Is Labour beginning to deflect the blame? The big clashes at Cameron’s third PMQs since entering Number 10 had a more familiar feel to them. The event was much less conciliatory than the first two occasions and Labour’s Harriet Harman felt confident enough to lead on the economy. For the big political battle in the coming days and months is over the state of the public finances and the economy that Labour left behind when Mr. Brown went to the…
How do we rate them after last night? The impact on the betting markets of last night’s first TV debate between the Labour leadership five has been a tightening of the David Milibrand price on Betfair although Ladbrokes reported that most money had come in for Ed Balls. Watching the debate again this morning I’m even more convinced that the only one capable of being an effective leader of the opposition is Ed Balls. He’s sharp, shameless and a fighter….
..or will it open calls for prosecutions? Like many people I thought that Cameron’s statement on the inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday to be dignified and could of itself help in terms of whether anything happens next. The aim was to bring closure and it will be interesting in the next few hours to see if that has been achieved. I was a sub-editor in the BBC Radio national newsroom on the day it happened in 1971 1972…
BBC Newsnight Could tonight’s debate change the contest’s dynamics? Richard Darlington on the New Statesman blog has a good trailer for tonight’s Newsnight debate with Jeremy Paxman in the chair. It takes place in front of an audience of swing and former Labour voters and their reaction could play a key part. For unlike the sterile rules of the General Election TV debates the audience are able to cheer and show their disapproval. To my mind this is the big…
How dangerous for Clegg is leading on pensions? Nick Clegg’s statement about public sector pension is getting good coverage this morning and clearly we are being softened up for some quite drastic measures in the budget. But how risky for Clegg is it being associated with such a policy given that in the public eye at least he is now being seen as the prime mover? For there’s a lot of polling data to suggest that public sector workers do…
Is it time be taking the 5/1 that he’ll get his job back? There’s another election taking place within the Labour party – that of who should be their candidate in the next London mayoral race in 2012. Like the contest for the leadership this will be completed by the time of the party’s conference in September. Such a truncated process so far ahead of the mayoral election itself has sparked off a row within the party suggesting that this…
A look at what happened the 2007 deputy race It keeps on getting raised on the threads that it might be useful to look once again at how Labour’s leadership election system operates. This has only been used twice – for the election of Tony Blair in 1994 and the race the deputy position in 2007. There are three strands to the electoral college each making 33.33%. Every eligible voters in each section will get a ballot paper asking them…
Fieldwork Pollster/Publication CON LAB LD OTH 10-11 June YouGov / Sunday Times 40 32 18 10 1- 9 June Harris/Metro 36 30 25 9 28-31 May ComRes / The Independent 37 33 21 9 21-23 May ICM / The Guardian 39 32 21 8 20-21 May YouGov / Sunday Times 39 32 21 7 13-14 May YouGov / Sunday Times 37 34 21 8 12-13 May ICMÂ / Sunday Telegraph 38 33 21 8 12-13 May ComRes / Independent on Sunday…