Where the total seats are being slashed from 40 to 29 The boundary changes to be announced tonight (and to the MP’s from England and Wales today) will see the first reduction in the number of seats in Wales since the Great Reform Act of 1832 and see Wales be reduced from forty seats to just twenty nine (it’s lowest number since the Great Reform Act) and will the be fifth set of boundary changes since true democracy (one elector,…
Hard to see anything other than comfortable CON hold Cameron has announced this afternoon that he’s going to follow Tony Blair – the last former successful general election winner to stand down as an MP shortly after stepping down as party leader and PM. So we now have the first Westminster by-election in a CON held seat since the general election. The numbers from May 2015 are above. Although the overall outcome is hardly in doubt it does raise some…
When I joined the BBC in the 70s one of the senior writers was regarded a bit of legend for having spotted the start of Ping-Ping diplomacy – what the US official historian describes as “fraternization” between table tennis players from the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China during an international competition in Japan. It led eventually to the 1972 meeting between Nixon and Mao. Not quite on the same epic scale but there are signs that a rapprochement…
This video appears to show Hillary Clinton falling after being taken unwell at a 9/11 memorial service in New York https://t.co/2H0LvuCm6d — Sky News (@SkyNews) September 11, 2016 Events this weekend remind us that the conditions are there for Trump to win says Keiran Pedley. The Clinton campaign needs to get back on the front foot and fast. Whether you call it a stumble, collapse or storm in a teacup, Clinton’s apparent fainting as she left this weekend’s 9/11…
5% of voter shouldn't leave the house unsupervised @OpiniumResearch finds 5% of voters think Corbyn is right wing pic.twitter.com/1MiELCXEqz — TSE (@TSEofPB) September 11, 2016 Occasionally polling throws out a result that really does make you go wow. Today’s Opinium poll for the Social Market Foundation contains a doozy. 5% of voters think Jeremy Corbyn is right wing, channelling my inner Sheldon Cooper, whilst I subscribe to the “Many Worlds” theory which posits the existence of an infinite number of Jeremy…
Theresa May has now been Prime Minister for 60 days. It’s never too soon to start forming judgements. So what have we learned so far about our new Prime Minister? Actually, rather a lot says Alastair Meeks. Her new slogan is her manifesto Theresa May’s conversion to grammar schools has attracted a lot of attention. Her speech is worth reading because it sets out her philosophy. She delivered it in front of the slogan: “A country that works for everyone”…
This is the minister supposed to be prompting British business around the world https://t.co/vH1iYbLbRm — Jim Pickard ? (@PickardJE) September 10, 2016 Yes, Liam Fox really said UK business is too fat and lazy. Here's our exclusive transcript https://t.co/4DwsX7xrNo pic.twitter.com/vOKb9QFitE — The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) September 10, 2016 The Guardian reports on a Times story Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, has been attacked by businesspeople and politicians for suggesting British executives would rather play golf rather…
The thinking is muddled because the priorities are muddled Theresa May is a grammar school girl.* That personal experience, combined with the success of her career, might well be at the root of her enthusiasm for the system which she so lauded yesterday; many who believe they benefitted personally from a system become advocates for its wider adoption. If so, her enthusiasm is misplaced. Coming into office on a pledge of social mobility, it’s perhaps not too surprising that she’s…