The 2024 UK General Election - news, speculation and updates

[bluescreen]

Sunak became leader without a membership vote.

Yes, but that's because he was unopposed. Not because he woke up one morning and just made it happen.

 

[Voley]

Sunak became leader without a membership vote.

But they do have a procedure. 1922 Cttee and all that malarkey. Reform just go "Here's yer leader" and that's that.

 

[cupid_stunt]

No, it’s just a company. The tories (& the rest of them, even the WPB) are companies of some kind. They have to be to employ people. However the tories company is controlled by the relevantly elected representatives, they are not acting as individuals. They must follow the policies and decisions of the Conservative Party.

Reform is just a private company, owned by Farage. He gets to decide everything. It’s a political vehicle.

As he pointed out in some TV interview, he can be removed if two-thirds of the membership wants to remove him.

 

[Dogsauce]

looks like clapham to me

 

[brogdale]

No, it’s just a company. The tories (& the rest of them, even the WPB) are companies of some kind. They have to be to employ people. However the tories company is controlled by the relevantly elected representatives, they are not acting as individuals. They must follow the policies and decisions of the Conservative Party.

Reform is just a private company, owned by Farage. He gets to decide everything. It’s a political vehicle.

It does present quite honest prefigurative politics from those hoping to accelerate corporatocracy and Randian extremism.

 

[Pickman's model]

View attachment 427328

It's not a very good joke

 

[Larry O'Hara]

Manifesto for Lib Dem candidate in Sutton Coldfield

View attachment 427051

John Sweeney? I’d happily pay the little shits airfare

 

[hippogriff]

If Farage takes votes from the Tories in Clacton, then it might go to Labour

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

If Farage takes votes from the Tories in Clacton, then it might go to Labour

View attachment 427340

If Farage takes 16% of the predicted Tory vote and 6% of the Labour, he's an MP.

 

[cupid_stunt]

If Farage takes votes from the Tories in Clacton, then it might go to Labour

View attachment 427340

Considering most of those intending to vote Labour are former Tory voters that want to give them a kicking, whereas now they have Farage as an option instead, I think he has a reasonable chance of winning the seat, especially if he takes more voters from the Tories, that are sick of them, but couldn't take the leap of voting for Labour.

 

[Orang Utan]

https://maps.app.goo.gl/KkuJbm8w8M2DbrJq8?g_st=ic

There’s a Richmond and a Clapham up there too
ETA: oops, already pointed out.
Clapham was the first place in Britain or England to have electric street lighting IIRC (this information was imparted to me when I was there on a school trip so apologies if I’ve remembered it wrong)

 

[MickiQ]

Farage will take votes from both Tory and Labour hopefully though you will be right and he will take more from the first rather than the second

 

[Flavour]

if i was a betting man i'd put money on farage winning

 

[Karl Masks]

Sunak became leader without a membership vote.

after their previous leader imploded. Not defending, but those were somewhat extraordinary circumstances.

 

[The39thStep]

There’s a Richmond and a Clapham up there too
ETA: oops, already pointed out.
Clapham was the first place in Britain or England to have electric street lighting IIRC (this information was imparted to me when I was there on a school trip so apologies if I’ve remembered it wrong)

The need for levelling up obviously has a longer history than I thought

 

[skyscraper101]

I'd put money on Labour, but only just. Farage will eat up a lot of votes here.

 

[rasputin]

Sunak became leader without a membership vote.

True, but it does seem that everyone forgets that Sunak won a vote of Tory MPs before it went to a membership vote. Under the previous Tory leadership rules that elected Heath, Thatcher, Major and Hague, which were MP only votes, Sunak would have been elected as leader there and then.

My opinion is that Tory MPs out-thought themselves. They wanted Sunak as leader, and voted Truss as his opponent because she was so obviously useless that even the moronic Tory members would prefer Sunak. They underestimated the depth of racist opinion among their membership.

 

[kabbes]

Didn’t May also become leader unopposed?

 

[rasputin]

Didn’t May also become leader unopposed?

Yes, because Andrea Leadsom dropped out

 

[brogdale]

Figuring not much usually happens in Clacton?

 

[Orang Utan]

Figuring not much usually happens in Clacton?

View attachment 427348

Or he might actually be popular, worryingly

 

[redsquirrel]

However, I've had several former Tory voters telling me they are voting for Labour, because Starmer doesn't scare them, unlike Corbyn, and when pushed on who they would be voting for if Corbyn was still leader, almost all have said Tory, with a few don't knows.

Maybe there's a political reason why Starmer is 'electable' and Corbyn wasn't.

There is a desperate need for a centre left party and a wonky reformist party in the UK, there is even a place if not a need for a far left party. But under FPTP those spots will remain empty.

But the UK has had FPTP for decades and there was a centre left party. The French, Italian, German systems don't have FPTP and have all seen the collapse and marginalisation of their centre-left parties.
The voting system may play a minor role but it is not a crucial factor.

 

[cupid_stunt]

This could be an interesting sideshow, doesn't this spokesperson for the Greens know how litigious Farage is?

Nate Higgins, the Greens’ democracy and engagement spokesperson, said:

Nigel Farage is not just a dodgy salesman. He is a crook and a conman.
He will package his brand of hate filled politics in a way that is populist and that he thinks he can sell to an electorate who are understandably fed up with mainstream politics.
Frankly though, we’re not buying it.
The latest organisation he latched himself onto, “Reform UK”, is another smokescreen. Set up to take money off people without offering them membership like any other established political party.
Greens can see through these smokescreens and his jovial façade and see the divisive hate that pulsates through his politics.
His politics belong on the extreme fringes not at the heart of Clacton, let alone on prime time TV.

He's not going to be happy about being called a crook and conman, and the claim that Reform doesn't offer membership is out of date, they even had their first party conference last year, with over 1,000 people attending, roughly on a par with the GP conference in Brighton last year.

 

[Wilf]

I saw Keir Starmer nursing a pint at noon outside The Pineapple in Kentish Town a couple of years ago, his eyes all bloodshot and his face all red. I suspect unlike many politicians he is very comfortable with a pint in his hand.

Have a suspicion he's the kind of drunk who becomes even more boring a few pints in.

 

[Wilf]

Yes, but that's because he was unopposed. Not because he woke up one morning and just made it happen.

To be fair, that's usually how things happen for billionaires.

 

[Wilf]

John Sweeney? I’d happily pay the little shits airfare

By the by, what's the hostility towards Sweeney all about? I've cast my mind back and even looked at his wiki page, but nothing comes to mind other than some solid journalism. Genuine (and probably naive) Q, as they say.

 

[Kaka Tim]

The need for levelling up obviously has a longer history than I thought

Im not a fan of Clacton - but levelling it is maybe a bit harsh

 

[Orang Utan]

This could be an interesting sideshow, doesn't this spokesperson for the Greens know how litigious Farage is?

Nate Higgins, the Greens’ democracy and engagement spokesperson, said:



He's not going to be happy about being called a crook and conman, and the claim that Reform doesn't offer membership is out of date, they even had their first party conference last year, with over 1,000 people attending, roughly on a par with the GP conference in Brighton last year.

Is saying Farage is a crook and conman libellous considering the demonstrable lies he’s been peddling? I don’t think either word specifically alleges criminality, just dishonesty

 

[Orang Utan]

By the by, what's the hostility towards Sweeney all about? I've cast my mind back and even looked at his wiki page, but nothing comes to mind other than some solid journalism. Genuine (and probably naive) Q, as they say.

This thread’s been moving fast but have a look upthread

 

[Larry O'Hara]

Have a suspicion he's the kind of drunk who becomes even more boring a few pints in.

Is that really possible??