UK General Election 2024

[mdgv2]

How do!

So it’s coming. And no later than 28 January 2025, though most expect it some time this year.

And finally, after nearly 14 years, it’s looking like the Tories are going to be out. To the degree the question seems to be how badly they’re going to be out.

Some polls suggest a landslide for Labour, potentially greater than 1997. But it’s of course still early days.

Being a dirty little lefty I am of course hoping for a Torypocaylpse, including the loss of safe seats. Not only to get their hideous, bigoted hands off the levers of power, but to give the party a chance to permanently ditch its worst of the worst. Like Cruella, Patel, Gove and Rees Smug. Probably unlikely to happen, but a man can dream, and I’d love to see the really swivel eyed headbangers reduced to moping about the GBeebies “news” studio, desperate to utter their inane drivel to the ears of our most ignorant of the hard of thinking.

Though I’m not expecting any great things from Starmer’s Labour. I couldn’t name a single policy of theirs right now.

[crispy78]

I have seen it suggested that, with a bit of tactical voting, the Tories could even fail to be the opposition party after the election. Tee hee.

On a personal level, I am rather disappointed that I am caught up in the re-drawing of the constituency boundaries - and I will no longer be voting in Winchester & Chandlers Ford (a gnats cock away from unseating the current Tory MP) and will instead count as Eastleigh (still strongly Tory for some fucking reason). Ho hum.

[mdgv2]

Kwasi “oh no, I’ve buggered the economy” Kwarteng is standing down at the next election. Very glad to be rid of him and his abject incompetence, but disappointed his constituents are being stripped of the opportunity to vote him out.

Seems Failing Grayling (is there nothing he can’t completely fuck up?) and Dominic Raab are also offski. Announced previously, but figured best to list it here. Rats abandoning a sinking ship, or idiot toddlers throwing a huff when they’re not allowed new toys to smash up.

[crispy78]

Yeah, feels like rats and sinking ship, fragile egos can't take the impending pounding to me. Delighted that Raab (my parents' MP) is off, although I did want to see him LOSE rather than say 'I'm not going to play any more' and taking his ball home. My current MP (Steve Brine, Conservative) is standing down too - and I suspect that's because he knows damn well he's not going to get re-elected.

Current count is 58 Tory MPs standing down:
conservativehome.com/2024/02/06/our-list-of-conservative-mps-standing-down-at-the-next-election-timpson-the-latest-to-announce/

With apologies for linking to a Tory website...

[Haighus]

The Tories are not going to disappear and they are highly unlikely to become more moderate after this. Polls suggest Reform UK is going to take a significant vote share from the right of the Tories, which is likely going to drive them further right in the same way UKIP did in the past.

Meanwhile, Starmer is probably going to be thoroughly disappointing and ineffective (based on his actions and current stances*), so I expect the next GE to be Labour polling poorly whilst a resurgent, further-right Tory party does well and maybe comes back to power with an even more fascistic government. Depressing.

Therefore, I hope that Labour wins a plurality rather than a majority and is forced to go into coalition with a party further to their left. Currently, I doubt this will happen, even with the SNP holding power in Scotland.


*Starmer tends to change his positions from one interview to the next, so who knows what he'll do for sure.

[Haighus]

Feb 6, 2024 7:37:40 GMT -5 crispy78 said:

Yeah, feels like rats and sinking ship, fragile egos can't take the impending pounding to me. Delighted that Raab (my parents' MP) is off, although I did want to see him LOSE rather than say 'I'm not going to play any more' and taking his ball home. My current MP (Steve Brine, Conservative) is standing down too - and I suspect that's because he knows damn well he's not going to get re-elected.

Current count is 58 Tory MPs standing down:
conservativehome.com/2024/02/06/our-list-of-conservative-mps-standing-down-at-the-next-election-timpson-the-latest-to-announce/

With apologies for linking to a Tory website...

They'll all get £150000/year consultancy posts for ten hours "work" or directorships and do speeches. Entirely logical to jump ship now.

[pacific]

Yes I see they are trying to push the election back as far as possible (I have read October or November as the most likely time) to try and hope something drastic happens in the meantime (really what are they hoping for? Declaration of war by Russia?). But it's all for nought, I am sure they will just keep on trying to line their pockets, to smash and grab, as much as they can before being ousted from office.

I will probably vote tactically which will mean a vote for Labour. Usually it would have been a Green party of Lib Dem vote in the past, but really the Tories need to be annihilated as a political force, as they have sent the UK on such an awful trajectory. Quite a few people I have spoken to on the topic are of a like mind. Yes Labour don't seem to have any sort of defined policies, but I would take that and incompetence over self-serving maliciousness.

[redchimera]

I fully expect Rishi to leave it 'til the last possible date, out of sheer desperation.

[herzlos]

That seems to be his approach. Delay and hope a miracle happens.

I suspect they'll spend a lot of their remaining timing (a) grabbing as much cash as they can and (b) salting the earth ahead of a Labour Government hoping that voters will see the disasters happen under Labour and not notice they were caused by the Tories.

I'm also looking forward to seeing the back of them and hopefully some kind of rational recovery, but I've been bitterly disappointed that they won the last 2 despite being terrible so I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm also not that confident in a Starmer Labour, but again it can hardly be any worse than the Tories.

[crispy78]

Obviously nothing will come of it, because that's apparently where we are now - but Sunak really screwed the pooch at PMQs today. Made a jibe to Starmer about not knowing what a woman was, when the mother of murdered trans teen Brianna Ghey was known to be in the public gallery. Fucking whoops. Everyone is lining up to call him a cunt in the media at the moment.

[herzlos]

Whilst anyone with a shred of humanity will be appalled by that, will it hurt how Tory voters feel about him? They seem to mostly agree with the anti-trans culture war.

I also thought it was pretty impressive to accuse Starmer of failing to deliver on promises and not having any plans, when Labour isn't actually in Government. Does anything meaningful happen in PMQ's now or is it just weird arguing?

[nfe]

The reaction to Sunak making the same gag he has at several PMQs because Esther Ghey was present is itself repulsive. No one gave a shit when she (or thousands of trans people) could see/hear him say it on media coverage but it's outrageous now because she was there in person?

It really speaks to the general Westminster culture of being polite to people's faces but savaging them if you have even the tiniest shred of separation.

[crispy78]

Yeah I'm with you on that one, it's a terrible line regardless (that obviously Sunak has had written for him and been told to shoe-horn in wherever he can) - but I still think it's even worse to use it knowing Ghey was present. At the very least it shows he just can't relate to how other people might feel. Same as on his interview with Piers Morgan the other day, where he made a £1000 bet about deportation flights to Rwanda starting before the election. You've really got to be working at it to be with Piers Morgan and still be the biggest piece of shit in the room.

[herzlos]

<abbr>I think a lot of voters keep forgetting how much of a different world he's in to most of us. Possibly because he's got so little presence or personality.
</abbr>

<abbr></abbr>

[mdgv2]

Sunak or Starmer? Both are pretty personality free.