But what did a recovering economy do for Major in 1997? It has been one of the key hopes of Labour that the outcome of the general election will be determined by the economy and how well off voters feel by the time we get to polling day. So there should be delight in Downing Street with some of the new this morning. This is how the main front page story in today’s Guardian by Ashley Seager, economics correspondent, opens:-…
What’s an incoming Tory government going to do? Two of what used to be called the broadsheet papers are once again making Afghanistan and the problems for the government their main lead. The Independent focuses on the findings of the first part of its monthly ComRes poll which has 52% wanting troops out straight away with 43% against. By 58% to 31% those sampled believed that the Taliban cannot be defeated militarily and by 60% to 35% of those polled…
News of the World What do we think of the paper’s emphatic defence? There’s a furious response in the News of the World to Thursday’s story in the Guardian about the actions of NOTW journalists. The paper denies the allegations in very strong terms and then focuses its fire on the Guardian itself. “….So let us remember that it was the Guardian that knowingly, deliberately and illegally forged a cabinet minister’s signature to get an exclusive story. It was the…
He toughed that one out – can he do the same this time? The apparently audacious Cameron’s response to the Andy Coulson affair that he “believes in giving people second chances” brings back a painful betting memory for me – the time in October 2005 I underestimated the then Tory leadership challenger’s resolve and lost £470. I’d got a spread bet on before the Blackpool conference that he’d win the leadership but then cashed it in for a small profit…
Guardian Can Tory PR boss Coulson survive? The big breaking political story overnight is the Guardian splash revelations that “Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers has paid out more than £1m to settle legal cases that threatened to reveal evidence of his journalists’ repeated involvement in the use of criminal methods to get stories.” This could have big consequences for David Cameron because, as the story states, his PR chief, Andy Coulson, was deputy editor and then editor of the News…
Sky News April 12 2009 Surely there’s no truth in the reports that he’s back? James Forsyth at the Spectator Coffee House blog is running a report that there are unconfirmed reports that the disgraced Number 10 spin doctor and former right hand man to the PM, Sean Damien McBride, is “actively working for Labour again”. I simply don’t believe it. For given everything associated with McBride’s exit in April and all the promises last Monday that Brown had turned…
Have we now reached the end-game for Mr. Brown? In a long and powerfully argued main leader for the paper tomorrow the Guardian makes a strong call for Mr. Brown to go. In fact it is much more forceful than that – the message is that if Mr. Brown does not agree to step down then he should be, “cut loose”. There’s no need to spell out what that means. The leader concludes: “..Of course many people, who see the…
She’s the one who fought to get the info out After 24 hours dominated by the MP expenses affair we should not forget the work of the woman whose tireless efforts and sheer tenacity were responsible for getting us to where we are today. Heather Brook is the one who started the long and difficult process of using the Freedom of Information Act to try to find out the expenses that were being paid. This was no easy battle and…