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Midnight I think but could be a while before we have results

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Taking an uber through Holborn & St Pancras having just arrived from Manchester at Euston (on the edge of the seat). Will be joining the @news.sky.com team later tonight to discuss the by-election result and analyse its implications - going to be another interesting night I think!

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The Holborn & St. Pancras By-election

All taken from my recent Swingometer preview of the by-election, which you can read here: swingometer.substack.com/p/the-holbor...

swingometer.substack.com

Polanski’s big gamble puts Burnham’s revival to the test

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One of Belsize ward's Conservative councillors in the early 2000s also went on to be an (interim) leader of UKIP while the Lib Dem candidate for Frognal and Fitzjohns in 2002 has been Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords since 2018

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Five recently serving Labour MPs also started out in Camden politics, including two from famous political dynasties - Georgia Gould (former leader of Camden council and daughter of New Labour spin doctor Philip) & Tulip Siddiq (neice and grand-daughter of Bangladeshi Prime Ministers)

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Seven future Con MPs cut their teeth in Camden council elections, including Chris Philp, the current Shadow Home Sec and Laura Trott, the current Shadow Education Sec. Kemi Badenoch's current chief of staff Henry Morris is also a former Camden councillor

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3 leaders (& one deputy leader) of the Green Party of England and Wales have stood as Camden council candidates, including famously Zack Polanski himself, who stood in a council by-election here as a Lib Dem candidate

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YouGov @yougov.co.uk · 08/10/2026

A little bit of political trivia for you as voters head to the polls in the Holborn & St Pancras by-election. Camden council, where the seat is located, has proved to be quite the political hothouse, featuring 3 future Grn leaders, 1 future UKIP leader, 6 future Con MPs & 5 future Lab MPs...1/?

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Reposted by Rob Ford

What % of 2024 voters say they would vote to rejoin the EU? Labour: 79% Green: 74% Lib Dem: 73% Con: 28% Reform: 9% yougov.com/en-gb/articl...

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YouGov @yougov.co.uk · 08/10/2026

If an election were held tomorrow for Britain to rejoin the EU, how would you vote? Rejoin: 52% Remain outside: 27% Don't know: 15% Would not vote: 7% 22% of Leave voters would now vote to rejoin yougov.com/en-gb/articl...

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YouGov @yougov.co.uk · 08/10/2026

If the government negotiated a deal to rejoin the EU, 64% of Britons say there should be a referendum before deciding whether to do so (including 54% of those who would vote to rejoin)- only 23% think the government should be able to make the decision without a referendum yougov.com/en-gb/articl...

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Altreik @altreik.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

FWIW she’s the same age as me and I do

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Yes I can’t work out if it’s just that people enjoy a chance to argue and go ‘well actually’ or if it’s just anti Tory stuff but to be blunt our progress on racial equality was built up on a lot of half truths and myth making that services a wider purpose!

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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I for one am reassured that an investigation into Reform UK, carried out by Reform UK, has found that Reform UK did nothing wrong www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

telegraph.co.uk

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zatapatique @zatapatique.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The people nitpicking the welcome change (or clarification) of tone/position are fundamentally unserious about the threat and the extent of the drift to this point. We 100% need conservative politicians to start speaking like this, and any objection as to the form is a nth order concern right now

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Agreed. But a clear signal from the top is a good and important start.

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If you want. Seems like missing the point to me

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Moan all you like (and with good reason!) about the partisan motivation, the double standards etc etc this stuff needs to be said, loudly and clearly. Kemi did that. And that is a good thing.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This is a positive development, full stop. Anti-racism norms matter, elite cues on anti-racism norms matter, a broad political consensus on anti-racism norms matter so a strong signal from the leader of a party which has been blurring red lines lately is good news.

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Archive of @britishacademy.bsky.social Fellow Stuart Hall is now live. Includes looking at his impact on the history of communication theory, culminating in the architecture of contemporary AI models www.theguardian.com/society/2026... Archive link: stuarthalldigital.bham.ac.uk/archival_mat...

theguardian.com

Thatcherism via the Walkman: Stuart Hall’s British cultural studies preserved online

Project lead says it celebrates ‘incredible contributions’ Jamaica-born sociologist made to Britain’s culture

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I keep coming back to the Golders Green tweet, which was hardly the first poorly judged retweet on Zack Polanski's part, wasn't the first remark he had made either on issues of anti-Jewish racism or policing that was ill-judged...it just happened to be the one that did the damage.

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

One thing I find endlessly funny about the rise of AI is that it has revealed that there is a large number of people who believe that the reason they wrote essays at school or university is their teachers were desperately waiting for them to provide a definite answer to “Lear: what’s up with him?”

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Very important work here to inform the electoral reform debate

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Kemi Badenoch's terrific leadership and strategy strikes again!

YouGov: Britons tend to think the Tories haven't changed much since Badenoch became leader

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Paula Surridge @psurridge.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

My blog on the Conservatives electoral position. More that could be added about the differences between these groups based on values and identities.

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Arthur Snell @snellarthur.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Gotta say until you read the actual motion it's not clear just how rabid the Greens' positioning is. The motion calls for the end of the State of Israel.

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Yes indeed but advantage for Cons of focusing on just the childcare bit is to show you are aware of the problem at £100k and motivated to solve it but without doing the more expensive things (yet)

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Yes Cons do best with pensioners who have paid off their mortgages but next group to target after that is high income families who feel, not without reason, that they are taxed more heavily than ever. They have noticed and aren’t happy about it. Thats a political opportunity!

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ALT: Hugely Confused, Ted

“This is stupid it only benefits rich couples with children” (Points at map) - look at the blue bits. What do they have in common?

static.klipy.com

Hugely Confused, Ted

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Seems the Tories have finally looked and an electoral map

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It's true that not a lot of people are hit by the £100k childcare thing, but the thing is, all of the people who are live in about 100 seats, 40 of which the Tories need to win from the Liberal Democrats, 20 of them they have to prevent the Liberal Democrats winning next time.

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Maria Sobolewska @profsob.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Important to remember that we’ve been here before! How we could make reform actually happen this time? Done great advice from @robfordmancs.bsky.social

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Same has happened in Britain. Speed with which such extreme ideas have become mainstream is concerning.

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