United Kingdom General Election: July 4, 2024

[TheTide]

Rayner gets the first (I think) applause, on the NHS question.

Flynn has gone after Rayner/Labour, unsurprisingly. Mordaunt is miles ahead of Sunak as a communicator. Farage is a bit low key.

[Torrain]

Farage is making a very rambling digression through health policy that appears to be endorsing a French-style insurance health scheme.

He's given everyone else latitute to claim he wants to abolish the NHS - coming to a Tory leaflet near you.

[TheTide]

Deyner isn't exactly oozing charisma.

[Torrain]

Flynn praises immigration, which gets the audience clapping. Flynn does suggest that anyone who wants decreased immigration should vote for another party.

[TheTide]

Mordaunt sidestepping the immigration question. Pretty hilarious. Farage making his presence known more.

[ingemann]

Flynn praises immigration, which gets the audience clapping. Flynn does suggest that anyone who wants decreased immigration should vote for another party.

I’m impressed by the fact that SNP seem to have learnt nothing from Humza’s short career.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Note that the audience for this will not be notable for being very large.

[Torrain]

If this is the BBC framing, Farage is going to have a fun few days:

[Torrain]

Okay, so we're now into minute three of Mordaunt shouting about tax at the audience, and refusing to let anyone else get a word in edgeways.

Denyer gets her first off-the-cuff line in with a joke about Mordaunt being undignified, then pivots right back to the script. The contrast with someone like Caroline Lucas is quite stark.

[ingemann]

A rather grim development. Apsana Begum's ex-husband is standing against her at Poplar & Limehouse. Those who are aware of... the situation... will understand, and those who aren't should be able to read between the lines.

Can you spell it out clearer to us who lack context. I can see that she claim to be a victim of domestic abuse (I use claim not as a indication I disbelieve her, but because I can’t see any indication that her former husband has been convicted for it).

[Torrain]

Audience laugh at Mordaunt when she's called on to respond to a question about why "nothing is working/getting done". She launches into an answer, and then ends with the first fact-check of the evening.

[OSR stands with Israel]

I'll say it again - what I find so interesting about the UK elections this year is that Conservatives are rightfully being punished for things. Like, this is how things are supposed to work in politics - conservatives keep messing up, and voters are reacting to that rationally.

It's such a complete difference from the U.S.

The Conservatives have been in power for 14 years though which is longer than any party has been in power here since 1952

[Compuzled_One]

If this is the BBC framing, Farage is going to have a fun few days:

Okay, yeah, maybe Reform won't pass the Tories (unless they can counter this or it's more well liked than assumed for some reason).

[Torrain]

Flynn's "it's Scotland's wind" line is a bit odd.

Demanding Rayner apologise for the Great British Energy policy and the net-zero draw-down from North Sea oil exploration seemed a bit desperate. First time he looked on the back foot so far.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

I have watched most UK leaders’ debates since the Brown-Cameron-Clegg ones. I have never seen a coherence/competency gap this large between Farage and the rest.

He’s spinning webs of lies and half-truths, but he’s doing it better than the rest. I’m slightly appalled our politics still doesn’t have an answer to him, but this is a good omen for those of us hoping for a Conservative wipeout.

[Steve from Lambeth]

I'll say it again - what I find so interesting about the UK elections this year is that Conservatives are rightfully being punished for things. Like, this is how things are supposed to work in politics - conservatives keep messing up, and voters are reacting to that rationally.

It's such a complete difference from the U.S.

The Conservatives have been in power for 14 years though which is longer than any party has been in power here since 1952

The last UK government not to have lasted "longer than any party has been in power here since 1952" was Labour in 1974-79.

[Torrain]

Farage doesn't dog-whistle the knife crime question, he actively does a whole bit about how people will call you racist if you "try to police black and brown neighbourhoods".

[soundchaser]

I'll say it again - what I find so interesting about the UK elections this year is that Conservatives are rightfully being punished for things. Like, this is how things are supposed to work in politics - conservatives keep messing up, and voters are reacting to that rationally.

It's such a complete difference from the U.S.

The Conservatives have been in power for 14 years though which is longer than any party has been in power here since 1952

The last UK government not to have lasted "longer than any party has been in power here since 1952" was Labour in 1974-79.

New Labour was in power for almost as long! And even then they were succeeded by a hung parliament.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Not one of the climate answers mentioned planning permission and regulations. I went to a climate conference at Imperial recently, and that was issue #1, rather than funding.

Take from this what you will.

[Conservatopia]

There are a number of independent candidates with the name of the Youtuber and former London Mayoral candidate Niko Omilana, but Mr. Omilana himself is standing in Rishi Sunak's seat.

Most of the UK posters are too old to know who this is but for those of us who are Gen Z this promises to be the most fun part of this election. Up the NDL!

[Torrain]

Carla Denyer declaring that therapy is the way to stop knife crime, asking the other leaders to join her, and getting crickets.

Not as bad as pausing for a round of applause that never came when she made a joke about Farage, but she's having a very clumsy evening.

[Logical]

Good news for Tory Wipeout enjoyers. Reform are standing in 611/631 (96.8%) of GB constituencies.

[Cassius]

Rayner let the Tories off the hook by describing their time in power as “fourteen years of abstract failure”.

[CumbrianLefty]

This is the kind of thing that tends to achieve the fabled 'cut through', more than any actual policy. In the same category as the Ed Miliband bacon sandwich, the Cummings eye test and certainly Partygate are prominent examples in the past ~10 years. And it's in a general election campaign, when people are generally more tuned in anyway. 

Or in terms of Canada 1993: "is this the face of a Prime Minister?"

That is somewhere even this Tory campaign hasn't gone - yet. But given how bad things are there has to be a real chance they try the Utterly Desperate Personal Attack On Starmer at some point - maybe it will be "he let Jimmy Savile go free" again? Or he "enabled murderers and rapists" by doing his job.

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

I am just gonna leave this here: