Election 2015: Nick Robinson, one man who’d welcome a second election

Ed and Dave are 'drabness personified'

Posted at 09.31, Thurs 9 April 2015

David Cameron and Ed Miliband are “drabness personified” and far too boring to be characters in a novel, Irvine Welsh, the author of Trainspotting, tells The Guardian.

That’s because they’re “blanding out” everything that could possibly be offensive as polling and focus groups take over politics.

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One reason modern politicians have become so out of touch, says Welsh, is that they rarely encounter ordinary people. “Politicians are so… detested, they don’t actually walk amongst people now.”

Read The Guardian interview in full

Polling in marginals gives Lab the edge

Posted at 09.30, Thurs 9 April 2015

Today’s YouGov poll for The Sun shows Labour’s lead over the Conservatives reduced to a single percentage point: Con 34 (up 1), Lab 35 (u/c), Lib Dems 8 (u/c), Ukip 13 (down 1) , Greens 5 (u/c). In short, given the margin of error, it’s still neck and neck.

More interesting are the results of new polling by Lord Ashcroft in ten Tory-held marginals, Don Brind reports. It shows four seats likely to be won by Ed Miliband’s party, one too close to call and only five remaining in Tory hands.

This points to Labour gaining 35-40 seats in England. The big question remains whether these pluses will be wiped out by minuses in Scotland thanks to a surge in SNP support.

Read Don Brind’s column in full

Was Trident attack ‘too personal’?

Posted at 09.30, Thurs 9 April 2015

The highly personal nature of Michael Fallon’s attack on Ed Miliband over Trident has shocked even some Tories, The Mole writes, while Labour has accused the Defence Secretary of “gutter” politics.

Fallon suggested in an article for The Times that Miliband might be ready to scrap the Trident nuclear deterrent in order to form a pact at Westminster with the SNP.

“Ed Miliband stabbed his own brother in the back to become Labour leader. Now he is willing to stab the United Kingdom in the back to become prime minister,” he wrote.

Read The Mole’s article in full

Sturgeon not so impressive at home

Posted at 09.50, Wed 8 April 2015

What became of “the imperious figure” cut by Nicola Sturgeon during last week’s seven-leader debate on ITV? On her home patch, in last night’s Scottish leaders’ debate on STV, she was “a much diminished presence”, according to the New Statesman.

Last Thursday, she was left “unmarked” by Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband, despite the threat the SNP presents to both parties in Scotland. Last night, when challenged on her record, “she cut a cantankerous and at times marginal figure”.

What’s more, she was booed for refusing to rule out a demand for a second independence referendum.

Read the New Statesman article in full

For sale: Maggie Thatcher’s battle bus

Posted at 09.40, Wed 8 April 2015

Need some extra oomph on the campaign trail? Look no further. The 1983 general election battle bus used by Margaret Thatcher is up for sale, with a price tag of £25,000.

It’s an 18-tonne, 36-seater with a top speed of 80 mph and only 14,000 miles on the clock. It’s also bomb-proof, The Guardian reports.

And the omens are good: Thatcher won that election with a stunning 42.4 per cent share of the vote against Labour’s 27.6 per cent.

The battlebus is being sold by Nick Mead, a military vehicle dealer. “The bus is just as it was in period; we even found a ladies’ umbrella on board. Whether it’s Margaret Thatcher’s or not I don’t know but we like to think it might be.”

Read The Guardian article in full

Cameron using hair dye, claims Farage

Posted at 09.40, Wed 8 April 2015

Is all the talk of Ukip’s popularity slipping and Nigel Farage possibly facing defeat in South Thanet beginning to get to the party leader? Possibly in desperation, he’s suggested David Cameron is using hair dye.

The Independent reports that during a Ukip rally in the West Midlands, the Ukip leader said he had shaken hands with the prime minister after last Thursday’s TV debate. “I was very polite and complimented him on his appearance,” he told the crowd. “Any man who can reverse the greying process I’m jealous of.”

A Conservative spokesperson declined to comment.

Read The Independent report in full

Non-dom plan: what would Tony say?

Posted at 09.40, Wed 8 April 2015

Ed Miliband’s announcement that Labour plans to scrap the non-dom tax exemption for wealthy foreigners comes a day after Tony Blair said he supported young Ed “100 per cent” to lead Labour to victory.

"I want Labour to win,” Blair emphasised, just in case there are still doubters. “I want us to win for the future of our country and its place in the world. I want Labour, under Ed's leadership, to be the government of our country on May 8."

Would Blair, friend of the mega-rich, have been quite so effusive a day later, The Mole asks.

Read The Mole’s column in full

Abolition: how would it work?

Tories slip behind in two latest polls

Posted at 09.40, Wed 8 April 2015

Two news polls from YouGov and Populus both have Labour two points ahead of the Tories, Don Brind writes.

They come as the veteran forecaster Martin Baxter reminds Telegraph readers that David Cameron needs to be six points ahead just to have the chance of governing in coalition again.

Which is why it is “less and less likely,” says Baxter, “that the Conservatives will be in government after May 7.”

Read Don Brind’s column in full

Ukippers 'not just Tories on holiday'

Posted at 09.30, Tues 7 April 2015

David Cameron yesterday pleaded with Ukip members to “come home” to the Conservatives and not risk dividing the anti-Labour vote in marginal seats and letting Ed Miliband into power. But is his message based on a misconception that Ukippers “are just Tories on holiday”?

Cameron said he understood the Ukippers’ frustrations and vowed to do more to address the issues that concern them, immigration included. It was, said the Daily Mail, “a significant peace offering” given that he once wrote them off as “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists”.

But Mike Smithson at Political Betting has crunched the numbers from a series of Ashcroft marginal polls and found that almost 50 per cent of all Ukip voters never voted before – so there’s no question of them “coming home”. Only a third of Ukip voters in these seats are former Tory supporters.

Then there’s the issue of Cameron himself. “Socially liberal Etonian Conservative PM telling Ukippers that the Conservatives are their home shows the Tories still do not understand Ukip,” Rob Ford, co-author of Revolt on the Right, tweeted this morning.

Tony Blair praises Miliband over EU

Posted at 09.30, Tues 7 April 2015

Tony Blair will use a speech in his old constituency of Sedgefield this morning to praise Ed Miliband’s leadership on the issue of Europe – and warn that David Cameron’s guarantee of an in/out referendum promises chaos.

Miliband has welcomed Blair’s intervention, tweeting: “When a serious figure like Tony Blair warns UK national interest is threatened by a Tory 2nd term, people from all parties should take note.”

But, The Mole writes, Blair’s appearance on the campaign trail is seen as a double-edged sword.

Read The Mole’s column in full

Can Cameron win England again?

Posted at 09.30, Tues 7 April 2015

The conspiracy theory that the Conservatives want the SNP to do as well as possible in Scotland, and that the Scots will be rewarded with Home Rule as a result, is based on the notion that the Tories can again win the majority of seats in England.

But poll-watcher Don Brind argues that, based on current opinion surveys, David Cameron risks losing control of England. Even if Labour lose a huge number of their Scottish seats to the Nationalists, they can still emerge as the largest party on 8 May.

Read Don Brind’s column in full

Pension reform 'shambles', says Mail

Posted at 09.04, Mon 6 April 2015

Tory HQ got the front page photo they had hoped for this morning from the Daily Mail – David Cameron bottle-feeding a new-born lamb on an Oxfordshire farm – but not the front page headline. It reads: ‘PENSIONS SHAKE-UP SHAMBLES’.

That’s because, the Mail claims, there are fewer than 300 advisers available to help the 2 million retirees who from today will supposedly benefit from the much ballyhoo-ed reform allowing them to take their pension pot in cash rather than having to buy an annuity.

The reform was seen by Tories as one of George Osborne’s craftiest election winners. But the Mail claims that the lack of proper advice could leave retirees at the mercy of fraudsters.

Incidentally, the Cam-meets-lamb photo appears in almost every paper’s Bank Holiday edition. Best headlines: ‘Cameron milks the moment’ (The Guardian) and ‘He’ll fleece you’ (the Daily Mirror).

Read the Daily Mail pensions report in full

Ukippers warned: don’t say a word

Posted at 09.00, Mon 6 April 2015

You have to feel for those Ukip officials trying to keep their motley crew of election candidates in line.

“Do NOT answer surveys/opinion polls,” says an order sent out to candidates across the country, leaked to the Daily Mirror. “Do NOT support any third party seeking support, the RSPCA for example.

“Do NOT attend meetings on single issue matters, like abortion, animal rights, etc. Do not give your own opinion on moral issues to anyone.”

The attempt to control candidates, the Mirror reports, follows the grilling of Farage last week about Ukippers expressing racist and homophobic views.

Read the Daily Mirror article in full