UK General Discussion: 2019 and onwards, The End of May

[Zinneke]

You broke the unspoken convention where threads live on until the next GE!

There's a lot that's broken about UK politics right now.

Yes, I do wonder if this also isn't a good tie to actually draft a constitution. Something the UK desperately needs.

[Zinneke]

3. Agree. A full leadership contest would have exposed her delivery flaws and allowed them to be worked on ahead of a general election.

Because at the time the country didnt really need a deliverer of slogans a la Blair, Cameron, etc. May was seen as a safe pair of hands.

Also would the tory membership have backed Leadsom? I think she would have faired far worse.

[Zinneke]

Let's remember the real scandal here - the 1 billion bribe to a party caught in a major corruption scandal so that they could support the government - only for them to potentially cock up the entire process.

 They should use this opportunity. The entire British territorial, constitutional and political selection model has to be revised. Federalism, alternative vote, and less tossers in parliament.

[Zinneke]

Do those polls assume Brexit Party run a candidate in every constituency though?

[Zinneke]

Do those polls assume Brexit Party run a candidate in every constituency though?

They’d probably manage it if those poll numbers stuck. UKIP ran candidates everywhere in 2015 at their (lower) zenith (with a few random exceptions).

I thought before though Farage specifically allowed pro-Brexit Tories a free run at their constituency. I imagine he would do the same with some ERG elders (particularly the likes of Johnson who could lose his seat if BXP run there)

[Zinneke]

I mean the LibDems have surged really late in the game when you consider there has been perpetual negativity and institutional impass about Brexit in the headlines basically since May lost her majority. I don't think we can blame the Change UK people for thinking that the LibDems had a very low ceiling compared to a new Remain party. 

[Zinneke]

We're getting close to the Boris Johnson/ Jeremy Corbyn general election that we all dreamed and memed

So fiercely xenophobic bigot who supports Brexit and has shown pro-Putin sympathies vs. fiercely anti-Semitic bigot who supports Brexit and has shown pro-Putin sympathies?  

LibDems it is, I suppose

You joke but a Johnson vs Corbyn match up could really let the LibDems in with a frightening amount of (poorly vetted) MPs

[Zinneke]

Its not even really factionalism based on meaningful policy differences on domestic policy - as far as substantive policy proposals a Labour party lead by Corbyn would have similar policies to one lead by a potential future leader who comes from somewhere further right in the party - I'll use Emily Thornberry as a possible example here.  Its based on a mixture of historical differences and foreign policy more than anything - which is probably why it appears so bad since for most people its bickering about things that the people don't really see as important.

Foreign policy is relevant to the national scene, even if voters remained uncaring for it.

Yeah, in fact leaders should be running more on foreign policy platforms, since the "real" change happens there due to the interconnectedness of policy impacts these inevitably have. Blair, for all his faults, understood this, while Brexiteers don't seem to understand you can be a rule follower while still exiting all the "binding" IOs. He realised the way you had an impact was through building a solid international image and Britain playing a leading role in EU regulation and foreign policy enough to secure wins at Council or UN level...its a shame the hubris got to his head when he was finally stopped by Iraq and went over the acceptable line anyway.

I think in this case though its to do with age old debates about Israel-Palestine and colonialism that pester the Labour party. I may be wrong. But I would like to see more politicians hold their hands up and say their domestic policy is nothing without driving international change with it. Or just hold up their hands and admit a lot of things are out of their hands anyway.