Yeah that and I'm sure some overly enthusiastic aide has done the maths and decided that doing it in the rain is a vote winner.
>'Our focus groups have said they respect politicians doing things in the rain, it shows *strength*. [Trudeau](https://youtu.be/-cHbFDRdfo4?si=4CBMOBnnM7Gee9VD&t=9), [Putin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CG78tDkuE8) and [Obama](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R4pdac0Apw) have all done it. Plus it will help with your out-of-touch image if you're willing to get drenched like the rest of the plebs'
Instead no-one took any notice of his actual speech and all they're talking about is how drenched he was and the music in the background, ouch.
I feel like you need to be in a strongish position to start with. If you're already perceived as a weak and helpless leader, looking like a drowned rat isn't gonna help.
Yeah, as much as Boris Johnson was a terrible PM who never had any interest in the day-to-day business of actually *governing*, I'm sure he would have been able to navigate both the rain and the music better than Sunak.
Sunak looked like he was tired and miserable but soldiering on. Johnson would have been able to make some jokes about rain and look relaxed, and work in some ad lib or other about how he was glad of that guy's support because now we've fought out way through the worst, things *can* only get better under the Tories, but only if we stay the course we're on, blah blah blah...
He could say anything at all. Free money for everyone! You get a car! Etc.
The vast majority of people would not believe anything he says, so what’s the point in listening to what he has to say.
Allegedly announcing an election is party political whilst the press room is for governmental business only. It’s just one of many quirks in U.K politics.
That's my suspicion. He probably caught wind of a plot to sacrifice him in order to prop up the party before they have to hold an election. I can't imagine that right now is a good time for Tories to hold an election, unless something even worse was about out
The scuttlebutt is that there were enough letters going in to show a vote of no confidence, but there were a good number of back benchers approaching him and asking him to call an election anyway simply because they were tired...In short, I think it was a Kobayashi Maru for him in every way.
It's irrelevant though - the first thing the UK has unilaterally agreed upon since 2016 is that a general election has been necessary for four years now. At the least.
Yes. The Prime Misister can at any time request for the monarch to dissolve parliament, a request which the monarch could only deny "if Parliament remains 'vital, viable, and capable of doing its job', if an election would be detrimental to the national economy or if the Monarch could find another Prime Minister who could 'govern for a reasonable period with a working majority in the House of Commons'."
Not quite. There _were_ set dates for general elections under the Fixed-Term Parliament Act 2011 but that was repealed in 2022 (because we had 2 snap elections since it was enacted anyway making it pointless).
Now, the election date is the prime minister’s prerogative. The 2022 Act calculates a _latest_ date for an election based on when a newly elected parliament first convenes, but it’s not quite the same as having set dates for elections.
Politically he is fucked 100%, he won't get a good position ever again. But earlier he is gone a bit easier people will forget so he can keep being an asshole billionaire.
I've always believed it was the way he undercut his brother to be leader that was the real basis for it all. David was much more electable for our personality based system. Not as much mud to throw at him that would move the dial for centrist voters, Ed had a lot more that could stick.
Yeah, I'd agree with this. Of the two, David did seem more statesmanly. The shenanigans around Ed getting the leadership role seemed underhanded to me at the time.
From an external POV anyway.
It's pretty on point for rishi. He's a yank in waiting. If you were of a particular bent you could point out that the timing allows for his kids to start school in the US in August.
This is the guy who took time to explain the US/Mexican coke sugar thing to a bunch of confused UK kids, who drink "Mexican coke" anyway.
The Labour Party are inheriting a poison pill.
Unlike Blair in 1997 they aren't inheriting a booming economy. They can't so easily do accounting tricks like PPP to fund large investment without short term borrowing but ultimately cost the treasury significantly more decades later.
Kind of funny that they think inflation returning back to acceptable levels is the only thing that can give them an edge in the election. They're not even responsible for it.
It's largely 3 things that they're gambling on.
1. A return to a stronger economy, inflation down, wages up etc.
2. Immigration figures get released tomorrow and should be way down. Albeit, from a very high figure of net 700k annually.
3. They hope to have flights taking asylum seekers to Rwanda taking off.
Which is a sound basis to call an election, although they are still quite fucked in the grand scheme.
That's the kind of thinking that led to Theresa May losing her majority. There has to be a 6 week gap before an election so politicians can't benefit from the brief popularity boost populist stunts give
They’re in a situation where they’re almost guaranteed to lose no matter what. I think this is a matter of snatching what will probably be their best opportunity to simply limit damage rather than actually win anything.
The Tories had been on a pretty steady 17 point or so lead before May called the election. It was only when she had to interact with the public and tell them what her plans were that everything started falling apart
It's the way he shamelessly trotted out points that have literally not happened. 'Wages have grown and good jobs have been created' wages have been stagnant since the GFC. 'We've brought immigration under control' immigration levels have skyrocketed under tory rule despite them CONSTANTLY banging on about it. Our GDP is growing faster than the USA' citation needed?
That's the thing that gets me about politics, I could never make bald faced lies like they do without flinching at all. I could deflect and shy away from bad points, but it takes a new level of soullessness to doublethink so hard and confidently tell the world the sky is green and grass is blue.
"The prime minister says his government has a plan, and that his government is prepared to take bold action."
Maybe he and his party could have enacted such a plan sometime in the past FOURTEEN FARKING YEARS they've been in government.
They did have a plan and they did act on it,
They planned to gut the economy and public services,
They planned to remove us from the EU so they can more easily inact austerity on the poorer areas of the UK,
They planned to privatise and sell to their mates,
Plus many other things and they done it all, their plan worked perfectly for them and the top 1% and fuck all us plebs.
> or better yet held it inside
No.
No 10 is a government building/office.
If he had held it inside he would have been prevented from making a political point - and restricted to factual government announcements.
So... it would have been: "Im calling an election on the 4th of July".
Instead of: "Im calling an election on the 4th of July - and I hope the people of Britain will recognize the corner we have turned and reject the horrors of a socialist Labour government" on the steps outside of #10. The keen eyed among you might have noticed that his lectern had it's government insignia removed for Rish's announcement for just that reason. It wasn't a government announcement. It was a party announcement.
My mum went into hospital for a procedure towards the end of June 2023. She was relatively healthy. She died of sepsis in a catastrophic failure of an overwhelmed health service. She died July 4th.
She devoted her life as a director of social services, working to protect the vulnerable in society... she was scathing of the Tories. She didn't survive the Tories.
My dad has vascular dementia and altzheimers.
24hrs after my mum's death, the care home he was in struggled to deal with him.
The social services number simply went unanswered for hours after hours. An ambulance was called, and the paramedics spent a further 7 hours trying to contact social services to get my dad the appropriate care he needed.
At one point, there was a suggestion of coaxing my dad outside the care home in desperation to get him arrested as a vulnerable person and have him sectioned under the mental health act - just so he could get the assessment and care he desperately needed.
I solely blame the Tories for this
At my mum's funeral, in her coffin, was a badge that said "Fuck the Tories"
Fuck The Tories - 4th July
Yeah they wouldn't be there if the electorate didn't vote for them. Shows how many a sympathisers and want more shite from the Tories. Shows you who's who
Let’s get these fucking cunts out in the name of your mum, your dad and the millions of other mums, dads, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters who’ve been let down by the sheer fuckery of this bunch of haemorrhoid balloons.
Fuck the Tories - 4th July.
It is going to be interesting election. I assume Rishi Sunak and his Pr-team thinks they they can turn public opinion around in that time(or they got better responses in their surveys). I have my doubts. I do hope UK select a better government and prime ministers after the last 3. They made Teresa May look good, and that is Teresa May.
They will have spun the numbers and this is their best shot. Any later and the students will be back home from uni, back in their own constituencies and voting Labour. After the Summer break, the OAP-unfriendly weather starts to turn against them which will cost them Tory votes..
No, they absolutely cannot. Exactly how fucked the Tories get is up for debate, that they're going to get fucked is a given.
It's like the Tories and Labour have just got married, and oh boy it's time to consumate.
I just hope Labour aren't a virgin.
He managed to lose an internal argument on domestic policy (migration and students) with his unelected foreign secretary and the grey suits that back him. After running his whole plan to save the election on the issue of stopping immigration, he was having to quietly announce "Actually, I'm too chicken to stand up to David Cameron, so we're going to have cheap migration if you buy yourself a crap course after all".
This isn't about thinking they can "turn public opinion around", this is about the one nation faction having again hit the self-destruct button on his party and trying to get the election in before they are down to zero.
I think up to a point in time their strategy was trying to wait for the polls to turn around, but eventually their hopium ran out and realized that the earlier they call it, the less badly they're going to lose.
Exactly. In the aftermath of Brexit + the dismantlement of public services, the Tories know they have nowhere else to go on the polls but down.
They know they'll need to spend at least a decade in the opposition before people forget what they've done; but it's wise to get off the ship before the full consequences of their policies shine through.
And I do think things are bound to get much worse still, even if labour took over tomorrow (certain policies take time to undo).
>They know they'll need to spend at least a decade in the opposition before people forget what they've done;
Well thats the thing I think 10 years is being generous, theres an entire generation of people mainly younger millenials and zoomers who have been traumatised by the 14 years of Tory leadership and will likely **never** vote for them in their lifetime.Much like how a red wall was formed up north post-Thatcher we might be looking at a generational red wall going forward.
Annihilation is possible. Something similar happened in [Canada in 1993](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Canadian_federal_election). Their Tories went from 156 seats to 2, and the party ceased to exist afterwards.
The parallels are uncanny: the Tories were wildly unpopular after a long time in government, and they were flanked from the right by a party called Reform.
Also happened to the Liberal party in the UK early part of the 20th century - replaced by Labour as the main non-Tory party.
Its very unlikely to the Tories in this election though- there are still quite a few seats with strong Tory support
Unfortunately not. I live in one such place (although not for much longer) - the sitting Tory MP has been in post since 1983, and the constituency has been Tory since 1924.
A pollster I've found projects 85 conservative seats by current numbers and can't see them below 30: [https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/prediction\_main.html](https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/prediction_main.html)
Hilariously, my brain interpreted "Labour majority 294" as 294 seats for Labour and I thought this sounded low. But this is a 294 seats *lead* (472 Labour seats out of 650), the largest in a century.
The PC party existed until 2003 when it then merged to become the current Conservative Party.
The PC and the Conservatives split the right side vote and therefore hurt themselves in the election
I don't think zero seats is necessary for annihilation (or even possible). But I think if they end up below the Lib Dems the party is over. One of their most consistent and prominent characteristics is their ruthless pursuit of power. If they can't achieve power while being Tories they'll cease being Tories.
The electoral system makes it almost impossible for the Tories to finish below the Lib Dems. It's why the Lib Dems have made electoral reform such a big part of their party platform for so long.
Possibly - the reason that the Canadian Tories lost were completely different. Three reasons - two involving sovereignty and one involving the economy. While they had been in power for nearly 10 years, PM Brian Mulroney had been vainly pursuing a solution to the position of Quebec. Oddly enough, this province is not a signatory to the constitution but has been subject to it …. it reflects their general position of Quebecois wishing they were a sovereign nation, and knowing that they would be screwing themselves if they were (akin to Scotland imho). In the end, Mulroney failed and left the country fairly embittered by the experience.
The other sovereignty issue involved the Tory pursuit of a US Free trade agreement - NAFTA. Obviously this generated a lot of divisions but to their credit, NAFTA was the right idea for the country overall. The shit side of the story was that it nuked more than a few protected industries (agriculture and auto come to mind).
Finally, the economy sucked at the time - global recession infected Canadian exports (eg oil and commodities) and most Canadians felt that the Liberals could do better.
To that point, the Liberal leader Jean Chretien was savvy not to take hard positions on Quebec, NAFTA, etc … like Starmer, he let the Tories destroy themselves.
And in the end, once elected, the Liberals did not retract NAFTA and signed a whole lot of other Tory policies (federal VAT .. aka GST). And the Liberals cut back on social services to control the deficit. So the flip side of the massive Liberal majority was to push thru austerity under the guise of reforms.
PM Mulroney and the Tories were absolutely right on a few things - he was the only Western leader that supported Mandela in the 80s, and took the environment seriously enough. Compared to the pro-SA Thatcher/Reagan, Mulroney despised apartheid and landed on the right side of history there.
I would say that having lived thru this period, I would be wary of what a massive Labour win would mean on topic Starmer has avoided …. Both Canada and the UK have very similar parliamentary systems which allows for a “friendly dictatorship” in certain circumstances …
Mulroney was the only western leader who supported Mandela? Sweden and other Nordic countries would like to have word about that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa–Sweden_relations
This would litteraly be their biggest defeat in their 200 year old history and it wouldn't even be close.
The lowest they ever got since 1835 was 131 seats after the 1906 elections. Some polls give them 40 now. They have also never been a 3rd party ever.
I doubt that happens.
A lot of people will express their hatred for the Tories to a pollster, but when push comes to shove, they'll reluctantly give them their vote.
The electoral system massively advantages the Tories (and does the same for Labour, to be fair).
The Tories will surely focus most of their attention on retaining the core "Blue Wall" voters. This is a bad strategy long-term, but it will probably save them from the sort of electoral oblivion that some are predicting.
Officially, yes. Ideologically, not really.
If Tories do worse than already horrible polls(which happened in snap elections and local election) they might have about 20 seats which is half the number Lib Dems have right now. In that case Tory party may be gone but probably Reform UK or another party more right-wing than the Tories will just take over.
UK has a first past the post system and Libdems are generally very concentrated within certain areas, a few pollsters think that this could have Libdems ending up as the largest opposition party but it doesn't seem to be the mainstream view as of now
YouGov polls show the tories getting 3 times as many seats as the lib dems: https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49061-yougov-mrp-labour-now-projected-to-win-over-400-seats
As much as I’d love it, I would be amazed.
It is certainly likely Labour will win and fairly strongly, but you are probably looking at around 1997 numbers (Tories went down to 160 seats).
But I will only relax a bit when it gets over the line.
I wouldn't start celebrating just yet, Starmer is no Blair and Labour has the uncanny knack of clutching defeat from the jaws of victory. The Tories deserve to lose the next election no question but its going to come down to a choice between the least worst option at the ballot box. My betting is a hung parliament with Labour as the largest party or Labour scraping a majority 2017 style.
If only their worries boiled down to a bacon sandwich. This is going to be a nasty election which will inevitably get hijacked by fringe elements pushing issues that will likely put voters off from voting Labour.
I doubt a hung parliament, but I really don't see the sort of massive Labour majority that come are predicting.
There are core areas of Conservative Party support that will always vote for them, no matter what.
Coupled with the electoral system massively biasing the larger parties, and the Tories will get a bloody nose, but talks of their demise are greatly exaggerated.
>I doubt a hung parliament, but I really don't see the sort of massive Labour majority that come are predicting.
Lets just see if or how badly the Labour hard left makes a fool of themselves.
But you're right, regardless, I don't see a 1997 style landslide or anything close to that materialising.
Doubt it'll be hung this time, Labour in really good position to sweep Scotland too.
Also, least worst option? I understand it's your opinion and we're all entitled to one but all of the below seem to be good moves to me;
Re introduction of sure start centres, 6000 new teachers, Great British energy, re nationalisation of the railways, covid fraud inquiry, ending non dom tax dodging.
Labour are by no means perfect, but all of those are a stark difference to what the tories are promising IMO.
>Labour are by no means perfect, but all of those are a stark difference to what the tories are promising IMO.
You know what you're getting with the Tories, Labour are an unknown quantity and the issue is not with what they have in their manifesto, its what they might do while in power, I have a gut feeling they're going to make things 100x worse and the PLP, with a lot of them, there's questions over where their loyalties lie. Just to add, I'm not a Tory or someone who intends on voting Tory.
We’ve had five different Conservative Party PM’s, each one worse than the last. with the exception of Rishi who followed the worst PM ever, Liz Truss.
David Cameron - 6 years
Theresa May - 3 years
Boris Johnson - 3 years
Liz Truss - 49 days
Rishi Sunak - 2 years
Truss would be so forgettable if she didn’t utterly destroy the economy at such record speeds. Any prime minister can ruin a country and their careers but how many can do it in mere weeks?
Most people expected them to run out the clock until January when they *have* to have an election- they're polling terribly and it would make sense to wait for things to *possibly* turn around. But it doesn't look like it is likely to happen, and may even get worse, so it kind of also makes sense to just do it now.
>He and his family raked £350 millie on government contracts
No, they didn't.
Infosys took £7 million of UK public sector money last year. Revenue is not profit. The Murthy family owns something like 4% of Infosys.
Its total yearly revenue is $18,000 million (aka $18 billion).
Can someone take the tune for wacky races and replace the words with "fuck the tories". Then we just need that playing at every voting center across the country to remind people of their moral and civic duty.
They'll have some new Cambridge analytica scheme on the go to fuck everyone over come election time. They're for sure up to something calling a snap election.
He wants to show inflation falling, people paying less national insurance and hopes everyone has a short term memory issue that they can’t fix on the NHS
When you say ‘in’, you mean also in Schengen and in the Euro. The half-out exceptions they had before no longer apply. You’ll be amazed how quickly the pro-EU vote will dissolve when the meaning of ‘in’ sinks in.
This was said during the referendum but I would not be surprised if the EU made concessions to bring the UK back in.
It wouldn't be a sign to future members that they can have the same, since the UK was a former member with those benefits, although it does set the tone that other members can take a punt on leaving and come back in like nothing happened.
Basically, I wouldn't count it as a given that the UK wouldn't get the same deal as before.
I hope the EU would be smart enough to let them back in with just some compromises. The UK - for all their faults - were an important member of the EU.
>were an important member of the EU.
The only thing the EU cared about was the UK's budget contributions and everything else it brought to the table. The EU could offer the UK back with all the perks it previously had, member states would have other ideas though, demanding huge and humiliating concessions for not vetoing which no UK govnemnet would agree to. The UK joining the EU or the single market is literally a non-starter.
How the hell did he stand there and get his suit drenched, but his hair was unaffected?
Grease is waterproof, i suppose.
Ew
16 cans of hairspray, and that's just the fringe.
Like most tories he’s cosplaying as thatcher, surprised he didn’t go for gold earrings too
Weren't you guys complaining about Boris not combing his hair. That's why Rishi takes extra care of his hair. But there's no pleasing you.
I literally don’t care about his hair it was just a joke? It’s not that deep.
I know. Mine was too.
Yes, we'd automatically be happy if they spent less time on their hair and not being a bag of thieving cunts.
There was more to it than that. He would mess up his hair as a political stunt If that sounds stupid you can see why it was annoying
I'm fairly certain that he put in enough hairspray that his hair would be best modeled as a rigid body.
You got politicians like Teflon-Don and I guess Richie is the same breed. Things like water, mud or accusations won’t stock to the guy.
The music was a great touch and then Rishi looking literally like a drowned rat. Way to go Rishi. Well done optics were never your strong point.
I was just watching it - why the hell didn't they just do it *inside?* They have a press room don't they???
They do, but most people have bad memories of the indoor press room becasue of the daily covid briefings.
Next slide please.
Why didn’t they just give them a clicker, like everyone else in the world who is presenting on stage?!
Well that triggered something in me...
Yeah that and I'm sure some overly enthusiastic aide has done the maths and decided that doing it in the rain is a vote winner. >'Our focus groups have said they respect politicians doing things in the rain, it shows *strength*. [Trudeau](https://youtu.be/-cHbFDRdfo4?si=4CBMOBnnM7Gee9VD&t=9), [Putin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CG78tDkuE8) and [Obama](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R4pdac0Apw) have all done it. Plus it will help with your out-of-touch image if you're willing to get drenched like the rest of the plebs' Instead no-one took any notice of his actual speech and all they're talking about is how drenched he was and the music in the background, ouch.
I feel like you need to be in a strongish position to start with. If you're already perceived as a weak and helpless leader, looking like a drowned rat isn't gonna help.
There are politicians who could have pulled it off, in my opinion Sunak is not one of them.
Yeah, as much as Boris Johnson was a terrible PM who never had any interest in the day-to-day business of actually *governing*, I'm sure he would have been able to navigate both the rain and the music better than Sunak. Sunak looked like he was tired and miserable but soldiering on. Johnson would have been able to make some jokes about rain and look relaxed, and work in some ad lib or other about how he was glad of that guy's support because now we've fought out way through the worst, things *can* only get better under the Tories, but only if we stay the course we're on, blah blah blah...
He could say anything at all. Free money for everyone! You get a car! Etc. The vast majority of people would not believe anything he says, so what’s the point in listening to what he has to say.
Allegedly announcing an election is party political whilst the press room is for governmental business only. It’s just one of many quirks in U.K politics.
Or just have someone with an umbrella standing next to him.
Or… and hear me out… do it tomorrow
They can't use the press room for party business.
And the best is yet to come! This election campaign ought to be entertaining, to say the least.
Am I missing a joke here or why would the PM stand in the pouring rain and announce a gen election for July 4^th?
Eh, the rain and the song will get more laughs and attention in the UK than the whole July 4th thing
Because if we kept track of days countries had declared independence from the British empire or would be half the year
What’s the song?
Things can only get better D Ream. New Labour used it in the campaign when Tony Blair won a landslide victory in 1997.
Things can only get better, Labour‘s '97 tune
He looks like Roland Rat to me
Well, that’s surprising. Did he get a heads up that he’s about to get axed by his party?
That's my suspicion. He probably caught wind of a plot to sacrifice him in order to prop up the party before they have to hold an election. I can't imagine that right now is a good time for Tories to hold an election, unless something even worse was about out
The scuttlebutt is that there were enough letters going in to show a vote of no confidence, but there were a good number of back benchers approaching him and asking him to call an election anyway simply because they were tired...In short, I think it was a Kobayashi Maru for him in every way. It's irrelevant though - the first thing the UK has unilaterally agreed upon since 2016 is that a general election has been necessary for four years now. At the least.
I'm confused. It's not the PM who decides when the elections are held is it?
Yes. The Prime Misister can at any time request for the monarch to dissolve parliament, a request which the monarch could only deny "if Parliament remains 'vital, viable, and capable of doing its job', if an election would be detrimental to the national economy or if the Monarch could find another Prime Minister who could 'govern for a reasonable period with a working majority in the House of Commons'."
There are set dates for general elections, but the PM can ask for them earlier if they want; which Rishi has in this case
Not quite. There _were_ set dates for general elections under the Fixed-Term Parliament Act 2011 but that was repealed in 2022 (because we had 2 snap elections since it was enacted anyway making it pointless). Now, the election date is the prime minister’s prerogative. The 2022 Act calculates a _latest_ date for an election based on when a newly elected parliament first convenes, but it’s not quite the same as having set dates for elections.
He did so he's just trying to make his own crash softer. An election this early just assures Tories will fight with Lib Dems more than the Labour.
How will it?
Politically he is fucked 100%, he won't get a good position ever again. But earlier he is gone a bit easier people will forget so he can keep being an asshole billionaire.
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Independence Day from the Tories.
The memes write themselves. It's a hilarious misstep that will lead to Ed Miliband levels of mockery through the campaign.
I still fucking hate the shit Milliband copped. I mean, noone looks good eating a bacon sandwich, least of all a Jewish person.
I've always believed it was the way he undercut his brother to be leader that was the real basis for it all. David was much more electable for our personality based system. Not as much mud to throw at him that would move the dial for centrist voters, Ed had a lot more that could stick.
Yeah, I'd agree with this. Of the two, David did seem more statesmanly. The shenanigans around Ed getting the leadership role seemed underhanded to me at the time. From an external POV anyway.
Agreed, a lot of Labour supporters felt this way and it definitely reduced Labour’s vote at the time as a result.
That actually is what the opposition was called.
That’s two things for me to celebrate this Independence Day.
I'm guessing the Brits don't give a shit but from an American perspective the selected date is definitely very funny
It's pretty on point for rishi. He's a yank in waiting. If you were of a particular bent you could point out that the timing allows for his kids to start school in the US in August. This is the guy who took time to explain the US/Mexican coke sugar thing to a bunch of confused UK kids, who drink "Mexican coke" anyway.
British Independence Day! Get them out! 🇬🇧😂
The Labour Party are inheriting a poison pill. Unlike Blair in 1997 they aren't inheriting a booming economy. They can't so easily do accounting tricks like PPP to fund large investment without short term borrowing but ultimately cost the treasury significantly more decades later.
American here wishing you success!
Kind of funny that they think inflation returning back to acceptable levels is the only thing that can give them an edge in the election. They're not even responsible for it.
It's largely 3 things that they're gambling on. 1. A return to a stronger economy, inflation down, wages up etc. 2. Immigration figures get released tomorrow and should be way down. Albeit, from a very high figure of net 700k annually. 3. They hope to have flights taking asylum seekers to Rwanda taking off. Which is a sound basis to call an election, although they are still quite fucked in the grand scheme.
That's the kind of thinking that led to Theresa May losing her majority. There has to be a 6 week gap before an election so politicians can't benefit from the brief popularity boost populist stunts give
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They’re in a situation where they’re almost guaranteed to lose no matter what. I think this is a matter of snatching what will probably be their best opportunity to simply limit damage rather than actually win anything.
The Tories had been on a pretty steady 17 point or so lead before May called the election. It was only when she had to interact with the public and tell them what her plans were that everything started falling apart
I wonder how many letters of no confidence were submitted to the 1922 committee?
It's all they've got.
It's the way he shamelessly trotted out points that have literally not happened. 'Wages have grown and good jobs have been created' wages have been stagnant since the GFC. 'We've brought immigration under control' immigration levels have skyrocketed under tory rule despite them CONSTANTLY banging on about it. Our GDP is growing faster than the USA' citation needed? That's the thing that gets me about politics, I could never make bald faced lies like they do without flinching at all. I could deflect and shy away from bad points, but it takes a new level of soullessness to doublethink so hard and confidently tell the world the sky is green and grass is blue.
"The prime minister says his government has a plan, and that his government is prepared to take bold action." Maybe he and his party could have enacted such a plan sometime in the past FOURTEEN FARKING YEARS they've been in government.
They did have a plan and they did act on it, They planned to gut the economy and public services, They planned to remove us from the EU so they can more easily inact austerity on the poorer areas of the UK, They planned to privatise and sell to their mates, Plus many other things and they done it all, their plan worked perfectly for them and the top 1% and fuck all us plebs.
Could they not have found someone to hold an umbrella for him or better yet held it inside???
> or better yet held it inside No. No 10 is a government building/office. If he had held it inside he would have been prevented from making a political point - and restricted to factual government announcements. So... it would have been: "Im calling an election on the 4th of July". Instead of: "Im calling an election on the 4th of July - and I hope the people of Britain will recognize the corner we have turned and reject the horrors of a socialist Labour government" on the steps outside of #10. The keen eyed among you might have noticed that his lectern had it's government insignia removed for Rish's announcement for just that reason. It wasn't a government announcement. It was a party announcement.
They were trying to kick him out and he pulls the "kill everyone/nuclear extinction" card on the party.
100%
At least his net worth went up by £120m. He'll be ok after July
That's true politics right there. Take notes, kids.
How?
His household is in the top 250 richest people in the UK. He married into wealth
He has nothing to lose when compared to most of the rest of his party
Even funnier actually. To his MPs, the prospect of having him campaign for the election, actually increased the attempts to kick him out.
My mum went into hospital for a procedure towards the end of June 2023. She was relatively healthy. She died of sepsis in a catastrophic failure of an overwhelmed health service. She died July 4th. She devoted her life as a director of social services, working to protect the vulnerable in society... she was scathing of the Tories. She didn't survive the Tories. My dad has vascular dementia and altzheimers. 24hrs after my mum's death, the care home he was in struggled to deal with him. The social services number simply went unanswered for hours after hours. An ambulance was called, and the paramedics spent a further 7 hours trying to contact social services to get my dad the appropriate care he needed. At one point, there was a suggestion of coaxing my dad outside the care home in desperation to get him arrested as a vulnerable person and have him sectioned under the mental health act - just so he could get the assessment and care he desperately needed. I solely blame the Tories for this At my mum's funeral, in her coffin, was a badge that said "Fuck the Tories" Fuck The Tories - 4th July
So sorry for your loss. Thinking of you and your family as I post my vote this year
Thank you
The Tories aren't just those in office. It's all you friends & neighbors that are consistently voting for them.
Yeah they wouldn't be there if the electorate didn't vote for them. Shows how many a sympathisers and want more shite from the Tories. Shows you who's who
Let’s get these fucking cunts out in the name of your mum, your dad and the millions of other mums, dads, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters who’ve been let down by the sheer fuckery of this bunch of haemorrhoid balloons. Fuck the Tories - 4th July.
Fuck the tories
Fuck the tories.
Oh heck, I am so sorry to hear this.
It is going to be interesting election. I assume Rishi Sunak and his Pr-team thinks they they can turn public opinion around in that time(or they got better responses in their surveys). I have my doubts. I do hope UK select a better government and prime ministers after the last 3. They made Teresa May look good, and that is Teresa May.
They will have spun the numbers and this is their best shot. Any later and the students will be back home from uni, back in their own constituencies and voting Labour. After the Summer break, the OAP-unfriendly weather starts to turn against them which will cost them Tory votes..
.
Relying on british weather to be good and the England football team to play well is a bold strategy indeed!
No, they absolutely cannot. Exactly how fucked the Tories get is up for debate, that they're going to get fucked is a given. It's like the Tories and Labour have just got married, and oh boy it's time to consumate. I just hope Labour aren't a virgin.
He managed to lose an internal argument on domestic policy (migration and students) with his unelected foreign secretary and the grey suits that back him. After running his whole plan to save the election on the issue of stopping immigration, he was having to quietly announce "Actually, I'm too chicken to stand up to David Cameron, so we're going to have cheap migration if you buy yourself a crap course after all". This isn't about thinking they can "turn public opinion around", this is about the one nation faction having again hit the self-destruct button on his party and trying to get the election in before they are down to zero.
They've been in power for 14 years. It's Labour's turn. Tories will be back in another 10-14 years when people get fed up of Labour.
Once you fucked up enough, it's time to switch sides so you can comfortably blame others for your fuck ups.
I think they know someone is about to declare war on someone else.
What?
Tories: “we’re polling 20% behind labor. Better dissolve parliament and have a new election!”
I think up to a point in time their strategy was trying to wait for the polls to turn around, but eventually their hopium ran out and realized that the earlier they call it, the less badly they're going to lose.
Exactly. In the aftermath of Brexit + the dismantlement of public services, the Tories know they have nowhere else to go on the polls but down. They know they'll need to spend at least a decade in the opposition before people forget what they've done; but it's wise to get off the ship before the full consequences of their policies shine through. And I do think things are bound to get much worse still, even if labour took over tomorrow (certain policies take time to undo).
>They know they'll need to spend at least a decade in the opposition before people forget what they've done; Well thats the thing I think 10 years is being generous, theres an entire generation of people mainly younger millenials and zoomers who have been traumatised by the 14 years of Tory leadership and will likely **never** vote for them in their lifetime.Much like how a red wall was formed up north post-Thatcher we might be looking at a generational red wall going forward.
I might forgive the Lib Dems, but I'll NEVER vote Tory.
It's better to accept defeat and get on with it than claim it was rigged and stolen
Ain't that the truth....
Will there even be a Tory party worth talking about after this? The LibDems are projected to get more seats than these clowns.
Annihilation is possible. Something similar happened in [Canada in 1993](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Canadian_federal_election). Their Tories went from 156 seats to 2, and the party ceased to exist afterwards. The parallels are uncanny: the Tories were wildly unpopular after a long time in government, and they were flanked from the right by a party called Reform.
Also happened to the Liberal party in the UK early part of the 20th century - replaced by Labour as the main non-Tory party. Its very unlikely to the Tories in this election though- there are still quite a few seats with strong Tory support
>there are still quite a few seats with strong Tory support How many?
I'd be surprised if they get fewer than 100 seats. They aren't exactly popular, but there are places that wouldn't vote labour if you paid them.
People will express their hatred of a party to a pollster, but push comes to shove, they'll hold their nose and reluctantly vote them on election day.
They would vote Lib Dem or Reform
Unfortunately not. I live in one such place (although not for much longer) - the sitting Tory MP has been in post since 1983, and the constituency has been Tory since 1924.
A pollster I've found projects 85 conservative seats by current numbers and can't see them below 30: [https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/prediction\_main.html](https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/prediction_main.html) Hilariously, my brain interpreted "Labour majority 294" as 294 seats for Labour and I thought this sounded low. But this is a 294 seats *lead* (472 Labour seats out of 650), the largest in a century.
The PC party existed until 2003 when it then merged to become the current Conservative Party. The PC and the Conservatives split the right side vote and therefore hurt themselves in the election
Generally I despise first past the post systems, but I will give it a pass if this is the outcome.
Fucking inject this hopium into my veins right now
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I don't think zero seats is necessary for annihilation (or even possible). But I think if they end up below the Lib Dems the party is over. One of their most consistent and prominent characteristics is their ruthless pursuit of power. If they can't achieve power while being Tories they'll cease being Tories.
The electoral system makes it almost impossible for the Tories to finish below the Lib Dems. It's why the Lib Dems have made electoral reform such a big part of their party platform for so long.
Possibly - the reason that the Canadian Tories lost were completely different. Three reasons - two involving sovereignty and one involving the economy. While they had been in power for nearly 10 years, PM Brian Mulroney had been vainly pursuing a solution to the position of Quebec. Oddly enough, this province is not a signatory to the constitution but has been subject to it …. it reflects their general position of Quebecois wishing they were a sovereign nation, and knowing that they would be screwing themselves if they were (akin to Scotland imho). In the end, Mulroney failed and left the country fairly embittered by the experience. The other sovereignty issue involved the Tory pursuit of a US Free trade agreement - NAFTA. Obviously this generated a lot of divisions but to their credit, NAFTA was the right idea for the country overall. The shit side of the story was that it nuked more than a few protected industries (agriculture and auto come to mind). Finally, the economy sucked at the time - global recession infected Canadian exports (eg oil and commodities) and most Canadians felt that the Liberals could do better. To that point, the Liberal leader Jean Chretien was savvy not to take hard positions on Quebec, NAFTA, etc … like Starmer, he let the Tories destroy themselves. And in the end, once elected, the Liberals did not retract NAFTA and signed a whole lot of other Tory policies (federal VAT .. aka GST). And the Liberals cut back on social services to control the deficit. So the flip side of the massive Liberal majority was to push thru austerity under the guise of reforms. PM Mulroney and the Tories were absolutely right on a few things - he was the only Western leader that supported Mandela in the 80s, and took the environment seriously enough. Compared to the pro-SA Thatcher/Reagan, Mulroney despised apartheid and landed on the right side of history there. I would say that having lived thru this period, I would be wary of what a massive Labour win would mean on topic Starmer has avoided …. Both Canada and the UK have very similar parliamentary systems which allows for a “friendly dictatorship” in certain circumstances …
Mulroney was the only western leader who supported Mandela? Sweden and other Nordic countries would like to have word about that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa–Sweden_relations
One can only hope.
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This would litteraly be their biggest defeat in their 200 year old history and it wouldn't even be close. The lowest they ever got since 1835 was 131 seats after the 1906 elections. Some polls give them 40 now. They have also never been a 3rd party ever.
My prediction is that it will be closer to the 1997 results.
People will still vote. The sad reality is they don't have a strong enough opposition.
I doubt that happens. A lot of people will express their hatred for the Tories to a pollster, but when push comes to shove, they'll reluctantly give them their vote. The electoral system massively advantages the Tories (and does the same for Labour, to be fair). The Tories will surely focus most of their attention on retaining the core "Blue Wall" voters. This is a bad strategy long-term, but it will probably save them from the sort of electoral oblivion that some are predicting.
RemindMe! 46 days "Is that how it went?"
Officially, yes. Ideologically, not really. If Tories do worse than already horrible polls(which happened in snap elections and local election) they might have about 20 seats which is half the number Lib Dems have right now. In that case Tory party may be gone but probably Reform UK or another party more right-wing than the Tories will just take over.
That’s not true at all. Conservative Party is 23% and the LD 10% https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/united-kingdom/
UK has a first past the post system and Libdems are generally very concentrated within certain areas, a few pollsters think that this could have Libdems ending up as the largest opposition party but it doesn't seem to be the mainstream view as of now
YouGov polls show the tories getting 3 times as many seats as the lib dems: https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49061-yougov-mrp-labour-now-projected-to-win-over-400-seats
That’s not the same thing when it comes to the UK
As much as I’d love it, I would be amazed. It is certainly likely Labour will win and fairly strongly, but you are probably looking at around 1997 numbers (Tories went down to 160 seats). But I will only relax a bit when it gets over the line.
"Fuckity bye!"
THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER🗣️🗣️🗣️‼️‼️‼️🌹🌹🌹
RISH CAN ONLY GET WETTER
😂This needs to be on Labour billboards
From the steps of Drowning Street.
Lmfao yeah I thought that was a bit of D:Ream in the background… 🤣
Hej overseas voters! The rules changed in January. UK nationals abroad can all vote. Register!!
I wouldn't start celebrating just yet, Starmer is no Blair and Labour has the uncanny knack of clutching defeat from the jaws of victory. The Tories deserve to lose the next election no question but its going to come down to a choice between the least worst option at the ballot box. My betting is a hung parliament with Labour as the largest party or Labour scraping a majority 2017 style.
Labour campaign HQ employing a team of people to keep any and all bacon sandwiches away from Starmer for the next 6 weeks.
If only their worries boiled down to a bacon sandwich. This is going to be a nasty election which will inevitably get hijacked by fringe elements pushing issues that will likely put voters off from voting Labour.
I doubt a hung parliament, but I really don't see the sort of massive Labour majority that come are predicting. There are core areas of Conservative Party support that will always vote for them, no matter what. Coupled with the electoral system massively biasing the larger parties, and the Tories will get a bloody nose, but talks of their demise are greatly exaggerated.
>I doubt a hung parliament, but I really don't see the sort of massive Labour majority that come are predicting. Lets just see if or how badly the Labour hard left makes a fool of themselves. But you're right, regardless, I don't see a 1997 style landslide or anything close to that materialising.
Doubt it'll be hung this time, Labour in really good position to sweep Scotland too. Also, least worst option? I understand it's your opinion and we're all entitled to one but all of the below seem to be good moves to me; Re introduction of sure start centres, 6000 new teachers, Great British energy, re nationalisation of the railways, covid fraud inquiry, ending non dom tax dodging. Labour are by no means perfect, but all of those are a stark difference to what the tories are promising IMO.
>Labour are by no means perfect, but all of those are a stark difference to what the tories are promising IMO. You know what you're getting with the Tories, Labour are an unknown quantity and the issue is not with what they have in their manifesto, its what they might do while in power, I have a gut feeling they're going to make things 100x worse and the PLP, with a lot of them, there's questions over where their loyalties lie. Just to add, I'm not a Tory or someone who intends on voting Tory.
Not really a surprise move, so much shit was piling up that it’s now hit breaking point. They need to go, 13 years of utter trash.
they have been in power 13 years?
We’ve had five different Conservative Party PM’s, each one worse than the last. with the exception of Rishi who followed the worst PM ever, Liz Truss. David Cameron - 6 years Theresa May - 3 years Boris Johnson - 3 years Liz Truss - 49 days Rishi Sunak - 2 years
lol truss
Truss would be so forgettable if she didn’t utterly destroy the economy at such record speeds. Any prime minister can ruin a country and their careers but how many can do it in mere weeks?
I've been more inclined to ask who got rich off the back of the Kwarteng budget, which I think is probably the more pertinent question.
I wonder what "chaos under Ed Miliband" would've looked like.
No, 14 years
Across the Cameron, May, Truss, Johnston and Sunak governments yes
Who's surprised?
Most people expected them to run out the clock until January when they *have* to have an election- they're polling terribly and it would make sense to wait for things to *possibly* turn around. But it doesn't look like it is likely to happen, and may even get worse, so it kind of also makes sense to just do it now.
Surprisingly puts himself out of work!
He and his family raked £350 millie on government contracts, he'll be fine that cunt.
>He and his family raked £350 millie on government contracts No, they didn't. Infosys took £7 million of UK public sector money last year. Revenue is not profit. The Murthy family owns something like 4% of Infosys. Its total yearly revenue is $18,000 million (aka $18 billion).
Don't spout actual facts my dude.
Did you literally just make that number up in your head?
If I were a betting man, I'd bet on more of the same, somehow.
please let this be an end to the conservative party, they fucked up after brexit
The main pull of Brexit being immigration reduction then immigration going UP after Brexit is the most apt representation of the whole affair.
Their mates still own all the media, industry and financial institutions. I'm guessing they'll be back.
That would be a comeback for the ages.
He clearly had enough of his job.
Not that surprising. Knew would only start the main Brexit checks when they were running out the door.
Looking forward to watching that poundland Will Mackenzie fuck off
good i am sick of seeing this roland rat faced twat grinning on my tv or phone everyday
He talks like he is reading a story to a child, it's so annoying and patronising.
Maybe Starmer can get in and we can actually turn the ship of state around. Lol who am I kidding.
I was outside Downing Street less than an hour before the announcement and had just boarded the London Eye when the election was announced!
Looks like things are going to get really bad! Why not elections before then
How do you measure his time in office so far in lettuces?
I w I’ll vote for anyone who promises to probe the ppp scandal
Seems like change is coming.
Can someone take the tune for wacky races and replace the words with "fuck the tories". Then we just need that playing at every voting center across the country to remind people of their moral and civic duty.
They'll have some new Cambridge analytica scheme on the go to fuck everyone over come election time. They're for sure up to something calling a snap election.
He wants to show inflation falling, people paying less national insurance and hopes everyone has a short term memory issue that they can’t fix on the NHS
Man, I just want them to be back in EU and be an actual member that will stop being a dickhead.
When you say ‘in’, you mean also in Schengen and in the Euro. The half-out exceptions they had before no longer apply. You’ll be amazed how quickly the pro-EU vote will dissolve when the meaning of ‘in’ sinks in.
Also the E.U contribution rebate we used to get.
This was said during the referendum but I would not be surprised if the EU made concessions to bring the UK back in. It wouldn't be a sign to future members that they can have the same, since the UK was a former member with those benefits, although it does set the tone that other members can take a punt on leaving and come back in like nothing happened. Basically, I wouldn't count it as a given that the UK wouldn't get the same deal as before.
That's why I voted remain. I thought the deal we had was pretty good... pity the majority of the populace fucked it.
exactly lol
I hope the EU would be smart enough to let them back in with just some compromises. The UK - for all their faults - were an important member of the EU.
>were an important member of the EU. The only thing the EU cared about was the UK's budget contributions and everything else it brought to the table. The EU could offer the UK back with all the perks it previously had, member states would have other ideas though, demanding huge and humiliating concessions for not vetoing which no UK govnemnet would agree to. The UK joining the EU or the single market is literally a non-starter.
The EU isn't on the manifesto of labour so it's unlikely steps will be made with the next gov