Quite intelligent people write about these matters and yet they don't see that most political campaigns are insufficiently ruthless in logic They are not simple or clear You can get one thing across It must not be dealt with in an unclear or sloppy way Whereas Labour, you know, tried to have it both ways They hadn't thought the logic of it through.Q. I couldn't work out if John Major's campaign was deliberately off all on its own.A No, I'm interested you say that It wasn't meant to be But, again, that may be what came across.Q The press were in agony.A Well, how do you think he felt? It's so awful for him.Q Doesn't he enjoy it ?A You must be mad.Q. Your problem with John Major presumably was you'd chosen to run a negative campaign, And he couldn't be seen to be running it.A Precisely So, it was hard to know what to do with him But I think the last week was important The Union.Q That was a political instinct.A Entirely And entirely his. The Conservatives are always comfortable defending the flag.. A poll which claims to be the most sophisticated barometer of voters' opinions yesterday indicted Conservative policy The poll, which followed a cross-examination of Kenneth Clarke, Gordon Brown, and Malcolm Bruce by a panel of 300 voters, showed the Tories had failed in their scare tactics to portray Labour as " demon- eyed" punitive taxers.
At the same time a dramatically increasing number would like to see the Liberal Democrats in a coalition government. The panel was first polled in January and then yesterday afternoon at the end of a weekend seminar on the economy. Results indicate that the number who thought a Labour government would bring in high taxes has fallen from 57 per cent to 47 per cent and the proportion who thought people earning pounds 50,000 and more should pay more taxes has gone up from 66 per cent to 89 per cent.On voting intentions on Thursday, the Tory figure fell from 26 per cent to l9 per cent Labour also fell, from 47 per cent to 39 per cent. The clear winners were the Liberal Democrats, who rose from 11 per cent to 33 per cent. The figures for those who thought the economy would be much better off if the Lib Dems were part of a new government shot from 21 per cent to 44 per cent.Mr Clarke was taken aback by the rough reception he was given by the panel during the recording of a state-of-the-nation programme by Channel 4.This was in marked contrast to Mr Brown and Mr Bruce, who were listened to in respectful silence. Afterwards the Chancellor stated that he was surprised "by the level of hostility" he faced.Mr Clarke had claimed Britain had became "a Goldilocks economy -- not too hot, and not too cold." It was booming, but not in a way it was going to go bust.
But the audience dismissed his assertion that " it is a myth" that the poor are getting poorer.They were also sceptical of his claim that his decision not to raise interest rates before the election was purely economic, and not political.Mr Bruce set out his party's plans to increase income tax, saying "our objective is not to put a penny on income tax; it is to put money into education". Mr Brown said he hoped to cut VAT on fuel before pensioners receive bills this winter.The panel, drawn from a cross-section of the electorate, had been briefed during the weekend by experts, neutral observers and economists sympathetic to the policies of each of the three main parties.Their verdicts were given in Manchester last night in the show, Power and the People, hosted by Sheena McDonald. The producers claim the deliberative poll, with its in-depth study of the subject, is a far superior indicator of people's intentions than answers gleamed by ordinary pollsters.The panel, aged 18 to 87, and living as far apart as Aberdeen and Exeter, Southend and Ynys Mon (Isle of Anglesey), was selected in January through a scientific survey to ascertain the most accurate cross-section. They had considered a wide range of financial issues, including taxation, public spending, prices, wages, and employment.Those who acted as advisers and spokespersons included Andrew Dilnot, of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, Richard Layard, of the London School of Economics, Diane Coyle, economics editor of the Independent, and Chris Huhne, of IBCA Sovereign Ratings.. The studied calm displayed by Mohammed Sawar, the Labour candidate, as the poison has flowed in Glasgow's faction-ridden Govan constituency this last year is starting to desert him after suggestions that he and his supporters have tried to rig the ballot.
"My hands are clean," Mr Sawar insisted at the weekend as Strathclyde police continued investigations into the extraordinary number of late entries to Govan's electoral roll. Out of 484 last-minute applications across Glasgow's nine constituencies, 279 came from Govan where Mr Sawar, a self-made millionaire, is facing not only a by-election style challenge from the Scottish National Party but candidates with personal axes to grind.William Johnston, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) called in the police last week after disallowing seven Govan applications. Since then it has emerged that 200 of the new voters are Asians in Pollokshields East, the ward represented by Mr Sawar on Glasgow city council.The scandal, as Mr Sawar pointed out, is not the high number of late entries but the fact that residents were not on the roll in the first place. "The ERO says he is alarmed at the 279, but why is he not alarmed at the numbers missing from the register? It is shameful to suggest that helping people to register is in any way an organised fraud to rig the ballot."People who should have been getting information in Urdu or Hindi on how to register might now fear from the actions of the ERO that to do so could bring the police to their door with a charge of fraud, Mr Sawar told The Independent. The Sawar camp make no bones about encouraging people to enrol. Forms were published in the party's newsletter and activists filled in details on doorsteps - but they say citizenship rules were explained."I don't feel guilty if there are 279 late entries," Mr Sawar said "I wish there were 679 or 1,079 If somebody is involved in fraud they should be prosecuted But the seven could be mistakes It is bizarre. What is the scandal when still in Govan, five to 10 per cent of the people are not on the electoral roll?"Raised in a hut 15 miles from Faisalbad in Pakistan, Mr Sawar came to Scotland 20 years ago and from a corner shop built up a cash-and-carry business with an pounds 85m turnover.