Writing for today's Times Lord Mandelson previews his forthcoming autobiography, humbly called The Third Man. In the article he regrets that Brown and Blair did not fight each other for the Labour leadership in 1994: "After John Smith died I was mistaken in arguing so hard that the two modernising candidates should not oppose each […]
Labour will not be holding the beauty contest that is the Shadow Cabinet elections until the autumn when a new leader is in place. So, for the time being, the former Cabinet goes into shadow form, with Labour's deputy leader, Harriet Harman, at the helm as acting leader. However, despite no Cabinet minister losing their […]
So just when the negotiations between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems were reportedly yielding good progress, it turns out that the Lib Dems are also opening up talks with Labour, now that Gordon Brown is resigning. Is this a tactical move to seek further concessions from the ongoing negotiations with the Conservatives? We'll have […]
Yesterday came the first calls from Labour MP for Gordon Brown to quit. Over the last 24 hours, more Labour MPs have been popping their heads above the parapet to tell Gordon brown through the media that the game is up. Here;s what three former ministers have had to say": Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley […]
Gerry Sutcilffe has been Labour MP for Bradford South since 1994 and he is currently the sports minister. Tomorrow he is defending a notional majority of 8,444, which would fall on a swing of less than 12% to the Conservatives. Yet I am alerted to a message he posted on Twitter earlier in the campaign […]
An astounding interview in the latest edition of the Lynn News – a local paper in King's Lynn – given by the Labour candidate for the local Norfolk North West seat, Manish Sood. In all candour, he says: "I believe Gordon Brown has been the worst Prime Minister we have had in this country. It […]
Labour has just launched some new posters – posters that won't appear on any sites because the party doesn't have any money. The Birmingham launch of these posters was overshadowed by four refuse collectors who passed by in their truck and decided to shout abuse at Mr Brown, Lord Mandelson, Harriet Harman and Labour's other […]
Desperate times call for desperate measures, they say. And the Labour campaign took a surreal turn this morning. The great relaunch of Labour's campaign took place this morning at an event in Corby – where Louise Bagshawe is poised to oust Labour MP Phil Hope – and involved Brown making a series of outrageous claims […]
As I noted at the beginning of the day, the media were making up for lost time this morning in terms of scrutinising the finer points of Lib Dem policy and looking at Nick Clegg's personal record when it comes to integrity. Yet Lord Mandelson was claiming at lunchtime on Radio 4 that the Conservative […]
First we had Lord Adonis' piece in The Independent discussing LibLab similarities. On Saturday, in The Times, Alan Johnson was openly welcoming the idea of coalition government. And then this morning on the Today programme – and I don't have the verbatim words – Lord Mandelson ended his 8.10am interview with something like 'the only […]
Toxic stuff in Birmingham Hall Green. More on The Straight Choice website. Click on the scans to enlarge.
Last week Transport Secretary Lord Adonis highlighted his view that the Lib Dems and Labour should be natural allies. Today he reaffirms this view in a further Guardian article: "Everything that has happened since simply reinforces my argument, and makes ever more absurd the Lib Dem claim to be equidistant between Labour and the Conservatives. […]
The papers this morning suggest that the Labour manifesto being unveiled today is Blairite in its nature, and very much targeted at the Middle England voters who deserted the Tories in 1997 and helped deliver three Labour election victories for Tony Blair. The Independent suggests that Labour would adopt a Blairite "reforming zeal" on the […]
We have already covered this morning the assertion from Transport Secretary Lord Adonis that Labour and the Lib Dems are natural allies. And it would seem that there are even more senior members of the Cabinet who are urging tactical voting against the Conservatives – in other words suggesting that Labour-inclinced voters should back the […]
Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis was once actively courted by the Conservatives because of his commitment to education reform but the former Liberal Democrat uses a column for The Independent to woo LibDem voters and to argue that Labour and the Liberal Democrats are natural allies… Throughout history Labour and the Liberals have been natural allies: […]