The pendulum has swung against the cult of youth. Why? So much for reconciliation and unity. So much for Shadow Cabinet elections. In an act that was at once decisive and divisive, Jeremy Corbyn’s reshuffle this week has made absolutely clear that there is no new start. As he said at the time of his re-election, “sadly for everyone I’ll be the same Jeremy Corbyn.” And so he is. Carrying out a snap reshuffle without forewarning is in fact good…
Ladbrokes have new Witney market on LAB vote share. If LDs do well, as I think, then they'll be squeezed & sub 10% share possible pic.twitter.com/sY8iFmyd4M — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) October 7, 2016 Why the new Ladbrokes market could be interesting Ladbrokes have just put up the above new Witney market on the party’s vote share in the October 20th by-election. At GE2015 ED Miliband’s party party got 17% giving it second place a long way behind David Cameron. The…
From the markets: Markets rattled by pound’s tumble https://t.co/yV1xyrZWpz pic.twitter.com/26BAOfN86o — Financial Times (@FT) October 7, 2016 The pound’s downward spiral continues At one stage during the night the pound tumbled for a few minutes to below $1.20 on the foreign exchanges. It has recovered a bit since then but the trend from the FR chart is very clear. Before the referendum the pound was touching $1.50. Until the weekend it had kept above the $1.30 mark – a line…
Embed from Getty Images To date, most British commentary on the impending negotiations on Brexit have concentrated on what negotiating position Britain might take, as Theresa May’s government gropes towards a tenable approach. It takes two to tango and so we need to consider how the EU is going to negotiate also. This has been given much less attention. Such attention as has been given to the EU’s side of the story usually alights on the same few key players. …
Shad cabinet latest: @Keir_Starmer to shad Brexit, @jreynoldsMP to shad economic secretary. @helenlewis to live blog https://t.co/PMR5Yz1MRA — The New Statesman Politics (@TheStaggers) October 6, 2016 Labour reshuffle: Diane Abbott is shadow home secretary – latest updates from @stephenkb https://t.co/QNDHU936F9 pic.twitter.com/1JvrJROlKe — The New Statesman (@NewStatesman) October 6, 2016 Labour MP: "Diane Abbott is now in charge of our response to security, terror and immigration. Do they want anyone to vote for us again?" — Kevin Schofield (@KevinASchofield) October 6,…
Embed from Getty Images “Matt Wrack and I do our bit for Labour unity” was the caption on an arresting Twitter photo montage on the last day of the Labour conference. It showed Richard Angell, the director of Progress, donning firefighter gear for a photocall with the said Matt Wreck — general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union. What made it interesting is that Angell is the man many Corbynistas love to hate. They regard Progress as indelibly “Blairite”. Wrack…
I am now told by a senior UKIP source that @Steven_Woolfe condition in a Strasbourg hospital "is life threatening" — Robert Nisbet (@MrRobertNisbet) October 6, 2016 https://twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/784009704649392132 https://twitter.com/asabenn/status/783995028867776512 Ukip source says Woolfe and fellow MEP decided to "take it outside" after things got heated over reports he considered defecting — Asa Bennett (@asabenn) October 6, 2016 TSE Finally some relief from the Strasbourg hospital. Senior UKIP source says: "he is now ok – waiting final scan but he…
Chancellor Phillip Hammond – said by @jameskirkup to be as emerging as the "Real leader of the opposition" – listening to his leader pic.twitter.com/KXeZwo3zN3 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) October 5, 2016 Meet the man now being described as the “real leader of the opposition” – There’s an insightful article on the challenges ahead facing the Tories by the Telegraph’s James Kirkup. Surveying the range of hurdles ahead Kirkup makes an interesting observation about Philip Hammond who replaced George Osborne as…