by Paul Goodman If there was a better result for CCHQ in its dreams, I don't know what it could have been. This is a woeful result for Labour, for two – no, let's say twin – reasons. First, because Cain's slain Abel by the narrowest of margins. Second, because the trade unions backed the […]
By Tim Montgomerie Overnight we'll be updating the LeftWatch masthead – dropping Brown and his pork pies and adding in the new Labour leader. David Miliband and his banana or Red Ed. Should we make any other changes? I'm inclined to keep the dead LibDem bird because – although Coalition partners – we're still political […]
By Tim Montgomerie ConservativeHome's first and proudest act was to defend party democracy. Michael Howard wanted to end the decisive role that grassroots members play in the election of Tory leader. This website started a campaign that with others – notably IDS, Theresa May, Michael Ancram and Barry Legg – defeated Mr Howard. We still […]
By Tim Montgomerie A poll by YouGov for The Sunday Times (£) produces the surprise result that Ed Miliband might be nosing ahead of his older brother in the race to be Labour leader. Once second preference votes are taken into account Ed beats David Miliband by 51% to 49%. The Shadow Energy and Climate […]
By Jonathan Isaby On Wednesday night Paul wrote about Channel Four's Labour leadership hustings and concisely concluded what each of the candidates was about. This morning Adam Boulton of Sky News hosted a full hour and a half's debate between the quintet. None of them said anything particularly surprising or unexpected – lots of soundbites […]
By Paul Goodman When I heard Tony Blair make the following remark in his Marr interview, I felt as though a glass of cold water had been thrown over my face – "It is wholly unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons. I think we've got to be prepared to confront them … if necessarily, […]
By Paul Goodman There've been very many Labour leadership debates over this long summer. Few have followed them in detail. This evening's one, hosted by Channel 4, may have been different: after all, Labour members' ballot papers are currently arriving in the post. I watched it with three questions in mind. What was each candidate […]
By Paul Goodman Tony Blair's memoirs, "A Journey", will today be probed and pored over by people looking for stories. Blair has trailed them by giving an interview to this morning's Guardian, which has also provided a summary of the book's main contents, itself described earlier today by Jonathan. However, there's a story that the […]
By Tim Montgomerie They do not use the expression ‘Red Ed’ – that was Fraser Nelson yesterday – but Blair’s inner circle have come together to help the cause of David Miliband, who was Blair’s long-term policy chief – and injure Ed Miliband’s chances. In an interview with this morning’s Times (£) Lord Mandelson warns […]
By Jonathan Isaby The splash on this morning's Times (£) carries the stark headline "Put our man in or we cut off funding, union warns". The paper has been speaking to GMB General Secretary Paul Kenny – a vocal supporter of Ed Miliband, whose union has also made a contribution to the shadow energy and […]
By Jonathan Isaby Ed Balls – whose odds of becoming Labour leader are now 50-1 according to Ladbrokes – this morning gave what many (such as Peter Hoskin) are concluding was a pitch for the shadow chancellorship under whichever Miliband wins the day (Paul Goodman has already advised them against this course of action here). […]
By Tim Montgomerie Yesterday it was Ed Miliband's day in the spotlight with his attack on Nick Clegg. Today his brother has an op-ed in The Times (£), in which he sets out his big picture vision. The article contained at least four policy positions that are worth highlighting: Slower than the Coalition on deficit […]
By Tim Montgomerie It appears to be 'Get Clegg Day' in the grid of Ed Miliband's leadership campaign. With more evidence yesterday that brother David has the edge in the leadership race, the man who wrote the manifesto for Gordon Brown's 2010 campaign has blasted the Liberal Democrat leader in an open letter to LibDem […]
By Jonathan Isaby Today's Sun carries a new YouGov poll on the Labour leadership race, taking account of the constituent parts of the electoral college taking part in the vote. The top line is that despite recent declarations of support from a number of leading unions for Ed Miliband, his brother David is still poised […]
By Paul Goodman Lots of speculation this evening that Ed Balls may be about to pull out of Labour's leadership contest. Patrick Hennessy of the Sunday Telegraph has some of the details. Unite went for Ed Miliband today – making a hat-trick for him of the big unions: Unison and the GMB are already on […]