UK General Discussion Thread: mayy lmao

[YL]

UKIP appear to be providing some entertainment.

[YL]

Yeah, that's ... tenuous. Haven't the SNP's online lynch mobs got anything better to do?

Worked with Phil Woolas last time. Well, Labour did win the by-election, but still...

(Oh and Galloway's trying the same thing himself)

The Woolas case succeeded because the Woolas campaign was found to have breached "It is an illegal practice to make or publish a false statement of fact about the personal character or conduct of a candidate in order to affect the return of a candidate at an election" where the candidate in question was Woolas's Lib Dem opponent in his constituency.  This seems very different, as Nicola Sturgeon wasn't a candidate in Orkney & Shetland, or indeed anywhere else, in this election, so smearing her doesn't come under the law.

Supposedly it's being suggested that in fact the candidate of whom "a false statement of fact about the personal character or conduct" was made was Carmichael himself, in saying that he wasn't involved in the leak.  At this point I'm just going to say that I'm not a lawyer...

[YL]

RIP

Alastair Campbell's blog is worth reading.

[YL]

Have I Got News For You had a Charles Kennedy tribute at the end of the programme last night.  It featured this exchange between Kennedy and Jeremy Clarkson.

[YL]

She was in the Lib Dems too.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/09/conservative-pensions-minister-ros-altmann-member-labour-lib-dems

[YL]

Corbyn wouldn't authorise use of British nuclear weapons

Given Corbyn's well known views on nuclear weapons, it would have been more noteworthy if he'd said he would be prepared to use them.  Sometimes he can't win...

[YL]

Cameron just made a very bold pitch for the centre ground.

I'll believe it when I see it, especially with a man with a record like Cameron's when it comes to this sort of thing (<cough> greenest government ever <cough>).  Look at the actual policies: a vicious anti-union bill, the tax credits cuts (look at the actual figures on the effects, not the Tory spin), etc.   And look at Theresa May...

Corbyn is closer to the centre ground than this lot.

[YL]

Indeed, the 'dead sheep' who brought down Thatcher.

Rest in Peace.

That quote from his resignation speech, referring to Thatcher's approach to European negotiations:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[YL]

David Willetts says the Tories are failing the young

It perhaps should be pointed out that he was the minister responsible for introducing £9000 per year university fees...

[YL]

Lords vote against tax credit cuts. since when do they vote on financial legislation?

There is some debate about whether this counts as a "financial" matter or a "welfare" matter.  David Davis (anti-Cameron Tory) was saying this morning that the convention hadn't been broken.

[YL]

Indeed we are in unique days after all: a Commons more conservative than the Lords is very ahistorical. I bet Tories wish they hadn't squashed Lords Reform now!

Most plausible suggestions for an upper house (barring not having one at all or going back to it being dominated by hereditaries) would be likely to be at least as obstructive to this Government as the one we have.

[YL]

Is it cherry pick o clock already?

As can be seen here, most polls other than the ComRes Sunday polls have shown a Con lead over Lab of around 6 or 7 points, fairly similar to the election result.

[YL]

Some of the stuff this leadership is doing is amateur for a Student Union.

I'm not particularly going to defend Corbyn, whose leadership skills look to be roughly what I'd have expected from his CV, but if some of the hawks wouldn't take no for an answer (and that's the impression I'm getting) then they have to share the blame for this.  No-one can reasonably have expected Corbyn to support air strikes.

[YL]

Why did so many Labour MPs vote against airstrikes in Syria when the vast majority voted for them in Iraq? Is it all down to Corbyn?

I'm sure the atmosphere in the party has changed, but the situation in Syria is a lot messier than in Iraq.  In particular, the Iraqi intervention is at the request of the Iraqi government, so there are no doubts about legality, and it's also relatively clear in Iraq who the ground forces we're working with are.  Furthermore, the vote on intervention in Iraq happened at about the time ISIS/Daesh seemed to be trying to carry out a genocide of the Yazidis; I'm generally pretty uncomfortable about military action but intervening at Sinjar had a clear purpose and seemed very hard to argue against.

[YL]

Ollie Letwin's going out the door, apparently.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/dec/30/oliver-letwin-blocked-help-for-black-youth-after-1985-riots

At some point I'd got the impression that Letwin was a relatively liberal sort of Tory (though also a small state ideologue).  Not in 1985 it seems.

[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.

[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

[YL]

IDS was not (is not) a monster. But he is an idiot (perhaps one of the stupidest people to hold a cabinet post in recent decades: not an easy feat) and he was also grossly incompetent. In a post such as his the difference between that and 'monster' is quite small. It has been clear for a long time that Universal Credit (a foolish attempt to find an administrative 'solution' to policy problems: oh dear) has been an expensive failure and as such he should have resigned ages ago. Of course its worth noting that he was obviously going to be fired the morning after the EU vote anyway...

Basically true, but the hand grenade directed at Osborne in his resignation letter is quite something...

[YL]

Incidentally, apparently IDS's replacement (Stephen Crabb, was Welsh Secretary) has some connection to some weird Christian organisation that believes that LGBTQ people can be cured, which isn't great - again can't post links, apparently they paid him to intern in parliament and then after he became an MP provided him with interns.

Link: http://metro.co.uk/2016/03/19/new-work-and-pensions-secretary-linked-to-gay-cure-organisation-5762718/

[YL]

What a horrendous thing to have happened.  RIP.

[YL]

Nazi regalia found at the suspect's house, apparently:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/17/jo-cox-suspect-thomas-mair-bought-gun-manuals-from-us-neo-nazis-group-claims

[YL]

Angela Eagle's reaction to Johnson's appointment:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2016/jul/14/theyve-made-him-foreign-secretary-boris-johnsons-elevation-stuns-angela-eagle-video

[YL]

The Mail, Express and Sun today are an utter disgrace.

[YL]

No great surprise who's been chosen as an effigy for this year's Lewes Bonfire: