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Month: July 2009

Is Hillary’s campaign chief right about Brown’s chances?

Is Hillary’s campaign chief right about Brown’s chances?

PR Week But has Brown got it within him to do what’s required? This week’s edition of PR Week has an interesting interview with one of the world’s most highly paid political strategists – Mark Penn, global CEO of Burson-Marsteller – in which he holds up some hope for Labour? He’s quoted as saying: “Voters can and do take a second and even third look at their leaders. Tory leader David Cameron has hit a barrier, and a lot of…

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Are these the figures that undermine the UNS?

Are these the figures that undermine the UNS?

YouGov Just look at how Lib Dem supporters are splitting The forced choice question that appears above is one that’s been included in the Telegraph’s monthly YouGov poll for several years now and I think is probably a good guide to potential tactical voting. For this asks simply: “If you had to choose which would you prefer to see after the next election a Conservative government led by David Cameron or a Labour government led by Gordon Brown?”. For me…

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Why do family connections seem to matter with Labour?

Why do family connections seem to matter with Labour?

Is the party vulnerable to charges of nepotism? There’s an interesting article by Jeff Randall in the Telegraph this morning which explores the extent to which “which blood ties and marriages” seem to matter so much within the top echelons on the Labour party. He notes: that the Labour cabinet includes “…the Miliband brothers, Edward and David; the husband-and-wife team, Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, daughter of Prospect’s former general secretary; Harriet Harman, the niece of Lord Longford (a former…

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Labour move to best YouGov total since May

Labour move to best YouGov total since May

CON 41 (+1) LAB 27 (+2) LD 18 (-2) But Labour is still down seven on early early April The third YouGov poll of the month, this one for the Daily Telegraph, has just been published and has some possible less bad news Brown Central. A slight increase in the Labour share which equals the 27 points they were on in late April and early May and is substantially higher than the 21% recorded in one YouGov survey in early…

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Introducing the “PB Early Birds”

Introducing the “PB Early Birds”

A new service for supporters of the site At the start of June about 60 PBers very kindly made donations to support the technical infrastructure of the site. In total nearly £3,000 was raised and this has enabled us to make things more robust. As a way of saying thank you we are setting up something called the “PB Early Birds”. This will be a special alert service for when we have news of an attractive betting opportunity. As those…

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What does this say about Brown’s debate chances ?

What does this say about Brown’s debate chances ?

YouGov November 4th 2005 Could the PM, like Davis in 2005, have ended up on top? Yesterday while we were getting contradictory statements on a Brown-Cameron TV debate I dug up the above YouGov poll up for a national paper which had commissioned me to do a piece on the main contenders’ chances. The November 2005 poll I found was of Tory party members does raise questions over whether Cameron would have been the overwhelming debate winner with Brown as…

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July 30 2005: When Dave was recognised by just 6% of voters

July 30 2005: When Dave was recognised by just 6% of voters

Looking back at the Populus poll that’s four years old today Just four years ago today the Times published the findings of an online poll in which those participating were presented with a series of pictures featuring prominent politicians, asking who they were and what their job was. To put the political situation at the time into context the end July 2005 voting intention polls had:- YouGov CON 31: LAB 40: LD 21 Populus CON 28: LAB 40: LD 22…

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So is there any value here?

So is there any value here?

Ladbrokes How many Labour MPs will there be in the next parliament? For those who are uncomfortable with the risks of spread betting the main way of betting on the number of seats the parties will get in the general election is here – which several of the bookies offer but unlike mostLadbrokes keeps it up almost all the time. Is there any value? How difficult is it betting with such small segments? My sense is that this is quite…

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