The image on the right is of Daniel Zeichner, the Labour candidate for Cambridge at the general election, speaking at a Cambridge Union debate earlier in the month. In a debate about whether the Conservatives are ready to run the country again, he ventured onto the topic of the European Conservatives and Reformists – the […]
The Mirror this morning reports that Gordon Brown's predecessor and former arch-rival, Tony Blair, will tomorrow make the first of several appearances of the election campaign. It will be a speech from the safety of his old constituency in County Durham. The paper reports: "Tony Blair's dramatic re-emergence on the political centre stage will destroy […]
Yesterday Gordon Brown launched his five election pledges. CCHQ hit back with a rebuttal document which I summarise below. The Labour pledge: "Secure the recovery." The Conservative response: "The man who believed he had ended the economic cycle but gave us the biggest boom followed by the biggest bust cannot be trusted to secure the […]
The Guardian has an interview with Gordon Brown this morning. We learn that he will keep Darling as Chancellor if he wins the election. Sensible given yesterday's ComRes finding that the Brown/Darling team enjoys a modest lead over Cameron/Osborne when it comes to running the economy… although as we reveal on today's front page an […]
Earlier in the week, Labour MP Rosie Cooper was first on the list to get to ask Jack Straw a topical question at Justice Questions. So she asked: "Will the Justice Secretary indicate what action he is taking to give communities more of a say in the criminal justice system? In particular, will he say […]
PoliticsHome reports the contents of this week's Downing Street podcast thus: Gordon Brown has said the government's points-based immigration plans will "radically" change immigration by refusing entry to "people who cannot contribute to the economy in the way we need." He confirmed that no non-EU unskilled workers would be allowed into Britain "this year and […]
The Guardian today has a leak of the Advertising Standards Authority's adjudication on a Home Office advertising campaign, which says it must be withdrawn immediately: The Advertising Standards Authority has told the Home Office that its television adverts highlighting the government's "policing pledge" that neighbourhood officers can now be expected to spend 80% of their […]
Martin Turner (pictured) is unlikely to be finding himself sitting on the green benches of the Commons any time soon. He is the Liberal Democrat candidate in Stratford-on-Avon, where the excellent Nadhim Zahawi was recently selected as Conservative candidate in the place of retiring MP, John Maples. The notional figures suggest Turner is starting nearly […]
Less than a fortnight after it was trumpeted that Labour would replace the House of Lords with a 300-member elected Senate, and the proposals appear to have fallen foul of Lord Mandelson's opposition. The Guardian today reports: "Jack Straw's detailed blueprint for a 300- strong, wholly elected upper chamber to replace the Lords appears to […]
With the action by British Airways cabin crew from the Unite union (from whom Labour has received £11 million) causing disruption for those traveling by air, it is soon to be millions of rail passengers who will be subject to travel chaos. The announcement has been made this evening that TSSA supervisors and RMT maintenance […]
Alistair Darling has this afternoon told the BBC that the cuts Labour will make will be "tougher and deeper" than those seen under thre Thatcher Government in the 1980s. As the BBC website reports: Asked by the BBC's Political Editor Nick Robinson to accept the Treasury's own figures suggest deeper, tougher cuts than those implemented […]
The Joint Committee on Human Rights, comprising peers and MPs of all parties, has published a report this morning questioning the Labour Government's justifications for increasingly draconian anti-terror laws in the years since the September 11 attacks. It states: "All too often human rights considerations are squeezed out by the imperatives of national security and […]
Yesterday an angry Cameron accused Labour of lying about Tory plans on the Winter Fuel Allowance and other benefits for pensioners. Pensioners are a crucial electoral constituency. There are twice as many grey voters as young voters and they're twice as likely to vote – making them four times more important to the result of […]
So Stephen Byers, Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon have been suspended from the Labour Party. Bet that really upset Gordon Brown, eh? It's hard to see why they've been singled out in this way. For evidence, let me cite that ever-reliable guide, the Register of Members' Interests. Byers' entry lists no reference either to National Express or Tesco. […]
PoliticsHome reports that according to a Downing Street spokesman, Gordon Brown "is satisfied that there is no need for further government investigation into allegations that Stephen Byers tried to use his influence as an ex-minister to lobby". The spokesman said that there was no need for an inquiry since the departments headed by Lords Mandelson […]