In his weekly column, the Last Word, John McTernan shares a dozen reasons to be cheerful.
One, Labour has had a poll lead in YouGov for 29 months. Of course, no one pays attention to the day-to-day polls. The only poll that matters is the general election etc. etc. Still, a lead is a lead, and a long-held lead becomes a settled will.
Two, the budget gave the Tories no lasting bounce. Single-handedly, No 10’s handling of the Maria Miller scandal has revived the MPs’ expenses scandals and made it wholly owned by the Tory party.
Three, government pension policy continues to unravel. Steve Webb has announced that retiring workers will be issued with a death date by the government. Apparently, it’s guidance to help them with income planning.
Four, David Cameron has decided to crusade for the support of the six per cent of the population who attend church rather than the 72 per cent who are non-attenders.
Five, George Osborne has declared victory on the economy because average earnings rose 0.1 per cent more than prices. That’s earnings including bonuses – 40 per cent of which go to four per cent of workers. And excluding cuts to tax credits and in-work benefits.
Six, universal credit is on track to meet its target of 1.7m claimants by 2014-15. No, wait, they’ve got to 5,300 – statistically equivalent to zero.
Seven, Nick Clegg has still not learned how to handle a party scandal. Enjoy this party political broadcast from 1974 where Cyril Smith and Jimmy Saville back Jeremy Thorpe.
Eight, Labour’s Cathy Ashton continues to sparkle on the international stage. The Russia-Ukraine deal another triumph for her quiet diplomacy.
Nine, Labour is set to win the European elections. And to storm London in the borough elections.
Ten, Scotland is voting No. This piece by Peter Kellner explains why. As does this, by me.
Eleven, Labour has appointed David Axelrod. He backs winners.
Twelve, the other David Axelrod is pretty good too.
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John McTernan is former political secretary at 10 Downing Street and was director of communications for former prime minister of Australia Julia Gillard. He writes The Last Word column on Progress and tweets @johnmcternan
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UKIP is not stealing Labour votes…oh, wait….
Polling shows that about 5% of current UKIP voters voted Labour in 2010, roughly 15% voted Lib Dem in 2010 while just over 40% voted Tory in 2010. The rest either voted for UKIP or didnt vote in 2010.
Delusional rubbish. I am off to the bookies to put another £10,000 on a Conservative majority. If people cannot be trusted to spend their own money then who will trust Labour again to spend ours?
The counter argument. No one should trust Labour with the economy
Thirteen: You don’t know anything, so you pontificate.
John McTernan forgot to add:
“and Ed Miliband continues to poll well as a prospective PM with a considerable and sustained lead over David Cameron -thus showing people trust and respect him,,enough that they will vote for Labour and him at the next General Election ”
This matches with the high regard with which the country holds prior Labour Prime Ministers – Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.
Err…
The word you want is ‘er’. To ‘err’ is make a mistake. This might be the internet, but writing correctly is a universal obligation.
Thank you. Pedants of the world unite.
scotland will vote no … but every other pronouncement is sadly flawed and deeply lacking in anything other than tribal politics…. and Axelrod is a busted flush even before you start. the lord god obama dumped him. nuff said!
Voting in a general election is like choosing between a punch in the face or a kick in the balls. Miliband is inadequate, I have yet to meet anyone who thinks otherwise. Cameron is a vacuous bully but will probably win the election. The turn out will be a record low and those that do will vote for the status quo. Sorry wonk, but you have no idea of the depth of contempt the public have for politicians.
Axelrod. The man is an insincere gig groupie, and it’s going to be fun to watch him ‘screw up’ as the Americans say.
seeing Mr McTernan appearing on the newsnight political panel (past its sell by date) he always struck me as someone living in a parallel universe where Labour had not brought the country to its knees through profligate spending, making cronyism the done thing (look at the heads of 90% quangos) and now he believes Ed Milliband is the answer, cheering for filling the pockets of an American millionaire to come and help the workers party win, all those union members who pay their subs must be so happy its going to help the poor man redecorate his holiday home in Aspen, the sheer lack of realism that is emanating from those around Milliband ( like McTernan) is breath-taking, if you think Cameron is out of touch with the public, just look at the people Milliband has gathered around him, not a single worker who has ever got their hands dirty, how many ethnic minority faces, and are there any regional accents, if there are can someone push them forward so we can see, but i wont hold my breathe, the workers party, don’t make me laugh,
That is a wish list, not a reality based one. In particular any claim that the appallingly incompetent, and wildly over promoted, Cathy Ashton has been anything but an unmiitigated, dangerous, disaster in her EU Foreign Service role is pure cloud cuckoo land nonsense.
UKIP membership tops 36000, now that is something to cheer you up. Soon be overtaking the LIBDEMS
I was untill recently a dedicated Tory, now I will never vote for them again its UKIP for me forever.
Come and have a look around the real world McTernan.
Baroness Ashton helped cause the Ukraine crisis. Quiet diplomacy, stirring the pot in the first place more like.
Axelrod was an insecure bystander for Obama, backed plenty of losers besides him. Messina was the trusted advisor.
Nowhere has Osborne claimed victory.
Grasping. Mug.
” was director of communications for former prime minister of Australia Julia Gillard”
Says everything that needs to be said……
The hungarian nation needs happiness.