2024 Election thread

I think that's a punchy call based on a better apology. He would still have had to deal with the standards committee and pincher by name. If there was no party gate at all, then perhaps.

I don't think partygate was forgivable.

I think you are right. I kind of expect them to drift along like this until the next GE, realise they are unelectable and then slowly start to get their act together.

Having said the above, judging by some of the recent Tory messaging, they're planning on doing an awful job in opposition and not returning to power.

Well we've made the quarters... Oh you mean something else.

There's not much enthusiasm for anyone. I think turnout will be low.

A big part of it will be how much opposition they can meaningfully offer, depending on the number of MP's they get. Real chance it could be small enough to render them virtually non existent as an actual opposition party.

I suspect that on 5 July there will be a lot of rejoicing, but most of it for seeing the Tories gone, and it'll be cathartic rejoicing if they are punished good and proper for what they've done.

It's kind of a blank slate for Labour: they've deliberately set fairly low expectations, so any improvement on the shambles and corruption will be a victory of sorts. It'll be a measure of how hated the Tories are if Labour annihilate them with little real enthusiasm for Labour.

I think Macron wants.to raise the state pension age to 35 or something.

Yet another shy Tory, it doesn’t really work when you’re the candidate though. This leaflet doesn’t exactly scream ‘Conservative and proud’ with its (literally) beige colour scheme. I suspect they’d have missed off any reference to the Party they represent if they were allowed. They also don’t seem to be aware of what falls within Westminster’s remit and what is Welsh Government. The rear is a Kitchener style picture warning of how Starmer needs YOU to give him a blank cheque. The actual policies are to axe the 20mph ‘blanket’ limit, stop solar farms on Gwent Levels and tackle crime and anti-social behaviour (presumably by reversing all the cuts to police budgets Labour have made over the last 14 years). Oh, and National Service.

And the Scotland replica Euros kit.

Maybe the Brexit t-shirts could go into a bit more detail as you have the benefit of hindsight 😉

John Crace sums up the mood fairly well, I think.

"Then Keir takes over. Repeating the same stump speech he has been making for the last five and a half weeks. You know the drill. Cost of living. Tory chaos. You can only get change if you vote for it. Apart from Labour itself. That has managed to change precisely because no one voted for it. Fourteen years of division and chaos. Take nothing for granted.

There is even, for once, just a glimmer of hope in what he says. Normally he doesn’t allow this to creep in. Anything that the Tory media could portray as triumphalism is strictly off limits. It’s not over till it’s over. Obviously joy is a no-no. This isn’t an election in which anyone is meant to feel positive. What’s on offer is that things will be a little less shit than they otherwise would have been. That’ll do, I suppose. But we are now allowed some unenthusiastic hope. My kind of message.

Still, why interrupt your opponent when he’s making mistakes? Sunak appears to be in meltdown. Becoming less and less classy as time goes on. Now he’s just clutching at straws. Making up all sorts of nonsense that he knows to be untrue. The latest is that Starmer will appease Putin. Not even Rish! believes that. Not even willing to lose with grace. At this rate he will have no legacy left to protect."

As I say, that Labour could annihilate the Tories only demonstrates how toxic the Tories have made their own brand. Their 80-seat majority built on Brexit unicorns is what killed them.

(I'm aware supermajority can be a thing, in other situations)

Yebbut Rayner.