politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The GE2015 campaign will come down to the party with the weirdo leader versus the party that’s still toxic
It’s become the norm in recent general elections that a large part of the campaign is fought on almost totally negative grounds and we should expect nothing different in the run up to May 7th.
It should be remembered, that Ed is more disliked (aka toxic) than the Tories (from the last time Ipsos-Mori ran this polling last summer)
David Cameron is liked by 43%, and disliked by 52%. The Conservative party is liked by 39%, and disliked by 57%. The proportion liking the Conservative party has slightly increased from 35% in October 2012.
Ed Miliband is liked by 30% (down from 37% in October 2012), and disliked by 63%. The Labour party is liked by 49%, and disliked by 43%, which represents little change.
If I had a pound for every time I had read "this will be the most negative campaign ever"......
However, the premise is sound - DAVID CAMERON's Conservatives will attack ED MILIBAND's Labour, while Labour will attack the TORIES.
Of course we will get a dry run of this in September to see whether Scotland opts to AVOID ANOTHER 5YEARS OF TORY RULE , as Nichola Sturgeon was urging on QT last night......
It should be remembered, that Ed is more disliked (aka toxic) than the Tories (from the last time Ipsos-Mori ran this polling last summer)
David Cameron is liked by 43%, and disliked by 52%. The Conservative party is liked by 39%, and disliked by 57%. The proportion liking the Conservative party has slightly increased from 35% in October 2012.
Ed Miliband is liked by 30% (down from 37% in October 2012), and disliked by 63%. The Labour party is liked by 49%, and disliked by 43%, which represents little change.
That is what is so interesting about it, it's an unstoppable force meeting an immovable obstacle. It isn't even Alien vs Predator - we have films to show us how that can pan out - more the Terminator vs Godzilla. It is entirely unpredictable. Which is why the no crossover, ed pm in xxx days labour trolls are - if such a thing is possible - even more boring than they appear at first sight.
No, I have been tempted to write a similar headline in the past.
"The backstabbing weirdo versus the out of touch Old Etonian might sound like the title of an Agatha Christie novel, but it is the choice many voters face at the next election"
It should be remembered, that Ed is more disliked (aka toxic) than the Tories (from the last time Ipsos-Mori ran this polling last summer)
David Cameron is liked by 43%, and disliked by 52%. The Conservative party is liked by 39%, and disliked by 57%. The proportion liking the Conservative party has slightly increased from 35% in October 2012.
Ed Miliband is liked by 30% (down from 37% in October 2012), and disliked by 63%. The Labour party is liked by 49%, and disliked by 43%, which represents little change.
That is what is so interesting about it, it's an unstoppable force meeting an immovable obstacle. It isn't even Alien vs Predator - we have films to show us how that can pan out - more the Terminator vs Godzilla. It is entirely unpredictable. Which is why the no crossover, ed pm in xxx days labour trolls are - if such a thing is possible - even more boring than they appear at first sight.
A while back I said
the 2015 General Election, when it comes to the leaders, it may be the case of the resistible force meets the moveable object.
Labour's hope is that sufficient voters feel that things haven't got better by May 2015 and they forget that Miliband & Balls were up to their necks in screwing the economy up to 2010.
All they've tried to do over the last 4 years is to say "things are terrible. Evil Tories" when of course its turned out not to be. Hence now trying to attack via the NHS (too early, very dependent on a poor winter of weather, very likely to run out of steam as a narrative).
The Tories still have their powder dry. They've tested one or two concepts over the past year against Miliband which have worked well, but no campaign as yet. The real war starts in 2015. Now doesn't matter.
With Crosby, the Tories have a real strategist behind them, who Labour fear. Hence Labour's continual attempted attacks on Crosby, even though he's irrelevant to those outside the bubble.
Labour by contrast have a confusing mess. Hard to win for them.
When I heard Joe Root being interviewed last night and saying that their first target was to catch up with the Indian score I frankly thought he was having a laugh. What on earth has been happening this morning?
When I heard Joe Root being interviewed last night and saying that their first target was to catch up with the Indian score I frankly thought he was having a laugh. What on earth has been happening this morning?
Jimmy on 81??? WTF?
I backed India this morning, thats what happened :P
If the tory brand is still toxic then how come it easily held on to Newark with more votes than Labour and UKIP combined? You could almost have thrown in the libdem vote as well.
If the tory brand is still toxic then how come it easily held on to Newark with more votes than Labour and UKIP combined? You could almost have thrown in the libdem vote as well.
Maybe because Newark is one of the Tories' safest seats.
It'll suit Nibali. Damn shame about Froome, the race would have been set up really nicely as I think he'd have finished up with Porte/G in the cobbles stage if he was healthy.
To beat Sagan and Cancellara over the stones was an absolute beast of a ride by Nibbles though.
When I heard Joe Root being interviewed last night and saying that their first target was to catch up with the Indian score I frankly thought he was having a laugh. What on earth has been happening this morning?
Jimmy on 81??? WTF?
I backed India this morning, thats what happened :P
When I heard Joe Root being interviewed last night and saying that their first target was to catch up with the Indian score I frankly thought he was having a laugh. What on earth has been happening this morning?
Jimmy on 81??? WTF?
I backed India this morning, thats what happened :P
Welsh Assembly Presiding Officer Rosemary Butler has announced her decision to retire in 2016. Not particularly shocking as she was born in 1943. She has represented Newport West for Labour since first Weslh Assembly election in 1999. In 2011 she had a 18.3% majority
Before anyone gets too carried away about Tory Toxicity, remeber the woeful Labour campaign in Crewe & Nantwitch some years ago, when top hat wearing activists were making t*ts of themselves. It didn't go down well and gave the Conservatives a seat they still hold. The Tory Party is no more toxic than labour. Both still have all to play for.
I have already commented on here that I think the next campaign is going to be exceptionally negative and I don't claim it was an original or insightful thought.
Labour are focussed on the segment of voters they got from Lib Dems, the ones who voted tactically in many cases to keep the tories out and then found they had voted to put the tories in. They will be constantly reminded what a terrible mistake they made.
UKIP supporters will be reminded that Labour wreaked the economy and have no clear ideas about not doing so again. The only way to stop that is to vote tory.
The Lib Dems will be saying that the tories are horrible but competent and Labour nicer but incompetent and both need a steadying and reasonable hand on the tiller (and as one of them is not available vote Lib Dem).
UKIP will be abusive about the oh so hilarious LibLabCon.
When I heard Joe Root being interviewed last night and saying that their first target was to catch up with the Indian score I frankly thought he was having a laugh. What on earth has been happening this morning?
Jimmy on 81??? WTF?
I backed India this morning, thats what happened :P
Extremely patriotic of you.
Nothing to do with patriotism. This is sports betting.
Since someone mentioned Russia in the previous thread, I give them the utmost proof that even in russia they honour their enemies after their dead of course.
The colourfull activist Valeria Novodvorskaya is dead. And here's the opinion of the russian government essentially about her while she was alive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBy4vaqugOg
If the tory brand is still toxic then how come it easily held on to Newark with more votes than Labour and UKIP combined? You could almost have thrown in the libdem vote as well.
Maybe because Newark is one of the Tories' safest seats.
But they held it comfortably. I seem to remember Orpington being safe. You will have to forgive me but I don't think your answer is any kind of answer at all.
If the tory brand is still toxic then how come it easily held on to Newark with more votes than Labour and UKIP combined? You could almost have thrown in the libdem vote as well.
Maybe because Newark is one of the Tories' safest seats.
But they held it comfortably. I seem to remember Orpington being safe. You will have to forgive me but I don't think your answer is any kind of answer at all.
If the tory brand is still toxic then how come it easily held on to Newark with more votes than Labour and UKIP combined? You could almost have thrown in the libdem vote as well.
Maybe because Newark is one of the Tories' safest seats.
But they held it comfortably. I seem to remember Orpington being safe. You will have to forgive me but I don't think your answer is any kind of answer at all.
Labour were never going to get close to winning Newark because of local issues which meant there was and is an utterly fractured party and a deep distrust of Labour going far beyond any national concerns.
"The Tories, meanwhile, believe that. Labour’s big weakness is its leader and will be doing all it can to get over the message that EdM is not fit to be PM. They will try to make the election a choice of leaders focusing all the time on portraying Miliband as “weak” and “weird”."
I not sure that the Conservatives believe that its just Ed Miliband who is the Labour party's big weakness, and the current polling is definitely showing that its both Miliband and Ed Balls who are a drag on Labour's chances of winning the next GE. In fact, you could say that the whole Labour Shadow Cabinet is failing to set the heather on fire right now. We shouldn't forget how keen New Labour were to push team Blair/Brown in a bid to strengthen their economic credentials when it came to their earlier GE campaigns either.
Before the last GE, the Conservatives also pushed Cameron as a Leader whose was part of a close working team which included Osborne and Hague. I suspect that the Conservatives will push hard on the fact that they now have a proven Government track record with a range of competent Ministers rather than try to just make the election campaign about Cameron vs Miliband. Ed Miliband's biggest mistake has been his failure to build a strong Shadow Cabinet team around him which is fit for purpose and able to withstand the scrutiny of an intense GE campaign.
It would be perfectly possible for tomorrow's play at Trent Bridge to be exciting if both teams go for the win. There ought to be some sort of penalty for teams which basically agree among themselves to draw a match with an entire day to go, because it's not good for viewers and spectators.
If the tory brand is still toxic then how come it easily held on to Newark with more votes than Labour and UKIP combined? You could almost have thrown in the libdem vote as well.
Maybe because Newark is one of the Tories' safest seats.
But they held it comfortably. I seem to remember Orpington being safe. You will have to forgive me but I don't think your answer is any kind of answer at all.
Disagree. Your initial comment was a bit silly IMO.
The SNP are doing a fine job of alienating some of the very 'Scottish voters' they previously persuaded to tactically vote for them at Holyrood back in 2011. You only have to look at what happened in the Euro's recently when Salmond at the last hurdle tried to persuade voters to lend them their vote to keep UKIP out of Scotland......
If I had a pound for every time I had read "this will be the most negative campaign ever"......
However, the premise is sound - DAVID CAMERON's Conservatives will attack ED MILIBAND's Labour, while Labour will attack the TORIES.
Of course we will get a dry run of this in September to see whether Scotland opts to AVOID ANOTHER 5YEARS OF TORY RULE , as Nichola Sturgeon was urging on QT last night......
If the tory brand is still toxic then how come it easily held on to Newark with more votes than Labour and UKIP combined? You could almost have thrown in the libdem vote as well.
Maybe because Newark is one of the Tories' safest seats.
But they held it comfortably. I seem to remember Orpington being safe. You will have to forgive me but I don't think your answer is any kind of answer at all.
Disagree. Your initial comment was a bit silly IMO.
You might then explain why clearly people were prepared to vote Tory when it became clear the alternative was UKIP (or Labour if the tory vote was split enough). In the run up to 1964 the tories lost Orpington, in the ruun up to 2010 Labour lost Crewe. The argument is self evident.
It would be perfectly possible for tomorrow's play at Trent Bridge to be exciting if both teams go for the win. There ought to be some sort of penalty for teams which basically agree among themselves to draw a match with an entire day to go, because it's not good for viewers and spectators.
That is frankly a silly idea.
1) Who gets to decide that the teams have conspired for a draw?
2) What sort of penalty would apply?
3) What happens if the match has been plagued by bad light/rain?
4) Some of the best matches I've been to have been draws, with at least one side determined to play out for a draw on the last day (5th test of 2005)
5) It would encourage the tactics of limited overs cricket.
6) It buggers up a test series, say we adopted your policy, one side would be forced to play catch up for the rest of this series and not take the long term view.
If the tory brand is still toxic then how come it easily held on to Newark with more votes than Labour and UKIP combined? You could almost have thrown in the libdem vote as well.
Maybe because Newark is one of the Tories' safest seats.
But they held it comfortably. I seem to remember Orpington being safe. You will have to forgive me but I don't think your answer is any kind of answer at all.
Labour were never going to get close to winning Newark because of local issues which meant there was and is an utterly fractured party and a deep distrust of Labour going far beyond any national concerns.
That is not my point - as I have repeated at least twice. The tories held it comfortably and UKIP were comfortably held off despite an obvious switch to them. We are talking about the tories being 'toxic'. Why if that was/is the case did people flock to them to keep out UKIP. Why is nobody saying that UKIP is 'toxic'??
I have already commented on here that I think the next campaign is going to be exceptionally negative and I don't claim it was an original or insightful thought.
Labour are focussed on the segment of voters they got from Lib Dems, the ones who voted tactically in many cases to keep the tories out and then found they had voted to put the tories in. They will be constantly reminded what a terrible mistake they made.
UKIP supporters will be reminded that Labour wreaked the economy and have no clear ideas about not doing so again. The only way to stop that is to vote tory.
The Lib Dems will be saying that the tories are horrible but competent and Labour nicer but incompetent and both need a steadying and reasonable hand on the tiller (and as one of them is not available vote Lib Dem).
UKIP will be abusive about the oh so hilarious LibLabCon.
Personally, I can't wait.
UKIP is primary a social conservative party not so on economics. For them the Tories wrecked the economy as much as Labour, but their priority is social conservatism not the PMI index.
If the tory brand is still toxic then how come it easily held on to Newark with more votes than Labour and UKIP combined? You could almost have thrown in the libdem vote as well.
Maybe because Newark is one of the Tories' safest seats.
But they held it comfortably. I seem to remember Orpington being safe. You will have to forgive me but I don't think your answer is any kind of answer at all.
Labour were never going to get close to winning Newark because of local issues which meant there was and is an utterly fractured party and a deep distrust of Labour going far beyond any national concerns.
That is not my point - as I have repeated at least twice. The tories held it comfortably and UKIP were comfortably held off despite an obvious switch to them. We are talking about the tories being 'toxic'. Why if that was/is the case did people flock to them to keep out UKIP. Why is nobody saying that UKIP is 'toxic'??
Because they are not toxic and neither are the Tories. This is a left wing meme that is, in the end, utterly meaningless. Right now the only party that are truly toxic are the Lib Dems.
If the tory brand is still toxic then how come it easily held on to Newark with more votes than Labour and UKIP combined? You could almost have thrown in the libdem vote as well.
Maybe because Newark is one of the Tories' safest seats.
But they held it comfortably. I seem to remember Orpington being safe. You will have to forgive me but I don't think your answer is any kind of answer at all.
Bloody hell, that's going back a bit !
Thats because I go back a bit. I remember Christine keeler. Not personally of course! But I remember the effect of that scandal and the loss of Orpington. The Liberals turned a majority of nearly 14,000 to one for them of nearly 8000.
Just to reassure PBers that my recently implanted Tebbit Chip is working fine
The Red-Green coalition in the Rentool household is split between England and India when it comes to the cricket. So where can I buy her one of these Tebbit chips then :-)
The "weirdo leader" versus "the Party that's still toxic" - enough about UKIP and the Lib Dems, I'm surprised no one is talking about the Conservatives with their weirdo leader and the toxic Labour Party ?
Slightly more seriously, two unrelated thoughts - Newark is being wheeled out as some form of Tory "sacred cow". Let's not forget the Party flooded the seat with hundreds of activists in the run up to and on Polling Day (much as the LDs did on a smaller scale at Eastleigh and Labour did in Ealing in 2007). They overpowered UKIP in the "ground war" in a way they could not repeat in 300 constituencies next May and all to hold a supposedly safe seat with a massive majority.
Even the Prime Minister visited four times - had UKIP won the seat, I suspect the Conservatives would have been thrown into a real crisis.
Second unrelated matter - I thought Shadsy had priced up every constituency but I can't find the prices for East Ham. It seems strange - a 100 seat accumulator on the safest seats (priced up at say 1/100) would still yield a return worth investing £1k on.
If the tory brand is still toxic then how come it easily held on to Newark with more votes than Labour and UKIP combined? You could almost have thrown in the libdem vote as well.
Maybe because Newark is one of the Tories' safest seats.
But they held it comfortably. I seem to remember Orpington being safe. You will have to forgive me but I don't think your answer is any kind of answer at all.
Labour were never going to get close to winning Newark because of local issues which meant there was and is an utterly fractured party and a deep distrust of Labour going far beyond any national concerns.
That is not my point - as I have repeated at least twice. The tories held it comfortably and UKIP were comfortably held off despite an obvious switch to them. We are talking about the tories being 'toxic'. Why if that was/is the case did people flock to them to keep out UKIP. Why is nobody saying that UKIP is 'toxic'??
Because they are not toxic and neither are the Tories. This is a left wing meme that is, in the end, utterly meaningless. Right now the only party that are truly toxic are the Lib Dems.
Actually the Tory brand is trashed since Major, with all those scandals and incompetence that oozed out of his administration, which stench has not got away. The Tories have not recovered from it 20 years later. As for the LD, the last time they did such a strategic error they needed 50 years to recover.
Just to reassure PBers that my recently implanted Tebbit Chip is working fine
Belay that, Cap'n Doc! You don't like cricket. Your dislike of the game was the one big factor that disqualified you from a career in the Church of England (your indifference to steam engines could have been overlooked as youthful indiscretion give your fascination with railways generally). So what is all this nonsense about a Tebbit chip?
@Speedy. How have the conservatives ruined the economy? They left an economy in good shape in 1997. They inherited a mess in n2010 and are putting it right. UKIPers might 'think' that of course but that is not saying much.
How if forces united to keep out UKIP is it that they cannot be said to be toxic to a wide strata of voters?
The "weirdo leader" versus "the Party that's still toxic" - enough about UKIP and the Lib Dems, I'm surprised no one is talking about the Conservatives with their weirdo leader and the toxic Labour Party ?
Slightly more seriously, two unrelated thoughts - Newark is being wheeled out as some form of Tory "sacred cow". Let's not forget the Party flooded the seat with hundreds of activists in the run up to and on Polling Day (much as the LDs did on a smaller scale at Eastleigh and Labour did in Ealing in 2007). They overpowered UKIP in the "ground war" in a way they could not repeat in 300 constituencies next May and all to hold a supposedly safe seat with a massive majority.
Even the Prime Minister visited four times - had UKIP won the seat, I suspect the Conservatives would have been thrown into a real crisis.
Second unrelated matter - I thought Shadsy had priced up every constituency but I can't find the prices for East Ham. It seems strange - a 100 seat accumulator on the safest seats (priced up at say 1/100) would still yield a return worth investing £1k on.
The SNP are doing a fine job of alienating some of the very 'Scottish voters' they previously persuaded to tactically vote for them at Holyrood back in 2011. You only have to look at what happened in the Euro's recently when Salmond at the last hurdle tried to persuade voters to lend them their vote to keep UKIP out of Scotland......
If I had a pound for every time I had read "this will be the most negative campaign ever"......
However, the premise is sound - DAVID CAMERON's Conservatives will attack ED MILIBAND's Labour, while Labour will attack the TORIES.
Of course we will get a dry run of this in September to see whether Scotland opts to AVOID ANOTHER 5YEARS OF TORY RULE , as Nichola Sturgeon was urging on QT last night......
Ha Ha Ha, only a Tory diehard could come out with that mince. Tories are the experts at alienation, how well did they do in the Euro's again, oh a very very distant 3rd, that would explain why they spend most of their time decrying the successful SNP.
Second unrelated matter - I thought Shadsy had priced up every constituency but I can't find the prices for East Ham. It seems strange - a 100 seat accumulator on the safest seats (priced up at say 1/100) would still yield a return worth investing £1k on.
GOOD LUCK GETTING ON THAT THERE RELATED CONTINGENCIES !
@Speedy. How have the conservatives ruined the economy? They left an economy in good shape in 1997. They inherited a mess in n2010 and are putting it right. UKIPers might 'think' that of course but that is not saying much.
How if forces united to keep out UKIP is it that they cannot be said to be toxic to a wide strata of voters?
These 3 reasons cover that point of view: First, it's the nature of the UKIP vote, in that they have been left behind the London boom (income inequality). Second, is the nature of the crisis caused by incompetent bankers and the natural identification of them with tories (which is ironic because had there been no thacherite deregulation of lending and finance the crisis would never have happened). Third, is the initial failure of tory economic policy from 2010 till mid 2013 which also cant be said to be a success today (borrowing is still sky high and growth is limited to the London boom)
Thanks - no more than I expected. I'd be more interested in a bet on the size of the Labour majority. On the accumulator, no surprise either. Without being unkind, this is all nice publicity but it's not meaningful.
On a much more positive note, I hope one or two of you followed my advice and backed GREGORIAN each way for the July Cup. I got 16s yesterday before the withdrawals and he returned 12s so that will pay for a nice dinner for me and Mrs Stodge in the coming week.
I have to say skimming the constituency prices Shadsy seems to have covered the angles as you'd expect. Back in 1997, I made a lot of money backing the LDs in Carshalton & Wallington and Sutton & Cheam because I was an activist with local knowledge and when the local independent bookie in St Helier put up 4/1 on the LDs winning C&W I knew it was time to fill my boots.
Without detailed local knowledge it's very hard to have an advantage - I might be tempted in the light of the Illogan win to have a small wager on the LDs winning Camborne & Redruth at 7/2 but conversely the Conservatives to win St Ives looks tempting at 11/10. Andrew George had a poor result last time and Newlyn is or was fertile UKIP territory. Penzance has always had a strong Labour core which has possibly voted tactically in times past.
I'm also tempted by the 11/4 on Labour winning Ilford North closer to home.
The SNP are doing a fine job of alienating some of the very 'Scottish voters' they previously persuaded to tactically vote for them at Holyrood back in 2011. You only have to look at what happened in the Euro's recently when Salmond at the last hurdle tried to persuade voters to lend them their vote to keep UKIP out of Scotland......
If I had a pound for every time I had read "this will be the most negative campaign ever"......
However, the premise is sound - DAVID CAMERON's Conservatives will attack ED MILIBAND's Labour, while Labour will attack the TORIES.
Of course we will get a dry run of this in September to see whether Scotland opts to AVOID ANOTHER 5YEARS OF TORY RULE , as Nichola Sturgeon was urging on QT last night......
Ha Ha Ha, only a Tory diehard could come out with that mince. Tories are the experts at alienation, how well did they do in the Euro's again, oh a very very distant 3rd, that would explain why they spend most of their time decrying the successful SNP.
Wrong. The Tories were in third 3.8% behind Ukip on first in the Euros. That is not "very distant"
The PB Hodges out in force and very bullish. Now Labour are more toxic than the Tories and Dave walks on water. Have I missed a crossover poll, or is this a topic from a few months ago and we are in the middle of the PBHodgegasm and the glorious three polls?
The PB Hodges out in force and very bullish. Now Labour are more toxic than the Tories and Dave walks on water. Have I missed a crossover poll, or is this a topic from a few months ago and we are in the middle of the PBHodgegasm and the glorious three polls?
Why don't you make an argument instead of mouthing off? Perhaps you are basing your comments on malcolmg's level of knowledge?
@Speedy. How have the conservatives ruined the economy? They left an economy in good shape in 1997. They inherited a mess in n2010 and are putting it right. UKIPers might 'think' that of course but that is not saying much.
How if forces united to keep out UKIP is it that they cannot be said to be toxic to a wide strata of voters?
These 3 reasons cover that point of view: First, it's the nature of the UKIP vote, in that they have been left behind the London boom (income inequality). Second, is the nature of the crisis caused by incompetent bankers and the natural identification of them with tories (which is ironic because had there been no thacherite deregulation of lending and finance the crisis would never have happened). Third, is the initial failure of tory economic policy from 2010 till mid 2013 which also cant be said to be a success today (borrowing is still sky high and growth is limited to the London boom)
This may be the reason UKIPers tustfy their actions to themselves but it does not make it true
The 'boom' is beyond London (there was qite a discission about this a few days ago). Witness the car investment in the regions (something which could disappear if UKIP walked us out of the EU) Brown's warped metjhod of banking regulation alowed the croisis to fester. The tories warned about it 10 years previously Tory economic policy did not fail. On the contrary Osborne wisely adapted his policies to reflect the Eurozone crisis. Osborne has successfully walked an economic tightrope and preserved many jobs. The disaster predicted by labour never happened.
No one needs to portray ed as weird; just leave him to do it on his own.
I don't think I am the only one who finds this "Ed is weird" thing extremely sinister. A number of Tories on here have remarked that they too find it uncomfortable.
I was taken by Peter Hitchens' column on the topic - regarding politics and policy I would agree with him on almost nothing but he comes across as a decent compassionate man.
If the tory brand is still toxic then how come it easily held on to Newark with more votes than Labour and UKIP combined? You could almost have thrown in the libdem vote as well.
Maybe because Newark is one of the Tories' safest seats.
But they held it comfortably. I seem to remember Orpington being safe. You will have to forgive me but I don't think your answer is any kind of answer at all.
Labour were never going to get close to winning Newark because of local issues which meant there was and is an utterly fractured party and a deep distrust of Labour going far beyond any national concerns.
That is not my point - as I have repeated at least twice. The tories held it comfortably and UKIP were comfortably held off despite an obvious switch to them. We are talking about the tories being 'toxic'. Why if that was/is the case did people flock to them to keep out UKIP. Why is nobody saying that UKIP is 'toxic'??
Because they are not toxic and neither are the Tories. This is a left wing meme that is, in the end, utterly meaningless. Right now the only party that are truly toxic are the Lib Dems.
No, it is a right wing meme; or rather, it is a Conservative Party meme. What it means is that voters like Conservative policies until they find out they are the policies of the Conservative Party. In other words, the Conservative Party has the right policies but the wrong image. This was the rationale for the detoxification strategy of Osborne and Cameron before the last election: windmills on huskies and so on.
Mr. W, I thought Thorpe had been out of the closet for years?
Apparently not. In his recent autobiography he specifically denied any breast stroking !!
He's also suffered considerably from depression, that I would have thought is probably repression related. Hopefully he find some peace once the fuss has died down, although that will probably be some time with Thorpe's huge reputation in Oz.
Just to reassure PBers that my recently implanted Tebbit Chip is working fine
Belay that, Cap'n Doc! You don't like cricket. Your dislike of the game was the one big factor that disqualified you from a career in the Church of England (your indifference to steam engines could have been overlooked as youthful indiscretion give your fascination with railways generally). So what is all this nonsense about a Tebbit chip?
The most recent poll found Nigel to be the weirdest of the party leaders, for what it is worth, which is hopefully very little.
IIRC Ed was a not too distant second to Nigel. Vying with the UKIP leader as the nations finest weirdo is a poll the LotO does not want to come close to winning.
Arguing that a party that has massively improved its vote share in every recent by election, has just won a national election for the first time, and has never had more members, is somehow "toxic" for voters has to be the biggest "lalalala I don't want to hear, I'm not listening" in the history of political debate
Mr. Isam, at the risk of going quantum on you, I both agree and disagree.
UKIP's popularity has risen significantly, its membership has soared and its made real progress in various elections over a number of years.
However, it's also the case that quite a lot of people look not merely with distaste, but bafflement and substantial unease at UKIP. I forget the constituency, but the last by-election saw (I think) some Labour people tactically voting for the Conservatives to try and keep UKIP out.
The electorate's large enough for a party to both rise in popularity and be seen as toxic.
Mr. Isam, at the risk of going quantum on you, I both agree and disagree.
UKIP's popularity has risen significantly, its membership has soared and its made real progress in various elections over a number of years.
However, it's also the case that quite a lot of people look not merely with distaste, but bafflement and substantial unease at UKIP. I forget the constituency, but the last by-election saw (I think) some Labour people tactically voting for the Conservatives to try and keep UKIP out.
The electorate's large enough for a party to both rise in popularity and be seen as toxic.
' at the risk of going quantum on you, I both agree and disagree.' -- I must say I like that phrase. The Quantum theory of politics. Actually there may be a relevance there. Do we affect things by observing them? To what extent to polls affect what they are looking at?
Mr. Flightpath, I had a line I forget precisely, but the gist of which was: Labour has adopted a quantum approach to the bankers' bonus tax. It pays for multiple things, until this is observed, at which point it can only fund one.
Last election I feel YouGov (daily polls) more directed than represented public opinion. Excessive polling is a danger, I think. Far, far worse, however, was the worm in the debates. That should be abolished immediately.
It won't be, but it should be.
Mr. Hopkins, I'm not sure if that's more unfair to UKIP or Marmite...
Worth mentioning it's entirely possible not to be a true believer or a hater. I've voted UKIP a couple of times, but it'd take a near miracle for me to do so at the General Election.
I have a friend who has never been that interested in politics - enough to be informed and know the big policies, but not enough to, say, post on a political betting blog. He has some fairly socially conservative views and is very anti-PC. Yet to my surprise he hates UKIP and the fact that they won the EU elections has spurred him on to actually want to be an activist, he's currently debating which party to align himself to.
Mr. Isam, at the risk of going quantum on you, I both agree and disagree.
UKIP's popularity has risen significantly, its membership has soared and its made real progress in various elections over a number of years.
However, it's also the case that quite a lot of people look not merely with distaste, but bafflement and substantial unease at UKIP. I forget the constituency, but the last by-election saw (I think) some Labour people tactically voting for the Conservatives to try and keep UKIP out.
The electorate's large enough for a party to both rise in popularity and be seen as toxic.
Yeah I can see that, but in my experience, being the only one of my crowd that has any interest in politics, my mates all say "Your boys are doing well" etc
To the average punter in the street, UKIP winning the Euros and coming 2nd in by elections is massive
The reason more people from other parties dislike UKIP now is because they are a threat in a way they weren't before.
I support a football team whose local rivals never finish above us in the league.. and as a result I don't particularly think about them or have negative views of them.. on the other hand, their fans absolutely despise my club. When they look like they might be getting good, and may be about to finish above us, I find my hatred for them growing, which is quite reassuring!
However, it's also the case that quite a lot of people look not merely with distaste, but bafflement and substantial unease at UKIP. I forget the constituency, but the last by-election saw (I think) some Labour people tactically voting for the Conservatives to try and keep UKIP out.
Only if you believe Richard N's secret sources that he cannot reveal to anyone else and that we are just supposed to accept his word about.
Arguing that a party that has massively improved its vote share in every recent by election, has just won a national election for the first time, and has never had more members, is somehow "toxic" for voters has to be the biggest "lalalala I don't want to hear, I'm not listening" in the history of political debate
I put a question mark at the end of my - well ummm... question. The fact of Newark was that people from other parties voted against UKIP and chose the Tories. We will gloss over the motives behind voting UKIP, there are many from the banal through the bogus and on to the beastly - what is important is that the extreme right wing views (or if you cannot face that then the extreme right wing reputation) of UKIP prompted many from the mainstream to chose the Tories as the best alternative to prevent 'an Orpington'.
I have a friend who has never been that interested in politics - enough to be informed and know the big policies, but not enough to, say, post on a political betting blog. He has some fairly socially conservative views and is very anti-PC. Yet to my surprise he hates UKIP and the fact that they won the EU elections has spurred him on to actually want to be an activist, he's currently debating which party to align himself to.
Another 5 days until I get my iMac back from the Apple repairers. The graphic boarded needs replacing.. It's very hard using the iPad for continued conversation.
Was out today leafleting in Barnes and in this Con/L.Dem area I got plenty of kind comments re UKIP.
However, it's also the case that quite a lot of people look not merely with distaste, but bafflement and substantial unease at UKIP. I forget the constituency, but the last by-election saw (I think) some Labour people tactically voting for the Conservatives to try and keep UKIP out.
Only if you believe Richard N's secret sources that he cannot reveal to anyone else and that we are just supposed to accept his word about.
If it was happening.. and I don't think it is plausible in any significant way, the same may well have been happening in every recent by election
But put it this way... the UKIP vote went up 22% while Lab and Libs went down 22%
People are saying these Lab and Lib votes DIDN'T go to UKIP... they went to conservatives and the UKIP 22% came from somewhere else, even though the Cons only went down 9%
Looks like a bit of a stretch
Imagine UKIP vote went up the same amount as BNP went down in a constituency, and Richard Tyndall and I were saying it didn't show BNP voters had gone to UKIP!!!
Mildly surprised you were leafleting. Bit of a long time to go before the next election (mind you, I've had a few things from both the blues and the reds).
Arguing that a party that has massively improved its vote share in every recent by election, has just won a national election for the first time, and has never had more members, is somehow "toxic" for voters has to be the biggest "lalalala I don't want to hear, I'm not listening" in the history of political debate
I put a question mark at the end of my - well ummm... question. The fact of Newark was that people from other parties voted against UKIP and chose the Tories. We will gloss over the motives behind voting UKIP, there are many from the banal through the bogus and on to the beastly - what is important is that the extreme right wing views (or if you cannot face that then the extreme right wing reputation) of UKIP prompted many from the mainstream to chose the Tories as the best alternative to prevent 'an Orpington'.
I don't agree that
"The fact of Newark was that people from other parties voted against UKIP and chose the Tories."
Fisher's forecast has moved into Labour as favourites to be largest party (and NOM had just crossedover too). Do we know what the L&M model is saying, since it's another swingback based model?
We know that about half the Kipper vote is ex Tory, and about half from the other main parties and DNV.
So maybe 11% of The Kipper vote was 2010 Con, 3% 2010 kipper and the remainder came from LD and Lab or 2010 DNV.
There must have been some churn from 2010 LD and Lab to Tory. How much of this was tactical and how much conversion to Osbornomics is very difficult to say.
Tactical voting against Tory or Lab is commonplace. It would be surprising if there was not some against UKIP. The only real question is how common is the phenomenon and whether it will make a difference in any seat.
Comments
David Cameron is liked by 43%, and disliked by 52%. The Conservative party is liked by 39%, and disliked by 57%. The proportion liking the Conservative party has slightly increased from 35% in October 2012.
Ed Miliband is liked by 30% (down from 37% in October 2012), and disliked by 63%. The Labour party is liked by 49%, and disliked by 43%, which represents little change.
http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3245/Ipsos-MORI-Political-Monitor-August-2013.aspx
However, the premise is sound - DAVID CAMERON's Conservatives will attack ED MILIBAND's Labour, while Labour will attack the TORIES.
Of course we will get a dry run of this in September to see whether Scotland opts to AVOID ANOTHER 5YEARS OF TORY RULE , as Nichola Sturgeon was urging on QT last night......
"The backstabbing weirdo versus the out of touch Old Etonian might sound like the title of an Agatha Christie novel, but it is the choice many voters face at the next election"
the 2015 General Election, when it comes to the leaders, it may be the case of the resistible force meets the moveable object.
http://www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2013/12/11/is-it-all-about-leader-ratings-and-the-economic-lead/
All they've tried to do over the last 4 years is to say "things are terrible. Evil Tories" when of course its turned out not to be. Hence now trying to attack via the NHS (too early, very dependent on a poor winter of weather, very likely to run out of steam as a narrative).
The Tories still have their powder dry. They've tested one or two concepts over the past year against Miliband which have worked well, but no campaign as yet. The real war starts in 2015. Now doesn't matter.
With Crosby, the Tories have a real strategist behind them, who Labour fear. Hence Labour's continual attempted attacks on Crosby, even though he's irrelevant to those outside the bubble.
Labour by contrast have a confusing mess. Hard to win for them.
Kesh in London: Awkward stat of the day. Jimmy Anderson has hit more fours in this innings than Alastair Cook has in 2014.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2014/0710/Russia-takes-aim-at-dissent-media-criticism-and-high-heels?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily&utm_campaign=20140711_Newsletter:Daily_Sailthru&cmpid=ema:nws:Daily%20Newsletter%20(07-11-2014)
Jimmy on 81??? WTF?
To beat Sagan and Cancellara over the stones was an absolute beast of a ride by Nibbles though.
Need them to somehow get back into 10-1 ^_~
Labour are focussed on the segment of voters they got from Lib Dems, the ones who voted tactically in many cases to keep the tories out and then found they had voted to put the tories in. They will be constantly reminded what a terrible mistake they made.
UKIP supporters will be reminded that Labour wreaked the economy and have no clear ideas about not doing so again. The only way to stop that is to vote tory.
The Lib Dems will be saying that the tories are horrible but competent and Labour nicer but incompetent and both need a steadying and reasonable hand on the tiller (and as one of them is not available vote Lib Dem).
UKIP will be abusive about the oh so hilarious LibLabCon.
Personally, I can't wait.
I suspect that will be more of a burden next May.
These "2010 LD switchers" - how is the party leadership intending to win them back in time for 2015 - or has it abandoned them as a lost cause?
http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/740259
The colourfull activist Valeria Novodvorskaya is dead.
And here's the opinion of the russian government essentially about her while she was alive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBy4vaqugOg
I not sure that the Conservatives believe that its just Ed Miliband who is the Labour party's big weakness, and the current polling is definitely showing that its both Miliband and Ed Balls who are a drag on Labour's chances of winning the next GE. In fact, you could say that the whole Labour Shadow Cabinet is failing to set the heather on fire right now. We shouldn't forget how keen New Labour were to push team Blair/Brown in a bid to strengthen their economic credentials when it came to their earlier GE campaigns either.
Before the last GE, the Conservatives also pushed Cameron as a Leader whose was part of a close working team which included Osborne and Hague. I suspect that the Conservatives will push hard on the fact that they now have a proven Government track record with a range of competent Ministers rather than try to just make the election campaign about Cameron vs Miliband. Ed Miliband's biggest mistake has been his failure to build a strong Shadow Cabinet team around him which is fit for purpose and able to withstand the scrutiny of an intense GE campaign.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-13/leaks-raise-fresh-sarkozy-corruption-allegations/5592620
So it will be Le Pen vs Hollande.
1) Who gets to decide that the teams have conspired for a draw?
2) What sort of penalty would apply?
3) What happens if the match has been plagued by bad light/rain?
4) Some of the best matches I've been to have been draws, with at least one side determined to play out for a draw on the last day (5th test of 2005)
5) It would encourage the tactics of limited overs cricket.
6) It buggers up a test series, say we adopted your policy, one side would be forced to play catch up for the rest of this series and not take the long term view.
We are talking about the tories being 'toxic'. Why if that was/is the case did people flock to them to keep out UKIP.
Why is nobody saying that UKIP is 'toxic'??
For them the Tories wrecked the economy as much as Labour, but their priority is social conservatism not the PMI index.
Talking about them though:
http://www.columnist.org.uk/2014/07/12/meet-the-parts-of-britain-that-could-elect-our-first-ukip-mps/
I dislike this humidity.
Meanwhile, in Turkey, man who wants to be president wants more power for the presidency:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28267924
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28263683
Worth mentioning that a mine is being opened in Dartmoor. Apparently we have the world's third largest deposit.
The "weirdo leader" versus "the Party that's still toxic" - enough about UKIP and the Lib Dems, I'm surprised no one is talking about the Conservatives with their weirdo leader and the toxic Labour Party ?
Slightly more seriously, two unrelated thoughts - Newark is being wheeled out as some form of Tory "sacred cow". Let's not forget the Party flooded the seat with hundreds of activists in the run up to and on Polling Day (much as the LDs did on a smaller scale at Eastleigh and Labour did in Ealing in 2007). They overpowered UKIP in the "ground war" in a way they could not repeat in 300 constituencies next May and all to hold a supposedly safe seat with a massive majority.
Even the Prime Minister visited four times - had UKIP won the seat, I suspect the Conservatives would have been thrown into a real crisis.
Second unrelated matter - I thought Shadsy had priced up every constituency but I can't find the prices for East Ham. It seems strange - a 100 seat accumulator on the safest seats (priced up at say 1/100) would still yield a return worth investing £1k on.
The Tories have not recovered from it 20 years later.
As for the LD, the last time they did such a strategic error they needed 50 years to recover.
Avast and belike.
P.S. Hope your mum is well.
How have the conservatives ruined the economy? They left an economy in good shape in 1997. They inherited a mess in n2010 and are putting it right.
UKIPers might 'think' that of course but that is not saying much.
How if forces united to keep out UKIP is it that they cannot be said to be toxic to a wide strata of voters?
Labour are 1/100 and everyone else are 100/1
http://www.oddschecker.com/politics/british-politics/east-ham/winning-party
http://sportsbeta.ladbrokes.com/UK-General-Election/Next-General-Election-Constituency-Betting/Politics-N-1z140vgZ1z140v7Z1z141ne/
Edit: But he won't let you do an accumulator.
3rd, that would explain why they spend most of their time decrying the successful SNP.
Obviously Shadsy won't take this bet :P
First, it's the nature of the UKIP vote, in that they have been left behind the London boom (income inequality).
Second, is the nature of the crisis caused by incompetent bankers and the natural identification of them with tories (which is ironic because had there been no thacherite deregulation of lending and finance the crisis would never have happened).
Third, is the initial failure of tory economic policy from 2010 till mid 2013 which also cant be said to be a success today (borrowing is still sky high and growth is limited to the London boom)
On a much more positive note, I hope one or two of you followed my advice and backed GREGORIAN each way for the July Cup. I got 16s yesterday before the withdrawals and he returned 12s so that will pay for a nice dinner for me and Mrs Stodge in the coming week.
Without detailed local knowledge it's very hard to have an advantage - I might be tempted in the light of the Illogan win to have a small wager on the LDs winning Camborne & Redruth at 7/2 but conversely the Conservatives to win St Ives looks tempting at 11/10. Andrew George had a poor result last time and Newlyn is or was fertile UKIP territory. Penzance has always had a strong Labour core which has possibly voted tactically in times past.
I'm also tempted by the 11/4 on Labour winning Ilford North closer to home.
@TSE - damn right. Some of the greatest tests have been when one side is playing for the draw. Saving a test is an honour.
The 'boom' is beyond London (there was qite a discission about this a few days ago). Witness the car investment in the regions (something which could disappear if UKIP walked us out of the EU)
Brown's warped metjhod of banking regulation alowed the croisis to fester. The tories warned about it 10 years previously
Tory economic policy did not fail. On the contrary Osborne wisely adapted his policies to reflect the Eurozone crisis. Osborne has successfully walked an economic tightrope and preserved many jobs. The disaster predicted by labour never happened.
I was taken by Peter Hitchens' column on the topic - regarding politics and policy I would agree with him on almost nothing but he comes across as a decent compassionate man.
Is it better or worse than attacking people based on which school their parents sent them to?
It's not like Paul Dacre's playing the Rains of Castermere on the violin.
What with Tom Daley and now the "Thorpedo" there must be something in the water ....
He's also suffered considerably from depression, that I would have thought is probably repression related. Hopefully he find some peace once the fuss has died down, although that will probably be some time with Thorpe's huge reputation in Oz.
Hmm. I wonder why I thought that? I hasten to add I don't have first hand experience of the matter.
The charge of hypocrisy is well founded.
UKIP's popularity has risen significantly, its membership has soared and its made real progress in various elections over a number of years.
However, it's also the case that quite a lot of people look not merely with distaste, but bafflement and substantial unease at UKIP. I forget the constituency, but the last by-election saw (I think) some Labour people tactically voting for the Conservatives to try and keep UKIP out.
The electorate's large enough for a party to both rise in popularity and be seen as toxic.
The Quantum theory of politics. Actually there may be a relevance there. Do we affect things by observing them? To what extent to polls affect what they are looking at?
Labour has adopted a quantum approach to the bankers' bonus tax. It pays for multiple things, until this is observed, at which point it can only fund one.
Last election I feel YouGov (daily polls) more directed than represented public opinion. Excessive polling is a danger, I think. Far, far worse, however, was the worm in the debates. That should be abolished immediately.
It won't be, but it should be.
Mr. Hopkins, I'm not sure if that's more unfair to UKIP or Marmite...
Worth mentioning it's entirely possible not to be a true believer or a hater. I've voted UKIP a couple of times, but it'd take a near miracle for me to do so at the General Election.
He has some fairly socially conservative views and is very anti-PC. Yet to my surprise he hates UKIP and the fact that they won the EU elections has spurred him on to actually want to be an activist, he's currently debating which party to align himself to.
Anecdote over.
To the average punter in the street, UKIP winning the Euros and coming 2nd in by elections is massive
The reason more people from other parties dislike UKIP now is because they are a threat in a way they weren't before.
I support a football team whose local rivals never finish above us in the league.. and as a result I don't particularly think about them or have negative views of them.. on the other hand, their fans absolutely despise my club. When they look like they might be getting good, and may be about to finish above us, I find my hatred for them growing, which is quite reassuring!
The fact of Newark was that people from other parties voted against UKIP and chose the Tories. We will gloss over the motives behind voting UKIP, there are many from the banal through the bogus and on to the beastly - what is important is that the extreme right wing views (or if you cannot face that then the extreme right wing reputation) of UKIP prompted many from the mainstream to chose the Tories as the best alternative to prevent 'an Orpington'.
Or well Conservatives maybe ?
It's very hard using the iPad for continued conversation.
Was out today leafleting in Barnes and in this Con/L.Dem area I got plenty of kind comments re UKIP.
But put it this way... the UKIP vote went up 22% while Lab and Libs went down 22%
People are saying these Lab and Lib votes DIDN'T go to UKIP... they went to conservatives and the UKIP 22% came from somewhere else, even though the Cons only went down 9%
Looks like a bit of a stretch
Imagine UKIP vote went up the same amount as BNP went down in a constituency, and Richard Tyndall and I were saying it didn't show BNP voters had gone to UKIP!!!
That's what we are being asked to believe
Mildly surprised you were leafleting. Bit of a long time to go before the next election (mind you, I've had a few things from both the blues and the reds).
"The fact of Newark was that people from other parties voted against UKIP and chose the Tories."
is true
the maths does not add up
So maybe 11% of The Kipper vote was 2010 Con, 3% 2010 kipper and the remainder came from LD and Lab or 2010 DNV.
There must have been some churn from 2010 LD and Lab to Tory. How much of this was tactical and how much conversion to Osbornomics is very difficult to say.
Tactical voting against Tory or Lab is commonplace. It would be surprising if there was not some against UKIP. The only real question is how common is the phenomenon and whether it will make a difference in any seat.