The Democrats face a beating if they choose Bernie Sanders as their presidential nominee February 26, 2020 In December 2019, a peculiar experiment in British politics hit the buffers in a most brutal manner. One of our great political parties — Labour — had gambled that it could swing radically leftwards away from the ideological centre ground. Its expectation was that it would win a sweeping victory with an enhanced coalition of [...]
Keep calm and drink Yorkshire Tea until the Twitter storm blows over February 27, 2020 Another day, another Twitter pile-on. This time, the warriors of social justice turned their ire on homely hot-drink merchants Yorkshire Tea. Their equally voluble online opponents rallied to its defence. Why? Because Yorkshire Tea had the temerity to be, unbeknownst to them, our new chancellor’s choice of brew. Or, more precisely, the drink selected by [...]
General Election 2019: Priti Patel hammers Labour over immigration as party splits on free movement November 14, 2019 Home secretary Priti Patel has said immigration would be cut “overall” under a Conservative government – and raised alarm bells over Labour’s shifting position on freedom of movement. Patel said plans to bring in an Australian-style points based immigration system for EU and non-EU migrants would reduce the numbers coming to the UK. The home secretary [...]
DEBATE: Could tactical voting actually make a difference to the result of this election? December 12, 2019 Could tactical voting actually make a difference to the result of this election? Joe Twyman, co-founder and director of Deltapoll and a presenter of the Polling Politics Podcast, says YES. In first past the post elections, the difference between winning and losing a majority can be small. Really small. Back in 2017, the difference between [...]
Election 2019: Leaders travel across UK in final push December 11, 2019 Party leaders are travelling across the country today in a last ditch plea to appeal to voters before the polls open for tomorrow’s General Election. Boris Johnson got his day started before sunrise by doing a milk round in South Yorkshire. Read more: Election 2019: The many losers, and occasional winners, of the campaign He [...]
Why we should stay optimistic as markets navigate uncertainty February 24, 2020 It’s not long since warnings of an upcoming slowdown dominated the British news agenda. But with a Brexit deal in hand and signs of a thaw in the global trade war, uncertainty has lessened and the fear of recession receded. So it is smooth sailing from here? Hardly. New uncertainties are likely to emerge just [...]
General Election 2019: Twitter ban on political ads comes into effect November 22, 2019 Today is the first day of Twitter’s political ad ban, less than a month out from the general election and a year ahead of the 2020 US presidential election. The social media firm revealed last week that it’s ban would include all mentions of political candidates and legislation. All three leading parties – Conservatives, Labour [...]
Labour rules out unity government plan to block no-deal Brexit October 8, 2019 Labour has definitively ruled out opposition plans for a government of national unity as part of efforts to prevent a no-deal Brexit, City A.M. understands. The rainbow coalition of anti-no-dealers, including a swelling tribe of Liberal Democrat MPs, has tried repeatedly to find a suitable candidate to lead a caretaker government in a bid to [...]
Ladbrokes: 2020 general election is now odds-on October 16, 2019 The chances of a general election in 2020 are now higher than one in the rest of this year, according to the latest betting odds from Ladbrokes. As Brexit talks go to the wire, the bookmaker said it was now the favourite that an election would not take place this side of Christmas, with odds [...]
Keith Vaz to stand down in General Election November 10, 2019 Labour’s Keith Vaz has announced he will not stand for re-election in the upcoming December ballot. The veteran politician was facing a six-month suspension from the Commons after being found to have “expressed willingness” to purchase cocaine for others. In a statement, Vaz said: “I have decided to retire after completing 32 years as the [...]