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Triple whammy

November 26th, 2007 8:35am
by Jean Eaglesham

A trio of polls on Sunday underscored the damage done to the government by last week’s triple whammy of the Northern Rock crisis, data loss debacle and the five former defence chiefs’ attack on the prime minister. The terrible Westminster week endured by Labour appears to have hit home with voters, suggesting the Tories’ attack on Gordon Brown’s competence is resonating across the country.

The Tories are ahead of Labour in terms of the party deemed to have the best policies, for the first time in more than a decade, according to an MSL survey in the News of the World. The poll also gives David Cameron an eight point lead over Mr Brown in terms of who is seen as the best leader - a remarkable reversal of perceptions during the prime minister’s first three months in office.

Nervous Labour MPs in tight marginals who are now missing Tony Blair’s sure electoral touch will find this sense of nostalgia enhanced by a BPIX poll in the Mail on Sunday, suggesting the two parties would be level pegging had there been no change of prime minister. As it is, the survey gives the Tories a five point lead.

Northern Rock and the "debacle" of the lost data files - to quote Jack Straw, the justice secretary - have clearly damaged confidence in Alistair Darling. A survey for the Sunday Telegraph found 50 per cent dissatisfied with his performance as chancellor, with fewer than a third - 32 per cent - declaring themselves satisfied.

November 26th, 2007 8:35am in Conservatives, Elections, Labour | Permalink | Comment

Dippy? Berr? What’s in a name?

November 14th, 2007 6:01pm
by Jean Eaglesham

The rebranding of the Department of Trade and Industry as the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has cost £192,000 "to date," a written Parliamentary answer reveals. The six figure bill to the taxpayer includes the cost of designing the new departmental moniker, changing the website and new signage.

Is it worth it? Tony Blair was forced into a U-turn on a previous attempt to rebrand the department in May 2005, just a week after the announcement was made. Critics at the time pointed out that possible acronyms for the Department for Productivity, Energy and Industry included Dippy and Penis. Alan Johnson, the newly appointed secretary of state, insisted his department revert to its former DTI title, and pointed out that the cost of short-lived rebranding involved no more than the use of "one screwdriver to take down three letters [and] screw [them] back up".

The new department has not suffered the same abbreviated indignities as the ill-fated DPEI. But ministers appear slightly ill at ease with the sheer length of the title foisted on the department. The government insists on referring to it as "BERR" and this has now become its official abbreviation on documents and its website. But the Tories are sticking resolutely with DBERR.

November 14th, 2007 6:01pm in UK politics | Permalink | Comment

Cameron’s conundrum

October 29th, 2007 12:01am
by Jean Eaglesham

Could the Tories’ spirited campaign for Gordon Brown to call a referendum on the EU treaty backfire?David Cameron is resisting pressure to promise a Conservative government would hold a referendum on the treaty even after it has been ratified - and for good reason. A vote to pull out of the treaty once it has legal force would leave the UK trying to renegotiate its entire relationship with the EU. But maybe this is what many core Tory voters actually want? A poll on the Conservativehome website today finds most respondents - 63 per cent - support a referendum that mandates an incoming Conservative government to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU so that it returns to a free trade area.This is not a mandate that Mr Cameron wants. Instead, it hands the government ammunition to support its claim that Tory fulminating against the treaty is a Trojan horse for a move to get out of Brussels altogether.

October 29th, 2007 12:01am in UK politics | Permalink | Comment

Wooing the corporate vote

September 20th, 2007 7:08pm
by Jean Eaglesham

Can ministers convince business that, after a decade in power, Labour can be the answer to - rather than the cause of - many of employers’ main grievances? The question came to the fore this week when John Hutton, the business secretary, kickstarted a review of small business policy by inviting 20 entrepreneurs to a shindig at Number 11. The government says it plans to hold a series of meetings over the next few months, before setting out a proposed new "framework for entreprise" next year.

The Tories believe this tacit admission that existing policies for smaller firms need to be rethought is a valuable weapon to beat ministers with. Alan Duncan, the shadow business secretary, responded to the Downing Street summit by accusing Labour of having "undermined the UK’s economic success" through high taxes and regulation.

A slam dunk for the opposition? Not necessarily. As Mr Hutton told the FT the Tory attack on the regulatory front has been blunted by the party’s floating of a string of policies - including new employment and environmental laws - that would impose new red tape on business. Mixed messages from David Cameron on his stance on business caused the CBI this summer to wonder aloud whether the opposition leader was a chameleon. The battle for the corporate vote is far from over.

Continue reading "Wooing the corporate vote"

September 20th, 2007 7:08pm in Business vote | Permalink | Comment

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