Has the BBC been duped by Harriet’s poll spin?

Has the BBC been duped by Harriet’s poll spin?

Is it too much to ask journalists to check the data? Reports of an interview with the Deputy Leadership candidate, Harriet Harman, were published on the BBC web-site this morning in which she quoted from a privately commissioned YouGov poll that was carried out in November. The findings, according to the article, “…show that the Harman/Brown dream ticket is the one with most appeal to “swing voters,” the poll suggests, with 15% of those surveyed saying Ms Harman would make…

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Will May’s elections be overseen by Euro fraud monitors?

Will May’s elections be overseen by Euro fraud monitors?

What a finale for the final days of Tony Blair? On the day after the historic decision by the Commons to back a 100% elected House of Lords there’s news this morning that the Welsh and Scottish elections as well as the English local council elections on May 3rd could be scrutinised for vote tampering and fraud by a European Human Rights watchdog. If this happens the UK would be the first western democracy to have its electoral processes scrutinised…

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How much will the Harrogate fiasco cost the Lib Dems?

How much will the Harrogate fiasco cost the Lib Dems?

Why equidistance between the main parties should be Ming’s only policy Recriminations are continuing within the Lib Dems over the cock-up in Harrogate at the weekend that caused almost all of the media to report that Ming would do a deal with Gord but not Dave. Whether or not the leader was saying he favoured Labour really does not matter. What is key is how it was reported and the ammunition it will provide for both the Tories and Labour…

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BrandIndex betting by Peter the Punter

BrandIndex betting by Peter the Punter

Finally Lost One! It’s taken six weeks but we finally suffered our first defeat in the weekly contest with Anthony Wells of YouGov and his Politicians’ Popularity Index. In fact it should be ‘I suffered’ because for reasons we won’t go into, I did all the selections last week. Benn’s improvement was a surprise. Maybe there’s an instructive cross-reference to his performance in the Deputy Leader race. If he’s still available at 3/1 for that, I’d be tempted. Hague was…

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More emerges after Guardian injunction denied

More emerges after Guardian injunction denied

Report – “Did Levy try to get Blair aide to modify evidence?” On the day that Populus reports some disastrous polling figures for Labour and Gordon Brown (see previous thread) more information about what’s been going on in the cash for honours inquiry has been printed in the Guardian this morning. This follows the refusal of a judge to grant an injunction against the paper. According to the lead story detectives are investigating whether Lord Levy urged Ruth Turner to…

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Populus gloom for Gordon and Labour

Populus gloom for Gordon and Labour

55% of voters want a “younger, newer, less experienced, rising star” The March survey by Populus for the Times follows the trend of the other recent telephone polls and shows a big increase in the Labour’s gap behind the Tories. The headline figures with comparisons on February are: CON 38%(+2): LAB 30%(-3): LD18%(-1). So last month’s 3% deficit has increased to 8% – which equals the biggest ever lead the pollster has recorded for the Conservatives. A month ago when…

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Will the Times bring more good news for Gordon?

Will the Times bring more good news for Gordon?

How will the Populus version of the “named leader” question come out? Amidst all the reverberations from February’s ICM poll showing the Tories 13% ahead of Labour when Cameron and Brown are named as leaders few have recalled that a similar poll just two weeks earlier had the margin at just one per cent. In fact in that survey, by Populus, Labour had a 3% deficit in the headline figures that was reduced to just one point when Brown was…

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Benn has “large lead” in race for the Deputy job

Benn has “large lead” in race for the Deputy job

YouGov reports a large lead for the International Development Secretary The boss of YouGov, Peter Kellner, has emailed me with further information from this morning’s poll of 589 constituency members of the Labour party and 662 levy-paying union members. For as well as the issues featured in the Daily Telegraph the survey asked how respondents would vote in the deputy leadership ballot. The details will be posted on the YouGov webs-site during the day but Kellner has confirmed to me…

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