In my second post on the Centre for Policy Studies I discuss the latest YouGov poll and the importance of perception over reality (especially if you’re a member of the Parliamentary Labour Party). Here’s an extract:
"… amongst friends of course the belleagered members of the PLP will dismiss the results with forced confidence: “it’s anything-you-want-gov, it doesn’t mean anything”. But hehind closed doors they will consider the possibility that this poll isn’t an anomally, that like the mayoral poll it acts as a portent of disaster about to befall Labour, the chime of a political knell. Even those MPs who have the strength of character to stare YouGov’s poll in the face and convince themselves it’s further off the mark than Gordon Brown’s political judgement when he decided not to attend Gwyneth Dunwoody’s funeral will find it difficult not to contemplate the distinct possibility that even if the poll is an anomally it nevertheless demonstrates a fundamental change in the country’s mood; a change of mood that means one very simple thing – job hunting will be very much on their to-do list in two years time…"
You can read the whole piece here.