Connect changes ownership
Connect Communications has changed ownership following a management buy-out by Andy Sawford, Sarah King and Laura Blake. The following public statement has been issued:
DevoComment: all elections are local
Old habits die hard in the Westminster village where the media and commentators see local and devolved elections as a verdict on the party leaders and an indication of the next General Election. Read more
Graduate Trainee programme now open
Connect’s 2016 graduate trainee programme is now open. For further details click here. Read more
DevoComment: Something or nothing?
Things are starting to get lively on the Devo front! A rash of star studded conferences and events are now on the fixture list and we have already seen one major Devo deal being struck in 2016: a deal which will see Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire work together under one elected Mayor for the North Midlands (not East Midlands!). Read more
Labour’s ‘free vote’ on Syria
Jeremy Corbyn has backed down from imposing a three-line Whip on Labour MPs over Syria. He may have been impressed by the argument that MPs should be able to vote with their conscience, or perhaps struck by the potential hypocrisy, having spent thirty years defying the Whip. But what is more likely is that Corbyn stepped back from the abyss when it became clear that he would face resignations from the frontbench. Labour MPs will now be given a ‘free vote’. Read more
EU campaign: is it make your mind up time?
News that one of the Home Secretary’s closest advisers and a long-standing Conservative campaigner will leave the Home Office to campaign to leave the EU shows that Westminster insiders are already picking their sides. Stephen Parkinson, Theresa May’s longest-serving special adviser, will join Matthew Elliott and Dominic Cummings (former Gove SpAd) at Vote Leave – an offshoot of Business For Britain. For the campaign this is a prize hire – Parkinson has experience as the national organiser for the NO to AV campaign, served in CCHQ and in Lord Ashcroft’s target seat campaign. How long before others follow suit? Read more
Sadiq Khan’s team and policies
Sadiq won the contest to be Labour’s candidate for London Mayor by a clear margin today. He is a very smart, thoroughly decent guy who will make a good Mayor, if he can beat the Tory’s likely candidate, Zac Goldsmith. Here are three quick thoughts on today’s result. Read more
Lunch with… Gill Morris
In the second installment of a new Public Affairs News feature, PRCA director general Francis Ingham dines with Connect Communications chair Gill Morris in Shepherd’s restaurant.
Connect’s Top 10 Moments of Polling Day Night
At Connect HQ we were up all night watching the results come in. Our David Button takes a look at the 10 key moments of the night… Not necessarily in chronological order (and not including Boris). Read more
Look “beneath the bonnet” to understand why it is not surprising that growth is slowing
Official figures show that the rate of economic growth halved in the three months to the end of March. When you look ‘beneath the bonnet’ at the UK economic engine this is not surprising given our weak and unbalanced economy where labour productivity growth has stalled and momentum is overly reliant on household spending. Read more