Search Results for: bethilo

Could Blair make an announcement in a matter of days?

Was the decision taken while on holiday? The big unanswered question over-hanging British politics is when will Blair step down? When will he make his big announcement? When will the baton be passed on to Gordon Brown? We have long taken the view that this will happen later rather than sooner and that he would serve most of his third term. Now we are not so sure and next week’s Labour conference, which Tony Blair is surely not looking forward…

Read More Read More

The David Davis lead gets bigger

Tory Leadership – RED Davis: BLUE Cameron: BLACK Clarke: GREEN Fox ..and a “no-brainer Tory leadership bet Our updated chart showing the implied probabilities of the front-runners in the Tory leadership contest based on the best betting prices available will provide considerable cheer to David Davis supporters – particularly his web cheer leader, the so-called Wat Tyler, who asked specifically for it to be published. The Ken Clarke progress has faltered in the past few days following Davis’s big speech…

Read More Read More

Will the unions force Blair out?

Are the calls for him to quit quickly going to have an effect? With the trade union movement gathering for the TUC congress there’s pressure this morning on Tony Blair to step aside sooner rather than later. Union leaders want him out of Downing Street within a year. This follows comments on Wednesday by the boss of the TUC, Brendan Barber, that the Prime Minister should stand down in in time to have a smooth transition ahead of the next…

Read More Read More

Is this the face of a man who is on his way out?

Could Blair stay to fight another election? As the polls were closing at the Hartlepool by-election on September 30th 2004 Tony Blair issued a statement that he was about to go into hospital for a small procedure and that he would stand down as Labour leader and Prime Minister before the then next General Election but one – which is probably scheduled for 2009. The move seemed designed to deal with ongoing unpopularity following the Iraq war and to end…

Read More Read More

Could the Tories risk a young leader again?

Has the Hague experience blighted Cameron’s chances? Apart from having gone to Eton – his parent’s decision, one assumes, and not his – the other concern about David Cameron’s candiditure is his age. After the experience of William Hague, who was surely promoted too quickly, there are worries about handing the leadership to someone in their 30s. The Howard pattern – going for someone in their 60s – was going in the opposite direction and this might be another factor…

Read More Read More

Will Blair outlast Chirac?

What does the Euro-spat do for the Brown succession? With the leaders of the EU nations returning to their home countries after the deadlock in Brussels there’s speculation this morning that the latest Euro-mess could mean that Tony Blair will have to stay in office longer. According to Andrew Grice in the Independent today ….some Blairites are talking about their man outlasting M. Chirac, who faces re-election in 2007, as well as Mr Schröder, who seems destined for electoral defeat…

Read More Read More

Will the new rules impede the Davis bandwagon?

The David Davis price tightens to 4/5 Any idea that the new Tory leadership election rules could impact on the Shadow Home Secretary’s so far undeclared canditure for the Tories leadership have been rejected by gamblers who have pushed his price down even further. The latest odds put Davis in the range of 4/6 to 4/5 and the signs are that this will get tighter. The fact that Tory MPs will get the final say, unilike with IDS last time,…

Read More Read More