Archive for charles kennedy
Was there a Clegg coup? Review of The Clegg Coup – Britain’s First Coalition Government Since Lloyd George by Jasper Gerard
Many book titles reveal little about what their book contains, either providing but a banal name for its contents or a clever, clever name which obscures rather than reveals. However, The Clegg Coup – Britain’s First Coalition Government Since Lloyd George by Jasper Gerard has a title which is revealing in two aspects. First, the [...]
Charles Kennedy: I’ve learned to love the coalition
In a piece for Prospect magazine, published today, former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy gives his backing to the coalition government. Though Kennedy didn’t vote in favour of the coalition last May, abstaining instead, he now backs it: I admit that this coalition wasn’t exactly my preferred option. I’ve always considered myself in the reforming, [...]
Charles Kennedy to join Ed Miliband on a pro-electoral reform platform
It’s hardly surprising that Charles Kennedy and Ed Miliband would be appearing together to promote electoral reform. Kennedy has long been a supporter of electoral reform and by virtue of not being in government is seen by many in Labour as an easier figure to campaign alongside (even though one of Kennedy’s first acts on [...]
Tuition fees: which way will MPs vote on Thursday?
Today saw a weird piece of media face with an impostor conning several news outlets into reporting that Edinburgh West MP Mike Crockart was going to resign as a PPS and vote against the tuition fees increase. The impostor even got as far as being interviewed by the BBC on the World at One before [...]
Market Research Society rules that it is ethical to poll about false personal allegations
The Market Research Standards Board (MRSB) has cleared YouGov of all the complaints made about its polling of 16-19 April during the general election – but in so doing has raised a big question about what now counts as ‘ethical’ polling. The MRSB’s ruling gives the green light to pollsters asking questions on behalf of [...]
Electoral reform and Charles Kennedy
Today’s Independent has a quote from me about Nick Clegg’s interview for The Westminster Hour about, amongst other topics, electoral reform: Party members will understand the underlying point Nick Clegg was making – that this isn’t a single-issue coalition. However, I suspect many will be disappointed at quite how keenly he talked down the importance [...]
How do people really think?
The last edition of ALDC’s Campaigner before the start of the election contained this piece from me:
Knowing why people vote the way they do is tough. It’s not just because people may be reluctant to be honest to others about their motivations, but people are also often bad at understanding themselves.
In fact, one of the [...]
Poll surge continues: is this 2003 or 1974?
“I will only really believe it when I see it in print!” – so read a text message to me from one of the party’s senior campaign strategists after news started spreading about the latest poll:
BPIX/Mail on Sunday: Lib Dem 32%, Conservative 31%, Labour 28%
ComRes/Independent/Mirror: Conservative 31%, Lib Dem 29%, Labour 27%
ICM/Sunday Telegraph: Conservative 34%, [...]
