Throughout this parliament, we’ve heard a lot about Labour’s 35% strategy. This mostly involves picking off ex-Lib Dems and getting them to vote Labour. I can see why this was appealing to them. Only problem is, the psephology of it doesn’t quite work out. The Lib Dems have 56 seats at present (they had 57 […]
Philip Hammond speech today demonstrates once again that the Tories “small state” rhetoric is just that
My least favourite politician of all time is Ronald Reagan. In fact, most of my political sensibilities to this day are governed by an anti-Reagan feeling. This is because Reagan epitomises for me both the hypocrisy of the Right, and everything else that annoys me about conservatism at the same time. In many ways, it […]
Labour have allowed themselves to get played into a weird corner on the whole SNP coalition question
I awoke to Chris Leslie on the Today programme yesterday morning. The Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury had come on to discuss why he thinks Labour spending plans are superior to Tory ones. However, he didn’t get to chat about this without first facing a barrage of questions regarding whether or not Labour were […]
The conservatism of the Left – and why money has always been what politics is actually about
Armando Ianucci wrote an article in the Guardian this weekend past entitled, “Politics was once about beliefs and society. Now it’s a worship of money”. It contains the following paragraphs: “It used to be that we went into elections being asked some pretty big questions about what sort of country we wanted to live in. […]
How did we end up in a situation in which the SNP are the only political party with cause for real optimism?
After the Scottish referendum had been lost by the nationalists on September 18th of last year, you would never have thought that sitting here in early March of 2015, the SNP would be the only party in Britain that had any right to feel truly good about itself. How did this happen? I should hasten […]
The coming Tory split – will the failure of UKIP halt it or help it?
Imagine the following scenario: as a result of having been empty chaired for the TV debates, at least the first two before realising he has to take part in the final one-on-one with Miliband, Cameron fails to help the Tories become the largest party in a hung parliament. By default, Labour form a government; Miliband […]
Would Labour be on course to win on May 7th if David Miliband had become leader in 2010?
Labour conference, September 2010, Manchester. I was there myself; I remember it felt in a weird sort of way like Labour were still in power, such were the security arrangements, the general tension and build-up. This was mostly down to the leadership election. It was clear that the entire future of the Labour Party was […]
I hate to admit it, but Cameron has played a blinder on the TV debates
Yesterday at PMQs, Miliband gave Cameron a hard time about ducking the TV debates. “I think the British public deserves it, and David Cameron should now name the date.” In response, Craig Oliver, the Number 10 comms director, wrote a letter to Sue Inglish, Head of Political Programmes for the BBC. The closing of it […]
“Hipsters voting for UKIP?”: how young people are drifting away from the two big parties
Ipsos Mori has put out some fascinating data on the voting patterns and choices of 18-34 year olds. Over the course of the past year, UKIP, the Greens, and even the Lib Dems have made modest gains in support amongst this age group. Meanwhile, both the Tories and Labour have seen their support from “Generation […]
Whatever sections of the political media or Russell Brand or Natalie Bennett say, we are not on the brink of a revolution
In a Telegraph article, talking about her worst day in politics, Natalie Bennett was still positive about one thing: “I think we’re going to see massive change in British politics.” This goes together with the “peaceful revolution” (which sounds a lot like what Russell Brand is after) that Bennett also tells us is just around […]