An unreformed Lords shouldn’t be a closed shop for the old parties Sex, money and people in high places all make for a good scandal, as Lord Sewel found out to his cost this last week. And as usually happens when a member of the Lords gets into trouble, the opponents of the institution cite it as an example of the need for reform of it, or even its outright abolition. Not that there’s a chance of serious reform any…
The overnight results Hilton, Woodside and Stockethill (SNP defence) and Kincorth, Nigg and Cove (SNP defence) on City of Aberdeen Hilton, Woodside and Stockethill Result: Scottish National Party 1,690 (55% +19%), Labour 771 (25% -20%), Conservative 350 (11%, no candidate in 2012), Green Party 130 (4% +1%), Liberal Democrats 125 (4% unchanged) Scottish National Party HOLD on the first count with a majority of 919 (30%) on a swing of 19.5% from Labour to SNP Kincorth, Nigg and Cove Result:…
Electability has to be paramount or else what is the point? One of the things that is often said, particularly by Tories, is that excluding Tony Blair the last time Labour secured an overall working majority was in 1966. That was a very long time ago. For in Labour’s entire history just three leaders, the ones pictured above, have led led the party to working majorities at general elections. And only one of these, the “virus” as we are being…
Hilton, Woodside and Stockethill (SNP defence) and Kincorth, Nigg and Cove (SNP defence) on City of Aberdeen Result of council at last election (2012): Labour 17, Scottish National Party 15, Liberal Democrats 5, Conservatives 3, Independents 3 (No Overall Control, Labour short by 5) Hilton, Woodside and Stockethill Result of ward at last election (2012): Emboldened denotes elected Labour 1,421, 271 (45%) Scottish National Party 512, 823 (36%) Independents 87, 101, 55 (6%) Liberal Democrats 145 (4%) Green Party 99…
It was, if you like, my Liz Kendall moment Just as Kendall has been told she’s a Tory I was told “You should go and join the SDPâ€. It was wounding – the more so because it came from a friend. It was the 80s and we were on opposite sides of one of the many controversies inspired by or centred on Tony Benn. Happily she is still a friend and says now “The 80s were a mad time. We…
Nigel Farage was right – using the term “swarm” to describe migrants was a mistake
Don’t attach too much credence to numbers at this stage There have been only two Labour elections in recent times where there has been polling and we are able to look back and compare the survey numbers with the actual votes received. In 2010, as I’ve reported before, the final YouGov members’ survey taken after the voting had started showed EdM with a 4% lead in this part of the electoral college. David actually won this segment by 8.8%. Three…
Antifrank asks who will appeal best to centrist voters? The centre ground of politics used to be very crowded. And with good reason. Roughly half the electorate sit in the middle stratum of electoral geology. In a YouGov poll taken just after the election, 13% described themselves as slightly left of centre, 19% described themselves as centre, 14% described themselves as slightly right of centre and a further 23% didn’t know where to place themselves (presumably they would regard themselves…