MARY FITZGERALDon the Hustings
Chicken and egg dilemma
David Cameron took a pot-shot at Gordon Brown’s campaigning style yesterday, joking that the Labour leader has been going around the country as if he was being moved from one safe house to another. Brown, meanwhile, insists he has not been trying to avoid open encounters with the general public.
“I have always been out there meeting people, whether they are Labour supporters or not Labour supporters,” he told reporters. “I think what you guys are looking for is someone to throw an egg at me or something and then say that there is some public anger.”
Brown’s ‘sort-of’ ovation
Did Gordon Brown get a proper standing ovation at a nurses’ conference in Bournemouth yesterday or was it, as described by the Evening Standard’s Paul Waugh, a “sort-of” standing ovation? Brown told the gathering that he did not support a NHS pay freeze and that NHS pensions were “safe with us”. He also strayed into uncharacteristically personal territory by recalling his family’s experience with the NHS, including the care his baby daughter received before she died.
More power to her elbow
Nick Clegg’s wife Miriam González Durántez was pictured with her arm in a sling yesterday after she fractured her elbow at the weekend. A Lib Dem spokesperson said the injury occurred when González Durántez tripped while shopping on Saturday.
Tories not tickled pink
Support for the Tories within the gay community has plummeted, according to a survey carried out by PinkNews. The poll found that, while 39 per cent of gay voters were planning to vote Conservative in June 2009, the figure has now dropped to just 9 per cent. Last week, Labour called for Tory defence spokesman Julian Lewis to be sacked after he compared HIV risks for gay men to the dangers faced by frontline soldiers. His comments followed shadow home secretary Chris Grayling’s backing of the right of BB owners to refuse accommodation to gay couples. The PinkNews poll found that support for the Lib Dems has surged to 58 per cent.