Monthly Archives: April 2010

Must reads: Evening edition

April 29, 2010 5:30 pm by FT

Who should govern Britain, The Economist thinks it’s David Cameron
Ten People Who Are Having a Good Election – Iain Dale
After all the fuss of yesterday, it is still the economy, stupid – Alastair Campbell
Opinion split on Bigotgate significance, says Sun/YouGov poll – The Guardian
Brown campaigns after ‘bigot’ row – Politics Home
Mervyn King: Election winner will lose power for 30 years – Evening Standard
British Leaders Brace for Final Television Debate – New York Times

Jim and Alex will be doing another live blog tonight for the final televised leaders’ debate, which will focus on the economy. This time the event starts at 8:30pm on the BBC. Our rolling commentary will probably start earlier, from around 7pm. Read more

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Posted in Further reading |

Jim Pickard FT Political Betting: Tory seats

April 29, 2010 10:10 am by Jim Pickard

Post Cleggmania, people are no longer talking about a big Tory majority as a certainty in the way they were doing months ago. Even the best psephologists have no idea which way this general election is going.

But the most likely outcome still seems to be the Conservatives either getting a tiny majority (over 326) or falling short by a few dozen seats.

PaddyPower is offering just below evens on David Cameron’s party ending up with 301-350 seats. That would be consistent with a poor showing for Labour – not helped by Duffygate – and a strong (but not astonishing) performance by the Lib Dems. Read more

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Posted in Conservatives, David Cameron, UK politics |

Morning election briefing

April 29, 2010 9:59 am by Financial Times

Gordon Brown interview: Waiting for substance to tell – The FT
Labour’s new welfare rights cost £8bn a year - The FT
Nick the negotiator says deal or no deal – Robert Shrimsley in The FT
Roy Greenslade on how the media dealt with Gordon’s gaffe – The Guardian
Brown was not acting out of character, says Andrew Rawnsley – The Guardian
Gillian Duffy turns down big cash offers from the newspapers. Could the gaffe cost 2m Labour votes? – Daily Mirror
Gaffe goes global – Coverage from the New York Times
Will the leaders answer the big economic questions tonight? Robert Chote in The Times

Jim and Alex will be doing another live blog tonight for the final televised leaders’ debate, which will focus on the economy. This time the event starts at 8:30pm on the BBC. Our rolling commentary will probably start earlier, from around 7pm. Read more

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Posted in Further reading, UK politics |

Election must reads: Evening edition

April 28, 2010 6:00 pm by FT

Vince Cable attacks ‘cop out’ Tory spending plans – The Evening Standard
Darling: Time and again, Labour called it right on the economy – LabourList
‘That was a disaster’ – Nick Robinson’s Newslog
The “Thick of It” election – Hopi Sen
Brown gaffe on campaign trail – Politics Home
A highly damaging moment for Gordon Brown – The Times
Labour’s most dangerous moment of the campaign – The Guardian
Brown “mortified” at bigot comment – Alistair Campbell Read more

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Posted in Further reading |

Nicholas Timmins Hung parliaments and economic mayhem

April 28, 2010 5:54 pm by Nicholas Timmins

A hung parliament will produce governmental paralysis and economic mayhem. Well maybe. But may be not.

The Institute for Government, which like the Institute for Fiscal Studies tries to offer up a few facts to inform the fevered pre-election debate, has a neat briefing on hung parliaments on its website.

One particular piece of Powerpoint is well worth the look for those who fear that a hung parliament will see the UK knocking on the door of the IMF within days.

It plots governments, whether they be coalitions, majority or minority controlled, against the size of their structural deficit. Read more

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Posted in UK politics |

Armchair election: Gordon’s Gracie Fields moment

April 28, 2010 5:39 pm by Robert Shrimsley

Oh no, no no no. My innards are shrivelling up even as I watch it. It just goes to show the parties are right to keep their leaders away from voters.

Just to recap on the facts:

1) Gordon Brown on a visit to Rochdale, has a perfectly civil ding-dong with a Gracie Fields type who tongue-lashes him over a range of issues including immigration Read more

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Posted in UK politics |

Political Bets: Low Turnout

April 28, 2010 4:37 pm by Alex Barker

After selecting a couple of outsiders, I’ve gone for a safer bet on low turnout.

The received wisdom is that this is a close election with big stakes that is re-engaging voters. Some commentators think turnout could even rise from what is a very low base of 61 to over 70 per cent, which is much closer to the historic average.

But from the limited time I’ve spent speaking to voters in marginals, this doesn’t ring true. None of the parties have really captured the public imagination in the way Tony Blair did in 1997, and even then turnout was only 71 per cent.

Labour voters are clearly fed up with Gordon Brown. Those unable to bring themselves to vote against Labour will just stay at home. As Matthew Taylor notes, Labour activists are worried about low turnout. The Gillian Duffy incident will not have soothed their concerns. In addition, young voters have been flocking to the Lib Dems, but that age group has a poor track record of actually voting. Read more

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Posted in UK politics |

Jim Pickard The humbling of Gordon Brown – PM apologies to Mrs Duffy

April 28, 2010 3:50 pm by Jim Pickard

It is “The Thick of It” incarnate – as one political editor remarks to me. Brown, post-gaffe, was ensconced inside the house of “bigot” Mrs Duffy apologising for his remarks for about 40 minutes.

Emerging from her front door, amid a media scrum and a gathering of excited Rochdale locals, the prime minister said he was “mortified” by what had happened.

“If you like, I’m a penitent sinner,” he said, a fixed smile on his face. “Sometimes you say things you don’t mean to say, sometimes you say things by mistake….I wanted to come here and say to Gillian, I was sorry I made a mistake but I understand the concerns she was bringing to me.” Read more

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Posted in Labour, UK politics |

Jim Pickard Political Bets: Viewing figures for the debate

April 28, 2010 3:19 pm by Jim Pickard

Ladbrokes is offering tempting odds on the viewing figures for tomorrow’s debate. It has 3/1 on an audience of 5m-9.99m and 5/4 on 10m-14.99m.

The former in particular seems like a very generous offer:the first debate got an audience of 9.4m on ITV and the second got 4m on Sky, reflecting the latter’s generally lower viewing figures.

I’m also putting a bet on the slightly higher range, just in case more people turn out for the grand spectactular on the BBC. (I’m not betting that they stay for the full 90 minutes, however). Read more

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Posted in UK politics |

Jim Pickard A little reminder: when Nick Clegg’s private chat was overheard

April 28, 2010 2:50 pm by Jim Pickard

Before any politician starts getting too pompous about Gordon Brown’s gaffe it’s worth remembering the time that Nick Clegg was overheard on a plane dismissing a potential reshuffle with Danny Alexander, chief of staff. Read more

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Posted in Nick Clegg, UK politics |

Expert panel: Memos to the leaders

April 28, 2010 1:29 pm by FT

The FT’s expert election panel will occasionally be giving their thoughts on the big themes of the campaign. Today, they each write a memo to their leader giving advice for Thursday night’s debate and the remainder of the run-up to the polls.

Charles Lewington, former press secretary to John Major:
David, you have three tasks in the final days – rebutting Labour’s attack on your economic policies, continuing with the tedious but important process of warning about the dangers of hanging the parliament and taking the gloss off the freshly minted Liberal Democrat brand without attacking Clegg personally. Read more

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Jim Pickard Duffed-up: the anger of Mrs Duffy at prime ministerial scorn

April 28, 2010 12:40 pm by Jim Pickard

What will damage Gordon Brown over today’s unfortunate encounter is that Mrs Duffy – it transpires – seems to be far from the ignorant “bigot” that Brown labelled her.

Bewildered by her encounter with the prime minister, she said that all she wanted to know was “why I was called a bigot.” Mrs Duffy, in her own dignified way, said that Mr Brown was an “educated person” who should have known better. Read more

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Posted in Labour, UK economy, UK politics |
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