Could today prompt a Tory seepage to the anti-EU party? The big danger for Cameron’s Tories from today’s EU policy announcement is that this could lead to a seepage of support to UKIP at the general election. If you read ConservativeHome or believe their statistically-suspect “poll” of Tory members you would think that the world was coming to an end. Yet when it comes down to it the issue at the election will be whether voters want Brown’s Labour government…
What’ll they do now the EU issue has been neutralised? I wonder whether when the experts analyse the 2010 election that the events of this week will be seen as the point when Labour finally ran out of steam. For in spite of all the challenges Brown’s party faced they could still hope that the Tory wounds over Europe would open up again when the Lisbon treaty was finally ratified. They’d seen at first hand how the Tory split had…
Will he get slammed over his “cast-iron referendum pledge”? It’s hard to think that it was just five weeks ago that the Sun came off the fence over what it would do at the general election. It came out publicly for Cameron’s Tories – news that was released on the evening after Gordon Brown’s big conference speech – something that provoked a furious reaction at the conference. The picture above is off union boss, Tony Woodley, ripping up a copy…
Could Gord be planning to go a bit earlier? What’s likely to be the first of many election date rumours has started circulating this afternoon with suggestions that key figures within the Labour party have been told “to prepare for March 25th”. Who has been saying what to whom I have no idea. But going a few weeks early is about the last tactical advantage that Brown can deploy and it does make a sort of sense. March 25th, though,…
Could the “Turnip Taliban” undermine his leadership? There’s now a betting market on the situation in the safe Tory seat of South West Norfolk where the move to de-select the PPC, 34 year old Elizabeth Truss, is opening up all sorts of issues over the powers of local parties and charges of sexism. Last week the local executive decided by 19 votes to 14 to put Ms Truss’s candidature back to a special general meeting in a fortnight’s time because…
Telegraph Is the sky the limit for the Penrith PPC? There’s a lot been written in recent days about Rory Stewart who has just been selected as Tory PPC for the safe seat of Penrith. By any standard he’s got an extraordinary CV and even went to Eton followed by Oxford which seems to be the standard background for so many. But just read this from Anna van Praagh’s Sunday Telegraph profile: “Britain doesn’t make men like Rory Stewart any…
Could this solve Cameron’s Lisbon ratification difficulties? Tim Montgomerie at ConservativeHome has an important post tonight setting out what he believes will be Cameron’s new approach to the EU issue following the likely ratification within the next few days of the Lisbon Treaty. In broad terms the plan is to substitute the holding of a referendum (which always looked difficult once ratification happened) with putting the fight for repatriation of key EU powers in the Tory general election manifesto –…
Have Johnson and Miliband (D) become less likely? With Alan Johnson not having too good a time of it after his sacking Professor David Nutt and the increased speculation over David Miliband going for the EU job the two who have both been favourites at various times have moved out in the betting. Johnson has sounded truly awful over the Nutt issue – his interview on SkyNews this morning was hardly that of a man who you could see as…