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Category: David Cameron

Will Libya restore Dave’s self-confidence?

Will Libya restore Dave’s self-confidence?

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Does the Tory poll decline result from a lack of advocacy? One thing that struck me from PMQ’s this week was how much David Cameron skirted round defending the greater competition that the reforms to the NHS will bring, assuming that the bill goes through more or less as currently presented. It’s not that there wasn’t passion there – he was robust in his responses to Ed Miliband – but each time the Labour leader questioned him about provisions for…

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Will Dave get the blame if AV is passed?

Will Dave get the blame if AV is passed?

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Did the blues make the wrong call last May? On the previous thread Laptop posed the question of whether, in the light of what’s happened over the past ten months, the Tories would have been better going for a “supply & confidence” arrangement with the Lib Dems rather than full coalition? Certainly looking at the way the polls and and Barnsley have gone things look bleak for the yellows as they face the May 5th English locals and the devolved…

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Will the Tories now have to pull back over the Lansley plan?

Will the Tories now have to pull back over the Lansley plan?

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Could the future of the coalition be on the line? My strong sense from all that has come out in the past 24 hours from the Lib Dem conference in Sheffield is that the partnership between the blues and the yellows is about to face its biggest test over the Andrew Lansley NHS changes. From the amendments that the Lib Dem leadership had to accept yesterday the party’s contingent of MPs is going to find it almost impossible to go…

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Why wasn’t Cameron slaughtered this week?

Why wasn’t Cameron slaughtered this week?

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Doesn’t EdM need to plan better? On the face of it this should have been an easy PMQs for Ed Miliband. The government’s performance over the past week or so has been far from opitimal and there was plenty of material to play with over the Libya issues and the role of William Hague. Yet somehow EdM’s attacks failed to stick and it was Cameron who came on top. Anticipating the vulnerability of Hague the PM had a well prepared…

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Should Dave cut his pre-prepared insults?

Should Dave cut his pre-prepared insults?

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Can he move from a party to a national leader? According to Times’s Danny Finkelstein his old close colleague, the new Downing Street Director of Strategy, Andrew Cooper, is planning to tell Cameron that he should aim to be “be a national leader, rather than a party politician especially in the Commons.” But how realistic is this? Could Cameron really pull his punches in the way Cooper is said to want? As James Forsyth notes on the CoffeeHouse blog: “Nearly…

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Is Cameron planning to “betray” his party over AV?

Is Cameron planning to “betray” his party over AV?

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Independent Are we seeing another OES-type move to help Nick? Andrew Grice in the Independent is reporting this morning that there’s growing concern in Tory ranks over what David Cameron might be planning over electoral reform . He writes: “There are growing fears among Tory backbenchers that some Cameron allies would be privately relaxed about a Yes vote in the referendum, since it would give Mr Clegg a big prize and almost certainly ensure that the Coalition lasted until the…

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Nick and Ed get YouGov leadership ratings’ boosts

Nick and Ed get YouGov leadership ratings’ boosts

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David Cameron David Cameron “doing well/badly” (YouGov) All (last week) CON voters LAB voters LD voters Well 45(+2) 95 10 71 Badly 48(-1) 4 88 25 Ed Miliband Ed Miliband “doing well/badly” (YouGov) All (last week) CON voters LAB voters LD voters Well 37 (+4) 16 72 28 Badly 43 (-1) 65 16 57 Nick Clegg Nick Clegg “doing well/badly” (YouGov) All (last week) CON voters LAB voters LD voters Well 34(+6) 68 8 79 Badly 57(-5) 26 88 20…

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Should the blues be worried about Dave’s ratings’ collapse?

Should the blues be worried about Dave’s ratings’ collapse?

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Ipsos-MORI.com Was January a blip – or the continuation of a trend? As PB regulars know I take a lot of notice leadership approval ratings particuarly those from MORI which has been asking the same questions for more than thirty years. Also, taking the lead from several leading academic political scientists who track this, my main focus is on the “satisfaction” figure and I’m less concerned about the negatives. In terms of predicting electoral outcomes it’s the proportion saying they…

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