Won’t this encourage more switching to the Tories? Whether this is a fair report or not we will have to wait and see but BBC News is suggesting that today’s speech to the Lib Dem Harrogate conference by the leader, Ming Campbell, “sent out the strongest signal yet that he wants a power sharing deal with Labour after the next general election.” Missing from the list of items which the party would want is a electoral reform and the report…
Is Ming right about the implications of the latest developments? As expected the Sunday papers provide a lot more information about the gag that was placed on BBC news on Friday night following its plans to cover a “new development” in the cash for honours probe that has now been going on for a year. Reproduced above is the coverage from the News of the World web-site which quotes a Crown Prosecution Service source who is reported to have said:…
Is the investigation getting near to closure ? The big political news overnight has been the gagging order that the High Court granted last night to the Attorney General to stop BBC News broadcasting an item in its 10pm bulletin on the cash for honours investigation. Clearly what I can write on a blog like this is very limited. You can only conclude that the story was of such a magnitude that the authorities, at the request it appears of…
How long can the Lib Dem leader withstand the media pressure? It’s perhaps an example of the Lib Dem version of “sod’s law” that just as they gather for their spring conference in Harrogate hoping for a publicity boost that we have the latest developments in the cash for honours case and the gagging order that has been taken out against the BBC. For it’s hard enough grabbing media attention as the third party and then they get shoved down…
How the primary timetable will squeeze out all but the front-runners Anybody considering a bet on the US elections should check out this recent article by by Dick Morris, the former advisor to Bill Clinton. For the way the primaries will work next year is going to make it very tough for all but the front-runners in both the Democratic and Republican races to have an impact. Morris points out that on February 5th 2008, just three weeks after the…
After the suggestions on Paul Lindford’s blog and this site about John Denham being a credible candidate for the Labour leadership there is now backing for the idea in today’s Guardian by the former defence minister, Peter Kilfoyle. Denham’s great plus point was that he resigned his post as a Home Office minster over the Iraq War – an issue that continues to hang over the Labour party. On Monday I argued that if by any chance that Denham got…
Is the party ceasing to be a serious threat? While all the focus has been on the Labour succession we have ignored the extraordinary goings on at UKIP – the party which only a few weeks ago looked as though it might pose a threat to Cameron’s Conservatives. Hardly a day goes by without some fresh headlines – the latest being from the Times this morning as reproduced above. The combination of financial issues and the robust response to the…
Could Labour’s “hand-over” not be the foregone conclusion that it appeared? The chart shows the changing price on Gordon Brown for the Labour leadership over the past seven days. Three things have influenced the markets; the ICM poll a week ago showing how Brown’s Labour 13% behind; the Communicate Research poll yesterday; and the move by Clarke and Milburn to open up a debate within the party. The danger for Brown backers is that media pressure combined with concern over…