Will he lead Labour to a fourth victory This post is partly for the record so that we can refer back to what the betting prices on the next general election were within Gordon’s first hour at Number 10. I must admit that I cannot read this and I have now closed down the buy spread bet on Labour which I bought a month ago at 271 seats. Will he do it? Will Cameron return to the early form? I’m…
How will it be different next Wednesday? Blair’s final PMQs, as some have observed, was very strange and you almost thought that the occasion would bring tears to his eyes. Yet what a star he has been and how formidable an opponent he has been for the five Tory leaders and three Lib Dems one who have faced him each week. None of them, even Hague at his best, has every really been his match. It’s Tony huge emotional intelligence…
Can Ming’s by election team prove the polls wrong? A new YouGov poll for Sky News which was published overnight has the Lib Dems at their worst ever figure from the firm – even below the last low point of 13% in January 2006 in a survey taken after the Mark Oaten and Simon Hughes tabloid revelations. The figures are with changes on the last YouGov poll in the Sun Times a week and a half ago are: CON 37%…
Denis Healey on David Owen…“The good fairy gave him thick dark locks, matinee idol features and a frightening intellect. ‘Unfortunately, the bad fairy also made him a shit.†Mike Smithson
Will the Tories have an uncomfortable final Blair PMQs? However much Tories try to spin it the defection of Quentin Davies is a major coup for Gordon Brown on the eve of his arrival at Number 10. It also provides some great ammunition for Tony Blair for tomorrow’s final PMQs. The Tory leader had no doubt planned to focus on Harriet Harman’s mixed messages over Iraq and this will spike his guns a bit. Cameron will be furious and he…
Agingjb by a landslide – top 3 well clear of the field Following Harriet Harman’s nail-biting win in the the Labour Deputy Leadership, the results of the PBC Competition have now been finalised – detailed results are available here. Only five entrants tipped Harman to win, and four of them lead the competition rankings. Agingjb (post 45) had a clear win in the contest, with a score of just 7.68 (0.57 for the winner and 7.11 for the first preferences),…
Has Brown been hurt by the Ashdown cabinet row? With every bit of detail in every poll being scrutinised to the nth degree at the moment there’s very disappointing news for Labour this morning with the June poll by Communicate Research in the Independent. After the Ipsos-Mori survey showing them 3% they must have been hoping that other pollsters would follow suit. The topline CR figures with with changes from May survey are CON 37%(+2): LAB 32%(+1): LD 18%(-1) –…
When does agreeing your sorry mean you are not sorry? On the first full day of Labour’s new team the main political story is how Harriet Harman is dealing with comments during the campaign in which she appeared to suggest that Labour should say sorry for Iraq. This is how the Guardian is reporting what she said in the Newsnight debate on May 29th: “….the candidates were asked: “Do you think the party should say sorry for what has happened…