UK General Discussion Thread: mayy lmao

[Cassius]

John Sewel, one of the Deputy Speakers in the Lords, has resigned after a video came to light of him allegedly snorting cocaine in the company of prostitutes whilst insulting a number of other politicians, including the PM, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn.

[Cassius]

So the UK's Bernie Sanders has become the new leader of the Labour Party?

That's an insult to Bernie Sanders.

The best comparison I can find is Bill De Blasio.

I think Jeremy Corbyn is more of a sane Lyndon LaRouche to be honest. Not that a sane Lyndon LaRouche is particularly easy to picture.

[Cassius]

In other news, Robert Halfon, Minister without Portfolio and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative party has apparently been a very bad boy, and in addition to that appears to have become embroiled in some internal party shenanigans over the issue.

[Cassius]

In other news, Robert Halfon, Minister without Portfolio and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative party has apparently been a very bad boy, and in addition to that appears to have become embroiled in some internal party shenanigans over the issue.

Isn't he the one who is a trade unionist and wants the Tories to be re-named 'The Workers Party'?

That's the man.

[Cassius]

RIP Alex Salmond

[Cassius]

So...Labour did alright in England and Wales, then?

Well, I don't think you can really say they did alright in Wales. Whilst they did better than was perhaps expected regarding their seat count (although I personally never thought they would be in danger of losing seats to the Tories, and there are only about three Labour held seats that Plaid were capable of managing a strong challenge in, one of which they won), and at the end of the day that's what matters vis a vis government formation, they still shed a lot of votes almost right across the country, with odd exceptions like Arfon. Labour benefited from the fact that there isn't (and hasn't really been since 1999) one party that can definitively claim to be the 'government in waiting'. The existing opposition parties all have different regional bases (the Tories in Monmouth, the Vale and parts of Cardiff, Pembrokeshire and select areas of Central and North Wales, Plaid in predominantly Welsh speaking areas and the Valleys, the Lib Dems now largely in their traditional rural Mid Wales heartlands), and none can hope to challenge Labour for every constituency. UKIP has now further added to this fragmentation, to the detriment (seats wise) of the Conservatives and Lib Dems. Furthermore of course, unlike in Scotland, Labour still have a lot of very safe seats that they'd have to be doing incredibly badly to lose.

I'd also say of course that Labour were quite lucky in some constituencies, particularly the Vales and Blaenau Gwent, and if they had lost those we would be looking at a very different result. As is, just over a third of the vote is hardly a ringing endorsement given that Labour got 42% five years ago and have won more than 50% of the vote in parliamentary elections of the not too distant past. But, then again, I suppose it's still more of a ringing endorsement than for any of the other parties.

[Cassius]

Dianne Abbott came wading in this morning claiming that Sadiqs victory (not confirmed) was due to Corbyn- ultimate irony is that even Corbynites hate Abbott. Only figure in the party more hated than my namesake.

Rant aside it wasn't as bad as I thought- the welsh results were just in line with the past (barring 2011) but Labor need to be careful as Plaid are coming up as a poor-mans SNP- the gastly Neil Hamilton has returned to public office. The biggest problem with the list system

Plaid will never achieve SNP levels of success because they continue to be seen by most people as the party of Welsh speakers, which isn't a winning strategy whenever three quarters of the population can't speak Welsh. Plaid being bound tightly to the Welsh language movement (to put it crudely) does give it a fairly rock solid base in some areas, but stunts its capacity for growth into an actual 'party of Wales'.

Aside from that, Neil Hamilton in the Welsh Assembly should be a laugh.

[Cassius]

Why would McDonnell do any better than Corbyn? This is the man who thought it would be a good idea to fling Mao's little Red Book across the despatch box at the Chancellor (regardless of whether he had a point or not). He seems to have the opposite personality problem to Corbyn, in that he's too hot headed and reckless.

[Cassius]

I can't quite believe I'm rooting for Corbyn for non-cynical reasons.

[Cassius]

Boris as Foreign Secretary ayy lmao

[Cassius]

Boris is Foreign Secretary.

LOL

Just when you thought the UK's relationship to the rest of the world couldn't possibly get any worse.

Not a fan of Johnson, but to be fair to him he's not exactly Nigel Farage.

[Cassius]

Boris is Foreign Secretary.

LOL

Just when you thought the UK's relationship to the rest of the world couldn't possibly get any worse.

Not a fan of Johnson, but to be fair to him he's not exactly Nigel Farage.

Doesn't everybody who has worked with him find him insufferable?

He's rubbed a few people up the wrong way, but he's not actively offensive a la Farage - I think the biggest criticism of him is his laziness more than anything else. Fwiw I suspect a lot of the heavy lifting in the ensuing negotiations will be handled by May herself and people like Liam Fox, whom I pleased to see back in the cabinet.

[Cassius]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/20/female-mps-should-be-allowed-to-breastfeed-in-commons-says-repor/?WTmcid=tmgoff_soc_spf_fb&WT.mc_id=sf31384280

Some professor commissioned to produce a report on reforming parliamentary procedure and predictably it's a pile of wank... and also predictably endorsed by John Berkcow.

[Cassius]

Downing Street is sticking to its line regarding an early election. Apparently some Tory MPs in Cornwall and Devon are terrified of losing their seats. If she changes her mind then it'll have to be within the next two weeks anyway.

I would've thought the 2015 intake from old Lib Dem seats in South London (and places like Bath) would have far more to worry about from an election fought on the EU than those in Devon and Cornwall.

[Cassius]

How about the Europe will give the UK lenient conditions of leaving, if the UK pledges restore capital punishment for the UKIP members solely?

Well given that there aren't very many of them by now I'd say it's a fair deal.