Has the big clunking fist got into a mess over “Britishness”?

Has the big clunking fist got into a mess over “Britishness”?

Will there be a West Lothian Question over whether it’s taught in schools The latest move in Gordon Brown’s “Britishness” initiative is that it should be compulsory for schools to teach “core British values alongside cultural diversity”. The problem is that this will only apply in England and as the BBC’s Daily Politics programme reported this morning – it will not apply in Scotland. For while the Education Secretary, Alan Johnson, can lay down policy for schools in England, as…

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Is Iraq going to swing many votes next time?

Is Iraq going to swing many votes next time?

Will the Lib Dems go on getting an “anti-war” bonus? After yesterday’s first full debate in the Commons in Government time on Iraq since the war ended in 2003 the question needs to be asked – how big an issue will this be at the next General Election? Will the presumably Brown-led Labour administration be able to cut itself off from the massive negatives that the war created for the party in 2005? Could the issue for post-Blair Labour have…

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How the votes churn when you name the leaders

How the votes churn when you name the leaders

For polling anoraks one of the great joys of each new survey is being able to look at the detailed data. Quite often you can pick up trends and other findings that have not been included in the newspaper reports. As a good example the table is a snapshot from the detailed data of the January poll for the Guardian which has just been published by ICM. It shows the cross-voting and changes when the named leader question was put….

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Dream on Simon: UKIP poses ZERO electoral threat

Dream on Simon: UKIP poses ZERO electoral threat

Does anybody want to bet that I’m wrong? There’s a rather a desperate sounding piece in the Telegraph again this morning by Simon Heffer headed “Cameron mocks the ‘loonies and fruitcakes’ of UKIP at his peril” in which he tries to argue that the Tory leader is wrong not to take the UKIP threat seriously. Heffer’s problem, like for all those on the right, is that Cameron has them over a barrel. The Tory leader has gambled that he can…

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Number 10 Aide re-interviewed under caution

Number 10 Aide re-interviewed under caution

John McTernan – Director of Political Operations BBC News is confirming that Downing Street’s director of political operations, John McTernan, has been interviewed for a second time under caution by police in the honours probe. He is currently seconded to the Scottish Labour Party to run its campaign for May’s key elections. According to the report the interview took place before Ruth Turner, the prime minister’s director of government relations was arrested. The above list, reproduced from the Downing Street…

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Introducing Aaron Bell’s BrandIndex Top Tips

Introducing Aaron Bell’s BrandIndex Top Tips

This week: Sell Johnson & Blair The new weekly markets on Politicians’ Popularity offered by IG Index give us the chance to pit our wits with their market-makers on a regular basis. Mike has kindly given me the opportunity to share some analysis and tips each week; hopefully these will provoke some debate and also be profitable in the long run – we shall see! A few posters have commented on the unpredictability of the results – opinion polls naturally…

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ICM: Great for Ming but more questions about Gordon?

ICM: Great for Ming but more questions about Gordon?

The Guardian’s pollster has the Lib Dems going up five points The monthly ICM survey for the Guardian which has been going continuously for nearly a quarter of a century records a sharp jump for the Lib Dems and shows that the Labour deficit would be bigger if Gordon Brown was leader. The main vote shares are with changes on December – CON 37% (-3): LAB 31% (-1): LD 23% (+5). When the second question was asked – how would…

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A View from inside by “Red Sky” – our mystery MP

A View from inside by “Red Sky” – our mystery MP

Brief preface – I am a Labour MP who prefers to post occasionally and anonymously, as it gives me the opportunity to be more outspoken than Nick Palmer, Stewart Jackson and others can be. First the leadership election. Everyone in the PLP now agrees that it’ll be Gordon unless he falls under a bus. Consequently, people aren’t as interested as they used to be in whether there will be a contest or not. The best outcome for him would be…

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