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

[CumbrianLefty]

Is it out of question for Sir Peter Bottomley to face electoral difficulties in the foreseeable future?

It looked vaguely plausible after his 2017 result, not so much now.

[Torrain]

Harriet Harman is standing down at the next election. While she’ll leave behind a mixed record, I think she’s been enough of a fixture in Parliament to post about here.

What’s perhaps most immediately (and trivially) apparent is that it prevents her from officially claiming the title of Mother of the House (informally granted to her by Theresa May, as recognition as the longest continuously standing female MP). Harman is the third-longest serving MP, (after Bottomley and Sherman), and about a decade younger than either of them.

Had she run for re-election, it’s likely she would have claimed the title at some point in the coming decade (given that Sherman is also standing down), becoming the first woman to claim the top spot in parliamentary seniority.

https://mobile.twitter.com/HarrietHarman/status/1468128354192736260

[YL]

Is it out of question for Sir Peter Bottomley to face electoral difficulties in the foreseeable future?

It looked vaguely plausible after his 2017 result, not so much now.

Given his age I doubt he will be a candidate, but if the currently proposed boundary changes go through he would have problems.  His seat is abolished in name, but the most obvious successor is the new Worthing, which looks marginal, while Tim Loughton is shored up in Shoreham.  Other bits go into Arundel & Littlehampton, but the incumbent in Arundel & South Downs would be a more obvious candidate for that.

[CumbrianLefty]

Yes, the present mooted boundary changes aren't good for him and he is trying to get then altered.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

He's a fair bit younger than Skinner, but it's not easy to fight a competitive FPTP election once over a certain age.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

He's a fair bit younger than Skinner, but it's not easy to fight a competitive FPTP election once over a certain age.

Joe Biden did it.

[Boobs]

https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1468249866304372743?s=20

Discuss, with maps.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Yes, the present mooted boundary changes aren't good for him and he is trying to get then altered.

What the process by which that is done?

[YL]

Yes, the present mooted boundary changes aren't good for him and he is trying to get then altered.

What the process by which that is done?

You propose alternatives to the Commission, try to persuade them that your alternatives are better than their initial proposals according to the statutory criteria, and try to get people in the area to make submissions to the Commission supporting you.  (In this case, if arguing against the initial proposals, I would point out that they split Lancing and leave areas of Worthing in an Arundel & Littlehampton constituency, so though they reunify the town in name they don't really, not that I submitted anything about Sussex.)  If you are an MP you probably do this through your party, though in this instance I think it is swings and roundabouts for the Tories so the central party may not have been that bothered.

We'll get to see the submissions, including those from the parties, sometime in January IIRC.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Yes, the present mooted boundary changes aren't good for him and he is trying to get then altered.

What the process by which that is done?

You propose alternatives to the Commission, try to persuade them that your alternatives are better than their initial proposals according to the statutory criteria, and try to get people in the area to make submissions to the Commission supporting you.  (In this case, if arguing against the initial proposals, I would point out that they split Lancing and leave areas of Worthing in an Arundel & Littlehampton constituency, so though they reunify the town in name they don't really, not that I submitted anything about Sussex.)  If you are an MP you probably do this through your party, though in this instance I think it is swings and roundabouts for the Tories so the central party may not have been that bothered.

We'll get to see the submissions, including those from the parties, sometime in January IIRC.

Ah. Thanks for the rundown.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Anyway, the Dogs Before Wogs scandal has reignited. Would recommend watching this clip from a committee hearing it's short but... does not feel short...

https://twitter.com/hoffman_noa/status/1468280226660630530

[Filuwaúrdjan]

https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1468285179919749120

[Blair]

I must admit I was sceptical about the party being an issue that would have an impact.

But this absolutely reeks & I think will really hit home.

Quite ironic that this is the only public briefing Allegra Stratton ever actually did.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I must admit I was sceptical about the party being an issue that would have an impact.

But this absolutely reeks & I think will really hit home.

Quite ironic that this is the only public briefing Allegra Stratton ever actually did.

It's the sniggering that really does it.

_{Edit: absolutely incredible, this forum censors 'sniggering'. Gentlemen: a new candidate for the Scunthorpe Problem.}

[afleitch]

https://mobile.twitter.com/Samfr/status/1468302190154588176

Yes the press sat on it.

[Хahar 🤔]

_{Edit: absolutely incredible, this forum censors 'sniggering'. Gentlemen: a new candidate for the Scunthorpe Problem.}

In this country the word used is always "snickering". A very quick search does not indicate which form is older.

[TheTide]

Poor old Matty Hancock was in essence forced to hand in the towel over less than this.

Half a chance that Bo Jo will be out within hours, a full chance that the polls will show another significant shift towards Labour.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Poor old Matty Hancock was in essence forced to hand in the towel over less than this.

Half a chance that Bo Jo will be out within hours, a full chance that the polls will show another significant shift towards Labour.

Really, you think he'll have to go because of this ?

[afleitch]

Two possibilities.

The most likely is that nothing happens. There's a fresh scandal every other week and the government is bled by a thousand cuts  for the next few years.

The least likely is that Boris goes, someone less...Boris wins. Someone Orbanesque enough for the Murdoch press and the government still bleeds.

Same outcome different route.

Tory re-election is not inevitable even with their majority. But their defeat will not be certain (or not) for a long while.

[Leading Political Consultant Ma Anand Sheela]

If you're comparing the politics of abortion (or similar issues) in Britain and the United States then it's an error to assume that the situation in America is the norm and that it is the state of play in Britain that must be explained. On the contrary: what happened here is what happened in most other countries, which is that a pragmatic social compromise was eventually reached on what will always be a difficult issue, one that did not (and does not) exactly please anyone, but which largely takes the heat out of the matter and turns it into a matter of technicalities and regulation. On this particular issue the compromise reached in Britain is actually a little different to most other European countries (essentially abortion is legal for a longer period into the pregnancy, but there is no on-demand access to it) but the general framework is recognisable across the board. So the real question is why this did not happen in America and (perhaps) what this curious failure says about the American political system and its functionality.

A telling thing about the British situation and the extent to which it's been depoliticised is that one of the remaining flashpoints is the requirement under the Abortion Act for two doctors to sign off on a procedure, and specifically that the arguments against it are based as much on practicality (i.e. doctors seeing it as a waste of their time) as on liberal/human rights grounds.

[CumbrianLefty]

Poor old Matty Hancock was in essence forced to hand in the towel over less than this.

Half a chance that Bo Jo will be out within hours, a full chance that the polls will show another significant shift towards Labour.

Really, you think he'll have to go because of this ?

He was genuinely awful - even pathetic - at PMQs today, if only he wasn't such a totally disreputable human being in every possible way you might even have felt a bit of sympathy for him.

But as if to show his sheer brass neck even now, Johnson is making an announcement on incoming Covid restrictions shortly. I wonder what most journalists will want to ask him about?

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Poor old Matty Hancock was in essence forced to hand in the towel over less than this.

Half a chance that Bo Jo will be out within hours, a full chance that the polls will show another significant shift towards Labour.

Really, you think he'll have to go because of this ?

He was genuinely awful - even pathetic - at PMQs today, if only he wasn't such a totally disreputable human being in every possible way you might even have felt a bit of sympathy for him.

But as if to show his sheer brass neck even now, Johnson is making an announcement on incoming Covid restrictions shortly. I wonder what most journalists will want to ask him about?

Do PMQ's even matter much ? I thought it was a political cliche that they don't matter.

[CumbrianLefty]

They don't usually, no. But there are exceptions to every rule.

(we still don't know if today is one of those, but it could be)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yes, they're one of those weird things that don't matter except on those rare occasions when they matter.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-59582426
Douglas Ross, Scottish Tory Leader and MP calls on Boris to possibly resign. Is this the first knife coming out or can it be disregarded given that he is mainly in Edinburgh rather than London ?