The third week of the election campaign looks set to end with a day of reflection. Last night’s opposition leaders’ debate provided plenty of things to ponder, not least how messy any post-election coalition negotiations will be. To help guide you through the melée of stories and spin, here is a summary of today’s main election
Ed Miliband managed to surpass expectations in tonight’s opposition leaders’ debate. In this View from 22 podcast special, Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth, Isabel Hardman and I discuss the final televised debate with the party leaders — minus David Cameron and Nick Clegg. Did Nigel Farage target his core base once again? How successfully did Nicola Sturgeon
Nigel Farage has been mysteriously absent from the election campaign trail. In the latest Mini Election interview, I spoke to the Ukip leader about his race in South Thanet and whether he any regrets about choosing a seat that was not particularly Ukip-friendly. ‘None’, he said despite the ‘vitriolic campaign against me’. Farage added, ‘Don’t
Now that all the manifestos are in the public domain, we are back onto more conventional campaign territory. The big event of today is at 8pm this evening, when the ‘opposition leaders’ will debate each other on the BBC in the final televised debate before polling day. To help guide you through the melée of
What do Ed Miliband, Hillary Clinton and Nicola Sturgeon have in common? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, Jamie Kirchick, Fraser Nelson and Alex Massie discuss the rise of left-wing populism in Britain, Scotland and America. How has Ed Miliband managed to harness the anger of mob to build-up momentum in the general election campaign? It’s a similar situation in
Three new anonymous pro-Tory political blogs have popped up in recent weeks. All are rather curious: none carry bylines, and two are so technically similar that they could have been made in the same place. They were introduced to the world by Louise Mensch in a post for ConservativeHome. In fact, Guido Fawkes has suggested that Mensch might know who
The Liberal Democrats are facing wipeout in their South Western heartlands. According to a new poll from ComRes/ITV News conducted in 14 Lib Dem seats, there is currently a 13-point swing to the Tories. If this was repeated on May 7, the Lib Dems would lose the following seats to their coalition partners: Bath, Cheltenham,
There was one star of Ukip’s manifesto launch today: Suzanne Evans. For once Nigel Farage didn’t steal the show, it was the party’s deputy chairman — and the brains behind its ‘Believe in Britain’ manifesto — who came across as professional and reasoned. Over 100 people turned up at the Thurrock Hotel in Essex to see
Three manifestos down, two more to go. Yesterday, the Conservatives launched their plan for government and promised to be ‘the party of the working people’ while the Green Party promised to end the ‘disastrous policy of austerity’ and increasing government spending by £170 billion a year. Today, Ukip and the Liberal Democrats take their turns to explain what
Lord Ashcroft has released his latest round of polling, looking at ten competitive Tory-Labour seats. In all of the constituencies, Ashcroft has reported swings to Labour, ranging from 0.5 per cent to seven per cent. At present, five of the seats are set to remain with the Conservatives: Cleethorpes, Dover, Dudley South, Harlow and North East
Ukip held a campaign rally in a strip club yesterday evening. Well, that’s not entirely fair — it was an ‘entertainment centre’, as party officials were keen to point out, which had a gentlemen’s club on the top floor. The Circus Tavern hosted what was most likely the biggest in Thurrock’s history, featuring Nigel Farage and
David Cameron will take to the stage in an hour to launch the Conservatives’ 2015 manifesto. Before he does, a short video will roll to introduce the themes of the document. We can bring you a teaser of that video now — watch above. The message in the short clip is based on how the
Today, it’s the Conservative Party’s turn to release its manifesto. Labour pushed out its own document ‘Britain can do better’ yesterday, so it’s Tories’ turn to try and better it. As with Labour’s manifesto, the big announcement has already been briefed out and has made the front pages of most newspapers: extending right to buy. To
The Guardian declared last Friday was ‘the day the polls turned’ — but they have turned again, it seems. ICM has released a new poll today, which puts the Conservatives six points ahead. This pushes the Tories way past the margin of error to 39 per cent, while are Labour on 33 and the Liberal Democrats jump
Labour has launched its election manifesto in Manchester today, entitled ‘Britain can be better’. The document (pdf here) includes some new policies and others already announced. Here are ten key things you need to know, just in case you don’t have time to read all 86 pages: 1. Reducing deficit every year — but for
The third week of the campaign is going to be all about manifestos. Today, it’s Labour’s turn to launch its plan — while the Tories, Liberal Democrats, Ukip and Greens will take their turns in the coming days. But instead of the traditional strategy for government, folks in Westminster are describing the documents as ‘the opening
It’s the Conservatives’ turn to try and bounce back today. After the ‘dead cat’ thrown onto Ed Miliband’s kitchen table, it looks as if Tories parties will be hoping to return to policy — not slashing non-doms — and move away from personal attacks. To help guide you through the melée of stories and spin, here
With 28 days to go, is the momentum beginning to move towards Labour? In this View from 22 podcast special, Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth, Isabel Hardman and I discuss the latest polls and campaign developments. Five new polls have been released today, three of which show a Labour lead — should the Tories be worried? Have the two Scottish leaders’
Three new polls out today have put Labour ahead of the Tories. At a time when the Conservatives are firing all guns at the opposition, Labour appear to be gaining some momentum. According to a new Survation/Daily Mirror poll, Labour is four points ahead on 35 per cent, compared to the Tories on 31 per
Trident is set to be the big issue today — but the fight isn’t just about policy. Several newspapers have splashed on the news that the Tories are attempting to embarrass Labour over whether they would allow the SNP to box them into scrapping our nuclear deterrent. To help guide you through the melée of