Ed Miliband shouldn’t have given the undertaking that Ed Balls will remain as shadow chancellor until the election

Ed Miliband shouldn’t have given the undertaking that Ed Balls will remain as shadow chancellor until the election

Comments 0 Comment

Ed Miliband’s biggest mistake today was saying that Ed Balls will stay until the election. This is latest ICM polling twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 13, 2013 Poll after poll says it – Balls is a liability For me the big news from Ed Miliband’s Marr interview today was his commitment to keep Ed Balls as shadow chancellor until the general election. Yes it’s hard when an interviewer puts you on the spot like he did – but Ed…

Read More Read More

The Clegg masochism strategy: The first leadership ratings have him up a net 9pc in a week

The Clegg masochism strategy: The first leadership ratings have him up a net 9pc in a week

Comments 0 Comment

Nick Clegg’s net YouGov ratings at best point since March 2012. Now minus 45%. In Sept they were -63%. LBC effect? twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 13, 2013 Today’s net -45% the best in getting of for a year Piles of polling overnight including, as every Sunday morning, the YouGov leadership ratings. Cameron sees a net rise of 1 to minus 18%; Ed Miliband a net increase of 3 to minus 20% and Nick Clegg up 9 to minus…

Read More Read More

As we await another bumper poll for #Ukip – Ladbrokes open a market on the party’s general election vote share

As we await another bumper poll for #Ukip – Ladbrokes open a market on the party’s general election vote share

Comments 0 Comment

Ukip gen election vote share of less than 5% the 5/4 fav on Ladbrokes new UKIP vote share market bit.ly/c5gpH6 twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 12, 2013 Will the grumpy old white men stick with Farage? Tonight we’ll see what looks like another great poll for Nigel Farage’s party from Opinium for the Observer. In preparation the pollster issued a press release trying to explain the methodological reason why it thought its UKIP numbers were amongst the highest. In…

Read More Read More

Has Rangers Football Club just made Alex Salmonds job harder?

Has Rangers Football Club just made Alex Salmonds job harder?

Comments 0 Comment

BBC news What would pulling out do to the independence debate? Identity is one of the most potent forces in politics; the sense of who we are individually and collectively. That’s why the unusually strongly-worded statement from Rangers’ chief executive this week in response to the football authorities’ proposal there potentially brings two of the stronger identities into conflict: those of nationality and football club support. The threat from Rangers to leave if a restructure leaves them in the bottom…

Read More Read More

General Elections from 1950-2010

General Elections from 1950-2010

Comments 0 Comment

Sixty years of general elections. Chart showing the big trends from 1950-2010. twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 11, 2013 @samiraahmeduk The data came from British Electoral Facts by Rallings & Thrasher. The chart was prepared by Politicalbetting’s Tomas Forsey — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 11, 2013 The big trend chart from Corporeal

Henry G Manson asks: Where next for David Miliband?

Henry G Manson asks: Where next for David Miliband?

Comments 0 Comment

Could he soon return to the LAB front bench? There’s been a flurry of speculation about David Miliband this week and what future role he might play under Ed Miliband’s leadership, if any. Some have speculated that he could replace Ed Balls as Shadow Chancellor, but a more likely position would be that of Shadow Foreign Secretary. This was a job he occupied for two and a half years under Gordon Brown and is one he would relish returning to….

Read More Read More

By May 2015 Cameron’s decision to campaign hard against AV might not look very smart

By May 2015 Cameron’s decision to campaign hard against AV might not look very smart

Comments 0 Comment

How UKIP is eating into the CON vote – pie chart of CON 2010 voters from today’s YouGov data. twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 11, 2013 Under FPTP LAB is the main winner The pie chart above is derived from today’s YouGov polling and shows the current voting intentions of those who supported Dave’s party in 2010. The 2010 data is based on polling carried out by YouGov immediatly after the election and not how polling respondents remember it…

Read More Read More

Which Lib Dem would have to go to create a vacancy for Huhne?

Which Lib Dem would have to go to create a vacancy for Huhne?

Comments 0 Comment

Clegg says he’d like Huhne back in the Cabinet if he’s cleared. See – m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi… twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 10, 2013 We are now talking about a possible return for Chris Huhne following comments by Nick Clegg today. This is from the BBC report:- ““I would like to see Chris return, if he is cleared of everything,” he said. Mr Clegg described Mr Huhne, whom he beat to the Lib Dem leadership in 2007, as an “accomplished politician……

Read More Read More