Don Brind reflects on the conference season A few weeks ago I was helping a front bencher prepare for a TV appearance and we guessed that one of the questions might be “Do you agree with Laura Pidcock?” She is the newbie MP who declared she wouldn’t hang out with Tory women because she regards them as “enemy”. The more emollient reply we came up with was: “There are some Tories I like. I just don’t want them running the…
Two bookies now make the ex-mayor favourite BoJo now becomes next CON leader favourite with PaddyPower and Betfair sportsbook pic.twitter.com/uIAEw5fe45 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) October 1, 2017 Mike Smithson Follow @MSmithsonPB Tweet
Picture credit – The Resolution Foundation The Pinch David Willetts’ 2011 book ‘The Pinch’ came complete with the provocative subtitle “How the baby boomers took their children’s future – and why they should give it back”. His central charge was that this supersized demographic cohort had managed to concentrate much of the nation’s wealth in their own hands, especially in terms of property ownership and vocational pension entitlements. On top of this, their political power elected governments that ran deficits…
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Tomorrow night at 10 PM a documentary on Boris Johnson by Gary Gibbon is due to be screened on Channel 4 and judging by some of the extracts so far released it looks set to unsettle CON delegates in Manchester. This is the start of an article on the programme by Gibbon in The I. “Several months before the general election, Boris Johnson returned to the Foreign Office after a meeting with Theresa May, flanked by her powerful joint Chiefs…
‘Getting on with the job’ simply isn’t good enough “I have a dream”, said Martin Luther King, in one of the greatest speeches of the twentieth century. It was a dream he wanted to share and did share, and it was – and is – remembered not just for the eloquence of that initial delivery but for the righteousness and simplicity of the vision. In doing so, he did what every great political leader does: inspires and reinforces confidence among…
A report tonight by the former political journalist of the year, David Henke, says there’s been a huge reduction in Tory members since GE2017 and that the total is down to 100k. In an interview John Strafford, chairman of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy is quoted as saying “the real membership of the party has plummeted to around 100,000” a figure that is well below the 149,500 used by the party in 2013. “The party is facing oblivion. If you…
Good YouGov infographic from its CON members' poll for the Times. The top 3 in head to heads pic.twitter.com/D5LTJKPhxG — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) September 29, 2017 CON members’ take grim view of party’s GE17 campaign By 88% to 10% CON members in YouGov Times poll think that party campaign was badly run — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) September 29, 2017 Tory members’ complacent of JC’s chance of becoming PM YouGov/Times CON member's pollChance of Corbyn becoming PMLikely 12%Unlikely 82% — Mike…