2017 General Election thread

[Sandbach Shrimper]

What this shows again is that the public don't like negative campaigns and 'Project Fear'. It was the same in the EU referendum, the Remain campaign was mostly just scaremongering and doom and gloom about what would happen if we left, rather than the positives of staying in. The Conservative's campaign this time round has mostly been about Jeremy Corbyn and despite it being dubbed a 'Brexit election', there's actually been little talk of Brexit and the opportunities it presents.

I have to say the Tory campaign has been poor. They centred on the 'strong and stable' message but then May proved to be anything but with her U-turns, her refusal to do TV debates and her general awkwardness in front of the public and the cameras. The Labour campaign was positive, it promised lots of things that people liked the sound of (whether they're deliverable or not is another question) and Corbyn came across well. It sounds like he succeeded in getting some more young voters out too.

I fear this result is bad news for Brexit as it puts us in a weaker negotiating position. Whether May should go or not, I'm torn. Clearly she's cocked this up and I didn't think the election should've been called in the first place, but we need stability and we need to get on with Brexit.

On that note, Ruth Davidson is a future leader. Who'd have thought Scotland would save the Tories? :clap:

It all would've been easier if we'd just stayed in the EU... :blush:

 

[RHB]

If I had Amess as my MP I think I'd be tempted to vote Labour

I have and I did.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

No, they don't. May screwed up. Any decent leader would have trounced her.

if you look at how the votes have changed in most places it shows the Tory vote as unchanged and the Labour vote increasing. So despite May the Tory vote has held up. So you have to look at the circumstances of Labour - massive membership increase and massive rallies where the public express their enthusiasm - but we were constantly told that doesn't translate into votes. A real left wing manifesto - which we were told the nation would never embrace. Two leadership elections where the membership decided who was best to lead the party - and many of the long term MPs still said he was the wrong choice and it would end the party. PLP and mainstream media constantly talking Corbyn down. The expectation that the Tories would win 100+ seat majority and that Corbyn should own the result.

So - he does own the result, and the naysayers will now get on board as they have to admit they lacked the vision that this could work.

This is the start not the end.

 

[MK Shrimper]

I assume you include me? I can't vote DUP. I doubt I ever would have either.

Feel free.

 

[londonblue]

Saw this in FB:

May: refusing to resign.
Corduroy: presenting 2nd place as a kind of victory.

Our politicians owe such a debt to Arsene Wenger.

 

[londonblue]

if you look at how the votes have changed in most places it shows the Tory vote as unchanged and the Labour vote increasing. So despite May the Tory vote has held up. So you have to look at the circumstances of Labour - massive membership increase and massive rallies where the public express their enthusiasm - but we were constantly told that doesn't translate into votes. A real left wing manifesto - which we were told the nation would never embrace. Two leadership elections where the membership decided who was best to lead the party - and many of the long term MPs still said he was the wrong choice and it would end the party. PLP and mainstream media constantly talking Corbyn down. The expectation that the Tories would win 100+ seat majority and that Corbyn should own the result.

So - he does own the result, and the naysayers will now get on board as they have to admit they lacked the vision that this could work.

This is the start not the end.

Personally I see it as nothing of the sort. This was achieved for 3 reasons. Firstly May did a **** job. Secondly, people are fed up with the tories. A labour party with a decent leader would have been able to capitalise. Thirdly, the young learned their lesson from the referendum and came out to vote.

However, if the youngsters who voted actually bothered about a year ago we wouldn't have needed this election at all.

 

[Uncle Leo]

The Conservative who managed to lose Canterbury. What did they do? Punch a baby in the face? Push an old lady down the stairs?

 

[MK Shrimper]

The Conservative who managed to lose Canterbury. What did they do? Punch a baby in the face? Push an old lady down the stairs?

Student vote. Bloody lefties, coming over here and being educated, like, really cleverly and stuff.

 

[Napster]

The Conservative who managed to lose Canterbury. What did they do? Punch a baby in the face? Push an old lady down the stairs?

Julian Brazier's a tosser. But maybe Labour won rather than Tory losing..

http://www.kentlive.news/6-reasons-...onservatives/story-30380664-detail/story.html

 

[MK Shrimper]

What a "delightful" bunch of dinosaurs the DUP are. Climate change deniers, anti-abortion, against gay marriage, even Creationists within their ranks.

 

[Uncle Leo]

Great paragraph here from Alex Massie in The Spectator:

"Comeuppance is a dish best served scalding hot. That’s the first thing to be said about this glorious election result. Like Ted Heath, Theresa May asked ‘Who governs Britain?’ and received the answer ‘Preferably not you’. Her election campaign – a word that grants it greater dignity than it merits – will be remembered for decades to come as a classic example of what not to do. "

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Personally I see it as nothing of the sort. This was achieved for 3 reasons. Firstly May did a **** job. Secondly, people are fed up with the tories. A labour party with a decent leader would have been able to capitalise. Thirdly, the young learned their lesson from the referendum and came out to vote.

However, if the youngsters who voted actually bothered about a year ago we wouldn't have needed this election at all.

[FONT=&quot]I know you do, but various doubters within the party have now realised that a genuine left wing agenda appeals to the public. That engaging with and involving the public broadens the appeal. That someone leading the party who has self belief and doesn't flinch when attacked is a show of strength. [/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]They must be wondering what could have been achieved if they had accepted the members verdict instead of trying to undermine the leadership, rejecting swathes of new paid up members, fearing the agenda that the party was formed on because they didn't think the public would embrace it. These things have now fallen into place, the party will unify, the progressive manifesto that had to be rushed out can be tweeked, and the public can see that a Labour vote means something. Just as May has kicked her own legs away Corbyn and Labour have the momentum. This was not a win but it was far far better than anyone expected and that should not be downplayed. As I say, this is the start.[/FONT][/FONT]

 

[callan]

[FONT="]I know you do, but various doubters within the party have now realised that a genuine left wing agenda appeals to the public. That engaging with and involving the public broadens the appeal. That someone leading the party who has self belief and doesn't flinch when attacked is a show of strength. [/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][COLOR=#454545][FONT="][FONT="][/FONT]
[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#454545][FONT="][FONT="]They must be wondering what could have been achieved if they had accepted the members verdict instead of trying to undermine the leadership, rejecting swathes of new paid up members, fearing the agenda that the party was formed on because they didn't think the public would embrace it. These things have now fallen into place, the party will unify, the progressive manifesto that had to be rushed out can be tweeked, and the public can see that a Labour vote means something. Just as May has kicked her own legs away Corbyn and Labour have the momentum. This was not a win but it was far far better than anyone expected and that should not be downplayed. As I say, this is the start.[/FONT][/FONT]

I think the areas where most voters can agree is that Corbyn ran a very good campaign, against a thoroughly inept and incompetent May and her ill thought out Manifesto.

Despite all of this, it is May who will form a government...which will be weak and totally impotent in terms of power.

I didn't vote for the Tories or Labour, but would have prefered either to have a had a sizeable majority than the mess we have ended up with.

 

[londonblue]

I know you do, but various doubters within the party have now realised that a genuine right wing agenda doesn't appeal to the public. That engaging with and involving the public broadens the appeal. That someone leading the party who has self belief and doesn't flinch when attacked is a show of strength.


They must be wondering what could have been achieved if they had a decent leader

Edited for accuracy.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Edited for accuracy.

I was happy with it as it was, which is why I wrote it that way.

There will be some ex Labour voters who can't get their head round it and are stuck with voting for May, they will be far outweighed by new people who see the appeal of real change rather than excuses as to why things have to stay the same.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Saw this in FB:

May: refusing to resign.
Corduroy: presenting 2nd place as a kind of victory.

Our politicians owe such a debt to Arsene Wenger.

Jeremy Corbyn is of course an Arsenal fan.:winking:

 

[Benfleet A1]

Weak and unstable ran by a weak and unstable woman.

Apparantly Arlene Foster of the DUP has links to loyalist terrorists. Any members of the Corbyn bashers like to comment on that?

Yeah, apparently she has links. But its a stone cold fact who you're boy knocks about with, so you want to watch chucking those stones about while so close to that glass house.

 

[E for B and Billy Best]

In the last two weeks we've had an abject lesson in how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. What on earth made them think that they could sneak that shocker of a manifesto pass the electorate.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

To be fair Theresa May warned of coalition of chaos propped up by extremist terrorist sympathisers. She just didn't say she'd be leading it.

 

[Swiss Tony]

What a "delightful" bunch of dinosaurs the DUP are. Climate change deniers, anti-abortion, against gay marriage, even Creationists within their ranks.

Any port in a storm MK 5 more years 5 more years.:thumbsup: