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Author: David Herdson

David Herdson says the government should call the SNP’s bluff on full fiscal autonomy

David Herdson says the government should call the SNP’s bluff on full fiscal autonomy

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It’s time to slay Holyrood’s bogeyman The referendum was never going to be the end of the story and neither was the declaration of the unionist parties to implement the recommendations of the Smith commission. The closeness of the vote last September and the unprecedented landslide this May have understandably prompted the SNP to demand a lot more. It would be foolhardy for Westminster to refuse. The amendment that the SNP have put down is quite smart, not demanding a…

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Solving Labour’s deficit dilemma?

Solving Labour’s deficit dilemma?

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The new leader must win back trust on the economy If there was one moment where Labour’s fate was sealed during April’s election campaign, it was not the unveiling of the Edstone; it was Ed Miliband’s answer to whether he thought Labour had been spending too much prior to the Crash in 2008. He started by simply saying “no, I don’t”. It may well have been that Labour was already heading for defeat at that point – given how badly…

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David Herdson says that the Battle of Skinner’s Seat is only the beginning

David Herdson says that the Battle of Skinner’s Seat is only the beginning

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Salmond: the new Parnell in Westminster The House of Commons can be a pretty rowdy place at times but it does at least have rules and conventions to which its members are expected to adhere. At one time, it had far fewer rules and rather more conventions (as the Lords still does). The reason why the change came about can be credited to Charles Stewart Parnell, the dominating Irish politician in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. He astutely…

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David Herdson: Elect in haste; repent at leisure

David Herdson: Elect in haste; repent at leisure

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Straight after defeat is not the best time to elect a new leader Michael Howard did the Conservatives two great favours as leader: the manner of his arrival and the manner of his departure. After the hapless two years under Duncan Smith, he (and David Davis, by standing aside), created a much-needed sense of unity and with it, the first signs of the determination and hunger necessary to regain office. Perhaps even more importantly, after he led his party to…

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David Herdson looks at the LDs following the GE15 outcome

David Herdson looks at the LDs following the GE15 outcome

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This was the biggest disaster in nearly a century? The Lib Dems and their predecessors have been through some bad times over the years but what faces them now is their worst crisis in nearly a century. It is worse than the splits over Ireland under Gladstone that ended their pre-eminent position in the country; it is worse than the division between Asquith and Lloyd George, which ended them as a party of government; it is worse than the post-merger…

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Only divorce can save the Union

Only divorce can save the Union

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It is time to set the Scottish parties free Unprecedented is not what it used to be. The splintering of the party system and the increasing willingness of voters to shop around means that the previously extraordinary has become rather routine. To take one example, prior to this week, in no election since 1918 had more than three parties polled over a million votes each*; this year, six did so. But nowhere was the scale of the unprecedented more obvious…

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David Herdson: The election remains far from a foregone conclusion

David Herdson: The election remains far from a foregone conclusion

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Groupthink can be a most dangerous thing. To listen to many commentators, analysts and indeed many politicians, such is the consensus that you might believe that the election was all over and the result in; that result being Con and Lab roughly level, an SNP landslide in Scotland, the Lib Dems parliamentary party halved and UKIP and the Greens failing to register meaningfully. So it might be but we should at least entertain other possibilities. Why has such a consensus…

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David Herdson asks: Where’s Cleggy?

David Herdson asks: Where’s Cleggy?

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Solving the riddle of the election’s missing man Two Kings and a Joker is the hand the media traditionally aims to deal the public in their coverage of general elections. They don’t always manage to do so as it depends on the real-life characters available but the battle for No 10 is usually best told as a contest between two big parties with a wild-card element thrown in. That wild-card has usually been the Lib Dems, or the Liberal-SDP alliance…

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