Reality check for Osborne’s ambitions

Reality check for Osborne’s ambitions

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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…

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The future of Scottish LAB and Holyrood 2016: This week’s PB/Polling Matters podcast

The future of Scottish LAB and Holyrood 2016: This week’s PB/Polling Matters podcast

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> 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…

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Two Lib Dem defences and one SNP one in tonight’s local by-elections

Two Lib Dem defences and one SNP one in tonight’s local by-elections

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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…

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Corbyn’s activist army as well as the new leader will be on trial in Oldham on December 3rd

Corbyn’s activist army as well as the new leader will be on trial in Oldham on December 3rd

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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…

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Exactly ten years ago – the David Cameron David Davis CON leadership live TV debate

Exactly ten years ago – the David Cameron David Davis CON leadership live TV debate

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Davis was deemed the debate “winner” but Cameron went on to an easy victory in the membership ballot Next month David Cameron will be celebrating ten years as Conservative leader and at this stage in November 2005 he faced what was his last big hurdle before securing the prize – the BBC Question Time leadership debate. It’s a fascinating watch. My PB report on the post debate YouGov poll noted: Tory members who had watched the programme said Davis won…

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Antifrank on the GE2020 prospects for Tim Farron’s Lib Dems

Antifrank on the GE2020 prospects for Tim Farron’s Lib Dems

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The Lib Dems had a disastrous election in 2015, tallying just eight seats.  Where do they go from here?  Is the only way up? Well, actually, no.  There is a serious possibility that things could get worse for them in 2020.  Of their eight seats, only one of them looks truly safe on current boundaries: that of their leader, Tim Farron.  Three of their four most marginal seats look as though they may well lose their Lib Dem incumbents: Southport,…

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London might be a Labour city but it has only won the mayoralty once

London might be a Labour city but it has only won the mayoralty once

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Contenders need to be able to reach out beyond their party bases One of the biggest UK political battles and what will certainly be a big political betting event will be next year’s race for the London will between Zac Goldsmith for the Blues and Sadiq Khan for the Reds. This will be the fifth time there’s been such an elections and so far CON has won two, LAB one and independent one. The latter, of course, was Ken in…

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