Labour party

Justine Miliband has given an interview to the BBC, a sort of ‘back my husband, my hero’ contribution to the Labour election campaign. She starts by talking about the pressures on the family and how ‘being a working mother’, she hasn’t really had a chance to think about what it would be like for the family with Ed in Downing Street.

Things became heated in the commons today after Barry Sheerman told Esther McVey to stop being a 'hard-hearted Hannah' during a Department for Work and Pensions questions. The incident occurred after Sheerman voiced his concerns over the department's handling of the government's welfare reforms. McVey has taken none too kindly to the term, which is a reference to an Ella Fitzgerald song. The Conservative MP says that it is 'not the first time that the opposition benches have been like this to me'. Sheerman meanwhile insists his innocence, claiming it was not a sexist comment.

Two politicians put in very assured and impressive performances on Marr this morning - if you can include nimbly dodging questions that you don’t want to answer ‘impressive’. of course, within the parameters of the way politicians are expected to behave, Caroline Flint and Philip Hammond did very well because they didn’t give anything away that they didn’t want to, and they’d clearly practised rather a lot in order to stop themselves giving away that information. Flint was asked to rule out a pact between Labour and the SNP.

‘What I'm seeing in this election is the influence of these big American advisers and it's becoming the most negative, personal and nasty campaign I've ever seen.’ So said Nigel Farage to LBC this morning, as he promised to ‘rise above’ personal attacks in the coming election slog. Stung by rumours about his declining health, fingers are being pointed about a certain antipodean master of the dark arts, but are Ukip really in any position to lecture on the Americanisation of our political process?

The latest Scottish polling conducted by Lord Ashcroft is another reminder, should you still need it, that this year's election looks like being an unmitigated disaster for Unionism. The noble, if mischievous, Lord's research reveals that, as matters stand, the SNP are still on course to all but wipe Labour - and everyone else - off the political map. It will be a bloodbath; a night of the long claymores. Gordon Brown's Kirkcaldy seat? Gone. Alistair Darling's Edinburgh constituency? Taken. Charlie Kennedy's Highland fortress? Sacked. Even Jim Murphy's East Renfrewshire seat is threatened by the Nationalist insurgency. So too is the last remaining Tory MP in Scotland, David Mundell.

You almost have to admire Justin Forsyth’s brass neck. He is a former Gordon Brown spin chief earning a Prime Ministerial £138,000 for running Save the Children. Or, rather, transforming it into Save the Labour Party with various attack ads claiming that kids need to be rescued from wicked Conservative austerity. Here's an example of its handiwork: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eKJ972iZ-U You’d think that Forsyth would be rather embarrassed about abusing the charity’s resources in such a way, but last year Save the Children went one further and gave an award to Tony Blair. That really was too going far.

All the election forecast models agree, the next election result is going to be remarkably tight. On these models, neither Labour nor the Tories are going to come close to winning a majority. They would both be about 40 seats short. Now, events could intervene to change things. But, as I argue in the magazine this week, one of the reasons Labour and the Tories are finding it so hard to win a majority is that they are not national parties anymore. Compounding this is that no party is aiming for full spectrum dominance in this campaign. Rather, they are trying to talk up the issues that are best for them and worst for their opponents. So, you hear the Tories talking about their long term economic plan and leadership. While Labour want the debate to be focused on the NHS and fairness.

It's probably not the news everyone wanted to hear, but Mr S feels a duty to let readers know that Alastair Campbell is considering a return to politics. Furthermore, this could involve the former Labour spinner standing as an MP. Speaking to India Knight for the April issue of Red magazine, he comments that a friend recently suggested he join parliament. His reply was: 'I’ll regret not doing it, but I know I’ll regret it if I do it as well… The size of the regrets will be big either way.

[audioplayer src="http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/the-snp-threat-to-westminster/media.mp3" title="Alex Massie and Sebastian Payne discuss what an SNP victory will mean for the union" startat=42] Listen [/audioplayer]Anyone seeking to understand the strength of the SNP should look to those parts of Scotland where the party is supposed to be weakest. At the last election, the nationalists took just under 10 per cent of the vote in the Scottish Borders. This year, Tory canvass returns suggest the SNP may treble its share of the vote in one of the most staunchly unionist seats in Scotland. For months, opinion polls have made unremittingly gloomy reading for unionists. The nationalists are heading for a victory on a scale still not fully comprehended in England.