Browsed by
Category: Labour

McDonnell “within striking distance” of a bid

McDonnell “within striking distance” of a bid

Is he getting support by making his challenge a party referendum on Iraq? John McDonnell, the chair of the Labour parliamentary socialist Campaign group, and the only person so far to put his hat into the ring for the Labour leadership, says he’s now “within striking distance” of getting onto the ballot paper for the election later in the year. According to the Guardian the man who rebelled against Blair-Brown most in 2006 has been engaged in “a hectic schedule…

Read More Read More

Is Tony trying to spin it out as long as possible?

Is Tony trying to spin it out as long as possible?

Is Q3 2007 heading for the favourite slot? With every statement by Tony Blair being scrutinised closely for hints of his precise departure date the sentiment on the betting markets, as the chart shows, is moving from a Q2 exit to a departure in Q3 – between July and and September. The latest snippet came at his monthly Downing Street press conference when he was asked if he would still be in charge at a crunch EU summit on June…

Read More Read More

Time to put your money on disappearing Gordon

Time to put your money on disappearing Gordon

Is 0.2/1 a value price on the Chancellor? There’s been a bit of a flurry in the blogsphere today over the Chancellor’s last minute decision to be flying to India just as bad inflation figures are published and even though the trip means he cannot make an event he was due to host tonight celebrating 300 years of the union with Scotland. However the move might exasperate his opponents you have to concede that it shows what a sharp political…

Read More Read More

Is Gordon planning to end “first past the post” voting?

Is Gordon planning to end “first past the post” voting?

Who would gain and who would lose if the voting system was changed? There is said to be information coming out of the Brown camp that one of first acts he is considering as Prime Minister will be to abolish first-past-the-post for Westminster seats and replace it with the alternative vote system of proportional representation. Under this voters rank the candidates in order of preference. If no candidate in a constituency gets more than half the votes cast, the one…

Read More Read More

At last! Poll shows Labour doing better with Gordon

At last! Poll shows Labour doing better with Gordon

Tories now open up a 7 point gap A big boost for David Cameron’s Tory party and some better news for Gordon Brown are the main features of the first poll of 2007 – from Populus – in the Times this morning. As the extract reproduced from the Times website shows, the shares and changes on the same poll in December are CON 39% (+5): LAB 32% (-1): LD 18% (-1). Putting these shares in the Anthony Wells seat calculator…

Read More Read More

Is John Reid preparing to challenge?

Is John Reid preparing to challenge?

What do we make of his warning on the dangers of ditching NuLab? As the chart shows there’s been a lot of movement in the John Reid Labour leadership price following his speech yesterday which is being seen widely as preparation for a bid. The furious attacks on the Home Secretary that his comments have produced are a good measure of the jumpiness of the Brown camp. Under the headline “Party anger at Reid for stirring up artificial conflict” the…

Read More Read More

Could there be a messy end to Labour’s handover?

Could there be a messy end to Labour’s handover?

Will Gordon move in earlier if there is no contest? After a day which has seen a lot of movement on the “When Blair will go” betting there’s another issue that could affect the markets. When would Gordon move in if he is the only candidate? Let’s assume that Blair announces his departure in the aftermath of the May 3rd elections. The statement marking the end of the Blair age would be pure theatre and knock everything else out of…

Read More Read More

Why I am sticking with my Cruddas for Deputy bet

Why I am sticking with my Cruddas for Deputy bet

How September’s 125/1 shot is making the running The long holiday weekend and for all but one of the declared candidates in Labour’s deputy race a chance to relax with their families or to get away from the political process. For John Cruddas, however, this was the ideal time to maximise the headlines on what is always a very slow news period. So his warning about Labour’s membership declining at 27,000 a year made it onto most of the bulletins…

Read More Read More