Is May about to call an election?

Corbyn’s unable to fill shadow ministerial posts, his own MPS reckon he’s abysmal.

Two democratic contests were held, and he won both of them. If Labour MPs can’t accept that then they should put themselves forward for the leadership, or find something else to do.

The Tory party will do what they always do… exactly what needs to be done. With utter ruthlessness. She’ll be gone within the blink of an eye, and forget your Boris or Gove. They’ll do what they always do. Expect someone unexpected.

I see this said a lot, that the Tories are good at acting in the interests of keeping power, but is it true? This is the party that elected William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith, and Michael Howard.

I didn’t suggest they were any good at it. Just that it’s their default position… knife the leader. And I can’t see May now delivering anything that would be considered a success, as the initial expectation was an enormous, thumping majority

The Tory party is massively split over Brexit. The sane ones can see it for the folly a hard Brexit would be. They’re just keeping quiet about it. Don’t expect that to last too much longer

In fact…. Friday morning

Give it a few months and they could be making the present Labour Party look like a picture of unity

I see this said a lot, that the Tories are good at acting in the interests of keeping power, but is it true? This is the party that elected William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith, and Michael Howard.

And Theresa May…

Her campaign has been a disaster right from the off. She’s been arrogant and complacent, and the more people have seen of here, the more unpopular she’s become.

I can’t help but think that a lot of the Tory strategy, in England at least, has been to not campaign. They probably thought that they didn’t need to win the election, they could just shut up and let Corbyn lose it. But that doesn’t seem to be working…

Someone has been round our way adding Hitler moustaches to Tory posters. Children eh?

(Near work in a strong UKIP / leave area – I’ve seen plenty of BNP posters round here in the past. Changed days.)

The tories are keeping a lid on it til Thursday but be in no doubt, the civil war over their disastrous campaign and May’s rank incompetence has already started. Of course that will be forgotten if they get the landslide they expected but it’s looking very unlikely. Assuming she still wins but with a small majority, then watch her supporters in cabinet and elsewhere disappear into the distance. She’ll be left on her own to explain what went wrong and muddle along on her own into the brexit negotiations. Then when they go tits-up, she’ll be nailed to the wall and one of the nutters (Boris, Gove, Davis, Raab etc) will challenge her, and be opposed by the remainer moderates (Rudd, Hammond, Morgan etc). And all this against the backdrop of a newly united and invigorated labour party. Funny how things might change eh?

I can’t help but think that a lot of the Tory strategy, in England at least, has been to not campaign.

In my ultra-marginal constituency (Con majority: 300) thats exactly what we’ve seen. The odd thing about May being Strong and Stable, but that was it. The local Tory candidate (an utter ****!) has been absolutely invisible, while the Labour party have been campaigning energetically, specifically on local issues – the closure of local NHS walk-in centre, downgrading of A&E – which are hugely unpopular, and play very badly for the Tories.

Well that’s all changed. The Tory’s have belatedly entered the fray on a local level. But it whiffs of exactly what it is…. arrogance and complacency. It’s got ‘PANIC!” written all over it. And I’m just hoping that people deliver a suitable verdict on being taken for granted and treated like mugs

Counterfactual: If Ed Balls or David Milliband were Labour leader with a sane shadow cabinet May would lose by a landslide.

Disagree. Dave quite possibly; Balls no. Man was a pretty appalling shadow ed secretary and has done little else I can think of to recover his career.

Binners, do you think it’ll swing back to Labour?

I can’t help but think that a lot of the Tory strategy, in England at least, has been to not campaign. They probably thought that they didn’t need to win the election, they could just shut up and let Corbyn lose it. But that doesn’t seem to be working…

Given the massive lead they had at the beginning of the campaign, I’m sure you’re right. The tone of the Tory press is also instructive: they were initially all about the saintly Theresa, now they’ve switched strategy to throwing mud at Corbyn. It seems to me that even the likes of the Daily Mail accepts that TM is no good.

Binners, do you think it’ll swing back to Labour?

Not nationally. I think she’ll get a majority. How big? Who knows? But it won’t be the mahoosive numbers they were predicting a few short weeks ago. I can definitely see them losing northern marginal seats like the one I’m in, while gaining others now the Kippers have returned to the fold. Though don’t presume they’ll alll be voting Tory. A lot of those were former Labour voters too.

So its all up in the air really. God only knows. Tory central office certainly doesn’t. it thought it did a couple of weeks ago

In my ultra-marginal constituency (Con majority: 300) thats exactly what we’ve seen.

My parents live in Ramsbottom. The Tory MP was canvassing on their street a couple of weeks back but they’ve not seen any other activity since then. Sadly for them, a tory neighbour put him off visiting my parents, just as my dad was preparing his tirade.

t seems to me that even the likes of the Daily Mail accepts that TM is no good.

I wonder who they have waiting in the wings to replace. Not that they have any influence of course in this democratic country of ours….

Not nationally.

I meant your own constituency. Seems likely to go back Tory.. I’m even hopeful for us with our 2000 vote Tory incumbent.

I’ve just realised who Theresa May reminds me of.. Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter. She starts out smug and self satisfied and slowly gets more and more wobbly as the wheels start to come off!

You have rampant speculation and the short sighted idea that you can fix everything with guns and prisons like an ape swinging a rock.

Coffee everywhere!

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Ferrals
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Now you’ve said it…

I can’t help but think that a lot of the Tory strategy, in England at least, has been to not campaign.

Maybe they’re just not campaigning in the areas where you are?

That might be because it’s a constituency, or area within a constituency, where the law of diminishing returns applies, much better to concentrate on the more fertile areas, try and ‘get out the vote’ in the rural and fringe areas rather than the towns that there’s little point expending effort in

Echo Binners remarks, local Tory is nowhere to be seen in Hebden, and see very few banners for anyone other than the Labour Candidate. Calder valley Tory win last time was 3,500. We’ve had Corbyn here, got to get a target seat, current mp is an idiot

http://www.ukpolitical.info/Expenditure.htm
With the funding available it’s interesting if they are not contesting. Given it’s being reported and that they are not being out in a held seat with a 300 majority – does that mean they have accepted a loss there?
Very strange decisions there.

Even in Cheam that **** Scully hasn’t been in for his photo opportunity and there’s not one vote tory placard anywhere.

Gloves seem to have come off Corbyn 😯

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/05/jeremy-corbyn-theresa-may-resign-police-cuts?CMP=fb_gu

the local labour party are pushing the #wheresiain hashtag to try and find our invisible MP

http://newsthump.com/2017/06/05/uk-hasnt-done-enough-to-tackle-terrorism-says-woman-whose-job-it-was-to-tackle-terrorism/

However, there was almost immediate confusion, when Corbyn’s spokesman sought to clarify the remarks, saying: “Jeremy is saying he believes the public will judge her on her record. We have an election on Thursday where there is an opportunity to vote in a Labour government for the many not the few, one that will invest in police and security services rather than cut them.”

Is that really confusion? JC thinks she should resign, but also that the GE is the best time to deal with it.

Mind ewe, are police cuts TM’s fault? Presumably she had to reduce police numbers because of the budget allocated to the Home Office. If the foreign office budget had doubled, would we all be saying she was great?

If the foreign office budget had doubled, would we all be saying she was great?

her list of failures at the home office werent just in the name of austerity, abu quatada deportation farce, westminster paedophile investigation, go home vans, repeatedly pledging & failing to cut immigration….

Her incompetence goes well beyond ‘just following orders to reduce the size of the state’

Is that really confusion? JC thinks she should resign, but also that the GE is the best time to deal with it.

How about she should have resigned for what the cuts have meant. The public can do that for her.

Mind ewe, are police cuts TM’s fault? Presumably she had to reduce police numbers because of the budget allocated to the Home Office.

If she felt it was an issue she could have reversed that once she slid into the new job.

Presumably she had to reduce police numbers because of the budget allocated to the Home Office.

She seems to elicit a great deal of sympathy from whoever was responsible for that then….

Which raises the interesting point of how many allies May has within the party. Answer = none. There are a lot of people sat behind her who would dearly love to stab her in the back.

If she fails to deliver this originally predicted thumping great majority, as now looks likely, she won’t last 5 minutes!

There are a lot of people sat behind her who would dearly love to stab her in the back.

It’s only fair, given that Osborne was responsible for getting her into cabinet in the first place and got thoroughly knifed by her.

If she fails to deliver this originally predicted thumping great majority, as now looks likely, she won’t last 5 minutes!

Boris.

How about she should have resigned for what the cuts have meant.

Ok, I guess that’s the confusion they’re talking about. Man’s a complete clown, a five year old could have got that message out without ****ing it up.

Ok, I guess that’s the confusion they’re talking about. Man’s a complete clown, a five year old could have got that message out without ****ing it up.

I think he knows exactly what he said

its kept the debate on May getting rid of 20k police officers and whether thats made us all less safe

Ok, I guess that’s the confusion they’re talking about. Man’s a complete clown, a five year old could have got that message out without ****ing it up.

3 months ago called, they want their ‘Jeremy Corbyn is a hopeless joke’ posts back.

They are starting to look more and more silly with every TV appearance and every new poll that comes out

At home, we will reverse the cuts to our emergency services and police. Once again in Manchester, they have proved to be the best of us. Austerity has to stop at the A&E ward and at the police station door. We cannot be protected and cared for on the cheap. There will be more police on the streets under a Labour Government. And if the security services need more resources to keep track of those who wish to murder and maim, then they should get them.

Well at this point his speech doesn’t contain the words resign
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/05/jeremy-corbyns-speech-terrorism-full-transcript/#
So it’s the way it’s being played. Maybe it’s the difficulty of some to get that May cocked up by severely reducing police numbers.

I think he knows exactly what he said

its kept the debate on May getting rid of 20k police officers and whether thats made us all less safe

It’s got to be said, as rope-a-dopes go it’s quite impressive. Corbyn has had May hook, line and sinker

If there was no election on would Corbyn be making the same call?

probably

So just to get the arguments out first…
All polls are rubbish
It doesn’t matter that a poll had them 20 points up and now within margin or error
Polls are important and then when seeing she was 20 points up she called an election and is now bricking it

If she fails to deliver this originally predicted thumping great majority, as now looks likely, she won’t last 5 minutes!

Boris.

You think Boris, post-referendum, has that many friends sat behind him either? He had his chance, was outsmarted, on account of being a clown, but more significantly, a treacherous ****! So he has now been permanently sidelined. I expect that he’ll be back to being a journalist before too long, because his front bench days are numbered, whatever happens. You think he’ll be a foreign secretary by the time the real brexit hardball starts? Not a chance! Neither will the other 2 buffoons!

I reckon the next Tory leader will be someone we’ve barely heard of. Someone untainted by the present post-dave Brexit/throwing away the biggest poll lead in electoral history shambles

This ^^^^^^

IME the majority of British people want a right wing dictatorship lite, once you get past the bullshit nicey nicey live and let live front. Making the right noises in public and seeming reasonable is so quintessentially British, one hand on the shoulder the other taking the kidneys out.

It’s all about quietly **** someone else over.

I reckon the next Tory leader will be someone we’ve barely heard of.

There’s a dearth of political talent on all sides ATM.

Talented people (Chukka?) just can’t be arsed to endure high office.

I blame the press for making the life of all candidates miserable, plus the expenses crackdown. Expenses was the back door way to pay MPs a decent salary, now they just don’t get a decent salary and quality candidates just go into the private sector.

I don’t see any of this changing any time soon.