What’ll they do now the EU issue has been neutralised? I wonder whether when the experts analyse the 2010 election that the events of this week will be seen as the point when Labour finally ran out of steam. For in spite of all the challenges Brown’s party faced they could still hope that the Tory wounds over Europe would open up again when the Lisbon treaty was finally ratified. They’d seen at first hand how the Tory split had…
Will he get slammed over his “cast-iron referendum pledge”? It’s hard to think that it was just five weeks ago that the Sun came off the fence over what it would do at the general election. It came out publicly for Cameron’s Tories – news that was released on the evening after Gordon Brown’s big conference speech – something that provoked a furious reaction at the conference. The picture above is off union boss, Tony Woodley, ripping up a copy…
Telegraph Is the sky the limit for the Penrith PPC? There’s a lot been written in recent days about Rory Stewart who has just been selected as Tory PPC for the safe seat of Penrith. By any standard he’s got an extraordinary CV and even went to Eton followed by Oxford which seems to be the standard background for so many. But just read this from Anna van Praagh’s Sunday Telegraph profile: “Britain doesn’t make men like Rory Stewart any…
Is the new series reinforcing the MacBride damage? Like many PBers, no doubt, I’ll be glued to the TV tomorrow night for the second episode of the much-hyped and much-anticipated new series of “The Thick of It” – this time getting a good Saturday night slot on BBC 2. Since the last series, of course, we’ve had the Damien MacBride scandal which put the focus on the way Brown Central deals with those who it sees as threats. Just look…
Norwich north by election poster Is this what all the publicity has produced? According to a twitter from the Standard’s Paul Waugh a new YouGov poll for the Telegraph tonight will show a boost for the BNP. The last survey from the firm put the party’s share at just two points. Tonight’s poll is due out at 10pm. I’m off out and won’t be back until late. Mike Smithson
YouGov They feel poorer, less safe and believe politicians are corrupt One of most useful surveys this year was the YouGov mega-poll before the June Euro elections for Channel 4. This had a sample of 32,268 and is presented in a form where we can see the responses of party supporters to a range of attitudinal and personal background questions. The table featured above looks at party allegiance and the views of their parents and suggests that BNP supporters are…
Angus Reid Strategies Is the controversy behind their 3 point polling share? The full data and weightings for the first Politicalbetting/Angus Reid Strategies poll are now available for download here and here and I reproduce part of the main voting intention table above. With future surveys it’s hoped that we’ll be able to make the detailed tables available at about the same time as the headline figures are published. As we get closer to the election I think that this…
BBC Newsnight 16 minutes in And is Darling helping the Tories move on from Lisbon? If you didn’t watch BBC 2’s Newsnight last night then check it out on the BBC IPlayer – 16 minutes in. This is one of the most enjoyable Paxman interviews for a long time and will rank, surely, alongside his famous encounters with Michael Howard and John Reid. The issue, of course, is the Lisbon Treaty and what the Tories would do if on winning…