But does the poll ask the wrong question? The Guardian’s ICM poll for August is out and has the following shares compared with the last survey from the pollster earlier in the month – CON 44% (- 1): LAB 29% (nc): LD 19% (+3) So broadly little change except that that the dreadful rating for the Lib Dems from ICM that we saw at the start of August has now been reversed and Clegg’s party is back on 19%. The…
At least it will end the betting misery If ever there’s been a market that’s alerted me to the fact that I might have a problem with betting on politics it has been on Barack Obama’s choice of running mate. As I noted here in June – betting on this is a “mug’s game” because it’s the choice of just one man and we can only speculate on what his criteria will be. Normally I like to think that I’m…
Should he really be calling fellow leaders a “liar” and a “joke”? With barely nineteen months to go before a general election has to be declared the Tory leader, David Cameron, has moved into dangerous territory, I believe, with some of the language he is using publicly to describe Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg. As the Telegraph reports it this morning “In a series of conversations for a new book by Dylan Jones, the editor of GQ magazine, the Tory…
Are her days as Chairwoman of the Conservative Party numbered? Several of today’s Sunday Papers are running with stories that Caroline Spelman (Con – Meriden) used £100,000 of taxpayers’ money to top-up the salary of her Chief of Staff, Simon Cawte. This would be allowed if his work had been confined solely to supporting her work as an MP, but he apparently was engaged in political work on behalf of the Conservative Party through Mrs Spelman’s role as the then…
Are there dangers in Labour claiming the credit? After more extraordinary sessions for the British teams in the Olympic games and it was inevitable, I suppose, that a politician should pop up and claim that they did it. So step forward minister, Andy Burnham, who’s been arguing on SkyNews that a lot of the success is down to the Labour government. But it’s dangerous stuff trying to claim credit in this way. Firstly it appears to detract from the performances…
But Brown gets a poll boost over Miliband The general picture from the monthly YouGov poll for the Sunday Times is one of little change although as ever we have the paper seeking to compare its latest numbers with its last poll rather than the last poll from the firm. The new shares with changes on a week ago are: CON 45% (-1): LAB 25% (-1): LD 18% (+1) – so Labour’s position continues to be dire and if these…
What is dictating McCain’s media strategy? In the advertising war waging across the water, John McCain is positively hammering Barack Obama. The Arizona Senator has ploughed significant money into attacking his counterpart from Illinois on a number of fronts; from his advice on inflating tyres to his ‘celebrity’ status, apparently comparable to that of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Two elements of his campaign’s assault on Obama have raised eyebrows. Firstly, why is McCain criticising Obama on such spurious grounds…
Is it just a photo-shop job? The above picture has appeared on the FiveThreeEight site and seems to show Obama’s campaign jet with the name of Ann Veneman as the running mate. Whether this is a clever photo-shop job or the real thing I do not know. Ann Veneman is a former member of Bush’s cabinet and is currently Director-General of UNICEF. In 2004 the first indication that John Edwards was going to be Kerry’s running mate came when someone…