Party discipline has been fraying at the edges this week for both the Conservatives and Labour. The PM continues to push for a deal on Europe whilst siren voices call Britain towards exit, most recently Michael Howard. Pressure within the Party continues to grow but it is mostly beneath the surface and, with a few exceptions, people are behaving themselves. For the moment, at least….
Over in the Labour Party things seems less cordial. Neale Coleman, Head of Policy and Rebuttal, has had a bust up with Seumas Milne, Director of Strategy according to media reports. Words such as ‘feud’ are being used and it seems that John McDonnell’s supporters have started a ‘whispering campaign’ against other senior aides. For supporters of the Labour leadership, all this is media speculation and hype, they see it as further proof that the media has got it in for Corbyn. The views of the electorate about all this are as yet unclear, aside from one by-election. The Party is already getting some expectation management in place with warnings of a ‘triple whammy’ of potentially poor results to come in the elections next May.
So what can we learn from the political news this week?
- Businesses need to speak up. In an apparent reversal of previous statements, the PM this week told EU membership businesses to get out and make the case. Could it be that the Prime Minister is looking at the polls and sees the anti-campaign gaining momentum? In the wake of comments made by the actor Michael Caine who is ‘sort of certain’ about EU exit, some, including Daniel Hannan MEP, have been tweeting pictures of the younger, hard man Caine in ‘Get Carter’ looking to ‘sort out’ Europe.
- Labour election review. With a little bit of something for everyone, the findings of the Beckett review seemed to blame everyone apart from the Labour Party. The strength of Ed Miliband as leader did though feature in some of the reasons for the defeat. He was less strong than David Cameron and there was a fear that Labour would be ‘propped up’ by the SNP, an implicit belief that Nicola Sturgeon would be stronger than Ed as well. But he was the subject of ‘ferocious attacks’ from the media.
- The value of speech marks. Depending on the headlines you read about the report into the murder of Litvinenko, Putin either ‘probably’ approved it (BBC) or ‘approved’ it (Evening Standard). It shows that some well-placed marks can change the entire perception of a report’s conclusion.
- Back to the 80s. Speaking to Andrew Marr on Sunday, Jeremy Corbyn faced questions about Trident, defence, strikes, the trade unions and the Falklands. There were loud complaints that Marr failed to ask questions about the Government’s record and what Labour would do differently. This, however, failed to recognise that they are the questions that Corbyn will have to face come an election. Reports that he was asked whether he preferred Duran Duran or Spandau Ballet were not true.
- Opinion poll fails. A review by the British Polling Council into why the polls got it so wrong at the General Election showed that they used ‘unrepresentative samples’; in other words they spoke to too many Labour supporters. What they should do to overcome this issue will be released in a later paper. It seems that as long as they make changes then the media will continue to use and commission polls. We all love to know what is going to happen…