TMay refuses 3 times to say she’d vote for Brexit

TMay refuses 3 times to say she’d vote for Brexit

Good questioning of TMay by @IainDale getting TMay to refuse 3 times to say she'd vote for Brexit.https://t.co/5DH4ZqO2lb — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) October 10, 2017 If you have not had chance to watch Iain Dale’s interview tonight then it is worth looking at. The beleaguered PM doesn’t do many interviews as long as this one and Iain, a former CON PPC, did not give the PM a easy time. The news part of the session which will be remembered was…

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If it gets to a confidence vote then timings will make it harder for the Whips to defend Theresa

If it gets to a confidence vote then timings will make it harder for the Whips to defend Theresa

Although the media has moved on she isn’t out of the woods yet No doubt the Number 10 PR team is absolutely delighted that the media has moved on from speculating about TMay’s future as PM but it was a story that dominated the news for five full days. She’s still there and showing resilience. But having been party chair at the time of the last move by CON MPs to oust a leader she’ll be acutely aware of the…

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What I’m hoping to tell the House of Lords next week about the polling fail at the general election

What I’m hoping to tell the House of Lords next week about the polling fail at the general election

Some thoughts on what I might say A week today I’ll be travelling to Westminster where I have been invited to give evidence before the House of Lords Committee that’s carrying out a review of what went wrong with GE2017 polls. Depending on the questioning by their Lordships I expect to make the point that the campaign had been dominated by the CON landslide narrative that had been reinforced by the May 4th local and mayoral elections where the Tories…

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Is nationalisation really making a comeback? Don Brind doubts it.

Is nationalisation really making a comeback? Don Brind doubts it.

I’m a bit of a fan of the old Clause Four  of Labour’s constitution drafted by Sidney Webb in 1918. I love that line about securing “for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry”. Pure poetry. And the idea of getting “equitable distribution … upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange,” is a good one. I believe, too, that each industry or service should have “the…

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The real loser in all of this is the Tory reputation for competence

The real loser in all of this is the Tory reputation for competence

It has long been argued by myself and others that the key characteristic that voters look to when whey make their choice is their desire for competent government. We might not like what a party is proposing but most of all we want politicians who are ready to take unpopular decisions which are right for the country. One of the characteristics which has always been a strength of Tories has been the reputation for providing just this. The Thatcher government…

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Picking up the pieces. Disintegrating Europe

Picking up the pieces. Disintegrating Europe

EU: Support for Independence, Katapult poll of polls: Veneto: 56%Catalonia: 44%Sardinia: 41%Scotland: 40%Basque: 31%#Catalonia — Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) October 5, 2017 For 160 million years, overlapping substantially with the age of the dinosaurs, the entire landmass of the world was gathered together into a supercontinent called Pangaea.  And for much of the last 30 years, many devotees of the EU have imagined a single supercontinental system of government, as first western Europe and then much of eastern Europe has gloopily…

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For everyone’s sake, Mrs May shouldn’t demote Boris but engineer a job swap between her Foreign Secretary and the editor of the Evening Standard

For everyone’s sake, Mrs May shouldn’t demote Boris but engineer a job swap between her Foreign Secretary and the editor of the Evening Standard

SUNDAY TIMES POLITICAL LEAD May ‘plots to demote Boris’ by @ShippersUnbound #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/G2Sx86cP47 — Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) October 7, 2017 Mrs May attempts undo the strangest political appointment since Caligula wanted to make his horse a Consul When Theresa May’s political obituary is written people might conclude she destroyed her premiership within minutes of becoming Prime Minister when she fired George Osborne as Chancellor and appointed Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary. At a stroke she made a needless enemy and…

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