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How long will it take for the Lib Dems to recover?

How long will it take for the Lib Dems to recover?

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Henry G Manson on the junior coalition partner This summer Nick Clegg said he wants his party to become a “fully-fledged party of government”. Despite that his party faces wipeout in 2014 and 2015 on top of the electoral hammer blows it’s received since it formed a Coalition with the Conservatives. More than half of the people who voted for the Liberal Democrats in 2010 have deserted them. The party has fewer than 3,000 councillors for the first time in…

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Local By-Election Preview: July 25th 2013

Local By-Election Preview: July 25th 2013

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Braintree East on Braintree (Lab Defence) Last Local Election (2011): Con 47, Lab 9, Greens 2, Ind 2 (Conservative overall majority of 34) Ward Result: (Emboldened denotes elected) Elwyn Bishop Lab 762 41.9% David Messer C 759 41.7% Collette Gibson Lab 756 Eric Lynch Lab 710 Luke Harrington C 691 Rikki Williams C 668 Wendy Partridge Grn 297 16.3% “The Only Way is Essex” could be a by word for how to win a general election. At the 1997 general…

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Why do so many Tory MPs have second jobs?

Why do so many Tory MPs have second jobs?

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The Henry G Manson Friday column Ed Miliband’s decision to clamp down on the number of Labour MPs who have second jobs caused some surprise the other week. Following the 2015 general election no Labour MP will be able to work more than the value of 15% of their salary. Miliband called on other parties to follow suit. The way this story was reported suggested that if this policy was a stealth attack on the Conservative Party. But why? There…

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Local By-Election Preview: July 18th 2013

Local By-Election Preview: July 18th 2013

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  Connah’s Quay, Golftyn on Flintshire (Lab Defence) Last Local Elections (2012): Lab 31, Ind 23, Con 7, Lib Dem 7, Plaid 1 (No Overall Control, Lab short by 4) Ward Result: Lab 582 + 553 (75%), Ind 382 (25%) Flintshire (created out of the remains of Clwyd along with Denbighshire and Wrexham) has always been a strongly Labour area (even during the worse times for Labour). This was demonstrated at the 1983 general election when Alyn and Deeside (made…

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It’s time for a level playing field when choosing Labour’s next leader

It’s time for a level playing field when choosing Labour’s next leader

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Henry G Manson on what proposed changes could mean Labour’s electoral college for determining its leader is currently divided and weighted into thirds. MPs & MEPs making up one third, party members another & affiliate members (members of trade unions and other socialist societies) the final third. What this means in practice is that the vote of an MP is worth considerably more than the individual vote of a party member and even more so an affiliate member. In 2010…

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Harry Hayfield’s Local By-Elections preview

Harry Hayfield’s Local By-Elections preview

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Hanover and Elm Grove on Brighton and Hove (Green Defence) Last Local Election (2011): Greens 23, Con 18, Lab 13 (No Overall Control, Greens short by 5) Ward Result (Emboldened denotes elected) Name of party First Candidate Second Candidate Third Candidate Green Party 2,861 2,800 2,576 Labour 1,662 1,661 1,606 Conservatives 499 441 434 Liberal Democrats 189 159 140 TUSC 156 When Caroline Lucas was elected as the MP for Brighton, Pavilion at the general election in 2010, it marked…

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Henry G Manson says that party selections rarely leave clean hands

Henry G Manson says that party selections rarely leave clean hands

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Even Maggie received “help” to get Finchley Bismarck said “laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.” The same could certainly be said of parliamentary selections. The scrutiny of Labour’s Falkirk selection has generated a good deal of recent media coverage and much of this can be put down to the fascination of Unite, the largest trade union in the country. It suits Conservative strategists and even some in the Labour Party to paint a…

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Harry Hayfield’s Local By-Election Special

Harry Hayfield’s Local By-Election Special

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Aylsham on Broadland (Con Defence) Last Local Election Result (2011): Con 34, Lib Dem 12, Lab 1 (Con majority of 21) Ward Result (emboldened denotes elected) Name of party First Candidate Second Candidate Third Candidate Conservative 1,336 1,253 1,010 Liberal Democrats 1,182 846 752 Labour 542 471 Greens 446 Broadland covers the area of Norfolk that is just to the north of Norwich City (and by a strange quirk of how these things are organised, are the main authority involved…

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