Has Johnson found the way to deal with Dave? Gordon Brown has many qualities but one that is never ascribed to him is being “a good listener”. so I wonder what he’ll make of his health secretary’s comments during the weekend on the way Labour should deal with the Tory leader. For ever since David Cameron was elected leader of the Conservative in December 2005 the party has floundered as its tried to work out a way of dealing with…
Guardian.co.uk Can he go on boasting that the world’s following Britain? For the past five months a key element in the government’s economic crisis rhetoric has been that its approach has been followed or matched by the rest of the world. This line has been used, with some effect, time and time again to batter the Tories in general and isolate David Cameron in particular. It’s become a feature of almost every PMQs. So its not surprising that the Number…
Guardian Online What will this to do the “Euro-Obama Race” betting On the day of the inauguration William Hill set up a nice market – which of the top European leaders, Merkel, Sarkozy or Brown, would get to meet Obama first. Gord got the first phone call to the new man at the White House and there was briefing afterwards about a possible February meeting for him at the White House. This might still happen but we haven’t had any…
Does Brown need to be more careful at PMQs? There’s been a big spin operation going on from Number 10 this afternoon to “make clear” that when Brown said he thought the world was “in a depression” it was, as they say, a “slip of the tongue.” Not good particularly as it’s only a few weeks ago that his last big “slip of the tongue” led to the hiatus over him saying he was the “saviour of the world“. The…
Will she be given another seat so she can stay an MP? According to a comment on an earlier thread there are suggestions that Labour is trying to ensure that the Home Secretary, the Oxford-educated Jacqui Smith, is not thrown out of the commons at the next election. Of the leading cabinet members Jacqui’s seat at Redditch has the thinnest majority and stands to be lost with a swing of just 2.3%. This makes it Tory target number 41 and…
Will the disputes be whited out of the bulletins? A key element that stories like the rows over “British Jobs for British Workers” need is a rapid build up of media coverage and continuing a sense of momentum. That’s what happened with the fuel crisis in September 2000 and what, on Friday, looked like happening this morning. Alas while the disputes are still making some headlines the London-based national media has gone crazy for the snow story. This is in…
Meet the front runners for next opposition leader According to weekend reports the race is already on for who should be Labour leader after the likely defeat at the coming general election. And the three who are said to be most actively campaigning are James Purnell (Balliol), Ed Balls (Keble) and Ed Miliband (Corpus Christi). Interestingly they are not the front-runners in the betting but have many thing in common. Two of them are still in their 30s (EM and…
Will even loyalists waste time over such banalities? The above is reproduced from today’s pages on LabourList and reports on a new feature – a weekly bottle of champagne to the person writing the comment of the week. The prize is not a bad idea of itself and it should get a bit of interest – but just read this week’s winner. That’s hardly thought provoking stuff and if this is the best they’ve got then what does it say…