Bad body language: The secret cost of Labour’s coalition negotiation
The disrespectful body language of Labour’s negotiating team was one of the reasons that a Lib-Lab coalition became impossible in 2010, new memoirs have revealed.
Call for general election supremo
A single person needs to be placed in charge of supervising general elections, the Electoral Commission’s head has said.
General elections ‘need more central control’
More central coordination of general elections is the best way to avoid a repeat of the queues seen at polling stations in 2010, the chair of the Electoral Commission has said.
Tories dominant in 2010 election spending
The Tories outspent Labour and the Liberal Democrats’ combined total expenditure at the general election.
Analysis: Woolas’ demise was hard, but not impossible, to spot
Even with the benefit of hindsight it was impossible to tell, as I travelled around Oldham East and Saddleworth with Phil Woolas and Elwyn Watkins, what lay ahead. But the clues were there. By Alex Stevenson The first inklings of tension came on Sunday April 25th, when Woolas and Watkins clashed in a hustings event […]
Court strips Woolas of Saddleworth seat
By Alex Stevenson Former immigration minister Phil Woolas’ re-election to his Oldham East and Saddleworth seat has been declared void, a special election court has ruled. Two high court judges, delivering their ruling this morning after a five-day hearing in September, concluded that Woolas had misrepresented facts relating to Liberal Democrat challenger Elwyn Watkins under […]
Court hears of Woolas ‘s*** or bust’ strategy
By politics.co.uk staff Labour MP Phil Woolas ran a “dirty tricks” campaign in a bid to “make the white folk angry”, an unusual election court heard yesterday. The Oldham East and Saddleworth MP was alleged to have claimed Liberal Democrat challenger Elwyn Watkins had tried to “woo” Muslim extremists on the first day of a […]
Court challenge to Saddleworth result begins
By politics.co.uk staff Shadow immigration minister Phil Woolas faces a five-day fight in court to save his Oldham East and Saddleworth seat from his Liberal Democrat challenger. Elwyn Watkins fell 103 votes short of Mr Woolas in Oldham East and Saddleworth this May but believes his defeat is due to foul play by the Labour […]
Coalition rewrites post-election history
By politics.co.uk staff David Cameron has denied misleading Conservative MPs during coalition talks with the Liberal Democrats, insisting he did not tell them Labour was offering Nick Clegg’s party electoral reform without a referendum. The Lib Dems were eventually persuaded to enter into a formal coalition with the Conservatives, thereby allowing Mr Cameron to become […]
Review: Campaign 2010 by Nicholas Jones
Published by Biteback, 288 pages, £9.99 David Cameron is just as obsessed with the machinations of the British tabloids and broadcasters as New Labour ever was. He’s just better at it. By Samuel Dale Documenting Cameron’s rise to the summit of British politics is so straightforward that it becomes, paradoxically, almost unconventional. As the first […]
