Mr S always enjoys reading Danny Finkelstein’s column (even when he borrows jokes from Steerpike) and Wednesday’s column was no exception. In the piece — titled ‘the most reliable polls are at the end of a phone’ — Finkelstein highlights the difficulties pollsters experience, arguing that contrary to popular opinion they do often get it right.
But why write a column about the technicalities of polling? As far as Mr S can tell, the true purpose of the piece is to restore the reputation (and, perhaps, position) of his old flatmate Andrew Cooper — after his embarrassing general election run.
Although Cooper served as Cameron’s chief strategist, he had a fall from grace as the PM came to rely more heavily on Sir Lynton Crosby, to Cooper’s fury. On polling day itself, Cooper took to the pages of the Guardian – where else? – to trash the Cameron/Crosby campaign:
‘That it is a sign of insanity to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result, the 2015 election campaign has been a prolonged exhibition of insanity.
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