Polls, polls, polls
With the local and European elections imminent, Westminster has been transfixed by a series of poor polling performances by Labour. Monday saw Lord Ashcroft’s maiden weekly poll give the Tories their first lead since 2012, with Labour hopes that the poll might be an outlier dashed as ICM also indicated a two-point lead.
As Labour commentators pondered the cause of the downturn – traditionally their polling does dip when the main focus of discussion is Europe - Ed Miliband took to the studios to argue he was more concerned with policy than polling. Relief was offered YouGov registered a three-point Labour lead.
While much was made of low satisfaction ratings for the Labour leader, there was justifiable cause for concern for Nick Clegg, with the Lib Dem leader himself admitting “all the predictions are that we’re going to get zilch”.
Bad news for UKIP
It wasn’t all good news for UKIP either. On Wednesday, student Sanya-Jeet Thandi, a prominent member of the party’s youth wing resigned from the party, accusing it of descending into a “form of racist populism” which was trying to “exploit the ignorance in British society”. The following day the Guardian revealed almost one in ten local councillors who won seats in May 2013 are no longer representing the party.
A new Chair for the Defence Select Committee
“The highest percentage turnout in any election anywhere in the UK this year might just be this vote for the next Chair of the Defence Select Cttee”, tweeted Jim Murphy, and it is indeed true that Wednesday’s election saw an enviable amount of ballot box action. Emerging victorious from a crowded field of eight candidates was Old Etonian (but not at all ‘No.10’s boy’) Rory Stewart MP, who overcame hawkish defence specialist Dr Julian Lewis by 14 votes – bringing the total number of Stewarts on the Committee to three.
Twitter trouble
Feted American electoral strategist David Axelrod, tasked with overhauling Labour’s communications, addressed the Shadow Cabinet yesterday. Someone who may want to heed his advice is Austin Mitchell. On Wednesday the veteran Labour MP found himself facing calls to apologise after he likened US drug giant Pfizer to a rapist on Twitter.
An education
Over at DfE, an all-out briefing war broke out between the Coalition partners. The Lib Dems accused Michael Gove of diverting funds to save his free schools project, before former Tory SpAd Dominic Cummings escalated things by describing Nick Clegg’s universal free school meals policy as a “gimmick”. As the spat threatening to boil over, Gove and Laws took to The Times to declare ‘We are not at war’. That hastily-penned statement of harmony may have convinced nobody, and Mr Gove turned on Labour describing Tristram Hunt as holding “more contorted positions on free schools than some Indian sex manuals I could name.”
Happy holidays?
Despite the tensions it now looks almost certain that the Coalition itself will last out its full term. With the Third Session of the Fifty-Fifth Parliament ending on Wednesday, granting MPs an additional extra day of holiday, the Prime Minister headed to Scotland ready to invoke the memory of John Smith as he joined the ‘No’ campaign.
The question of Scottish independence will be settled in September and while we will have to wait another twelve months to see what unfurls in Westminster, next week’s results will no doubt hint at what lies ahead.
Mark Glover & Laura Sainsbury
Chief Executive & Senior Account Manager, Bellenden