Polls apart

Anthony Wells gives a detailed analysis of the latest YouGov poll putting the Tories three points in the lead. He describes the results as “horrid” for Brown, though says it is not great reading for the Conservatives either: “The past month may have improved the Conservatives’ polling position in voting intentions, but these underlying problems haven’t gone - 65% agree they don’t really know what Cameron in power would be like, 60% say it is hard to know if there is any substance behind his words.”

Iain Dale offers a typically partisan review of Brown’s performance at PMQs at Comment is Free, which he begins: “When the Guardian rings you up and asks you to write about Gordon Brown's performances at prime minister’s questions, you know the PM must be in trouble.”

He goes on to sum up various leaders’ performance in the weekly debate, noting: “Yes it can be a bearpit, yes it can be shrill and yes it can be unproductive. But it’s a wonderful way of exposing the political weaknesses of a politician, whether they are prime minister, leader of the opposition or leader of the Liberal Democrats.”

Following Brown’s speech on civil liberties and Jack Straw’s deliberations on a prospective bill of rights, Obsolete observes: “To go with a cliche, you wait ages for a decent speech on policy and then two come along at once.”

In a summation of both, Obsolete believes they have compromised with the tabloids. But concludes: “Overall though, this was a good start, and an encouraging break from the past 10 years of hardly hidden contempt for the ‘civil liberties brigade’. These words however must precipitate action, otherwise Brown will fall even further into the currently deserved sobriquet of bottling it.”

All is not well behind the scenes in Westminster. Kerron Cross tells of an encounter with Bill Cash MP over a lift, while Tom Watson has infuriated an eminent doctor by hogging the computers in a Whitehall library.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

The future's bright; the future's orange?

A month ago, Dizzy Thinks speculated Nick Clegg and his Sheffield Hallam predecessor, Richard Allen, had registered the nickclegg.com domain as part of an early coup against Ming Campbell. Shane Greer furthered the allegation this week when Clegg’s leadership website was launched.

While political bloggers weighed up Machiavellian theories of Lib Dem backstabbing, Iain Rubie Dale unveiled what he believed to be a major factor behind Ming’s departure: “It occurred to me today that perhaps Ming's leadership didn't last as it broke the sequence of Scot, non Scot leaders we have had back as far as 1935.”

The Norfolk Blogger was invited to appear on PMi, the podcast which supports Radio 4’s PM show. He was accused – as a practicing blogger – of playing a key role in Ming’s demise. He said: “I do feel, and made clear a number of times to the interviewer, that bloggers are more of a litmus test for the party, and whilst we didn't fire the shots, we might be guilty sometimes of loading the weapon.”

Man in a Shed assessed the chances of the two pretenders to Ming’s crown, which made painful reading for Lib Dems: “The problem for Lib Dem MPs is that most of them are either facing Labour or Conservative threats, not both. If the Lib Dem message heads right (elect Nick Clegg as leader) then they will haemorrhage support to Labour, if the head to the left (elect Chris Huhne as leader) then they can't stop the Conservatives.”

Iain Dale revealed rumblings within the party suggest there may be a third candidate on the horizon: “The candidate who may set the contest alight is the 29-year-old Julia Goldsworthy. It may seem ridiculously sublime to go from a 66-year-old to a 29-year-old but I gather Ming wants her to stand – not because she will win (she won't) but so she can put a marker down for the future. She’d certainly liven things up.”

Towards the end of the week, Chris Huhne launched his campaign website. Bloggers questioned his curious choice of slogan: “People in charge”. Thunder Dragoon asked: “Who the hell does he think has been running the Liberal Democrats? Little green men from Mars? Pod people? The Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe (aka Max)?”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Brown's fall from bounce

With Brown dropping from the heights of his bounce, PMQs was a popular topic for many in the blogging community. As the mainstream media focussed on the agitated PM, Patriccus felt Brown did not come out the worst: “I actually thought that he gave the squeaking Ming Campbell a fairly easy ride, considering the fact that it has been the latter’s weak leadership that has led to the haemorrhaging of support from the Lib Dems to the Conservatives. The House of Commons has always needed a resident runt, and that is one job for which Ming seems eminently qualified.”

For Labour councillor Louise Baldcock, none of the interlocutors came out of the debate with any respectability. She described it as: “Extremely unedifying, put me in mind of [a] bear pit. How much of a coincidence is it that all the key players are men?”

At first, Iain Dale was taken by the reaction of the media to the debate. He wrote: “‘Pulverised’ was a word being used by many. I suspect the media relished their chance to kick Brown when he was down, after two weeks of being spun to in the most duplicitous way. Cameron was right when he said that Brown was taking the electorate for fools. But it was the media who felt they were being taken for fools too. And they, at least, had the chance to hit back.”

But Dale later changed his tune when the debate did not get enough press attention as he would have liked: “A mole who was at yesterday’s editorial meeting at the Mail says that Dacre became extremely angry about criticisms of Brown. How long until the Mail’s owner, Lord Rothermere, decides he’d like David Cameron to get fairer treatment from his paper?”

Chris Paul reacted by suggesting Dale’s mole may not be anonymous for too much longer due to the amount of times it is mentioned on Dale’s blog. Paul also felt there were good reasons for the press to help put the issue to bed: “The Mail and Telegraph do not want to over-state some horrendous Punch and Judy yahhing and booing from the man who said he'd consigned that to history.”

But not all eyes were on the debate on Wednesday afternoon, as Tory MP Nadine Dorries revealed: “I sat behind David Cameron at PMQs today; I was the bright pink jacket. Worn for a specific reason, constituents are always saying to me ‘we never see you at PMQs’. I thought that today I would make sure they noticed me!”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Over to you Mr Cameron

And so to the final political conference of the season (with the exception of UKIP’s)…

As if anyone ever doubted Steven Green of The Daily Referendum’s partisan credentials they should look no further to his summation on the morning of the conference’s second day: “There will be more excellent policies announced during today’s conference: all of which will make life a little brighter and a little fairer for us all.”

David Cameron’s big speech was generally well received among right-leaning bloggers. One of many glowing reviews was written by Tory councillor Tony Sharp: “Cameron demonstrated there is no need for a fight for the soul of the party, because it is where it belongs. Traditional Conservative values remain, with individual responsibility still being encouraged, while policing, education and healthcare will be spared the heavy hand of intrusive bureaucracy that detracts from the services that should be provided.”

Benedict Brogan gave an insight into the media’s reaction to Cameron’s speech: “In the press room it was impossible to escape the feeling that the story has now turned against the all-powerful Gordon Brown. During the speech and immediately afterwards you could sense journalists willing Mr Cameron to make a success of it and provide us with an alternative to the relentless onward march of Brown.”

But Obsolete was as unimpressed with Cameron’s “bladder pressurizingly lengthy” speech as he was with Brown’s effort: “Both had no overall theme, a pedestrian stroll through their respective policies, without anything to draw it all together. Cameron's, if it's possible, is even more soporific.”

Over on NS columnist Kevin Maguire’s Daily Mirror blog, he believes he has uncovered the impromptu nature of the speech may not have been all it seemed. He tells of how a man was seen at Euston station taxi rank being congratulated by returning Tories on having written a “great speech”. He asks: “Anyone know him? He looked in his 30s, fairish hair, dark suit. chequed shirt and a tie with an emblem or motif from a university or club.” The plot thickens.

Finally, as Guido Fawkes points out, Thatcher is not the only eighties throwback to benefit from a surge of Tory popularity of late. A video shown at the conference has a distinctly acid house backing track.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.