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

[MABA 2020]

A Labour-LibDem government is more attractive than one dependent on the SNP, this is the opposite of a scare campaign lol.

Exactly my thoughts, I'd rather a Labour gov reliant on the lib dems than any nationalist parties

[Blair]

I think a lot of Tories forget that it was Alex Salmond rather than the SNP that really turbo charged it and that it was done around public spending (e.g Labour will spend more)

On both fronts things have well changed…

[CumbrianLefty]

I almost *want* to see them try and turn Ed "Starmer Without The Excitement" Davey into some sort of scary bogey figure - it will be genuinely hilarious.

[Zinneke]

A Labour-LibDem government is more attractive than one dependent on the SNP, this is the opposite of a scare campaign lol.

The Telegraph's goal is to scare Con-LibDem swing voters surely?

[Alcibiades]

A Labour-LibDem government is more attractive than one dependent on the SNP, this is the opposite of a scare campaign lol.

The Telegraph's goal is to scare Con-LibDem swing voters surely?

Probably, though I doubt it will be successful at all. If you’re going to vote Lib Dem these days at a general election, it’s almost certainly because of an at least implicit wish that you want the Tories out, even if you can’t quite bring yourself to actually vote Labour.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

I almost *want* to see them try and turn Ed "Starmer Without The Excitement" Davey into some sort of scary bogey figure - it will be genuinely hilarious.

Wouldn't the campagin more be focused on turning "Former Trot" Starmer into such a figure for Con-Lib Dem swing voters ?

[Sol]

I don't really have much knowledge about British politics, so apologies--but what does a scenario where Labour has to rely on the SNP and/or Plaid to stay in government look like in practice? Would they form a formal coalition?

[YL]

I don't really have much knowledge about British politics, so apologies--but what does a scenario where Labour has to rely on the SNP and/or Plaid to stay in government look like in practice? Would they form a formal coalition?

I think it's very unlikely that Labour would form a formal coalition with the SNP, and Plaid would have too few seats to make much difference.  How stable a Labour minority which was dependent on the SNP to stay in power would be I don't know, but it could well be suggested to the SNP that bringing Labour down and allowing the Tories back might be very toxic to much of their Central Belt base.

Formal coalition would be more likely with the Lib Dems, but even there it's not at all clear that they'd go for it.

[Blair]

Even a coalition with the Lib Dems has virtually been ruled out- it would be a short government and a hard one, but it’s easy to see how a Labour minority Government relies on the SNP to abstain, while getting the smaller parties to support them.

We haven’t had a proper minority Government for a very long time but I think it would be easier than people think- at least for the first 12 months.

I expect the SNP would find a row to trigger an election eventually but who knows.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The SNP do not vote on matters that do not directly affect Scotland, which means that a minority government in a parliament with a large SNP parliamentary party would quite often have an effective majority on most matters of domestic policy.

[Blair]

Perhaps it was a grave mistake to put someone like Bailey as Governor.

Seeing how badly he handled the FCA it’s not as if they would have been unaware…

https://mobile.twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1526217461040926722?ref_src=tw...

[Oryxslayer]

Even a coalition with the Lib Dems has virtually been ruled out- it would be a short government and a hard one, but it’s easy to see how a Labour minority Government relies on the SNP to abstain, while getting the smaller parties to support them.

We haven’t had a proper minority Government for a very long time but I think it would be easier than people think- at least for the first 12 months.

I expect the SNP would find a row to trigger an election eventually but who knows.

I mean the math of the situation is that Labour cannot win a majority outside of a landslide these days, which one expects would significantly empower the larger of the third/small parties. Right now it looks like Lab-Lib would get majority based on polls and the distribution of the vote  at the locals, but it seems like the Lib-Dems would have a lot more power over Labour when compared to the 2010 coalition. Lab could work with the SNP, but that is both unstable, has bigger asks, and could end up toxic in England. I know national coalitions are taboo to the Libs after said 2010 and 2015 elections, but given the leverage they hold, one wonders if a formal agreement wouldn't guarantee some of their bigger proposals.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

I don't really have much knowledge about British politics, so apologies--but what does a scenario where Labour has to rely on the SNP and/or Plaid to stay in government look like in practice? Would they form a formal coalition?

I think it's very unlikely that Labour would form a formal coalition with the SNP, and Plaid would have too few seats to make much difference.  How stable a Labour minority which was dependent on the SNP to stay in power would be I don't know, but it could well be suggested to the SNP that bringing Labour down and allowing the Tories back might be very toxic to much of their Central Belt base.

Formal coalition would be more likely with the Lib Dems, but even there it's not at all clear that they'd go for it.

Isn’t Plaid in line to get screwed by the boundary review? Speaking of them, what sort of concessions would Labour have to make to get them to prop up a minority government?

[CumbrianLefty]

I almost *want* to see them try and turn Ed "Starmer Without The Excitement" Davey into some sort of scary bogey figure - it will be genuinely hilarious.

Wouldn't the campagin more be focused on turning "Former Trot" Starmer into such a figure for Con-Lib Dem swing voters ?

Well they are going to struggle with that too, though they seem to prefer the "he served under Jezza!" scare rather than the "Trot 40 years ago" one that literally nobody cares about even in the Tory party (after all, some of their MPs past and present were once on the left too)

There's also the Savile and grooming gangs stuff to rehash if they get really desperate, I suppose.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

I almost *want* to see them try and turn Ed "Starmer Without The Excitement" Davey into some sort of scary bogey figure - it will be genuinely hilarious.

Wouldn't the campagin more be focused on turning "Former Trot" Starmer into such a figure for Con-Lib Dem swing voters ?

Well they are going to struggle with that too, though they seem to prefer the "he served under Jezza!" scare rather than the "Trot 40 years ago" one that literally nobody cares about even in the Tory party (after all, some of their MPs past and present were once on the left too)

There's also the Savile and grooming gangs stuff to rehash if they get really desperate, I suppose.

Well it probably won't matter to Labour voters or even Labour-Con swing voters, but i'm guessing trying to scaremonger about far-left policies that a Starmer-Davey  Alliance would implement could work. Similar to the mansion tax attack in 2015.

[Conservatopia]

Why don't they just put all of the MPs in jail and then let out the few who are innocent?

[YL]

It seems like the name of the MP in the latest story is coming out now.

[All Along The Watchtower]

It seems like the name of the MP in the latest story is coming out now.

latest

sicko.jpg

[Silent Hunter]

In other news, no sign of a new administration being agreed in Havering

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I think we're seeing different names!

Yes, I've seen two names doing the rounds - the Honourable Member widely presumed to have been the subject of a previous police investigation into this sort of offence, and an entirely different Honourable Member who may, perhaps, represent a constituency not that far away from the other one.

On a completely unrelated note, interested to hear of this news of municipal politics in Havering from SH. His native borough is a curious one.

[Torrain]

The Chief Whip has inferred that the accused will retain the whip - and anonymity, until the investigation is over. I get ‘innocent until proven guilty’ - but letting him keep the whip just doesn’t sit well with me.

MPs have (until this week Anne Marie Morris’ case) had the whip suspended for far less. Keeping him in the fold just sends an awful signal. So Conservatives who break the whip over energy bill legislation get the boot, but accused serial predators get the protection of Downing Street?

[Pericles]

The MP being arrested makes it look pretty serious. It feels a lot like that Anatomy of a Scandal show on  Netflix, surely the writing is better this time lol.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The MP being arrested makes it look pretty serious.

The list of offences suggests something, extremely, extremely serious; quite probably the sort of thing that is difficult to read about without wishing to vomit. But we shall see.

[CumbrianLefty]

I almost *want* to see them try and turn Ed "Starmer Without The Excitement" Davey into some sort of scary bogey figure - it will be genuinely hilarious.

Wouldn't the campagin more be focused on turning "Former Trot" Starmer into such a figure for Con-Lib Dem swing voters ?

Well they are going to struggle with that too, though they seem to prefer the "he served under Jezza!" scare rather than the "Trot 40 years ago" one that literally nobody cares about even in the Tory party (after all, some of their MPs past and present were once on the left too)

There's also the Savile and grooming gangs stuff to rehash if they get really desperate, I suppose.

Well it probably won't matter to Labour voters or even Labour-Con swing voters, but i'm guessing trying to scaremonger about far-left policies that a Starmer-Davey  Alliance would implement could work. Similar to the mansion tax attack in 2015.

But the underlying point is that - compared to even "Red Ed", never mind Jezza - Starmer and Davey are simply fundamentally not very scary people. Tories risk actually looking ridiculous if they just try and run the 2015 attack lines all over again.

[Zinneke]

Turns out the arrested MP's victim is male and oh, who'd have thunk it, the MP has voting consistently against gay rights. Tories are honestly the massive deviants and hypocrites they think the rest of society are, aren't they?