UKIP spring conference is underway. Or it might be over – it’s difficult to tell with UKIP spring conference. Anyhow, this year the big story was Nigel’s absence. He turned up rather late as a result of having been in America for the Conservative Political Action Conference. For those who have never been to one […]
Archives for February 2015
A Bottle of La Romanee Conti and an American prat
I found Tony’s but not without effort. It was one of those annoying shitholes only found seeing out their commorancies in the cellars of Mayfair, the kind of pretentious dive that thinks because it’s hard to find it must be a brilliant provider of the dining experience. Tony’s is the type of establishment that doesn’t […]
I don’t understand the logic – or the politics – around Labour’s £6k tuition fee announcement
Ed Miliband is giving a speech in Leeds today, outlining Labour’s tuition fee policy. In the usual Miliband way, it is heavy with hyperbole. “This is a disaster for them and a disaster for the future of Britain too – a country where the next generation is doing worse than their parents is the definition […]
The Labour plan to win over Lib Dem voters disenchanted with the Coalition can now be declared a failure
Yesterday’s YouGov poll put the Conservatives on 35, Labour on 33, Lib Dems 6, UKIP 14, Greens 7. The Tory lead is nothing to shout about at this stage; Labour could very well be up tomorrow, such is the nature of daily polling. However, I feel confident enough now to say that what was a […]
Caroline Lucas has been busy making things worse for Natalie Bennett – and the Green Party
The past month cannot have been amongst the easiest to get through in the life of Natalie Bennett. A series of bloodbath interviews, which amongst the most notable should have been the Andrew Neil Daily Politics one at the end of last month, but which has now been well and truly eclipsed by the LBC […]
A lesson on why UKIP’s line about the Norwegian model is full of holes – from the Chief of Staff to the Conservative Norwegian Prime Minister
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of attending a Bruges Group event, or indeed a UKIP press conference, you will be familiar no doubt with the propaganda laid out at each which details how great the “Norwegian model” is and how it should be adopted by the UK. Which is why today’s speech by Vidar […]
Are there such things as “silent Lib Dem” voters?
I was having a drink with a friend of mine who works for a pollster recently and we started talking about the “silent Tory” phenomenon I’ve written about previously. He wasn’t so sure about this being relevant in 2015 (I should disclose, he’s a Labour supporter), and disputed any comparison between this coming election and […]
Ashcroft reveals that UKIP are behind in every constituency he polled – the reporting of which demonstrates the Left’s confusion over Farage’s party
You know times are weird when the Daily Mail is the lone voice of reason in the political media on something. “Blow for Farage as polls reveal Ukip is poised to lose ALL its key marginal battles against the Tories” reads their headline for a story revealing that in four of UKIP’s targets, UKIP are […]
Liz Kendall: next leader of the Labour party?
Recently, I joked in an article that the next leadership contest within the Labour party could be between Chuka Umunna and a weathered copy of “The Communist Manifesto”, demonstrating facetiously my lack of faith in the depth of talent contained within the parliamentary Labour party. However, there is one frontbencher who has of late begun […]
David Cameron’s Labour-SNP messaging is classic Cameron: short-term gain, long-term nightmare
The Prime Minister has given a speech in Edinburgh this week in which he outlined what’s going in Scotland with Labour and the Nats as he sees it: “The SNP and Labour are halfway up the aisle together already. They’ve picked out the wedding list. They’ve booked the honeymoon, probably in North Korea. They’ve set […]