I thought hunts speech was reasonable, referencing democracy and the Ukraine fight for their freedom
Bit he blew it trumping the Tory record of shitness
there’s a fairly lucrative potential future for him as a conservative talking head on Fox News and the like.
No, there's not! He's ugly, unreliable, boring, has a weird accent, and knows nothing about US politics. US viewers aren't interested in him. There's a million people in the queue ahead of him who are prettier and cheaper and have spent more years earning more favours.
I thought hunts speech was reasonable, referencing democracy and the Ukraine fight for their freedom
I agree, I know he won but he spoke really well. MCJnr met him last year and while disagreeing with him politically said he was a good speaker, could relate to people and command a room.
I dare him to mention his Dad was a toolmaker. He went close with his working class family
Who do you reckon is going to stand as next Tory leader? Braverman is obviously going to go for it, but who else? Will Hunt try to stand as the "not as much of a lunatic as the other options" candidate?
I didn’t find the speech inspiring at all. Nothing about what he will change, just politics is moving back to serving the public. Does that mean he’s getting rid of some of his team too?
Also give it a rest with he’s a man of the people
I thought that was a pretty decent speech actually. Clearly setting out their goals and acknowledging the public opinion on politics in general.
Daffy - Voters who voted reform are just protesting it was never going to come to anything, there is not enough racists in this country for them to ever matter.
"Also give it a rest with he’s a man of the people"
I actually find him quite relatable.
I've never liked showy people or liars.
Nothing about what he will change, just politics is moving back to serving the public.
I agree with you about the lack of fireworks. But you have to remember we've had a decade of total jokers who thought that politics was a platform for self-enrichment or trolling or sticking it to the ********s. It was a bit pedantic and weary headmaster in tone, but it's totally consistent with the challenge: stop the ship sinking and then sailing it back in the right direction again.
I'm surprised that Tobias Elwood lost his seat; pleased that bob seely and paisley jnr lost theirs.
I think its just reassuring to know that after the absolute circus of recent years, there might actually be some grown-ups back in charge
He sounded like a civil servant not a campaign winning politician. I’ll take that service before triumphalism approach… thanks.
I think its just reassuring to know that after the absolute circus of recent years, there might actually be some grown-ups back in charge
Agreed.
Time for the centre and the the left to unite in standing up to the far right too.
I feel strangely deflated, whilst I'm delighted that Labour won and that the Lib Dems gained seats I'm uneasy about Mr Toad finally getting through the doors.
Good luck to Keir Starmer, he has some little shoes to fill.
(Shamelessly stolen from Twitter ?)
I got a bit emotional voting yesterday, and a huge wave of relief watching him walk up downing Street.
I have a feeling the historical view of the last 14 years will not be a Rosey one. The damage done to this country will take a long time to repair
Anyone else think Starmer has had a bit of Botox recently? Forehead looking remarkably smooth for a 61 year old
I’m uneasy about Mr Toad finally getting through the doors.
I just listened to Farages speech again about him 'coming for labour' and creating a mass movement. I'll put my house on Reform (in its present form) no longer being an ongoing concern by the next election and the man-frog will have moved on to whichever vehicle for his ego he sets up next.
He's the attention span of a gnat and is always looking for the next grift. He'll tire of this in no time once the election cameras have packed up and gone home
Who do you reckon is going to stand as next Tory leader? Braverman is obviously going to go for it, but who else? Will Hunt try to stand as the “not as much of a lunatic as the other options” candidate?
He's got a safe seat.
He can be reasonably sure that they won't win the next election in 5 years, so whoever is the next Conservative leader, won't be the next PM.
There's a dearth of experience and talent in the party at the moment, and what there is just want's to scrap, who'd want to be LOTO without a cohesive shadow cabinet to support him?
He's got the luxury of time to sit it out for the next few rounds and let the party tear itself to pieces then do a Starmer / Cameron and come back to make them electable again. Either that or he might have moved on from politics entirely by then.
Surprised how little the swing is to Lib Dems
Best result since 1923. Up from 8 to 71.
Did Gullis give a speech?
My money’s on Priti Patel for next Tory leader. She’s kept her head down, hasn’t frightened the horses and will be able to reinvent herself as the candidate that can bridge the wings of the Tosser party.
Farage is a symptom not the cause of a much bigger problem and people are right to worry. Not particularly about him, but who comes after him. The UK is an outlier now in a western world drifting further and further right. I really hope the new Labour govt are going to be strong enough to fend off the coming storm. Certainly we are better placed now than had the tories remained in power but I’m genuinely worried that the size of the reform vote will embolden the far right - I think it’s pretty clear we will have something bigger and nastier to deal with by 2029 than the current Reform party.
Can you imagine the sense of FOMO Ashworth is feeling right now? Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. 🙂
Anyone else think Starmer has had a bit of Botox recently? Forehead looking remarkably smooth for a 61 year old
That won't last. Anyone who can remember will testify how fresh faced Tony Blair appeared when he arrived in Downing Street in 1997, approximately five years later he seemed to have aged about twenty years.
I know that it probably doesn't fit in comfortably with the preferred STW narrative but the job of prime minister is undoubtedly an extremely challenging, grueling, and draining, one.
If Starmer tries to hold back the inevitable with botox he will end up looking even more like a Thunderbird puppet.
I feel strangely deflated, whilst I’m delighted that Labour won and that the Lib Dems gained seats I’m uneasy about Mr Toad finally getting through the doors.
This.
They have to make this count, Reform need nipped in the bud and no longer be allowed a free pass. Labour need to enact policies that noticeably improve people's lives, not just maintain the status quo. So far nothing they have said gives me confidence they will do that but would like to be proven wrong.
The UK is an outlier now in a western world drifting further and further right.
We were perhaps an early mover but really not an outlier any more, if anything we have drifted less than most.
If Labour want to truly trash Reform they just need to enact a law that compels MPs to turn up at the House and to do a set number of constituency surgeries per quarter of an automatic by-election is called.
Of course it might trash a few others too.
Who do you reckon is going to stand as next Tory leader?
All of them. They'll all stand. The first round will be every single recognisable name thats left. In the end though, it'll be Badanoch, Pritel and Braverman left standing to slug it out, because thae membership want a right wing loon. Rats in a sack
I've got my money on Braverman. Literally, at 9/1
Present odds are
Badanoch 2/1
Tom Tugendhat 3/1
Patel 5/1
Braverman 6/1
I think its just reassuring to know that after the absolute circus of recent years, there might actually be some grown-ups back in charge
Agreed. I think Starmer is actually going to be a proper statesmanlike leader. Probably better as PM than leader of the opposition. And I really believe that civic duty runs through his veins. After Johnson and Truss that is so so welcome.
But......I quite simply don't trust the public. Gove's quote from back in the Brexit debate days is running through my mind again and again..."Britain has had enough of experts". I'm just not convinced a sizable minority of the uk population value the sort of job Starmer will attempt to do. Let's be honest, the sort of people I'm talking about were always ****.wits. Too stupid to know what's good for them. But they've been fed years of populism through the brexit vote, the Johnston years and looking across as the US and they like what they see. It's kind of the Britain's got Talent effect - absolute banality sprinkled with glitter and a bow....and 'drama'. And worst - they (the voters I mean) have somehow been empowered to think their love for this shit is ok. More than ok - that liking this shit makes them enlightened.
"Good luck to Keir Starmer, he has some little shoes to fill."
If this election had happened in 2022, he would have had some big colourful shoes to fill
Super happy today. The acceptance speech was the icing on the cake.
One thing Starmer needs to do immediately is open up all the No. 10 closets to look for the skeletons, set up commissions to see where it went wrong with the Tories, dig up the buried reports, and fully enact Leverson. What they (the previous government) have been able to get away with should never, ever be allowed to happen again.
Drain the swamp indeed.
I’ve got my money on Braverman. Literally, at 9/1
I got 11/1 for her the other day 😀
Tugendhat like Hunt is probably too moderate for where the Tories are right now. What happens with the Tories will depend on what happens with Reform and what happens with reform will depend on immigration and what happens on immigration might come down to what happens in France.
If immigration becomes a non-issue, the Conservatives will move to the centre, if not, they'll likely stay to the right.
That Johnathan Pie "Thank You" vid a page or two back.....
I'm not much of a facebook user/poster and don't think I've posted anything political since Brexit. But thought it mild enough and jolly enough I posted it earlier.....I've now got 4 less Facebook friends than I had this morning - and I've only got a couple of hundred!
So I'd recommend it - want to flush out a bitter tory today hiding in your friends list - excellent bleach.
If immigration becomes a non-issue, the Conservatives will move to the centre, if not, they’ll likely stay to the right.
Why ...... didn't the Tories lose considerably more seats to the LibDems than they did to Reform UK?
It would be daft for the Tories to let Nigel Farage call the tune when it is the Liberal Democrats that they need to win the most seats back from.
poverty
housing
social care
NHS
left behind areas, closed down high streets
The beauty of it is that if these (above) are funded correctly this
immigration
becomes unimportant and more migrants will be required for items 3 & 4.
Yes, but they lost those seats as reform took their vote share. On average, they didn't lose as much vote share to the LD as they did to reform. If Reform weren'y plundering their votes from the right, the Conservatives would have almost free reign and could campaign in the centre, thus attracting LD votes.
"I didn’t find the speech inspiring at all. Nothing about what he will change, just politics is moving back to serving the public."
So you'd prefer what we've had recently then, where it wasn't serving the people - each to their own...
One thing Starmer needs to do immediately is open up all the No. 10 closets to look for the skeletons, set up commissions to see where it went wrong with the Tories, dig up the buried reports, and fully enact Leverson.
@devash - I'd heard that one of the first thing Starmer intends to do is re-establish a geuine ministerial code and proper independent democratic oversight of the political process, all of which has been so completely trashed under the casual constitutional vandalism of Boris Johnson. Apparently its all ready to go.
Given the huge majority I suspect any Labour MP who isn't squeaky clean will find the whip withdrawn pretty sharpish. If Starmer wants to achieve anything (which he clearly does) then establishing trust with voters after the completely normalised corruption and cronyism of the last 14 years is critical! The country is crying out for proper governance by competent people who take their public duty seriously
"I think Kier Starmer’s been a rubbish PM so far. He’s done nothing to cut costs for hardworking families, done nothing for Palestine, and done nothing on climate change. What was the point? I’m voting Reform next time."
Youre joking but genuine conversation with my mum last weekend (shes voted brexit & tory the last 3 elections)
'Ill give Labour 6 months and if they cant fix things thats it'
I pointed out that the Tories have been in for 14 years and everything has got much much worse, but I wasnt going to push it as the fact that she'd abandoned the Tories was good enough for me
The UK is an outlier now in a western world drifting further and further right. I really hope the new Labour govt are going to be strong enough to fend off the coming storm.
It's this sort of hubris that will enable the far right (Reform) . The UK isn't an outlier, it's on exactly the same path as France et al, just a little bit behind. Starmer has time to prevent it, but he's going to need to be a lot stronger and more ambitious on addressing inequality, rejecting the language and politics of blaming immigrants, drop the nonsense about secure borders, stop blaming minorities, and start aggressively making the case and introducing policy to create a progressive and inclusive country.
He won't though, instead he'll concede more ground to Farage by jumping on the anti-immigration bandwagon and joining in with the war on woke nonsense like every centrist idiot before him has done across Europe. You don't beat fascists by agreeing with them, and yet that's exactly what centrists always do.
Good night for SF too.
Is it still too much to hope for that they actually start behaving like grown ups and actually take their seats at Westminster. Otherwise any electoral gains are completely and utterly pointless
I didn’t find the speech inspiring at all. Nothing about what he will change, just politics is moving back to serving the public.
Many "inspiring" speeches were given by Johnson... backed up by bugger all actual work done.
Serving the public, that's all I needed to hear.
He won’t though, instead he’ll concede more ground to Farage by jumping on the anti-immigration bandwagon and joining in with the war on woke nonsense like every centrist idiot before him has done across Europe. You don’t beat fascists by agreeing with them, and yet that’s exactly what centrists always do.
I bet that sounded great in the common room! 😀
I think Kier Starmer’s been a rubbish PM so far. He’s done nothing to cut costs for hardworking families, done nothing for Palestine, and done nothing on climate change. What was the point? I’m voting Reform next time.
Too early to determine whether he is a capable PM.
Everyone should be given the chance to prove themselves, what's the hurry?
In the meantime I am monitoring the petrol price and if it does not come down I know nothing change.
“Is it still too much to hope for that they actually start behaving like grown ups and actually take their seats at Westminster. Otherwise any electoral gains are completely and utterly pointless”
Abstentionism is a fundamental of republicanism, the first female MP ever elected to Westminster stood on a platform of abstentionism, so there’s little chance of a reversal. The idea of not being grown ups kind of illustrates how little british people understand about Irish politics, imo.
‘Serving the public’ sounds pretty good to me.
I bet that sounded great in the common room!
That's exactly what's happening across Europe. We're about one and a half parliamentary terms away from where France are right now. But yeah, lets carry on blaming immigrants and minorities and ignoring the real problem.
‘Ill give Labour 6 months and if they cant fix things thats it’
In the big company I work for, you can't even move a desk from side of the office to the other in six months.
The UK isn’t an outlier, it’s on exactly the same path as France et al, just a little bit behind.
Or possibly a little bit ahead. Hopefully we are coming out of the populist U-bend, having seen that it doesn't work.
The beauty of it is that if these (above) are funded correctly this...immigration...becomes unimportant
This is magical thinking. It will never become unimportant that the UK and French governments allow organised crime groups to land 400 people a week without controls. It will never be sensible for the solution to low paid, low productivity jobs being enabling employers to do more of the same through more immigration. It will never be possible to build our way out of a housing crisis if the population is growing half a million per annum.
Immigration isn't going away as an issue based on economic growth or increased government spending or nicer vibes.
Serving the public’ sounds pretty good to me.
Standard statement from all politicians, nothing new. That's their job.
If PM Starmer can get the petrol price down, he is heading in the right direction.
Is it still too much to hope for that they actually start behaving like grown ups and actually take their seats at Westminster.
And that Bobby Sands - why didn't he just get a proper meal in him?
Standard statement from all politicians, nothing new. That’s their job.
Yet ignored for the last decade.
It needed to be said and it needs to be done.
He is aware of voter disillusion, mostly due to the Tory shit storm that threw muck over all politicians irrelevant of their party.
So it turns out that Labour got half a million less votes yesterday than they got in the disastrous 2019 general election.
And only 2% more votes.
That's a very sobering thought ?
Thank **** for first-past-the-post, eh?
I hope it works as well next general election otherwise we might be ****ed.
That’s exactly what’s happening across Europe. We’re about one and a half parliamentary terms away from where France are right now. But yeah, lets carry on blaming immigrants and minorities and ignoring the real problem.
The counter argument to that is that after the utter shitshow of Brexit, where right wing populists promised the earth then delivered a 4% drop in GDP and years of chaos instead, last nights result - the ejection of a right wing rabble and only 4 seats for reform - show that the a majority of the UK electorate has had quite enough of that nonsense, thank you very much.
They've elected a governent of 'centrist fundamentalists' with a whacking great majority after all?
Thank christ!!!
Has the Russian Embassy moved to Clacton yet?
No, but his handlers can just row ashore from where the sub drops them off.
Apparently shares are doing rather well today for house builders
lets wait and see how long it is before scandal comes out of greasy £5 notes being passed starmers way,
Say goodbye to your local green belt 🙂
So it turns out that Labour got half a million less votes yesterday than they got in the disastrous 2019 general election.
And only 2% more votes.
They got less votes AND more votes? Pretty impressive!
Say goodbye to your local green belt ?
It's never really been about that, it's about nimbyism. A vocal group around here are campaigning against an estate being built, though they all live on land that used to be orchards and arable.
I don't see them demanding their houses are compulsorily purchased and knocked down to rewild their area...
"I'm alright Jack."
Thank **** for first-past-the-post, eh?
Don't be daft, we need to be giving Farage 100 MPs because you know, we must be fair to racists and fascists. :-/
They got less votes AND more votes? Pretty impressive!
% is used for the voting share. So yes both make sense.
Its, probably, lucky reform ate away a lot of the tory vote (assuming what happened does match what appears to happen eg all their voters switching across).
I say probably because now farage will feel emboldened.
the ejection of a right wing rabble and only 4 seats for reform – show that the a majority of the UK electorate has had quite enough of that nonsense, thank you very much.
The reason they only got 4 seats is FPTP. They got a shit-ton of actual votes.
And something none of those you’ve supported have ever achieved – still not accepted that you’re the outlier?
I don't know what they have achieved really. Never keep track of their achievement apart from using the petrol price to keep track of their progress, Can't get the petrol price down? No achievement in my view. LOL!
Outlier? LOL! I can support both Corbyn and Farage at the same time.
80% of eligible voters didn't vote for Labour.
Democracy in name only.
And while the electorate have clearly had enough of the individuals (corrupt, inept, self serving, add your own description) in not convinced they've voted for a massive policy shift. They/we just want competency and stability!
We didn't even get 80% of eligible voters to actually vote, so your point is shite
They/we just want competency and stability!
But there is the issue. Neither Labour or Conservative have committed to any extra tax/spend to improve stability, so the only thing that can keep happening is a spiral of decline
