UK General Discussion:The Rt. Hon Alex Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, Populist Hero

[Torrain]

https://mobile.twitter.com/nickeardleybbc/status/1545370197657362432

[CumbrianLefty]

Both him and his deputy, apparently.

Their behaviour in recent says suggested this outcome may already have been tipped off to them.

[Zinneke]

Honestly if I was a Conservative strategist I would rather have Nadine Dorries who does have a rather hilarious sense of humour as leader rather than someone like Braverman who is basically the Conservative Richard Burgon e.g someone on the ideological fringe who comes across as extremely stupid despite their law degree.

This implies a law degree is some sort of indicator of intelligence in most cases

[afleitch]

Leads of 12,11 and 12 for Labour in the last 3 polls.

(which would likely equate to the fabled "20 points" with the old less pro-Tory methodology)

The polls (at least the Tory share) and the by-election shifts have been somewhat out of sync. Perhaps some over correction in the poll methodology? We don't know until the GE of course.

[DINGO Joe]

https://twitter.com/TulipSiddiq/status/1545080985355780096

Was looking at the local by-elections for Thursday to see if anything interesting happened and this popped up.  They don't count the votes until Friday AM.  Kind of a confusing locale.  In the May election the voters filled two seats, one Con and one Labor won, however the Labor candidate was a paper candidate as Labor had never won in anything approximating this jurisdiction.  The Labor candidate felt he had work obligations that prevented him from serving on council so he resigned immediately hence the by-election.  And according to Andrew's preview, the bookies say the LD candidate is the favorite . 

As for the other local by-elections on Thursday, there was only one Con defense and they lost, in fact finished 3rd behind the Greens and LD (even with UKIP standing down).  Labor almost lost a seat to the Greens and Labor won a seat from an Indy.   

For the record the LD did win 41-27-25 over Con and Lab

[Torrain]

Starmer and Rayner being cleared has got to be bad for Sunak’s campaign, surely? I mean, he already faced an uphill battle for the leadership, and now he can’t even make an equivalency between both parties over MPs receiving fines.

He’s the only candidate for the leadership to receive a COVID fine, and Labour remain squeaky clean on that particular issue. I doubt it’s the death knell (I think that happened way back when the non-dom story broke), but it can’t help.

[Torrain]

Bit of YouGov polling on the hypothetical Commons vote of no-confidence:

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1545407663885934594

[Torrain]

Everyone’s focused on the Tory leadership election, but I think we’ve overlooked the real race ahead of us: which user will come up with a sufficiently pithy replacement thread title when the PM finally hands in his P45.

[Silent Hunter]

If we get Ben Wallace, can we make a reference to Wallace and Gromit?

[Sestak]

If we get Ben Wallace, can we make a reference to Wallace and Gromit?

No, you only get references to basketball.

[Silent Hunter]

Actually I've got a better one - Quantum of Wallace.

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

Actually I've got a better one - Quantum of Wallace.

Oooh, that might somehow be better than a Wallace and Gromit one. If Liz Truss and Ben Wallace are involved in the next government, we might need to do something like “Cheese, Gromit!”

[Progressive Pessimist]

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1545407663885934594

We Americans do still have a lot in common with our ex-father country: like only learning harsh lessons when it's far too late.

[Pericles]

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1545407663885934594

It's just not enough to be certain of even winning a referendum yet alone having public support for continued EU membership. It needs to build to a consensus position. Of course Brexit was never clearly defined and there are plenty of ways to improve access to EU markets while remaining outside the EU.

[MABA 2020]

My current prediction is that the Conservatives will not be successful this time in regenerating themselves in office, particularly with all the economic issues coming up soon. None of the candidates as far as I can see seem likely to pull this off.

Then again my predictions have been overly rosy in the past.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Splitting Image has issued its response to Boris' speech.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Everyone’s focused on the Tory leadership election, but I think we’ve overlooked the real race ahead of us: which user will come up with a sufficiently pithy replacement thread title when the PM finally hands in his P45.

I just want it to be "Boris is Broken" during the transition period.

[NewYorkExpress]

Starmer should strike while the Iron is hot and call a no-confidence vote in whoever the new PM is unless they agree to call for early elections (which presumably Labour would win).

[YL]

The Daily Mail is taking things well, I see.

They’ve literally copy-pasted the Express’s famous headline from the day Thatcher resigned - hell of a comparison to make, given the circumstances.

Today they've gone with "Red Wall Backlash at Tory Traitors"...

Actually I thought they might have had a rant at Durham Police, but that story appears to be missing from their front page entirely.

[Torrain]

Starmer should strike while the Iron is hot and call a no-confidence vote in whoever the new PM is unless they agree to call for early elections (which presumably Labour would win).

I think it will come earlier than that, if it happens at all. Labour’s line at the moment is basically: “either you remove Johnson, or we will.”

It’s not an entirely credible threat, because Johnson’s majority makes removing him impossible without either 30 Tories voting the government down, or almost 80 abstaining. But it’s more about forcing Tory MPs to put their support for Johnson’s caretaker premiership on the record, forcing them to spend the next 2 years explaining to our political journalists why they ‘resigned on principle’ on Wednesday, and then within the week voted for the same man to stay in office for months.

Once a new PM is elected, the case for an immediate VONC weakens - given how relatively united the Conservatives will be. In that case, Labour’s approach likely shifts to questioning whether the new PM has a mandate to introduce policies that the party didn’t run on in 2019 (see Labour’s attacks on May’s grammar school policy in 2016-17), and daring the PM themselves to dissolve Parliament and legitimise their premiership with the electorate.

[Blair]

I see a certain QC has embarrassed himself again on Twitter.com.

Political activism really does something to people.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

I see a certain QC has embarrassed himself again on Twitter.com.

Political activism really does something to people.

David Allen Green ?

[Torrain]

I see a certain QC has embarrassed himself again on Twitter.com.

Political activism really does something to people.

You'd think he'd have learnt to double-check what he posts on twitter after the fox-murder incident.

[CumbrianLefty]

I see a certain QC has embarrassed himself again on Twitter.com.

Political activism really does something to people.

David Allen Green ?

No, the other one.