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Category: Leaders’ TV debates

Farage looks set to lose his BBC Election Question Time slot following BP’s candidate withdrawal move

Farage looks set to lose his BBC Election Question Time slot following BP’s candidate withdrawal move

It is being reported in the Times and other papers that Farage could lose some of his key TV debate slots following his move to pull BP candidates in Tory seats. Although Farage is not standing in the election and is not an MP he was allocated the same number of TV debate slots as Jo Swinson including the Question Time special when it was planned that he, Swinson, Corbyn and Johnson would be the line-up. Farage had “earned” his…

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YouGov boost for Swinson in the TV debates row

YouGov boost for Swinson in the TV debates row

By two to one those polled think she should attend Further to this morning’s thread on the exclusion of LD leader Jo Swinson from the ITV General Election debate there’s now a YouGov poll carried out today that points to her desire to be there getting support from the public. Clearly LD voters are most supportive of her presence as the chart shows but there’s strong backing from LAB voters as well and CON ones back her by a small…

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GE19’s first big TV event: A debate between 2 men whose parties between them got just 23.2% in the last UK elections

GE19’s first big TV event: A debate between 2 men whose parties between them got just 23.2% in the last UK elections

So the argument would be between two leavers I alway felt a bit sorry for ITV at GE2017 when the leaders’ debate it got was the one without TMay or Corbyn. Maybe because of that it has sought to push forward with its Johnson-Corbyn clash without anybody else. This means excluding Jo Swinson and Nigel Farage of the two most electorally successful parties currently in the UK. In the May 23rd elections the Brexit Party and the LDs came away…

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Now Corbyn and TMay are scrapping over whether the BBC or ITV hosts the Brexit debate

Now Corbyn and TMay are scrapping over whether the BBC or ITV hosts the Brexit debate

Corbyn’s position is a bit lame in the age of catch-up TV The BBC is reporting that both Corbyn and TMay have accepted invites to take part in a Brexit debate. Only problem is that the former wants it to be on ITV while the latter prefers the BBC. The BBC debate would take place at 8pm a week on Sunday Saturday while ITV’s would stage it an hour later at 9pm. “Mr Corbyn claimed he preferred ITV’s bid out…

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One thing’s for sure post GE17 – incumbent PMs won’t risk skipping the TV debates again

One thing’s for sure post GE17 – incumbent PMs won’t risk skipping the TV debates again

This means the debates are here to stay After the manifesto the other big avoidable mistake of TMay’s GE2017 campaign was the refusal to take part in TV leaders’ debates which became part of the UK political scene at GE2010. No doubt the decision by her campaign to avoid them was driven by the very comfortable position the Tories had in the polls and that they appeared to be on course for a big win. Initially the CON leader’s decision…

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It is the trend in TMay’s YouGov “best PM” ratings that should really worry the Tories

It is the trend in TMay’s YouGov “best PM” ratings that should really worry the Tories

The miniscule lead with YouGov that Corbyn now enjoys as “best PM” is not what should concern her party but the trend which is illustrated in my chart above. It all peaked in the first polling after she made the brave, and in retrospect disastrous, decision in April to go for a general election three years ahead of schedule. Then she was a walloping 39% ahead. As can be seen this has moved steadily downwards ever since and now she…

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Theresa’s Tories drop to their lowest level yet on the Commons seats spread markets

Theresa’s Tories drop to their lowest level yet on the Commons seats spread markets

And LAB buy level now above 200 seats There’s been a big shake-up in the betting following the publication by the Times of YouGov’s new election model that suggests that Team Theresa could be net losers of seats a week tomorrow and not have a majority. Latest CON seats spreads SportingIndex 365-371 Spreadex 365-371 Latest LAB spreads both SportingIndex 195-201 and Spreadex 196-202 Latest LD spreads both SportingIndex 12.5-14-5 and Spreadex 12-14.5 To put this into context. Just after the…

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On Betfair the chances of a CON majority edges to lowest level since election was called

On Betfair the chances of a CON majority edges to lowest level since election was called

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…

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