Should you take the 7/1 that Cameron will get his way? Overnight I put a bet on with Ladbrokes at 7/1 that the American who as been boss of several US police forces, including New York, Bill Bratton, will get the job as Metropolitan Police commissioner. This appointment is reported to becoming becoming a trial of strength between Number 10 and the Home Office with the latter making it a job requirement that the post goes to a British citizen….
Will the police always come out on top? Following the previous post about the reported police reaction to the PM’s criticisms over their handling of the riots I’ve dug up the above YouGov polling that was published on Wednesday. The question was: “Thinking about the recent riots in London and other cities in Britain. How well or badly do you think each of the following are dealing with situation? – The police/Cameron/Boris?” Things have moved on sharply in the past…
Is it wise to open rifts with top cops? The main lead in tomorrow’s Guardian is on the reaction of senior police officers to the wholesale criticisms of their approach to the riots in speeches from the PM and other Tories in today’s commons debate. One of them is quoted as saying: “David Cameron blamed the police for not having a crystal ball and not anticipating the most serious set of circumstances ever seen. The confidence of the police leadership…
Is trying to make excuses a dangerous strategy? So far during riot week Ed Miliband has played a very straight bat and has been careful not to be seen to be making excuses for the arson, looting, mugging and now murder. His rhetoric has been focussed on the need to restore public order combined with calls practical help and cash. As Michael White puts it in the Guardian his approach has been to treat it as if the rioting was…
Have the police and the politicians got the message right? There’ve been some powerful set-pieces this morning from both the police and politicians as the effort goes on to dampen things down and hopefully to bring an end to the spate of lootings, mugging and arson. I thought Cameron’s tone today was just right and provided his actions match the rhetoric this could end up as a positive for him. His short speech outside Number 10 was one of the…
Metro ..or will it spread more? So Dave is back and this morning we have a meeting a COBRA – a move that was so derided in the early days of Brown’s premiership in 2007. Maybe the idea that people at the top are fully focussed on dealing with the situation will provide reassurance to the public and to the police who’ve been asked to do a challenging job in almost a political vacuum. My guess is that we’ll see…
But will this improve as the media interest fades? The weekly YouGov leadership ratings for News International are just out and show a further deterioration in Cameron’s position. For the first time since becoming PM his “well” number is below 40% while his “badly” figure at 55% is the worst that he’s seen. At the end of May, just eight weeks ago, Cameron was on 48% – 46% showing a net positive of 2. Miliband’s 35% – 50% is a…
Ipsos-MORI Will yesterday be seen as a turning point? The chart shows the recent trends in the MORI leadership satisfaction ratings and there’s little doubt that the PM has taken a hit as a result of the hacking scandal. The question now is whether this will be sustained and whether Cameron can reach satisfaction numbers that would point to the Tories winning a general election with an overall majority. As I keep on saying these findings historically are a much…