Earlier this morning a former colleague of Lynton Crosby in Australia, Simon Bush, posted a comment on an article about the Tory campaign chief that we had published two months ago. This referred to a complaint he had made to the Times. Because it was posted on such an old file we thought it a good idea to give the comment greater prominence here.

I have read with interest your piece on Crosby and his legal notice to the Times and the subsequent comments. I worked with Lynton on campaigns in Oz and he often (I mean weekly) fired off complaints during the campaign to the ABC on biased coverage and to the Broadcasting Commission on Labour advertising etc. These are not new tactics in this country, perhaps such tactics are new in the more gentrified world of UK politics? In politics you play to win and thats Lynton’s motto and who can fault him for that? Not I. Also, putting resources in the marginal seats is politics 101 surely (why do I see this being discussed at length like its controversial). It pisses off sitting members and candidates from other seats who think they are deserving of support and funds but so what……

I have written to Simon asking if he could tell us more about working for Crosby and perhaps give us some insight into what else we can expect in the coming campaign.

HAS ANYBODY SEEN THIS POLL? According to the Sun this morning that Michael Howard’s leadership rating has gone up by 3% since the Howard Flight affair. Does anybody know what poll Trevor Kavanagh is referring to?

LATEST BETTING
IG Index – LAB 351-356: CON 199-204: LD 66-69 – no change.

Spreadfair – LAB 350.2 -354.5: CON 198-202: LD 66 -68 – a slight softening of the Tory and Lib Dem prices.

Round-up of prices from conventional bookmakers.

Mike Smithson