Has this been the main driver of their ratings dive? As we finally get to the Easter weekend perhaps now is a good time to reflect on the dramatic change in the political climate in the past three weeks when everything that could go wrong seems to have done so for the Tories. To me the most crucial element was the budget with the introduction of the 45 pence tax rate for those at the top of the earning ladder….
Will we follow the US way for candidates? Ken Livingstone has now followed Brian Paddick and Boris Johnson in revealing details of his income and taxes paid following the commitments made in the Newsnight London mayoral debate last night. There’s still a row over what should be made available with the LAB contender demanding that the “full household income” be the basis for the disclosure. I wonder whether the precedent has now been set that so many more contenders for…
But will Boris be hit by the national Tory collapse? Exactly four weeks from today six million Londoners will get the chance to vote on who will be their elected mayor for the next four years. The is the single biggest election in the British political calendar and all three parties will be striving for a good showing. For the Tories this could be their one bright spot on the night. With Labour moving to double digit national poll ratings…
And Cameron drops 8pts in YouGov “best PM” ratings Sun/YouGov poll: Lab 42%, Con 32%, L/D 9%, UKIP 8% — Sun Politics (@Sun_Politics) April 4, 2012 Sun/YouGov poll: only 30% say Cameron would “make best PM” – down EIGHT pts in last 2 weeks and lowest since May 2010 — Sun Politics (@Sun_Politics) April 4, 2012 Sun/YouGov poll: Ed Miliband fails to cash in on Cam crisis. Only 19% say he would be “best PM” – up just one pt…
Labour former General Secretary admits on @BBCR4Today Labour policy is basically dictated by the Unions. Express copy bit.ly/HJ3wsd — CCHQ Press Office (@RicHolden) April 4, 2012 Won’t whoever funds parties have influence? The ever energetic tweeters at Tory party HQ were out this morning flagging the comments by ex-LAB gen sec, Peter Watt, that the trade unions do have an influence over party policy. It was, surely, ever thus. The Labour party, as reflected in its name, was founded by…
Betfair Politics The Democratic party has now moved to its highest point on the Betfair White House race winning party market with punters now making the split 67% t0 33%. Romney had his expected good night in Maryland and Washington DC while also winning Wisconsin by a closer margin than the polls suggested. In the states where the Romney money machine has thrown millions into negative TV advertising against Santorum it has won. But the victories have never been convincing…
Who wins who loses from the shouting match? I’ve been in hospital for my operation for most of the day and am only now catching up with the Boris-Ken encounter at LBC building after a phone-in. For political punters the critical element is what this will do to the voting on May 3rd? Will this cause more people to come out to vote for Boris or the reverse. What is clear is that Ken is ultra sensitive about his tax…
But they’re still nowhere near the Brown government at its worst. Lord Stewart Wood, one of Ed Miliband’s closest aides, is circulating the above government approval ratings and it’s hard to quibble that things are, to put it mildly, less than optimal for Cameron/Osborne. The latest from YouGov shows a negative of minus 43% – which is the worst they’ve been since the general election. In the chart above we see what happened in March. The budget and associated issues…