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Category: Tories

So what about “The Great Tory Fight-back”?

So what about “The Great Tory Fight-back”?

Will the election betting markets move the other way? By the standards of the media coverage of the past three months Team Tory must be breathing a sigh of relief after day one of the party conference in Blackpool. As the TV bulletins and this morning’s front pages show the party has been commanding attention and Cameron’s phrase “The Great Conservative fight-back” is being picked up. Also there has been no really bad internal news. If there are dissident voices…

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Is Gord waiting for the polls after this?

Is Gord waiting for the polls after this?

What margin would trigger a visit to see the Queen? For all the bravado, leaking, teasing and wind-ups Gord is not going to risk his premiership on the basis of current polling evidence. What he needs to see is how the public react after they’ve been exposed to the Tories and, in particular, to the big speech by David Cameron. For much of the poll movement to Labour has been driven by the almost total news blackout from the Tories…

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Would the Tories do better without Dave?

Would the Tories do better without Dave?

Could there be value in this new market? Reproduced above are the opening prices in a market from Paddy Power on who will lead the Tories at the general election. If this opportunity had been there before Brown’s arrival at Number 10 punters would have snapped up the 1/3 offered on Cameron’s survival. Now, after a string of seriously poor polls, it looks at bit different. The real issue at the moment is the massive turbulence in the polls. At…

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My plan for Dave: Give Lib Dem incumbents a free ride

My plan for Dave: Give Lib Dem incumbents a free ride

Why fight hard where it won’t affect the overall outcome? Just imagine what the impact on the next general election would be if David Cameron said something like this in his leader’s speech at the Tory conference. “As we all know about 25 of our leading target seats are held by the Liberal Democrats and in the normal course of events they would be given special treatment in the run-up and during the campaign itself. Extra resource would go in…

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When are Gord and Dave going to face Paxo?

When are Gord and Dave going to face Paxo?

And what do we think of Cameron’s “make-over”? Judging by the comments thread here last night most people thought that the Tory leader performed reasonably well in the first big set piece of the new political year – a long interview on Newsnight. He seems to have adjusted his style to reflect the new more sombre mood created by Gordon Brown and is looking a lot more formal. He also seems to have changed his vocal approach. The voice sounded…

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Has Cameron finally reverted to a core votes strategy?

Has Cameron finally reverted to a core votes strategy?

Are “hard-edged” Tory policies what centre ground voters want? These are the front pages of the Telegraph and Mail this morning and show support for the Tory leadership that hasn’t come from these papers in a long long time. The Mail reports the moves in glowing terms and notes that “the focus on crime will delight Tory MPs who have been desperate for their leader to unveil concrete policy proposals on what they see as the leading concern for many…

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Is the Tory tax plan a gift to Gordon?

Is the Tory tax plan a gift to Gordon?

Are we seeing the start of the general election campaign? All the information coming out of the Brown camp before June 27th was that his first target would be to push the Tories from the centre ground by forcing them to the right. If that indeed was the plan then there will be delight within Labour this morning. For the Tory John Redwood policy commission is publishing its findings today and the headline grabbing move is a plan to, as…

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Could Cameron’s primary plan be used to stop Boris?

Could Cameron’s primary plan be used to stop Boris?

Will Labour supporters mess up the Tory election? In what could appear an ill-thought out move during the brash days of Cameron’s leadership the Tories decided that their choice for London mayor should be decided by an open primary in which any London voter could take part. But what sounded like a PR stunt could now be used against the party by its opponents to stop Boris getting on the ballot. For there are reports that Labour supporters are attempting…

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