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Month: May 2009

Wouldn’t a delay be wiser?

Wouldn’t a delay be wiser?

Would it be foolish to topple Brown now? I’ve had a number of conversations about the pending Fall of Brown with a wide variety of political types over the last week or two, and so from the outset I’d like to acknowledge that some of the genesis of this article belongs to them as much as to my own musing.* David Herdson’s excellent article last week asked whether the election ‘campaign’ for Speaker might be just enough to deter the…

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What do we think of the morning’s telly?

What do we think of the morning’s telly?

What does my screen-shot say about Gord? What a day but I suppose it’s only to be expected given how close we are to Thursday’s elections. Everybody seems to have been on the telly this morning – the biggest of them all, I suppose, being Gordon Brown with Andrew Marr. So what do we make of it all? Has anybody helped their case – has anybody done the opposite. For what it’s worth I thought Marr did well against Brown…

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Could Dave’s plan guarantee Labour’s future?

Could Dave’s plan guarantee Labour’s future?

Will Primaries be how the big parties strike back? In and amongst the big political stories of the week one potentially very significant event has received scant attention. This was the speech given by David Cameron at the Open University which set-out a series of ideas and policies that would bring about one of the biggest changes to political life this country has seen for decades.   The scope of the proposed changes is vast: they run across the whole…

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Lib Dems move into second place in new ICM poll?

Lib Dems move into second place in new ICM poll?

WESTMINSTER: CON 40(+1) LAB 22(-6) LD 25 (+5) Desperate desperate figures for Brown as he faces June 4th A sensational new ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph tonight has Labour down on 22% three points behind Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats who are at 25%. This surely shows the affect that the MP expenses affair is having with Labour suffering much more than the other parties even though, during the fieldwork period, it was Tory miscreants who were dominating the headlines….

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Is the EU election closing in on GB?

Is the EU election closing in on GB?

Another June 4th poll has gloomy figures for Labour There’s a new ICM poll in the Sunday Telegraph tomorrow – but alas we’ll have to wait for the detailed data. All we know is this quote from the columnist Matthew D’Ancona:– ..As for the European elections, today’s ICM poll in The Sunday Telegraph suggests that Labour could finish third, on less than 20 per cent… This, of course, follows last night’s Populus survey which had Labour on 16% – three…

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Will voter anger underpin turnout?

Will voter anger underpin turnout?

Why I’m revising my betting profile I’ve been getting reports on postal voting in several parts of England where there are concurrent local elections taking place on Thursday and the pattern is that the turnout is higher than normal at this stage. This seems to suggest that my earlier forecast might not be on target after all and that if it is less than 30% it will be in the high 20s. As I set out I was betting heavily…

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What do we think of VoteMatch?

What do we think of VoteMatch?

Your browser does not support iframes. Click here to continue. Communicating manifesti to the masses? A couple of weeks ago I attended the launch of VoteMatch at the Apple Store on Regent’s Street. A glitzy affair, the evening was compered by Steven Fry (replete in Black Tie) and Simon Hoggart of the Guardian, with Iain Dale giving a demonstration of the tool. VoteMatch is an online application (accessable as an iPhone app) which asks you thirty questions, and directs you…

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Is Labour heading for melt-down next Thursday?

Is Labour heading for melt-down next Thursday?

Populus reports a Euro vote slump to just 16% A new Populus poll for the Times is out this evening and provides some comfort for the Tories but absolutely dreadful numbers for Labour in both Westminster and the Euro election voting intentions. As has been suggested in recent posts on PB the big gainers for next Thursday EU election have been UKIP who look set to take second place. There are two sets of voting intention figures: WESTMINSTER: CON 41(+2)…

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