BBC Daily Politics Was Labour right to attack the messenger? There seems to be have been a determined effort by leading Labour figures to deal with part 1 of the Telegraph expenses expose by attacking the messenger – the paper itself. Veteran MP Stuart Bell was on the Daily Politics programme and others this morning were making the same point as though it was not the fault of greedy MPs at all but the beastly press who might have even…
Is he today’s biggest loser from the expenses fracas? This is David Miliband – third favourite in the betting to succeed Gordon Brown as leader of the Labour party and someone who less than a year ago looked as though he might succeed. How the party must be relieved today that his half-hearted bid for the top last July/August fell flat? For otherwise party spinners would have to be explaining such things as why he’d sought to reclaim from us…
Daily Telegraph Is it good news for Alan Johnson backers? What an amazing period for political news this is? Last night I went to bed just as the Telegraph’s expenses expose was breaking and I’m only now catching up – so apologies for not getting a specific thread up earlier. What’s really startling is that the paper is promising more, much more, to come and this will include other parties parties and backbenchers. Will what’s revealed this morning be countered…
Wales (4 seats) If Scotland in 1979 was a two party, Wales in 1979 was a one party state, and that party was Labour. Callaghan may have lost the general election (but Wales served Labour well, as they polled 48% of the Welsh vote) and winning 23 seats of the 40 that were created in 1983. However just as at the moment the Conservatives started their march and by 1983 (despite losing Montgomery to the Alliance) the Conservatives gained 3…
Click to watch When can they get the focus put on Cameron? The political news this afternoon has been dominated, again, by the Gurkhas issue following the rejection by the UK Border Agency of four out of five residency test cases. This follows yesterday’s meeting between the Gurkhas’ campaigner, Joanna Lumley, and Gordon Brown. Today’s decision led to interesting scenes and a hastily organised meeting at the BBC’s Westminster offices between Ms Lumley and the minister responsible, Phil Woolas. Quite…
PoliticsHome What do we think of the PH/Evening Standard poll? There’s a new poll tonight by PoliticsHome for the Evening Standard on who the public would prefer as the next Labour leader. The figures are in the chart above. The shares were: STRAW 16%: JOHNSON 13%: MILIBAND-D 8%: HARMAN 6%:PURNELL 1%: MILIBAND-E 1%: CRUDDAS 1%: SMITH 1%: MCDONNELL 1%: COOPER 1%: BURNHAM 1%. Compared with the last the PH poll there’s been an increase in support for Johnson and Harman…
Mail Online Surely she can’t survive at the Home Office? One of the forms of political betting which William Hill seemed to have made their own is on whether named politicians are going to be able to survive in their posts. Other firms and Betfair always seem reluctant to get into “will he/she survive” betting and you have to admire William Hill for always being ready, it seems, to take wagers on troubled politicians who are in the news. Betfair,…
Wasn’t Tony rougher and ruder? Lots of comment today about Cameron’s approach to PMQs and his concentration on Brown’s leadership style rather than specific policies. But how new is this? Isn’t this exactly what Tony Blair did to John Major in the run-up to the 1997 general election? This is surely all part of the process? The idea is to so demoralise your opponent and his party that that of itself will create more problem and hopefully, from Cameron’s point…