Is the Home Secretary toast?

Is the Home Secretary toast?

Or does she have nothing to lose by staying on? The newspapers have broken a story that Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has been claiming £500 allowances for living at a house belonging to her sister. The Mail on Sunday claims that she has received £116,000 in allowances whilst lodging at her sister’s house. This is in addition to the taxpayer-funded security, which the paper estimates as costing around £200,000 per annum. The Home Secretary’s Special Advisor claims that this…

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LDs soar to 22% in new ICM poll

LDs soar to 22% in new ICM poll

CONSERVATIVES 40% (-4) LABOUR 28% (-4) LIB DEMS 22% (+6) …and Labour is back in the 20s again There’s a new ICM poll in the Sunday Telegraph tomorrow with quite dramatic changes on the last surrvey from the pollster nearly a fortnight ago. The big boost is to the Lib Dem total – up 6% at 22% which is only a fraction off what the party, then led by Charles Kennedy, got at the 2005 general election. Generally ICM, which…

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Would a Shadow Cabinet have helped?

Would a Shadow Cabinet have helped?

How bold can you be in your first 100 days? For those of us who admired how tight and disciplined the Obama campaign was for its duration, it is mystifying how lax the vetting appears to have been around Cabinet nominations. First Bill Richardson was forced to withdraw, allowing Republican Senator Judd Gregg (NH) to take the position at Commerce. They survived the tremors around new Treasury Secretary Geithner’s tax returns, but the same problem of suddenly-discovered tax liabilities has…

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What’s Sarkozy done to Gord’s core argument?

What’s Sarkozy done to Gord’s core argument?

Guardian.co.uk Can he go on boasting that the world’s following Britain? For the past five months a key element in the government’s economic crisis rhetoric has been that its approach has been followed or matched by the rest of the world. This line has been used, with some effect, time and time again to batter the Tories in general and isolate David Cameron in particular. It’s become a feature of almost every PMQs. So its not surprising that the Number…

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Are these the best consituency bets?

Are these the best consituency bets?

Peter the Punter looks at the Individual Seat Markets In its never-ending quest to find you a bit of value, PB has commissioned at enormous expense some of the finest minds amongst its contributors to see what can be found amongst the markets put up by Ladbrokes, Hills and, most recently, Sky on a number of individual seats at the next General Election. There is no doubt that Ladbrokes have led the way on this. Their politics expert, none other…

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Could PM Cameron abolish the electoral bias to Labour?

Could PM Cameron abolish the electoral bias to Labour?

Is one of the prizes of victory controlling the system? One of the most disgraceful and anti-democratic features of the current government has been the way it has sought to fix the electoral system for party advantage and to ignore the Electoral Commission when it has called for changes to deal with potential voter fraud. This has been an outrageous use of power by ministers which might have set the precedent for the Tories to do the same if ever…

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Has Tony thwarted Gord’s first meeting goal?

Has Tony thwarted Gord’s first meeting goal?

Guardian Online What will this to do the “Euro-Obama Race” betting On the day of the inauguration William Hill set up a nice market – which of the top European leaders, Merkel, Sarkozy or Brown, would get to meet Obama first. Gord got the first phone call to the new man at the White House and there was briefing afterwards about a possible February meeting for him at the White House. This might still happen but we haven’t had any…

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