Sadly William Hill’s 6/1 price is no more Over the past thirty-six hours dozens of PB users have been putting as much cash as they can on Jack Straw as next Chancellor at what appeared to be the the very generous price of 6/1. For clearly the leader of the house and the man who has been both home and foreign secretaries under Blair is going to be rewarded with a plum position if and when Brown takes over. For…
What’s behind Mandelson’s series of weekend announcements? Anybody who has followed the news over the past couple of days could not have missed the presence of the former close aide to Blair, Britain’s current commissioner at the EU, and the person that Brown is said to blame for him not getting the labour leadership in 1994. We’ve had a spate of interviews with the ex-Labour communications chief, the news of his desire to step down from his EU role in…
Miliband tightens and Brown eases after reports of Blair’s backing This is the front page of the Observer this morning which has led to big changes in the Labour leadership betting. Tony Blair, according to the paper, is telling allies that if the environment secretary stands against Brown then “he would win”. According to an unnamed minister Blair said of Miliband “he really has got to want it… He really has to go for it.” The news comes on the…
Peter Smith reports that Blair Backers are Beaming …again Whether or not it was his performance on Comic Relief, there is no doubt that those who followed our advice to back Blair last week were smiling all the way to the bank. The great showman continued his climb in YouGov’s Popularity poll, reaching his highest score of the year and moving ahead of his Downing Street neighbour…which gives rise to some interesting if somewhat mischievous speculation. What if Our Tone…
Will Cameron’s hopes of a deal be dashed by the LD membership? In recent days the Tories have stepped up the rhetoric in their bid to win over Lib Dem supporters and also pave the way for a possible post-election working arrangement with the party. But is this doomed to fail because of the political make-up of the ultimate sovereign body within the party – the membership. The above poll finding is from a YouGov survey of 406 Lib Dem…
Will there be another bonanza for Brown BrandIndex punters? Those punters who sold Brown on the IG politicians popularity market in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday’s budget speech look set to pocket another big parcel of cash as more polling has shown that the contents and the Chancellor himself have gone down badly. Rather than wait for the actual index numbers I closed my Brown positions down yesterday making this, together with the successful budget length bets, my most profitable…
Why Aren’t the Conservatives Doing Better? This may seem an odd question to ask at a time when the Conservative Party has enjoyed several years of steady advance in local government, and now holds almost 40% of council seats in Great Britain, for the first time since 1987. The answer, I think, is really the mirror of my article of last week “The Strange Death of Labour England.†In previous years of local government success, the Conservatives could expect to…
Could the budget “masterstroke” have scuppered Gordon’s chances? What a difference two days make? After all the cheers from his fellow Labour MPs on Wednesday there’s a massive blow to Brown and his party from YouGov in the Daily Telegraph this morning. For in the first poll since the budget there is a 2% increase in the Tory lead. These are the figures compared with the last survey from the internet pollster – CON 39% (+1): LAB 31% (-1): LD…