What are we predicting will happen in Wales? I’m back in the Land of My Fathers this weekend to watch the Wales v Ireland Six Nations decider, and to see my folks for Sunday Lunch on Mothers’ Day. As timing would have it, last week I made a vague promise to take a look at what might happen in Wales at the next General Election. Being London-based, I’m sure there is much news from the ground of which I’m simply…
ConservativeHome Could Crosby spell trouble for the Tories on June 4th? A great scoop overnight for ConHome’s Jonathan Isaby suggests that all might not be plain sailing for the Tories in the Euro Election on June 4th – the final major test at the ballots before the general election. For Lynton Crosby, the Oz campaign Guru who managed Boris successful bid for the London Mayoralty last year, has now been engaged by Libertas – the Irish-funded political party that is…
BBC News Online Could this split the Eurosceptic vote? So another day and another new party enters the UK political scene with the intention of fighting every seat at June’s elections for the European Parliament. The Libertas move looks serious given the success it had in the Irish Lisbon treaty referendum last year and the fact that it is planning to put up candidates in every single EU state. The party says it is not anti-EU but rather it wants…
Has the bar been set even higher for Gord? At the last Euro elections on June 10th 2004 the national polls shares (excluding NI) had Labour in second place on just 22.6% a full four points behind the Tories. UKIP beat the Lib Dems into the third place slot. These were the 2004 shares: CON 26.7: LAB 22.6: UKIP 16.1: LIBD 14.9: GRN 6.3 In spite of the performance, it should be said, Tony Blair led Labour to its third…
Brunel University Can businessmen ever become successful politicians? There’s a lot of traction at the moment behind Alan Sugar, the star of the Apprentice and the man who made his fortune with Amstrad, to become Labour’s 2012 candidate for the London Mayoralty. He’s been a strong party supporter for most of his life and has been used a lot by Labour in its promotions. He’s also a solidly based Londoner with East End origins and is listed as the 92nd…
Is one of the prizes of victory controlling the system? One of the most disgraceful and anti-democratic features of the current government has been the way it has sought to fix the electoral system for party advantage and to ignore the Electoral Commission when it has called for changes to deal with potential voter fraud. This has been an outrageous use of power by ministers which might have set the precedent for the Tories to do the same if ever…
What would a Scottish election now do for Gordon? With Scottish politics in turmoil following the rejection by Holyrood of the SNP budget last week there’s a YouGov survey for the Sunday Times of voting intentions north of the border which should give heart to Alex Salmond’s party. The poll suggests the following shares comparisons on a similar poll is September October when Labour was doing badly nationally:- Constituency: SNP 38% (-1): LAB 32% (+1): CON 13% (-1): LD 12%…
Is the school providing the 2009 betting movers? After the last thread on Ken Clarke’s possible return to a front-bench position it’s quite striking to note how many of the potential 2009 political betting “movers” were all educated at the same school – Nottingham High. Yesterday I put £50 on another ex-pupil, Ed Balls, at 16/1 in Ladbroke’s Chancellor on New Year’s Eve 2009 market. Clearly Darling looks set to stay the course but in the current economic storm then…