How big a threat would he be to Brown if things don’t improve? Within Labour Charles Clarke is the one big beast who is still active and who still has the power to wound, if not kill. There’s not a single member of Brown’s cabinet who comes anywhere near to Clarke when it comes to the ability to communicate and put forward a compelling case. He’s lucid, has good diction and has the ability to think on his feet. When…
Are you still lumbered with one of their “Deputy PM” bets? Seven months ago I wrote here about confusion at William Hill over their market on who was going to replace John Prescott. For the earlier version of William Hill’s deputy market was not on who would be deputy leader, but who would become deputy prime minister. At the time when the betting started, after the 2005 general election, the two roles were seen as being almost synonymous and many…
Did the controversial “named leader” question get it right all along? The above table is reproduced from UK Polling Report’s record of the controversial “named leader” questions that several pollsters asked during the period between David Cameron’s election as Tory leader in December 2005 and Gordon’s arrival in June 2007. These findings proved to be highly controversial and every time I featured them on the site they came under fierce attack. For what was being presented was dynamite. For on…
Should the LDs now work with the 45% Tories to fight Brown? On the day of the best Tory poll figures for 15 years and only two days before the Lib Dems get their new leader there’s an audacious move by Cameron which could prove problematic for Nick Clegg or Chris Huhne. For in an initiative calculated to put the new leader on the spot immediately Cameron has offered to join forces with the third party to forge a “new…
Is the opposition right to focus on the man and not policies? It’s becoming apparent, as the 2007 political year comes to a close, that both the Tories and Lib Dems have managed to make the big issue not a particular policy or strategic direction but Gordon Brown himself. Almost as though they were acting in tandem both David Cameron and Lib Dem stand-in, Vince Cable, have launched lob after lob against Gordon’s personality and judging by the way events…
But has he upset both Euro-sceptics and Euro-philes at the same time? Given their hostility to all things EU the front pages of the Sun and the Express are predictable this morning – the day after Brown’s Lisbon fiasco. His strategy is inexplicable – on the one hand he has further angered the the EU-sceptics by signing the document; on the other hand the manner of his actions yesterday by deliberately arriving late to avoid the main signing ceremony is…
It’s all change for my spread betting positions Having just read many comments in the previous thread, watched on TV the excruciating embarrassment of Gord’s late arrival in Lisbon for his solo treaty signing, and had a half hour phone conversation with a long-standing friend who is a Labour loyalist and former constituency chair the question arises as to whether today might be a turning point. For the message that’s coming through loud and clear is that Downing Street’s strategy…
Can review announcements continue at a weekly rate in 2008? The above story from the Westminster correspondent of the Bloomberg news agency focuses attention on a growing practice of the Brown government that could develop into an issue – the practice whereby almost any challenge that they face is met by the announcement of a review. The journalist, Robert Hutton, is now keeping a tally which, as of this week, has reached 31 since Gord and his gang took over…