Jo Swinson’s Dilemma
“I want to thank all the people who put aside their normal party choice to vote for me today.” (Jo Swinson, acceptance speech, 2017 election – quoted from memory) East Dumbartonshire was one of the top...
View ArticleFour ways Boris could fail, and in most of them Brexit fails with him
Professor Matthew Goodwin is the author of National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy, which I have read and found good. As an academic he maintains an attitude of detachment but it is...
View ArticleThe real reason Jeremy Corbyn wants Brexit
Andrew Lilico of the Telegraph does Jeremy Corbyn an injustice. He writes, Jeremy Corbyn will not stop no-deal, because he believes it’s his only route to power Given that Corbyn could have forced a...
View ArticleWhy Labour might want No Deal… and why such thoughts are dangerous
No Deal would suit Labour for the same reason as it would suit the Conservatives: with Brexit done each of the two major parties’ main rival would lose its main selling point. If No Deal turned out...
View ArticleFailing, flailing, and doing surprisingly well in the polls
I read everywhere that Boris Johnson’s government is flailing and failing. They have been soundly defeated in the Commons. It looks like Boris will be forced to ask the EU for another extension, and...
View ArticleHe Who Fights Monsters
As Guido reports, the speech that Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit Coordinator, made to the Liberal Democrat conference was rapturously received. He said, We cannot continue, dear...
View ArticleAnd fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling, Show’d like a rebel’s whore
The Independent‘s John Rentoul is scarcely likely to be happy at what the latest poll by Opinium says, but dutifully tweeted it anyway: Opinium poll for Observer, Cons back to 15-pt lead: Con 38% +2...
View ArticleThe terrible cost of political realignment
£22k! The Manchester Evening News reports: A Parliamentary candidate who could lose out on £22,000 in taxpayer cash if she is not elected to a Trafford seat next month says it could leave her unable to...
View ArticleGoodbye secure Tory poll lead, I hardly knew ye
A couple of days ago YouGov published the first set of results of their massive Multilevel Regression with Poststratification poll. This was big news, as the equivalent from the last election in 2017...
View ArticleMaybe Icarus can land with a glide
“The Liberal Democrats misread the political mood. Yet perhaps not all is lost”, writes Martin Kettle. Three conclusions follow. The first is that Brexit has not reshaped the electoral battle as...
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