The Tories are already putting some clear blue water between the coalition and the present majority government. Firstly, the new Business Secretary Sajid Javid has promised new tougher strike laws — ensuring that a minimum turn out of 50 per cent turnout is required for all strikes, while 40 per cent of all members will need
Jim Messina is the American elections guru who got the general election right. Hired by the Conservatives as a strategy adviser in 2013, the Tories hoped he would emulate Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election strategy. And so he did. Whereas British pollsters consistently missed that the Tories were moving into pole position, Messina’s internal numbers showed for
In this View from 22 podcast special, James Forsyth, Isabel Hardman and I discuss the final appointments in David Cameron’s new Cabinet and what they show about Cameron’s approach to party management. We also discuss David Miliband’s brutal interview about his brother’s term as Labour leader and why Nigel Farage has decided to hang on as
He’s gone, now he’s back. After four days in the political wilderness, Nigel Farage has returned as leader of Ukip. In a slightly bizarre statement, the party’s chairman Steve Crowther said Farage was ‘persuaded by the NEC to withdraw his resignation and remains leader of Ukip.’ So what changed his mind, after promising to resign ‘within 10 minutes’
In this View from 22 podcast special, Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and I discuss the beginnings of David Cameron’s new Cabinet and how the ministers announced so far demonstrate the Prime Minister’s reticence to shake the boat. Does Michael Gove’s new role at Justice show he’s repaired his relationship Cameron? Will Mark Harper manage to keep the Tory backbenchers in
The shock election result has resulted in a lot of finger pointing. Why did the pollsters not see a Tory victory on the horizon? Was Labour deluded in thinking they had any chance of making it into government? Judging from conversations I’ve had with Conservatives, those inside the party weren’t particularly certain about getting the most
All of the results of the 2015 general election are in and we have a result: the Conservatives have a major of 12 seats. Here is a breakdown of the results for each of the parties: [datawrapper chart=”http://static.spectator.co.uk/PifSa/index.html”] And a few other figures you might find interesting: Turnout was 66.1 per cent, up from 65.1
In our final podcast special of the 2015 general election, Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth, Isabel Hardman and I discuss the astonishing results and what we can expect from David Cameron’s new Conservative government. Are we finally going to see the unrestrained Cameron? Who is already limbering up to replace Ed Miliband as Labour leader? And what will the SNP and Liberal
After a very good night of results, David Cameron addressed party staffers at Conservative HQ in Westminster this morning. A clip of the Prime Minister’s victory speech has made its way to Coffee House. You can watch what Cameron said below: Exclusive: David Cameron’s victory speech to CCHQ staffers this morning #ge2015 #conservative https://t.co/nKtdhBVxr7 — Sebastian
The polling stations open in under 10 hours and the final opinion polls are out. As we’ve seen throughout this campaign, there’s not much variance at all, with all of the pollsters putting Labour and the Tories tied — or with a small lead within the margin of error. There’s a few still to come and we’ll update the
Election night is going to be a long affair but some excitement will ensue if any prominent politicians lose their seats — unexpectedly or otherwise. There is likely to be at least one ‘Portillo moment‘ — akin to the the 1997 election night when then-Tory MP Michael Portillo lost his seat and signalled that the Tories
Unusually for a modern Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson seems to enjoy meeting voters. When I joined her on the campaign trail, she had been posing with a giant eagle in Kirkcaldy. Then she jumped on to a Harley Davidson in Stirling. Such props, she says, are a ‘springboard’ to talk about Scottish Conservatism — which,
David Cameron’s 72-hour tour of Britain has finished up in the north west this afternoon. I have followed the Prime Minister to two campaign ‘events’ this afternoon — both purely for photo opportunities and neither involved meeting any ordinary voters. By this point in the campaign, knocking on doors is probably not the most effective use
Finally, after six weeks of campaigning, endless opinion polls and the semi-TV debates, the final day of the 2015 general election campaign is upon us. David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg will be dashing all over the country to make their final plea to voters, while rumours are beginning to spill out about the
On Monday, I hopped aboard the Labour ‘battle bus’ for a day on the campaign trail with Ed Miliband. Although each party has a different campaign operation, I was a little surprised to find that journalists are given a bus of their own, travelling separately from the party leadership. But I still managed to gain some insight into
In today’s election special podcast, Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth, Isabel Hardman and I discuss David Cameron’s election rally with Boris Johnson in Hendon and whether the Mayor of London has been underused during the campaign. We also look at how David Cameron has proven, yet again, to be the essay crisis Prime Minister — showing his passion just in time
Polling day is nigh upon us and the campaigns are going into overdrive today as the party leaders jump on buses, trains and planes to zoom around as many marginal seats as possible. Nick Clegg is taking the Liberal Democrat battle bus 1,000 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats. Ed Miliband is continuing to
If Nick Clegg loses in Sheffield Hallam, it would be the Portillo moment of the 2015 election. After several tight polls, a new survey from ICM this evening suggests that the Lib Dem leader might be safe after all. When the names of candidates are prompted, ICM puts Clegg on 42 per cent — seven points ahead of the
In today’s election special podcast, James Forsyth, Isabel Hardman and I discuss whether Nick Clegg will lose his seat in Sheffield, the current state of the seat predictions and the pros and cons of Russell Brand’s endorsement for Ed Miliband. Plus, we look at the latest pronouncements on coalitions and what is set to happen in the final 48
Ed Miliband began the first 15 minutes of his NHS day talking about trust and the deficit. In a feisty interview on the Today programme, the Labour leader again did not apologise for borrowing too much when his party was in government. Instead, he argued it was a failure of banking regulation that lead to Britain’s financial