UK General Discussion Thread: mayy lmao

[Phony Moderate]

Lord (Cecil) Parkinson, prominent Tory figure during the Thatcher years who served as party chair and in various cabinet posts, has died at 84.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ah, a grade A sh!tstain is dead. How sad. Do we have a comment from his daughter? You know the one I mean. That one.

[Silent Hunter]

Court of Appeal rules against bedroom tax

Good.

[Slow Learner]

Terry Wogan has died.

[Grand Wizard Lizard of the Klan]

Cripple fight: Britain First vs some lefties and Muslims.

[ChrisDR68]

Terry Wogan has died.

Not exactly political news but sad none the less.

January 2016 was an awful month for celebrity deaths:

David Bowie, Glenn Frey of the Eagles, Alan Rickman, Frank Finlay, Ed Stewart and Robert Stigwood all passing away.

I'm glad we're finally in February.

[Phony Moderate]

I literally only just realised that PCC elections are taking place in May, which means I'm probably about the 44th person in the entire country to do so. They should get slightly more than a 12% (or whatever it was last time) turnout at least. Still, it is going to be a pretty jam-packed couple of months electorally: the usual locals, the PPCs, the London Mayoral and Assembly, Scotland, Wales and Norn Iron and then a likely June EU referendum.

[MaxQue]

then a likely June EU referendum.

That would be a violation of Electoral Commission advice, which is asking the date being announced 6 months in advance.

[MaxQue]

The MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, Harry Harpham (Labour) has sadly died of cancer today. He was a councillor in Sheffield since 2004 and MP since 2015.

A coal miner which had to change paths after the 1985 strikes.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Urgh, this came out of nowhere. RIP

[Silent Hunter]

Indeed. Rest in Peace.

[Serenity Now]

What a shame. RIP.

[YL]

The MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, Harry Harpham (Labour) has sadly died of cancer today. He was a councillor in Sheffield since 2004 and MP since 2015.

A coal miner which had to change paths after the 1985 strikes.

Sad news.

He had a very different career path from your stereotypical ex-SpAd new MP.

[joevsimp]

some of you with long memories may remember the Newark byelection 18 months ago, and this coming up in the thread

According to the Guardian UKIP and the Lib Dems are wondering aloud whether the Tories spent more than allowed on their campaign.

I doubt they'd be so blatant as to spend more that £100,000 0n the campaign, but there were some similar mutterings at the last general election that money was spent on the council election tab that had an effect on the parliamentary campaign. Might be something similar with euro money being disproportionately spent  in Newark

of course i'm merely speculating on what the lib dems might be thinking, i'm sure that the tories didn't do anything illegal.  Sneaky and underhanded on the other hand...

It's not like campaign overspending has ever happened before in Newark.

well lookie what have we here? undeclared hotel bills from Newark, Clacton and Rochester

http://www.channel4.com/news/conservatives-appear-to-have-overspent-on-three-by-elections

unfortunately, the intervening general election limits the possibilities for action, a very worrying precedent though...

[YL]

some of you with long memories may remember the Newark byelection 18 months ago, and this coming up in the thread

According to the Guardian UKIP and the Lib Dems are wondering aloud whether the Tories spent more than allowed on their campaign.

I doubt they'd be so blatant as to spend more that £100,000 0n the campaign, but there were some similar mutterings at the last general election that money was spent on the council election tab that had an effect on the parliamentary campaign. Might be something similar with euro money being disproportionately spent  in Newark

of course i'm merely speculating on what the lib dems might be thinking, i'm sure that the tories didn't do anything illegal.  Sneaky and underhanded on the other hand...

It's not like campaign overspending has ever happened before in Newark.

well lookie what have we here? undeclared hotel bills from Newark, Clacton and Rochester

http://www.channel4.com/news/conservatives-appear-to-have-overspent-on-three-by-elections

unfortunately, the intervening general election limits the possibilities for action, a very worrying precedent though...

Election petitions are out (and they only won one of the by-elections anyway) but couldn't there still be a police investigation?

I'm surprised that Clacton's on the list; I'd got the impression that they knew Carswell was always going to win and didn't try as hard as in the other two.

[YL]

Nottinghamshire Police are indeed investigating the Newark allegations:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35562697

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Lord Avebury (a.k.a. Eric Lubbock) has died. He was the winner of the famous Orpington by-election of 1962 and held that seat until he was defeated in 1970.

[Phony Moderate]

Some deal has been reached in the EU negotiations but it's not much change obviously - just a couple of benefit restrictions and some kind of safeguard for the City of London. Cameron to lead the Remain campaign, Gove and Galloway to campaign to Leave, Boris Johnson undecided.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Gove and Galloway to campaign to Leave

Oh, so we're staying in the EU, I guess.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

EU Referendum on 23 June.

[Silent Hunter]

Well, at least it'll be over quicker than the US election...

[Clyde1998]

Thank god for UKIP...

[Serenity Now]

A couple of interesting articles about Dan Jarvis MP, a potential contender (or challenger) for the Labour Party Leadership:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/09/dan-jarvis-vision-for-labour-leadership-talk-corbyn-challenge

http://labourlist.org/2016/03/labour-must-go-further-on-tackling-inequality-demands-dan-jarvis/

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Jarvis came to my uni, he's very bleh. (even the self-styled right faction people were unimpressed)

[The Last Northerner]

Obama shows his true side, lashes out at Cameron over Libya