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A Republican ticket to give Hillary Clinton nightmares?
Keiran Pedley asks if a Rubio / Christie ticket (with either at the top) might be the Republican’s best bet to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016 It is fair to say that the race for the Republican 2016 nomination is an odd one. This really should be an election that the GOP can win and yet with the national polls showing Trump and Carson leading the GOP race most observers are pretty sceptical that either will last. Neither has held…
What the parties should be looking for in Oldham
How LAB is using Douglas Carswell's tax credit vote in the Oldham W & R by-election. pic.twitter.com/aaEdtgLyZ9 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) November 5, 2015 Joy, meh and despair So for the second parliament running, the first by-election in it will take place in Oldham. Unlike neighbouring Oldham East & Saddleworth, Michael Meacher’s former seat does not, on the face of it, look all that interesting: it reliably returned Labour members for decades and did so with a majority of close…
Local By-Election Results : November 5th 2015
Huntly, Strathbogie and the Howe of Alford on Aberdeenshire (SNP and Lib Dem defence) Result: Conservative 1,469 (36% +9%), Scottish National Party 1,433 (35% unchanged), Liberal Democrats 928 (23% +5%), Labour 196 (5%, no candidate in 2012), Scottish Libertarians 20 (0%, no candidate in 2012) No candidate elected on first preferences. Scottish National Party elected (HOLD) and Conservative Party elected (GAIN) Clifton with Maidenway on Torbay (Lib Dem defence) Result: Liberal Democrat 1,096 (69% +39%), Conservative 234 (15% -14%), United…
Reality check for Osborne’s ambitions
The Donald Brind Friday Column Can it really be only a month since the Chancellor George Osborne was swaggering around Manchester stealing Labour policy clothes and putting himself at the head of the queue to be next Tory leader? A Telegraph sketch of his Tory conference speech recounted – tongue in cheek — Osborne’s journey from “omnishambles to omnipotence†Today, says the Economist, Osborne is “in a bind†over how to deal with tax credits. Rumbled by think tanks like…
The future of Scottish LAB and Holyrood 2016: This week’s PB/Polling Matters podcast
> And what about a 2nd IndyRef? On this week’s PB / Polling Matters podcast Keiran discusses all things Scotland with Kate Devlin of The Herald. How bad are things for Labour? Are the SNP unstoppable in 2016 and when might we see a second independence referendum? Meanwhile, what implications might the upcoming EU referendum have on politics in Scotland and UKIP’s long term prospects in the rest of the UK? You can follow Keiran on twitter at @keiranpedley and…
Two Lib Dem defences and one SNP one in tonight’s local by-elections
Huntly, Strathbogie and the Howe of Alford on Aberdeenshire (SNP and Lib Dem defence) Result of council at last election (2012): Scottish National Party 28, Conservatives 14, Liberal Democrats 12, Independents 11, Labour 2, Green Party 1 (No Overall Control, SNP short by 7) Result of ward at last election (2012) : Emboldened denotes elected Scottish National Party 830, 600 (35%) Conservatives 1,091 (27%) Liberal Democrats 752 (18%) Independents 593 (14%) Green Party 256 (6%) Candidates duly nominated: Sarah Flavell…
Corbyn’s activist army as well as the new leader will be on trial in Oldham on December 3rd
Activism is about knocking on doors on dark cold November evenings The results of today’s election of committee chairs by LAB MPs highlights the massive gulf between the parliamentary party and the new leader. As George Eaton in the Staggers reports the outcome was a triumph for the right. An indication of how badly it went for Team Corbyn was that “Of the 17 commitee chairs, 11 supported Liz Kendall’s leadership campaign, including Tristram Hunt (Communities and Local Government), Ivan…