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Category: General

Who will bear the brunt of ‘Green-gate’?

Who will bear the brunt of ‘Green-gate’?

A Special Comment… If kind readers will indulge me in the absence of Our Genial Host, I found myself last night watching Keith Olbermann’s recent ‘Special Comment’ segments – usually a combination of unashamedly personal analysis and self-righteous ranting, variously covering California’s Proposition 8, the death of Habeas Corpus, and most famously the Geraldine Ferraro comments about Barack Obama. Looking at ‘Green-gate’ (as some immutable law of reporting would have us call it), I couldn’t help but imagine: What Would…

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ICM has the Tories 15% ahead

ICM has the Tories 15% ahead

CONSERVATIVES 45% (+3) LABOUR 30% (-1) LIB DEMS 18% (-1) Which post PBR survey do you believe? The fieldwork took place before the Green case blew up but after the YouGov survey that we saw on Wednesday. This will give a big boost to the Tories and on these figures the party would be returned with a near landslide majority. ICM’s methodology is more favourable to the Lib Dems of any of the pollsters and this is having a big…

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Has Mumbai come to the Government’s aid?

Has Mumbai come to the Government’s aid?

One of the things you quickly learn in the news business is that no story has intrinsic merit in itself. Everything is dependent on what else is going on when a new development comes on the scene. So Cameron must be feeling a little frustrated this morning that his big attack on the government over the Damian Green arrest has been totally eclipsed by events in India. It’s tough – there’s really nothing the Tories can do about it. The…

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So who had ‘prior knowledge’?

So who had ‘prior knowledge’?

Who knew Damien Green was about to be arrested? BORIS JOHNSON, MAYOR OF LONDON, KNEW “The Mayor of London has expressed grave concern over the arrest of Conservative frontbencher, Damian Green. Boris johnson, who chairs the Metropolitan Police Authority expressed his concerns – in trenchant terms – ahead of his arrest. A spokesman said the Mayor finds it hard to believe that on the day when terrorist have gone on the rampage in India that anti terror police in Britain…

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Is this a gift to Cameron?

Is this a gift to Cameron?

Who’ll come out best from the Green arrest? This morning I was expecting to be writing about a new voting intention poll following Monday’s PBR statement. Well that appears to have been held over because of the explosive political story that broke last night over the arrest of the Tory shadow immigration minister, Damian Green, by police investigating a series of leaks from the Home Office. Clearly this is a developing story which from what we know at the moment…

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Tory Shadow Immigration minister arrested

Tory Shadow Immigration minister arrested

Unconfirmed rumours that Damien Green has been arrested James Forsyth at the Spectator earlier broke a story that rumours were swirling around the Westminster Village that a big story was about to break about a member of David Cameron’s team. ConservativeHome indicates that it is that Damien Green MP, the Shadown Immigration Minister, has been arrested. Sky News is reporting that the Met has confirmed a man in his fifties has been arrested, but not charged, for conspiracy to commit…

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Can Labour win without being “New”?

Can Labour win without being “New”?

But will it look differently by the weekend? A theme that’s taken up by many of the papers this morning is that yesterday’s statement by Chancellor Darling marked the end of New Labour – that creation fourteen and a half years ago that became such a powerful electoral force. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown made their party electable and led them out of the political wilderness through three stunning general election victories. Yesterday the party reverted to a more traditional…

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Have the battlelines been drawn?

Have the battlelines been drawn?

Was this really the most socialist PBR since Sunny Jim? So with as much high drama as could be summoned, the Chancellor has delivered his Pre-Budget report, with the key measures of cutting VAT to 15% and raising the top-level of Income Tax not a surprise to anyone who reads the newspapers. The Shadow Chancellor issued a stinging rebuttal, though whilst the passion of the performance was undeniable, critics are characterising the lack of policy as meaning that the Tories…

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