He laudably steps up each time the Government calls on him – being Minister for Portsmouth is a funny way to thank him.
To be specific, it goes up by five points. That’s the first increase since July.
Another Liberal Democrat promoted. (And more Tories will seethe.)
John Major, William Hague, Michael Howard, David Cameron – all promised to win over new converts, all ended up preaching to the choir. And still no sign of the promised land: an outright majority.
On a range of key issues, Conservative policies are individually popular; yet, taken together, these relentlessly hardline stances give off a whiff of uncaring harshness.
Were the next election to produce a hung Parliament, Browne would surely urge the formation of a second blue-yellow coalition.
The book provides a feast of material – and is too canny to pretend to say the last word on its topic.
Now that both parties are fighting to take credit for the coalition's achievements, rather than seeking to blame each other for its impact, it seems an opportune moment to ask: who is winning the Coalition? Do the Lib Dems or the Conservatives enjoy more success in Government? Let's tot it up, match by match, across […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. I wrote yesterday that it is perhaps surprising not to see the economy or tax in the top five issues raised by respondents to our "red lines" poll. It's therefore necessary to say today that an economic issue came in sixth. On a scale of one to ten, in […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. I reported yesterday that the top "red line" for Conservative Party members for any coalition negotiations with the Liberal Democrats after the 2015 election is holding the In/Out EU referendum in 2017 – after the promised renegotiation. If these commitments are treated as one, the next four red lines […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Utterly unsurprisingly, holding the promised In/Out EU referendum in 2015 was the top "red line" issue for any future Conservative/Liberal Democrat negotiations in our survey which over 800 Conservative Party members answered. We asked respondents to list a series of issues on a scale of one to ten, with […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Recent opinion polls written up by Anthony Wells of YouGov show the Conservatives at 34, 33 and 33 per cent, and Labour at 38, 37 and 37 per cent. Let's apply three conclusions. First, neither of the main parties is in a strong position. Second, David Cameron has closed […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. This month, 24 per cent of respondents said that there will be a Conservative majority after the 2015 election; 24 per cent said there will be a minority Conservative Government and 19 per cent that there will be a second Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition. So just over two-thirds of respondents […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Ed Miliband has broken all the conventional rules of opposition: neutralise your Party's weaknesses, work hard early to make an impression on the electorate, appeal to floating voters. These rules are far from being perfect or complete, but Labour's leader has done himself no good by breaking them. He […]
As outlined, it suggests continuity with the Coalition’s approach. But there are tensions sbetween its aims and those of a future Labour finance team.