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Chapter
Background to the Campaign: From Confidence and Supply to the Oven-Ready Deal
British politics entered a period of extraordinary flux following the narrow votes in favour of Leave in the 2016 EU Referendum and the Conservatives in the 2017 General Election. Although the latter campaign ...
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Chapter
Seven Weeks Is a Long Time in Politics
Against prior expectations the 2017 General Election proved to be a particularly dramatic campaign, repeatedly stunning commentators from its surprise calling right through to its frenetic conclusion. In seven...
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Chapter
Introduction
During the closing stages of the General Election David Cameron brandished a letter written by an outgoing Labour Treasury minister joking ‘I’m afraid there is no money’. In the still ongoing financial uncerta...
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Chapter
An Interview with Jeremy Sinclair
Jeremy Sinclair reflects on his long career advising Conservatives as a leading member of the creative team that devised the ‘Labour Isn’t Working’ poster and other memorable advertising copy. Now Chairman of...
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Chapter
Conclusion: Time for Change?
Some general elections are quickly forgotten, mere milestones along the way of the country’s political odyssey. Others can be turning points — and not necessarily only those that result in a change of governme...
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Chapter
Were the Polls Wrong about the Lib Dems All Along?
Opinion polls in modern elections serve several purposes. From the amount of attention that tends to be paid after the election to analysing the accuracy of the final ‘predictions’, it might seem that this rat...
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Chapter
The Public and the Polls
The pollsters’ chapters in this volume are concerned with the answers to two related questions. What methodology will best achieve our professional function of accurately measuring the opinions and predicting ...