Browsed by
Category: Labour

Could Henley be a tipping point like Bradford?

Could Henley be a tipping point like Bradford?

Revised Could a collapse on this scale seal Gordon’s fate? I’ve just had a long phone call with my closest Labour party link and he was suggesting that Henley could have the same impact on Gordon Brown’s leadership as the reverberations within the Tory party from the Bradford North by election in November 1990. It was this result – a 16% CON>LAB swing – that provided the backcloth for the dramatic events that month that eventually led to Maggie’s departure….

Read More Read More

Was it John Major’s fury that turned the tide?

Was it John Major’s fury that turned the tide?

Did his intervention change the mood in Gord’s election U-turn week? On the final day of Gordon Brown’s first year as PM the media look-back continues with an excellent breakdown by Patrick Wintour and Nicholas Watt in the Guardian of the events that led to that fateful decision to abandon a November 1st 2007 general election. Step-by-step each move during September and early October is examined and the authors come to a view that I have not seen before –…

Read More Read More

Is Miliband the only one who can be the assassin?

Is Miliband the only one who can be the assassin?

Would he get the kudos for putting his career on the line? The latest ICM poll means that all the main pollsters who report at least monthly on public opinion are showing almost exactly the same figures. Three have Labour at 25% the other, ComRes, has it at 26%. And the Tory shares and overall leads are in the same ball-park as well. There can be no doubt about what would happen if there was an immediate general election. Add…

Read More Read More

Will it be the big donors who finally end it?

Will it be the big donors who finally end it?

Are Labour’s backers going on strike? Everywhere I go and almost everybody I talk to seems to have their own theory on what will bring Gordon’s tenure at Number 10 to an end. “It’s going to be David Miliband who’ll put the party ahead of his prospects”; “It’s going to be on health grounds”; and today it’s the suggestion that it will be pressure from party donors that will finally determine the issue. This was from Rachel Sylvestor in today’s…

Read More Read More

Will “Gordon Conservatives” rise again?

Will “Gordon Conservatives” rise again?

Has Brown the strength to reclaim the word STRONG? It’s hard to credit it now but in those heady days of the final week of September 2007 Labour party spinners were putting it about that their polling had discovered a new type of voter that they termed “Gordon Conservatives”. These were people, it was claimed, who had voted Tory in 2005 but had then decided to support Brown’s changed Labour party On September 24th 2007 Ben Brogan reported: “Remember the…

Read More Read More

Should men be careful before commenting on this?

Should men be careful before commenting on this?

Has the Culture secretary touched a raw nerve over Shami? The most striking thing about the Burnham-Davis-Shami Chakrabarti row is that it has opened up what appears to be a massive gender divide. Women seem to be judging the culture secretary’s comments much more severely than men and it appears to have struck a real chord with many of them. This has become an area of debate into which male politicians and commentators should enter only at their peril. Leaving…

Read More Read More

Voters give Labour’s H&H decision the thumbs down

Voters give Labour’s H&H decision the thumbs down

YouGov finds strong public backing Davis to face a Labour challenge The above is an extract from a YouGov poll carried out for ConHome which sought to test opinion on whether Labour should put up a challenge in Haltemprice & Howden where the former Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, is fighting a by election over the 42 day detention issue. As can be seen those in the poll split 51% to 24% in favour of Labour putting up a candidate….

Read More Read More

Does this add more pressure on Gordon?

Does this add more pressure on Gordon?

MORI: Half of 2005 Labour voters “less likely to do it again” A new poll by Ipsos-MORI sponsored by the Unison trade union has more bad news for Gordon as he prepares to celebrate his first year in Downing Street. No voting intention figures were included in the survey all though interviewees were asked if they voted Labour in 2005. In its commentary the pollster says: “Ipsos MORI’s survey for UNISON, shows that almost half (47%) of those who have…

Read More Read More