REVISED CON 39(-4) LAB 26(-4) LD 22 (+4) What does this say about the expenses expose? The Times Populus survey for May is just out and shows Labour and the Tories both down four points with the LDs up by the same number. Like other recent polls there has been an increase in “others” – something that tends to happen ahead of the Euro elections. In its final Westminster voting poll before the 2004 Euro elections Populus reported an others…
I’ve just got back in from London and have been able to read through the previous thread for the first time. This has now been taken down, Mike Smithson
Can Labour get the agenda back to the economy? After four frenetic days when the headlines and bulletins have been dominated by the MP expenses affair there’s been an apology by Gordon Brown. His precise words as quoted by SkyNews were: “We also, as politicians have a responsibility to show that people who enter our profession are there to serve the public interest and not their own..”I want to apologise on behalf of politicians on behalf of all parties, for…
After the revelations could the LDs unseat Kitty Ussher? Burnley in north-east Lancashire is where my family comes from and, indeed, my grandfather was Labour mayor of the neighbouring town of Nelson in the mid-1930s. The very idea that it could be anything other than rock-solid Labour seems extraordinary. Yet I now think there’s a chance that the Lib Dems could take it – and if Burnley went this way what will it say about other places? There are three…
How will Cameron react to Alan Duncan? The first of tonight’s revelations from the Daily Telegraph are just starting to come out and the big name to be highlighted is Alan Duncan. See the story here The big question is what David Cameron is going to do? Will the Tory leader get tough? Could Duncan find himself out of his front bench role? More follows:- Mike Smithson
Why no bail-out for the newspaper industry? I always enjoy the various addresses given at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner – Stephen Colbert’s legendary 2006 performance deserves your time – and this year President Obama acquitted himself with another witty performance (though not as good as his 2005 roasting of Rahm Emanuel) but it was the postscript that was most interesting. Addressing the celebrity journalists (who have, by his own admission, given him a very easy ride), Obama chose…
Is now the perfect time to be an anti-establishment politician? As the expenses row moves into Day 3, Saturday’s polls provided some answers to the question as to its impact on the political parties, as opposed to the individuals who’ve been in the spotlight. They also raised others. The media narratives easiest to follow are those which focus on a single person or event: a parliamentary vote, an election, an individual’s misconduct or the like. One of the problems of…
The Gord story just keeps on going From the Sunday papers this from the Sunday Times seems to be the most difficult one for Gordon. It’s an interview with Peter Watt, Labour’s former general secretary, who had to leave during a donations row eighteen months ago. His description of how his former boss, the Prime Minister, operates could not be more timely. One little snippet is about the election that never was in October 2007. “No matter what anyone says,…