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Author: David Herdson

David Herdson says the LDs will not be able to avoid addressing the GE2015 Mandate question

David Herdson says the LDs will not be able to avoid addressing the GE2015 Mandate question

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If the circumstances required would they go with the winner on votes or seats? Prior to the last general election, Nick Clegg stated that in the event of a hung parliament, “the party which has got the strongest mandate from the British people will have the first right to seek to govern … the votes of the British people are what should determine what happens afterwards.  Whichever party have the strongest mandate from the British people … have the first…

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David Herdson says the next general election could still be wide open

David Herdson says the next general election could still be wide open

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What we could have is an anti-unpopularity contest The YouGov poll last month which showed that a Boris Johnson-led Conservative Party would be neck-and-neck with Labour in vote share was perhaps not too much of a surprise.  After all, Johnson is among the most popular of current politicians and outpolled his party by some 20% in the London elections last year.  Whether such hypotheticals would translate into reality were Johnson PM is a different matter.  He currently holds a role…

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Where will the next Thatcher come from?

Where will the next Thatcher come from?

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How long before there’s another female PM? One of the measures of the significance of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership is that despite being Britain’s first – and so far only – female prime minister, that fact is largely incidental compared to the achievements and actions of her government.  Women heads of government were rare at the time.  She was only the fourth elected female PM (and two of the earlier three followed either their husband or father as head of government);…

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Is Any Other Party worth a bet for South Shields?

Is Any Other Party worth a bet for South Shields?

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Latest pie chart showing the betting activity and odds on #SouthShields by election. twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) April 6, 2013 Rather than a Bradford West – maybe a Blaenau Gwent? The South Shields by-election ought to be as close to a certainty as it’s possible to get as by-elections go.  With Labour the sole main party of opposition, in a seat that they’ve held since 1935 where they’re defending a majority of more than eleven thousand secured on a…

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David Herdson calls for an Easter resurrection of Pontius Pilate’s reputation

David Herdson calls for an Easter resurrection of Pontius Pilate’s reputation

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Would 21st century politicians would have any acted differently? The politician allowing the unjust crucifixion of the Son of God was never going to get a particularly good press by history, particularly one the Church wrote.  Pilate accepting Christ’s innocence only causes his reputation to fall further: cynical political cowardice set against selfless suffering.  Yet the Church’s authorship of the story and the priorities of religion (as against government) do have quite a dramatic distorting effect.  Politics, after all, is…

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David Herdson says the Leveson law could be negating parliament’s most precious principle

David Herdson says the Leveson law could be negating parliament’s most precious principle

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It is unconstitutionally seeking to bind its successors?David Herdson The reporting of the implementation (or not, depending on your point of view) of the Leveson proposals have understandably concentrated on the regulation of the media. It is, after all, the media who have been reporting it and there is a tendency within the industry to believe that everyone else finds them as interesting as they find themselves. That’s not to say the reforms aren’t significant. They are – or at…

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Is Theresa May on manoeuvres?

Is Theresa May on manoeuvres?

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The “grassroots” campaign trying to get Theresa May to run for the CON leadership twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) March 16, 2013 If so, what does it say about the Tories’ election prospects? When a party is polling poorly or suffering electoral reverses, it follows almost inevitably that its leader will be the subject of speculation as to his or her future.  By the same token, it also follows that the leader’s colleagues – the most likely successors – will…

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Are those green shoots?

Are those green shoots?

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Is there a recovery underway and what effect might it have? After a cold and dark winter, the sight of spring flowers defiantly if tentatively piercing the earth and braving the still chill winds is always something to raise the spirits; a pointer to sunnier days ahead.  As with nature, so with economics: recoveries from recessions are usually patchy and slow to begin with but there comes a point where despite the bitter blasts from the continent, growth is at…

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