Is 5/2 on a 2009 exit good value? One bet we have not featured recently is the price on Gordon ceasing to be PM for whatever reason before the end of 2009. William Hill Politics had this down to 5/2 during the day though their UK politics markets are usually only open during office hours. What are the chances? The more I look at him the more I’m coming to the view that it will be his health that will…
Are we being prepared for more revelations? Ever since the Sunday Times came out with its “££££ for laws” revelations last Sunday the paper has been acting as thought it had other material in the pipeline. First, it will be recalled, there was the sound recording of the conversation with one of the peers – that was released on Monday. Now, this afternoon, we have a video that was secretly shot of a second peer which is up on the…
What does this do to Gord’s core argument? A story that features big across many of the papers today is the IMF assessment that the slump’s impact will be worse worse in the coming year in Britain than in the US, Japan, Spain, Italy, France, Canada and Germany. As the Sun’s George Pascoe Watkins writes the warning is a “big blow” to Gordon Brown who has consistently claimed Britain is in a stronger position to handle a recession than other…
Should Dave have been allowed openings like this? Michael Settle of the Glasgow-based Herald sets out the scene and the dangers for Brown of Erminegate in the story that’s currently the lead on Google News UK Search. “.IT is the most toxic word in the political lexicon and is threatening to make a comeback – sleaze. The alarm in No 10 over “Erminegate” – denied allegations that four Labour peers were ready to accept money in return for amending government…
Which of these headlines is the most damaging? What a dreadful set of front pages for Gordon Brown to digest this morning. Not only is there the follow-up to the “cash for laws” allegations but there’s more awful polling news and and in the background the drip by drip news of jobs going up and down the country and in every sector. The release by the Times of the tape recording of the “interview” with one of the “cash for…
Now there’s “Cash for Laws” and Labour.. Who can forgot how the ongoing revelations about “cash for questions” totally undermined the final period of the last Tory government and added considerably to the image of “sleaze” which has taken a long time to shake off. Well the most striking feature from a quick look at tomorrow’s front pages is the Sunday Times which looks as though it has found a Labour equivalent. Could this do the same for Mr. Brown’s…
Could this be the main argument for 2009? If you look at the betting markets or read the pundits then the strong view is that with the huge polling set-backs of recent weeks Brown is not going to call a general election in the foreseeable future. A 2009 election is off the agenda. He’ll want to, the argument goes, give himself the maximum time for the economic crisis to sort itself out and in any case his October 2007 U-turn,…
Are columns like this turning the media narrative? There’s a must-read column in the Independent today, highlighted by Ted on the overnight thread, which seems to get to the heart of the political and economic challenges that are facing Britain. So much, Hamilton argues, is tied with the personality of the Prime Minister and his inability to admit uncertainty. Hamilton writes: “..His political dilemma is obvious enough. Having set himself up as the man in control, the leader with the…