How does this square with Brown’s “no election” statement?

How does this square with Brown’s “no election” statement?

Will this put the election retreat back on the agenda? The main lead in the Guardian this morning confirms how serious Labour was about going to the country in late October or early November and could provide further ammunition for the Tories as they seek to attack Brown. For according to the paper “nearly a million pounds” was spent in the run-up compared with just £200,000 by the Tories. The report notes that three million letters had been printed and…

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Would Brown be better off with new Balls?

Would Brown be better off with new Balls?

Is his former special advisor out of control? After all the controversy over the role of schools secretary, Ed Balls in hyping up the early election date speculation there’s an intriguing account of some of the goings on between Number 10 and Number 11 during the final year of Tony Blair. It comes in a serialisation of a new biography of Blair by Dr Anthony Seldon the first part of which is published in the Sir Paul Dacre’s “Mail on…

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Can Brown maintain union funding AND stop Ashcroft?

Can Brown maintain union funding AND stop Ashcroft?

Is party funding about to become the next battle-ground? This is Michael Ashcroft who in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List was placed in position 87 with an estimated wealth of £800m. He’s a major donor to the Tory party and before the 2005 general election, as was reported here, he hand-picked a group of Tory candidates in marginal constituencies and then was responsible for providing extra attention and funding to help them with their campaigns. This morning he is…

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Should the Tories be fearing Nick Clegg?

Should the Tories be fearing Nick Clegg?

How will the polls be affected by a LD resurgence We have not had any national polls since the dramatic announcement by Ming Campbell but my guess is that when we do we’ll see the third party increase its shares from the terrible lows that it has experienced in recent weeks. For one thing that Ming’s resignation has done has been to get his party onto the bulletins once again – and usually the more the Lib Dems are in…

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Sorry about the problems

Sorry about the problems

Hi all, For the first time for about six months, we’re having some problems with slow database access. In particular, attempts to post comments, or stories are very slow. I’m working on the problem and hope to have a solution soon. Thanks, Robert

Sean Fear’s Friday Slot

Sean Fear’s Friday Slot

The State of the Parties The last three months’ local by-elections have been the worst, in terms of seat losses, that the Conservatives have suffered for some time. Over that period, the Conservatives have made a net loss of eight seats, Labour a net gain of six, and the Liberal Democrats a net gain of two. However, analysis of changes in each party’s share of the vote suggests that the Conservatives still enjoy a substantial lead over the other two…

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Is “Clan Kennedy” going to back Huhne?

Is “Clan Kennedy” going to back Huhne?

What are we to make of today’s appointments? With Nick Clegg having now formally put his hat into the ring for the Lib Dem leadership Team Huhne has been in touch to tell me of key appointments that their man is making to his campaign. And they are making great play of the fact the today’s high-level recruits, Dick Newby and Anna Werrin, were part of Charles Kennedy’s inner circle. Kennedy himself has almost ruled himself out and will probably…

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Is the EU treaty row really a killer issue?

Is the EU treaty row really a killer issue?

Won’t this all be forgotten about in a few months? On the face of it this should be the moment for UKIP. The build-up has been going on for months, the Murdoch press has been winding up the rhetoric and now the treaty is finally happening. Yet according to the latest poll, the one in last weekend’s Sunday Telegraph from ICM, a paltry 3 people (NOT percent) said that their choice was the anti-EU party. Surely if this was the…

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