Politics blog + Labour

• Thursday 27 May 2010

• Politics Weekly: Fighting the right of your party

  Two weeks in and the new prime minister is already taking flak from the right wing of his party. Michael White, Georgina Henry and Julian Glover also look at the Queen's speech, Osborne's cuts, and why only opposition parties talk about the primacy of parliament

  Posted by Tom Clark, Michael White, Georgina Henry, Julian Glover, Phil Maynard 14.31 BST

• Tuesday 25 May 2010

• Guardian Daily podcast: State opening of parliament

  The government has laid out its legislative programme. Michael White in Westminster hears reaction from MPs and Lords with analysis from the Guardian's expert columnists Julian Glover and Tom Clark

  Posted by Michael White, Jon Dennis, Phil Maynard, Ben Green 17.46 BST

• Queen's speech debate - live blog

  

  George Osborne, David Cameron and William Hague in the Commons after the state opening of parliament today. Photograph: PA

  Rolling coverage of the state opening of parliament and the Queen's speech setting out the new government's proposed programme of legislation

  Continue reading...
  Posted by Andrew Sparrow 08.39 BST

• Monday 24 May 2010

• Guardian/ICM polls: every one since 1984

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  Link to this interactive

  The Guardian and ICM have been conducting monthly polls since 1984. Here is the full data going back to then. Plus, for the first time, we can bring you the trends in the big questions and how they've changed over time. Continue reading...

  Posted by Simon Rogers 18.45 BST

• Ex-ministers become shadows of their former selves

  

  Shadows of their former selves: Gordon Brown, surrounded by senior members of his cabinet, announcing the general election date in April. Photograph: Kieran Doherty/Reuters

  Wondering what happens to former Labour ministers when they go into opposition?

  Well wonder no more. Labour has announced the line-up of its first shadow cabinet since 1997.

  Most former cabinet ministers will now shadow their old posts, but there are a few notable exceptions, the most obvious being Gordon Brown, who has returned to the backbenches after quitting as Labour leader. Continue reading...

  Posted by Paul Owen 14.03 BST

• Friday 21 May 2010

• General election 2010: party donations, week by week - UPDATED

  

  Election 2010 party donations. Click image for full graphic and more details. Graphic: Paul Scruton for the Guardian

  Now the election is over, the Electoral Commission has published the big party donations of the campaign. Find out who gave what to whom

  Continue reading...
  Posted by Simon Rogers 13.25 BST

• Thursday 20 May 2010

• Diane Abbott on trend on Twitter

  

  Diane Abbott on Trendsmap.com

  Justin Bieber, the 16-year-old Canadian pop star, has long reigned supreme as the most popular discussion topic on Twitter.

  While all good things undoubtedly have to come to an end, few Bieber fans would have expected the starlet's dominance to be threatened by Diane Abbott's decision to toss her hat into the Labour leadership ring.

  Since the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington joined the contest this morning she has enjoyed an astronomic surge up the search engines, attracting particular intrigue on the social networking site.

  Chart from Trendistic

  According to Trendistic, which allows users to search specific terms to see how popular they are on Twitter, for one brief fleeting moment, just after 8am this morning, the leftwing MP came within touching distance of the Canadian. (Not literally.)
  Continue reading...

  Posted by Adam Gabbatt 14.57 BST

• Politics Weekly podcast: Clegg’s great reforms and the Labour leadership battle

  As a new government gets down to business Tory blogger Tim Montgomerie and Jackie Ashley join Tom Clark and Allegra Stratton to discuss how the new coalition is working

  Posted by Tom Clark, Allegra Stratton, Francesca Panetta, Jackie Ashley, Tim Montgomerie 13.31 BST

• Wednesday 19 May 2010

• Ed Balls and John McDonnell launch Labour leadership bids - as it happened

  

  Ed Balls and John McDonnell. Photograph: David Levene, Fiona Hanson/PA

  Rolling coverage as two more contenders officially enter the race to become the next Labour leader

  Continue reading...
  Posted by Andrew Sparrow 11.40 BST

• Friday 14 May 2010

• Coalition government: Taking the plunge

  

  Prime minister David Cameron chairs the first cabinet meeting of the Con-Lib coalition government. Photograph: Wpa Pool/Getty Images

  The Lib-Con partnership may not last – but it has already shown that it's going to be interesting Continue reading...
  Posted by Michael White 11.15 BST

• Wednesday 12 May 2010

• New government live blog - Wednesday 12 May

  

  David Cameron and Nick Clegg hold their first joint press conference in the Downing Street garden today. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/PA

  All the latest developments on the first full day of the new Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government

  Continue reading...
  Posted by Haroon Siddique, Andrew Sparrow and Hélène Mulholland 08.18 BST

• Tuesday 11 May 2010

• Guardian Election Daily: Hopes fading for 'rainbow coalition'

  The corridors of Westminster are buzzing with rumour and counter-rumour as backroom deals continue to be negotiated. Michael White is in the thick of it

  Posted by Michael White, Allegra Stratton, Phil Maynard, Jon Dennis 16.59 BST

• Gordon Brown's legacy: drawing a blank

  How would you define Brown's legacy? In his statement yesterday, the PM said he would stay on "no longer than is needed to ensure the path to economic growth is assured", so it is fair to say that an economic recovery would be towards the top of his list.

  Eagle-eyed readers on Twitter, however, noticed that the BBC news website chose not to include this – or indeed anything else. Continue reading...

  Posted by Simon Jeffery 15.31 BST

• Coalition talks: Labour revolt may scupper deal with Liberal Democrats

  

  John Reid is not the only Labour figure who is critical of a deal with the Lib Dems. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

  Twenty four hour news wants instant resolutions, but senior Liberal Democrats are now saying the deal may not be secured today, and any final deal will have to go to a party conference at the weekend. The Queen may be kept on hold.

  But the balance is now tilting back to the Liberal Democrats striking a deal with the Conservatives, partly because there is a sense that some Labour negotiators are less keen on a deal than the Conservatives.

  Senior Liberal Democrats are also picking up signals that Labour is too divided to strike a deal. John Reid and David Blunkett, the two former home secretaries, speak for more than themselves when they criticise the idea of a deal altogether.

  The official line is that the cabinet backed the deal unanimously, but I am not sure that this represents a true account of opinion In a bid to shore up the Labour coalition, Alan Johnson, the current home secretary and Neil Kinnock, the former Labour leader, came out in favour of the deal.
  Continue reading...

  Posted by Patrick Wintour 12.42 BST

• Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition: I'm pretty sure it's not going to happen

  

  Trevor Kavanagh: Michael White is sometimes mistaken for him. Photograph: Andy Hall

  I've just been on the radio with my old sparring partner, Trevor Kavanagh of the Sun. Trevor's been sounding off about the sheer "illegitimacy" of a deal between Labour and the Lib Dems and the "dodgy game" the politicians are now playing.

  "I don't think we can look at them with any admiration," said Trevor, of whom I am fond for a special reason: bald with facial hair, I keep on getting mistaken for him, though not (I suspect) vice versa.

  "Will you come on 5 Live Trevor?" a producer asked in the tented media village on Westminster's College Green last night.

  "I'm not Trevor."

  "Come on anyway." So I did, though I don't do wall-to-wall outrage as well as Trevor does – and don't want to try.

  Continue reading...

  Posted by Michael White 10.57 BST

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