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

[Darat]

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.

That would be the leader that they had to keep away from all media - even friendly media - for the whole of the last general election campaign as he was considered a liability. Revisionist history. What they are really saying is they need his entourage - the likes of Cummings.

 

[Vixen]

Why is that buffoon still on all the front pages as though he is a celebrity. So the bag of custard forgot his ID. Big deal. The tricks he'll try to stay relevant and newsworthy. Suddenly taking Dilyn for a walk when he hates the little cur. Was going to send it back to the rescue centre.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

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.

Shame it isn't Turkish, because all words are Turkish.

 

[Andy_Ross]

We’re going to get distracted by 2000 more council seats today and the mayorals but worth dwelling on Blackpool South

26% swing to Labour
Third biggest swing to Lab in history
Tories only just beat Reform (by just over 100 votes)

We're getting used to these sorts of swings, but this level of consistency is unusual and probably spells complete doom for the Tories as a political force for a long time.

 

[The Don]

That would be the leader that they had to keep away from all media - even friendly media - for the whole of the last general election campaign as he was considered a liability. Revisionist history. What they are really saying is they need his entourage - the likes of Cummings.

I guess the problem is that whilst Boris Johnson, the actual flesh and blood human being, may very well be an electoral liability, the character he plays, "BoJo" is still popular in middle England.

Whilst it's unlikely that "BoJo" would persuade a lifelong Labour supporter to vote Conservative, he might very well persuade a number of the gammon and blue rinse brigade to turn out, and to turn out and vote Conservative (as opposed to Reform).

I am fearful that in the event of a General Election people who have finally had their eyes opened to the mendaciousness, incompetence and corruption of the Conservative Party in the last few years will suddenly have a lapse of memory when they step inside the polling station and find themselves swayed by empty promises made by comedic characters.

 

[The Don]

We’re going to get distracted by 2000 more council seats today and the mayorals but worth dwelling on Blackpool South

26% swing to Labour
Third biggest swing to Lab in history
Tories only just beat Reform (by just over 100 votes)

We're getting used to these sorts of swings, but this level of consistency is unusual and probably spells complete doom for the Tories as a political force for a long time.

Another way of looking at this, and I'm sure Laura Kuenssberg and her fellow travellers will be pushing this message is that overall it's been a fantastic night for Reform, who have increased their share of the vote nearly twice as much as Labour. This is a clear indication that the British electorate really do want far right anglo-centric policies.

Likewise the loss of control Oldham council is a clear repudiation across the entire nation of the Labour Party, their policies (especially with respect to Gaza) and Sir Keir Starmer in particular (whose weak leadership of his party stands in start contrast to that of Rishi Sunak who has united the Conservatives (against him)).

The Kuenssberg take will be that it's a great night for Reform, an okay night for the Conservatives and a terrible night for Labour, LibDems and Greens.

 

[KDLarsen]

Two tories forgetting to bring a valid photo ID, despite them both voting for it in the first place, and now Ben Houchen forgetting to bring a blue rosette to the count.

 

[The Don]

Sadly Ben Houchen has been reelected and so he and his mates can continue to fleece the public out of hundreds of millions

 

[P.J. Denyer]

Two tories forgetting to bring a valid photo ID, despite them both voting for it in the first place, and now Ben Houchen forgetting to bring a blue rosette to the count.

Perhaps it was stolen? Has anyone checked to make Susan Hall's is safe?

Speaking of which, we're going to have to wait until Saturday for the London result but it has occurred to me that Hall has an unfair disadvantage as one only has to misread Count Binface's name by one letter to mistake him for her.

 

[Nessie]

I hope Labour recognises the Tories are being dumped because of corrupt, sleazy behaviour and if they show any signs of being as bad, they will get dumped as well.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

I hope Labour recognises the Tories are being dumped because of corrupt, sleazy behaviour and if they show any signs of being as bad, they will get dumped as well.

I suspect Labour would get dumped if they were a fraction as corrupt. A degree of self serving profiteering isn't baked into their support in the same way.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Sadly Ben Houchen has been reelected and so he and his mates can continue to fleece the public out of hundreds of millions

Look at the majority though!

If he didn't have the Evening Gazette and Northern Echo in his pocket for some reason he wouldn't have done nearly as well.

 

[KDLarsen]

I suppose one post-election exercise that is going to be interesting, is in how many elections the government's decision to swap to FPTP helped the local tory candidate.

The Grauniad has mentioned the Leicestershire PCC election as one where the supplementary vote system would have led to a different outcome, seeing as the majority was all of 860 on a turnout of 176,494.

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

Sadly Ben Houchen has been reelected and so he and his mates can continue to fleece the public out of hundreds of millions

One of the first orders of business of an incoming Labour government must be to set up a forensic audit of all Teesworks operations to see howm much fraud is going on there and how deeply involved Houchen is in said fraud.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Labour's Matt Storey has been elected as the New Cleveland PCC.

He secured a total of 65,418 votes.

Steve Turner got 58,977

 

[Andy_Ross]

Labour gained the regional mayor for York and North Yorkshire - which covers Rishi Sunak's constituency

 

[Filippo Lippi]

I suppose one post-election exercise that is going to be interesting, is in how many elections the government's decision to swap to FPTP helped the local tory candidate.

The Grauniad has mentioned the Leicestershire PCC election as one where the supplementary vote system would have led to a different outcome, seeing as the majority was all of 860 on a turnout of 176,494.

@ElectionMapsUK suggest they would have only held Lincolnshire PCC if SV remained in place

 

[Andy_Ross]

Rishi Sunak said losses were "disappointing" but mayoral contests like Tees Valley were the "key battlegrounds"

 

[Garrison]

Rishi Sunak said losses were "disappointing" but mayoral contests like Tees Valley were the "key battlegrounds"

Or more realistically the only place we didn't suffer a complete collapse is the only one that matters.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Not mayoral contests like the one for area that contains his own constituency though