What will the headlines be like three weeks today? It has become one of the great hardy annuals in UK political journalism – the Sunday papers after the May elections when year in year out the main story has been about the future of one party leader or another. And so it is today and above are a couple of the front pages. But is it different this time? Does Labour’s worst local election performance for forty years combined with…
How winning promotion would cost me £1000 Until last week I have to admit that I have never followed the fortunes of teams in the Scottish second division too closely – if at all. But since the Crewe & Nantwich by election came into the frame all has changed – for if the Fife team manages to secure promotion then I might be down £1000. For last June in what now seems to be an earlier political era, one of…
What do we think of Jackie Ashley’s analysis? In her Monday Guardian column this morning Jackie Ashley speculates over what could happen if Brown loses the key vote on the abolition of the 10% tax rate. She writes: “Let us be quite clear. If the rebellion over the 10p tax rate abolition continues to gather pace and the rebels hold their nerve, they can get rid of Gordon Brown as early as next week. The Tories, it seems, will line…
Was getting a coronation the political achievement of the decade? As another pollster, Populus, reports a double digit deficit for Labour let’s consider this morning the remarkable campaign a year ago that saw Gordon become his party’s leader and PM without having to face a contest. For in the year before the “handover” a vast body of polling evidence built up that Labour would do much worse with him as a leader than the party was already doing. The results…
My best bet is Andy Burnham With reports this afternoon that “backbenchers are giving the Prime Minster until May 2009 to improve or stand down” the question arises as to which Labour figure would follow him into the hot seat whenever that occurs. One thing’s for certain – there will be no coronations next time. Brown’s successor will have to fight it out in a competitive election in much the same way as the other parties go about it. So…
Is 5/1 that he will a good value bet? Matthew Parris’s Saturday column in the Times is almost always a good read although his views on Gordon Brown have to be read in the context of an hostility that has continued for years. But this morning he raises an issue that I have been planning to cover for weeks – could Gordon be out before the general election? Parris concludes: “..Many political and journalistic reputations have been staked on taking…
Week 3 of Ladbrokes PMQ market and the stand-ins get the limelight If reports are correct then this week’s PMQs at their regular Wednesday noon slot will see Boris leading for the Tories with Harriet Harman answering questions as Gordon’s stand-in. This, of course, could be an April fool but several bloggers are speculating about the line-up. Gordon will be in Romania for the Nato summit and Brendan Brogan in his Mail blog seems to be confirming that Harriet will…
Should you be capitalising on the lies about the 2004 polls? The Labour spin machine has gone into overdrive today to try to discredit the latest YouGov poll that shows Ken Livingstone again facing a double digit polling deficit in his battle with Boris Johnson. A statement by the party said: “…YouGov has a record of significantly underestimating Ken Livingstone’s vote in London. On the day before the last Mayoral election YouGov put put Ken Livingstone just two per cent…