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Category: Labour

Will limiting liberty lose Labour’s liberals?

Will limiting liberty lose Labour’s liberals?

What’s the political impact of extending the detention limits? Those papers that cover the government’s latest plan to extend the detention without trial period won’t make comfortable reading this morning at the Home Office and Number 10. The Home Secretary’s paper proposing a two week extension to 42 days has triggered off bitter protests and there must be a possibility that it will fail to get through the commons. According to the Guardian the plan “appeared to be foundering last…

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…and this week’s resignation is…..

…and this week’s resignation is…..

Will this have a political impact or not? The big news this lunchtime is that the country’s top anti-terror cop, Andy Hayman has resigned, blaming the pressures of the job and “a series of leaks and unfounded accusations”. This follows criticism of him in the Stockwell tube shooting inquiry as well as a series of leaks about his private life. In itself this should not damage the government or the Prime Minister. But one resignation after another, set against a…

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Are Labour’s Scottish revelations coming from inside?

Are Labour’s Scottish revelations coming from inside?

Police are called in to find the “mole” With the donations row continue to dominate politics both north and south of the border there’s a new development in the Scotsman this morning – a suggestion that someone inside the party’s Scottish HQ is leaking information about donations. According to the paper’s main lead “..There is fury among senior Labour figures that someone with access to confidential information has been leaking it to the press and causing massive damage to the…

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Should we now be thinking about the succession?

Should we now be thinking about the succession?

The Saturday columnists make grim reading for Gordon After a week in which the parliamentary highlight was Vince Cable’s joke comparing the Prime minister to Mr. Bean it’s the day for the Saturday columnists to get their teeth into the fluid political situation. By far the most devastating read for Gordon is from Matthew Parris is the Times – an article that would carry even more weight if the writer had not been so consistently hostile to Brown over many…

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Does the latest poll under-state Labour’s plight?

Does the latest poll under-state Labour’s plight?

What if the fieldwork had taken place yesterday? As has been noted often here a key element when assessing a poll is the timing of the field-work. In fast-moving political situations like we’ve seen this week the “when” can play a critical role. So the overnight YouGov poll in today’s Telegraph has to be looked at in terms of when it took place. The figures, as discussed on the previous thread, were with changes on the previous survey from the…

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Why are all Brown’s problems from here?

Why are all Brown’s problems from here?

Could there be a local general election impact? I don’t think anybody has picked up that all Labour’s current problems seem to have emanated in the same place – Newcastle upon Tyne. Thus the headquarters of the troubled bank which continues to cause anguish for the party, Northern Rock, is based in the city and is one of its biggest employers. It was at the Inland Revenue and Customs offices on Tyneside that the data on the 25 million people…

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Have a good Wednesday Mr. Brown

Have a good Wednesday Mr. Brown

What is it about Labour’s friends in the North? Even when things are going well for a Prime Minister a Wednesday morning is probably not the best of times to be around Number 10. Over-shadowing everything when parliament is in session is Prime Minister’s Questions – the weekly ritual that has to be surmounted and where the post-holder can only guess at what he is likely to be asked. Gordon’s usual day, we are told, starts very early with a…

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Who’d get it if Harman resigned?

Who’d get it if Harman resigned?

Could supporting Cruddas be a way showing unease about Brown? My nomination for Iain Dale’s political blogger of the year (won incidentally by Iain Dale himself – funny that given he was the promoter and vote counter) was Paul Linford. To my mind Paul provides the best insights into Labour party matters and this evening he speculates about who would become deputy leader if Harriet finds she cannot carry on because of the donation scandal. Clearly Harman would be out…

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