mark 2 is now a real possibility within 4 months

An SDP Mark 2 is now a real possibility within 4 months

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It’s war within Labour and one side must lose To have publicly lost the confidence of three-quarters of your MPs would normally be regarded as a resigning matter. In 1995, John Major set himself the private target in his party’s leadership election of 65% of his MPs, aware that without a substantial lead his authority would be terminally damaged. Indeed, the Tory leadership election rules at the time required a 15% lead in the first round in order to ensure…

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Might Balls be Labour’s answer at 100/1?

Might Balls be Labour’s answer at 100/1?

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Embed from Getty Images Will one of Labour’s Big Beasts return and run? As the extraordinary episode in Labour’s history that is Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership enters what looks like a chaotic death-throw, eyes and minds inevitably turn to what – and who – comes next. Various names have been suggested: Watson, Benn, MacDonnell, Jarvis, Nandy and others. Some have ruled themselves out but with events so fluid, I’d be inclined not to take any such statement too categorically. None of…

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David Herdson says the post-Corbyn chapter opens

David Herdson says the post-Corbyn chapter opens

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This is from @tom_watson's snapchats from Glastonbury this weekend pic.twitter.com/f2XmfKOYTO — TSE (@TSEofPB) June 26, 2016 For once, Labour might actually be doing a coup properly Jeremy Corbyn has never been loved as leader by the Labour MPs. He didn’t have enough support to be nominated without the horribly misguided nominations of backers of other candidates, he’s neither looked nor acted like a leader once in place, and he’s never sought to reconcile the gap between his personal mandate in…

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David Herdson looks at the post-referendum purpose of UKIP

David Herdson looks at the post-referendum purpose of UKIP

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Your next mission, should you choose to accept it … is what? The fruitcakes have taken over the asylum. UKIP, which well under a decade ago was a fringe party – it polled only 3.1% in the 2010 general election – has achieved the purpose for which it was created. Those critics who laughed at the party’s failure to win more than one seat last year should reflect that electoral success is only a means to an end, and is…

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Britain’s EU hokey-cokey: what would ‘in again’ look like and why isn’t Remain talking about it?

Britain’s EU hokey-cokey: what would ‘in again’ look like and why isn’t Remain talking about it?

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  There’d be no special status second time round If there was one thing that won the Scottish Independence referendum for No (or Remain in current parlance), it was the currency question. The uncertainty surrounding what currency an independent Scotland would use, whether it would be forced into the Euro, which central bank – if any – would underpin the financial system and so on was not only a massive inhibitive in its own right but also encapsulated the wider…

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Turnout: the EURef big unknown

Turnout: the EURef big unknown

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Embed from Getty Images Just how enthused is the general public? For those inside the political bubble, whether as practitioners, supporters or lobbyists on the inside, or commentators and observers watching on, it’s easy to forget how little politics matters to an enormous number of people. One in three people didn’t vote at the last general election, more than half of Londoners and Welsh didn’t do so in May and only slightly fewer than half in Scotland and N Ireland….

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Corbyn found his voice on Thursday. Unfortunately, it was echoed by his supporters

Corbyn found his voice on Thursday. Unfortunately, it was echoed by his supporters

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One of the most remarkable aspects of Corbyn’s Labour is its attitude to the media Alistair Campbell would be turning in his grave were it not for the fact that he’s not dead. Not only did the Labour supporters booing the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg at Jeremy Corbyn’s speech on Thursday drive the wedge between party and media that bit further but it distracted from the main purpose of the event, which was for the Labour leader to add his weight…

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The EU can’t have its Turkey and eat it

The EU can’t have its Turkey and eat it

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The EURef highlights Europe’s ambivalence to its buffer state “Bridge Together”: Istanbul’s slogan for its unsuccessful 2020 Olympic bid captured well the country’s unifying potential, linking as it does not only Europe and Asia but also the secular west with the Islamic Middle East. A bridge, however, needs firm foundations and Turkey, rather than pulling two sides together, is more swayed by the forces pulling it in opposite directions. Hence the force of the arguments this week about its potential…

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