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Category: Tories

Will the Tories stop talking about Europe after May?

Will the Tories stop talking about Europe after May?

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When being in touch becomes being out of touch Ed Miliband’s non-promise of a referendum this week may have been designed to do several things.  It could have been a reassurance that a future Labour government wouldn’t repeal this administration’s European Union Act 2011, though it would modify it and that modification could be significant.  It could be a half-hearted effort to join the In-Out debate.  It could have been an effort to confirm his pro-EU credentials.  But all these…

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On this day exactly two years ago YouGov had CON in the lead on 40pc

On this day exactly two years ago YouGov had CON in the lead on 40pc

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How it looked for the blues before the rise of UKIP & Osborne’s March 2012 budget At the end of February 2012 the Tories were still getting the benefit from the after-glow of what became known as the “Veto-gasm” – the polling boost that followed from David Cameron’s famous Brussels veto. The positive mood was seen in the betting. In mid-January 2012 the Betfair price on a CON overall majority tightened to a 41% chance while Labour was rated at…

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Newly published Ipsos-MORI polling finds fewer voters hostile to LAB than the other main parties

Newly published Ipsos-MORI polling finds fewer voters hostile to LAB than the other main parties

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And there’s a whiff of good news for the LDs at the Euros What I’ve found to be a fascinating piece of polling for the British Future think tank has just been published by Ipsos-MORI. Rather than the conventional voting intention questions interviewees were asked for views of the four main national parties and whether they’d consider voting for them in both general elections and the Euros, general elections only, the Euros only, or whether they’d never consider voting for…

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The Tories are planning to bet everything on getting a majority – if they don’t they won’t do a coalition deal

The Tories are planning to bet everything on getting a majority – if they don’t they won’t do a coalition deal

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Cameron’s GE2015 gamble – a CON majority or bust The big GE2015 development overnight is the Telegraph story that the Tories are planning to go into the election with a manifesto commitment not to enter a coalition deal. If the party won most seats but fell short of the threshold of 326 MPs it would seek to govern on its own as a minority. Clearly everything depends on the numbers but it’s hard to see a minority CON government winning…

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The Conservative party then and now – the need to connect with a wider public

The Conservative party then and now – the need to connect with a wider public

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@IsabelHardman @MSmithsonPB This remains the most effective Tory poster in recent years. pic.twitter.com/w5PbBHgRDA — RupertLescott (@RupertLescott) February 14, 2014 Why Dave’s successor is not going to be another old-Etonian Last night there was an interesting post-Wythenshawe discussion kicked off by the Tweet at the top by the Spectator’s Isabel Hardman. Over the past half century just three Tory leaders have led their party to victory with overall majorities at general elections. They were Heath in 1970, Thatcher in 1979, 1983…

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The CON minister in charge of immigration resigns for employing someone who didn’t have permission to work in the UK as his cleaner

The CON minister in charge of immigration resigns for employing someone who didn’t have permission to work in the UK as his cleaner

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Immigration Minister Mark Harper resigns after it emerged his cleaner did not have permission to work in the UK. pic.twitter.com/CD3uOfzKRe — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 8, 2014 Another boost for UKIP? Further details from the Spectator blog here.

The Tory survival plan is based on the Lib Dems staying strong in CON-LAB battlegrounds but collapsing in CON-LD ones

The Tory survival plan is based on the Lib Dems staying strong in CON-LAB battlegrounds but collapsing in CON-LD ones

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The evidence suggests that it’s working the other way round It’s been repeated often enough on PB that an essential part of Labour’s polling position is based on the very large proportion of 2010 LD voters who’ve now switched to Labour. If this hadn’t happened or starts to slip away then EdM’s dreams of becoming PM are in trouble. So far, at least, the evidence is that such a move that is even more pronounced in the key LAB-CON marginals…

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