Does Dennis Skinner Lose His Seat?

[Antonio the Sixth]

As a working class person, I'll say any working class person who voted tory is fycking deranged and stupid. Icespear(D-PA?) was correct.

Honestly, in this one case, I have to agree. There's no excuse for working-class people to buy into BoJo's new #populist bullsh*t when he's so obviously part of the Etonian elite and was in a government that has been f**king over workers for 10 years straight.

(On the other hand, I do have a lot of sympathy for the - many more - Labourites who didn't vote or voted for other parties. They have many valid reasons to be angry at the party.)

[CumbrianLefty]

A secret of Tory electoral success since the 19th century has been that a decent number of working class people have *always* voted for them, even when Liberals and then Labour won elections.

[brucejoel99]

As a working class person, I'll say any working class person who voted tory is fycking deranged and stupid. Icespear(D-PA?) was correct.

Honestly, in this one case, I have to agree. There's no excuse for working-class people to buy into BoJo's new #populist bullsh*t when he's so obviously part of the Etonian elite and was in a government that has been f**king over workers for 10 years straight.

(On the other hand, I do have a lot of sympathy for the - many more - Labourites who didn't vote or voted for other parties. They have many valid reasons to be angry at the party.)

I think it being made evident that BoJo isn't gonna engage in austerity went a long way to convincing working-class people that it was okay to vote Tory this time.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Skinner's candidacy this time round looked like a clear-cut case of elder abuse, one way or another. He will be eighty eight in a few months and is known to be seriously ill, potentially mortally.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Skinner's candidacy this time round looked like a clear-cut case of elder abuse, one way or another. He will be eighty eight in a few months and is known to be seriously ill, potentially mortally.

He should've retired, especially in the light of this, thus avoiding the humiliation of being defeated after so many years of service.

I didn't agree with Skinner on everything (mostly regarding Europe), but I'll really miss his presence. He was a great example of a powerful voice from the backbenches and knew how to use it.

[Antonio the Sixth]

As a working class person, I'll say any working class person who voted tory is fycking deranged and stupid. Icespear(D-PA?) was correct.

Honestly, in this one case, I have to agree. There's no excuse for working-class people to buy into BoJo's new #populist bullsh*t when he's so obviously part of the Etonian elite and was in a government that has been f**king over workers for 10 years straight.

(On the other hand, I do have a lot of sympathy for the - many more - Labourites who didn't vote or voted for other parties. They have many valid reasons to be angry at the party.)

I think it being made evident that BoJo isn't gonna engage in austerity went a long way to convincing working-class people that it was okay to vote Tory this time.

I'm sure it did, but any reasonable person should know better than to take Boris F**king Johnson at his word.

[brucejoel99]

As a working class person, I'll say any working class person who voted tory is fycking deranged and stupid. Icespear(D-PA?) was correct.

Honestly, in this one case, I have to agree. There's no excuse for working-class people to buy into BoJo's new #populist bullsh*t when he's so obviously part of the Etonian elite and was in a government that has been f**king over workers for 10 years straight.

(On the other hand, I do have a lot of sympathy for the - many more - Labourites who didn't vote or voted for other parties. They have many valid reasons to be angry at the party.)

I think it being made evident that BoJo isn't gonna engage in austerity went a long way to convincing working-class people that it was okay to vote Tory this time.

I'm sure it did, but any reasonable person should know better than to take Boris F**king Johnson at his word.

To be fair, it's actually the fact that BoJo is a liar which makes me think that he will keep his word on this. After all, it definitely seems like the people who voted for him mostly don't like him, & don't trust him, & are just waiting for a Labour leader that they can have some faith in. If Boris was just lying about "one nation" conservatism, & he doesn't intend to actually do anything for the worst off in British society, & he intends to continue austerity, then these people who voted Tory this time around would be savvy enough not to trust him again come 2024.

But what worries me is that Boris likes power, & has no principles. So he could very easily decide to say f**k the economic right of the Tories, go full red Tory, & massively spend on things like the NHS & other public services, end (or massively increase funding of & payouts from) universal credit, & take other steps not because he wants to help people, but because he wants to do just enough to be able to say he kept his promises &, thus, stay in power.

This is all because he's much smarter than he appears, & that's dangerous, in that he could very well use the 5 years that he has now been afforded to take the people who reluctantly voted for him & turn them into enthusiastic supporters.

[Antonio the Sixth]

But what worries me is that Boris likes power, & has no principles. So he could very easily decide to say f**k the economic right of the Tories, go full red Tory, & massively spend on things like the NHS & other public services, end (or massively increase funding of & payouts from) universal credit, & take other steps not because he wants to help people, but because he wants to do just enough to be able to say he kept his promises &, thus, stay in power.

I don't buy it. The Tories are fundamentally, to their core, a party of the upper classes, even more so than the GOP. Cutting the welfare state is ingrained in their identity. Not even the Tory manifesto (which you'd think would be the vehicle Boris would have used to promise all these goodies) really offered anything substantive beyond a slight increase in service funding that stops far short of making up for all the cuts since 2010. So at most, we can expect him to fulfill that manifesto. But I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't even do that. He's been getting away with breaking his promises all his life, so I think he expects to get away with it again (and I wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be right).

[brucejoel99]

But what worries me is that Boris likes power, & has no principles. So he could very easily decide to say f**k the economic right of the Tories, go full red Tory, & massively spend on things like the NHS & other public services, end (or massively increase funding of & payouts from) universal credit, & take other steps not because he wants to help people, but because he wants to do just enough to be able to say he kept his promises &, thus, stay in power.

I don't buy it. The Tories are fundamentally, to their core, a party of the upper classes, even more so than the GOP. Cutting the welfare state is ingrained in their identity. Not even the Tory manifesto (which you'd think would be the vehicle Boris would have used to promise all these goodies) really offered anything substantive beyond a slight increase in service funding that stops far short of making up for all the cuts since 2010. So at most, we can expect him to fulfill that manifesto. But I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't even do that. He's been getting away with breaking his promises all his life, so I think he expects to get away with it again (and I wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be right).

I mean, we've already seen him stop the corporate tax decrease in order to invest in police & nurses (although the latter seems to hard to realize unless they take measures to increase applications for nursing to provide the supply). It just seems like that, if he does just enough, then of course he'll lose some seats but could maintain enough for a majority next time (other factors like the economy & Brexit notwithstanding).