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Wasn’t Tony rougher and ruder? Lots of comment today about Cameron’s approach to PMQs and his concentration on Brown’s leadership style rather than specific policies. But how new is this? Isn’t this exactly what Tony Blair did to John Major in the run-up to the 1997 general election? This is surely all part of the process? The idea is to so demoralise your opponent and his party that that of itself will create more problem and hopefully, from Cameron’s point…

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What if Mandy decides that the PM is bad for Labour? An interesting piece by Rachel Sylvester in the Times on the subject everybody seems to want to talk about – how Brown could be forced out. She writes: “.. what is certain is that the Blairites are not going to go down without a fight. The one to watch is Peter Mandelson. By bringing his former enemy back into the Cabinet last year Mr Brown locked in the modernisers…

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Can we expect the same Lib Dem squeeze? Having been watching the BBC Parliament re-run of the 1979 general election results programme on and off since 9am I’ve been trying to think of the lessons that might help us to predict the next general election – almost certainly in 2010. The common themes are very marked. A possibility of the return of the Tory government; a Labour party that had some massive challenges on the economy to face and a…

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Best political betting prices What if Boris doesn’t stand? Without wanting to give any credence to the stories of a Boris v Dave rivalry, with Number 10 as the ultimate prize, this past week was not the first time that there have been rumblings that Boris Johnson might not want to spend 8 years running City Hall. You can never tell, especially with his public persona, whether the faux-modesty and claims of no higher ambition are to be taken seriously….

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Five deputy contenders 2007 How is it that so few have really made it? About half of the parliamentary Labour party won election to the House of Commons in the 1990s. A few of those who gained their seat at the 1992 or 1997 elections, or one of the several by-election wins during those parliaments, have since left for one reason or another but many are still there. After ten to twenty years in the House, they ought to be…

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So far no news of polls With only five weeks to the Euro/Local elections I was expecting news of at least one poll – but that does not seem to have happened. I do know that members of the YouGov polling panel have been surveyed but I’ve no idea whether that’s going to be published or not. Clearly the big thing we have to look forward to is the Sunday paper reaction to what’s been an exceptional week. Keeping posting…

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In honour of our new Poet Laureate For those of you not familiar with Morus’ Saturday Slant, this is the time of the week where Mike allows me to weave an ill-formed political idea into a completely tangental form of prose with varying degrees of success. Previous victims have included such literary luminaries as Harold Pinter and Sir John Mortimer, so I thought it only fair to pen an homage to Carol Ann Duffy who was yesterday unveiled as our…

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