Welcome to Friday, and with another busy campaigning weekend ahead, political parties are counting down the days and counting up the cash:
2 Election War Chest Stories
Labour opts for bargain £4m campaign with no posters
For the first time in more than 60 years, Labour does not plan to use its scarce resources on high street posters, such as those that the big-spending Conservatives have already set up across Britain. Instead, officials say that Gordon Brown will make a virtue out of necessity with a campaign that will lean on the “word of mouth” community organising techniques that helped Barack Obama into the White House. [Times]
Conservatives borrow £5m from the private bank Arbuthnot Latham & Co
The Conservatives have arranged to borrow up to £5 million from a boutique private bank once run by Jonathan Aitken, the Electoral Commission revealed yesterday.
The Tories have negotiated a credit facility, the largest of any party, with Arbuthnot Latham & Co. It emerged on the day that George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, warned of the need to reduce Britain’s debt. [Times]
2 Must-Read Blog Posts
What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that caught my eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:
- Mum thrown off bus for breastfeeding her baby Caron Lindsay asks, “Why do we women put up with this sort of nonsense?”
- Bully for you Alasdair Murray on the serious matter of workplace bullying.
Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.
4 Comments
Everybody keeps talking about Obama’s campaign techniques as if they were something special. They all seem to forget the most important element to his campaign: run against a warmongering lunatic immediately after a disastrous war.
“They all seem to forget the most important element to his campaign: run against a warmongering lunatic immediately after a disastrous war.”
Eh? Wasn’t that John Kerry’s campaign?
The Labour story does raise a serious issue as to whether Democracy is compatable with such disparities in spending.
Andrew Suffield – they also forget that he was able to outspend his opponents by a fair margin, an advantage that Labour clearly doesn’t have.