Jeremy Corbyn and his allies very nearly had it all, but then lost everything. What makes it worse (for them) is that it’s their own stupid fault.
According to YouGov, the Party commands a plurality of voters only among the over 70s. As far as voting intention is concerned, the Conservative Party is literally dying on its feet.
If they are to stop Labour sweeping to victory, they not only need to bring back in even more “don’t knows” than models suggest they currently will, but also win back a large number of voters who have abandoned the party.
The longer Number Ten fails to declare, the more cheerfully Labour will pile in – preparing to frame the Prime Minister as a bottler if he waits until after the Budget to rule out a May poll.
The Prime Minister will want to avoid the trap that Gordon Brown created for himself in the autumn of 2007.
The number of possibilities teaches us three lessons about politics today. Firstly, never to underestimate the role played by mere chance. Secondly, that this is not an age of great leaders who make their own luck. And, thirdly, that we need to choose more carefully in future.
Do not confuse the quietude on the part of Matthew Parker Street for anything more than the usual calm between election periods.
Even amidst dire polling for the Tories nationally, nobody seems to think a 1997-style wipeout is on the table in Scotland.
He describes the authoritarian and grossly under-reported way in which our future MPs, and ministers, are being chosen.
Over this period, the UK’s economic growth was level with the US’s and exceeded the other five members of the G7. In other words, on international comparisons, we did well.
The Government’s aim should be to make pricing more competitive, less complicated, less bureaucratic and more flexible.
Don’t assume that it will necessarily happen only after the boundary review has come into effect.
If Conservatives don’t take the Opposition seriously, one can hardly blame them. And yet that could prove to be a big mistake.
Each party has savaged the other’s efforts to tackle the problem with the same lazy attacks. Now the only common ground seems to be to kick the problem into more long grass.