MPs went on £70,000 iPad, iPhone and laptop spending spree before the General Election May 13, 2015 A cohort of 60 MPs spent £70,000 on iPads, iPhones and laptops as the election loomed. They may not have broken any rules, but the spree meant expenses watchdog Ipsa (the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority) wrote to politicians to express concern. Read more: How MPs stepping down at this election could make millions on their [...]
YouGov: Why you should still trust our research – Brand Index May 12, 2015 After 15 years of getting every election right and setting new standards of accuracy in both polling and market research, YouGov got an election wrong. Sure, every other pollster got it wrong, too. But YouGov has become the face of the industry, and now there’s egg on it. This matters to readers of this [...]
Polling errors and the financial crisis: Why groupthink is to blame for both May 12, 2015 The election is done and dusted, but many interesting questions remain. Was there a swing to the Conservatives at the very last minute, or was it indeed possible to foresee the victory in advance? Snippets are emerging which suggest that the electorate had made up their minds well before polling day. Rod Liddle, the entertaining [...]
London MPs must find a common voice – or see the capital overlooked May 12, 2015 The General Election has left the UK looking more politically divided than ever. The SNP dominates in Scotland, Labour in the Northern towns, and the Tories in the South of England. Only Wales and London have retained a somewhat variegated appearance and, with the decimation of the Lib Dems, even they have become less colourful. [...]
Who will be the next Labour leader? Chuka Ummuna launches his leadership bid May 12, 2015 Chuka Umunna is in the running to become the next leader of the Labour party, confirming his widely suspected intention in a video posted on Facebook. The shadow business secretary and MP for Streatham has been widely tipped for the role. He made a number of media appearances in the immediate wake of the election [...]
Sajid Javid’s busy first day as business secretary – here’s what he said on the BBC, strikes and the EU May 12, 2015 Not even 24 hours into his first day as business secretary in David Cameron's all-Tory cabinet, and Sajid Javid is on the front foot with a media blitz having appeared on three different morning TV and radio shows. Notably, the government's business secretary chose the BBC (appearing on BBC Breakfast, Radio 5 Live and Radio [...]
David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle heralds a new dawn for business May 11, 2015 Sajid Javid gets promotion to top job as business secretary Greg Hands becomes second-in-command at Treasury Sterling continues its climb since the shock election result Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled his first all-Tory government yesterday, with a slew of business-related and economic positions being handed to new faces. Former [...]
David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle sets new government up for BBC clash as John Whittingdale named secretary for culture, media and sport May 11, 2015 David Cameron set his government on a collision course with the BBC yesterday, appointing John Whittingdale as the new secretary of state for culture, media and sport. Whittingdale, who chaired the culture, media and sport committee in the last parliament, has previously been highly critical of the licence fee system used to fund the public [...]
David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle: Mayor Boris Johnson rides into Downing Street May 11, 2015 Mayor of London Boris Johnson is likely to spend more time at Downing Street and less time in City Hall in the coming months, thanks to Prime Minister David Cameron’s latest cabinet reshuffle. The mayor, who was elected as the Conservative MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip in last Thursday’s General Election, will attend meetings [...]
The end of male, pale and stale politics? The new women in Westminster after David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle May 11, 2015 Throughout most of modern British history, female MPs have numbered few and far between. Women took up less than 10 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons until as recently as the mid-1990s, when, alongside Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997, the percentage of female Labour MPs shot up by a staggering 173 [...]