Labour
Lord Mandelson gives Miliband two big tasks
There is always something quietly devastating about a pronouncement from Lord Mandelson. Today more polls reveal the Labour party is failing to make headway when the Tories are in an… Continue reading
81 Comments
Labour is the party that should be worrying about its record on cities
Last month, in a rare and refreshing piece of pre-local election commentary written outside the Ukip prism, author and urbanist Leo Hollis stated that the government does not understand cities.… Continue reading
27 Comments
Will the draft EU referendum bill calm Tory tensions?
The last few days have seen the Tory party losing its collective head. Number 10 hopes that the publication of a draft referendum bill will begin to restore order. If… Continue reading
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Diane Abbott to turn Labour’s attention to a ‘crisis of masculinity’
Diane Abbott has been thinking long and hard of late about how Labour responds to the family. She offers the next instalment of her ideas in a speech to think… Continue reading
96 Comments
Tory EU turmoil allows Labour and Lib Dems to develop strong message discipline
The dizzy behaviour of the Tory party on Europe is allowing its opponents to develop an incredibly strong message discipline. This is ironic because the Labour party has its own… Continue reading
79 Comments
The Speccie at the heart of Ed Miliband’s operation
‘Red Ed’ invited the great and good of the media into his Westminster den for hummus and natter last night. No one knew what they were celebrating. Poor local election… Continue reading
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Is nice but dim such a bad thing for Labour?
Labour’s lead in the polls has been pretty steady at around 10 points for a little over a year now. So why does today’s Guardian carry an article with the… Continue reading
33 Comments
Who is allowed to speak for, and to, Scotland?
I shall be on hiatus for the next week as I’m getting married on Saturday and I have an inkling that this is no time to be concerned that people… Continue reading
78 Comments
The Tory party holds its nerve – for now
The dust is settling from the County Council elections and, crucially, the Tory party seems to have stayed steady. Yes, David Davis has had a pop at the number of… Continue reading
231 Comments
Local elections 2013: in numbers
335: total councillors lost by the Tories 291: seats gained by Labour 124: losses sustained by the Lib Dems 139: seats gained by UKIP 147 UKIP council seats after today’s results 10… Continue reading
80 Comments
Labour hold South Shields with Ukip 2nd and Lib Dems 7th
The result is now in from South Shields. As expected, Labour have held the seat. Ukip have come second, with the Tories third and the Liberal Democrats a spectacularly bad… Continue reading
40 Comments
Frank Field interview: Labour needs to do something dramatic to win back its lost working class voters
There’s one government adviser who still feels Steve Hilton’s absence very keenly indeed. ‘He was always thinking ahead, how do we set the debate rather than endlessly react to it,… Continue reading
22 Comments
Labour is being forced to talk about ‘good borrowing’ before it is ready
It’s not a case of will they, won’t they when it comes to whether Labour would borrow more, but will they admit it and try to sell this plan to… Continue reading
94 Comments
The glass houses of parliament
The Labour Party is most exercised by the news, broken by the Spectator, that Economist journalist Christopher Lockwood has been appointed to the Downing Street Policy Unit. Poor old Lockwood… Continue reading
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Ed Miliband faces calls to remove Ken Livingstone from Labour NEC after ‘disgusting’ remarks
Ken Livingstone’s remarks about the motives of the Boston bombing suspects have been widely condemned for suggesting that American foreign policy ‘fuels the anger’ that drove such young men into acts of terrorism. Tory chairman… Continue reading
85 Comments
Ed Miliband’s Coldplay bid to voters
Whether you like Ed Miliband’s latest party political broadcast depends very much on whether you’re the sort of person who openly weeps while listening to Coldplay. It’s got plenty of… Continue reading
39 Comments
Ed Miliband stays in the rough with oddly charmless radio interview
The problem with Ed Miliband’s World at One interview was that he addressed Martha Kearney as if she was a public meeting. Whenever she asked him a difficult question, he just… Continue reading
101 Comments
Labour ignores reality with its political hunger games
There are few things more frustrating in politics than attempts to shut down a valid debate about a real social problem using the speaker’s personal circumstances. Today’s victim appears to… Continue reading
57 Comments
GDP relief leaves spotlight on a Labour party under pressure
Westminster has felt rather muted over the past few weeks: it may well continue to do so today, but for good reasons. That the first estimate of Q1 GDP figures… Continue reading
86 Comments
The View from 22 — Sex and success, Conservative vs. Labour unity and the two-wheeled tyranny of cyclists
What do Margaret Thatcher, Sheryl Sandberg and Angela Merkel have in common? They are the ultimate alpha-female icons, according to Alison Wolf. In this week’s Spectator cover feature, Alison examines the… Continue reading
10 Comments