The definition of "Top Tory" by the media is a very very broad church....it seems to be on the Venn diagram the overlapping area between Tory and somebody at said media outlet has heard of them, or in the Mirror's case a Tory.
LOL....Eoin the man who is on the wrong side of the debate / history every single time.
This was the tweet of election night, shortly after Swindon South and Nuneaton saw swings to the Tories and people started talking about a Tory majority
The definition of "Top Tory" by the media is a very very broad church....
It's not party specific. Any figure becomes one of note to keep a story interesting. As has been noted before, any backbench critic of a leader usually becomes a 'leading' backbencher, in another example of the trend.
LOL....Eoin the man who is on the wrong side of the debate / history every single time.
This was the tweet of election night, shortly after Swindon South and Nuneaton saw swings to the Tories and people started talking about a Tory majority
The definition of "Top Tory" by the media is a very very broad church....
It's not party specific. Any figure becomes one of note to keep a story interesting. As has been noted before, any backbench critic of a leader usually becomes a 'leading' backbencher, in another example of the trend.
LOL....Eoin the man who is on the wrong side of the debate / history every single time.
This was the tweet of election night, shortly after Swindon South and Nuneaton saw swings to the Tories and people started talking about a Tory majority
That would be the first challenge he has ever had.
Just praying Chelsea don't go for Simeone.
The reports are that is what Guardiola wants. I think he has a big task to turn Man City around, they have far too many poor and / or aging players on huge wages.
So what are we thinking...
Guardiola to Man City, Mourinho to Man Utd, and Chelski go for...?
Someone who will develop the club, build a team for the long term, play attacking football, bring the kids through.
Pochetino would be my first choice but he is better off staying with Spurs, Eddie Howe would be perfect, even AVB now the senior players have gone. My realistic choice would be Paul Clement.
That would be the first challenge he has ever had.
Just praying Chelsea don't go for Simeone.
The reports are that is what Guardiola wants. I think he has a big task to turn Man City around, they have far too many poor and / or aging players on huge wages.
So what are we thinking...
Guardiola to Man City, Mourinho to Man Utd, and Chelski go for...?
Someone who will develop the club, build a team for the long term, play attacking football, bring the kids through.
Pochetino would be my first choice but he is better off staying with Spurs, Eddie Howe would be perfect, even AVB now the senior players have gone. My realistic choice would be Paul Clement.
Big step up Eddie Howe given how strong it seems the players "union" inside Chelsea dressing is.
LOL....Eoin the man who is on the wrong side of the debate / history every single time.
This was the tweet of election night, shortly after Swindon South and Nuneaton saw swings to the Tories and people started talking about a Tory majority
LOL....Eoin the man who is on the wrong side of the debate / history every single time.
This was the tweet of election night, shortly after Swindon South and Nuneaton saw swings to the Tories and people started talking about a Tory majority
LOL....Eoin the man who is on the wrong side of the debate / history every single time.
This was the tweet of election night, shortly after Swindon South and Nuneaton saw swings to the Tories and people started talking about a Tory majority
The definition of "Top Tory" by the media is a very very broad church....
It's not party specific. Any figure becomes one of note to keep a story interesting. As has been noted before, any backbench critic of a leader usually becomes a 'leading' backbencher, in another example of the trend.
Grandee is another term banded about for effect.
"To them I was THAT woman. But to me, they were THOSE GRANDEES!"
That would be the first challenge he has ever had.
Just praying Chelsea don't go for Simeone.
The reports are that is what Guardiola wants. I think he has a big task to turn Man City around, they have far too many poor and / or aging players on huge wages.
So what are we thinking...
Guardiola to Man City, Mourinho to Man Utd, and Chelski go for...?
Someone who will develop the club, build a team for the long term, play attacking football, bring the kids through.
Pochetino would be my first choice but he is better off staying with Spurs, Eddie Howe would be perfect, even AVB now the senior players have gone. My realistic choice would be Paul Clement.
Big step up Eddie Howe given how strong it seems the players "union" inside Chelsea dressing is.
If you treat the players with respect, as Howe did with Artur last week, they will be onside. If you ask them to stop their attacking instincts, take all the credit when you win and blame the players when you lose, you end up with situation the special ego found himself in.
LOL....Eoin the man who is on the wrong side of the debate / history every single time.
This was the tweet of election night, shortly after Swindon South and Nuneaton saw swings to the Tories and people started talking about a Tory majority
LOL....Eoin the man who is on the wrong side of the debate / history every single time.
This was the tweet of election night, shortly after Swindon South and Nuneaton saw swings to the Tories and people started talking about a Tory majority
LOL....Eoin the man who is on the wrong side of the debate / history every single time.
This was the tweet of election night, shortly after Swindon South and Nuneaton saw swings to the Tories and people started talking about a Tory majority
He just can't help himself. His supports will say he is being honest and genuine, the public will think f##k me he is condoning mass murdering communists. And he wonders why he gets the press on his back.
Imagine if Cameron said, that Hilter he wasn't so bad and we wouldn't have the modern day super productive Germany without him....
In that Sunday Times interview Corbyn says he's staying until 2020 and reading between the lines he wants to bring Ed Miliband into the Shadow Cabinet.
He just can't help himself. His supports will say he is being honest and genuine, the public will think f##k me he is condoning mass murdering communists. And he wonders why he gets the press on his back.
Imagine if Cameron said, that Hilter he wasn't so bad and we wouldn't have the modern day super productive Germany without him....
Corbyn has absolutely no concept of strategy or winning support from unlikely places to build a consensus. That's my biggest issue with him as a leader. Obviously his politics are bonkers too.
In that Sunday Times interview Corbyn says he's staying until 2020 and reading between the lines he wants to bring Ed Miliband into the Shadow Cabinet.
In that Sunday Times interview Corbyn says he's staying until 2020 and reading between the lines he wants to bring Ed Miliband into the Shadow Cabinet.
Bringing winners into the team.....
To be fair to Jez, you could have said the same about Cameron when he brought William Hague back into the Shadow Cabinet
In that Sunday Times interview Corbyn says he's staying until 2020 and reading between the lines he wants to bring Ed Miliband into the Shadow Cabinet.
Isn't Ed focusing on becoming a climate change evangelist?
The book also says Labour private polls showed that Ed Miliband was a massive liability. However, unlike the Tories, who spelled out Cameron’s problems to his face, Labour censored its findings to avoid embarrassing Mr Miliband – and paid a heavy price when it was proved true on polling day.
A private Labour survey in 2013 asked voters ‘the three best reasons for not voting Labour’.
Crushingly, the main factor was Miliband himself, followed by immigration and welfare. The authors state: ‘The information was deleted beyond the smallest group of Miliband advisers.’
The Labour polls also showed Mr Miliband’s controversial ‘core vote’ strategy was a ‘dead end’.
And last night the tentacles of the scandal even threatened to reach into Ukip after its only MP, Douglas Carswell, complained about the ‘aggressive’ behaviour of Matthew Richardson – the Ukip party secretary who is also a close friend of Mark Clarke.
Shortly after a furious Commons bust-up with Mr Richardson, Mr Carswell received a threatening phone call from a senior Ukip figure asking ‘grossly intrusive questions’ about the state of his marriage.
Richardson, was best man at the wedding of Clarke – dubbed the ‘Tatler Tory’ after the magazine tipped him as a future Minister – and is a Freemason in the same Lodge. He denies behaving aggressively towards Carswell, or any knowledge of the phone call.
The new stupidity test: anyone who thinks Corbyn has more than a zero per cent chance of winning the next election.
I don't think it would be as foolproof a stupidity test as anyone who thinks Osborne as leader of the Tories could perform better in a GE than Cameron.
Corbyn on Benn: "I was appalled that MPs should clap, shout and cheer when we were deciding to go and bomb somewhere."
I get the impression Corbyn doesn't give a fig what the PLP thinks of him. He must know he has them castrated.
A few weeks ago, I had a chat with somebody who knows the Labour Party quite well and they said the problem the Anti-Corbynites have is none of the potential replacements will fall on their sword like a few Tories did in 2003 to ensure Michael Howard was elected unopposed.
And last night the tentacles of the scandal even threatened to reach into Ukip after its only MP, Douglas Carswell, complained about the ‘aggressive’ behaviour of Matthew Richardson – the Ukip party secretary who is also a close friend of Mark Clarke.
Shortly after a furious Commons bust-up with Mr Richardson, Mr Carswell received a threatening phone call from a senior Ukip figure asking ‘grossly intrusive questions’ about the state of his marriage.
Richardson, was best man at the wedding of Clarke – dubbed the ‘Tatler Tory’ after the magazine tipped him as a future Minister – and is a Freemason in the same Lodge. He denies behaving aggressively towards Carswell, or any knowledge of the phone call.
If UKIP weren't such a bunch of disorganised amateurs they'd probably be on more than 20% in the polls. I saw their HQ in Oldham/Royton and amateur doesn't even begin to describe the state of things there.
Almost a third of Labour supporters do not think that Jeremy Corbyn will lead Labour into the next general election, according to a new Opinium/Observer poll to mark the Labour leader’s first 100 days in office.
A majority of likely voters (57%) – including 30% of Labour supporters – said they did not expect Corbyn to be in charge at the 2020 election.
Many of the survey’s findings will make grim reading for Labour MPs and supporters, three and a half months after Corbyn won an extraordinary mandate from party supporters in the leadership election to succeed Ed Miliband.
He reaches the 100th day of what has been a turbulent start to his leadership on Monday.
When asked who they believed would make the best prime minister, 41% of all questioned named Cameron, compared with just 20% who chose Corbyn. Only 54% of Labour voters thought Corbyn would be the best PM, whereas 91% of Tory voters selected Cameron.
The poll put the Conservatives on 38%, eight points ahead of Labour, which is on 30%. A month ago the gap was 7%.
The UK Independence party (Ukip), on 16%, has dropped only one point since last month, despite rumblings over the leadership of Nigel Farage.
The SNP and the Liberal Democrats are unchanged since November on 6% and 5% respectively, while the Greens have risen two percentage points to 5% in a month. An Opinium poll on 17 December 2010, at almost the same stage of Ed Miliband’s leadership, showed Labour and the Conservatives tied on 37%.
The poll also asked voters to choose who they thought would be the better prime minister out of Jeremy Corbyn and three plausible Conservative successors to David Cameron, who has made clear that he will stand down at the next general election.
Of the three, Boris Johnson fared best. In a Corbyn contest between the Mayor of London and Corbyn, 34% of voters favoured Johnson against 23% for Corbyn. When Corbyn was pitted against Theresa May, 29% said the current Home Secretary would be the better PM against 23% who named Corbyn. George Osborne, the chancellor, fared worst, with just 24% of voters judging him the best prime minister against 21% for Corbyn.
So even Osborne leads Corbyn even if May and Boris poll best
Almost a third of Labour supporters d not think that Jeremy Corbyn will lead Labour into the next general election, according to a new Opinium/Observer poll to mark the Labour leader’s first 100 days in office.
A majority of likely voters (57%) – including 30% of Labour supporters – said they did not expect Corbyn to be in charge at the 2020 election.
Many of the survey’s findings will make grim reading for Labour MPs and supporters, three and a half months after Corbyn won an extraordinary mandate from party supporters in the leadership election to succeed Ed Miliband.
He reaches the 100th day of what has been a turbulent start to his leadership on Monday.
When asked who they believed would make the best prime minister, 41% of all questioned named Cameron, compared with just 20% who chose Corbyn. Only 54% of Labour voters thought Corbyn would be the best PM, whereas 91% of Tory voters selected Cameron.
The poll put the Conservatives on 38%, eight points ahead of Labour, which is on 30%. A month ago the gap was 7%.
The UK Independence party (Ukip), on 16%, has dropped only one point since last month, despite rumblings over the leadership of Nigel Farage.
The SNP and the Liberal Democrats are unchanged since November on 6% and 5% respectively, while the Greens have risen two percentage points to 5% in a month. An Opinium poll on 17 December 2010, at almost the same stage of Ed Miliband’s leadership, showed Labour and the Conservatives tied on 37%.
LOL....Eoin the man who is on the wrong side of the debate / history every single time.
This was the tweet of election night, shortly after Swindon South and Nuneaton saw swings to the Tories and people started talking about a Tory majority
It does indeed, Mr. Felix, but such stupidity is not beyond the reach of our politicians - see the Climate Change Act as a starter for ten. So who knows they may yet go for it, after all I keep reading that insulating my home will reduce the amount of electricity I use.
Given that I heat the place with gas and the only electricity involved is in running the pump for a few hours each day for a couple of months each year, I have to wonder about the intellectual capacity of the people who come out with such guff.
Heating with gas is incredibly efficient. It's a much better idea than using a power station to produce electricity, then sending the electricity over wires, and then passing the electricity through something to generate heat through electrical resistance.
But that's just my view.
When doing carbon footprint analysis, aren't you supposed to do it for the full energy/product cycle from extraction/manufacture through delivery, use and disposal? On that basis, surely gas has about the lowest carbon footprint of any of the hydrocarbon sources.
Yes, absolutely. However you cut it, gas is by far the cleanest, by far the most efficient, and by far the most abundant and cheap hydrocarbon.
The next two decades will be dominated by solar and natural gas.
Well my solar panels were so poor this week they wouldn't have made a cup of tea. On thursday they produced nil. Mind you from Spring to Autumn they were reasonable but unfortunately you need electricity 24/7 x 365 days pa
That's why I said solar and gas.
The price of solar panels has fallen - on a per watt basis - at 22% a year for the last 40 years. There is every reason to expect that will continue for at least the next eight or nine years.
I have a house in America (Long Island), and I recently got contacted by a solar company. The pitch was this:
"You currently spend around $100 per month on electricity. Let us put panels on your roof - at no cost to you! - and we'll guarantee you just $90 per month for your electricity for 20 years. No upfront cost, just pay us less, and the same amount for 20 years!"
Now, I'm not going to take this. (I doubt I'll own it for 20 years, and I'm not there often enough to run up $1,200 of electricity bills in a year.) But you know what: at some point it'll make financial sense.
At a certain price, everyone will have panels on their roof.
Robert, we got the same deal from a company which is, ultimately, owned by a certain principal at Tesla.
George Osborne, the chancellor, fared worst, with just 24% of voters judging him the best prime minister against 21% for Corbyn.
This points to a very hung parliament if 2020 is Osborne vs Corbyn - as the thread header reminds us, leader match-ups are a more reliable guide than voting intentions.
Osborne being leader would also mean a new chancellor, so a new match up in the 'economic competence' question. Though it's probably McDonnell versus Javid as it stands.
That would be the first challenge he has ever had.
Just praying Chelsea don't go for Simeone.
The reports are that is what Guardiola wants. I think he has a big task to turn Man City around, they have far too many poor and / or aging players on huge wages.
So what are we thinking...
Guardiola to Man City, Mourinho to Man Utd, and Chelski go for...?
Someone who will develop the club, build a team for the long term, play attacking football, bring the kids through.
Pochetino would be my first choice but he is better off staying with Spurs, Eddie Howe would be perfect, even AVB now the senior players have gone. My realistic choice would be Paul Clement.
The poll also asked voters to choose who they thought would be the better prime minister out of Jeremy Corbyn and three plausible Conservative successors to David Cameron, who has made clear that he will stand down at the next general election.
Of the three, Boris Johnson fared best. In a Corbyn contest between the Mayor of London and Corbyn, 34% of voters favoured Johnson against 23% for Corbyn. When Corbyn was pitted against Theresa May, 29% said the current Home Secretary would be the better PM against 23% who named Corbyn. George Osborne, the chancellor, fared worst, with just 24% of voters judging him the best prime minister against 21% for Corbyn.
So even Osborne leads Corbyn even if May and Boris poll best
I don't actually think the issue is the proportions who definitely want one of them to be PM - as the figures show, the gap isn't huge, and I suspect that Corbyn's positive fan club is more enthusiastic than, say, May's, but everyone scores below their current party support levels. The question is whether people actively vote against them. There is obviously an anti-Corbyn vote out there among some people who'd otherwise vote Labour (hello Southam) just as there are Tories who recoil from Boris or Osborne (again, it doesn't seem to me that May excites such strong reactions either way).
But I'm not sure we can predict with confidence how voters will feel about any of them in three years' time - Corbyn has had 100 days of solidly negative press, and that's something all leaders go through and will challenge whoever follows Cameron too. The electoral case for Boris is his proven Teflon nature. When something bad comes up for Osborne, he looks shifty. When it happens to Boris, he laughs. (But can one laugh too much to be seen as a potential PM?)
That would be the first challenge he has ever had.
Just praying Chelsea don't go for Simeone.
The reports are that is what Guardiola wants. I think he has a big task to turn Man City around, they have far too many poor and / or aging players on huge wages.
So what are we thinking...
Guardiola to Man City, Mourinho to Man Utd, and Chelski go for...?
Someone who will develop the club, build a team for the long term, play attacking football, bring the kids through.
Pochetino would be my first choice but he is better off staying with Spurs, Eddie Howe would be perfect, even AVB now the senior players have gone. My realistic choice would be Paul Clement.
It was originally a number 2 hit for Yazoo (Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet) 18 months earlier, kept off the top spot by the 1982 Eurovision winner Nicole with "A Little Peace".
Almost a third of Labour supporters d not think that Jeremy Corbyn will lead Labour into the next general election, according to a new Opinium/Observer poll to mark the Labour leader’s first 100 days in office.
A majority of likely voters (57%) – including 30% of Labour supporters – said they did not expect Corbyn to be in charge at the 2020 election.
Many of the survey’s findings will make grim reading for Labour MPs and supporters, three and a half months after Corbyn won an extraordinary mandate from party supporters in the leadership election to succeed Ed Miliband.
He reaches the 100th day of what has been a turbulent start to his leadership on Monday.
When asked who they believed would make the best prime minister, 41% of all questioned named Cameron, compared with just 20% who chose Corbyn. Only 54% of Labour voters thought Corbyn would be the best PM, whereas 91% of Tory voters selected Cameron.
The poll put the Conservatives on 38%, eight points ahead of Labour, which is on 30%. A month ago the gap was 7%.
The UK Independence party (Ukip), on 16%, has dropped only one point since last month, despite rumblings over the leadership of Nigel Farage.
The SNP and the Liberal Democrats are unchanged since November on 6% and 5% respectively, while the Greens have risen two percentage points to 5% in a month. An Opinium poll on 17 December 2010, at almost the same stage of Ed Miliband’s leadership, showed Labour and the Conservatives tied on 37%.
The poll also asked voters to choose who they thought would be the better prime minister out of Jeremy Corbyn and three plausible Conservative successors to David Cameron, who has made clear that he will stand down at the next general election.
Of the three, Boris Johnson fared best. In a Corbyn contest between the Mayor of London and Corbyn, 34% of voters favoured Johnson against 23% for Corbyn. When Corbyn was pitted against Theresa May, 29% said the current Home Secretary would be the better PM against 23% who named Corbyn. George Osborne, the chancellor, fared worst, with just 24% of voters judging him the best prime minister against 21% for Corbyn.
So even Osborne leads Corbyn even if May and Boris poll best
I don't actually think the issue is the proportions who definitely want one of them to be PM - as the figures show, the gap isn't huge, and I suspect that Corbyn's positive fan club is more enthusiastic than, say, May's, but everyone scores below their current party support levels. The question is whether people actively vote against them. There is obviously an anti-Corbyn vote out there among some people who'd otherwise vote Labour (hello Southam) just as there are Tories who recoil from Boris or Osborne (again, it doesn't seem to me that May excites such strong reactions either way).
But I'm not sure we can predict with confidence how voters will feel about any of them in three years' time - Corbyn has had 100 days of solidly negative press, and that's something all leaders go through and will challenge whoever follows Cameron too. The electoral case for Boris is his proven Teflon nature. When something bad comes up for Osborne, he looks shifty. When it happens to Boris, he laughs. (But can one laugh too much to be seen as a potential PM?)
It does look like Osborne v Corbyn could produce a hung parliament but Osborne would remain PM
@ShippersUnbound Liam Fox has tonight declared Britain should leave the EU in the Sunday Times. Most senior figure who has served Cameron's govt to opt out
The new stupidity test: anyone who thinks Corbyn has more than a zero per cent chance of winning the next election.
I don't think it would be as foolproof a stupidity test as anyone who thinks Osborne as leader of the Tories could perform better in a GE than Cameron.
He could.
Cameron never got the chance to enter a General Election against Corbyn or against a party led by Corbyn for nearly five years. Osborne v Corbyn will be more one sided than Cameron v Miliband or Cameron v Brown ever was.
@ShippersUnbound Liam Fox has tonight declared Britain should leave the EU in the Sunday Times. Most senior figure who has served Cameron's govt to opt out
So a backbencher who resigned from ministerial politics over four years ago? Who next, David Davis?
I'm sure there are credible faces for Tories Out but it has to get better than that surely?
The new stupidity test: anyone who thinks Corbyn has more than a zero per cent chance of winning the next election.
I don't think it would be as foolproof a stupidity test as anyone who thinks Osborne as leader of the Tories could perform better in a GE than Cameron.
He could.
Cameron never got the chance to enter a General Election against Corbyn or against a party led by Corbyn for nearly five years. Osborne v Corbyn will be more one sided than Cameron v Miliband or Cameron v Brown ever was.
Then why is Corbyn much more competitive in polling match-ups against Osborne, than Miliband ever was in match-ups against Cameron?
Wishful thinking. A majority of existing members supported Corbyn, presumably with plenty of crossover from those who had supported pre-Corbyn leaderships, so they clearly have no issue switching back and forth. So if Corbyn is proven a disaster, they will, I assume, switch back in numbers to the other strands of Labour thinking, without having needed to split.
Not true a majority of members supported him. As new members were included as members it isn't possible to know what existing members would have voted. If new members voted in at all a similar ratio to £3ers then it's entirely plausible Corbyn lost the existing members but won it due to sign ups.
@ShippersUnbound Liam Fox has tonight declared Britain should leave the EU in the Sunday Times. Most senior figure who has served Cameron's govt to opt out
So a backbencher who resigned from ministerial politics over four years ago? Who next, David Davis?
I'm sure there are credible faces for Tories Out but it has to get better than that surely?
@ShippersUnbound Liam Fox has tonight declared Britain should leave the EU in the Sunday Times. Most senior figure who has served Cameron's govt to opt out
So a backbencher who resigned from ministerial politics over four years ago? Who next, David Davis?
I'm sure there are credible faces for Tories Out but it has to get better than that surely?
With posts like that you undermine your own credibility.
Fox may be a monomaniac and fantasist but he's a serious figure in the party (even though I disagree with him on many things, it's been clear from our discussions over the years that he's thought through his positions in some detail)
The new stupidity test: anyone who thinks Corbyn has more than a zero per cent chance of winning the next election.
I don't think it would be as foolproof a stupidity test as anyone who thinks Osborne as leader of the Tories could perform better in a GE than Cameron.
He could.
Cameron never got the chance to enter a General Election against Corbyn or against a party led by Corbyn for nearly five years. Osborne v Corbyn will be more one sided than Cameron v Miliband or Cameron v Brown ever was.
Then why is Corbyn much more competitive in polling match-ups against Osborne, than Miliband ever was in match-ups against Cameron?
Because two are party leaders proposing unicorns for anyone wgo votes red and the other is Chancellor trying to eliminate a budget deficit mainly through spending cuts. The public's perception of Osborne currently is intrinsically linked to his performance as Chancellor and not his pluses or minuses regarding being a party leader.
Come the end of the Parliament the notion Corbyn will be competitive is ... Interesting.
@ShippersUnbound Liam Fox has tonight declared Britain should leave the EU in the Sunday Times. Most senior figure who has served Cameron's govt to opt out
So a backbencher who resigned from ministerial politics over four years ago? Who next, David Davis?
I'm sure there are credible faces for Tories Out but it has to get better than that surely?
With posts like that you undermine your own credibility.
Fox may be a monomaniac and fantasist but he's a serious figure in the party (even though I disagree with him on many things, it's been clear from our discussions over the years that he's thought through his positions in some detail)
Indeed he was Secretary of State four years ago and a leadership contender a decade ago (like Davis) but like Davis he is now yesterday's man more than a current big beast. That he has thought through his positions is great but that doesn't make him any more than a backbencher for the last four years.
The new stupidity test: anyone who thinks Corbyn has more than a zero per cent chance of winning the next election.
I don't think it would be as foolproof a stupidity test as anyone who thinks Osborne as leader of the Tories could perform better in a GE than Cameron.
He could.
Cameron never got the chance to enter a General Election against Corbyn or against a party led by Corbyn for nearly five years. Osborne v Corbyn will be more one sided than Cameron v Miliband or Cameron v Brown ever was.
Then why is Corbyn much more competitive in polling match-ups against Osborne, than Miliband ever was in match-ups against Cameron?
I'd point out that 18 months before he led the Tory party to the most votes any party has ever received at a general election, John Major was the choice of 5% of voters to be Tory leader/PM
The new stupidity test: anyone who thinks Corbyn has more than a zero per cent chance of winning the next election.
I don't think it would be as foolproof a stupidity test as anyone who thinks Osborne as leader of the Tories could perform better in a GE than Cameron.
He could.
Cameron never got the chance to enter a General Election against Corbyn or against a party led by Corbyn for nearly five years. Osborne v Corbyn will be more one sided than Cameron v Miliband or Cameron v Brown ever was.
Then why is Corbyn much more competitive in polling match-ups against Osborne, than Miliband ever was in match-ups against Cameron?
Because two are party leaders proposing unicorns for anyone wgo votes red and the other is Chancellor trying to eliminate a budget deficit mainly through spending cuts. The public's perception of Osborne currently is intrinsically linked to his performance as Chancellor and not his pluses or minuses regarding being a party leader.
Come the end of the Parliament the notion Corbyn will be competitive is ... Interesting.
That's not answering the point of why Osborne fares so badly vs Corbyn, compared to how Cameron ALWAYS fared against Miliband (even in the mid-term of the last parliament, Cameron had a healthy lead on "best PM" questions despite Miliband "promising unicorns for anyone who votes red" and the unpopularity of spending cuts).
@ShippersUnbound Liam Fox has tonight declared Britain should leave the EU in the Sunday Times. Most senior figure who has served Cameron's govt to opt out
So a backbencher who resigned from ministerial politics over four years ago? Who next, David Davis?
I'm sure there are credible faces for Tories Out but it has to get better than that surely?
Owen Patterson and maybe IDS
Owen Patterson quite possibly yes. I suspect even IDS views himself as yesterday's man regarding Europe. He seems to genuinely be more interested in his welfare reforms than the Euro debates that so exercised the IDS of over two decades ago. He seems to have moved on.
The new stupidity test: anyone who thinks Corbyn has more than a zero per cent chance of winning the next election.
I don't think it would be as foolproof a stupidity test as anyone who thinks Osborne as leader of the Tories could perform better in a GE than Cameron.
He could.
Cameron never got the chance to enter a General Election against Corbyn or against a party led by Corbyn for nearly five years. Osborne v Corbyn will be more one sided than Cameron v Miliband or Cameron v Brown ever was.
Then why is Corbyn much more competitive in polling match-ups against Osborne, than Miliband ever was in match-ups against Cameron?
Because two are party leaders proposing unicorns for anyone wgo votes red and the other is Chancellor trying to eliminate a budget deficit mainly through spending cuts. The public's perception of Osborne currently is intrinsically linked to his performance as Chancellor and not his pluses or minuses regarding being a party leader.
Come the end of the Parliament the notion Corbyn will be competitive is ... Interesting.
That's not answering the point of why Osborne fares so badly vs Corbyn, compared to how Cameron ALWAYS fared against Miliband (even in the mid-term of the last parliament, Cameron had a healthy lead on "best PM" questions despite Miliband "promising unicorns for anyone who votes red" and the unpopularity of spending cuts).
Yes it does. Miliband was Party Leader in the midterm of last parliament. Osborne is not party leader today. You are comparing veal to Stilton and trying to compare wine vintage.
The new stupidity test: anyone who thinks Corbyn has more than a zero per cent chance of winning the next election.
I don't think it would be as foolproof a stupidity test as anyone who thinks Osborne as leader of the Tories could perform better in a GE than Cameron.
He could.
Cameron never got the chance to enter a General Election against Corbyn or against a party led by Corbyn for nearly five years. Osborne v Corbyn will be more one sided than Cameron v Miliband or Cameron v Brown ever was.
Then why is Corbyn much more competitive in polling match-ups against Osborne, than Miliband ever was in match-ups against Cameron?
Because two are party leaders proposing unicorns for anyone wgo votes red and the other is Chancellor trying to eliminate a budget deficit mainly through spending cuts. The public's perception of Osborne currently is intrinsically linked to his performance as Chancellor and not his pluses or minuses regarding being a party leader.
Come the end of the Parliament the notion Corbyn will be competitive is ... Interesting.
That's not answering the point of why Osborne fares so badly vs Corbyn, compared to how Cameron ALWAYS fared against Miliband (even in the mid-term of the last parliament, Cameron had a healthy lead on "best PM" questions despite Miliband "promising unicorns for anyone who votes red" and the unpopularity of spending cuts).
Yes it does. Miliband was Party Leader in the midterm of last parliament. Osborne is not party leader today. You are comparing veal to Stilton and trying to compare wine vintage.
I wonder what Gordon Brown thinks of your theory that someone moving from Chancellor to PM automatically makes them more popular.
The new stupidity test: anyone who thinks Corbyn has more than a zero per cent chance of winning the next election.
I don't think it would be as foolproof a stupidity test as anyone who thinks Osborne as leader of the Tories could perform better in a GE than Cameron.
He could.
Cameron never got the chance to enter a General Election against Corbyn or against a party led by Corbyn for nearly five years. Osborne v Corbyn will be more one sided than Cameron v Miliband or Cameron v Brown ever was.
Then why is Corbyn much more competitive in polling match-ups against Osborne, than Miliband ever was in match-ups against Cameron?
I'd point out that 18 months before he led the Tory party to the most votes any party has ever received at a general election, John Major was the choice of 5% of voters to be Tory leader/PM
Hope for both Ozzy and Jez
That was when Thatcher was included in the poll as preferred Tory leader (once she exited her supporters went en masse to Major), when the first polls started comparing how Major would do v Kinnock he at least matched Heseltine and sometimes even exceeded his score
The new stupidity test: anyone who thinks Corbyn has more than a zero per cent chance of winning the next election.
I don't think it would be as foolproof a stupidity test as anyone who thinks Osborne as leader of the Tories could perform better in a GE than Cameron.
He could.
Cameron never got the chance to enter a General Election against Corbyn or against a party led by Corbyn for nearly five years. Osborne v Corbyn will be more one sided than Cameron v Miliband or Cameron v Brown ever was.
Then why is Corbyn much more competitive in polling match-ups against Osborne, than Miliband ever was in match-ups against Cameron?
Because two are party leaders proposing unicorns for anyone wgo votes red and the other is Chancellor trying to eliminate a budget deficit mainly through spending cuts. The public's perception of Osborne currently is intrinsically linked to his performance as Chancellor and not his pluses or minuses regarding being a party leader.
Come the end of the Parliament the notion Corbyn will be competitive is ... Interesting.
That's not answering the point of why Osborne fares so badly vs Corbyn, compared to how Cameron ALWAYS fared against Miliband (even in the mid-term of the last parliament, Cameron had a healthy lead on "best PM" questions despite Miliband "promising unicorns for anyone who votes red" and the unpopularity of spending cuts).
Osborne still leads Corbyn even if by a narrower margin than Cameron does
The new stupidity test: anyone who thinks Corbyn has more than a zero per cent chance of winning the next election.
I don't think it would be as foolproof a stupidity test as anyone who thinks Osborne as leader of the Tories could perform better in a GE than Cameron.
He could.
Cameron never got the chance to enter a General Election against Corbyn or against a party led by Corbyn for nearly five years. Osborne v Corbyn will be more one sided than Cameron v Miliband or Cameron v Brown ever was.
Then why is Corbyn much more competitive in polling match-ups against Osborne, than Miliband ever was in match-ups against Cameron?
Because two are party leaders proposing unicorns for anyone wgo votes red and the other is Chancellor trying to eliminate a budget deficit mainly through spending cuts. The public's perception of Osborne currently is intrinsically linked to his performance as Chancellor and not his pluses or minuses regarding being a party leader.
Come the end of the Parliament the notion Corbyn will be competitive is ... Interesting.
That's not answering the point of why Osborne fares so badly vs Corbyn, compared to how Cameron ALWAYS fared against Miliband (even in the mid-term of the last parliament, Cameron had a healthy lead on "best PM" questions despite Miliband "promising unicorns for anyone who votes red" and the unpopularity of spending cuts).
Yes it does. Miliband was Party Leader in the midterm of last parliament. Osborne is not party leader today. You are comparing veal to Stilton and trying to compare wine vintage.
I wonder what Gordon Brown thinks of your theory that someone moving from Chancellor to PM automatically makes them more popular.
I never said that! I said they'll judge a party leader as to how they perform as party leader and not just as to how they judge them in their current job. Brown got judged differently as PM to how he was as Chancellor before he became PM.
@ShippersUnbound Liam Fox has tonight declared Britain should leave the EU in the Sunday Times. Most senior figure who has served Cameron's govt to opt out
So a backbencher who resigned from ministerial politics over four years ago? Who next, David Davis?
I'm sure there are credible faces for Tories Out but it has to get better than that surely?
Owen Patterson and maybe IDS
Owen Patterson quite possibly yes. I suspect even IDS views himself as yesterday's man regarding Europe. He seems to genuinely be more interested in his welfare reforms than the Euro debates that so exercised the IDS of over two decades ago. He seems to have moved on.
He has almost finished his welfare reforms and will then likely leave the government to join the Out campaign, John Redwood, Bernard Jenkin, Peter Lilley also likely Out backers who used to be Tory frontbenchers
@ShippersUnbound Liam Fox has tonight declared Britain should leave the EU in the Sunday Times. Most senior figure who has served Cameron's govt to opt out
So a backbencher who resigned from ministerial politics over four years ago? Who next, David Davis?
I'm sure there are credible faces for Tories Out but it has to get better than that surely?
Owen Patterson and maybe IDS
Owen Patterson quite possibly yes. I suspect even IDS views himself as yesterday's man regarding Europe. He seems to genuinely be more interested in his welfare reforms than the Euro debates that so exercised the IDS of over two decades ago. He seems to have moved on.
He has almost finished his welfare reforms and will then likely leave the government to join the Out campaign, John Redwood, Bernard Jenkin, Peter Lilley also likely Out backers who used to be Tory frontbenchers
Which of them do you feel does not fall under the heading yesterday's men?
Seriously there must be names that didn't give Major a headache two decades ago to be relevant?
These names are about as incredible as the Remain team announcing it has the support of Ken Clarke ...
Interesting post.Peter Kelner has consistently said the 2 fundamentals to winning a GE are economic competence and leadership.He could be right.In such matters.I await the view from public servant,Prof .John Curtice.He has had a terrific 2015 and has his nose to the ground for Scotland in 2016. It needs to be said the Tories are rigging the electoral system via the most blatant gerry-mandering of IER,losing 1.9 million off the ER and attacking Labour party funding via the TUBill ,19% cut to short-money.The reduction in the number of MPs from 650 to 600 could easily be another nail in the LibDems' coffin but Labour is probably going to suffer most,a few Tory MPs could be under threat too.Not to mention the revenge attack on the HoL for shafting Osborne's sneaky Statutory Instrument. back where it belonged in a place where the sun don't shine.This government is getting more and more autocratic,rigging the electoral system.
Comments
https://twitter.com/LabourEoin/status/596478437839269888
Pochetino would be my first choice but he is better off staying with Spurs, Eddie Howe would be perfect, even AVB now the senior players have gone. My realistic choice would be Paul Clement.
https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/678329386488188928
Though I did think he was a Kipper.
To paraphrase the legendary Rimmer of Red Dwarf 'The guy is a clueless gimboid'
Imagine if Cameron said, that Hilter he wasn't so bad and we wouldn't have the modern day super productive Germany without him....
Is Corbyn helping Labour in London ?
Opinium Scotland: SNP: 62%, CON: 14%, LAB: 10%, LD: 3%, GRN: 4%, UKIP: 6%.
Obviously his politics are bonkers too.
Liam Fox has tonight declared Britain should leave the EU in the Sunday Times. Most senior figure who has served Cameron's govt to opt out
Three cabinet ministers set to quit if Cameron doesn't let them campaign for out
Fox spoke out after ministers asked him to break cover to flush out wavering Eurosceptics
Theresa Villiers spoke out in cabinet this week about renegotiation and visited Cameron in No 10 to complain PM not tough enough. See STimes
Liam Fox: Britain shouldn't be "tied to an economically failing, socially tense and politically unstable project”.
Hands off poch...
Salma Yaqoob, the former leader of George Galloway’s Respect party, has applied to become a Labour Party member in Hall Green
Labour moderates are fighting to prevent a leading activist in Stop the War being allowed into the party with a view to being selected as an MP.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/Jeremy_Corbyn/12060187/Labour-moderates-fighting-to-stop-leading-Stop-the-War-activist-joining-the-party.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
A private Labour survey in 2013 asked voters ‘the three best reasons for not voting Labour’.
Crushingly, the main factor was Miliband himself, followed by immigration and welfare. The authors state: ‘The information was deleted beyond the smallest group of Miliband advisers.’
The Labour polls also showed Mr Miliband’s controversial ‘core vote’ strategy was a ‘dead end’.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3367352/David-Cameron-s-handwritten-note-reveals-fear-losing-s-election.html
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/dec/19/carlo-ancelotti-bayern-munich-manager-pep-guardiola
And last night the tentacles of the scandal even threatened to reach into Ukip after its only MP, Douglas Carswell, complained about the ‘aggressive’ behaviour of Matthew Richardson – the Ukip party secretary who is also a close friend of Mark Clarke.
Shortly after a furious Commons bust-up with Mr Richardson, Mr Carswell received a threatening phone call from a senior Ukip figure asking ‘grossly intrusive questions’ about the state of his marriage.
Richardson, was best man at the wedding of Clarke – dubbed the ‘Tatler Tory’ after the magazine tipped him as a future Minister – and is a Freemason in the same Lodge. He denies behaving aggressively towards Carswell, or any knowledge of the phone call.
https://t.co/RKMw7x2Vwk
Whilst that continues, Corbyn is safe.
Then those Tories for Corbyn will go very quiet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgDKtLPp46s
But I'm not sure we can predict with confidence how voters will feel about any of them in three years' time - Corbyn has had 100 days of solidly negative press, and that's something all leaders go through and will challenge whoever follows Cameron too. The electoral case for Boris is his proven Teflon nature. When something bad comes up for Osborne, he looks shifty. When it happens to Boris, he laughs. (But can one laugh too much to be seen as a potential PM?)
Respect + Greens = Labour 2020
Sane Labour - who knows?
http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19820516/7501/
Liam Fox has tonight declared Britain should leave the EU in the Sunday Times. Most senior figure who has served Cameron's govt to opt out
Page 174
http://ourinsight.opinium.co.uk/sites/ourinsight.opinium.co.uk/files/vi_15_12_2015_tables.pdf
Cameron never got the chance to enter a General Election against Corbyn or against a party led by Corbyn for nearly five years. Osborne v Corbyn will be more one sided than Cameron v Miliband or Cameron v Brown ever was.
I'm sure there are credible faces for Tories Out but it has to get better than that surely?
Fox may be a monomaniac and fantasist but he's a serious figure in the party (even though I disagree with him on many things, it's been clear from our discussions over the years that he's thought through his positions in some detail)
Come the end of the Parliament the notion Corbyn will be competitive is ... Interesting.
Hope for both Ozzy and Jez
Seriously there must be names that didn't give Major a headache two decades ago to be relevant?
These names are about as incredible as the Remain team announcing it has the support of Ken Clarke ...
It needs to be said the Tories are rigging the electoral system via the most blatant gerry-mandering of IER,losing 1.9 million off the ER and attacking Labour party funding via the TUBill ,19% cut to short-money.The reduction in the number of MPs from 650 to 600 could easily be another nail in the LibDems' coffin but Labour is probably going to suffer most,a few Tory MPs could be under threat too.Not to mention the revenge attack on the HoL for shafting Osborne's sneaky Statutory Instrument. back where it belonged in a place where the sun don't shine.This government is getting more and more autocratic,rigging the electoral system.