• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
  • Guest Content
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Politics

YouGov ‘banned’ 2017 debate poll because it was ‘too good for Corbyn’

A former manager at YouGov said the pollster was pressured by its Tory MP founder to suppress the poll.

Henry Goodwin by Henry Goodwin
2022-06-08 15:08
in Politics
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

YouGov suppressed publication of a poll during the 2017 election campaign because it was “too positive about Labour”, a former manager at the pollster has claimed.

Chris Curtis revealed a poll conducted after a key leadership debate showed Jeremy Corbyn had won “by a country mile” – but that the pollster banned its release under pressure from its founder: a Tory MP.

YouGov has denied Curtis’s accusations, saying the poll was pulled because it had “a skewed sample”. 

But Labour figures have branded the claims “shocking” – and suggested they raise questions about “the health of our democracy”.

‘Too positive about Labour’

In a Twitter post on Wednesday, Curtis – who is now head of political polling at rival Opinium – said:  “We did a fantastic debate poll in the hours following the debate that Corbyn took part in.

“The results were stark – Corbyn won by a country mile, and one in four Tory voters thought he was best.

“But despite having written the story and designed the charts, we were banned from releasing the story because it was too positive about Labour.”

And this meant our polling and coverage was a lot worse for the rest of the campaign. We did a fantastic debate poll in the hours following the debate that Corbyn took part in. The results were stark – Corbyn won by a country mile, and one in four Tory voters thought he was best.

— Chris Curtis (@chriscurtis94) June 8, 2022

Curtis said bosses at YouGov had “panicked at the backlash” to earlier research predicting a hung parliament – a surprising result at the time.

He said that Nadhim Zahawi – a Conservative MP who is now Education Secretary, and co-founded YouGov in 2000 – phoned the pollster’s chief executive and “said he would call for his resignation if he was wrong”. 

RelatedPosts

Ofcom clarifies rules on politicians presenting TV and radio

Teenager left ‘terrified’ by forced entry by British Gas

Former child refugee Lord Dubs slams Braverman rhetoric

Johnson relaxing by ‘painting cows’ since resigning as PM

Curtis added: “It became pretty clear we would all be out of the job if we were wrong now.” 

The firm subsequently tweaked its polling methodology for its final poll before the election to boost the Tory lead “after pressure from high-ups and despite protests from those of us who thought it wasn’t ok,” he said.

John McDonnell – who was shadow chancellor at the time – told The Independent:  “This is a shocking but immensely important revelation. It throws into question the integrity and independence of polling on this country.

“The bulk of the oligarch owned media were working overtime to prevent Labour being elected but to find out that polling was being manipulated against us takes the debate about the health of our democracy to a new level.”

James Schneider – who was head of strategic communications for Corbyn’s Labour – said the claim  “more than confirms my suspicions at the time about modelling meddling”.

Right, I'll start by saying I didn't realise this was going to be as big a deal as it has ended up being. I have a lot of time and respect for YouGov, as the company that gave me my first job and have done a lot of working developing online research methodologies in the UK. https://t.co/GNtYYMAtVL

— Chris Curtis (@chriscurtis94) June 8, 2022

YouGov denial

A spokesperson for YouGov told The Independent: “Chris Curtis’s allegation that we suppressed a poll because the results were ‘too positive about Labour’ is incorrect.

“There was a poll run by Chris following the debate in Cambridge on 31st May 2017. When reviewed by others in the YouGov political team, it was clear that the sample of people who watched the debate significantly over-represented Labour voters from the previous election.

“We take our responsibilities as a research organisation seriously and we could not have published a poll from a skewed sample that favoured any party. No serious polling organisation would have published this.

“The idea that YouGov would suppress a poll that was ‘too positive about Labour’ is plainly wrong – as evidenced by the fact that in the 2017 election YouGov published an MRP model showing Labour doing significantly better compared to most other polling organisations.”

Responding to YouGov’s statement, Curtis said he believed the poll in question was conducted in “exactly the same way as we ran this other debate poll, which nobody had any problem with us publishing”.

He added: “The most important finding of the poll, the one I wanted to focus on and thought was most important, was that a good chunk of Tory voters thought Corbyn had won. This is rare in a debate poll where results normally fall down party lines.”

Related: Patel tries to deport whistle-blowing ex-Iranian police officer to Rwanda

Content Protection by DMCA.com

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

UK Weather forecast, Monday 6 September 2021

Boris Johnson urged to ‘get a grip’ on the coronavirus outbreak

Former US treasury secretary: Britain has much less to give than Europe as a whole did

Religious all-girls school rapped by Ofsted for censoring textbooks & refusing to teach kids about reproduction

Staff ‘lock’ a pensioner in after he refuses to pay tip charge

‘If only they had bothered to work half as hard to protect us’ – Grenfell survivors condemn Fire Safety Bill

Jewish student at leading UK boarding school pushed to ground by bully who tried to force feed him PORK

How to Make: Nyonya Prawn Sambal

Boris Johnson has no wish or intention to meet with us, say Harry Dunn’s family

London’s best new restaurants opening in October 2021

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Commercial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.