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Category: Tories

The Temperate Desert

The Temperate Desert

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Antifrank asks who will appeal best to centrist voters? The centre ground of politics used to be very crowded.  And with good reason.  Roughly half the electorate sit in the middle stratum of electoral geology.  In a YouGov poll taken just after the election, 13% described themselves as slightly left of centre, 19% described themselves as centre, 14% described themselves as slightly right of centre and a further 23% didn’t know where to place themselves (presumably they would regard themselves…

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Why we won’t be hearing much from the Tories this summer

Why we won’t be hearing much from the Tories this summer

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The Tories Are Staying Off TV So Everyone Watches Labour Tear Itself Apart: http://t.co/AZhXnbt9eV pic.twitter.com/23BfY8ZdKy — BuzzFeed News UK (@BuzzFeedNewsUK) July 27, 2015 Notice there’s been nothing from the blue side re-Mid Staffs Probably the most successful Lynton Crosby message in the run-up to May 7th was the warning of “confusion and chaos” if Labour was returned. It was this, I’d suggest that helped get the marginal CON supporters out to vote and UKIP switchers back into the fold in…

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Meanwhile leadership turmoil isn’t confined to LAB. It’s not all sweetness & light in the blue team

Meanwhile leadership turmoil isn’t confined to LAB. It’s not all sweetness & light in the blue team

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While LAB's leadership turmoil continues CON big beasts are scrapping in battle to replace DChttp://t.co/lFSH95kyIo pic.twitter.com/nt5JzroeFG — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) July 19, 2015 Osborne, the new betting favourite, accused of briefing war against the mayor It was inevitable that when David Cameron said before the election that he wouldn’t seek a third term that this would, at some stage, trigger off media interest and speculation about succession in the Tory party. The big difference with Labour is that the Tory…

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Antifrank: Hanging tough – the Conservative intake of 2015

Antifrank: Hanging tough – the Conservative intake of 2015

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Antifrank looks at the new members of the Tory parliamentary party. Despite relatively few seats changing hands in May, more than a fifth of Conservative MPs – 74 in total – were not in the last Parliament.  They will have a big influence on the dynamics of the Conservative party in government.  What do they look like?  Well, here they are: I’ve ploughed through MP websites, interviews and newspaper articles to find out more about them.  In the course of…

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On fox-hunting a reminder from the SNP of the tight parliamentary situation

On fox-hunting a reminder from the SNP of the tight parliamentary situation

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LAB by-election leaflet 2009 SNP westminster leader @AngusRobertson "we totally oppose foxhunting"… Full statement: pic.twitter.com/4qyRPCk679 — Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) July 13, 2015 But won’t this reinforce the case for EVEL? This is how the Speccie’s Isabel Hardman sums up the situation:- “..The result may still work politically for both parties in one sense: in Scotland of course the headline ‘SNP stops Tories relaxing hunting ban’ works beautifully for Nicola Sturgeon’s party. But in England a headline saying ‘SNP stops Tories…

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Why you should be backing Jeremy Hunt as next PM

Why you should be backing Jeremy Hunt as next PM

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A betting slip from a few days ago. Despite their very best efforts, Labour wasn’t able to weaponise the NHS to their advantage or damage the Tories on the NHS in the election campaign (nor in the run up to the election.) The NHS is an issue that has been traditionally perceived to be one of Labour’s strongest areas, Labour’s failure to make the NHS an election issue says a lot about Hunt’s abilities as a Minister and to deal with…

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The most important result on May 7th

The most important result on May 7th

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Why David Cameron might be grateful to Mark Reckless defecting Whilst it might be accurate to say every constituency result on May the 7th was important, the result in Rochester & Strood might be the one that has most impact in this parliament. Anything that helps, to borrow LBJ’s maxim, about keeping the Eurosceptics inside the tent pissing out, rather than outside pissing in, is good for the Tories, Cameron and the continued life of this government. Given the way the…

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Boris reminds us once again why the normal rules of politics don’t apply to him

Boris reminds us once again why the normal rules of politics don’t apply to him

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Last night it was reported Boris Johnson’s relationship with the capital’s black cab trade has become further troubled after the Sun and Daily Mail newspapers released a video showing the mayor of London on his bicycle telling a taxi driver “to f*ck off and die – and not in that order”. The exchange in Islington, north London, was caught on camera by a passerby. The driver, one of many black cab operators furious at the way Transport for London, overseen…

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