Has the BBC boss fallen for the old long lens trick?
This is what his memo looks like enlarged. See Daily Mail here.
Does opening the wounds favour David or Ed?
Betfair Politics
Is now the time to bet on Hague?
Is he now value for Tory leader? Just as you can buy bargain stocks in the midst of a stock market panic, there is rarely a better time to bet on a politician than when they are seen as being in trouble. Of course, if the trouble is serious then they might be best avoided, but sometimes the damage to a politician is more shallow than it appears. Taking advantage of the maxim “markets don’t react: they overreact” I wonder…
So what did we learn from the Blair interview?
…and what impact has today had on the leadership race? Hague statement William Hague has issued a statement after the resignation of his special assistant Christopher Myers, which is available here. Mike Smithson is on holiday and has very limited internet connection Double Carpet
What’s happening across the Atlantic?
Will Obama lose both the House and the Senate? So with Our Genial Host taking a well-deserved break in France, the inevitability of major political news breaking in the coming days is assured. We’ll try our best to be as responsive to news stories as possible (though I suspect Tony Blair’s book – with all proceeds going to the Royal British Legion – will dominate today’s news cycle), but hope I’ll be forgiven for kicking off with a quick preview…
Why would Boris run for re-election?
And who else could be the Tory candidate? NB This necessarily-long article was written before this story broke this evening. How better to avoid running again than to resign over a fight with Cameron about cuts? When I last wrote about the 2010 London Mayoral election in May 2009 (smugly noting my bet on Oona King at 100/1 with Ladbrokes), I suggested that the main value in the market was likely to be found in the Conservative options. Other than…
Is the Justice Secretary Nick Clegg’s secret weapon?
Guardian Has Clarke become the Lib Dems’ most popular Tory? On the afternoon of Monday September 20th Nick Clegg will have to make the speech of his life to his party gathering in Liverpool in what looks set to be THE event of the conference season. For the reaction of his audience could determine how long the coalition can survive and with it his own future. The stakes are high and Clegg has to be able to demonstrate that his…
Does the ‘No’ campaign have the edge?
Tom Harris blog Who will win the AV referendum? News broke overnight that Matthew Elliott, founder of the Taxpayers’ Alliance and BigBrotherWatch, will be leading the ‘No 2 AV’ campaign in the forthcoming referendum on electoral reform. Guido has linked to the a betting exchange suggesting a ‘Yes’ win at time of writing. However, if you wander over to Ladbrokes, you’ll find the ‘No’ priced at 2/5 and the ‘Yes’ at 7/4 (again at time of writing). Now it doesn’t take…