Browsed by
Category: Labour

Will we be saying: “Were you up for Ed Balls?

Will we be saying: “Were you up for Ed Balls?

General Election constituency betting Could the Morley seat be the “Portillo moment – 2010 version”? We can all, I’m sure, remember it well. In the days immediately after Tony Blair’s stunning landslide in May 1997 the moment everybody seemed to be talking about was the result from Enfield and Southgate where Michael Portillo’s shattering and unexpected defeat seemed to epitomise the whole election and the total collapse of the Tories. For Labour’s performance there was absolutely staggering and went way…

Read More Read More

PR Week on the impact of Smeargate on No.10

PR Week on the impact of Smeargate on No.10

PR Week Make of this what you will One of the more off-beat places to look for information about life in No. 10 since the Brownite take-over has been the trade magazine PR Week which has much to chew over in its latest edition. David Singleton writes: “…One Downing Street insider said there had been ‘endless conference calls and crisis meetings’ since the story of McBride’s plans to smear senior Tories broke on Saturday. The source added: ‘This is a…

Read More Read More

Will it be the other Damian that brings down Jacqui?

Will it be the other Damian that brings down Jacqui?

Times Online What chances her survival if the Green case is dropped? At the end of November, less than a day after the police raid on Damian Green’s offices in the Palace of Westminster, I placed as much as William Hill would allow me at 7/4 that Jacqui Smith would move from being home secretary at some time before the general election. In spite of everything that bet is still outstanding. The price later tightened to 6/4 and the time…

Read More Read More

What now for Derek Draper?

What now for Derek Draper?

..and will the site he created go on? The news that LabourList’s Derek Draper is considering resigning because of the fallout from the ‘dirty tricks’ scandal means that that Guido might have taken his second scalp. But what’s Derek going to do next and what’s going to happen to LabourList – the website he established less than three months ago? I’ve hardly looked at it for weeks but a quick scan this evening suggests that it is starting to develop…

Read More Read More

However did Brown become the heir apparent?

However did Brown become the heir apparent?

ICM Research May 1994 Did Blair concede too much at the Granita? We all know about the famous dinner at the Granita in Islington at the end of May 1994 which has shaped British politics ever since. For Brown came away from that meeting thinking that he had Blair’s backing as the heir apparent in exchange for not pursuing his own candidature. Yet just looking back at the polling of the period this seems crazy. Brown was simply not in…

Read More Read More

Should we be re-assessing Labour leadership betting?

Should we be re-assessing Labour leadership betting?

Best Labour leadership odds Are Johnson and the two Eds the big losers? Until last Thursday my “picks” as Brown’s replacement were Alan Johnson if there was a contest before the general election and Ed Balls if it took place afterwards. My view was that the former’s more conciliatory style and background might make him an ideal choice to face Cameron while Ed Balls had, the formidable Damien McBride on his team. Other bets placed in the past five months,…

Read More Read More

Has Gord’s world just got a bit more dangerous?

Has Gord’s world just got a bit more dangerous?

Will MPs be less intimidated by a McBride-less No.10? One thing that’s stood out during this sorry Easter weekend for Labour has been the number of party MPs who’ve been prepared to put their heads above the parapet and condemn the McBridge-Draper smear strategy. We saw it on PB with the forthright comments on one of the threads by Nick Palmer MP and there was a tough condemnation on the Tom Harris blog. Given that there’ve been so many within…

Read More Read More

Is it now all down-hill for Labour in the media?

Is it now all down-hill for Labour in the media?

Guardian.co.uk Ex-Brown loyalist Jackie Ashley puts the knife in The daily press get their first chance this morning to mull over the McBride-Draper smear campaign and for me there is one column that stands out – not the least because it comes from someone who was once one of Brown’s most vociferous media cheer-leaders, Jackie Ashley. In her Monday Guardian column she describes the tactics that over the years that have characterised the Brown style. She writes of “the ideologically…

Read More Read More