politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » David Herdson writes: Ed Miliband: my part in his downfall
politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » David Herdson writes: Ed Miliband: my part in his downfall
A year ago today I received an unsolicited e-mail from an extremely senior Conservative election strategist, asking if I ever came to London as he’d be interested in picking my brains. Unsurprisingly, I said ‘Yes’.
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It must have been great to see the campaign from the inside, there was clearly a massive amount of work done behind the scenes that most of us will never know about, to hear this story from a year ago shows that was indeed the case.
David, of course you were responsible for the Conservative win, the Salmond and Ed poster worked worked perfectly as it gave to most voters an accurate picture of how the dynamic between the two leaders might work - although I am sure the actual poster used was this one: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/3/9/1425900594701/2e3f4b0f-f8db-4aae-8e61-42affc16f61a-bestSizeAvailable.jpeg
Hope you wife is getting better after her bad accident.
PB Tory Brain Trust!
A shame. Why filibuster this bill? The cost of it is probably a rounding error.
There's some more information in this article about half-way down:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jun/03/undoing-of-ed-miliband-and-how-labour-lost-election
but you have to sort of tease it out. Incidentally, five months on and the quality of that article is still superb. I hope Wintour writes a book about Ed Miliband's time as leader, because it would be well worth reading.
PS - is the 'David' referring to Cameron, Miliband or both?
What is it about Tories.....I heard on HIGNFY yesterday that Andrew Lloyd Webber came back from New York to vote in the Lords in support of the government taking away tax credits from the poor. One of the very few times he's voted in the Lords
"PS - is the 'David' referring to Cameron, Miliband or both? "
Miliband and Herdson
David Herdson writes: "Ed Miliband: my part in his downfall"
The follow up to the cult classic
"Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?
It is an unecessary bit of political grandstanding by Cooper imo.
The Bill is unnecessary due to local schemes existing widely, it is badly drafted, it draws a test for "carer" which is massively open to abuse, it attempts to apply far too widely eg to mandate free parking at Private Hospitals, it encourages fit people to drive to hospital when they don't need to do so, and it imposes extra bureaucracy (=cost) on every hospital in the country.
There may be a suitable Bill out there somewhere, but this is not it.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2015-2016/0010/15010.pdf
The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme already allows reasonable costs to be reclaimed for referrals from Primary Practioners, including for carers. And it seems that most - if not all - hospitals already offer concessionary schemes.
When my parent was in Nottingham City for 2 months about 6 years ago we were entitled to a free parking pass.
Julie Cooper's interesting claim that it was costing her £40 a week to visit her mother on a long term basis 18 months ago may be somewhat undermined by the fact that all the main hospitals in Burnley / Blackburn run a scheme which allows you to cap weekly parking charges to £10.50. For some reason she doesn't seem to have named the hospital from this anecdote. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/30/tory-mps-filibuster-blocks-bill-to-give-carers-free-hospital-parking
Sadly not meaningless.
As David points out, Tory strategy has been to drive a wedge between Scotland and England. It suits their party goals, but comes with a huge price tag.
Nothing to be proud about.
http://www.capx.co/how-the-snp-let-down-the-poorest-students/
I was reminded of the famous caption competition about a photograph of the Dean of Westminster strategically placed in his abbey. The winner was: 'The great organ of Westminster Abbey, with a large musical instrument'.
When my daughter was severely ill in Basildon hospital her husband was given a free pass for the car park. That was Jan/Feb 2014.
Earlier this year we had a long wait in A&E in another Essex hospital and were told by the A&E staff thatas it was Sunday there would be no problem. We’d paid for 3 hours and were there over 6.. And no, there wasn’t a problem.
@TelePolitics: Labour plan to tax Scottish middle class more than the English https://t.co/KVUtV0sFBl
http://blogs.new.spectator.co.uk/2015/10/the-two-faces-of-corbynism-and-why-labour-is-hiring-controversial-advisers/
Even more alarmingly, she is viewed as a 'realist'. What peculiar fantasies are the others indulging in to make her, of all people, seem like a realist? They must at the very least involve pigs in some capacity or other (Ashcroft showed what is possible).
It's as though he wants an SNP/Liberal Democrat alliance to form the official opposition.
http://blogs.new.spectator.co.uk/2015/10/jeremy-corbyn-comes-to-scotland-and-discovers-he-has-nothing-to-say/
My sort of person, and my sort of challenge:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34440109
Ann acquaintance of mine has not only walked the coast of Britain over twenty years, he's done a full mountain list (Marilyns, I think), and is most of the way through the challenge of drinking a pint of Guinness in every European capital.
That's absolutely terrifying if accurate (and usually even the sketchwriters at the Spectator are pretty switched on, so I'm assuming it is).
This paragraph is particularly unbelievable: But then, it is Scottish Labour we're talking about - it gave us Gordon Brown, who saw nothing wrong in borrowing slogans from other parties.
I think their only chance of staying relevant is a UDI from London and running themselves in a loose alliance with Labour, like the SDLP, but making their own policy and strategy decisions.
Similarly, Jeremy Corbyn should restrict his morning reading to the Daily Mail. He won't of course, but it would help him a lot in sorting out the small image problem he has. Cameron, meanwhile, should take the Mirror. Osborne would benefit from a book on economics, but that's another story...
I think their only chance of staying relevant is a UDI from London and running themselves in a loose alliance with Labour, like the SDLP, but making their own policy and strategy decisions.
They are in knots over that at present given "Scottish Labour " does not exist and they are really a regional office of the UK party pretending to be a real party. They have to follow UK position on all reserved powers which means almost 100%. Given they have few members and no money and so depend entirely on UK party for funding I doubt we will see any attempt to become a real party. Just like the Conservatives they will remain sucking of the parent's teat. It would be real justice if even the useless Scottish Tories beat them for second, what a laugh that would be.
We will see them vote against Trident on Sunday only to be slapped down by UK party.
Mr. Herdson, hope your wife's made a full recovery.
Rugby's on at 4pm today. At least it won't clash with F1, or Homeland.
Pre-qualifying will be up this afternoon/evening. P3 finishes at 5pm, and qualifying's at 7pm.
It really is an excellent article by massie. He annoys me a lot of the time but comes out with great items like this at times, I can almost forgive him being a unionist.
This could potentially be a very interesting problem, and could split Labour further. I hadn't realised it was looming.
"Won the election,lost the Union".. Lefties just love slogans..the more meaningless..the more they love them..'
I think that's true. It's the romanticism of the struggle. Who could resist for example "The Great Clunking Fist"
http://wingsoverscotland.com/lets-clear-something-up/
We will see them vote against Trident on Sunday only to be slapped down by UK party.
Why would they be slapped down? The UK party leader opposes Trident.
How many Marilyn mountains are there? Two?
From, unfortunately, personal experience, trying to find out what you are entitled to as a carer when the person you are looking after goes into hospital is, probably not intentionally, very difficult. You are not only on an emotional roller coaster, while the staff, probably from trying to protect their own sanity, try not to be emotionally involved.
Information on benefits is available, but trying to find it is as difficult as it seems to be in a locked drawer in a rusting cabinet, in the basement of a disused building about to be demolished.
It was only after the passing of my father that I found out some of the benefits that he, and myself, should have had available. Too late.
From, unfortunately, personal experience, trying to find out what you are entitled to as a carer when the person you are looking after goes into hospital is, probably not intentionally, very difficult. You are not only on an emotional roller coaster, while the staff, probably from trying to protect their own sanity, try not to be emotionally involved.
Information on benefits is available, but trying to find it is as difficult as it seems to be in a locked drawer in a rusting cabinet, in the basement of a disused building about to be demolished.
It was only after the passing of my father that I found out some of the benefits that he, and myself, should have had available. Too late.
If Scottish Labour say Yes to Trident, he's been defeated twice.
If Scottish Labour say No to Trident, then Scottish and UK Labour disagree over the not inconsequential matter of nuclear disarmament.
What was it Thatcher said? Where there is discord, may we bring harmony? Corbyn's fostering discord in his own party.
*At that time he took off his yellow star and went underground for the last few months of the war. He lived until the 1960s and after his first wife - the one whose protests had saved his life - died, married one of his students, at that time in her twenties.
So you think if UK Labour vote for Trident and the regional Scottish party vote NO , that Corbyn will make UK policy to NOT renew trident. Interesting thought.
"Roger that is about as subtle a dig as a subtle dig that paints itself purple and dances on a harpsichord singing 'subtle digs are here again' "
I don't know what you mean?
EDIT - Innocent Abroad, did anyone get around to telling Thatcher that she wasn't God though?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34687139
*At that time he took off his yellow star and went underground for the last few months of the war. He lived until the 1960s and after his first wife - the one whose protests had saved his life - died, married one of his students, at that time in her twenties.
Thanks for that. I'll read up about it today. I wonder whether Victor Klemperer and Otto were related?
"Seemed to be an allegory of this govt and tax credits "
Too clever for me. I think you're confusing me with Jesus
Information on benefits is available, but trying to find it is as difficult as it seems to be in a locked drawer in a rusting cabinet, in the basement of a disused building about to be demolished.
It was only after the passing of my father that I found out some of the benefits that he, and myself, should have had available. Too late.
I agree with that, and I think it argues for local schemes that we have now, rather than a regime mandated nationally.
In our case we just asked the Doctor in the hospital, who pointed us to the office in the hospital we needed to visit for a pass.
That was far less stressful than getting tangled up in more categories of the benefits system.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34683056
There are actually 2,009 Marilyns:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_(geography)
But I've checked, and it's actually the Nuttall's he's done:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_mountains_and_hills_in_the_British_Isles#Nuttalls
Maybe one day I'll get to do some walking again...
He's got form earlier in his parliamentary career, filibustering legislation preventing landlords evicting tenants on spurious grounds.
If he cares so much about the fact that the Labour bods are drawing up poor legislation as @Mattw points out, then perhaps he should take the time (He is clearly a fan of back bench debates) to draft some decent legislation around areas of the law that he clearly is so passionate about !
“I intend to start off as I mean to go on – by being brief.”
He's failed at that one for sure.
http://www.dw.com/en/chaos-continues-at-german-austrian-border-as-thousands-of-refugees-arrive-overnight/a-18815620
Canute knew trying to stem the tide was proof of man's weakness against God.
Just checking a few things, and the Mexico race looks like it could be quite intriguing. Just a shame it's not on the BBC...
Edited extra bit: Mr. JEO, might also be about communities [overused term, but actually fits here]. If you're a Syrian and know X hundred thousand Syrians are in Germany, you probably want to join them rather than be somewhere else and be the only individual/family in that area.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/1479533/Frustrated-Somalis-flee-Holland-for-the-freedom-of-Britain.html
But it began earlier. Adan Igeh Hussein, of the Somali European Forum, said Somalis felt bullied by a "forced assimilation" policy, which orders them to live apart in scattered housing.
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"It's not that the British are more friendly than the Dutch, it is just that they let us stay as we are. Somalis can integrate without losing their cultural identity," he said.
That group hug by the three anti-English leftist harridans at the election debate with EdM looking weakly upon like the ultimate henpecked husband would have lost Labour thousands of votes where they mattered most.
PS: was an excellent laugh, I was caught rotten by Mr Brooke.
PPS: Question is how he was so knowledgeable on such things.
' Ministers were sent a report containing "gobsmacking" details about Kids Company only three days before paying it £3m.
The document confirmed large payments to individual clients and the family of staff and found incomplete financial records.
The document confirms that one individual client received £47,069 in tax-free support in 2014 alone and the charity spent more than £50,000 funding someone described as the child of an Iranian diplomat, including their PhD study.
It notes that the two young people who have a relative working for a charity received support worth more than £130,000 and found several examples of unusual financial practice at the now-shut charity, which was led until it closed by its high-profile founder Camila Batmanghelidjh.
The document is an initial investigation into five of the 10 allegations with the remainder expected to be addressed subsequently. It revealed details described by a senior figure in the Cabinet Office as "fairly gobsmacking" and "horrifying and familiar" by one children's services expert, who spent time trying to evaluate the charity for the government.
The report was sent to the Cabinet Office on 27 July, three days before the £3m grant payment, signed off by ministers Matthew Hancock and Oliver Letwin, was made. This payment was made against the advice of civil servants, who said that Kids Company had failed to abide by the terms of a previous grant. '
Isn't it about time that Hancock and Letwin were surcharged for this gratuitous waste of taxpayers money.
"The union being lost is down to the SNP being massively popular, Cameron hasn't solved the problem, but attacking the SNP and Evel has little to do with causing it."
They were massively popular because they were seen as the most effective opposition to the Tories. If there hadn't been a Tory government in Westminster there would never have been a referendum. The Scots were sick of being ruled by a Party they had never voted for.
Thanks for the kind words re the article and particularly to Mrs H.
I wouldn't want to overplay my contribution. I saw a little of the inside between October and December which was indeed interesting but apart from that one trip to London, the rest was a now-and-then e-mail conversation, though as I say, it did touch on a key theme.
That theme, however, was one put to me, not one I brought to others' attention. I did affirm my belief that it was real and sustaining, and as such implied it could be used for a campaign - but it wasn't my campaign in any way. You're right about which poster it was.
Mrs H has had a long recovery and while that's still ongoing, she'll probably never get full mobility back (among various other injuries, she suffered a shattered kneecap which has left her with restricted flexibility in that leg). It's the reason why for about the first three months of the year, my political activity was more-or-less restricted solely to writing my Saturday pieces here.
Now, I know they were! But perhaps still not quite enough ;-)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/11965875/When-will-the-Corbynite-Left-also-stand-up-for-human-rights-in-Venezuela-and-Iran.html
p. 29 p.31 And I seem to remember Salmond making it explicit at the campaign launch: 'A majority SNP government will, in its first term, hold a full referendum on Scottish independence'; although I can't be sure of that because I can't find it.
So whether or not there was a Tory government in Westminster, they were going to hold a referendum if they could. Not forgetting that in 2007 Labour were still in power and the minority SNP government was propped up by, of all people, the Scottish Conservatives!
EDIT - Salmond is quoted as saying in this article from 1999 'If we win a majority, there will be six months for negotiations, and then a referendum as soon as possible.'
This should be a resignation issue for Letwin. During a time of austerity, he was handing over taxpayer money to a charity that he knew had flagrant abuse.
It can't have been another one.