Can we really say that a man who licked milk from a saucer whilst pretending to be a cat on national TV has integrity?
And while meant to be a serving MP at that. Nobody should be surprised by Galloway's victory in Rochdale but I don't think we should get carried away with it either. Unique circumstances gave him a clear shot and he took it. I doubt his tenure will last for very long.
A very weird election is coming up, obviously the Tories are completely exhausted, out of ideas and their natural time is coming to an end, we need change and the Tories deep down probably know that themselves, and need 5-10 years in opposition to sort themselves out, rebuild and rejuvenate. Labour though aren't providing any inspiration for said change at all, I don't have any sure faith that in their hands, things will be any better. All I know is that the exhausted, bereft of ideas Conservative govt must end, they have become completely ineffective. I just wish Starmer would come out and say very boldly... 'this is what we will do in our first 100 days, change this, that and this etc', but he's just keeping quiet playing it extremely safe, it's very uninspiring. I'm in an extremely safe seat anyway (Peter Kyle, Hove), who could end up with 80-90% of the constituency vote this election, so I'll either vote for him or chuck a little vote for the greens as a little supportive +1 for them.
I think one of the big problems that Starmer has is what can he do? The country is in such a disastrous state and the public purse is empty. There are very few options. The country needs radical surgery and huge amounts of money investing in things like fixing the NHS, sorting out local authority funding and building social housing etc. Money that the country isn't even close to having. He's going to inherit a huge number of problems with not much money to fix them. I can see Labour becoming unpopular pretty quickly because whoever gets into power will have to make a lot of tough decisions that are going to upset a lot of people.
I hope it isn't going to be the first Thursday in May. I like to stay up late and watch the results come in but that would be bang in the middle of my busy period at work Maybe a week later??
Will the Tories lose this seat now or be pretty safe even with May going ? Theresa May to stand down as MP at next election
Ha yes like our local one ! The newish MP who replaced Peter Lilley isn’t that popular but will still get in easily .
I'm not in Suffolk Coastal anymore but there are talks that Therese Coffey is in trouble and she really should be as she is a dire MP and was a dire minister, however in that constituency I feel like they could put a blue rosette on a pig and it would win the election.
I've said it so many times before but this is the cycle of UK politics. The Tories decimate the country for a decade or more, the country becomes sick of it and votes in Labour, Labour have to make tough decisions which the right wing media jump all over, the previous decade of Tory leadership is forgotten, everything is blamed on Labour and the Tories win the following election and get to spend another decade leeching off our money and improving nothing. The only way this ceases (apart from Murdoch dying) is for Labour to either change the voting system or to hope that the rise of these alternative right wing parties splits the vote on the right enough to impact the Tory voter numbers. On another note, I received a letter yesterday advising that my polling station has been moved from its previously central location in town, to a location right on the outskirts of town and only accessible to those living around where I live via some means of transport. My parents also had this last year just in time for their local election in a different area and I've had a few others respond to me on twitter to advise they've had the same in various areas. Is this another Tory trick to try and suppress voter numbers? If so, surely it is another own goal (same as voter ID) as it would impact the demographic more likely to vote Tory? Or are they simply hoping more move to a postal vote when you don't even know if your vote has been counted?
I had to work with her, especially on coastal flooding and erosion, when she was first parachuted into the constituency to replace Gummer (Lord Deben now). Most of the local Tory councillors hated her and I can quite imagine they still do. The rest are probably embarrassed by her. The best you could hope for is a low turnout and some well organised tactical voting. A cross section of her "supporters." .....
As much as Lee Anderson tried to use that prospect to justify not having a by-election following his inevitable defection to Reform UK today, the lack of Budget fireworks last week has surely killed off any realistic chance of a May election, hasn't it? Late October or early November would be my bet.
I don't think By-Elections should be undertaken so close to a General Election anyway, what's the point of spending money with less than 9 months to go? It would just be installing a lame duck MP who may well get voted out in November with an embarrassingly generous 'pension'.
Yes I think May will be a no go now. I suspect The Tories will just play out the time and hope that there is some event that means they can call a snap election.
I agree with the view that the longer they wait the worse it'll be. They should just get it out the way.
