In his pooled interview in the West Midlands Boris Johnson said that these would be a âvery tough set of electionsâ for the Conservatives because âwhen we stood last time for many of these council seats, we were at a particularly high watermarkâ.
This is correct. Some of the council seats being fought this year were last contested in 2016 when Labour (under Jeremy Corbyn) actually won the local elections; in terms of estimated vote share (the calculation showing what would have happened if the whole of Britain had voted the same way as people voted in the places where there were elections), Labour was one point ahead of the Conservatives. But other seats were last contested in 2017, and in those elections the Conservatives beat Labour by 11 points in national vote share.
‘Alex Salmond’s ego is at risk of taking another bruising.’ Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA
‘Alex Salmond’s ego is at risk of taking another bruising.’ Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA
Sat 3 Apr 2021 05.00 EDT
Last modified on Sat 3 Apr 2021 05.01 EDT
It’s Al-a-buh.
Of all the controversies surrounding Alex Salmond’s new political party, his inability to pronounce it was the most unexpected. When you’re one of the most famous Scottish nationalists in history, launching a new party named after the Gaelic word for Scotland, you really should research how to say it in the native tongue. Instead, the former first minister enraged purists and amused opponents by enunciating Alba with a suspiciously Sassenach two syllables.