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Category: Labour

Why is the Times leading on the plagiarism suggestions?

Why is the Times leading on the plagiarism suggestions?

Will this impede Brown’s election momentum? Reproduced here is the front page of this morning’s Times showing the lead story which won’t please Number 10. For Labour’s new leader is accused of “rehashing old phrases from Bill Clinton and Al Gore without attribution in his first speech to a Labour conference as Prime Minister”. The report describes a study of Brown conference speech on Monday which “shows a marked similarity between parts of Mr Brown’s speech and big set-piece speeches…

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Did Brown get the headlines he wanted?

Did Brown get the headlines he wanted?

Will this create instability amongst the the Tories? Developments in the McCann story and the Indy’s idiosyncratic approach to tabloid journalism have kept Brown’s speech off many of the front pages this morning and I reproduce above those that I can find online that are making the event their main lead. By far and away the most significant is the Sun which is continuing with its high profile campaign to get a referendum on the EU treaty. This is the…

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Is this the speech of a 120 day gambler?

Is this the speech of a 120 day gambler?

How long will the teasing go on? Brown’s long-awaited first speech as leader of the Labour party and Prime Minister is well under way and, no doubt, every word and phrase will be scrutinised to see if he is providing hints about the election date. Could Gordon the cautious be prepared to gamble everything on the polls and risk seeing his premiership ending in just 120 days? We shall see. Meanwhile the spread markets on general election commons seats now…

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Labour at 2001 levels in the Mori “snap-shot”

Labour at 2001 levels in the Mori “snap-shot”

But should Brown be worried by the Sun’s coverage? The latest opinion poll to be published, Ipsos-Mori in the Sun, has good news for Labour and bad news for the Tories and the Lib Dems. We don’t know yet, however, when the survey was actually carried out. If previous months are anything to go by then the fieldwork probably took place before yesterday’s ICM poll. These are the shares with changes on the last Ipsos-Mori poll in August – CON…

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Has Gord decided to stop teasing us?

Has Gord decided to stop teasing us?

Do today’s comments close down the 2007 election suggestions? I have just listened to the online playback of this afternoon’s “The World the Weekend” and I am almost convinced, like Ben Brogan, that Gord’s loyal aide for more than a decade, Ed Balls has effectively ruled out the possibility of an October election. If anybody’s going to know what’s in Brown’s mind Balls is. Listen for yourself and draw you own conclusion. It’s towards the end of the programme. The…

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Does 1992 still haunt Labour and Brown?

Does 1992 still haunt Labour and Brown?

Could the polls be so wrong again? Above is a picture of the famous speech by the then Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, at the Sheffield party rally a week before polling day on April 9th 1992. The polls were looking good for the party and it really did seem that the Tory government that had been in office since May 1979 was at last going to be beaten. In the days leading up to the rally two polls from ICM…

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Will the queues be back this morning?

Will the queues be back this morning?

How the papers are reporting the crisis Probably the good news for Brown this morning is that most of the tabloids are looking to other than the Northern Rock crisis for their splash headlines. It’s “The police case falls apart” in the Express; “The Tide turns” in the Mirror and “Kate backed by judge” in the Sun. While Brown himself left yesterday evening’s announcement to his chancellor the Times is reporting that “Kate and Gerry McCann go straight to Gordon…

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Is YouGov 10% contributing to GB’s referendum trap?

Is YouGov 10% contributing to GB’s referendum trap?

Can the leadership be challenged without Labour paying a price? Aside from the dramatic rise in street violence the issue that’s dominating the political scene is the growing threat of a revolt within the wider Labour movement over GB’s decision not to have a referendum on the EU treaty. There’s a report this morning that at least 40 Labour MPs are calling for talks on the EU plan to be re-opened and a number of unions are gathering forces ahead…

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