The Mayor of London – the first big electoral test for LAB’s new leader

The Mayor of London – the first big electoral test for LAB’s new leader

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Tessa now back ahead of Zac in Betfair betting for 2016 London Mayoral election pic.twitter.com/SKXCWorGYC — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) August 3, 2015   James Burt (TheWhiteRabbit) looks at the contenders   The Labour Candidate Six Labour candidates made it onto the party’s shortlist: Diane Abbott, Tessa Jowell, Sadiq Khan, David Lammy, Gareth Thomas and Christian Wolmar. One will be chosen by ballot of Labour members and affiliates and announced over the same weekend as the party’s Leader and Deputy Leader…

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Donald Brind says: “Thanks Neil – now we need to hear from Gordon”

Donald Brind says: “Thanks Neil – now we need to hear from Gordon”

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Brown is well-placed to deal with the Corbyn surge Shortly after Tony Blair was elected Labour leader in 1994 I bumped into my political hero Jack Jones at a book launch. What inspired me about Jones was that he understood that making gains for the working people he cared passionately about could only be done through a combination of industrial organisation and winning political power. So, what I asked did he make of the new leader? He havered. He hadn’t…

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Next Chancellor after Osborne betting

Next Chancellor after Osborne betting

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The next Chancellor of the Exchequer market that Ladbrokes have is a hard market to assess. There’s two major known unknowns, will David Cameron stand down in this parliament (potentially to maximise George Osborne’s chances of succeeding him) or will the result of the next election be the trigger for the Osborne’s successor? Sajid Javid is quite rightly the favourite to be the next Chancellor whilst Osborne is favourite to be the next Tory leader, however at 16/1 another Osborne…

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Keiran Pedley: LAB’s making a big mistake to assume that the only way now is up

Keiran Pedley: LAB’s making a big mistake to assume that the only way now is up

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  As CLP nominations close, with Jeremy Corbyn leading, Labour members must remember that its electoral fortunes can get worse as well as better A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article for the New Statesman in which I argued that Jeremy Corbyn was not the answer to Labour’s problems. Last week I was interviewed about it on the BBC and you can see the clip here. My reasoning is pretty straightforward, Labour can only win if its leader is seen as…

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Biden said to be considering a bid for the presidency

Biden said to be considering a bid for the presidency

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Maybe Hillary could face a serious challenge after all for the Democratic nominationhttp://t.co/lRRnsR2eoM pic.twitter.com/yydhCSFdZz — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) August 1, 2015 This could really shake up the WH2016 betting As I posted ten days ago a bet at 4/1 that someone other than Hillary would get the nomination was great value and I have a big position. Potential contenders have until now been overawed by the Hillary factor. But if one big player like Biden enters the fray then others…

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Remember the Saturday when the Telegraph and Sky News both declared that Alan Johnson had won the deputy leader election

Remember the Saturday when the Telegraph and Sky News both declared that Alan Johnson had won the deputy leader election

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With AV LAB elections don’t always go to plan Remember June 2007? So many Labour MPs had chickened out of doing other than nominate Brown for leader that there weren’t enough left for another candidate to go on the ballot. The result – the party got what the polling indicated was a leader who was an electoral liability – not someone who could lead them into a fourth successive general election victory. Instead there was a hard-fought deputy race which…

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David Herdson asks: Where are UKIP’s 34 peers?

David Herdson asks: Where are UKIP’s 34 peers?

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An unreformed Lords shouldn’t be a closed shop for the old parties Sex, money and people in high places all make for a good scandal, as Lord Sewel found out to his cost this last week. And as usually happens when a member of the Lords gets into trouble, the opponents of the institution cite it as an example of the need for reform of it, or even its outright abolition. Not that there’s a chance of serious reform any…

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