Has David Davis got this one right? Cameron did well at PMQs in answering Miliband’s points on a public inquiry into the hacking scandal but he was less at ease when pressed over the News International big take over all of BSkyB. On the face of it the decision this is all going ahead. The decision to allow the deal was taken by the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, three months ago and the process is near to completion. But as…
Does tonight’s PLP election reinforce his authority? In a couple of recent posts David Herdson has speculated on the gamble that Ed Miliband was taking by asking party MPs to vote to end the system whereby they elect the shadow cabinet. The result is just in and 88% of Labour MPs voted for the change on a turnout of 92%. This could have gone badly wrong for Ed if MPs had seen it as a vote of confidence. As it…
Will he really be “sunk without trace”? The “Ed is crap” media narrative continues this morning with Professor John Curtice being quoted in the Indy as saying “Since 1979 all previous opposition leaders with unambiguously negative poll ratings at this stage in their leadership have eventually sunk without trace”. But Curtice’s 1979 date qualification excludes Margaret Thatcher. MORI wasn’t polling at this stage in her leadership but in March 1977 the firm had her at 36% satisfied to 51% dissatisfied…
Is anyone satisfied with his leadership? With Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats receiving a pitiful 2.2% and losing their deposit in the Inverclyde by-election, and David Cameron’s government inspiring multi-union strikes and protests over pensions reform, it is simply astonishing that Ed Miliband is the major party leader under the most pressure at the moment. With many on the Left furious that he has taken the line that “the strikes are wrong”, he has not helped his case with the single…
Click to play Henry G on Friday In defence of Michael Howard it was rottweiler interviewer Jeremy Paxman who made him repeat himself 14 times. What is Ed Miliband’s excuse? This is a truly weak and bizarre spectacle and entirely self-inflicted. There is a growing feeling that ‘he’s not up to the job’. On a wider point I don’t think Ed Miliband appreciates how much damage he has done to himself over his weak folding over industrial action. If he…
How ruthless will his MPs be? There is to be a Clause Four moment after all. Perhaps symbolically, it is not to be over a grand symbol of Labour’s policy but an arcane process for selecting the shadow cabinet. It doesn’t matter though. In taking on this fight, Miliband is placing his authority on the line and challenging his party and his MPs in just the same way. One can well understand his reasons for proposing the change. Not only…
Ipsos-MORI And shouldn’t Ed being faring better amongst ex-LDs? As well as this morning’s voting intention figures we now have details of the pollster’s leadership ratings which have been asked in the same form for nearly a third of a century. As can be seen Cameron is almost at a standstill, Clegg sees an upturn from the previous seriously poor figures and Ed Miliband continues to struggle. In spite of Labour benefitting more than the Tories in the fall of…
Could they be in for a tricky conference season? Stan James has an interesting market on which of the three main party leaders will be the first to leave before. The exits have to take place before the next general election and there’s an option that all three will be in place. Clegg is 7/4 Miliband is 2/1 Cameron is 12/1 None of them 5/4 Politicians are a remarkably resilient lot and it takes a lot to shift someone who has got…