Browsed by
Category: Keir Starmer

Starmer’s getting his lowest approval ratings in the CON seats that should be LAB’s main targets

Starmer’s getting his lowest approval ratings in the CON seats that should be LAB’s main targets

This chart is a follow up to the one on the previous header which looked at the PM’s approval ratings by what happened at GE2019 in groups of constituencies. As can be seen the Starmer approval ratings follow the same pattern with Corbyn’s successor getting positive numbers across the board but doing least well in those seats which were gained by the Tories at GE2019. Note that this isn’t just from one poll but the average for each group from…

Read More Read More

The latest Opinium poll has Starmer beating Johnson on thirteen different measures yet still the Tories retain their 4% voting lead

The latest Opinium poll has Starmer beating Johnson on thirteen different measures yet still the Tories retain their 4% voting lead

Good news for the red team as their leader completes his first three months? The above chart from Opinium sets out the responses to a wide range of match-ups between Starmer and Johnson and as can be seen these sre not good for the current incumbent at Number 10. One of the reasons as you look through the detail is that voters of just about all persuasions including Tories are reluctant to give the new LAB leader and former DPP…

Read More Read More

Can Johnson raise the Tories’ game above Easy mode? Can Labour force him to?

Can Johnson raise the Tories’ game above Easy mode? Can Labour force him to?

Governments with no effective opposition become arrogant and complacent Why did the Lib Dems choose the Tories over Labour after the inconclusive 2010 general election? Although only a decade ago, it could as well have been a lifetime given how much has changed since – and in the last five years in particular. But that change makes the question all the more pertinent. The numbers were a big part of it, of course. The Tories could promise a stable government…

Read More Read More

How in just three months Starmer has changed the political weather

How in just three months Starmer has changed the political weather

I am a great fan of the Opinium weekly poll for the Observer. The firm gets its full datasets out at the same time as when the poll is published on a Saturday evening and it has a series of questions in every survey that are always asked with the result that we can compare changes over time. Opinium also has a range of cross-heads that can really add to our understanding. One group is on CON and LAB leavers…

Read More Read More

John Rentoul: The sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey was a “Blairite moment”

John Rentoul: The sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey was a “Blairite moment”

Interesting angle from the Indy’s John Rentoul on the sacking of Shadow Education Secretary and former unsuccessful leadership challenger, Rebecca Long-Bailey. Rentoul is a long-standing Blairite and has never apologised for that. The tone of this evening’s column is set out in its opening: It would be wrong to gloat. Mustn’t do it. And generally I don’t. But just for a moment, let’s celebrate the end of the paranoid, reactionary, self-righteous politics of the people who ran the Labour Party…

Read More Read More

The big message from the Long-Bailey sacking is that Labour is Starmer’s party now

The big message from the Long-Bailey sacking is that Labour is Starmer’s party now

The contrast with Johnson on Cummings/Jenrick should worry ministers The big political news on most of the front pages is Starmer’s sacking from his shadow cabinet of the former leadership rival Long-Bailey for circulating what could be regarded as an antisemitic article. In many ways the firmness of Stamer’s approach should not surprise us because ridding the party of antisemitism has been one of his stated early key objectives. Already he has come under fire for the Long Bailey action…

Read More Read More

If Starmer is ever to become PM he’s likely going to need some sort of relationship with the next LD leader

If Starmer is ever to become PM he’s likely going to need some sort of relationship with the next LD leader

He needs an “understanding” like the GE1997 Blair-Ashdown link The Lib Dem leadership election is now down to just two with with the Oxford West and Abingdon MP, Layla Moran taking on the current acting leader, the Kingston MP Ed Davey who, of course, stood a year ago go against Jo Swinson and lost. Moran is the odds-on favourite. Where the contest could be important is if, as is highly likely at the next election, Starmer’s LAB is unable to…

Read More Read More

The lockdown is being eased from July 4th but the virus has not gone away

The lockdown is being eased from July 4th but the virus has not gone away

Is this going to change the political trends? As expected the man who desperately needs a haircut, PM Johnson, has announced a range of measures that will ease the lockdown from a week on Saturday which will be exactly three months to the day since Keir Starmer became opposition leader. In that time the Tories lead has been slashed from 26% in two polls in April to the blue team being just four or five points ahead. Johnson’s personal ratings…

Read More Read More