Labour in fifth place Lots of rumours about the Bedford result and it does look like a run-off for second places. For comparison purposes this was one estimate of the aggregate split when voting for the unitary authority took place in June. Con – 18060 – 35.66% – All wards contested LD – 12851 – 25.37% – All wards Lab – 9320 – 18.40% – All wards Ind – 7767 – 15.34% – 13 wards UKIP – 1227 – 2.42%…
How far can party HQs control local parties? If, as the betting odds seem to have suggested, the Tories have come second in today’s Bedford mayoral by election then one of the questions might be the role of the party HQ. For in many ways the role of London has been like that within Labour over all-women short-lists. For the effect is the same – to take away from local party members the power to choose who should represent them….
Is The Mole right? “Not too late for Labour to ditch Brown and win”: “Get ready for one last effort to oust Gordon Brown as Labour leader. Some in Westminster are suggesting that if Labour MPs were not so concerned with having to save their bank balances.. they would be more intent on saving their government. …The fact is that, in the eyes of some of the smartest economists and political pundits of both persuasions, David Cameron and George Osborne…
Expenses, Brown under pressure.  It’s as if the Summer never happened. So, the first PMQ’s of the new term and expenses is dominating the political agenda again. Will either of the opposition party leaders choose to go on this? It would be a brave call to do so. In other news, unemployment continues to rise but at a slower rate than some anticipated. Could this be Brown’s favoured line to take the attack to his ‘do nothing’ Conservatives? Before any of the supplementary questions,…
Are MPs being treated badly? One of the best pieces this morning on the Legg report explosion is from the veteran Labour MP and former BBC current affairs presenter, Austin Mitchell in the Times. He writes:“….the sad fact is that we MPs have nothing and no one to defend us. There is no National Union of Parliamentarians and Related Creeps. I wish that some kamikaze litigant would apply for a judicial review of the review. That would hold everything up….
CON 40 (-1) LAB 30 (+3) LD 18 (nc) What a difference from ICM This is quite a dramatic poll which is very unexpected simply because Populus operates in a very similar manner to ICM and indeed usually uses the firm for its field-work. So the variance from the ICM survey published only yesterday is quite remarkable, One thing I will be looking at when the data is published is the scale of the “spiral of silence adjustment” where Populus…
Fieldwork work starts later in the week I was asked on the previous thread about the time-table for PB’s exclusive new poll. Later this week fieldwork starts on the first of the monthly surveys that we’ll have here right upto the general election. There will be a formal announcement by the company involved, one of the biggest names in world polling, next Monday. The findings will then be published here on Tuesday or Wednesday. The detailed data will be made…
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