UK General Discussion

[You kip if you want to...]

Any thoughts on the Clegg/Farage debate?

Clegg did himself in, he came off as downright patronising.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I would rather have eaten a razorblade sandwich than watch that...

[Silent Hunter]

I would rather have eaten a razorblade sandwich than watch that...

I instead went to the cinema.

[afleitch]

I feel sorry for Clegg. People have been conditioned to hate him so much they give the benefit of the doubt to a dangerous politician like Farage.

[YL]

I feel sorry for Clegg. People have been conditioned to hate him so much they give the benefit of the doubt to a dangerous politician like Farage.

There was more to it than that.  According to the ICM post-debate poll, 42% of current Lib Dem supporters (excluding don't knows) thought Farage "won" as against 58% who though Clegg did.  That's a pretty lousy outcome for Clegg among people who presumably do not hate him that much as they still support his party.  YouGov figures were similar though slightly better for Clegg.  (Admittedly we are talking small subsamples.)

As for views on the debate, I posted this last night on the EU elections thread:

ICM and YouGov have polls on who "won".  ICM say Farage 69% Clegg 31% (not including don't knows) and YouGov say Farage 68% Clegg 27% (presumably including don't knows as that adds to 95%).

I wasn't very impressed by either of them.  As a left-liberal pro-European I'm never going to like Farage, but I thought Clegg was a shadow of his April 2010 self and rarely seemed convincing.  So I guess the poll figures make sense.

[afleitch]

MSP Margo Macdonald has died.

[You kip if you want to...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDsV8YumePk

This is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

[Silent Hunter]

The Tory Mayor of Havering and two other councillors have defected to UKIP, making the Tories a minority administration on my local council. This may have had something to do with a batch of incumbents getting deselected for the upcoming May elections.

[YL]

A cabinet resignation: Maria Miller (Tory MP for Basingstoke) has resigned as Secretary of State for culture, media and sport after the media had been gunning for her for a week or so.  This is essentially another flare up of the 2009 MPs' expenses scandal.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ministers in this government have had a strangely limpet like quality: it's been obvious for a while that Miller's position was untenable, yet she clung on regardless. Of course it could be argued that the 'a scandal? OUT THE DOOR AT ONCE!' frequently taken by the previous government wasn't that healthy either.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Replaced by Tory Right member Sajid Javid - said by some to be PM material, but then again the UK media do have a cringeworthy habit of finding minority background politicians and proclaiming them as "The British Obama". Still nice to see a bit of diversity in the cabinet, even if it came at the expense of one of the few women on the frontbench (not that I'm defending Miller in any way).

Is Miller going to resign as an MP as well? Basingstoke might be a conceivable target for UKIP

[Filuwaúrdjan]

They didn't perform terribly in the 2013 county council elections, but they didn't perform terribly well there either. In a by-election caused by a scandal they'd throw the kitchen sink at it (of course), though Labour would also make an effort (parts of the town have a decent Labour vote and the constituency would have been Labour for part of the Blair era on present boundaries). Though presumably she's not going to quit as an MP.

[Хahar 🤔]

I find Sajid Javid deeply abhorrent on a personal level in a way that's not true of any other politician I can think of.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yes, I can understand that.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Is it just me or does he sound like a Dalek?

[Supersonic]

Michael Fabricant, Vice Chair of the Conservative Party was asked to resign today, refused, then was sacked. Most likely due to his calling for Maria Miller to resign on Twitter and vocal anti-HS2 views (a-la Justine Greening moving from the transport brief).

Anyhow, everyone promoted in the mini-shuffle has made me a very happy Tory. Sajid Javid was the guest of honour at our University Conservative group summer dinner and he definitely impressed, I feel he's slightly wasted at the DCMS though. Andrea Leadsom and Nicky Morgan are also fantastic.

[afleitch]

Ministerial resignations and reshuffles are so rare this parliament that this makes a bigger impact that it would otherwise do. Still, it is nice to get one of the 2010 cohort at the table.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Nigel Evans found not guilty, therefore no Ribble Valley by-election.

[afleitch]

Nigel Evans found not guilty, therefore no Ribble Valley by-election.

Not just that. The evidence against him like wet tissue. It should have never gone to court.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Michael Fabricant, Vice Chair of the Conservative Party was asked to resign today, refused, then was sacked. Most likely due to his calling for Maria Miller to resign on Twitter and vocal anti-HS2 views (a-la Justine Greening moving from the transport brief).

Fabricant always creeped me out. He looks like a shrivelled up Boris Johnson.

Then again it was probably a bad idea to appoint a self-described "maverick" to a leadership role. Maverick politicians are normally best suited to minor parties, the backbenches and crap reality TV. Watch as an unleashed Fabricant seeks the oxygen of media exposure to revenge himself on the party establishment.

Nigel Evans found not guilty, therefore no Ribble Valley by-election.

Will he be reinstated as Deputy Speaker?

[YL]

Nigel Evans found not guilty, therefore no Ribble Valley by-election.

Not just that. The evidence against him like wet tissue. It should have never gone to court.

If the Guardian article on the case is accurate I'd have to agree.  What were the police and CPS doing?

[Supersonic]

Michael Fabricant, Vice Chair of the Conservative Party was asked to resign today, refused, then was sacked. Most likely due to his calling for Maria Miller to resign on Twitter and vocal anti-HS2 views (a-la Justine Greening moving from the transport brief).

Fabricant always creeped me out. He looks like a shrivelled up Boris Johnson.

Then again it was probably a bad idea to appoint a self-described "maverick" to a leadership role. Maverick politicians are normally best suited to minor parties, the backbenches and crap reality TV. Watch as an unleashed Fabricant seeks the oxygen of media exposure to revenge himself on the party establishment.

Nigel Evans found not guilty, therefore no Ribble Valley by-election.

Will he be reinstated as Deputy Speaker?

Yeah, he's a.. character, shall we say. I do find him quite an amusing fellow, he hosted our University freshers event and went down a treat.

To the second question, unlikely.

Nigel Evans found not guilty, therefore no Ribble Valley by-election.

Not just that. The evidence against him like wet tissue. It should have never gone to court.

If the Guardian article on the case is accurate I'd have to agree.  What were the police and CPS doing?

I read the article too, seems Sarah Wollaston played a big role in getting the police involved. Never really been fond of her.

Also, Norman Tebbit calls for Martin McGuinness to be assassinated.

[politicus]

Also, Norman Tebbit calls for Martin McGuinness to be assassinated.

One is allowed to day dream, even of the death of your enemies.

Not the Christian thing to do, but I cant really blame him. If he was an active politician it would be another matter, but this is only human.

[Cassius]

Michael Fabricant, Vice Chair of the Conservative Party was asked to resign today, refused, then was sacked. Most likely due to his calling for Maria Miller to resign on Twitter and vocal anti-HS2 views (a-la Justine Greening moving from the transport brief).

Fabricant always creeped me out. He looks like a shrivelled up Boris Johnson.

Then again it was probably a bad idea to appoint a self-described "maverick" to a leadership role. Maverick politicians are normally best suited to minor parties, the backbenches and crap reality TV. Watch as an unleashed Fabricant seeks the oxygen of media exposure to revenge himself on the party establishment.

Nigel Evans found not guilty, therefore no Ribble Valley by-election.

Will he be reinstated as Deputy Speaker?

Yeah, he's a.. character, shall we say. I do find him quite an amusing fellow, he hosted our University freshers event and went down a treat.

To the second question, unlikely.

Nigel Evans found not guilty, therefore no Ribble Valley by-election.

Not just that. The evidence against him like wet tissue. It should have never gone to court.

If the Guardian article on the case is accurate I'd have to agree.  What were the police and CPS doing?

I read the article too, seems Sarah Wollaston played a big role in getting the police involved. Never really been fond of her.

Also, Norman Tebbit calls for Martin McGuinness to be assassinated.

Well, it would be a rather just dessert for him I must say.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Richard Hoggart, massively influential public intellectual and author of The Uses of Literacy, has died aged 95.