UK General Discussion Thread: mayy lmao

[Phony Moderate]

Blair; the other three were/are all left-wing to varying extents.

But I know what you're (probably) thinking of. Well, I predict that Corbyn will never lose a general election...he'll either be dumped before the next one or win it (the former being more likely, I admit).

[Phony Moderate]

Yes.

[Phony Moderate]

Michael Meacher, the MP for Oldham West and Royton since 1970, has died at the age of 75. He served on the frontbenches for a long time back in the day and was a noted Bennite. He also briefly ran for the leadership in 2007. RIP.

[Phony Moderate]

The prevailing mood around Westminster seems to be for power to be devolved to city-States centred in Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Newcastle and Liverpool styled along the Greater London model. I would be happy with that, tbh; and I think rural areas could do with simply abolishing district councils entirely, expanding use of parishes in their place, and giving unitaries more power.

Presumably if, say, a Liverpool Assembly came into being then the Liverpool mayoral election would attract more 'characters' (as the London one does) - you'd probably see the likes of Derek Hatton, Ricky Tomlinson and one or two Liverpool/Everton footballers throwing their hats into the ring.

[Phony Moderate]

Another little known Labour peer has resigned the whip. This one has the hilariously unfortunate name of Lord Grabiner.

[Phony Moderate]

Tories at a 36-32 lead with Mori, though Corbyn (37-39) has a somewhat better net personal rating than Cameron (42-51). Farage (45-37), however, is the only leader with a positive rating. Most don't seem to care about Farron (22-27), unsurprisingly. The government is at 38-57.

[Phony Moderate]

Lots of hypocrisy being displayed by the left on this, I notice.

[Phony Moderate]

I wonder if, hypothetically, Corbyn was younger and more charismatic if he would be doing any better.

We wouldn't be hearing the word 'unelectable' as much, certainly.

[Phony Moderate]

So

Jeremy Corbyn...

If he had taken a more supportive position then the headlines would have read "Disgraceful Corbyn Sells Out Livelong Principles For Political Gain".

[Phony Moderate]

So

Jeremy Corbyn...

If he had taken a more supportive position then the headlines would have read "Disgraceful Corbyn Sells Out Livelong Principles For Political Gain".

No. I can guarantee you that's one headline he wouldn't have got.

Well, not in the more respectable parts of the press (i.e. just about anything that is not The Sun) perhaps.

[Phony Moderate]

In other news, Robert Halfon, Minister without Portfolio and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative party has apparently been a very bad boy, and in addition to that appears to have become embroiled in some internal party shenanigans over the issue.

Isn't he the one who is a trade unionist and wants the Tories to be re-named 'The Workers Party'?

[Phony Moderate]

The Tories have finally overtaken Labour on the "who is to blame for the cuts?" question and the government's general economic strategy seems to be less popular than it was just before the GE.

https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/qng2o5724u/InternalResults_151124_SpendingReview_Website.pdf

[Phony Moderate]

The awful Grant Shapps has quit his ministerial job over bullying allegations (not about him).

[Phony Moderate]

Shapps did a reasonable thing by resigning, let's at least Grant him that.

[Phony Moderate]

Shapps did a reasonable thing by resigning, let's at least Grant him that.

...are you happy with yourself?

No.

[Phony Moderate]

That looks like something I'd make on Microsoft Paint after a few too many...

[Phony Moderate]

Pretty strong stand-in PMQs performance by Angela Eagle today.

[Phony Moderate]

More fun in UKIP.

[Phony Moderate]

The Independent is saying (in a way that's more than just baseless rumours) that a shadcab reshuffle will take place early in the new year. Hilary Benn and Maria Eagle to be sacked and Diane Abbott to be moved to shadow foreign secretary, though it is said that she wants the job of chief whip (that would be something to behold...).

[Phony Moderate]

Ollie Letwin's going out the door, apparently.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/dec/30/oliver-letwin-blocked-help-for-black-youth-after-1985-riots

At some point I'd got the impression that Letwin was a relatively liberal sort of Tory (though also a small state ideologue).  Not in 1985 it seems.

To be fair, John Bercow was a member of the Monday Club once.

Twenty-something members of just about any political party tend to be more obnoxious than those in any other age bracket.

[Phony Moderate]

PoliticL strategist and scumbag (but I repeat myself) Lyndon Crosby has been knighted, causing some annoyance.

Appropriate little slip there.

[Phony Moderate]

The inquiry into the polling cock-up was, unsurprisingly, a complete waste of time. Also worth noting that the polls were more wrong in 1992 and yet I'm pretty sure there wasn't such a massive inquiry then.

[Phony Moderate]

Labour had a crap leader in 1992 and a crap leader in 2015. Everything else stems from that really.

The former was a decent leader of the party; better than both Blair and Wilson in fact. I disagree with much of what he did to the party but he had a lot of difficulty to overcome in doing it. Blair and Wilson, meanwhile, oversaw significant membership declines and their overall tenures arguably made the party electorally unpopular for a generation, even if they were both popular to begin with. If not for their electoral successes (which of course are considerable) they'd be viewed as disasters on the scale of IDS and Foot; had the Tories clung on for instance in '64 (which they nearly did) the memory of Wilson would be "ah, that incompetent little Northerner who smoked a pipe". But they have to counted as 'decent' as they clearly were competent in appealing to the public. You have to be a decent leader to win elections but you don't have to win elections to be a decent leader - Churchill had a poor record in general elections he fought (all popular vote losses including of course one landside defeat) and yet few would dispute that he was a good leader, at least of the country if not his party.

As for Ed, well yes he certainly wasn't good, though John Howard's original stint as leader of the Aussie Liberals was defined by public awkwardness, gaffes and an election defeat in which the party lost seats...

[Phony Moderate]

If the average British voter were represented by a member of Parliament then the said MP would be fairly Ukippy on immigration, pretty much in line with Cameron on the EU and the deficit, in line with the Socialist Campaign Group on public ownership and the NHS, pro-small business but vaguely untrusting of big business and the banks and liberal in a 'who on earth cares?' way on gay rights and abortion. In other words, a total eccentric. Austin Mitchell?

[Phony Moderate]

If we're hiring people with as superficial an understanding of elections as that no wonder we can't win elections right now.

Yeah, it's like someone in the world of 2007 saying that you have to be white to win a major party presidential nomination in America.