General UK Politics VI It's A (Honey) Trap!

[Darat]

It's only the PCC up for grabs here, and I really couldn't be bothered to vote.

Bad person - you should always vote, even if it is for a completely useless level of bureaucracy. I had to do two important chores this evening- get some milk and vote. Getting the milk took longer than voting - to say it was packed would be rather an overstatement - me and the other half were the only two in the hall when voting. Can't see why we couldn't have had our usual quiz night - the voters wouldn't have been inconvenienced and they may have had a better turnout!

 

[P.J. Denyer]

Look any ID is fine, any ID presented by a Tory voter that is, so your over 65 garden centre discount card is fine, your passport, birth certificate, driving licence, student ID aren't if you are under 65 or look like one of those liberal or green voters.

Conservative & Unionist Party Membership Card? That'll do nicely, Sir!

OT: Ironic that was the advertising slogan for American Express when the usual response to presenting an AA card "Sorry, we don't take that, they charge too much"

 

[Agatha]

There really is no beginning to this man's competence.

https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1786101935323357689?t=pei8KkyPAmhw12OO1cmWmw&s=19

Boris Johnson was turned away from a polling station when trying to vote in the local elections after forgetting to bring acceptable photo ID...

 

[Andy_Ross]

Sublime.

 

[MarkCorrigan]

He's not even the only Tory MP. Tom Hunt MP begged his local party members to be his emergency proxyserver votes because he didn't have ID.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Domino's Pizza UK tweeted

"just had Boris Johnson come in and try and vote"

 

[MarkCorrigan]

Jesus Domino's, didn't realise they did satire as well as mediocre pizza.

 

[Andy_Ross]

He's not even the only Tory MP. Tom Hunt MP belgedrag his local party members to be his emergency proxyserver votes because he didn't have ID.

He tweeted

"I understand the interest in my emergency proxy vote today. I do tend to be bad at losing stuff. I’m also very dyspraxic. Though I don’t want to blame this on everything it does make things challenging for me and I do my best but I do lose things and today it was my passport."

 

[jimbob]

He tweeted

"I understand the interest in my emergency proxy vote today. I do tend to be bad at losing stuff. I’m also very dyspraxic. Though I don’t want to blame this on everything it does make things challenging for me and I do my best but I do lose things and today it was my passport."

And guess what, others who should be able to vote might have similar issues.


ETA, @MarkCorrigan. Nomed for the snark

 

[MarkCorrigan]

Fixed the spelling. For some reason my english and dutch phone dictionary likes to claim english words aren't real and replaces them, usually with Dutch.

 

[Andy_Ross]

In 2004 Boris said

"If I am ever asked, to produce my ID card as evidence to say I am who I say I am... I will take that card out of my wallet and physically eat it!"

Maybe that's why he had no ID to comply with the law he introduced requiring ID.

 

[Mojo]

There really is no beginning to this man's competence.

https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1786101935323357689?t=pei8KkyPAmhw12OO1cmWmw&s=19

He didn't think it applied to him, it was only supposed to stop Labour voters.

 

[Mojo]

According to the Grauniad:

A source close to Johnson confirmed that he had forgotten the photo ID, but did later vote. “Mr Johnson voted Conservative,” a spokesperson added.

But are they really sure that he could be bothered to tick the right box?

 

[Norman Alexander]

According to the Grauniad:


But are they really sure that he could be bothered to tick the right box?

What, did he just go back home and rummage in the office drawer for his ID, then pop back to the booth, all without a media scrum?

Bull ****.

He got a flunky to do it for him.

 

[MarkCorrigan]

Laura Kuenssberg making hay out of the "vote share prediction" change. According to the very, very, very early BBC results the Labour vote share is down 0.4% from 2023. Obviously this is going to change a huge amount, but she keeps repeating that according to these numbers Labour isn't doing well and the changes for the Tories in areas without a Reform candidate seem to be minmal.

Really Laura? Technically based on those numbers that's true, but they've only been counting for 3 and a half hours. There's no point in even giving the vote share prediction based on that, especially given there's only 3 councils with any results in.

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

Perhaps you should glance at my follow-up post, which included a link to the MPs response and from there you can find a statement from Walsall Academy.

I have voted for a mayor that I don't see the point of having, and spoiled my ballot paper for the police and crime commissioner. And now I need to make a complaint to the council because the room being used as the polling station wasn't wheelchair accessible; I had to get the Returning Officer to bring the ballot papers to me so I could vote in the corridor (without the required privacy, and then trust him to put the papers in the ballot box).

I knew the source before reading your follow up. Given that it's a tory MP reporting it and that we've not seen sight of the alleged letter, I am fully confident that my assessment is correct.

 

[The Don]

Some "interesting" spin on the local election results from a Conservative MP this morning (I forget who, I was only half-listening ). Although the current position is a little disappointing, Labour currently has more council seats than all other parties combined, has gained control of another three councils and has received an absolute drubbing in the Blackpool South by-election, it's still a decent night for the Conservatives.

Apparently the 2020 local elections were a high water mark for Conservative support and so this is just a tiny reversal in the great scheme of things . I am disinclined to believe this.

I haven't heard the excuse for the by-election but I expect the line will be that turnout was low and that if all the people who didn't turn out had voted Conservative then they would have won. What is worrying is that Reform got close to the Conservatives which may result in (yet) another lurch to the right from the Tories.

 

[KDLarsen]

An interesting counterpoint from Rob Ford, as reported by the Grauniad, is that while spectacular, Reform is getting nowhere near the numbers UKIP used to get in by-elections in the period leading up Cameron calling the referendum, ie. when they were being percieved as a threat.

Edit: The tories are apparently all agog about Labour losing control of the Oldham council. Weird flex given the overall state of their losses...

 

[Ethan Thane Athen]

Some "interesting" spin on the local election results from a Conservative MP this morning (I forget who, I was only half-listening ). Although the current position is a little disappointing, Labour currently has more council seats than all other parties combined, has gained control of another three councils and has received an absolute drubbing in the Blackpool South by-election, it's still a decent night for the Conservatives.

Apparently the 2020 local elections were a high water mark for Conservative support and so this is just a tiny reversal in the great scheme of things . I am disinclined to believe this.

I haven't heard the excuse for the by-election but I expect the line will be that turnout was low and that if all the people who didn't turn out had voted Conservative then they would have won. What is worrying is that Reform got close to the Conservatives which may result in (yet) another lurch to the right from the Tories.

If that was Radio 4, the follow up Tory, think it may have been Leadsom, said exactly that - that they needed to be 'much more Conservative'... She also said they needed Boris back in 'some position' and should never have got rid of him.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Reform have won zero council seats.


Tory Chairman, with a straight face, claiming 'mid-term' election defeats are to be expected.

Mid-term !