It is hard – and often painful – to see ourselves as others see us. Countries don’t face annual 360° appraisals. It is perhaps a back-handed compliment that Britain has been important enough to be subject to the scrutiny of others. Famously, in 1962 Dean Acheson commented that “Great Britain has lost an Empire and has not yet found a role.” Twitter was not around then but the speech, with its acute eye for Britain’s confusion about its role in world…
I am looking forward to meeting @SteveBarclay in Brussels on Mon evening. I will listen to how the UK sees the way through. The EU will not reopen the Withdrawal Agreement. But I will reaffirm our openness to rework the Political Declaration in full respect of #EUCO guidelines. — Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) February 8, 2019 For reasons I need not go into now, a few years ago I had occasion to go on a stag weekend to Barmouth in west…
A guest slot betting tip from Woody662 I’m sure those political obsessives amongst us all remember the ‘Party Games’ episode of Yes Minister where 2 candidates on the extremes of the party were frontrunners for the post, only for the civil service to conspire to see them withdraw in favour of a compromise candidate. Sir Humphrey and Sir Arnold listed their requirements ‘malleable, flexible, likeable, No firm opinions, no bright ideas ect’ and eventually arrived, to initial self-amusement, at Jim…
Betdata.io chart of movement on the Betfair exchange The route to any other outcome is fraught with difficulties You might think that with 94% of the time between the referendum and the scheduled Brexit Day now gone, we’d have some idea as to when and how Britain will be leaving the EU. Arguments about conceptual arrangements would have been better had in 2016 rather than in the final weeks. Instead, even the question as to whether the country will leave…
Unlike the Tories, who charge thousands of pounds to go pheasant shooting with their ministers, a Labour government will never be bought off by the rich and powerful.https://t.co/mFBYHGTSK2 — The Labour Party (@UKLabour) February 8, 2019 Great. Can I book appointment for a cuppa with Mr Corbyn right now then please – milk, no sugar? I’ve not managed to interview him since the election. — Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) February 8, 2019
Corbyn's net Ipsos-MORI satisfaction ratings drop from a net minus 32% to 55%. Chart from @standardnews pic.twitter.com/w7YRizjdmJ — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 8, 2019 These looks being the worst LAB leader ratings on record The latest Ipsos-MORI voting intention figure have LAB and CON level pegging which puts the pollsters out of line with Opinium and YouGov which both have CON leads of seven points. But there’s a shock for the LAB leader in the firm’s satisfaction ratings which have…
A hold, a gain and big vote share increases Bolton & Undercliffe (Bradford) result: LDEM: 51.3% (+9.0)LAB: 34.1% (-10.6)CON: 12.4% (+2.4)GRN: 2.2% (-0.8) Liberal Democrat GAIN from Labour. — Britain Elects (@BritainElects) February 7, 2019 Thornton (Lambeth) result: LAB: 44.7% (-18.2)LDEM: 32.8% (+23.1)GRN: 9.7% (-1.7)CON: 9.6% (-6.4)WEP: 1.8% (+1.8)UKIP: 1.4% (+1.4) Labour HOLD. — Britain Elects (@BritainElects) February 7, 2019 Evendons (Wokingham) result: LDEM: 63.1% (+16.3)CON: 31.9% (-8.8)LAB: 5.0% (-7.5) Liberal Democrat HOLD. — Britain Elects (@BritainElects) February 7, 2019…
It’s possible the UK could end up with a Labour Brexit To me the biggest development of the day was the response by Donald Tusk to the Labour proposal for Brexit. The details envisage a softer brexit then Theresa May’s plan but because of the numbers in the Commons there’s a good chance that this is what could actually be agreed. If so that will be remarkable and something and it’s almost without precedent. Labour could claim that this was…