Can Cameron get away with keeping her on?

Can Cameron get away with keeping her on?

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Is the climate after “expenses-gate” starting to change? Two separate developments over Julie Kirkbride – the Tory MP for Bromsgrove, and married to Andrew MacKay, MP for Bracknell who were featured in the expenses exposes. He, formerly a close advisor to David Cameron, has announced that he would be stepping down at the next election. But Julie did not go as quickly, or seemingly as willingly, but she did eventually announce her decision to join her husband in retirement, effective…

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So what’s the verdict on the SNP’s performance?

So what’s the verdict on the SNP’s performance?

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Was Kenny MacAskill the weakest link? The SNP could not be blamed for the celebrations in Tripoli last night when Megrahi arrived back in Libya but those TV pictures have certainly added to the challenge the party faces over its decision. The reaction of William Hills has been to lengthen the odds on the SNP winning the next Scottish Elections from 4/6 to 5/6 where they are now joint favourites with Labour. What the Tripoli TV pictures have underlined is…

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Is Cameron wrong to raise his family experiences of the NHS?

Is Cameron wrong to raise his family experiences of the NHS?

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Mail online Or should Utley have left it well alone? There’s an interesting attack on David Cameron in the Mail which I’m surprised has not got more attention. For the paper’s sometimes controversial columnist, Tom Utley takes the Tory leader to task over the why he uses his family, including his late son, Ivan, in the NHS argument. Utley’s focus is on those who argue about the NHS by reducing everything to their personal experiences. “..I find it deeply depressing,…

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Has Brown’s response been like the Lisbon treaty signing?

Has Brown’s response been like the Lisbon treaty signing?

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Should he have been making TV condemnations as well? Just looking at what happened yesterday with the release by the Scottish authorities of the Lockerbie bomber I cannot help but be reminded of Gordon Brown’s actions over the signing of the Lisbon Treaty. Then, it will be recalled, Brown was “unavoidably detained” on urgent business in London and so was unable to be part of the big signing ceremony with other EU leaders. So he flew in later and signed…

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Is the Brown TV black-out a deliberate strategy?

Is the Brown TV black-out a deliberate strategy?

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Will minimising TV appearances boost Labour’s ratings? Another news cycle goes by and another day passes without Gordon Brown appearing on our TV screens – something I commented on here a fortnight agi. I know it’s been the holiday season but as far as I can see he has made only three appearances in the past month – none of them contentious. One was to pay tribute to Harry Patch, the last World War veteran in Britain, who died at…

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Will there be a price for the SNP upsetting Hillary?

Will there be a price for the SNP upsetting Hillary?

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Can Salmond now stand accused of being “soft on terror”? In the run-up to today’s release of Abdel Baset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Libyan spy who jailed in 2001 for blowing up Pan Am flight 103 with the loss of 270 lives, Hillary Clinton made a public plea saying the Scottish authorities should allow him to die in prison rather than being released on compassionate grounds. She said: “I just think it is absolutely wrong to release someone who has…

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April 11 2009 – the day the Labour government died?

April 11 2009 – the day the Labour government died?

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UKPollingReport Was it political failure and not the economy? One of the regular arguments on the site is whether it’s the economy or politics that drives changes in public opinion and how people will vote. I’ve long been part of the political failure camp and the table of YouGov polls from UKPollingReport, I would argue, backs me up. Just look at what happened in mid-April 2009. Labour had been happily coasting in the 30s since September 2008 and reached a…

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