General Election '24

[monkey]

I bet Brian Cox will be happy with that.

[jimbob]

Obligatory Thick of It clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyAnAVKeq1g

On brand for him to be drowned out by Things Can Only Get Better

https://x.com/scottygb/status/1793315621662290087

[monkey]

Obligatory Thick of It clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyAnAVKeq1g

On brand for him to be drowned out by Things Can Only Get Better

https://x.com/scottygb/status/1793315621662290087

I'm thinking about what music I would have played, 'cos if there's one thing I've learnt over recent years is that things can always get worse.

ETA: I'm currently thinking Babylon's Burning by the Ruts would capture my current mood.

[Gfamily]

What a shower!

Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-17.22.30.png (61.44 KiB) Viewed 91425 times

And a reminder that the Conservatives spent over £2.5 million on the Downing Street Press Room, but decided not to use it

[Brightonian]

A friend who works on the Govt side of NHS planning has been told to prepare for 4th July.

Confirmed. https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-politics-69042935

[lpm]

I'm so excited!

[Blackcountryboy]

Lucky for Paula Vennels.

[lpm]

They should have called the election in May.

- would have avoided the negative impact their local elections wipe out is going to have
- election campaigns always lead to suspension of infighting
- could have campaigned on "dangerous world, don't jump ship to the unknown, stick with experienced statesmen of Sunak, Cameron and Hunt"*
- dirty tricks, e.g. against Rayner, have to be deployed fast and hard, not languish across many months
- inflation will hit a low in May when the energy prices a year ago vanish from the stats - but then will rise again before the autumn. Can't campaign on beaten inflation when inflation is on the up again
- "Get Rwanda done" is better politics than "We got Rwanda done and it's made bugger all difference"
- pay packets at end of April will be higher than end of March, due to the budget's tax bribe. Something to shout about in the final week of the campaign. Will be forgotten by the autumn




*Yeah, I know, but it's all relative, and those three are a bit more professional than their colleagues.

I presume these reasons are why.

Except since May the SNP has imploded further. Those Scottish seats basically guarantee a Labour majority and a hung parliament is highly unlikely.

Inflation will hit a minimum in a month's time, just right for some good headlines. It is forecast to head up again before autumn. The Rwanda fiasco won't have fiascoed by election day, but would have been at peak fiascoicity in the autumn.

[jimbob]

They should have called the election in May.

- would have avoided the negative impact their local elections wipe out is going to have
- election campaigns always lead to suspension of infighting
- could have campaigned on "dangerous world, don't jump ship to the unknown, stick with experienced statesmen of Sunak, Cameron and Hunt"*
- dirty tricks, e.g. against Rayner, have to be deployed fast and hard, not languish across many months
- inflation will hit a low in May when the energy prices a year ago vanish from the stats - but then will rise again before the autumn. Can't campaign on beaten inflation when inflation is on the up again
- "Get Rwanda done" is better politics than "We got Rwanda done and it's made bugger all difference"
- pay packets at end of April will be higher than end of March, due to the budget's tax bribe. Something to shout about in the final week of the campaign. Will be forgotten by the autumn




*Yeah, I know, but it's all relative, and those three are a bit more professional than their colleagues.

I presume these reasons are why.

Except since May the SNP has imploded further. Those Scottish seats basically guarantee a Labour majority and a hung parliament is highly unlikely.

Inflation will hit a minimum in a month's time, just right for some good headlines. It is forecast to head up again before autumn. The Rwanda fiasco won't have fiascoed by election day, but would have been at peak fiascoicity in the autumn.

Alternatively, the 1922 committee might have been getting letters in and Sunak preempted them.

I assumed he wanted to milk the country as much as possible and DGAF about the post election Tory party.

[Grumble]

What a shower!
Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-17.22.30.png
And a reminder that the Conservatives spent over £2.5 million on the Downing Street Press Room, but decided not to use it

Good point, shamelessly stolen.

[jimbob]

It's getting more on brand

https://x.com/SkyNews/status/1793359440919380470

Sky News
@SkyNews
Sky's political correspondent
@darrenmccaffrey
is removed from Rishi Sunak's campaign launch event.

https://trib.al/YKanzN3

Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube
8:13 PM · May 22, 2024
·
483.5K
Views

[Brightonian]

Ooh, this is fun: GB News suggesting rebel Tories could revoke the election by replacing Sunak: https://twitter.com/christopherhope/sta ... 5203456276

[jimbob]

Ooh, this is fun: GB News suggesting rebel Tories could revoke the election by replacing Sunak: https://twitter.com/christopherhope/sta ... 5203456276

Could they even undissolve Parliament?

[Grumble]

Ooh, this is fun: GB News suggesting rebel Tories could revoke the election by replacing Sunak: https://twitter.com/christopherhope/sta ... 5203456276

Could they even undissolve Parliament?

One of the privileges of the king is that he has to agree to dissolve parliament. If he was asked to revoke that dissolution surely he could refuse to do so? And he might, in fact.

[monkey]

Ooh, this is fun: GB News suggesting rebel Tories could revoke the election by replacing Sunak: https://twitter.com/christopherhope/sta ... 5203456276

Could they even undissolve Parliament?

They could try boiling it. Did that at school once with salty water to get salt.

But they seem to think they have up till the dissolving happens, so the 30th.

ETA: If they did this and got away with it they'd probably end up being hated as much as the woman who put a cat in a bin.

[lpm]

Ooh, this is fun: GB News suggesting rebel Tories could revoke the election by replacing Sunak: https://twitter.com/christopherhope/sta ... 5203456276

Could they even undissolve Parliament?

Of course not. That twitterer must be drunk.

[dyqik]

Ooh, this is fun: GB News suggesting rebel Tories could revoke the election by replacing Sunak: https://twitter.com/christopherhope/sta ... 5203456276

Could they even undissolve Parliament?

One of the privileges of the king is that he has to agree to dissolve parliament. If he was asked to revoke that dissolution surely he could refuse to do so? And he might, in fact.

And precedent would be on his side.

[dyqik]

Ooh, this is fun: GB News suggesting rebel Tories could revoke the election by replacing Sunak: https://twitter.com/christopherhope/sta ... 5203456276

Could they even undissolve Parliament?

I think the idea is that they would remove Sunak before the dissolution of Parliament actually happens 25 days before the election.

[Gfamily]

Interestingly, the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 prevents the courts from ruling in respect of the dissolution of parliament.
This followed the attempted (and subsequently blocked) prorogation of parliament that Johnson wanted in September 2021, so as to prevent parliamentary scrutiny of his Brexit plans.

The same act repealed the Fixed Term Parliaments Act of 2011.

[lpm]

Ooh, this is fun: GB News suggesting rebel Tories could revoke the election by replacing Sunak: https://twitter.com/christopherhope/sta ... 5203456276

Could they even undissolve Parliament?

I think the idea is that they would remove Sunak before the dissolution of Parliament actually happens 25 days before the election.

Tory MPs have zero ability to remove someone from position as Prime Minister.

Doesn't matter what internal party rules they have, with silly letters or votes of confidence in leadership. They might fire him as leader of their political party. But it does not follow that he would stop being PM.

[dyqik]

Could they even undissolve Parliament?

I think the idea is that they would remove Sunak before the dissolution of Parliament actually happens 25 days before the election.

Tory MPs have zero ability to remove someone from position as Prime Minister.

Doesn't matter what internal party rules they have, with silly letters or votes of confidence in leadership. They might fire him as leader of their political party. But it does not follow that he would stop being PM.

True.

But the fall out of an attempt would be hilarious.

[bob sterman]

Tory MPs have zero ability to remove someone from position as Prime Minister.

Doesn't matter what internal party rules they have, with silly letters or votes of confidence in leadership. They might fire him as leader of their political party. But it does not follow that he would stop being PM.

Good point. Prime ministers are appointed based on their ability to command confidence in the House of Commons - doesn't matter if that confidence (majority) comes from a single party - or depends on 200 Labour MPs who are very happy that an election is coming.

By attempting to mess with the calling of this election - Tory headbangers could turn a likely dismal defeat on polling day - into utter annihilation.

[jimbob]

Tory MPs have zero ability to remove someone from position as Prime Minister.

Doesn't matter what internal party rules they have, with silly letters or votes of confidence in leadership. They might fire him as leader of their political party. But it does not follow that he would stop being PM.

Good point. Prime ministers are appointed based on their ability to command confidence in the House of Commons - doesn't matter if that confidence (majority) comes from a single party - or depends on 200 Labour MPs who are very happy that an election is coming.

By attempting to mess with the calling of this election - Tory headbangers could turn a likely dismal defeat on polling day - into utter annihilation.

Indeed, but do they have much to lose? What is Sunak going to do to them? Many are stepping down, or feel their seats are doomed anyway, so just want more time to be An Important Person

[TopBadger]

But the fall out of an attempt would be hilarious.

Oh it would be - seeing the reality of "star-one clusterf.ck from the Tories" would likely push most people* to decide they'd prefer "Chaos with Labour".

*Not my Daily Hate reading father-in-law though. He readily complains the country has gone to sh.t but hasn't quite been able to put two and two together yet about who is responsible for that.

[Imrael]

ON the timing, is one effect to make it harder for (undergraduate) students to vote? If they are registered in their university town but away for the summer, less likely to make a special trip back. Or, probably, get registered at out-of-term address.,