General Election 2015: Grant Shapps denies Wikipedia sock-puppet claims, saying he “was elsewhere” when changes were made April 22, 2015 Conservative party chairman Grant Shapps has denied claims that he edited entries about himself and rival MPs on Wikipedia. Rumours that he was a “sock-puppet” – using a false alias to spread misinformation – have been circulating around the blogosphere for many years. But they resurfaced yesterday when the Guardian reported that Wikipedia had blocked [...]
General Election 2015: Tory divide over campaign attack dog tactics April 21, 2015 David Cameron’s bid to keep the keys to Downing Street is facing friendly fire from some of his own Conservative colleagues. Tory candidates told City A.M. they are anxious about their party’s failure to pull ahead in the polls with just over two weeks to go until the election, with several critical of a negative [...]
General Election 2015: Mastercard’s Ann Cairns wants greater devolution and more technological innovation April 21, 2015 ELECTION COUNTDOWN: 15 DAYS TO GO Every day until the final week of the election campaign, we ask a business leader to say what policies would entice them to vote for a particular party. ANN CAIRNS: PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL MARKETS, MASTERCARD ■ Reduce reliance on cash to drive economic growth – Cash costs [...]
General Election 2015: Nick Clegg’s tax pledge to deter second homes April 21, 2015 Second homeowners could see their tax bills multiply if the Liberal Democrats return to government after the General Election. The Lib Dems want to give local authorities new powers to charge up to 200 per cent council tax on second homes, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said in a speech in the south west of England [...]
General Election 2015: Bookie claims Ed Miliband will (still) be in Number 10 when Hillary Clinton becomes US President April 21, 2015 This bookie is offering odds of 1/1 for Hillary Clinton to be US President. Not only that, Betway definitely expects Ed Miliband to be in 10 Downing Street when she is inaugurated, offering 3/1 odds that he'll be Prime Minister when she's sworn in on January 20, 2017 – despite fears that a hung parliament [...]
Brexit: City workers would vote to stay in the EU despite Brussels hostility to financial services April 21, 2015 The vast majority of finance executives working in the City of London would vote to stay in the EU despite believing Brussels is actively hostile toward the financial services industry. The Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI) found that 73 per cent of City executives and economists in the City's financial industry would [...]
John Major warns Scottish National Party would threaten Labour government with “political blackmail” April 21, 2015 Former Prime Minister John Major has warned that a Labour-SNP deal after the General Election would be a "recipe for mayhem." The last Conservative to lead a majority Tory government will deliver a speech in the Midlands on Tuesday spelling out the dangers to the country of an Ed Miliband government propped up by the [...]
David Cameron: Labour-SNP is a match made in hell April 20, 2015 A Labour-SNP alliance would be “a match made in hell” for the UK economy, Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday. In a speech at a train factory in Crewe, Cameron said Labour leader Ed Miliband would bring the economy “to a grinding halt” if he did a deal with Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon. “Make [...]
General Election 2015: AA CFO Martin Clarke wants honesty on NHS spending and an end to non-dom tax breaks April 20, 2015 ELECTION COUNTDOWN: 16 DAYS TO GO Every day until the final week of the election campaign, we ask a business leader to say what policies would entice them to vote for a particular party. MARTIN CLARKE: CFO, AA ■ Had the courage to admit that throwing money at the NHS is not [...]
Ed Davey forces Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman to sell off North Sea gasfields April 20, 2015 Energy secretary Ed Davey has given the Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman six months to sell off the North Sea gas fields. Davey notified Fridman’s LetterOne company of the decision yesterday, informing it that if the sale did not occur by the deadline he had set, the firm’s licenses in the North Sea would be revoked. [...]