David Cameron
Welcome to the new politics
Posted by Gavin Devine at Tue, 01/06/2010 - 9:53am in Political commentary
So the backlash against Danny Alexander has begun. No, not the half-hearted effort by the Telegraph to detect scandal in his apparently pretty blameless expense claims (NB: exactly when will the DT stop pretending that buying and, er, reading a document counts as 'investigative journalism'?). More the muttering that has started over the weekend that he is not qualified for the Chief Secretary role and/or simply not up to the job.
The beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning?
Posted by Nick Laitner at Tue, 25/05/2010 - 11:21am in Political commentary
Given the conflicting priorities, personality clashes and short lead time involved in putting together today's Queen's Speech, it is testament to the political will behind the coalition government that the Queen was able to read out a full list of bills at all.
Some of what has been announced today demonstrates quite how much the coalition partners have in common. Scrapping of ID cards, removing unitary council status for Norwich and Exeter, and eviscerating quangos are all policies which both sides of the government can agree on.
Leaders step up campaigning with a week to go
Posted by Hannah Cornick at Fri, 30/04/2010 - 2:36pm in Political commentary
Showing no signs of fatigue after the final Prime Ministerial debate last night, the party leaders have been back on the campaign trail in the East Midlands today.
Cameron tackles broken society, while Labour suffers celeb no-show
Posted by Jo Cole at Tue, 27/04/2010 - 4:37pm in Political commentary
Family and society were the key themes on the election trail today and party leaders stayed close to home, with Cameron speaking in London and Gordon Brown in Scotland.
Great telly, but did it make any difference?
Posted by Nick Laitner at Fri, 23/04/2010 - 2:53pm in Political commentary
Clegg's rousing, cheesily Obamaesque peroration; Cameron's effective Lib Dem expenses jibe; and Brown's "Dave would be bad for the economy, and Nick would be bad for security" combo. There were some great TV moments in last night's debate. But what effect, if any, will they have on the wider campaign?
Gordon Brown And Nick Clegg Praised For TV Election Debate Performances
Posted by Mark Pack at Fri, 16/04/2010 - 8:48am in Political commentary
Many thanks to everyone who came to the Mandate debate event last night and took part in our instant polls (run with handheld interactive voting devices from IML). As PR Week reports this morning:
In a poll of 200 comms experts taken at an event held by Mandate in Westminster, 45 per cent of comms experts said they thought Brown had received the best media training, while 76 per cent believed Cameron made the biggest blunder...
Clegg promises to tell the whole truth
Posted by Rupert Lewis at Wed, 14/04/2010 - 2:51pm in Political commentary
Today it was the turn of the Liberal Democrats to set out their stall to the British electorate as they unveiled their manifesto and spelled out the party's vision of a Liberal Democrat Britain.
The Conservatives' NHYes Express gets ready to take to the streets to spread the word on the Conservatives' health pledges
Posted by Tessa Murray at Tue, 13/04/2010 - 4:45pm in Health Mandate commentary, Political commentary
Following a rousing speech from William Hague and then a tag team of Shadow Cabinet members, Andrew Lansley set out a clear invitation to health professionals and the public to ‘join the government of Britain', calling on us all to become ‘part of the change the NHS needs'.
Cameron launches 'power to the people' manifesto
Posted by Laura Jackson at Tue, 13/04/2010 - 3:18pm in Political commentary
At today's launch of the Conservative manifesto, David Cameron invited voters to "join us in forming the next government of Britain". Cameron, and members of his Shadow Cabinet team who took to the podium before him, took a gamble today, hoping that voters will welcome the invitation to create a "Big Society", rather than opt for Labour's option of an active government.
What can we learn from the party leader speeches?
Posted by Nick Laitner at Thu, 08/04/2010 - 9:51am in Political commentary
We have been busy crunching all three of the leaders' campaign kick-off speeches, to see if any interesting themes emerge.
Looking at Gordon Brown's announcement, given with his Cabinet at his shoulder yesterday, it is clear that he was keen to prioritise what he would like to be the dividing lines between him and David Cameron in this campaign. A word-cloud of the PM's speech yesterday looks like this:
