The Contented Politician

It has been reported in some sections of the media that Gina Ford is writing a political blog. This is not the case. The Contented Baby team, with the help of some of our website members, will be putting together regular round-ups of the main events and issues that are likely to interest members in the run-up to the general election.

Gina, meanwhile, is concentrating on all things Contented Baby-related. To read her latest news, please click here.

Weekly Round-up (4)

Politicians are always saying elections should be about policies not personalities - but this week has been dominated by stories about Gordon Brown's character.
 
It started with claims in a new book that the prime minister is a bully whose behaviour was so bad he was ticked off by the government's top civil servant. It couldn't have come at a worse time for Labour, which had just begun to make real progress softening Mr Brown's grumpy image. They were thrilled when a YouGov poll last Sunday put the gap between them and the Conservatives at just 6 per cent - the narrowest since December 2008, when Gordon Brown had a brief surge in popularity after saving the banking system from collapse.
 
The results suggest a hung parliament is likely, with the Tories taking 290 seats, 10 seats more than Labour. If that happened, Mr Brown might be able to stay in office, if he could get support from the LibDems. But before there was time for Labour to pop open the champagne, the prime minister was being painted as Mr Nasty, and the polls began moving back in favour of the Tories.
 
Labour marshalled its big guns for a fight back, with Peter Mandelson arguing that people wouldn't want a "shrinking violet" running the country. Mr Brown's wife Sarah also took to the airwaves, describing her husband as a "strong, hard working and decent man". To Labour's horror, a bullying charity waded into the row, claiming it had received calls from victims of bullying at Downing Street. That threatened to derail Labour claims that the whole thing was "nonsense".
 
Alistair Darling, the chancellor, also stuck in the knife, claiming "the forces of hell were unleashed" against him last year when he said something Mr Brown did not like. But by prime minister's questions on Wednesday, Mr Brown and Mr Darling appeared to have made up again - at least for the television cameras - and Labour's cunning spin doctors had managed to shift attention on to the bullying charity's boss, who was forced to resign for "breaching confidentiality" of callers.
 
This extraordinary battle is just a little taster of what's to come in what's likely to be the nastiest general election campaign since the 1990s. For the Conservatives, the bullying row was a gift. They believe that if the election is about personalities, their man will win.
 
They began the week by unveiling a plan for a massive giveaway of shares in the publicly controlled Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group. In what they called a "people's bonus" scheme, families would be offered hundreds or even thousands of pounds worth of shares at discount rates, with cheaper deals for the less well off.
 
But will Tory leader David Cameron be able to get his sums right? This week it emerged that at the age of 11, he performed worst out of 13 classmates at his prep school. The Daily Mirror got hold of a score sheet for his summer term of 1978, which showed he was bottom of the class in Latin and maths, and second worst at geography and French.
 
Despite his scores, and having to repeat one term due to poor grades, he left the all-boys school in Ascot, Berkshire, and won a place at Eton. He went on to get first-class honours in philosophy, politics and economics - one of the most competitive courses - at Oxford. It just shows that a bad school report is no barrier to a shining future.
 
The poor LibDems have struggled to get a look-in during a week in which all the attention has been on the two main parties. This is what their leader Nick Clegg fears will happen during the election campaign. Still, he must be heartened by how close the polls have become, which makes his position more powerful. For now, he's trying to focus on his key manifesto messages, saying a hung parliament is mathematically unlikely. He wants voters to know his party has its own agenda, and isn't just thinking about who else to back.
 
Finally, we were reminded just how expensive it is to bring up children. A report by a building society clams it costs more than £200,000 to see a child through until they're 21. That doesn't include private school fees, and is a 43 per cent rise since 2003. But who can really put a price on having a child? Most parents probably prefer not to count!
 
Do tell us what you think about this, or any of the top stories this week.

The ContentedBaby.com Team

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