The man sitting behind Burnham in this pic sums up LAB’s prolonged leadership election

The man sitting behind Burnham in this pic sums up LAB’s prolonged leadership election

Comments 0 Comment

Andy Burnham seeking to enthuse the audience, including the man behind, in the BBC2 LAB leadership debate. pic.twitter.com/jZYONir4QB — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) July 13, 2015 Alan Johnson says that the next LAB leader should be a woman. pic.twitter.com/7sYuXuJdz0 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) July 13, 2015 We’ve still got another month before the first votes are cast If you think that the LAB leadership battle has been going on for a long time then you probably share the sentiments of the…

Read More Read More

On fox-hunting a reminder from the SNP of the tight parliamentary situation

On fox-hunting a reminder from the SNP of the tight parliamentary situation

Comments 0 Comment

LAB by-election leaflet 2009 SNP westminster leader @AngusRobertson "we totally oppose foxhunting"… Full statement: pic.twitter.com/4qyRPCk679 — Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) July 13, 2015 But won’t this reinforce the case for EVEL? This is how the Speccie’s Isabel Hardman sums up the situation:- “..The result may still work politically for both parties in one sense: in Scotland of course the headline ‘SNP stops Tories relaxing hunting ban’ works beautifully for Nicola Sturgeon’s party. But in England a headline saying ‘SNP stops Tories…

Read More Read More

LD Newswire survey has Tim Farron heading for 58-42% victory over Norman Lamb for next party leader

LD Newswire survey has Tim Farron heading for 58-42% victory over Norman Lamb for next party leader

Comments 0 Comment

Tim Farron heading for victory – 58% to 42% – in LD Newswire poll. Via @markpack pic.twitter.com/Q3eKZG2E3J — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) July 13, 2015 The results will be announced on Thursday and given the fact that second class reply envelopes have been used then virtually every party member planning to vote will probably have done so. Mark Pack gives the details here. My main observation about the survey is that these tend to be dominated by activists and might not…

Read More Read More

It wasn’t just at the May 2015 general election that the polling did not cover itself with glory

It wasn’t just at the May 2015 general election that the polling did not cover itself with glory

Comments 0 Comment

September 2010: Final LAB members leadership poll YouGov LAB members poll Sept ’10 YouGov 1st round Actual 1st round YouGov Miliband preference Actual final votes ABBOTT, Diane 11 7.3 0 0 BALLS, Ed 9 10.1 0 0 BURNHAM, Andy 10 8.6 0 0 MILIBAND, David 38 44.1 48 54.4 MILIBAND, Ed 31 29.9 52 45.6 What should be noted about this poll was that it took place six days after the postal ballot packs had gone out and for many…

Read More Read More

Harriet Harman’s comments today have been interpreted as opposing Burnham as leader and endorsing Kendall

Harriet Harman’s comments today have been interpreted as opposing Burnham as leader and endorsing Kendall

Comments 0 Comment

Harriet Harman’s comments on today’s Sunday Politics (in the video above) have been interpreted as coming out against Andy Burnham and endorsing Liz Kendall as leader. She warned the party not to choose “somebody who we can feel comfortable with” but who can “command the confidence of the country.” Following on from overnight reports that she chastised Andy Burnham in a Shadow Cabinet meeting, by reminding him that Labour lost the general election, I sense some in Labour get the feeling Andy Burnham…

Read More Read More

Labour need not only a decent leader they also need a decent strategist to help the new leader

Labour need not only a decent leader they also need a decent strategist to help the new leader

Comments 0 Comment

Video: Michael Fallon warning Ed Miliband will stab UK in the back just as he did to his brother David. It can be argued that the next Labour leader has the hardest task any Labour leader faces since Arthur Henderson. Labour are vulnerable on their left flank, from a Farron led Lib Dem party who will be more attractive to Labour supporters than Nick Clegg. They will also have to deal with the Greens and the SNP on their left….

Read More Read More

New study suggests that UKIP’s “2020 strategy” is going to be challenging

New study suggests that UKIP’s “2020 strategy” is going to be challenging

Comments 0 Comment

House of Commons Library blog – Steven Ayres In 5/6ths its 120 GE15 2nd places it faces majorities of 10%+ In the aftermath of May 7th UKIP was taking some comfort from the 120 second places it had chalked up suggesting that this provided a good platform for next time. Maybe. Steven Ayres on the House of Commons Library blog has produced an interesting analysis of Farage’s party’s performance and the potential to build on its record GE15. His chart…

Read More Read More

Pax Osbornia: recasting the political landscape into the 2030s

Pax Osbornia: recasting the political landscape into the 2030s

Comments 0 Comment

But he still won’t be prime minister It takes a staggering degree of self-restraint and of confidence to know that you plan to increase the minimum wage by more than 10% and to choose to say nothing about it during an election campaign. It also shows a fine level of political judgement. Had George Osborne done so, he would have been accused of panicking and of allowing Labour to set the agenda. He probably wouldn’t have been believed and if…

Read More Read More