Some thoughts. Even an update with the full facts is not going to say that there was any breach of the Regulations. Why? The Terms of Reference make it clear that Sue Gray has only been asked to look at what happened by reference to the guidelines. Not the Regulations. Also she says very clearly that she is not going to make a finding on breaches of the criminal law. Annex B – which sets out the Regulations is very…
And CON voters split 50% to 44% for Johnson The above is the first of what I guess will be several surveys on what should happen to Johnson. The headline figure for the PM from Opinium is broadly in line with other recent surveys. The numbers that should concern Number 10 are those of CON voters. Yes Johnson just wins with Tories but having 44% wanting him out doesn’t look good. No doubt all these numbers and the way that…
More follows..
In his regular Saturday morning slot Quincel argued that I was wrong in my assessment of the coming by-election on Thursday in Southend West. That is great because betting on what is going to happen at say an election would never be possible if there was a general agreement about an outcome. There have to be those ready on either side ready to risk money betting on what they think will happen. Quincel is a very serious punter and I…
Apologies for inflicting GB News on you but I was intrigued by this interview with Dr Jan Halper-Hayes, overseas strategic adviser to Donald Trump, where she talked about the possibility of Trump being President before the 2024 election. One plan is to install Trump as Speaker of the House (and you don’t need to be a member of Congress to be Speaker) and then impeach Biden and Harris after the midterms which would make the Speaker, second in the line…
Why the headline VI figures might not be telling the full picture One of the reasons I felt confident the Conservative party would do better than the voting intention polls for the 2015 general election suggested was David Cameron’s leadership ratings, various other supplementaries, one of which was the polling that repeatedly showed that David Cameron was consistently better rated the Conservative Party whereas as Ed Miliband was at best a non drag on the Labour party and at worst…
One feature that really has been interesting in the past few weeks has been which cabinet members have always been there to support the Prime Minister during his recent troubles. As Steerpike in the Speccie notes this really has been down to just two – Dorries and Rees-Mogg. He writes: The current impotence of the Prime Minister can be measured in many forms. But one of them is just how few Cabinet ministers are willing to go out and give…
Double digit poll deficits. The Parliamentary Party in open civil war*. On the wrong side of the public on the biggest issues of the day. Yes: October 2016 was a terrible time for Labour to defend a by-election in Batley and Spen. They won 86% of the vote. There’s no mystery as to why this is. With the by-election triggered by the murder of Jo Cox every mainstream party stood aside, with only minor parties and independents opposing Labour on…