By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter 5.45pm Update: Guido has the story of how Labour messed up and pretended they hadn't. A vote on the proposed cut in the 50p top income tax rate took place yesterday evening. Labour didn't vote against it. Conservative MPs were all over Twitter in an instant. Baldwin's is the […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. A week on from Ed Miliband's sixth re-launch, it would be timely to review his progress. Has he managed to persuade the public of his credibility at last? Has he managed to thrash the Coalition in the polls? Is his Party settled and united behind his leadership? It seems […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter I've written before that the Eurozone crisis is even more difficult for Ed Balls than George Osborne. This is because what Balls will want to do at the next election, if he's still Shadow Chancellor, is to mirror what he did in 1997, when he was Gordon Brown's economic […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Conservatives have had some fun at Ed Miliband's expense this week. Today's Sun revelled in Ed Miliband's "Blackbusters" gaffe. "Silly Mili", it laughed. Guido Fawkes relaunched Iain Martin's Don't Underestimate Ed Miliband Association as the Don't Unseat Ed Miliband Association. "Save Ed Miliband" is the three word prayer of every […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter The Independent headlines its interview with Ed Balls today: "Lib Dems should leave the Coalition and join us". This is the best news angle that can be found from it, though the Shadow Chancellor is scarcely likely to have said: "So you're asking what I'd do if the Lib […]
By Joseph Willits Follow Joseph on Twitter Today's Sun carries a YouGov poll which is bad news for the Labour party generally – and Ed Miliband personally. The poll suggests that only 1 in 5 Labour voters believe that Miliband is doing a good enough job. 51% of Labour voters saying that Miliband could do better. 40% […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. In the week of George Osborne's Autumn Statement, you might think the Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, would be able to score the open goals and publicity that Opposition politicians can usually manage. Instead, Ed Balls and his economic plans are under attack from all sides. From the left, the Shadow […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Conservative HQ issued a new dossier overnight that argues that Labour frontbenchers have been making reckless spending commitments that would add £326 billion to the national debt over the next five years compared to the Government’s plans. Adding that level of borrowing to Britain's existing borrowings CCHQ suggests that we […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Ed Balls is garlanded by the Wintour and Watt double act in the Guardian today for helping to keep Britain out of the Euro: his name takes precedence in their roll of honour over Gordon Brown. (Rightly, the duo also cite John Major and William Hague; wrongly, they omit […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary, Douglas Alexander, has written for the Guardian today, on Labour's new policy of "mature patriotism" towards Europe. Alexander writes: "Our task is instead to tell a new story about Britain and Europe, rooted in the need for reform revealed by new economic and political realities. To […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. In a Parliamentary Question released on Thursday, the official Treasury estimate of the cost of Labour's five-point economic plan was given – it totalled more than £20 billion, which would be added to the budget deficit. Michael Meacher, the veteran left-wing Labour MP, asked: "To ask the Chancellor of […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. Ed Miliband has completed his reshuffle and given big promotions to three new MPs. Chuka Umunna will shadow Vince Cable and Rachel Reeves will become Danny Alexander's opposite number. Liz Kendall also joins the shadow cabinet as an attending member, covering care and older people. The moves will increase […]
By Joseph Willits Follow Joseph on Twitter Here is some of the press coverage following on from Ed Balls' speech to the Labour party conference this afternoon: The Telegraph has Ed Balls' speech in full - Telegraph Balls sets out a five-point 'plan of growth' to kick start economy - Mirror I Independent 'Shadow Chancellor says Labour would back a "steadier, […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter There are two Ed Balls's. The first is the henchman to Gordon Brown who helped mastermind Labour's 1997 pledge to stick to future Conservative spending plans for two years. The second is the henchman to Gordon Brown who helped mastermind Labour's 2010 legacy of record deficits and debt after […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. Yesterday Conservative HQ issued a dossier highlighting Ed Miliband's "52 weeks of weakness". Today it's Ed Balls who is the target for the Tory research department. Based on a 24 page analysis of the spending and tax announcements made by Labour since the two Eds took charge, the CCHQ […]