Tory Own Goals
1 December 2000
This week's MORI political poll for The Times sees the government's voting intention lead over the Conservatives widening again. The Opposition have failed to make their attacks on the government stick, and both this and other recent polls offer clues why this might be the case.

Dazed and Confused
20 October 2000
Has the Recent Cannabis Debate helped or hindered the Tories

Tory lead!!
15 September 2000
MORI's poll for the News of the World published yesterday and conducted on Thursday and Friday puts the Conservatives ahead of Labour, the first poll (by any company) to do so since sterling crashed out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism eight years ago.

Voting & the Influence of Religion
23 June 2000
It is reported in the press this week that Conservative leader William Hague's latest initiative to win votes from the government is a meeting with a leader of the American religious Right, exploring the possibility of making a religion-based appeal for votes at the next election.

Soft Labour Vote? Not So, At Least Not Yet
10 May 2000
The first poll taken entirely after the call of the election shows a widening of the lead for Labour, and on every measure, Labour gaining even further ground on the Conservatives.

Labour slumps in Ayr
17 March 2000
So, the Conservatives have comfortably gained Ayr from Labour in the first by-election to the Scottish Parliament (as the polls suggested they would! - ICM/Scotsman poll, Scottish Opinion/Daily Record poll), with Labour convincingly beaten into third by the Scottish National Party, and their Liberal Democrat coalition partners slipping to fifth behind the Scottish Socialist Party. What, if anything, are the wider implications for Labour, and for the Tories?

Hit and Myth
18 February 2000
The Daily Telegraph's lead editorial on 14 February, argued on the basis of recent Conservative successes in local government by-elections that the Conservatives are in a much stronger position than current opinion polls suggest.

Hague's Progress: How Far Have The Tories Come, And Where Are They Going
17 September 1999
Two years have now passed since William Hague was elected leader of the Conservative Party, in the immediate aftermath of the 1997 election defeat. It has certainly been a period of considerable change for the Tories, with the organisation having to grapple with the unfamiliar day-to-day role of being a party of opposition rather than of government. At the same time, there has been the urgent need to take stock and consider the implications of Tony Blair's victory, as well as to look at the party's structure and finances.

Surveys Hint That The Real Fight Is Beginning At Last
15 April 1997
The Conservatives are up all average three points, to 32 per cent, and Labour is down by four,to 49 per cent, since the first week of the campaign. There have been seven polls published since my report last week and a clear pattern is emerging, led by the MORI poll in The Times last Thursday which so galvanised the Prime Minister.