PB February 27 2009 Is Fred’s offer good for Gord as well? There’s a story running on BBC news that could be great news for those who bet that the £700,000 a year pension for ex-RBS boss Fred Goodwin would be reduced. It would also be good news for the ministers who had made a big thing about the scale of the payment to the man who had been at the helm of the troubled bank during a critical period….
Do these pics support the Linford thesis? HatTip to Daniel Finkelstein on the Times Comment Central blog for spotting the very different reactions of Cameron and Brown to Michael Martin when he was criticising the party leaders over the expenses issue. Just look at the cutaway shots taken less than a second apart. Brown continues reading some papers while Cameron looks quite disturbed. I just wonder whether this is further evidence of the thesis, discussed here on Monday, by the…
PoliticsHome Does the party need to refine its approach? With policies on tax and spend dominating PMQs and almost the whole political debate at the moment there’s a new poll out from PoliticsHome that could cause Labour strategists to re-think their approach. As can be seen in the chart the overall shares on who is “most honest” were CON 37: LD 28: LAB 16: NONE 28 But when this is broken down those polled describing themselves as non-aligned split: CON…
But what will Nick Clegg say? It’s going to be a strange PMQs with, I guess, almost every MP who is called paying their tribute to Michael Martin for whom this will be the final session before he steps down on Sunday. The commons can be a sentimental place on these occasions and that’s what we will see today. I just wonder how Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, is going to handle it? For it was he, it will be…
One of the consequences of Labour’s precarious financial position is that it is much more vulnerable to pressure from union funders who don’t like its policies. According to the BBC public service union, Unison, has said that “it will no longer give financial support to MPs that do not support its values.” The General Secretary Dave Prentis told union members it would not give any more “blank cheques” to the party and Labour MPs and candidates at the next election…
I’ve just got back from a lunch in London and we need a new thread simply because the last one was getting too long. My plan is to post something new later.
AMENDED CON 39 (-1) LAB 27(+5) LD 18 (-7) What a difference not being an election campaign makes Last time there was an ICM Westminster poll it was towards the end of the Euro election campaign when the broadcasting rules meant that all the parties, apart from Labour, were getting were getting much more coverage than they normally do. The result then was a big boost for the other parties particularly the Lib Dems who saw themselves ahead of Labour…
Who came out best from the first hustings? This afternoon’s hustings for the 10 MPs seeking to take over from Michael Martin a week today was both an entertaining event and very instructive for all those interested in the political process. Each of them made good cases and my sense overall is that this could be a lot closer then we thought. My ratings:- Margaret Beckett (Lab) Came over reasonably well, dealt effectively with the issue of her being a…