Rewards for Failure

Rewards for Failure

John Bercow, Tom Watson and Karie Murphy should be feeling quite aggrieved, having apparently been blackballed from receiving peerages because of ongoing investigations into allegations about past behaviour. What is this novel concept of holding people accountable for their actions? It hasn’t been like this for ages – ever since lying, lustful Profumo went into the library with the metaphorical whisky and revolver. Soo unfair! Consider: Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner in charge when the Met made a fool…

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It is beginning to look that a no-deal Brexit could be off the agenda

It is beginning to look that a no-deal Brexit could be off the agenda

While the media has been almost totally focused on the pandemic the time is running down on the transition period for the UK’s exit from the EU at the end of the year. This might change following the latest reports emanating from Brussels and Downing Street that suggests a deal is looking a bit more likely. A big issue is fishing where until now Brussels has EU demanded that Britain must respect the right of fleets from EU countries to…

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Scoping the damage of the Cummings road trip and Johnson’s decision to ignore it

Scoping the damage of the Cummings road trip and Johnson’s decision to ignore it

Johnson leader ratings We all know that on Friday May 22nd the Guardian and the Mirror first broke the story of the trip to Durham by Cummings and his family just before the Easter Weekend. Over the following few days it was just about the biggest thing dominating the UK media and everybody it seemed had an opinion. The question is how has this hurt the Tories and Johnson. The above tables show the voting intention and leader ratings from…

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It appears Sir Keir Starmer has made a great first impression

It appears Sir Keir Starmer has made a great first impression

One of the things I like about the Ipsos MORI ratings is that they go back so far so you can make decent comparisons, their leader ratings have been an outstandingly accurate barometer on who will win the next general election, they have been a better barometer than voting intention polls. I thought it would be interesting to see how Sir Keir Starmer’s ratings two months into the job looked, and he’s the best performing Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal…

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London Calling. The clash over the Tory candidate in London

London Calling. The clash over the Tory candidate in London

I’ve always found Shaun Bailey underwhelming and this report in The FT earlier on this week came as no surprise. The Conservative party’s candidate for next year’s delayed London mayoral election has lost the support of senior party officials and donors, with some keen to see him replaced by a prominent name such as former chancellor Sajid Javid. Shaun Bailey, a former youth worker and one of the party’s leading black figures, was selected to take on Labour mayor Sadiq…

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