Liberal Democrats

Targets? More targets! Even less change and more continuity in the performance regime in Whitehall

By Dave Richards, Colin Talbot and Ewan Munro Filed Under: All posts, Featured, Whitehall Watch Posted: August 24, 2015

Dave Richards, Colin Talbot and Ewan Munro explore target setting in Government. “Everyone has to think of their responsibilities with regard to the dreadful events that happened at the Staffordshire hospital, including the fact that part of the problem was people following a very top-down, target-led agenda which led to patient care being put on […]

What if Labour Can’t Win?

By Colin Talbot Filed Under: All posts, Featured, Westminster Watch Posted: August 4, 2015

The entire Labour Party leadership debate is being framed by the question “how can Labour win again?” But what if it can’t, asks Colin Talbot? There are several reasons for believing it might be impossible for Labour to win an outright majority in the House of Commons again, at least for any foreseeable future. (Let […]

Benefits and costs of party diversity

By Maria Sobolewska Filed Under: Ethnicity, Featured Posted: July 22, 2015

Why do Conservatives try so hard to increase their ethnic diversity while Labour takes minorities for granted? It all depends on who their target voter is. Labour’s target voters thought less of the party when they knew about its ethnic diversity, Conservative’s target voters were the opposite, explains Maria Sobolewska. For political parties the question […]

One Night in May [Part 1] – Whatever Happened to the Strange Death of Tory England?

By Dave Richards and Martin Smith Filed Under: All posts Posted: May 22, 2015

In 2005, the political journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft wrote a critique of the Conservative Party, The Strange Death of Tory England. Here Dave Richards and Martin Smith explore this failed prophesy and examine the implications of GE2015 on the main parties. When Wheatcroft wrote his book the Conservative Party was yet to come to terms with […]

Polling Observatory 40: Treading water as Scotland’s big moment approaches

By Rob Ford, Mark Pickup, Will Jennings and Christopher Wlezien Filed Under: Featured, Polling Observatory Posted: September 9, 2014

This is the fortieth in a series of posts by Dr Robert Ford, Dr Will Jennings, Dr Mark Pickup and Prof Christopher Wlezien that report on the state of the parties in the UK as measured by opinion polls. By pooling together all the available polling evidence, the impact of the random variation that each individual survey inevitably produces can […]

The Polling Observatory Forecast 2: Still A Dead Heat, Despite Recent Turbulence

By Rob Ford, Mark Pickup, Will Jennings and Christopher Wlezien Filed Under: Featured, Polling Observatory Posted: June 18, 2014

As explained in the previous inaugural election forecast last month, up until May next year the Polling Observatory team will be producing a long term forecast for the 2015 General Election, using methods first applied ahead of the 2010 election (and which are also well-established in the United States). The method employed involves trying to make the […]

Polling Observatory #35 (March 2014): Politics, Fast and Slow

By Rob Ford, Mark Pickup and Will Jennings Filed Under: Polling Observatory Posted: April 8, 2014

This is the thirty-fifth in a series of posts that report by Dr Robert Ford, Dr Will Jennings and Dr Mark Pickup on the state of the parties as measured by opinion polls. By pooling together all the available polling evidence the impact of the random variation each individual survey inevitably produces can be reduced. Most of the short […]

Targets? More targets! Even less change and more continuity in the performance regime in Whitehall

What if Labour Can’t Win?

Benefits and costs of party diversity

One Night in May [Part 1] – Whatever Happened to the Strange Death of Tory England?

Polling Observatory 40: Treading water as Scotland’s big moment approaches

The Polling Observatory Forecast 2: Still A Dead Heat, Despite Recent Turbulence

Polling Observatory #35 (March 2014): Politics, Fast and Slow

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