It struck me yesterday that the new cash for influence scandal would surely put paid to any chance of a peerage in the dissolution honours for the retiring Cabinet ministers involved – Byers, Hoon and Hewitt. But then, I wondered, which of the retiring Labour MPs would Gordon Brown afford a seat in the Lords? […]
Nick Clegg appeared on BBC1's Politics Show earlier today and faced an audience of voters asking questions about a variety of issues. When it came to immigration, however, he found himself in something of a pickle. You can now watch the encounter here. Read on… Brian Craddock (audience member): Chris Huhne has explained that the […]
From today's Observer: "Unite is to give the Labour party £4m to help fund its general election campaign. The union agreed the deal with the Labour leadership a few weeks ago as Labour desperately sought the cash to mount an effective campaign against the Conservatives. The £4m represents half of the money that the unions […]
After a Parliament mired by the MPs' Expenses scandal and allegations of cash for honours, the Sunday Times is tomorrow running a story which will be less than comfortable reading for several former Cabinet ministers who are leaving the Commons at the impending election. The Insight team at the paper – working in conjunction with […]
Today saw the Labour Party selecting its new candidate in Ashfield, where Geoff Hoon is standing down at the general election. The successful candidate was none other than Gloria de Piero, until recently GMTV's political editor, and formerly a producer and reporter for the BBC. She was a Labour activist as a student in the […]
After David Cameron's announcement this morning of Conservative plans for a tax on banks, Will Straw wrote a post on his Left Foot Forward blog suggesting that a senior member of the shadow cabinet had publicly opposed the policy. Headlining the post "Calamity Grayling opposes Cameron's unilateral bank tax", it was accompanied by a YouTube […]
As the strike by Unite members begins to cause travel chaos for air passengers today, David Cameron has already reiterated the message that the same union is bankrolling the Labour Party to the tune of £11 million in his speech about challenging vested interests. This follows on from Michael Gove's excellent speech last week about […]
Iain Martin over at the Wall Street Journal has posted what he says are the demands that Nick Clegg would make in terms of Cabinet posts for Lib Dems in the event of a coalition with the Conservatives. The Lib Dem leader would apparently want to be Home Secretary himself, and bring across Paddy Ashdown […]
It would appear that the Labour Party has taken the same attitude to its own finances as those of the country at large when it comes to racking up debt in the short term, ignoring the longer term consequences. The FT reports this morning on the Labour Party's dire financial situation: "The party will then […]
The so-called Winter of Discontent was the backdrop to the Conservative victory at the 1979 general election. Theresa Villiers is now suggesting that the country faces a "Spring of Discontent" in advance of this year's general election in the wake of two pieces of new today. First, she accused Bob Crow of trying to hold […]
It has been previously suggested that we are about to enjoy Britain's first "YouTube election" with both ease of access to the internet and the ease with which videos can be posted to sites like YouTube meaning that candidates will be subject to an unprecedented level of online scrutiny. Last week, for example, we posted […]
She has a desk in 10 Downing Street. She is part of the Prime Minister's policy development unit. She has a House of Commons pass. Her salary and pension are 100% paid for by Unite. Her name is Clare Moody. Hat tip to Joe Murphy of the London Evening Standard for unearthing this amazing story. […]
The ASA has banned two press adverts that used nursery rhymes to scare people about the effects of climate change. Click on the poster on the right to enlarge one of the two offending examples. The adverts issued by Ed Miliband's Department of Energy and Climate Change were found to have exaggerated the likelihood of […]
A week ago the Home Secretary Alan Johnson was openly discussing the possibility of introducing compulsory insurance for all dogs. One week later after opposition from the Conservatives (summed up in the poster above) the idea has been dropped today by Hillary Benn, Environment Secretary. That must be one of the fastest u-turns in the […]
The poster above will appear on poster sites across London over the next 48 hours. Click on it to enlarge. It's get-the-unions-day in the CCHQ planning grid and it won't be the last day that Labour's dependence on union money is in party strategists' cross-hairs. The Labour-union link is fundamental to the choice at the […]