Tag Archives: post mortem

Joe Otten

Margaret Beckett reports on reasons for Labour’s defeat

By Joe Otten | Tue 19th January 2016 - 4:39 pm

Dame Margaret Beckett a former deputy and acting leader of the Labour Party has reported her findings on the reasons behind Labour’s loss of the election in 2015. We need to understand this dispassionately, alongside the reasons for our great losses, some of which will overlap.

Firstly, five reasons that Beckett doubts.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 58 Comments
Simon McGrath

Opinion: we need an enquiry in the AV referendum

By Simon McGrath | Fri 20th May 2011 - 3:53 pm

The Yes 2 AV campaign was a disaster. It was the worst managed political campaign since Michael Foot’s General Election campaign in 1983 and it probably means we will not be able to have electoral reform for many years.

There seems to be a growing tendency simply to ascribe our defeat simply to the lies of the No campaign but that would be too easy and in any case lies are hardly unknown in political campaigns. There seem to have been failures in the Yes campaign; from the highest level – formulating a coherent narrative about the need for …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 20 Comments
James King

Opinion: 5 reasons the AV referendum lost

By James King | Fri 13th May 2011 - 10:30 am

Here is my take on the five main reasons why the UK gave such a comprehensive thumbs down to AV, with one important lesson for the future:

  1. Tuition fees and trust – This is not the place to rehearse all the arguments on tuition fees. But there can be no denying that it was a significant turning point in public perceptions of Nick Clegg. Even though over 300 Tory MPs voted for higher fees, the Conservative-dominated No campaign ruthlessly exploited this as an argument against coalitions in general and Clegg in particular. While I believe the policy itself can be justified, Clegg clearly under-estimated the political cost of a U-turn, particularly in the context ofacritical referendum that needed to be won only a few months later.
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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 46 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Roland
    > Oh, and, Mark, do you fancy taking on this column? Surely, having an insider’s and outsider’s view might be interesting, particularly given all the ta...
  • Daniel Stylianou
    I read the previous comments with interest but they are, I feel, misguided. Catherine mentions clearing out the prisons but as I pointed out, anyone who works i...
  • Alex Macfie
    @Tristan Ward: In the 2000s, when we were pivoting towards the centre-left, we held up against the Tories and gained seats from Labour. It was only when the Tor...
  • Mark Pack
    I have turned a Nelsonian blind eye to your question, Mark....
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