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Category: Labour

Do women think Johnson’s got the Cameron-style X-Factor?

Do women think Johnson’s got the Cameron-style X-Factor?

How female writers are leading the way for the Education Secretary In June 2005 one of first indications that David Cameron was going to get a huge media boost came when women writers began producing extraordinarily favourable columns and profiles about the then relatively unknown 39 year old. Just read again what Vicki Woods wrote in the Spectator after reading a piece on Cameron’s leadership campaign on PBC. The Woods “Cameron love-in” continued and reached its peak with a Telegraph…

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Why do Labour supporters still go 2-1 for Tony?

Why do Labour supporters still go 2-1 for Tony?

The betting markets move to a later departure date With Tony Blair preparing for his final Labour conference as party leader there was a nugget of good news for him in the detailed data, now available, from the latest ICM poll. For when asked “Who do you think will make a better Prime Minister, Gordon Brown or Tony Blair?” the poll came out 40-30% for Tony. But even more significantly the declared Labour supporters in the sample went 61% for…

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The world’s different as a contender Mr. Johnson!

The world’s different as a contender Mr. Johnson!

How will the contestants cope with the media scrutiny? If Alan Johnson had just been an ordinary cabinet minister then today’s row over the alleged attempt to “bury” poor school results would probably have gone unnoticed. For this is what minsters do all the time. If there’s some news that has to be made public that might be embarrassing then you announce something positive at the same time in the hope that good will bury the bad. But as of…

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Will Tony go on for another 25 weeks?

Will Tony go on for another 25 weeks?

Do the spread markets offer good value? The big unanswered question in the Labour succession is how long is Tony going to stay. In the past three weeks opinion has moved from a departure during 2006 and all the focus is on 2007 – particularly the second quarter – April to June where the best price is now 1.7/1. At the weekend there was a report that the police investigation into the “cash for peerages” row has “yet to find…

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Brown in free-fall on YouGov tracker

Brown in free-fall on YouGov tracker

How events are changing the public’s perceptions The above chart is adapted from one produced by Anthony Wells for his latest report on the YouGov BrandIndex tracker. It is available in full form from his UK Polling report site here. As we’ve featured before each day the pollster asks 625 people to give their positive and negative impressions of a list of leading politicians. The figures reflected in the chart are net ratings, based on a five-day rolling average and…

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The markets move back to Gordon

The markets move back to Gordon

After the little wobble the Chancellor is back in favour There’s been a big move back to Brown on the Labour leadership betting markets overnight and his latest (0300 BST) best price is 0.46/1. The market still has some way to move before it gets to the 0.38/1 which is the best you could have got exactly a week ago when Tom Watson’s resignation started the ball rolling. There does not seem to be a single reason for the market…

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Could Scotland Yard finally do it for Blair?

Could Scotland Yard finally do it for Blair?

Will “loans for honours” be what determines the leaving date? With some union leaders planning to walk out on the Prime Minister when he makes his speech at the TUC today September is continuing to be a nightmare month for Labour’s triple General Election winner. For not only has he been forced to harden up his leaving plans but still simmering in the background is the police investigation into the cash and loans for peerages tow. Already it’s known that…

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Has Labour killed off its electoral “golden goose”

Has Labour killed off its electoral “golden goose”

Can the party even contemplate a fourth term without Blair? For all the excitement now there’s a firm end to the Tony Blair era in sight the uncomfortable question has to be asked – is it possible for Labour to win General Elections without him? Has the pressure from the party that forced his September 2004 commitment not to run for a fourth term and last week’s mid-2007 departure statement meant that Labour has killed it’s Golden Goose? Here’s a…

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