General Election 2017 Seat by Seat Predictions: 3. Cornwall

  • 21 Apr 2017

CORNWALL Seats: 6 Current Political Makeup: Con 6 Predicted Political Makeup after June 8: Con 6 1. Camborne & Redruth 2010 Result: Conservative: 15969 (37.6%) Labour: 6945 (16.3%) Lib Dem: 15903 (37.4%) Green: 581 (1.4%) UKIP: 2152 (5.1%) Others: 943 (2.2%) MAJORITY: ...

General Election 2017 Seat by Seat Predictions: 2. Norfolk

  • 21 Apr 2017

NORFOLK Seats: 9 Current State of the Parties: Con 7, Labour 1, LibDem 1 Predicted State of the Parties: Con 8, Labour 1 Broadland 2010 Result: Conservative: 24338 (46.2%) Labour: 7287 (13.8%) Lib Dem: 17046 (32.4%) BNP: 871 (1.7%) Green: 752 (1.4%) UKIP: 2382 (4.5%) MAJOR...

ConHome Diary: Where Were You When Theresa May Called the Election?

  • 21 Apr 2017

It was one of those moments when you’ll always remember where you were when you heard the news. I was sitting in my car outside Wembley Stadium… But I’m getting ahead of myself. At just after 10am I was driving down the M11 from Norfolk when a news alert from Sky flashed up on...

General Election 2017 Seat by Seat Predictions: 1. Essex

  • 20 Apr 2017

Essex Seats: 18 Current Political Makeup: Con 17, Independent 1 *Prediction: Con 18 1. Basildon & Billericay 2010 Result: Conservative: 21922 (52.7%) Labour: 9584 (23.1%) Lib Dem: 6538 (15.7%) BNP: 1934 (4.7%) UKIP: 1591 (3.8%) MAJORITY: 12338 (29.7%) 2015 Result: Con...

General Election 2017 Seat by Seat Predictions: Predictions So Far...

  • 19 Apr 2017

Click on the links below to see my seat by seat predictions for each area of the United Kingdom. 650 seats predicted so far… RUNNING TOTAL Con 389 Lab 165 Lib 18 SNP 52 Plaid 5 Green 2 DUP 8 Sinn Fein 5 SDLP 3 UUP 1 Independent 1 Speaker 1 Bedfordshire Berkshire Birmingham...

A Few Election Thoughts...

  • 19 Apr 2017

For the first time in seven years part of me wishes I was a candidate in this election. Exciting political times ahead. But I can’t/won’t be. Watch out for an exciting announcement later today about something I’ll be doing for the next 8 weeks. Virtually everyone I know...

ConHome Diary: In Defence of Boris & What Will the Local Elections Bring For Jezza?

  • 14 Apr 2017

Boris Johnson has copped a lot of flak this week, unfairly so in my opinion. The media, and indeed some of his colleagues, have been waiting for him to commit a diplomatic howler ever since he was appointed Foreign Secretary back in mid-July. I was certainly not a founder memb...

ConHome Diary: Hitler, Hitler, Hitler

  • 7 Apr 2017

Helen Szamuely, who died this week, wasn’t famous, but she should have been. She was a Brexiteer years before the word Eurosceptic was even invented. Her work in the broader Eurosceptic movement was vital to making the case for leaving the European Union. I first met her when ...

Why I've Said Yes to Hosting the Morning Show on Radio X

  • 1 Apr 2017

This wasn’t supposed to be announced until Monday but Radio Today seem to have got hold of it, so I thought I’d share some news with you. As you know, I’ve been hosting LBC’s Drivetime Show for four years now. LBC is part of Global Radio, which owns several massive music rad...

ConHome Diary: Amber & Boris, Sayeeda & Douglas & Keir Starmer's Mirror

  • 31 Mar 2017

Listening to the BBC coverage of triggering Article 50 you’d think we were entering a period of national mourning. It started with the Today programme who relished interviewing anyone who had anything negative to say – and believe me, most of their carefully chosen guests did....

When Will Someone Hold Highways England to Account?

  • 25 Mar 2017

Back in the 1990s the Major government embarked on a much heralded programme of hiving off government responsibilities into stand alone and stand apart agencies. The idea was to keep politics out of these agencies. Fears were expressed that they would become politically unacco...

ConHome Diary: Terror in Westminster & Dreaming About Tim Shipman

  • 24 Mar 2017

Steve Uncles is a name you probably won’t be familiar with. He has been a leading light in the English Democrats for a number of years, particularly in the south east, and has stood in a number of elections, including for Kent Police & Crime Commissioner and in the Europea...

Why Jacqui Smith and I Are Saying Good Bye to the Sky News Paper Review

  • 22 Mar 2017

h/t to @Liarpoliticians for the video clip. Last night on Sky News Jacqui Smith and I announced we were doing our last paper review. (CLIP above). Several of you have been in touch with both of us to ask why. I started doing paper reviews on Sky around 17 years ago. Jacqui...

I'll Mourn His Victims, But No, I Won't Mourn Martin McGuinness

  • 21 Mar 2017

Inam Bashir and John Jeffries. Two names you’ve probably never heard of. I knew their faces but not their names. They worked in a newsagents by South Quay DLR station on the Isle of Dogs. Each morning I’d call in to their little kiosk to buy my morning newspapers on the way t...

ConHome Diary: The Week That Was + Questions for Lord Feldman

  • 17 Mar 2017

Well that was quite a week, wasn’t it? I still don’t understand why the government abandoned its plans to trigger Article 50 on Tuesday. Yes, Nicola Sturgeon stole the show on Monday with her referendum announcement, but I fail to see why that should have thrown the government...

ConHome Diary: Ready to Serve, The Honourable Ladies & the Wonders of Octopus

  • 3 Mar 2017

On Wednesday evening I chaired a session at the Jewish Book Festival at King’s Place, which is also home to the Guardian. The guest was Malcolm Rifkind who was there to talk about his memoirs. POWER & PRAGMATISM, which I published last summer. I was delighted that they had...

The UK’s Contrarian Publisher: Iain Dale on the ‘Gift’ of Donald Trump

  • 27 Feb 2017

By Roger Tagholm for Publishing Perspectives Particularly in an age when everyone faces the effects of the ‘echo chamber,’ hearing counter-opinions can be important. And the UK’s Iain Dale is happy to offer some balance. Since the June Brexit referendum in the UK and Donald T...

ConHome Diary: Jon Snow's Deleted Tweet & Can We Have Less Fluff Please on Sky News?

  • 25 Feb 2017

Twitter can be an unforgiving beast, as Jon Snow found out on Wednesday evening. He is a newsman I have tremendous respect for, but when he tweeted this on Wednesday, I and many others saw red. “How many of those who voted Leave knew or had ever heard about the single market ...

Twenty Things We Learned From Stoke Central & Copeland

  • 24 Feb 2017

What a night. I stayed up to see both results. Here are a few thoughts… UKIP’s ground operation is no match for Labour’s. Labour’s scare tactics on the NHS can backfire spectacularly. The relentless media campaign against Paul Nuttall – fueled it has to be said by Paul...

Leave Politicians Told Us Exactly What We'd Be Voting For - It's a Shame Remain Leaders Didn't, But We All Know Why...

  • 19 Feb 2017

The mantra that leading Remain supporters come out with nowadays is that, while “of course” they support the democratic vote on June 23rd, we poor buggers hadn’t got a clue what we were voting for when we voted to Leave. Yes, we voted to leave the EU, but we didn’t know our “d...