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Category: Gordon Brown

Did Straw make a last-ditch effort to stop Blair?

Did Straw make a last-ditch effort to stop Blair?

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Guardian Is this going to keep Iraq in the news? The main story in the Guardian is about a private letter that the then Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, wrote to the Tony Blair just before the invasion of Iraq suggesting, amongst other things, that Britain should offer the Americans “political and moral support” in their campaign against Saddam Hussein, but not military backing. According to the paper Straw “reportedly urged Blair to tell George Bush that British troops would help…

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This must be the political interview of the year?

This must be the political interview of the year?

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Listen to the John Hutton interview Is this a foretaste of what’s to come? If you have not caught up yet with the John Hutton interview on this evening’s PM programme then listen to to it now. The headline story of Hutton’s admission to being the cabinet members expressing serious doubts about Gordon Brown in September 2006 is only part of it – although the way that comes out in the discourse is of itself quite dramatic. Eddie Mair’s quiet…

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What’s this going to do to the campaign?

What’s this going to do to the campaign?

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SkyNews Why’s Cameron taking such a gamble? So now we have it. British election campaigns are never going to be the same again. For the long push by the broadcasters to get live TV debates between the three main leaders seems to have succeeded. ITV will host the first chaired by Alistair Stewart; Sky has the second with Adam Boulton while the final one will be a BBC affair with David Dimbleby in the che chair. Each programme will last…

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Could there be an urgent international role for Gordon?

Could there be an urgent international role for Gordon?

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What’s the world going to do post-Copenhagen? I was very struck by the Indy on Sunday’s, John Rentoul, in his blog on Gordon Brown’s performance in Copenhagen – for of all the left of centre commentators he is one of the biggest and most consistent critics of the PM. He wrote: “The relative failure of the Copenhagen summit has a more parochial implication: Gordon Brown won’t get the credit he so richly deserves for a feat of negotiating energy and…

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Should Mr. Brown look back over the C&N numbers?

Should Mr. Brown look back over the C&N numbers?

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By-elections.co.uk CON 20,539 votes (14,162) LAB 12,679 votes (21,240) LD 6,040 votes (8,083) The contest, held on 22 May 2008, was the first seat gained by the Tories in a by election since June 1982. The turnout was just 1.8% down on what it had been at the general election. Mike Smithson

Will attacking Etonians win or lose votes?

Will attacking Etonians win or lose votes?

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Could Brown’s toff-bashing quip turn-off middle England? John Rentoul makes a good point about one aspect of Brown’s PMQ’s performance on his Independent blog:- “…..there was one line that was too good to use. Brown invoked the name of Zac Goldsmith, the dormantly non-dom Conservative candidate, and said that David Cameron’s inheritance tax cut seemed like something “dreamt up on the playing fields of Eton”. .Having a go at Cameron’s school, chosen for him by his parents: Not Going to…

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Welcome to the new confident Gordon

Welcome to the new confident Gordon

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But is there a danger when’s he’s over-confident? Anybody watching PMQs today would have seen an emboldened and confident Gordon Brown dealing with a slightly down-beat David Cameron. Probably Brown was the winner though his continued evasiveness and what turned out to be a wrong assertion on Spain’s G20 membership might just take the gloss off it. He of all people should have known that simple fact and it came over as though he was over-egging the truth to deal…

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Remember this poll – exactly a year ago today?

Remember this poll – exactly a year ago today?

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CON 37 LAB 36 LD 17 ComRes: Nov 30 2008 UKPollingReport Whatever happened to Brown’s Bank Bailout Bounce? On November 30 2008, precisely a year ago today, ComRes finished their monthly poll for the Independent which had Labour just one point behind – figures which suggested that Mr. Brown was within a whisker of an overall Labour majority. This followed an extraordinary couple of months after his widely acknowledged role in the bank bailout – not just for the UK…

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