Monthly Archives: August 2016

‘Why don’t people vote? You asked Google – here’s the answer’, Guardian 27 July 2016.

For those of us who troop down to the polling station at every election, it can be pretty frustrating that not everybody does the same – especially when we end up with a result we don’t like, and which we reckon … Continue reading

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‘As a surge of supporters sign up to vote in the leadership contest, can Owen Smith save Labour? It depends’, City AM, 20 July 2016.

While it’s tempting to ask whether anyone at all can save Labour, this is a question that deserves a serious answer. After all, Owen Smith may be the only man standing between the Labour Party and imminent implosion. The answer, … Continue reading

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‘Here’s what we know about Labour’s £3 supporters – and whether they’ll pay £25 to help Corbyn again’, The Conversation, 19 July 2016 (with Monica Poletti and Paul Webb).

Forces on both sides of the Jeremy Corbyn debate are apparently trying to make the most of the 48-hour window within which anyone can register as a supporter of the Labour Party and have a vote in the impending leadership … Continue reading

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‘Can Theresa May even sell her new conservatism to her own cabinet?’, Observer, 17 May 2016.

Political parties can be frighteningly small worlds, with a cripplingly limited cast of characters. As a result, people whose careers are widely assumed to be over – either because they once messed up badly or because their face no longer … Continue reading

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‘Middle-class university graduates will decide the future of the Labour Party’, New Statesman, 14 July 2016 (with Monica Poletti and Paul Webb).

We don’t yet know whether it will be Angela Eagle or Owen Smith, or maybe both of them, who ends up running against Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership.  But what we do know – because we reckon we now … Continue reading

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‘With the Labour Party in complete turmoil, does it have any chance of regaining power by 2025? No’, City AM, 13 July 2016.

Labour is going to lose the next general election and very probably the one after that. So whether it can win again by 2025 depends entirely on how soon Theresa May decides to go to the country. General elections are … Continue reading

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‘What do the Tory grassroots want from Prime Minister Theresa May?’, Conversation, 11 July 2016 (with Paul Webb and Monica Poletti).

Theresa May has secured her place as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservatives without having to win the direct approval of her party’s membership. The original plan was for her to run against Andrea Leadsom in an election, but … Continue reading

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‘With Nigel Farage off the scene, will it be easier to reach a compromise with the EU on free movement? No’, City AM, 5 July 2016.

Nigel Farage has a fair claim to being the country’s most influential politician of the last decade. The pressure his party exerted on the Tories forced David Cameron into a referendum which he never wanted but now looks set to … Continue reading

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‘Jezza’s Bezzas: Labour’s New Members’, Huffington Post, 28 June 2016.

Labour is in crisis. Whoever stands in the next leadership contest will have to face its grassroots members, large numbers of whom joined the party to help elect Jeremy Corbyn in 2015. With the help of YouGov and as part … Continue reading

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‘Simply unstoppable or a self-inflicted wound?’, UK in a Changing Europe, 21 June 2016.

Today, we heard the Prime Minister give his final plea on why we should remain in the European Union, but if David Cameron ever truly believed he could stop his party ‘banging on about Europe’ when it finally got back … Continue reading

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