Jacqui Smith To Be Dumped At Next Election - Oh Dear!

If we read the runes after the latest local council elections in Jacqui Smith's constituency of Redditch, Worcestershire then she will be a gonna at the next general election.

The local Herald newspaper reports that the Conservative candidate Juliet Brunner won in the county's Arrow Valley East division (which has more than a quarter of the constituency's electorate) with a swing of 14.2% since the last shire contest which took place on the same day as the 2005 General Election. A shift of just 3.4% since then would be enough to unseat Ms Smith. A small boundary change is expected to make her even more vulnerable.

Those other high profile Labour Cabinet ministers with marginal seats are also looking very vulnerable - no wonder that Alistair Darling who is on a wafer thin majority himself in his Edinburgh seat has been prepared to show he is not afraid of telling the truth about the economy. It might just save his own neck so that he can remain as an MP in a much smaller Labour Party when they start their next 20 years in opposition.

But as for Jacqui - she'll be back to teaching economics, which is probably a good thing, because she's been bloody useless as Home Secretary. Not that I want to stab her in the back, you understand - I'd rather do it to her front! And what a front! (Oh dear, I've let myself down - I'll get my coat.)

Is Labour Dead In The Water?*

Is Gordon Brown and his Labour Party really becalmed and drifting onto the rocks? (Some of his erstwhile cronies think so HERE.)

A lot of us would like to believe this is the case. After all, we have lived through the HEIST decade - High Expenditure and (real) Inflation and Stealth Taxes - under his stewardship and look where we are now.

Now he and his crew have no wind in their sails and no matter how many re-launches he attempts he just can't get back to a safe haven. As in the case of the Ancient Mariner he has an albatross around his the neck.

(*I claim the prize for the most maritime references to the current woes of the Labour Party!)

Time For The Real Tory Launch?

Is it just me or do others think that David Cameron and his team should be further ahead in the polls at this stage in the political cycle?

It appears that they have consistently held a 9% lead over Labour (with the LibDems static) over the last couple of polls - see the latest results here.

We are getting very close to a tipping point in the way this Labour Government is perceived by the public, the mainstream media and the wider world. The Conservatives must be ready to light the blue touch paper and blast off!

They should not delay the countdown but take the opportunity of this window in the "political weather" to launch themselves into the wild blue yonder. "It's space, Dave, but not as we know it now! It's much bigger."