Featured work
Some highlights from recent articles and reports. You can find more by clicking on the links at the top of the page.
Rather than fantasising about Grand Coalitions, let us consider things that can be accomplished by a minority government with the support, tacit or active, of the main opposition party. There would be, and should be, no suspension of party hostilities, or abandonment of party positions, but at the legislative level an agenda could be set that would command a majority in a fragmented parliament.
‘Too many moving parts.’ This was the understandable complaint of a political scientist (oh, all right, it was Philip Cowley) about the complexities of writing about the 2015 election. Back in the day, David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh could get a good deal of the story by trotting from one side of Smith Square to […]
About Lewis
Lewis Baston is a writer on elections, politics, and history. He consults on electoral and political matters for private clients and has conducted training in elections and parliamentary processes for UK and international customers. He is a frequent commentator for various broadcast, published and online media.
This site gathers together in one place Lewis’s contributions to sites like Progress Online, Conservative Home and Comment is Free, along with the reports and books that Lewis has written. You can find original content on The Blog and and archive of reports, articles and books that Lewis has written.
Read MoreRecent Blog Posts
May 5, 2016 |
LOCAL ELECTIONS 2012 IN RETROSPECT
Local election results – England and Wales The 2012 local elections, leaving the London mayoralty aside, were a considerable success for Labour. While in 2011 Labour did very well in the big urban areas and not so well elsewhere, in 2012 Labour advanced pretty much everywhere that the party is a viable proposition, including such places as Weymouth, Tamworth and Great Yarmouth where the Conservative vote held up well in 2011, suggesting that the party is making progress on a much wider front than last year. In terms of benchmarks and targets for party performance, Labour exceeded all realistic expectations. The party made a net gain of 823 seats across Britain, comfortably over the...
August 25, 2015 |
Deputy dilemmas
the leadership contest is just an embarrassment, the deputy leadership contest is an embarrassment of riches.
August 24, 2015 |
Labour leadership thoughts
The most important part of the job specification is to make the right calls in response to events. That I have the most confidence in Yvette Cooper to do so is giving me a strong prompt to vote for her.