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Lol! Just took a call from Ed ‘Action Man’ Davey’s campaign team – wants us to put him in a kayak on Saturday morning for a photo shoot….
The Lib Dems are running a blinder of a campaign! Even with all the news focusing on Conservative annihilation (not often I get to type that word in a sentence), they're still managing to get into the press.
Rishi is on TV tonight isn't he, in a debate, can't imagine what question might come up from the public?...
Poor guy must be absolutely living his best life today!😂
@kelvin The stunts are only because it’s the only way the LDs can cut through with a media currently masturbating itself to death over Farage, whose party is unlikely to have more than a handful of seats when the dust settles.
If he actually is LOTO I think it’ll all be toned down.
Meanwhile the gambling thing gets funnier and funnier. Two candidates, a close protection officer and the campaign director so far by my count…
Rishi is on TV tonight isn’t he, in a debate
Might watch this one... mostly because it has multiple leaders but no Farage.
If he actually is LOTO I think it’ll all be toned down.
Oh, I know he would take the role seriously... he's been a minister after all... but on the first day... a little call back to the campaigning fun would be lovely.
Meanwhile the gambling thing gets funnier and funnier. Two candidates, a close protection officer and the campaign director so far by my count…
Conservative line is... "just a few people"... but then only a few people knew what the date was going to be. What kind of idiots do they take the voting public for?!?!
The Lib Dems are running a blinder of a campaign!
Thanks!
I must say I had serious doubts about the Ed Davey stunts as they juxtapose quite jarringly with the seriousness with which we treat actual policy but the campaigns teams clearly knew more than I did as it's helped keep us in peoples' minds and as a smaller party that's 80% of the battle. Especially with Farage's nonsense sucking all the remaining oxygen out of the room.
The decision to concentrate almost all of our limited resources on winnable target seats (mostly in the 'Blue wall') also seems to be paying off although I do feel a bit sorry for candidates and activists elsewhere in the country.
Proof of the pudding will be on polling day, it's not over til' it's over.
[Tories] really aren’t that bright, despite the ££££££’s per year private education they all receive.
Both Tory candidates in question were state educated: one at a comp in Bristol, one at a high school in Welshpool. I don't know where the police officer went to school, maybe they went to Eton...
if Sunak hasnt suspended both candidates before the debate tonight Starmer is going to nail him on it
What must the atmos be in Sunak bunker today as they prep him for it?
Without a campaign manager and already candidates being abandoned by CCHQ to defend ever 'safer' seats its going to be nuts, lets hope for some Tory whatsapp group chats to start leaking & I cant wait to see the Tim Shipman Sunday Times 4 page dissection of how this campaign melted down!
Election literature today. First glance one from Labour, one from the Tories, but no, both from the Greens. An attempt to get non Green voters to at least look at it.
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The Greens are working hard here. Lots of activity. They have had success at council level so hopefully it can extend to the general election
and finally they had someone ‘who speaks up for the working class white man’ whatever that means.
permission to be openly racist/bigoted, just like the good old days...
What must the atmos be in Sunak bunker today as they prep him for it?
He'll have just heard that the BofE are likely to cut interest rates... in August!
Poor little fella just can't catch a break.😉
First glance one from Labour, one from the Tories, but no, both from the Greens.
The kind of shit the Tories pull. Oh well.
Do we think every single Tory placed a bet on the election date?
No, only the "few" who knew when it was going to be.
To be fair, the loss of the campaign manager that's delivered what he has so far might actually be a bonus.
I'm concerned the poles and the tory implosion might actually harm the anti tory vote (be that SNP, Labour or Lib Dem depending on seat). The result is so in the bag that I feel many don't think their vote is needed. The blue rinse (actually probably not blue rinse any more - they are mostly dead) tory stalwarts will vote regardless. I feel this is an anti-tory election more than it is a pro Labour or anyone else election. Most people I speak to want the tories out but are not voting for someone else because they actually are really attracted to them and their policies. That's a dangerous situation when apathy will be high if it's a given that the tories are going to be torn a new one.
Poor little fella just can’t catch a break.
It's almost possible to feel sorry for him. But then he has brought it all on himself. He was the person who instigated Johnson's downfall by resigning and landing us with Liz Truss. Then he still put himself forward after Truss f**** everything up in the full knowledge that the tory membership didn't want him. Then he bumbled on for the best part of two years doing pretty much bugger all while demonstrating at every opportunity that he was completely out of touch with the people he leads. Then he called an election against the advice of his campaign advisors and proceeded to make amateurish mistakes which an a-level politics student would know not to do. The hubris of the man is astonishing, and he deserves everything he gets.
It’s almost possible to feel sorry for him. But then he has brought it all on himself. He was the person who instigated Johnson’s downfall by resigning and landing us with Liz Truss. Then he still put himself forward after Truss f**** everything up in the full knowledge that the tory membership didn’t want him. Then he bumbled on for the best part of two years doing pretty much bugger all while demonstrating at every opportunity that he was completely out of touch with the people he leads.
I'd read it as he knows Johnson is a twit and finally has enough rope to hang him but didn't think the Tories would be that stupid, TWICE (Truss) and eventually ended up with the job he shoud've got in the first tussle. And has actually done okay within the confines of the party and what he's got to work with. I don't hate Sunak, I actually think he's got the potential to be a decent PM, but the Conservatives as a party are loathsome, inept and corrupt, continually fighting amongst themselves. I don't care that he's small, wealthy, has an ex-pat wife...whatever. He seems pretty rational, pretty competent and unlike his predecessors isn't totally blinded by Brexit and who voted for what (Hunt). It's the Conservatives and the 1922 rabble that're the real problem. JRM is about to get the kicking he's deserved for a long, long time.
So...
Remembering there is the TV debate tonight do we think Sunak will have the political intelligence to defuse this issue by suspending the candidates involved in the betting scandal?
It's obviously the best move but Sunak, well, he just isn't very good at "all this" is he?...
feel this is an anti-tory election more than it is a pro Labour or anyone else election. Most people I speak to want the tories out but are not voting for someone else because they actually are really attracted to them and their policies. That’s a dangerous situation when apathy will be high if it’s a given that the tories are going to be torn a new one.
It'll be interesting, because yes it does seem "in the bag" but on the other hand, people are genuinely angry, it's not the usual apathy.
I don’t hate Sunak, I actually think he’s got the potential to be a decent PM
He completely embraced the culture war shit to further good own agenda.
I don't hate him but based on that one issue alone (there are MANY others too...) he wont be missed by me once he sods off to So Cal.
This Tory election campaign will be studied for decades in university communications courses as the perfect example of how to **** absolutely everything up.
He seems pretty rational, pretty competent and unlike his predecessors isn’t totally blinded by Brexit and who voted for what (Hunt).
Hunt become chancellor under Truss. Not sure Sunak ever really had the authority to appoint his own chancellor.
I don’t hate Sunak, I actually think he’s got the potential to be a decent PM
He completely embraced the culture war shit to further good own agenda.
He was also an enthusiastic Brexiteer despite having the finance savvy to know what a ****ing disaster it would be in economic terms.
he wont be missed by me once he sods off to So Cal
Surely any potential Californian employers are looking at this one man, 6 week Laurel and Hardy routine and withdrawing any job offers?
With typical understatement Govey was just asked how the latest betting scandal looks to the voting public.... 'not great' was his reply
Question Time with Sunak tonight is going to be bloodsports. God know what other pratfalls they'll have manged by 8 this evening
I wonder if they also started to bet on him losing too 😉
I don't think there would be much to gain from that:
https://www.compare.bet/betting/politics/uk/general-election/next-prime-minister-odds
Not sure what the odds were on a 4/Jul election a few days before it was announced
If Peston is right & a lot of tory insiders are involved in the betting there's going to be real test of exactly how low the Tory vote floor is
And reform could end up with even more MPs
https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1803758958038946275?t=sF6hFeVPjBabS4rjKRvVJQ&s=19
He was also an enthusiastic Brexiteer despite having the finance savvy to know what a **** disaster it would be in economic terms.
Disaster for you and I maybe, for the offshore, tax-dodging, regulation-averse, casino capitalist class that funded the leave campaign it's been great.
the express....
The Conservative campaign is in a state of chaos this morning as the betting row threatens to engulf the news agenda.
begs the question where have their editorial team been for the last 3 weeks ! 😕
wouldn't it be lovely if Laura Kuenssberg was caught having a little flutter.
Need to plan Question Time in around the football.
Is it a "debate" or the leaders each having a slot - wasn't clear when I looked
he wont be missed by me once he sods off to So Cal
Surely any potential Californian employers are looking at this one man, 6 week Laurel and Hardy routine and withdrawing any job offers?
Disaster capitalism requires disasters 🙂 Sunak's work during the financial crash proved very profitable for everyone one involved. If you weren't a bank, or a customer or a tax payer. The beneficiaries all had their tax affairs in order so it wasn't their taxes that bailed out the banks they mullered.
Is it a “debate” or the leaders each having a slot – wasn’t clear when I looked
Half an hour individual grilling each. Sunak will just do what he always does... ignore all the questions and repeat his pre-prepared soundbites like a malfunctioning droid. I can't see him coming out of it well
The first question will obviously be 'so how big a bet did you put on the date of the election then?'
In other news I see that Rishi's intention to 'max out' the UK's fossil fuels has just been hoofed in the slats by the courts
From Twitter:
"Who would have guessed that the hill the Tories chose to die on would be William Hill?"
How do the bookies know who is placing all these bets? Do you need to get out your National Insurance card when you place one?
They really must be thick. If he'd actually gone into the bookies - of which there are about 5 on every high street - wearing one of these, nobody would have been any the wiser
you need a flasher mac and flat cap too. Or you get flash 'arry to put it on for you
I'm betting Sunak will go for "I'm not second guessing the inquiry blah blah" defense.
How do the bookies know who is placing all these bets? Do you need to get out your National Insurance card when you place one?
I'm not in the Gambling Industry but I assume that they flag PEP's (Politically Exposed Person) just like we do in the FS industry and then just cross-reference them against accounts/bets.
But as a 'catch-all' that's why all betting companies were asked for the details of anyone with the possibility of a +£199 payout.
I’d assumed the incumbent would win through being very inoffensive and fairly vanilla
I don't think the voting in this election has much to do with local incumbents.
How many more, I wonder? This could be fun!
https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1803763164405768609
Edit - I'll post this one instead: 
this is just 1 bookies
the election was announced on the 22nd
whats the betting Sunak told a select few on the 17th, then a few more found out on the 20th, then the day before... thats quite a lot of bets on the 21st
