The Guardian carries a sensationalist headline tonight: Revealed: Lib Dems planned before election to abandon tuition fees pledge. The truth is somewhat different from the newspaper’s anti-Lib Dem spin, however. The story is clearly designed to make the reader believe that, even as Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems spoke out against tuition fees, it

Peter Hain has said in today's Guardian that "the new development in British politics is the emerging common ground" between Labour and the Lib Dems: Whilst I applaud his efforts to garner tactical votes from Lib Dem voters in Labour vs Tory seats, he couldn't be more wrong in his analysis of the Lib Dems' positioning. In fact, the Lib Dems are remarkably close in tone to the Tories, with "Orange ...

Today started with a good poll for the Tories and it ends with another. The latest ICM poll for The Guardian has the Tories on 44 percent, up six points on last month. Labour are on 32, down one, and the Lib Dems on 16, down 3. Year on year, the Tories are up seven, Labour down three and the Lib Dems down four. Worryingly for Brown the public have lost confidence in his economic activism. Confiden...

According to Adam Price the new MORI poll giving the Tories 52%, Labour 24% and the Lib Dems 12% if turned into seats at Westminster would give the SNP-Plaid group 25-30 seats, making them the third force in UK politics and leaving the Lib Dems in the wilderness. According to Blog Menai the poll leaves the Lib Dems with 8 seats. The silver line in the Lib Dems' cloud is that once again they

Following the endorsement of its sister paper the Observer and its leading columnist Polly Toynbee, the Guardian editorial today all-but formally recommends its readers vote for the Lib Dems in this Thursday’s Euro polls: The case for supporting the Liberal Democrats is now very strong. Anyone who believes Britain should be an engaged member of the

I suspect that newspaper endorsements interest journalists and politicians a heck of a lot more than they do voters. But The Guardian backing the Lib Dems (albeit with a caveat about anti-Tory tactical voting in Labour-Tory marginals) does feel like a significant moment. In a way, the endorsement is not too surprising. Having called on Labour to depose Brown, it would be quite hard for the paper t...

You knew it was unlikely to last. Nick Clegg has just performed a humiliating U turn as the Lib Dems back using debt on future generations to pay for votes for themselves and Labour. Typical Lib Dems ! ( Perhaps the letter to the Guardian by his MPs to disassociate themselves from his policies won't be needed this time. ) Remember there is no substantial recovery - and the signs are that a se...

But for Labour and the Tories it’s no change The Guardian’s October survey from ICM is now out and for Labour and the Tories there is no change on the last poll from the firm just after the Conservative conference. The big winner is Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems who have been battered in recent

Every Tory I have spoken to this week has said the same thing, ‘aren’t the Lib Dems having a terrible time.’ The Tories are particularly happy because they see the Lib Dems’ credibility on economics taking a bartering thanks to the total confusion over Cable’s proposed new tax on million-pound homes. They also think that the new Lib Dem policy will hurt the Lib Dems i...

John Kampfner, journalist and former New Statesman editor, has a Comment is Free piece on the Guardian website explaining why he’s backing the Lib Dems. My decision to back the Liberal Democrats in 2010 is based on a more fundamental appraisal of Labour’s record, together with a positive assessment of the Lib Dems’ platform. Their