Free Republic

Fewer young people likely to vote in election than for reality TV shows Mon Mar 7,12:33 PM ET LONDON (AFP) - Fewer young people are likely to vote at the general election expected in May than have already voted in reality television shows, according to a survey. Fewer than 42 percent of first-time voters think they will vote for a political party, yet 46 percent have already voted for contestants in shows such as "Big Brother" and "Pop Idol," said the YouGov poll. The 18 to 24-year-olds, who account for nearly one out of every ten voters, are more turned...

THE mastermind of the Madrid train bombings remains at large and security sources believe that he may be planning an attack in Britain during the general election. Documents found in a Madrid flat used by some of the bombers show how their leader, Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, ordered them to strike in the final days of the Spanish election campaign last March. The coded command was sent three months earlier; Nasar left it to his lieutenants in Spain to decide what the target should be. Fernando Reinares, Spain’s counter-terrorism director, said the documents showed that the bombing on the eve of...

Tony Blair has paid dearly for supporting George W. Bush. With Blair's public support at an all-time low, can Britain's special relationship with the United States endure? The long-standing “special relationship” between the United States and Britain, coupled with the close relationship between Tony Blair and George W. Bush, has been at the heart of post-9/11 initiatives, especially the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now that President Bush has won reelection, the political spotlight has turned toward a likely British election this spring. How will that election and its consequences affect the future of the special relationship? The significant...

LONDON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- There is really only one burning question in British politics, with a general election now expected to be just 10 weeks away. Why should all polls and commentators agree that Tony Blair will be re-elected prime minister when a majority of the British people say they don't like him, don't trust him and that he has been in power too long? Blair's record could hardly be more impressive. He is the first prime minister of his party to win two successive general elections by landslide, or to serve two successive terms. Hitherto, every Labor government...

How the Tories got back in the game Timing, luck and a good campaign manager boost party confidence Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent Friday February 25, 2005 Guardian For weeks staff at the Conservative campaign headquarters in London's Victoria Street have been counting the days since the party attacked over asylum and immigration. At first the opinion polls did not shift. But the shadow cabinet was given clear guidance by Lynton Crosby, the campaign director who steered Australia's conservative government to unlikely election victories and who is now the indisputable master of the Tory campaign. It would take seven days,...

Politics At last the Tories are setting the political agenda, and Blair is running scared Peter Oborne Shortly before Christmas last year I went off to write a book about a malign modern trend, the rise of political lying. Regrettably, during the two months I have been absent, the lying has continued unabated. In other respects, however, British politics has changed. Back in December there was a widespread assumption, bordering on certainty, that Tony Blair was heading for a third successive landslide victory. You could tell this by the way the two parties were conducting themselves in public. In the...

BRITAIN'S opposition Conservative Party has bounced back to within two points of Prime Minister Tony Blair's ruling Labour Party during campaigning for an election expected in May, according to a poll today. The Mori poll for the Financial Times said the Conservatives had narrowed last October's 10-point gap to record the party's best poll performance since July 2003. The survey was conducted at the weekend following intense pre-election campaigning, which has focused on domestic issues such as immigration, public services and the economy. The poll, published on the FT's website (http://www.ft.com) put Labour on 39 per cent, the Conservatives on...

Labour's election campaign took a heavy jolt today as another opinion poll showed the Tories catching up.A Mori survey in the Financial Times said Tony Blair's lead had been cut to only two per cent. This comes two days after a survey put the gap at three points. Taken together, the polls appear to show voters are being won over by Michael Howard's winter offensive on tax cuts, immigration and slashing council tax bills for pensioners. The findings will jangle nerves at Labour HQ. It suggests Mr Blair's counter-attack has fallen flat, despite his headline-grabbing helicopter charge across the country...

Michael Howard: The importance of faith in rebuilding trust In a speech to the Faithworks charity in Kennington tonight the Rt. Hon. Michael Howard QC MP, Leader of the Opposition, will say: Check against delivery "It is a very great pleasure to be here with you this evening. Of course, it is not for me to tell the leaders of Britain's faith groups how to do their job. It's difficult enough being leader of the Opposition! However, as someone who belongs to the Jewish faith - and with a son currently in training for the Anglican ministry - I hope...

Since leaving office, I have not sought publicity. Even when provoked I have usually kept my counsel. Yet the changing character of the way politics is conducted is an issue on which it would be wrong to remain silent. The turnout at the last election was pitiful and is likely to be even more so at the next one – probably below that in Iraq, where voters ran the gauntlet of bomb and bullet. In one of the world's most secure democracies, how can such disillusion have set in?One cause is the way politics is conducted. It is a robust...

Labour's half-truths and spin are a cancer in the body politic By John Major (Filed: 22/02/2005) Since leaving office, I have not sought publicity. Even when provoked I have usually kept my counsel. Yet the changing character of the way politics is conducted is an issue on which it would be wrong to remain silent. The turnout at the last election was pitiful and is likely to be even more so at the next one – probably below that in Iraq, where voters ran the gauntlet of bomb and bullet. In one of the world's most secure democracies, how can...

Poll puts parties just 3 points apart, as Blair fails to regain confidence Labour's opinion poll lead has been cut to only three points in the last month as the Tory pre-election campaign gains momentum, according to the results of this month's Guardian/ICM opinion poll published today. With the expected date of the general election only 72 days away the poll results will alarm Labour election strategists who fear Conservatives could use the intensive "phoney war" campaigning to close the gap between the parties. Tony Blair effectively launched Labour's campaign a fortnight ago with his helicopter tour, the six pledges...

The full extent of the disaster caused by the government’s teenage pregnancy strategy is only now becoming apparent. Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed that more than 1000 girls aged 14 had abortions last year. In addition, 148 abortions were performed on girls aged between 11 and 13. About 3,500 girls aged under 16 have pregnancies terminated every year. And among the youngest age group, the number of abortions jumped last year by nine per cent. Small wonder that until a week ago the Government was refusing to disclose these statistics on the spurious grounds that...

The closest the Bush administration ever got to expressing regret for invading Iraq on false pretenses was a comment from the former US secretary of state, Colin Powell. "The absence of a stockpile changes the political calculus," he said. "It changes the answer you get." Assuming that President George Bush's question was "Colin, what pretext should we adopt for bombing a sovereign, oil-rich nation so that we can steal its resources and humiliate its people", then Powell may have a point. Coming from Bush, the political representative of global capital, armed to the teeth and unfettered by international law, this...

U.K. Conservatives Raise $37 Million to Fight Labour (Update1) Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Britain's Conservatives have raised 19 million pounds ($37 million) for their campaign against Prime Minister Tony Blair, helped by the sale of two Margaret Thatcher portraits and a dinner by London chef Marco Pierre White. ``It's pretty healthy,'' Conservative Party Treasurer Jonathan Marland said in an interview at the party's newly built headquarters near Parliament. The funding is 78 percent of the legal spending limit and ``much better than four years ago, when the party received two large donations very near the election.'' Spending is limited to...

CAIRO, February 20, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – British Muslims are preparing a list of questions to ask perspective MPs before casting their ballots in the May general elections, with the main parties seen vying to court their votes, a leading British newspaper said Sunday, February 20. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has listed ten key questions ranging from the stance of the candidate’s party on the US-led invasion-turned-occupation of Iraq, promotion of religious schools, legislations outlawing incitement to religious hatred, The Observer said. “We want Muslims to engage with the election process. We want to get their vote out and...

When George W. Bush arrives for his European visit next week, a special ceremony will be laid on in Brussels: the discreet burial of hatchets. Dinner with Jacques Chirac will start the rapprochement with Old Europe while other leaders wait in line, olive branch in hand. But there’s one politician the American President certainly won’t be meeting: Michael Howard. Even if the Conservative leader was at the European Union summit, he’s unlikely to have been granted an audience; he languishes, unforgiven, in a special kind of purgatory. Four months ago, before Bush’s historic victory, Howard was parading his credentials as...

Lowest turnout since 1918 predicted for UK election AFP , LONDON Thursday, Feb 17, 2005,Page 6 The UK is lurching toward the lowest turnout for a general election since 1918 when troops were returning from the First World War, according to a new poll published yesterday. But voter apathy aside, Prime Minister Tony Blair can take heart that his ruling Labour Party has the biggest lead over the main opposition Conservative Party since May 2003, the NOP survey in The Independent newspaper found. An election is widely expected to be called for May 5 and, while Labour is favorite to...

Tony Blair has ordered his closest aides to draw up plans for a snap general election to be held in February, The Telegraph has learnt. Alan Milburn, Labour's new head of election strategy, has been told to launch a television and poster advertising blitz in the New Year and to put the party on a war footing under the campaign slogan "Britain Is Working". The plan will cause surprise at Westminster because all sides have, until now, been preparing for an election on May 5. Cherie Blair appeared to let the date slip in a speech this month to the...