In the summer of 1969, I was not yet two years old. The world watched in awe as Apollo 11 landed on the moon. My parents sat me in front of the television set so that I could say in years to come that I had seen it. Of course, I don’t remember it at all. I try to keep this piece of family nostalgia in mind when thinking about how the world looks to younger voters. The youngest…
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May reminiscent of Heath in 74. Called an opportunistic election when far ahead in polls & then campaign unravelled under scrutiny — Robert Harris (@Robert___Harris) May 29, 2017 During the big C4/Sky News event last night the best-selling author and former political journalist, Robert Harris, posted the above tweet pointing to the similarities between TMay going to the country three years early and Heath’s calling of the February 1974 election with a possible year and a half still to go….
Was a 95% chance – now 84% During tonight’s Channel 4/Sky News Corbyn/May event I monitored the Betfair overall majority market to see if there was any movement. Half a million pounds is being traded on it every day and the liquidity is there. The answer was that there was a bit of movement but it is hard to attribute this to the programme. The question now is whether the event and the coverage of it will have any impact…
The expression on TMay's face after Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail calls her a #glumbucket pic.twitter.com/2UTqLJt9C0 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) May 29, 2017 Tonight at 8.30pm we have the first big set-piece with TMay and Corbyn appearing before a live studio audience on Channel 4 and Sky News. They won’t debate directly with each other – TMay ruled that out from the beginning. But she’ll face questioning from the audience and from Jeremy Paxman. Neither leader is particularly good…
IF she lost 6 seats, AND Sinn Fein took its seats AND DUP, UUP & Sylvia Hermon backed Corbyn, he STILL cdn't become PM because @JWoodcockMP — John Rentoul (@JohnRentoul) May 29, 2017 Starting 99 seats ahead gives the PM a big cushion One of the practices that is followed at general election times is for comparisons to be made with what happened at the election before not taking into account defections or by-elections. So for the purposes of comparison…
Don Brind on final phase of the LAB campaign It may all end in tears but for now the diverse team of Corbyn fans and old media sweats who make the Leader of the Opposition comms team can pride themselves on helping the party and their leader to narrow the yawning gap in the polls since Theresa May called the snap election the best part of a month ago. Because they are smart I expect them to make a decisive switch to highlight…
I’ve only just caught up with the quite literally hair raising interview with Diane Abbott had on this morning’s The Andrew Marr show. If you can’t watch the video above here’s an excerpt from The Spectator. When Marr moved onto Abbott’s questionable views on the IRA, she came up with an even more novel answer. Comparing her words of support for the IRA to her decision to have an afro, Abbott said her views — like her hair — have…