Next UK General Election

[Gary J]

Why do leftwingers in the UK consider Swinson to be a Yellow Tory?

She literally supported building a monument to Thatcher.

I quote below comments from the Daily Telegraph online at the time, which seem completely appropriate. Clearly Thatcher was a significant historical figure and a statue was appropriate. If the subject of every public statue in London had to merit the approval of the modern left wing, there would be lots of empty plinths.

Campaigners for a statue of Margaret Thatcher in Parliament Square have gained an unlikely ally in the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, who has accused those opposing it of being “pretty sexist”.

Jo Swinson yesterday said the debate over the statue had been marred by a “whiff of misogyny”, as she expressed her disappointment at the decision by Westminster Council to reject the proposals.

Ms Swinson, who took over as deputy last year, said it was right that Britain’s first female prime minister be commemorated, adding that there was “no denying” Baroness Thatcher’s significance as a political figure.

[Gary J]

The Labour left have been trying out arguments intended to discredit Jo Swinson, in the eyes of former Labour voters who are now contemplating voting Lib Dem.

The favourite argument is that Swinson supported the austerity politics of the coalition government (2010-15). All that amounts to is that she was a loyal Lib Dem, who voted the party line during the coalition. She was not senior enough, in the junior coalition partner during those years, to have determined policy. Swinson was a junior minister and thus bound to follow government policy, but as she was never a cabinet member she did not have even a theoretical share in determining what the policy was.

[Lumine]

She was a minister under the coalition, has refused to give Corbyn a free pass to become PM via VONC, and she is threatening Labour in the polls (though it's not like she'll make a serious dent in seats), hence the demonization of Swinson.

The recruitment of rebel Tory MP also fuels the narrative of Swinson and the Lib Dems as closet Tories, but to me it seems like a pre-fabricated narrative they would use regardless of the Lib Dem leader.

[DaWN]

She was a minister under the coalition, has refused to give Corbyn a free pass to become PM via VONC, and she is threatening Labour in the polls (though it's not like she'll make a serious dent in seats), hence the demonization of Swinson.

The recruitment of rebel Tory MP also fuels the narrative of Swinson and the Lib Dems as closet Tories, but to me it seems like a pre-fabricated narrative they would use regardless of the Lib Dem leader.

Ya think?

Anyway, a charitable assessment of this is that it is Labour's online presence being rabid again and despite all the bluster nobody who wasn't already voting Labour will be convinced.

A non-charitable assessment is that it is an act of desperation from a party and leadership that is out of its depth and out of ideas that is more likely to backfire than to achieve anything.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Why do leftwingers in the UK consider Swinson to be a Yellow Tory?

She literally supported building a monument to Thatcher.

I'm leftist myself, but it cannot be denied that Thatcher was a very consequential Prime Minister in the United Kingdom and not in a Mussolini type way. So I don't think a monument would be undeserved, as leaders like Bill Clinton have them too.

This is such a bizarre way of thinking. What is it about being "consequential" that makes someone inherently deserving of the incredible honor of being immortalized in a public display? Consequences can be good or bad. Thatcher's "consequences" robbed hundreds of thousands of people of their jobs, livelihoods, and basic human dignity, and enabled an entire generation of policymakers around the world to do the same to God knows how many millions. I mean of course she wasn't as bad as Mussolini, but that's a mere difference of degree, not kind.

I seriously can't for the life of me understand what kind of servile reverence to power and authority leads people to want to bestow honors on someone they (presumably) agree made the world worse off, just because they were in power for a long time. Vile, disgusting people are still vile and disgusting even when they were PM for 10 years.

[Gary J]

It seems that a general election is almost certain to take place in December 2019.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50221856

[CumbrianLefty]

Almost certain but not quite.

Government are still briefing they might junk the whole thing if amendments to the election bill get passed.