Labour Betrayed Working Class Voters | Michael Heaver
Press Groups Slam Obama Administration | Bloomberg
Don’t Panic’s Bafta Panic | Speccie
Thank You, Prime Minister, That’ll Do | Douglas Carswell
Tories Are Ungovernable | Janan Ganesh
Farage Offers to Endorse Tory MPs | Mail
Cameron’s Admission of Failure | James Kirkup
Loverson Lawyer Helped Write Report | Mail
Tory Madness is Dave’s Fault | Ben Brogan
Dave is the New Major | Paul Goodman
Cameron Has Lost His Mind | Dan Hodges
TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2013
Tory Draft EU Bill Does Not Mandate Any Change
Not for Guido to suggest that it might have been drawn up on the back of a fag packet in about half an hour, but there is one very interesting omission in the Tory EU draft Bill; there is no clause to actually mandate the government to do anything following the outcome of the plebiscite. The AV Bill had a section saying the the government must bring forward legislation if there were more yes votes:8 Commencement or repeal of amending provisionsThis Bill has nothing. Heaven forbid a vote on the EU goes the wrong way, and they need to hold another one…
(1)The Minister must make an order bringing into force section 9, Schedule 10 and Part 1 of Schedule 12 (“the alternative vote provisions”) if—
(a)more votes are cast in the referendum in favour of the answer “Yes” than in favour of the answer “No”
Exclusive: Tory Draft Europe Bill
- Referendum must be held before 31 December 2017.
- The question that is to appear on the ballot papers is— “Do you think that the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union?”
Darling of the Lobby
The two Eds will have been following Alistair Darling’s Lobby lunch very closely this afternoon. Darling laid down the gauntlet to Balls, showing a fair amount of leg about a possible return: “At the moment I’m totally focused on the referendum. After that I’ll see where I stand. I will maintain an interest in wider affairs.”
Some choice words for Miliband too. Darling says Ed “needs to do more to argue case for staying in the EU”, but at least apparently he’s “doing better than people give him credit for” and there is “no need for line by line manifesto” with two years to go. He was coy on Gordon: “I have never provided a running commentary on any conversations I may or may not have had”, but was willing to jokingly flirt with another foe: “there are times I have been tempted to join UKIP”. The tease…
Liability Brown
It’s official: 71% of Scots say the Prime Mentalist is a liability. Readers of the Scotsman say Gordon’s attempt to take on the freedom fighters will do his cause more harm than good. It would be some Jonah curse…
H/T @moonbeamfalafel
July 17th Diary Date For Ambitious Tory MPs
The date in the diaries of the remaining Tory MPs without some form of junior job is the 17th of July, so says Allegra Stratton. That is reportedly the current working date for Dave’s junior ministerial reshuffle, to be followed by the real thing in September.Make a note…
Chuka is Chuckling, Honest!
Chuka is really trying hard with this whole learning to laugh at himself thing:
Bless…
Even Labour Supporters are Hardening on Hand Outs
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have actually put out something interesting for a change. Over the last thirty years, Labour supporters’ attitudes to welfare have hardened considerably. In the late eighties 41% believed social injustice was the main cause of poverty, now that figure is just 27%. This can be explained in part by the number that blame laziness amongst those on benefits, up from 13% to 22%. 31% of Labour backers see welfare recipients as undeserving, compared to just 21% thirty years ago. The biggest jump: 46% now believe the welfare state encourages dependency, up from just 16% in 1987. You can see how attitudes have changed among Labour supporters by clicking on the interactive chart above. Ed may want to lead the party of welfare, but his voters are not with him.
Shadow Health Minister Diane Abbott Calls Nadine “Demented”
Mental Health charities will have to send Diane for re-education…
UKIP’s Highest Ever Poll Rating
Talking of headaches for Dave, last night’s ICM/Guardian poll has UKIP on 18%, their highest ever rating and double their ICM rating for a month ago. Labour, the Tories and the LibDems all lost four points each, with Labour falling below Ed’s fabled 35% target. UKIP are up nine points. What was that about a referendum?
Dave’s Major Headache
So that Obama endorsement Dave was smiling about last night went well then. The PM is getting savaged this morning after jumping on his backbenchers’ bandwagon, only to be told by his new masters that his draft bill is not enough. For all the talk of parliamentary graffiti and time wasting, there is one small silver lining for the Tories; despite the short term pain there is a dividing line here. The LibDems look likely to vote against their 2010 manifesto, yet again, and Miliband is going to have to actually make a decision for once.
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