Company bosses who have now added their names: Duncan Cheatle, Prelude Group Rob Cotton, NCC Group Michel de Carvalho, Citi Private Bank John Gildersleeve, British Land Michael Grade CBE, Pinewood Studios Olivia Hall, BPVA Ken Harvey CBE, Pennon Group Paul Kelly, Selfridges Julie Meyer, Ariadne Capital Simon Oliver, Pi Capital Simon Pryce, BBA Aviation Dominic Sandivasci, Pirelli UK Guy Schwinge, Dukes Auctions Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca David Suddens, Dr Martens Holly Tucker, notonthehighstreet.com Tim Weller, Incisive Media
In my opinion Mark Reckless is one of the finest politicians of the last few years. His speech on foreign aid in the face of widespread opposition was nothing short of inspiring. An honest, principled man. Something you do not see much of these days in politics.
That would also explain his unpopularity in the Conservative party.
Honest and principled? Don't make me laugh. He is as TSE might put it, a treacherous pigdog, who deserves unseating.
TSE is planning to vote Lib Dem I heard earlier. Hardly in a position to call anyone else treacherous.
The Telegraph seem to have become a full time house mag for the Tories. I remember when it used to be a newspaper
The BBC does the same for Labour under the fig leaf of impartiality. At least the Telegraph doesn't pretend to be anything other than a Tory cheerleader.
@BorisJohnson: Good evening Twittersphere. This is Boris, communicating to you live and direct. Watch this space for my updates from the campaign trail...
I remember when the broadsheets atleast pretended to be objective.
They still make some effort I think, language wise at least - I'm still stunned every time I read a story in the Mail or Mirror which tend to open like 'Pathetic and weak X begged forgiveness for being such a wimp' or words to that effect.
@BorisJohnson: Good evening Twittersphere. This is Boris, communicating to you live and direct. Watch this space for my updates from the campaign trail...
Is twitter big enough for Boris? Is there not a place for Boris-Sphere...
In my opinion Mark Reckless is one of the finest politicians of the last few years. His speech on foreign aid in the face of widespread opposition was nothing short of inspiring. An honest, principled man. Something you do not see much of these days in politics.
That would also explain his unpopularity in the Conservative party.
Honest and principled? Don't make me laugh. He is as TSE might put it, a treacherous pigdog, who deserves unseating.
TSE is planning to vote Lib Dem I heard earlier. Hardly in a position to call anyone else treacherous.
I'm voting for the candidate that is more likely to ensure the Tories remain in power.
The way Labour have responded to the letter may well make the text books in years to come of how not to. How much longer will pride stop Ed grovelling to Mandy? He really can't leave it much longer or it will be too late.
@sean F We were talking IQ before. If I was to guess who has the largest IQ within the pbCOM community, I would say you, definitely. Maybe Jack W and Rod Crosby close by. You have an ability to get your thoughts concisely and often quite superbly into one sentence, sometimes even less. All that intelligence, and all twisted into a backward, frightening right wing narrative on the world. What a waste. You will be overtaken by events comrade.
I remember when the broadsheets atleast pretended to be objective.
They still make some effort I think, language wise at least - I'm still stunned every time I read a story in the Mail or Mirror which tend to open like 'Pathetic and weak X begged forgiveness for being such a wimp' or words to that effect.
In times gone by, they would've atleast phrased it as "Tories accuse Labour of attacking enterprise" rather than having the temerity to state it as fact.
We're getting a bit leafleted out in Broxtowe - most households have now had 3-4 each from Labour and Tories, and I'm starting to hear "mercy, no more" comments. The other parties have been virtually silent so far, and everyone accepts that it's a two-horse race (which doesn't mean that some people won't vote for others, just that they accept that it means abstaining on the choice of MP). The LibDem candidate (a retiring borough councillor who was mayor before - nice guy) has now materialised, and is politely urging people to vote LibDem at least in the local elections.
The off-beat element is this outfit, who are standing here and in Sherwood and one other E Mids seat:
I said several weeks ago that Stan Heptinstall was going to be the Lib Dem candidate in Broxtowe . Although he is stepping down from the BC he is remaining a CC - unless he wins , of course
I remember when the broadsheets atleast pretended to be objective.
Two resounding anti-Labour stories and a fab picture to boot. Has the Telegraph decided to support the Tories after all??
I don't recall ever hearing Samantha Cameron speak before, she was briefly on the radio today, and was disappointingly quite ordinary sounding, she sounded not half as posh as I had assumed she would.
We're getting a bit leafleted out in Broxtowe - most households have now had 3-4 each from Labour and Tories, and I'm starting to hear "mercy, no more" comments.
I read the first leaflet from each of the candidates here in Lincoln - anything after that goes unread and straight into the recycling pile along with the takeaway menus and supermarket flyers. I can't say fairer than that.
So from right to left we have Wood, Salmond, Cameron, Miliband, Farage, Clegg and Bennett.
Miliband will be in the centre flanked by Farage on his left and Cameron on his right from the audience point of view.
I think the adverts and cinema marquee branding gives us the reason why the TV wanted the debates. They want to be the ones bigged up - not democracy. Ignoring your inclusion of Salmond, if your running order is right then all the talk the other day was a waste of time. An early April fool?
He and his team are dreadful. It's all very well (and in fact his best route to success) to own up to being a geek, but the corollary of geekiness is braininess, and being 'the man with the plan'. Despite continually telling us what a brain box he is, there's no actual evidence of cleverness, and no evidence of a plan. Therefore there are no benefits to weigh against being awkward and odd looking.
In my opinion Mark Reckless is one of the finest politicians of the last few years. His speech on foreign aid in the face of widespread opposition was nothing short of inspiring. An honest, principled man. Something you do not see much of these days in politics.
That would also explain his unpopularity in the Conservative party.
Honest and principled? Don't make me laugh. He is as TSE might put it, a treacherous pigdog, who deserves unseating.
TSE is planning to vote Lib Dem I heard earlier. Hardly in a position to call anyone else treacherous.
I'm voting for the candidate that is more likely to ensure the Tories remain in power.
LabourList @LabourList · Over a million views in two days: how Martin Freeman is helping Labour win the online war http://ow.ly/L5p97
Always need to be careful about stuff like this. Like didn't a twitter campaign with Cameron Out or whatever it was and it was on the trending list every day for weeks...but it was preaching to the converted.
In my opinion Mark Reckless is one of the finest politicians of the last few years. His speech on foreign aid in the face of widespread opposition was nothing short of inspiring. An honest, principled man. Something you do not see much of these days in politics.
That would also explain his unpopularity in the Conservative party.
Honest and principled? Don't make me laugh. He is as TSE might put it, a treacherous pigdog, who deserves unseating.
TSE is planning to vote Lib Dem I heard earlier. Hardly in a position to call anyone else treacherous.
I'm voting for the candidate that is more likely to ensure the Tories remain in power.
LabourList @LabourList · Over a million views in two days: how Martin Freeman is helping Labour win the online war http://ow.ly/L5p97
Hmm. I didn't see that one until now.
It's a very good ad. It mentions all the usual political things about cuts, deficits, the NHS ect ect under the abstract of a culture war of "Normal people vs Tories".
LabourList @LabourList · Over a million views in two days: how Martin Freeman is helping Labour win the online war http://ow.ly/L5p97
Where are they getting the numbers from, YouTube says 200,000, so are they combining it with PEB figures. In that case, why aren't they doing the same for the Tories' figure.
Clegg again being relegated to just a quick mention in the 2-minute "round-up" at the end of the News. The Lib Dems have really gotten written completely out of the script of the election.
So from right to left we have Wood, Salmond, Cameron, Miliband, Farage, Clegg and Bennett.
Miliband will be in the centre flanked by Farage on his left and Cameron on his right from the audience point of view.
I think the adverts and cinema marquee branding gives us the reason why the TV wanted the debates. They want to be the ones bigged up - not democracy. Ignoring your inclusion of Salmond, if your running order is right then all the talk the other day was a waste of time. An early April fool?
Oh yeah, its Sturgeon not Salmond, I do confuse the dejure leader of the SNP with the defacto one sometimes.
The way Labour have responded to the letter may well make the text books in years to come of how not to. How much longer will pride stop Ed grovelling to Mandy? He really can't leave it much longer or it will be too late.
Looks to be too late already. It's very hard to see how the Tories won't get most seats and possibly even a wafer thin majority.
With the exception of Balls, losing his seat, nothing would give me greater pleasure than Reckless being ousted.
Bercow loosing would be the ultimate moment
(confession-i knew him at univ of Essex -we hated each other and he is a PROPER GRADE A C*CK) I called him out on a number of things (I doubt Mike has the insurance for me to repeat or allude to) and I was "asked to leave" ie chucked out of the YC students.
Which was a shame as I was "in " with Tory Jane the political Groupie !!!!
Since BJO helpfully pointed out that 1 in 5 of those businessmen signing the pro-Tory letter were given honours by Cameron, perhaps someone could remind us:-
1. How many people giving donations to Labour were given honours by Labour; 2. Which party honoured the megalomaniac CEO of a bank which nearly brought down the economy and is costing all of us a packet; 3. Which party was investigated by the police over "cash for honours"; and 4. Which party has the distinction of providing the first serving Prime Minister to be interviewed under caution while still in office.
Point of order Ms Cyclefree, Blair was never questioned under caution. He does hold the distinction of being the First Prime Minister questioned in Downing Street.
His associates told the police, Blair would resign if he was questioned under caution.
The way Labour have responded to the letter may well make the text books in years to come of how not to. How much longer will pride stop Ed grovelling to Mandy? He really can't leave it much longer or it will be too late.
Looks to be too late already. It's very hard to see how the Tories won't get most seats and possibly even a wafer thin majority.
Can you PLEASE start predicting a Labour victory? I'll even pay you a fiver for so doing (albeit on a zero hours contract).
I said several weeks ago that Stan Heptinstall was going to be the Lib Dem candidate in Broxtowe . Although he is stepping down from the BC he is remaining a CC - unless he wins , of course
Yes, we've all known for months that it was likely. Stan is well-liked and as Mayor he had a good reason not to declare previously, so we left it to him. But objectively it's difficult to campaign much at this point.
The way Labour have responded to the letter may well make the text books in years to come of how not to. How much longer will pride stop Ed grovelling to Mandy? He really can't leave it much longer or it will be too late.
Looks to be too late already. It's very hard to see how the Tories won't get most seats and possibly even a wafer thin majority.
Can you PLEASE start predicting a Labour victory? I'll even pay you a fiver for so doing (albeit on a zero hours contract).
John, can you tell me voting Lib Dem in Sheffield Hallam is the right thing for a Tory to do?
I guess I'll do the 'still essentially level pegging' comment then. I have to mix it up rather than just still predict a Labour plurality at the least.
The way Labour have responded to the letter may well make the text books in years to come of how not to. How much longer will pride stop Ed grovelling to Mandy? He really can't leave it much longer or it will be too late.
Looks to be too late already. It's very hard to see how the Tories won't get most seats and possibly even a wafer thin majority.
Can you PLEASE start predicting a Labour victory? I'll even pay you a fiver for so doing (albeit on a zero hours contract).
John, can you tell me voting Lib Dem in Sheffield Hallam is the right thing for a Tory to do?
I guess I'll do the 'still essentially level pegging' comment then. I have to mix it up rather than just still predict a Labour plurality at the least.
With the exception of Balls, losing his seat, nothing would give me greater pleasure than Reckless being ousted.
Bercow loosing would be the ultimate moment
(confession-i knew him at univ of Essex -we hated each other and he is a PROPER GRADE A C*CK) I called him out on a number of things (I doubt Mike has the insurance for me to repeat or allude to) and I was "asked to leave" ie chucked out of the YC students.
Which was a shame as I was "in " with Tory Jane the political Groupie !!!!
I would dearly love Vince Cable to lose his seat, got nothing against him whatsoever but it would ensure that Mike's grubby attempt to subvert democracy comes to nothing.
LabourList @LabourList · Over a million views in two days: how Martin Freeman is helping Labour win the online war http://ow.ly/L5p97
Always need to be careful about stuff like this. Like didn't a twitter campaign with Cameron Out or whatever it was and it was on the trending list every day for weeks...but it was preaching to the converted.
The way Labour have responded to the letter may well make the text books in years to come of how not to. How much longer will pride stop Ed grovelling to Mandy? He really can't leave it much longer or it will be too late.
Looks to be too late already. It's very hard to see how the Tories won't get most seats and possibly even a wafer thin majority.
Can you PLEASE start predicting a Labour victory? I'll even pay you a fiver for so doing (albeit on a zero hours contract).
John, can you tell me voting Lib Dem in Sheffield Hallam is the right thing for a Tory to do?
Labour lead only 0.1% across the whole of March, was 1.2% in February. There were 51 polls with fieldwork end dates 1st to 31st March, total sample 64,789
Lab only led yesterday's YouGov by 6 people - but rounded to a 1% Lab lead.
Con led the Mon night YouGov by 13 people - but it rounded to a tie.
OK, the above is false precision - but put it all together - since the Sunday Times YouGov we now have six polls that collectively look pretty good for Con.
ComRes - Con +4 Ashcroft - Con +2 TNS - Con +1 YouGov (Mon) - Tie (Con ahead by 13 people) YouGov (Tue) - Lab +1 (Lab ahead by 6 people) YouGov (Wed) - Con +2
All very fine margins but taken together has to be encouraging for Con.
The way Labour have responded to the letter may well make the text books in years to come of how not to. How much longer will pride stop Ed grovelling to Mandy? He really can't leave it much longer or it will be too late.
Looks to be too late already. It's very hard to see how the Tories won't get most seats and possibly even a wafer thin majority.
Can you PLEASE start predicting a Labour victory? I'll even pay you a fiver for so doing (albeit on a zero hours contract).
John, can you tell me voting Lib Dem in Sheffield Hallam is the right thing for a Tory to do?
The way Labour have responded to the letter may well make the text books in years to come of how not to. How much longer will pride stop Ed grovelling to Mandy? He really can't leave it much longer or it will be too late.
Looks to be too late already. It's very hard to see how the Tories won't get most seats and possibly even a wafer thin majority.
Can you PLEASE start predicting a Labour victory? I'll even pay you a fiver for so doing (albeit on a zero hours contract).
John, can you tell me voting Lib Dem in Sheffield Hallam is the right thing for a Tory to do?
A Plenary Indulgence is on its way.
That works for me.
But you have to buy me lunch and before May 7th!
I'll drop you an email in the morning with some dates.
FYI...Twitter followers, youtube views, etc, very very easy to bolster, via "genuine" measures and dodgier means.
I personally never resorted to the dodgy means, but I certain use the above board methods to bolster numbers for my business interests.
GCHQ have a tool called GESTATOR for boosting YouTube viewership. I doubt that they are the only organisation with such software, and I dare say that such things are also available commercially.
The way Labour have responded to the letter may well make the text books in years to come of how not to. How much longer will pride stop Ed grovelling to Mandy? He really can't leave it much longer or it will be too late.
Looks to be too late already. It's very hard to see how the Tories won't get most seats and possibly even a wafer thin majority.
Can you PLEASE start predicting a Labour victory? I'll even pay you a fiver for so doing (albeit on a zero hours contract).
Ha, ha. I don't think anyone seriously believes Labour will win. I am hardly going out on a limb. Collapse in Scotland + non-advance in much of England = Labour fail. The only real issue in this GE now is how close the Tories get to a majority. With five weeks of EdM yet to come I don't think it's out of the question. Unlikely, yes, but not impossible.
Evening all. I am down on the IoW visiting some elderly family with slightly patchy internet. After getting nothing from yougov for a couple of weeks, it seems that I am on the panel for tommorow night with a tindr type app to swipe left and right depending on what I like. Should be fun!
My problem now is to persuade my elderly hosts that they really do want to spend a couple of hours watching the seven dwarves. Any suggestions welcome...
When are the Blues going to get 37%? Must be soon, surely!
36 has been rescued, the charge of the Gallant 100 has saved it. They ride back up the valley of dearth of decent headlines, their anachronistic pin striped Saville Row uniforms covered in the mud thrown at them. But '36' rides proudly at their head ready to fight again.
Flash spotters and sound rangers are now searching out to target 37.
FYI...Twitter followers, youtube views, etc, very very easy to bolster, via "genuine" measures and dodgier means.
I personally never resorted to the dodgy means, but I certain use the above board methods to bolster numbers for my business interests.
GCHQ have a tool called GESTATOR for boosting YouTube viewership. I doubt that they are the only organisation with such software, and I dare say that such things are also available commercially.
There are...that was the funniest thing about GCHQ slapping themselves on the back thinking they were so clever to get boosts in social media, when few $100 and they could have paid for it.
Emily Maitlis reveals more than she wanted to. Maitliss to Martin Sorrell "...and isnt it right that what WE are looking for is a range of people signing these letters?" Martin Sorrell "We? If by we , we are talking about the Labour party...."
@PickardJE: Former Labour cabinet minister. “Labour has spent 5 years kicking business, you can’t just turn that around suddenly" http://t.co/znEjOByygh
The way Labour have responded to the letter may well make the text books in years to come of how not to. How much longer will pride stop Ed grovelling to Mandy? He really can't leave it much longer or it will be too late.
Looks to be too late already. It's very hard to see how the Tories won't get most seats and possibly even a wafer thin majority.
Can you PLEASE start predicting a Labour victory? I'll even pay you a fiver for so doing (albeit on a zero hours contract).
John, can you tell me voting Lib Dem in Sheffield Hallam is the right thing for a Tory to do?
A Plenary Indulgence is on its way.
That works for me.
But you have to buy me lunch and before May 7th!
I'll drop you an email in the morning with some dates.
sound man. By the way I have also granted an old friend a Comprehensive Dispensation to vote for Lynne Featherstone rather than exercising the franchise on behalf of Peter Bone.
Emily Maitlis reveals more than she wanted to. Maitliss to Martin Sorrell "...and isnt it right that what WE are looking for is a range of people signing these letters?" Martin Sorrell "We? If by we , we are talking about the Labour party...."
I believe they call that at the BBC doing a "Jim".
Strange. I thought UKIP voters were never going to go back to the Tories?
;-)
Surely Lynton Crosby has planned carpet love bombing of Kippers in the last campaign week " vote Nigel get Ed" repeat ad infinitum? Simple. Focussed. And it rings true ' cos it is. Not at all sure it'll be enough to keep Ed out with his Tartan support though.
The way Labour have responded to the letter may well make the text books in years to come of how not to. How much longer will pride stop Ed grovelling to Mandy? He really can't leave it much longer or it will be too late.
Looks to be too late already. It's very hard to see how the Tories won't get most seats and possibly even a wafer thin majority.
Can you PLEASE start predicting a Labour victory? I'll even pay you a fiver for so doing (albeit on a zero hours contract).
Ha, ha. I don't think anyone seriously believes Labour will win. I am hardly going out on a limb. Collapse in Scotland + non-advance in much of England = Labour fail. The only real issue in this GE now is how close the Tories get to a majority. With five weeks of EdM yet to come I don't think it's out of the question. Unlikely, yes, but not impossible.
Ah, but you do realize that if that transpires I will likely win ALL my wagers with tim (hi, there, big boy) and will be insufferable.
The way Labour have responded to the letter may well make the text books in years to come of how not to. How much longer will pride stop Ed grovelling to Mandy? He really can't leave it much longer or it will be too late.
Looks to be too late already. It's very hard to see how the Tories won't get most seats and possibly even a wafer thin majority.
Can you PLEASE start predicting a Labour victory? I'll even pay you a fiver for so doing (albeit on a zero hours contract).
John, can you tell me voting Lib Dem in Sheffield Hallam is the right thing for a Tory to do?
A Plenary Indulgence is on its way.
That works for me.
But you have to buy me lunch and before May 7th!
I'll drop you an email in the morning with some dates.
sound man. By the way I have also granted an old friend a Comprehensive Dispensation to vote for Lynne Featherstone rather than exercising the franchise on behalf of Peter Bone.
LabourList @LabourList · Over a million views in two days: how Martin Freeman is helping Labour win the online war http://ow.ly/L5p97
Always need to be careful about stuff like this. Like didn't a twitter campaign with Cameron Out or whatever it was and it was on the trending list every day for weeks...but it was preaching to the converted.
Fascinating Ashcroft polls today, I knew Huppert was personally popular in Cambridge, but those numbers still took me by surprise.
I've still got Clegg just about hanging on in Hallam - after 5 weeks of wall to wall coverage of him and the name recognition factor I still think he will just about be ok. I'm surprised at the Tory fall in Hallam vis a vis the Labour rise which implies some direct Tory Labour switching there as well as the obvious Lib Dem to Labour swing. Does anyone know why the Tory vote is so depressed there? - I can't for one minute think its any Tories voting Labour tactically to get rid of Clegg. And its not as though the seat demographics have shifted to Labour, as far as I know its still the middle class enclave of Sheffield. I can believe that Sheffield Labour have been targeting the seat en masse for the past 5 years but it still doesn't fully explain for me the apparent movements we're seeing in the Ashcroft poll.
Devon North took me by surprise - apart from the infamous Jeremy Thorpe fallout which made it a Tory seat between 1979 and 1992, its been Liberal since the dawn of time, so I'm still not convinced the Tories are going to take it - I had that as one of the Lib Dem holdouts in the SW before today, with all 3 of the Cornish seats going, although there's a couple they're just holding on in with Torbay being on a knifedge too.
I'd like to see Ashcroft polls in places like Bath and Cheltenham to guage how the Lib Dems are going to go on in their compact urban middle class seats.
Comments
Duncan Cheatle, Prelude Group
Rob Cotton, NCC Group
Michel de Carvalho, Citi Private Bank
John Gildersleeve, British Land
Michael Grade CBE, Pinewood Studios
Olivia Hall, BPVA
Ken Harvey CBE, Pennon Group
Paul Kelly, Selfridges
Julie Meyer, Ariadne Capital
Simon Oliver, Pi Capital
Simon Pryce, BBA Aviation
Dominic Sandivasci, Pirelli UK
Guy Schwinge, Dukes Auctions
Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca
David Suddens, Dr Martens
Holly Tucker, notonthehighstreet.com
Tim Weller, Incisive Media
Get googling....
@politicshome: Ed Miliband pleads guity to being a geek and says he loves Ellie Goulding http://t.co/ZX9Zx6pSkE http://t.co/YeAtaz9YI8
She is now calling me to watch Interstellar on BluRay, which we've just bought. There is no argument: duty calls.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ob25723
LabourList @LabourList ·
Over a million views in two days: how Martin Freeman is helping Labour win the online war http://ow.ly/L5p97
We were talking IQ before. If I was to guess who has the largest IQ within the pbCOM community, I would say you, definitely. Maybe Jack W and Rod Crosby close by. You have an ability to get your thoughts concisely and often quite superbly into one sentence, sometimes even less.
All that intelligence, and all twisted into a backward, frightening right wing narrative on the world. What a waste. You will be overtaken by events comrade.
Ignoring your inclusion of Salmond, if your running order is right then all the talk the other day was a waste of time. An early April fool?
I didn't see that one until now.
It's a very good ad. It mentions all the usual political things about cuts, deficits, the NHS ect ect under the abstract of a culture war of "Normal people vs Tories".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbHNVtsAD2M
YouGov/Sun poll tonight - Tories have a two-point lead: CON 36%, LAB 34%, LD 8%, UKIP 13%, GRN 4%
YouGov/Sun poll tonight - Tories have a two-point lead: CON 36%, LAB 34%, LD 8%, UKIP 13%, GRN 4%
PB Red-team can stand down from their keyboards, see you tomorrow night instead perhaps?
I never believe online stats - they are so open to abuse.
And Freeman's shameless hypocrisy rather undermines his overly scripted message
SMOKIN!!
....But that Martin Freeman ad was so good, wasn't it?....
;-)
Hopefully see a rally as a result of the debates. Onwards and upwards.
I personally never resorted to the dodgy means, but I certain use the above board methods to bolster numbers for my business interests.
With the exception of Balls, losing his seat, nothing would give me greater pleasure than Reckless being ousted.
Bercow loosing would be the ultimate moment
(confession-i knew him at univ of Essex -we hated each other and he is a PROPER GRADE A C*CK)
I called him out on a number of things (I doubt Mike has the insurance for me to repeat or allude to) and I was "asked to leave" ie chucked out of the YC students.
Which was a shame as I was "in " with Tory Jane the political Groupie
Oh.
Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB
After last night 1% LAB lead latest YouGov Sun poll has
CON 36
LAB 34
LD 8
UKIP 13
GN 4
http://goo.gl/9RfFdf
Labour's monthly "Super-ELBOW" lead slashed by 1.1% - only 0.1% for March (was 1.2 for February)
You choose.
Strange. I thought UKIP voters were never going to go back to the Tories?
;-)
(confession-i knew him at univ of Essex -we hated each other and he is a PROPER GRADE A C*CK)
I called him out on a number of things (I doubt Mike has the insurance for me to repeat or allude to) and I was "asked to leave" ie chucked out of the YC students.
Which was a shame as I was "in " with Tory Jane the political Groupie
I would dearly love Vince Cable to lose his seat, got nothing against him whatsoever but it would ensure that Mike's grubby attempt to subvert democracy comes to nothing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNN1y9dWzS8
Sunil Prasannan @Sunil_P2 · 6m6 minutes ago
Monthly "Super-ELBOW" for March 2015: Lab 33.6 (+0.1), Con 33.5 (+1.1), UKIP 14.0 (-0.5), LD 7.7 (nc), Grn 5.6 (-0.7)
https://twitter.com/Sunil_P2/status/583381055467614208
Labour lead only 0.1% across the whole of March, was 1.2% in February. There were 51 polls with fieldwork end dates 1st to 31st March, total sample 64,789
Sun Politics ✔ @SunPolitics
YouGov/Sun poll tonight - Tories have a two-point lead: CON 36%, LAB 34%, LD 8%, UKIP 13%, GRN 4%
Con led the Mon night YouGov by 13 people - but it rounded to a tie.
OK, the above is false precision - but put it all together - since the Sunday Times YouGov we now have six polls that collectively look pretty good for Con.
ComRes - Con +4
Ashcroft - Con +2
TNS - Con +1
YouGov (Mon) - Tie (Con ahead by 13 people)
YouGov (Tue) - Lab +1 (Lab ahead by 6 people)
YouGov (Wed) - Con +2
All very fine margins but taken together has to be encouraging for Con.
My problem now is to persuade my elderly hosts that they really do want to spend a couple of hours watching the seven dwarves. Any suggestions welcome...
Flash spotters and sound rangers are now searching out to target 37.
Maitliss to Martin Sorrell "...and isnt it right that what WE are looking for is a range of people signing these letters?"
Martin Sorrell "We? If by we , we are talking about the Labour party...."
File under N for No ...
I am Pure Goodness.
https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/583384341000155136
We should have had a coupon election.
I've still got Clegg just about hanging on in Hallam - after 5 weeks of wall to wall coverage of him and the name recognition factor I still think he will just about be ok. I'm surprised at the Tory fall in Hallam vis a vis the Labour rise which implies some direct Tory Labour switching there as well as the obvious Lib Dem to Labour swing. Does anyone know why the Tory vote is so depressed there? - I can't for one minute think its any Tories voting Labour tactically to get rid of Clegg. And its not as though the seat demographics have shifted to Labour, as far as I know its still the middle class enclave of Sheffield. I can believe that Sheffield Labour have been targeting the seat en masse for the past 5 years but it still doesn't fully explain for me the apparent movements we're seeing in the Ashcroft poll.
Devon North took me by surprise - apart from the infamous Jeremy Thorpe fallout which made it a Tory seat between 1979 and 1992, its been Liberal since the dawn of time, so I'm still not convinced the Tories are going to take it - I had that as one of the Lib Dem holdouts in the SW before today, with all 3 of the Cornish seats going, although there's a couple they're just holding on in with Torbay being on a knifedge too.
I'd like to see Ashcroft polls in places like Bath and Cheltenham to guage how the Lib Dems are going to go on in their compact urban middle class seats.