What we don’t know is whether the CON leadership contest will take place before or after the general election

What we don’t know is whether the CON leadership contest will take place before or after the general election

The leadership uncertainty remains One thing that David Cameron made very clear in his speech is that he is going to continue as leader right up to the general election. That, of course, assumes that there will be no dramatic event that would cause a move before then. The intention, of course, was to take some of the wind out of the sails of the inevitable leadership speculation that has continued throughout the conference. To an extent he probably succeeded….

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Local By-Election Preview : October 7th 2015

Local By-Election Preview : October 7th 2015

Riverside on Cardiff (Lab defence) Result of council at last election (2012): Labour 46, Liberal Democrats 16, Conservatives 7, Independents 3, Plaid Cymru 2, Heath Independent 1 (Labour majority of 17) Result of ward at last election (2012) : Emboldened denotes elected Labour 1,731, 1,555, 1,431(48%) Plaid Cymru 1,153, 944, 940 (31%) Conservatives 286, 276, 263 (8%) Green Party 294, 272, 189 (8%) Liberal Democrats 142, 129, 122 (4%) Trade Unionist and Socialist 99 (1%) Candidates duly nominated: Steffan Bateman…

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Almost all of LAB’s current problems stem from eight years ago today when Gordon Brown recorded this interview

Almost all of LAB’s current problems stem from eight years ago today when Gordon Brown recorded this interview

The day an autumn 2007 vote was bottled Eight years today an event took place from which, I’d argue, all Labour’s trouble stem – the decision by the then PM to call off what were very advanced plans to have an early general election. Everything had been geared up for this to be called in the days after the Tory conference. Even a fleet of limousines to carry ministers about on had been booked and paid for. Three months earlier…

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Cameron’s big speech – the first reactions

Cameron’s big speech – the first reactions

Labour needs to get rid of Corbyn – by teatime ideally — Nick Cohen (@NickCohen4) October 7, 2015 Manchester 2015 is the Tory party's Clause 4 moment. — (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) October 7, 2015 Twitter heard a speech selling the Tories to the centre. But it was also very much a speech selling the centre to the Tories. — Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) October 7, 2015 https://twitter.com/iAlexhunt/status/651722748465651713 The saddest thing is that for all his Labour Lite Karoake, Cameron is still…

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Theresa May sends a strong reminder that she’s still in the race

Theresa May sends a strong reminder that she’s still in the race

Even Boris’s sister has gone on the attack If it was the Home Secretary’s intention yesterday to stir up some controversy and get big headlines this morning then the plan has worked very well. Above is just a selection of papers which have made her conference speech the main story. The Independent, of course, is taking a strikingly different approach to the Daily Mail but in terms of impact that doesn’t matter. Last night Rachel Johnson, the sister of Boris,…

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Great speech by Boris – but it’s had no impact on Betfair

Great speech by Boris – but it’s had no impact on Betfair

Boris's big conference speech has had no impact on Betfair. He's still rated as a 15.5% chance to succeed Dave. — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) October 6, 2015 The money continues to go on George This is a story that is probably going to go on for the next 3 to 4 years. Who is going to be the successor to David Cameron and will the prize go to one of the top two favourites? Those are, of course, the Chancellor…

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ComRes/Mail EU referendum poll finds CON voters more inclined to vote to stay than the electorate as a whole

ComRes/Mail EU referendum poll finds CON voters more inclined to vote to stay than the electorate as a whole

With the coming EU referendum dominating much of the discussion at the CON conference in Manchester ComRes has new poll for the Mail out showing some quite remarkable findings. As can be seen from the chart CON voters are more inclined to say they want to stay in the EU than the electorate as a whole. This is the first time I can recall such a split and we need further surveys to support it before drawing too many conclusions….

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Extraordinary. The union boss who thinks that losing the election was a price worth paying to get Corbyn

Extraordinary. The union boss who thinks that losing the election was a price worth paying to get Corbyn

Trade Union leader says he's glad LAB lost election because they've now got Corbyn. The world's gone mad. https://t.co/aBnCiWCkBE — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) October 5, 2015 CWU Terry Pullinger says he's glad labour lost the election as now they have Corbyn. @LucyMPowell mouths 'I'm not clapping that!' — Owen Bennett (@owenjbennett) October 5, 2015 Trying to understand what’s happened to the Labour movement I was completely knocked out by the above Tweet posted last night about comments made by a…

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