Peter the Punter on the betting for the next chancellor Few political markets have offered punters more opportunities than that for the Next Chancellor. The key to it has been the regular price fluctuations. Most of the plausible candidates have varied enormously in price and if you bought high and sold low you may well have engineered an all green position already. Unlike a lot of the markets we bet in, this one is sure to go to the wire….
Is this the first skirmish of the new political era? In a move designed to seize the media initiative Tory leader, David Cameron, has challenged the PM in waiting, Gordon Brown, to a series of TV debates to, as he puts it, “revive interest in politics”. Such debates played a key part in Cameron’s own election as leader in 2005 and if the left-wing challenger, John McDonnell, had found enough MPs to support his bid on Thursday then there would…
Will Labour Lose Birmingham? Birmingham has long since ceased to be a bellwether city. Up until the 1980s, a majority of its MPs were usually returned for the winning party in a general election, and its council switched regularly between Labour and the Conservatives. Yet, from 1983 onwards, Labour consistently outperformed their national performance in the city, and controlled the council without a break from 1984 to 2004. In 1997, they won every seat in the city, apart from ultra-safe…
We’ve waited an awful long time but at last Betfair has opened a market on the deputy leadership. I’ve bet a bit already but I’m going to wait until we see the next YouGov poll of Labour and affiliated trade union members. Earlier surveys had Benn well ahead but Johnson has the most MP nominations. Harman has the implicit support of Brown while Blears is said to have come out best in the first hustings. Cruddas, meanwhile, has the backing…
Has Ming got the most job security? With last Thursday’s historic resignation by Tony Blair we reached the unprecedented situation where all three main parties have ousted leaders within the past four years. Labour and the Lib Dems have taken up what used to be the exclusive Tory habit of deposing leaders who are thought to be performing badly. This is new territory for UK politics and means, surely, that none of the three has real job security. Once you…
Contest or coronation – what’s best for the Tories? With the time fast running out on John McDonnell’s desperate attempt to get a further seventeen Labour MPs to back his nomination what outcome are the Tories hoping for tomorrow lunchtime? Does the Cameron gang want Gordon to get his coronation and then spend the next six weeks with his rather pointless campaign or would they like to see Brown having to face a challenge from McDonnell? My guess is that…
1250 gmt We are experiencing severe difficulties with the site today and it might be a few hours before we can get it back to normal. I can still publish articles but it is not possible for people to submit comments. Mike Smithson
We seem to be having problems this morning. Let’s see if the thread on here works.