The Politics Thread

[BWFC_Insane]

We'll end so agreeing a technicality where things stay basically as they are but we pay some sort of indirect premium that allows us to claim to have technically left.

We'll end up paying, but having no say. Worst of all worlds.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

We'll end so agreeing a technicality where things stay basically as they are but we pay some sort of indirect premium that allows us to claim to have technically left.

We'll end up paying, but having no say. Worst of all worlds.

Yeah but we'll have take back control.

[BWFC_Insane]

Corbyn has just absolutely ripped the piss out of May - saying that if she can't do the deal with the DUP that Labour are ready to offer "strong and stable" leadership. I could warm to confident on the front foot Corbyn.

[Aanvalluh]

We'll end so agreeing a technicality where things stay basically as they are but we pay some sort of indirect premium that allows us to claim to have technically left.

As Sir Humphrey would have said....

[Worthy4England]

I'd almost be tempted just to pass everything they suggest by abstention, if I was sat in Corbyn's place...

[malcd1]

Corbyn has just absolutely ripped the piss out of May - saying that if she can't do the deal with the DUP that Labour are ready to offer "strong and stable" leadership. I could warm to confident on the front foot Corbyn.

Strong and stable leadership? Is this the party leader that their own MP's refused to be in the shadow cabinet with him only a couple of months ago? The same strong and stable leader who their local candidates refused to mention him on the doorstep in the run up to the election or in their local 'Vote for Labour' pamphlets? This is the same party that came a distant second in a two horse race.

I wouldn't trust him to nip to the corner shop with my £1.50 to buy a loaf of bread never mind run the UK economy.

I don't trust any of the feckers but Labour the least.

[Lord Kangana]

You've got your wish. Theres no need to argue BWFCi's point because, in truth, it's purely rhetorical. The Tories will get to demonstrate, quite publcly, just how strong and stable they really are.

[Aanvalluh]

Corbyn has just absolutely ripped the piss out of May - saying that if she can't do the deal with the DUP that Labour are ready to offer "strong and stable" leadership. I could warm to confident on the front foot Corbyn.

Strong and stable leadership? Is this the party leader that their own MP's refused to be in the shadow cabinet with him only a couple of months ago? The same strong and stable leader who their local candidates refused to mention him on the doorstep in the run up to the election or in their local 'Vote for Labour' pamphlets? This is the same party that came a distant second in a two horse race.

I wouldn't trust him to nip to the corner shop with my £1.50 to buy a loaf of bread never mind run the UK economy.

I don't trust any of the feckers but Labour the least.

I wouldn't put it past the conspiracy theorists to suggest that the Labour Party wasn't in one huge set-up. Make out that your leader is rubbish, avoid dealing with him at all times, put up a candidate against him (knowing full well Corbyn will win the election) and then May will grab the chance of an early General Election to win by an innings when the opposition are away having tea.
When the election's called, the real Corbyn stands up and woos the country making May look a complete idiot....
If it was the plan, effing brilliant!
On the other hand, May might have wanted a soft/no Brexit but was too much under pressure from IDS, Posh Tall Tory and the others; and deliberately threw the election ending up with the forced soft-Brexit on her and she's happy (and can pass power over to Hair and go off and write books).
Again, effing brilliant.
But I don't think our politicians are that clever. Otherwise I would have no worries about Brexit

[Bruce Rioja]

Corbyn has just absolutely ripped the piss out of May - saying that if she can't do the deal with the DUP that Labour are ready to offer "strong and stable" leadership. I could warm to confident on the front foot Corbyn.

I'm reading a few remarks that he's made of late. Serious question - Is he not now in danger of getting a little too cocky for his own good?

[Worthy4England]

Corbyn has just absolutely ripped the piss out of May - saying that if she can't do the deal with the DUP that Labour are ready to offer "strong and stable" leadership. I could warm to confident on the front foot Corbyn.

I'm reading a few remarks that he's made of late. Serious question - Is he not now in danger of getting a little too cocky for his own good?

I think he is.

As others mentioned, he still lost by 50 seats. The Tory's are bright enough to close ranks for a bit (which is what we saw at the 1922), the Queens Speech, I suspect will have enough compromise to get through, so there isn't going to be a re-run or an impending PM assassination right now...so he probably needs to head back to critiquing policy rather than rolling out the "strong and stable" and "ready for government" thing, which quite frankly I laughed at when the exit poll came out...

24/48 hours after the election maybe, but move on now... Moment has passed and it starts to sound like sore loser...

[BWFC_Insane]

Corbyn has just absolutely ripped the piss out of May - saying that if she can't do the deal with the DUP that Labour are ready to offer "strong and stable" leadership. I could warm to confident on the front foot Corbyn.

I'm reading a few remarks that he's made of late. Serious question - Is he not now in danger of getting a little too cocky for his own good?

There is a line to tread, but I think it's crucial he gets onto the attack and stays there. He's got people behind him and retreating back to meek and mild would be wrong.

[Hoboh]

Corbyn has just absolutely ripped the piss out of May - saying that if she can't do the deal with the DUP that Labour are ready to offer "strong and stable" leadership. I could warm to confident on the front foot Corbyn.

I'm reading a few remarks that he's made of late. Serious question - Is he not now in danger of getting a little too cocky for his own good?

There is a line to tread, but I think it's crucial he gets onto the attack and stays there. He's got people behind him and retreating back to meek and mild would be wrong.

Yeah he sure has got 'people behind him'.

Firebrand shadow chancellor John McDonnell has undergone a transformation in recent weeks. Whereas Jeremy Corbyn remains every inch the protester (albeit one with a bigger stage to play on) McDonnell has adapted to his new office with a professionalism that eludes his leader.
The central complaint among Labour insiders is that Corbyn just isn't very good at politics. He doesn't have the instinct necessary to perform on the national stage, or the touch required to reach into people's homes and appear as a credible Prime Minister in waiting.
He is, in short, set in his ways - and they're the ways of the lifelong protester. Corbyn appears content with his role - paying tribute to obscure playwrights, tweeting his support for niche workers' rights campaigns and joining in with anti-government protests. It's admirable, in a way. He's always addressed anti-nuclear rallies and he's not going to stop doing so just because he's now Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition.
His shadow chancellor, meanwhile, is relishing a newfound position at the top of British politics, and has shed his old skin with remarkable ease. Watching him work the Sunday morning political shows, with his sensible soundbites and moderate policies, one could almost forget that this is a man who spent much of his life as the radical outsider.
When he was appointed to the top job in Corbyn's team, his personal website still carried commitments to “fermenting the overthrow of capitalism” - including a 60p top rate of income tax and the full public ownership of the banking system. These pledges have since disappeared, to be replaced online by platitudes about building a “new economic consensus.”
Alongside this public rebranding, his political power base is expanding. McDonnell now chairs Labour's 8am daily meeting and is in charge of the policy development process. He is understood to covet Corbyn's job and is actively trying to bring the hard-left and the soft-left together, in order to make that happen.
There are even those who maintain that the entire Corbyn leadership bid was masterminded by McDonnell. So keep an eye on this die-hard socialist. He may have changed his soundbites but he's unlikely to have changed his politics.

And that's before you get to Len!

[Prufrock]

Anything "masterminded" by McDonnell can't fail!

[Lord Kangana]

Point of order here, but does his website actually say ferment, rather than the more appropriate foment?

I'm just guessing, but anything that starts with 'firebrand' and ends with 'die-hard' is probably just missimg a couple of 'raged' and a 'screamed' to betray the kind of toilet paper it is.

[Dr Hotdog]

Corbyn has just absolutely ripped the piss out of May - saying that if she can't do the deal with the DUP that Labour are ready to offer "strong and stable" leadership. I could warm to confident on the front foot Corbyn.

Strong and stable leadership? Is this the party leader that their own MP's refused to be in the shadow cabinet with him only a couple of months ago? The same strong and stable leader who their local candidates refused to mention him on the doorstep in the run up to the election or in their local 'Vote for Labour' pamphlets? This is the same party that came a distant second in a two horse race.

I wouldn't trust him to nip to the corner shop with my £1.50 to buy a loaf of bread never mind run the UK economy.

I don't trust any of the feckers but Labour the least.

'kin el mate lighten up, I'm pretty sure it was said with tongue in cheek.

Also, my local MP is who I vote for on the basis of what they will do for my local area. May, Corbyn, F*cknut(all), Lucas et al were not on my ballot sheet so why should they be on the tongues of my local doorstepper (which, by the way, of all the candidates in the local area - Gorgeous George Galloway was the only one to knock on and chew the fat for a few minutes). It's different in different areas of the country, but my town is a Labour town and that aint changing anytime soon regardless of how I vote. The local LibDem leaflets were criticising Corbyn and not the Tories. Haha. Jokers. Nice try. They came 4th round here behind Red, Blue and Galloway. Total failure. 76% of the vote Labour received. I could have stood and I'd be an MP by now.

Funny old country and funny old voting system we've got.

[BWFC_Insane]

Corbyn has just absolutely ripped the piss out of May - saying that if she can't do the deal with the DUP that Labour are ready to offer "strong and stable" leadership. I could warm to confident on the front foot Corbyn.

Strong and stable leadership? Is this the party leader that their own MP's refused to be in the shadow cabinet with him only a couple of months ago? The same strong and stable leader who their local candidates refused to mention him on the doorstep in the run up to the election or in their local 'Vote for Labour' pamphlets? This is the same party that came a distant second in a two horse race.

I wouldn't trust him to nip to the corner shop with my £1.50 to buy a loaf of bread never mind run the UK economy.

I don't trust any of the feckers but Labour the least.

The same party leader who just received a standing ovation from all his MPs on entering the House of Commons yesterday.

He's proven people, including me wrong. Still has his failings, but what he did was expose how poor the Tory government are, and stole away their majority.

In turn this has saved the country from some swivel-eyed loon demented form of Brexit and some hard right policies that will now be thrown out.

Sadly the price to pay is giving some Northern Irish terrorists extra power, which is frustrating. But we are where we are and it is preferable to our incompetent PM having a huge majority and tub thumping her way through the Brexit negotiations leaving us even more screwed than we are already.

[BWFC_Insane]

Corbyn has just absolutely ripped the piss out of May - saying that if she can't do the deal with the DUP that Labour are ready to offer "strong and stable" leadership. I could warm to confident on the front foot Corbyn.

I'm reading a few remarks that he's made of late. Serious question - Is he not now in danger of getting a little too cocky for his own good?

There is a line to tread, but I think it's crucial he gets onto the attack and stays there. He's got people behind him and retreating back to meek and mild would be wrong.

Yeah he sure has got 'people behind him'.

41% of the electorate or thereabouts. Plus his MPs are now behind him. For now at least. A remarkable result, considering where they were at, surely you must acknowledge that?

[Hoboh]

Corbyn has just absolutely ripped the piss out of May - saying that if she can't do the deal with the DUP that Labour are ready to offer "strong and stable" leadership. I could warm to confident on the front foot Corbyn.

I'm reading a few remarks that he's made of late. Serious question - Is he not now in danger of getting a little too cocky for his own good?

There is a line to tread, but I think it's crucial he gets onto the attack and stays there. He's got people behind him and retreating back to meek and mild would be wrong.

Yeah he sure has got 'people behind him'.

41% of the electorate or thereabouts. Plus his MPs are now behind him. For now at least. A remarkable result, considering where they were at, surely you must acknowledge that?

Oh I'll admit the result was good for Corbyn, I just don't agree it was much to do with him and his policies, more to do with May being the most inept, catastrophic, waste of space I have ever seen leading a party into a general election. There have been other poor ones but to their credit at least they tried to canvas and engage the electorate.
First and foremost May should have dealt with the left wing media who went out of their way to lie about hard Brexit being the only way, I reckon I'll ask for six numbers for Saturdays lottery from them, then there was the stupid policies she put forward, no vision and a campaign Noddy and big ears or Wallace and Gromit would have been proud of.
Oh, I forgot to mention the bribes to the kiddies.

[BWFC_Insane]

I'm reading a few remarks that he's made of late. Serious question - Is he not now in danger of getting a little too cocky for his own good?

There is a line to tread, but I think it's crucial he gets onto the attack and stays there. He's got people behind him and retreating back to meek and mild would be wrong.

Yeah he sure has got 'people behind him'.

41% of the electorate or thereabouts. Plus his MPs are now behind him. For now at least. A remarkable result, considering where they were at, surely you must acknowledge that?

Oh I'll admit the result was good for Corbyn, I just don't agree it was much to do with him and his policies, more to do with May being the most inept, catastrophic, waste of space I have ever seen leading a party into a general election. There have been other poor ones but to their credit at least they tried to canvas and engage the electorate.
First and foremost May should have dealt with the left wing media who went out of their way to lie about hard Brexit being the only way, I reckon I'll ask for six numbers for Saturdays lottery from them, then there was the stupid policies she put forward, no vision and a campaign Noddy and big ears or Wallace and Gromit would have been proud of.
Oh, I forgot to mention the bribes to the kiddies.

Clearly May played a part. But we don't have a full analysis of why Corbyn achieved what he did. Needs a further breakdown and analysis. What we do know is the Tory vote went up. So Labour's vote is not just a case of May being poor and losing voters.

We also know he got the 18-34 voters out to levels not seen in the past 60 years or so. Which is some achievement.

I agree that May is absolutely appalling, her policies spiteful and her campaign riddled with errors. But in many ways Corbyn exploited that more than say a more centrist Labour leader might have. He offered a different sort of option. I agree with many (many who voted Labour) that some of the promises were unrealistic. However, the broad brushstrokes were clear...Labour were pledging a fairer society and investment driven economy, whereas the Tories promised stasis and well, hardship.

People see May on TV telling a nurse there is no "magic money tree" inspite of her own salary increasing 10% the year before and they eventually get fed up.

Corbyn tapped into that very well. Ideally we'd now have co-operation between all major parties to deliver the next few years of government seeing as the country is pretty much split, but I doubt that will happen. Which when you take the bluster away is a shame. Many of our European neighbours have far more collective governments than we do. And are stronger for it.

[TANGODANCER]

We also know he got the 18-34 voters out to levels not seen in the past 60 years or so. Which is some achievement.

I've seen you state this with the utmost certainty as a fact that affected results. My question- a genuine one and asked because I don't know the answer- is: How do you know? Is it a monitored situation, was there a poll....or is it just an assumption based on opinion.?

(I have seen indications of estimates, charts etc. Are they accurate?