If not already done, the sentencing remarks of Lord Justice Fulford should be read by every MP, Cabinet Minister, police chief, Police & Crime Commissioner and anyone else involved in our criminal justice system. Paragraphs 19 and 23 set out eloquently – in words which should be taken particularly to heart by the Home Secretary and the Justice Secretary – the importance of law and order and what happens when trust in the police is undermined. As the Judge put…
He won’t be allowed back into the PLP Getting Jeremy Corbyn back into the Parliamentary Labour Party is the top aim for his supporters but, I believe the way they have conducted their campaign in Brighton last week, has made it impossible for Keir Starmer to restore the Labour Whip. Back in August, according to the Observer, the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) was circulating a conference resolution which would have stripped the leader of his disciplinary powers and…
We have reported on one or two innovative moves by the Smarkets betting exchange ever since Shadsy switched from Ladbrokes to the exchange which is seeking to take on Betfair. One thing that Betfair would surely never do is what Smarkets have open today – betting on the Hetton Ward by-election for Sunderland council where the total votes cast might not top 2k. But as we see every Thursday there is a ripple of activity late evening on PB and…
I never know what to make of quickie polls like this but Opinium’s one following yesterday’s Starmer speech look good for the LAB leader especially when compared with first conference speeches from BoJo and Corbyn. The only difference I would suggest is that Starmer has had to wait nearly 18 months to make this while those for the other two took place much closer to their leadership election victories.
So after eighteen months in the job Starmer has had his first chance to address his party. I was quite surprised by the heckling which he dealt with well and possibly encouraged most in the audience to be even more enthusiastic about what he was saying. This was the assessment of the Guardian’s Zoe Williams: Starmer’s speech revealed three critical weakness – the first rhetorical, the second programmatic, the third both. But it wasn’t without merit. With long, impassioned personal…
A LAB majority is almost totally out of the question Let us go back to the December 2019 general election which saw Corbyn’s Labour suffer its worst general election result since 1935. Their leader then was electoral poison and the Tories were able to use the threat of a Corbyn victory as a great turnout driver for CON supporters and a dampener on those thinking of tactically voting Labour. I am a Lib Dem voting in the tightest LAB-CON marginal…
We haven’t looked at the US for some time – maybe because President Biden makes it so much less newsworthy than his predecessor. Even though it is less than a year since the US voted in November next year we have the Midterms and the following Spring we are likely to see the first phases of the WH2024 nomination race. My own view is that even though he will be well into his 80s that Biden will seek to seek…
One thing I’ve been looking for in the coverage of the Labour conference is who would be the runners if for whatever reason Starmer ceases to be leader. With the pandemic totally dominating everything since the general election it has been a struggle for opposition politicians to get a look in. The person who has really impressed me so far is the Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves. Judging by the TV coverage she had a good day yesterday with her speech…