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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 2d

Yes, that's very true. I'm just struck by the extent to which Labour is psychologically beholden to people who didn't actually vote for it

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 2d

It's interesting that 2024 Labour and LD voters have virtually identical views here - which suggests that relatively few of the ex-Labour Leavers Starmer has targeted since 2020 actually voted for the party

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 6d

On the Conservatives' £47bn of spending cuts, this feels like a very early stage in the Parliament to be setting out specifics, but I suppose the point is to allow Badenoch and Stride to oppose the tax rises coming in the November budget.

Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 6d

Well spotted -- I will revise and resubmit!

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 6d

I say oppose, but of last year's £40bn+ of tax rises they now seem to have accepted all but £2.2bn (VAT on school fees and inheritance tax on farms)

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks. With a rookie starter in game 2, we needed that one!

Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 11d

Burnham's latest position is Compassite and opens up common ground with the LDs on PR and Europe, which could make a future coalition easier. But the LDs might need to assume a disciplinary position in relation to public spending, which is not a role the party is likely to find easy. 2/2

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 11d

The Starmer/Burnham struggle within Labour has quite big implications for the Lib Dems. Starmer’s old Labour right positioning gives the LDs acres of political space but is hostile to cooperation; the two parties' social and geographical bases are quite distinct. 1/2

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 12d

The Tories ran a long series of adverts last year telling people to do this...

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 14d

A Jays-Yankees ALDS could be quite tasty, if that's how things shake out. It would just be nice to win a playoff game for the first time since 2016...

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 14d

I would 'like' this but I don't want that to happen! Looking OK so far...

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 15d

First trip to Southampton, and a well-deserved point. Still top!

Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 15d

And Milibandism was better suited to the circumstances of 2015 (in the EU, economy growing, fairly low corporate tax and minimum wage levels) than the circumstances of 2024

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Reposted by Peter Sloman

Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 19d

Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds

open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 26d

Yes, that makes sense. (Though ironically, on this polling, Labour might only want to run one candidate in each multi-member constituency...)

Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 26d

But STV would have been much better for Labour in this scenario - allowing incumbent MSs to attract personal votes and anti-Reform preferences

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 26d

I suspect the Lib Dems will be looking at the seat closely, having taken Melksham and Devizes last time. (Also, the most striking thing about the quoted passage is that East Wiltshire CA has a 22-year-old vice chair!)

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · Sep 12

At this stage, the closest parallel to the Starmer government is Tony Abbott in 2013-15: won a landslide on a 'change' platform, tightly bound by pledges, damaged by unpopular budget decisions and given little credit for promises delivered. Starmer and Reeves will hope to find a better way out.

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · Sep 10

I'd love to see some detailed qualitative work on what people think abandoning the fiscal rules would mean in practice

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · Sep 9

Also political geography, I suppose, at least in the UK - FPTP reinforces Labour’s traditional view of who 'its' voters are

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · Sep 5

PR would certainly seem to make the electoral geography better for the centre-left, at the cost of exacerbating and entrenching fragmentation

Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · Sep 2

It turns out that holding a single fiscal event in the autumn just makes the summer open season for tax speculation and bond market pressures. (I wonder if that's why Brown abandoned it?)

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · Aug 13

Congrats! (Though I never enjoy doing proof corrections...)

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Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · Aug 7

Farage has also been a front-line political figure much longer than any of the other party leaders except John Swinney* - so he has had 20+ years to build recognition and attachment. (*Depending on how much attention you were paying to Ed Davey's career in the 1990s/2000s.)

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Reposted by Peter Sloman

Political Quarterly @politicalquarterly.bsky.social · Aug 1

David Marquand’s Intellectual & Political Legacy

SI edited by @pjsloman.bsky.social Colin Crouch & Ben Jackson with @emilyrobinson.bsky.social Will Hutton @npjgarland.bsky.social @anthonybarnett.bsky.social Hilary Wainwright Andrew Gamble Jean Seaton & +

politicalquarterly.org.uk/collections/...

David Marquand’s Intellectual and Political Legacy

David Marquand, who died in April 2024, was a prominent figure in late 20th century British politics. This collection is devoted to analysing, criticising and celebrating his political and academic co...

politicalquarterly.org.uk

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