How can Labour get him to loosen up a bit? The scene should be a happy one for the man most likely to be the next Labour leader. He’s there amongst enthusiastic supporters who are pleased to see him yet he stiffens up and appears aloof apparently unwilling or unable to engage with those around him. If he is like this amongst committed Labour supporters how is he going to be with the less committed – the groups Labour needs…
Surely Gordon should be attacking Cameron on the Tory tax plan? In times of old today’s publication of the findings of David Cameron’s policy commission on tax would provide Labour with all it needed. At last some meat for party policy wonks to get their teeth into and the furious attacks could begin on the threats to public services. Detailed data would be out within hours on what this would mean in every constituency in the land and the questions…
Is he just providing PMQ material for David Cameron? With a second top civil servant disputing accounts of what went on in Whitehall in David Blunkett’s controversial memoirs Labour appears to have started a damage limitation exercise to dissociate the party from the former Home Secretary. The close Gordon Brown aide and former Agriculture Secretary, Nick Brown, is quoted this morning saying “Politics is a team game. Politicians on the same side have to stick together. I cannot understand what…
Will the unfunded pledge charges stick on Cameron? After seeing his ratings steadily deteriorate against the Tory leader Gordon Brown has now found a new line of attack in the hope of bringing about a change. His Treasury team are claiming that David Cameron has made 40 unfunded spending commitments since becoming leader which would require billions of pounds of extra taxes to fund. In what sounds like the way that Prime Minister Brown would seek to deal with the…
How will Labour deal with the abolition of the Normanton seat? The news before the weekend that Labour’s effort to save the Normantion seat has been turned down by the high court was over-shadowed by the Head of the Army’s comments about Iraq. Although not on the same scale the court’s backing for the Boundary Committee’s ruling sets Labour an enormous problem. An indication of the importance of this is that the local Labour council risked being attacked for agreeing…
Is the Chancellor now unstoppable? After the odd betting activity of the past two weeks all the money in the Labour leadership betting now seems to be going on Gordon Brown. As the price chart shows those who were betting against him at prices up to 0.58/1 now seemed to have withdrawn and the best you can get this morning is 0.46/1. So a £100 bet winning today would produce would produce a profit of £46 – earlier in the…
Will the 2003 invasion carry on being an issue after Tony has left? Yesterday’s extraordinary comments by the Head of the Army and the mounting daily death toll in Iraq are timely reminders that Labour’s decision to go to war in 2003, supported wholeheartedly by the Tories, will remain high on the UK political agenda. This weeks “revelations” from David Blunkett about Gordon Brown’s role and views ahead of the critical decisions in 2003 will add further to the debate…
Why the North Matters to the Conservatives It’s often assumed that the North of England turned against the Conservative Party, under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher. This is, in fact, incorrect. In both 1983, and 1987, the Conservatives outpolled Labour across the North of England. A big swing away from the Conservatives took place in Liverpool, Manchester, and Newcastle, during the Thatcher years, but in other parts of the North, such as Bury, Bolton, Halifax, Bradford, and the Lancashire mill…