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Category: General Election

The Speaker Election: Is Labour backing Margaret Beckett?

The Speaker Election: Is Labour backing Margaret Beckett?

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Could this be a consolation for losing her cabinet place? There’s a story just running on the First Post under the banner (Exclusive: Beckett for Speaker) which says “According to The First Post’s sources in the Labour Party, Margaret Beckett is ‘all but’ confirmed as favourite for the Speaker’s chair”. This is the first time her name has been mentioned and she does not even figure on the main betting markets. I’ve just got bets on by phone at 20/1…

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What’s the politics behind the 30 year rule change?

What’s the politics behind the 30 year rule change?

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Does Labour want Maggie’s records out before the election? One little item that stood out for me in Brown’s constitutional statement is the plan to reduce the so-called “30 year rule” to twenty years. This is the arrangement by which highly sensitive cabinet and other papers are made available for researchers to look at – but only thirty years after the events. So until now the latest documentation that we’ve seen has been of the Callaghan’s government in the period…

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Could Gord announce the election date today?

Could Gord announce the election date today?

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Would it be held at the same time as a referendum on PR? This is a completely wild guess but could the Prime Minister tell us the election date in his statement today on proposed voting reform? My thinking is that coming up with a date now would take away some of the pressure that he’s under within the party and also blunt the edge of all the Tory calls for an immediate general election. Brown will be only too…

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Is Labour reconciled to possibly decades in opposition?

Is Labour reconciled to possibly decades in opposition?

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Have they given up on having a leader who’s electable? It was perhaps too much to be hoped that Labour MPs would last night ditch the man they they gave the leadership to in June 2007 without him having to be bothered with all that stuff about facing an election. They failed to stand up to the Brown Gang’s strong arm tactics two years ago and they failed again last night. The result, let’s spell it out, is that they…

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Doesn’t this picture say it all?

Doesn’t this picture say it all?

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Is Gord capable of inspiring his party and the nation? This is picture that was first featured here at the end of 2006 several months before Brown became prime minister. There he is, amongst enthusiastic Labour supporters and you would expect him to at least make the effort to show that he is delighted to see them. But look at him – he is rigid and cold as a cucumber. He’s hardly an inspiration to even the most ardent enthusiast….

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Yet again the Golden Polling Rule holds good

Yet again the Golden Polling Rule holds good

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UPDATED Why Labour should ALWAYS assume the worst Before we get into the days big story about whether Brown can hang on let’s have a quick look at the pollsters which, once again, have shown that the Golden Polling Rule still operates. This, as we’ve discussed here before, is that in CON-LAB contests the survey showing Labour in the least favourable position is the most accurate one – something that has happened on every occasion when polls have been tested…

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Punters push Tory spreads to record levels

Punters push Tory spreads to record levels

SportingIndex CON 360-365 LAB 203-208 LD 53-56 But the TV “experts” project a Tory majority of just 4 A big gap has opened up this afternoon between the punters – those who back up their general election predictions with hard cash – and the TV academics who have been analysing the local election results. So while SkyNews has been projecting, based on the handful of results in so far, a Conservative general election total 327 seats the Sporting Index spreads…

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