Was the the 1976 fight even dirtier than Huhne-Clegg?

Was the the 1976 fight even dirtier than Huhne-Clegg?

When David Steel played the toupee card Lots has been written about the nastiness of this year’s battle for the Lib Dem leadership. Certainly the “Calamity Clegg” revelation appears to have been a pivotal moment. But was it as dirty as when David Steel beat John Pardoe for the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1976? In that battle it was thought that Pardoe was the choice of party activists while Steel had the “establishment” and the “armchair members” on…

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…and for Boxing Day the PBC Crossword

…and for Boxing Day the PBC Crossword

Keeping you entertained throughout the holiday Thanks to Rod Crosby for all he did yesterday providing the constant stream of political trivia questions which kept us amused on Christmas Day. This worked brilliantly – there were 275 comments which compares with the paltry 16 contributions that the site got on Xmas Day 2006. For Boxing Day we have StJohn’s PB Cross-word. I have no idea how hard this is going to and I think that keen cross-word experts are going…

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Happy Christmas from PBC

Happy Christmas from PBC

..best wishes for the New Year There was going to be a cross-word this Christmas Day which has been produced by StJohn – one of our most regular contributors. Alas I have found it impossible to format it for the site and this will have to wait. This is our fourth Christmas since the site was started and can I thank all who have made it possible. These include my son Robert and his wife Lucille for the technical infrastructure…

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Countdown to the primaries – the Monday selection

Countdown to the primaries – the Monday selection

Leading New Hampshire paper says “No” to Romney Given the overwhelming requirement for GOP second favourite, Mitt Romney, to get a good result in New Hampshire on January 8th the view of one of the state’s leading newspapers has to be taken seriously. In an editorial on Romney the Concord Monitor declares: “When New Hampshire partisans are asked to defend the state’s first-in-the-nation primary, we talk about our ability to see the candidates up close, ask tough questions and see…

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ComRes has 48% saying it is “Time for Change”

ComRes has 48% saying it is “Time for Change”

But why has the Indy been sitting on the survey for a week? What is almost certainly the final poll of 2007, ComRes for the Independent, is published this morning and the most surprising element is that the field-work took place during the weekend before last and so pre-dates the latest YouGov and ICM surveys. Quite why the paper has been holding on to this for so long is not clear but it does mean that the poll takes no…

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Countdown to the primaries – My Sunday selection

Countdown to the primaries – My Sunday selection

Is Romney “stretching the truth”? With just a week and a half to go before real voters have their chance to have their say on who should be the candidates in the 2008 White House Race there’s an enormous amount of fabulous material that gives a real flavour of the race and is unlike almost anything that we experience here. So as the build up continues I plan to do a daily round-up of some of the articles and videos…

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Guest slot: Do governments always recover in the polls?

Guest slot: Do governments always recover in the polls?

Andy Cooke challenges the received wisdom One of the most widely held items of received wisdom is “The opinion polls always swing back towards the Government as the Election approaches”. That mid-term blues will always overemphasise an Opposition’s performance in the polls and these will wear off as the Parliament winds down towards the next election. Received wisdom can well be right – there is always a reason somewhere along the line that any given fact ends up as received…

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Could Clarke he be the one to whom they hand the gun?

Could Clarke he be the one to whom they hand the gun?

How big a threat would he be to Brown if things don’t improve? Within Labour Charles Clarke is the one big beast who is still active and who still has the power to wound, if not kill. There’s not a single member of Brown’s cabinet who comes anywhere near to Clarke when it comes to the ability to communicate and put forward a compelling case. He’s lucid, has good diction and has the ability to think on his feet. When…

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