Ed miliband

The stage was set for Ed Miliband at PMQs today. Just before the session, The Guardian revealed the names of various Tony donors who allegedly had accounts with HSBC’s Swiss bank. Miliband duly went for Cameron over the matter with some of his most personal attacks yet, accusing Cameron of being a ‘dodgy Prime Minister’ and ‘something rotten’ at the heart of the Tory party. But the attack failed to hit home in the Chamber. Labour did salvage the situation somewhat by, at what looked like Miliband’s own instigation, getting several of its MPs to ask Cameron again, the question he hadn’t answered: did he ever have conversations with Lord

Entering ‘Politicians are…’ into the Google search bar brings predictable results. Well, mostly. In amongst ‘liars’, ‘scum’ and ‘all the same’, Google suggests ‘lizards’: David Icke’s reptilian illuminati are still in the spotlight. Number five on the list is predictable: politicians are ‘out of touch’. Minding the gap has been central to British politics for years. Politicians, the line goes, are out of touch with reality, and, to make things worse, spend their whole time in Westminster, only visiting their constituencies to try to hang onto the seat. Yet some canny MPs are beginning to change this impression. This is the first general election where social media will be truly pervasive.

Have the Tories benefited from Labour’s week of misery? In Lord Ashcroft’s latest national poll, the Conservatives are now three points ahead of Labour — up from 30 per cent in last week’s poll. The Green Party are down to six per cent, the Lib Dems are up slightly to nine per cent and Ukip are down one point to 14 per cent. See the chart above for how the voting preferences have changed in Ashcroft’s polls this year. David Cameron personally continues to do well: nearly 60 per cent would prefer him as Prime Minister to Ed Miliband. When considering why either leader would do a better job, a

With every week that goes by, the more likely it is that the next election could result in a stalemate with neither Labour nor the Tories able to put together a deal that gives them a majority in the Commons. One Downing Street source, who has crunched the numbers, predicted to me last week that, because of what is going on in Scotland, the Tories will be the largest party on 280-odd seats. But if the Tories have only 280-odd seats, even deals with both the Liberal Democrats and the Democratic Unionists wouldn’t give them a majority. But Labour wouldn’t be able to stich one together either. For, as I

Andy Burnham’s interview in The Times today lays down several markers. He praises Len McCluskey, declares that trade union funding is best for Labour, slates Alan Milburn, criticises Peter Mandelson for being relaxed about people getting filthy rich and distances himself from the Blairite mantra that ‘what matters is what works.’ It will, to put it mildly, do nothing to discourage speculation that he is preparing to run for the leadership on a left-wing ticket if Labour loses the election. To be fair, Burnham is frank in this interview that he has changed his mind on various subjects. As he puts it, ‘There was a period in the 80s and

Is Ed Miliband ready to be Prime Minister? His personal poll ratings suggest not and many in his party remain sceptical. But Labour remains toe-to-toe with the Conservatives in the polls, making a Miliband premiership a real possibility after 7 May. The FT’s George Parker and Jim Pickard have interviewed the Labour leader (£) today to find out why Miliband is still confident he can lead the country, despite the negativity surrounding his leadership. One of the fascinating nuggets in the piece is the claim that two of the most influential figures in New Labour plotted to remove him as leader: ‘Miliband’s Labour critics do not share his confidence. So much so

Nick Clegg is not having a good day. A survey of the Deputy Prime Minister’s seat claims he is behind Labour by 10 points in his Sheffield Hallam constituency. If accurate, this means that Clegg will be out of a job come May. Now it seems even his own team may have some reservations about his popularity in the local area. Mr S has got wind of a batch of Sheffield Hallam Liberal Democrat leaflets that don’t even mention him by name, let alone include a picture of their candidate. Mr S suspects that the omission of Clegg may be for the best. ‘There’s a big student population in Sheffield Hallam and a

How did he get away with that? We’re assured that somewhere inside Labour HQ there toils a crack team of sleuths, analysts, Cameron-watchers, policy-fetishists and high-IQ saboteurs who spend all week devising Miliband’s Wednesday assault on the prime minister. And yet these world-class strategists seem to get beaten every time by the most predictable of dodges. Cameron doesn’t even prepare his defence. He just makes it up on the spot. Today Miliband went for the big one: hit Cameron with corruption charges. Or as near as damn it. The government has spared hedge funds from the duty payable on share dealings which is levied on all other financial players. The

‘The Labour Party is looking to appoint a Business Relations Administrator’ according to their website. Is this the toughest job in Westminster? After a vicious onslaught from Tory sympathising CEOs like Boots’ boss Stefano Pessina and former M&S chief Stuart Rose, and more attacks expected in the run up to polling day, only those with a thick skin need apply. The lucky candidate will have to tackle allegations that Labour’s ‘business-bashing’ could harm the economy and that Ed Miliband is a ‘1970s throwback’. Another key part of the job will be ‘ensuring that the business relations database is kept up-to-date’. For all their hard work the lucky candidate will be remunerated to the tune of £26,131. Whoever gets the job can put

Patrick Wintour has a fascinating piece in The Guardian on Labour’s dilemma on tuition fees. Particularly striking is that Ed Balls is deeply concerned about how Peter Mandelson might react to any new policy. Wintour writes: ‘Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, also knows there are serious figures in the party, including the former business secretary Lord Mandelson, who will voice their concerns if a half-baked policy emerges that might damage the status of UK’s world-class universities. Mandelson made a technical criticism of the plans for a mansion tax, but supported the concept of a wealth tax. He will be less restrained if he thinks the revised tuition fees policy damages