Front page of the Sunday Times on Osborne's plans to try & keep Dave as leader if it is Con most votes/Lab most seats pic.twitter.com/x0hA3Y7dFB — TSE (@TSEofPB) March 1, 2015 The Sunday Times reports (££) George Osborne held a dinner with Conservative whips on Monday night to discuss tactics for the days after the vote on May 7. Two senior MPs revealed that Tory high command is preparing to argue that Cameron has won a “moral victory†if he…
The battle is still on a knife-edge CON & LAB level-pegging in tonight's YouGov CON 34% LAB 34% LDEM 8% UKIP 14% GRN 5% — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 28, 2015 Opinium poll for Observer LAB 35 CON 34 LD 6 UKIP 14 GRN 6 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 28, 2015 The big message for the Tories as we go into the last two months and a bit is that they need to have emphatic leads across a range of pollsters to be…
Date for your Diary March 17th at 7pm The next PB get-together will take place on Tuesday March 17th from 7pm at the Shooting Star in Middlesex Street. As the map below shows this is just round the corner from our normal venue, Dirty Dicks. We are hoping that this will be less crowded and noisy than the pre-Christmas bash. Thanks to Fat Steve for finding the new venue. There are also plans for overnight May 7/8 – details soon.
David Herdson says the tuition fees funding proposals could be skating on thin ice Elections are won on perceptions as much as realities: competence, trustworthiness, whether a person or party is ‘on my side’, and so on. It’s therefore brave of Labour to propose funding a cut in university tuition fees from taxes raised on pensions. In doing so, the unintended consequence of opening up a policy front on what ought to be a relatively strong policy subject for them…
There’s little doubt that one of the great successes that UKIP has had has been in engaging within the political process those who have never, or not recently, used their vote. The above breakdown is from the latest Survation South Thanet poll illustrates this well. Because of the way the firm presents its data we are able to quantify the non-voting element. A big question with non-2010 voting support is whether their backing can be relied on as much as…
Marf with a poignant cartoon on Jihadi John pic.twitter.com/ZT1gNSLw6n — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 27, 2015 LAB back in the lead with Populus CON 31 LAB 33 LD 9 UKIP 16 GRN 6 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 27, 2015 Another week & another forecast from Oxford's @StephenDFisher Very tight pic.twitter.com/3Pi3aE54Zf — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 27, 2015 A bit unfair on UKIP? Publicity stunt for "The Producers" at Margate – UKIP conference venue. Hot pants & swastikas pic.twitter.com/cXwRT8vZ1j — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 27,…
Jesse Norman – the old Etonian MP who led the 2012 CON backbench rebellion on House of Lords Reform pic.twitter.com/61siWbjrar — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 27, 2015 Did old-Etonian Jesse Norman cost his party the election? On July 11th 2012 David Cameron was seen to be having a furious row with his fellow old-Etonian, Jesse Norman, who had just led the successful backbench revolt against planned House of Lords reform. Cameron knew very clearly what this meant. The boundary changes,…
Based on UNS, the TNS Scotland poll would see the following seat totals. pic.twitter.com/wFMmMZ3BYr — TSE (@TSEofPB) February 26, 2015 Time appears to be running out for SLAB and Jim Murphy to avoid a shellacking in May. TNS’ second poll this year, brings them into line with all the others bar Panelbase who have substantial leads for the SNP. For those expecting differential turnout in Scotland to have an effect in May, “A majority of voters (61%) say they are…