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Category: General Election

Should Gord call an October general election?

Should Gord call an October general election?

Would this be in Labour’s best long-term interest? Another opinion poll overnight showing not one iota of improvement in Labour’s position and another month goes by eating into the precious time the party has to get it right before it is forced to face the voters. Labour’s situation is dire and it is hard to foresee the circumstances in which it can stop Cameron’s Conservatives getting a substantial majority. There is no positive indication anywhere – and there’s been nothing…

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Is this the man to restore economic confidence?

Is this the man to restore economic confidence?

Will it be Balls in – Darling out? Lots of talk today about who would replace Alistair Darling as chancellor and one man whose name keeps on coming up is Ed Balls – the former public school boy who has probably the closest relationship with Brown of any minister in the cabinet. He spent more than a decade as his top advisor and has long been tipped for a top position in a Brown government. It was Balls who played…

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Is the “love-bombing of Cameron” coming to an end?

Is the “love-bombing of Cameron” coming to an end?

Can we now expect fierce full-frontal attacks? What could be the most significant UK political development of the weekend was the news that Brown’s PR guru, Stephen Carter, has been “moved on”. This, according to James Forsyth of the Spectator Coffee House blog, could herald a major shift in Number 10s approach because Carter was a keen advocate of a more softly softly approach, particularly to David Cameron. He writes:”In recent weeks, Carter has been advocating not trying to tear…

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Are we seeing the final act of the Brown drama?

Are we seeing the final act of the Brown drama?

What if Darling resigns over Gord’s £40bn plan? Three political stories dominate the Sunday papers and all point to just one conclusion – that we might be in the final phase of the Gordon Brown era. The first is in the Independent of Sunday which reports that Stephen Carter, the high-powered PR guru who was brought into Downing Street as Gord’s key strategist is to be moved to a new role. The second is the lead in the Mail on…

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Is Darling trying to spike Gord’s latest “re-launch”?

Is Darling trying to spike Gord’s latest “re-launch”?

Should you be betting on an early Brown departure? The main story from BBC News overnight is the interview that Alastair Darling has given to the Guardian in which he says that Britain’s economic prospects are the “worst for 60 years”. The timing could not have been more significant as Brown prepares for yet another “relaunch” in order to try to stem the massive decline in Labour’s support that we have seen over the past six months. That was due…

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Labour’s polling nightmare continues – YouGov

Labour’s polling nightmare continues – YouGov

Are polls like this news any more? The August YouGov survey for the Daily Telegraph is out this morning and the figures are in the same broad territory that we have seen since the budget last March – Labour in dire trouble and the Tories in the mid or high 40s. The numbers according to the paper are those recorded in the panel above showing changes on the last survey by the firm a fortnight ago. There is a slight…

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Are the polls really all over the place?

Are the polls really all over the place?

A guest slot by Bob Worcester – the founder of MORI (This is a specially adapted version for PB of an article produced by Bob Worcester for his new Vox Populi blogs on the Ipsos MORI site. The aim is to produce a monthly piece between now and the next election based on Bob’s personal experience of nearly 40 years conducting and observing polls and how they are reported) “Let’s look at the record”, as the politicians say. Just this…

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Will the Olympic euphoria tide Brown over?

Will the Olympic euphoria tide Brown over?

Or are the fundementals just the same? With GB’s succeses in Beijing and the lack of any further moves on his leadership there is said to be a “mood of euphoria” surrounding the PM. The hope is that he’ll get through September unscathed so that his conference speech in Manchester will provide the platform for recovery. Brown is being helped as well by the dramatic political events across the Atlantic. For the next fortnight the main political focus wil be…

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