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Category: Labour

Is Labour being panicked by the BNP?

Is Labour being panicked by the BNP?

Why’s Reid using Tory 2005 campaign slogans? In an extraordinary interview on BBC 1 this morning the Home Secretary, John Reid, outlined his new policies in language that seemed to have come straight from the Tory immigration plan published three months before the 2005 General Election. This is a direct quote from Reid: “We have to enforce our borders better and…we have to get away from this daft so-called politically correct notion that anybody who wants to talks about immigration…

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Does John Reid have a prayer?

Does John Reid have a prayer?

The man with better poll ratings than either Brown or Cameron Of all the ministers in Tony Blair’s cabinet the one who has the best approval ratings in the polls is the Home Secretary, John Reid. Last week YouGov found that there was a 9% margin in his favour when people were asked whether they thought he was doing a job or not. This is a substantially bigger margin than Gordon Brown, Tony Blair or even David Cameron currently enjoy….

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Is Israel a bigger challenge for Blair than Iraq?

Is Israel a bigger challenge for Blair than Iraq?

Would things have been different if Robin Cook had been still alive? If this had been a normal Wednesday then at noon Tony Blair and David Cameron would have been facing each other across the house at Prime Minister’s Questions. With the Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, being in semi-open revolt against Blair’s line then there would have been a lot for the Tory leader and Ming Campbell to get their teeth into. For the one time when PMQs can really…

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Could Israel affect Tony’s departure time-table?

Could Israel affect Tony’s departure time-table?

How long can he go on with his cabinet so divided? With the situation in the Middle East continuing to take its toll how long can Tony Blair go on pursuing his aggressive pro-Israel strategy which is so unpopular in the polls and according to this morning’s papers is opening up big rifts within his cabinet? The main stories in the Sunday Telegraph, the Sunday Times and the Observer this morning focus on the critical statement issued by the former…

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How serious a position is Tony Blair in?

How serious a position is Tony Blair in?

Why I’m putting more money on him going this year? Three news stories in the past couple of days have caused me to put more money on Tony Blair not surviving in the job until the end of the year. First the reports that Lord Levy – Blair’s tennis partner, Middle East envoy and fundraiser – did not answer police questions after his arrest but repeatedly said “no comment” indicate, surely, that this is getting serious. If this goes to…

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Could we be within 15 months of a General Election?

Could we be within 15 months of a General Election?

Would Brown’s first move to be to seek a fresh mandate? With John Prescott suggesting yesterday that there’ll be an announcement “very shortly” on the Labour transition there continues to be speculation that the first act of an incoming Gordon Brown government would be to ask the Queen to dissolve parliament so there could be an immediate General Election. Brown would then be able to go to the country to get his own mandate and secure a full term of…

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Can we believe Campbell on Blair’s departure?

Can we believe Campbell on Blair’s departure?

Does the ex-PR boss KNOW that Blair will be out in September 2007? This week’s Spectator, out this morning, is carrying a report about a chance conversation between the ex-editor and now shadow minister, Boris Johnson and Alistair Campbell which seems to confirm that Tony Blair will step down at the 2007 party conference. The political column notes “At a coffee stall inside Lord’s cricket ground on Monday, two customers bumped into each other with a start. Alastair Campbell and…

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The reason I might be wrong about Labour and Gordon

The reason I might be wrong about Labour and Gordon

The last time a party elected a leader in the face of the polls In August 2001 ICM carried out a poll to test the reactions of ordinary voters to the two remaining candidates in that year’s Tory leadership contest – Iain Duncan Smith and Ken Clarke. It will be recalled that these two had got to the final short-list after Michael Portillo had been squeezed out in the Tory MP part of the selection process. When asked to compare…

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