We haven’t got the details yet from the Sunday Times main lead but it appears to be linked to the story that’s been running all week over driving licence penalty points. The Mail on Sunday reports what it’s been doing:- “When The Mail on Sunday tried to reach the Energy Secretary last weekend, seeking a response to damaging allegations that he had pressurised someone to ‘take the points’ for a speeding offence, he failed to return calls until 1am on…
And Clegg’s winning the NHS “credit race”? There’s a new ComRes online poll just out for the Indy on Sunday and the Sunday Mirror. It’s headline figures follow other recent polls and show that Labour’s lead is narrowing. These are the figures with comparisons on the last ComRes online poll:- Con 38% (+3) Lab 39% (nc) LD 11% (+1) Others 12% (-4) Amongst the non-VI findings there are some worrying numbers for the blue team on the Lansley NHS changes…
Should they have pushed for House of Lords reform instead? The comprehensive defeat for the Yes2AV campaign has caused much questioning from those who proposed the change: how could the campaign have been better fought? Was it on the wrong day? Was it too narrow in scope? How could the assertions from No have been better rebutted? – and so on. One question that does not seem to have been asked is the most fundamental of all: was it the…
Will electors vote against the party they want to stop? The above chart seeks to graphically represent data in Denis Kavanagh’s and Philip Cowley’s The British General Election of 2010 showing the mean vote changes of the main parties in different categories of seats based on which came first and second in 2005. In doing it gives an interesting picture of what happened with, perhaps, some pointers to next time. The Labour vote showed the largest range with, interestingly, the…
BBC News After all the speculation we now have the ruling on David Laws – the Lib Dem cabinet minsters who lasted just 17 days last May after the Telegraph made allegation about his expense claims. The report accepts that his motivation was to protect his privacy but goes on to say that “Whatever his motives and subsequent behaviour, Mr Laws was guilty of a series series of breaches of the rules”. He’ll be suspended from the Commons for seven…
You have either got “it†or you haven’t Is it possible for you to put yourself in the place of an ordinary voter without a particularly strong party allegiance one way or the other? Imagine you catch a glimpse of these two first time on video. Unfortunately the sound is turned down. Now, answer this question immediately …… Which of these two do you think would make the best Prime Minister? There, you now know which of the two main…
How different it all seems one year on Today’s my 65th birthday and, as no doubt it will be hard to avoid today, the first anniversary of that Tuesday in May 2010 when Gordon Brown, Sarah and his two children left Number 10 for the last time as PM. I’m celebrating (my birthday that is) with a cup of Darjeeling First Flush 2011 Orange Valley which for any PB tea buffs is absolutely sensational and well worth the £15.95 for…
Will he become a minister again? According to the London Evening Standard, David Laws, the Lib Dem Chief Secretary of the treasury who stood down last May after allegations about his parliamentary expenses, broke six sets of rules according to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner who has just completed an investigation into the affair. The question is whether the report is so critical that no immediate return to a ministerial career is possible. We’ll have to wait to see the detail…