Will we ever have an election again?
- Thread starter Blackleaf
- Start date
The UK looks set for a December general election after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced his party was ready to fight the "most radical campaign ever".
Mr Corbyn said his condition of taking a no-deal Brexit off the table had now been met after the EU agreed to extend the deadline until 31 January 2020.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson can only hold an election with the support of MPs - who have blocked it three times.
The PM will make a fresh attempt to get their backing in Parliament later.
The government bill published ahead of the Commons debate is for an early election on 12 December.
But the Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats want a 9 December poll, saying it would prevent the prime minister from pushing his Brexit deal through Parliament.
No 10 sources have told the BBC they would accept 11 December to get opposition parties on-board - and they have agreed to put Brexit legislation on hold, for now.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50221856
Right, people, let's give Boris a huge majority and finally get Brexit done.
Mr Corbyn said his condition of taking a no-deal Brexit off the table had now been met after the EU agreed to extend the deadline until 31 January 2020.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson can only hold an election with the support of MPs - who have blocked it three times.
The PM will make a fresh attempt to get their backing in Parliament later.
The government bill published ahead of the Commons debate is for an early election on 12 December.
But the Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats want a 9 December poll, saying it would prevent the prime minister from pushing his Brexit deal through Parliament.
No 10 sources have told the BBC they would accept 11 December to get opposition parties on-board - and they have agreed to put Brexit legislation on hold, for now.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50221856
Right, people, let's give Boris a huge majority and finally get Brexit done.
Brexit should happen.
There should have been a general election vote before it to ensure that BoJo had an actual mandate. But there wasn't so... whatever. Anyway...
Brexit should happen on Thursday.
General election after a period of six months - give him and his time to figure out Brexit after it's done.
IMO THAT'S what should be going on. Not this BS.
Fine, but then they're already talking 12 December as an early possible voting date.
So how do you feel about that?
Remainers Accept Defeat As Boris Confirms Brexit Election.
As Labour and Lib Dem MPs fail to pass their amendments to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote, the government prepares for early general election. It’s now time for brexiteers to unite, whether you are Tory or Brexit Party.
As Labour and Lib Dem MPs fail to pass their amendments to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote, the government prepares for early general election. It’s now time for brexiteers to unite, whether you are Tory or Brexit Party.
The UK is set to go to the polls on 12 December after MPs backed Boris Johnson's call for an election following months of Brexit deadlock.
By a margin of 438 votes to 20, the House of Commons approved legislation paving the way for the first December election since 1923.
The bill is still to be approved by the Lords but could become law by the end of the week.
If that happens, there will be a five-week campaign up to polling day.
The prime minister has said the public must be "given a choice" over the future of Brexit and the country.
LIVE: Reaction as MPs back election
Did my MP vote for a 12 December election?
A really simple guide to the UK general election
Mr Johnson hopes the election will give him a fresh mandate for his Brexit deal and break the current Parliamentary deadlock, which has led to the UK's exit being further delayed to 31 January.
The PM said it was time for the country to "come together to get Brexit done", as he left a meeting of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservatives held minutes after the vote.
He has readmitted 10 of the 21 Conservative MPs he threw out of the party for rebelling over Brexit, allowing them to stand as Conservative candidates.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "This election is a once-in-a-generation chance to transform our country and take on the vested interests holding people back."
He said his party would "now launch the most ambitious and radical campaign for real change that our country has ever seen".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50229318
A victory for Boris. He wanted it on 12th December whereas the Remainers, who keep saying they don't want No Deal Brexit, were hoping it would be on 9th December to try and block Boris's deal.
By a margin of 438 votes to 20, the House of Commons approved legislation paving the way for the first December election since 1923.
The bill is still to be approved by the Lords but could become law by the end of the week.
If that happens, there will be a five-week campaign up to polling day.
The prime minister has said the public must be "given a choice" over the future of Brexit and the country.
LIVE: Reaction as MPs back election
Did my MP vote for a 12 December election?
A really simple guide to the UK general election
Mr Johnson hopes the election will give him a fresh mandate for his Brexit deal and break the current Parliamentary deadlock, which has led to the UK's exit being further delayed to 31 January.
The PM said it was time for the country to "come together to get Brexit done", as he left a meeting of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservatives held minutes after the vote.
He has readmitted 10 of the 21 Conservative MPs he threw out of the party for rebelling over Brexit, allowing them to stand as Conservative candidates.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "This election is a once-in-a-generation chance to transform our country and take on the vested interests holding people back."
He said his party would "now launch the most ambitious and radical campaign for real change that our country has ever seen".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50229318
A victory for Boris. He wanted it on 12th December whereas the Remainers, who keep saying they don't want No Deal Brexit, were hoping it would be on 9th December to try and block Boris's deal.
This election is a fight for the soul of democracy
If we use our ballots wisely, we can seriously wound the anti-democratic elites.
BRENDAN O'NEILL
EDITOR
29th October 2019
Spiked
It’s on. At last. A General Election. For weeks Labour and the Lib Dems blocked Boris Johnson’s plea for an election. They engaged in a deeply cynical form of voter suppression, denying the public the thing we so urgently need: the democratic right to pass judgement on this zombie parliament and on its members who are brazenly reneging on the promise they made in their 2017 manifestos to uphold the vote for Brexit. But today, finally, Jeremy Corbyn and others, perhaps aware that continually preventing an election made them look like cowards and autocrats, have relented. They now say they will back a public vote. About time. Bring it on.
The importance of this election cannot be overstated. So much hinges on it – politically, historically, even psychologically. In this election, the people have a brilliant opportunity to push back against the most dangerous and authoritarian wing of the 21st-century establishment: the Remainer elite. All those sections of the political class who over the past three years have demonstrated their contempt for democratic principles, their fear and loathing of the judgement of the masses, and their willingness to upend hard-fought-for rights and freedoms in order to preserve their grip on political power, on the moral order and on the very parameters of public debate – we now have the chance to weaken these elitists and to make it clear to the entire establishment that such behaviour will not be tolerated again. It is a chance we must seize with vigour.
The great thing about this election is that it returns power to the people. The tragedy of Brexit is that this huge, unprecedented public vote for change, for a renewal of our democratic institutions, came to be co-opted and dominated by the fearful, technocratic establishment. It became entirely their property. The people’s cry for a break from the EU and a restoration of the ideal of democratic accountability ended up as little more than a talking point among politicians – mostly politicians who are of course opposed to breaking from the EU and submitting themselves to greater democratic accountability. So they frustrated the people’s cry; they stifled it, thwarted it, depicted it as something terrible and dangerous. It was one of the greatest betrayals of democracy in modern times.
But now the question of Brexit – and of democracy more broadly – is coming back to the people. Politicians are submitting themselves to our judgement. They have no choice. After all, we are their masters, however much they might hate or try to deny that fact. It is essential that we take seriously our recovery of political power. That we behave as democratic citizens who have the right and the authority to determine the fate of the political class and the future of the nation. There is one key task in this election: to frustrate the ambitions of the anti-democratic elites by voting against them in any way we can and by voting for the radical democratic change so many of us voted for in 2016.
The balance of power in this country has got to be shifted. We know that the Remainer establishment is fractured and on the defensive. We know it lives in dread of the people’s judgement. We know that the arrogance with which it demeans and frustrates the vote for Brexit is born more from desperation than confidence. And now we have it within our power to further isolate these elites. If we do so, we can hold back many of the backward trends they represent: anti-democracy, paternalism, PC, the urge to censor certain forms of political speech, a preference for globalism over social solidarity, and a greater trust in middle-class experts over the wisdom of the crowd. If we use our ballots wisely, we can temper and tame these trends, or certainly the people who rally around these trends.
spiked won’t be supporting a particular party. Our advice is to vote for the candidate who best represents or understands the Brexit spirit and whose victory would send the clearest possible message to the Remain establishment that their stranglehold on political progress is over. That could be a Tory candidate, a Labour candidate or a Brexit Party candidate: if they are committed to upholding the vote of 2016, consider giving them your vote in this election. The message to the establishment must be crystal clear: the people of this nation will never tolerate the usurping of a democratic vote, and we will push back against every one of you who has spent the past three years trying to do that.
Brendan O’Neill is editor of spiked and host of the spiked podcast, The Brendan O’Neill Show. Subscribe to the podcast here. And find Brendan on Instagram: @burntoakboy
Brendan will be speaking at the sessions ‘What can we learn from the English Civil War?’ and ‘Extinction or progress? Visions of the future’ at the Battle of Ideas festival in London this weekend. Get tickets here.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/10/29/this-election-is-a-fight-for-the-soul-of-democracy/
If we use our ballots wisely, we can seriously wound the anti-democratic elites.
BRENDAN O'NEILL
EDITOR
29th October 2019
Spiked
It’s on. At last. A General Election. For weeks Labour and the Lib Dems blocked Boris Johnson’s plea for an election. They engaged in a deeply cynical form of voter suppression, denying the public the thing we so urgently need: the democratic right to pass judgement on this zombie parliament and on its members who are brazenly reneging on the promise they made in their 2017 manifestos to uphold the vote for Brexit. But today, finally, Jeremy Corbyn and others, perhaps aware that continually preventing an election made them look like cowards and autocrats, have relented. They now say they will back a public vote. About time. Bring it on.
The importance of this election cannot be overstated. So much hinges on it – politically, historically, even psychologically. In this election, the people have a brilliant opportunity to push back against the most dangerous and authoritarian wing of the 21st-century establishment: the Remainer elite. All those sections of the political class who over the past three years have demonstrated their contempt for democratic principles, their fear and loathing of the judgement of the masses, and their willingness to upend hard-fought-for rights and freedoms in order to preserve their grip on political power, on the moral order and on the very parameters of public debate – we now have the chance to weaken these elitists and to make it clear to the entire establishment that such behaviour will not be tolerated again. It is a chance we must seize with vigour.
The great thing about this election is that it returns power to the people. The tragedy of Brexit is that this huge, unprecedented public vote for change, for a renewal of our democratic institutions, came to be co-opted and dominated by the fearful, technocratic establishment. It became entirely their property. The people’s cry for a break from the EU and a restoration of the ideal of democratic accountability ended up as little more than a talking point among politicians – mostly politicians who are of course opposed to breaking from the EU and submitting themselves to greater democratic accountability. So they frustrated the people’s cry; they stifled it, thwarted it, depicted it as something terrible and dangerous. It was one of the greatest betrayals of democracy in modern times.
But now the question of Brexit – and of democracy more broadly – is coming back to the people. Politicians are submitting themselves to our judgement. They have no choice. After all, we are their masters, however much they might hate or try to deny that fact. It is essential that we take seriously our recovery of political power. That we behave as democratic citizens who have the right and the authority to determine the fate of the political class and the future of the nation. There is one key task in this election: to frustrate the ambitions of the anti-democratic elites by voting against them in any way we can and by voting for the radical democratic change so many of us voted for in 2016.
The balance of power in this country has got to be shifted. We know that the Remainer establishment is fractured and on the defensive. We know it lives in dread of the people’s judgement. We know that the arrogance with which it demeans and frustrates the vote for Brexit is born more from desperation than confidence. And now we have it within our power to further isolate these elites. If we do so, we can hold back many of the backward trends they represent: anti-democracy, paternalism, PC, the urge to censor certain forms of political speech, a preference for globalism over social solidarity, and a greater trust in middle-class experts over the wisdom of the crowd. If we use our ballots wisely, we can temper and tame these trends, or certainly the people who rally around these trends.
spiked won’t be supporting a particular party. Our advice is to vote for the candidate who best represents or understands the Brexit spirit and whose victory would send the clearest possible message to the Remain establishment that their stranglehold on political progress is over. That could be a Tory candidate, a Labour candidate or a Brexit Party candidate: if they are committed to upholding the vote of 2016, consider giving them your vote in this election. The message to the establishment must be crystal clear: the people of this nation will never tolerate the usurping of a democratic vote, and we will push back against every one of you who has spent the past three years trying to do that.
Brendan O’Neill is editor of spiked and host of the spiked podcast, The Brendan O’Neill Show. Subscribe to the podcast here. And find Brendan on Instagram: @burntoakboy
Brendan will be speaking at the sessions ‘What can we learn from the English Civil War?’ and ‘Extinction or progress? Visions of the future’ at the Battle of Ideas festival in London this weekend. Get tickets here.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/10/29/this-election-is-a-fight-for-the-soul-of-democracy/
I hope not. You've certainly proven yourselves far too stupid to handle democracy.
For once, I agree with you.
Remainer MPs are refusing to carry our the will of the people. Many of them will get their comeuppance on 12th December.
Vote for New Year's LEAVE: Boris Johnson pledges to get UK out of EU by January as he finally wins his bid for December 12th election (but there's embarrassment for Jeremy Corbyn as more than 100 Labour MPs defy his call to back Christmas poll
The Prime Minister pledged that if he wins at the polls he will return immediately to the Commons to get his deal passed by January and end the 'dither and delay'. Downing Street said he would devote 2020 to delivering his domestic agenda, including on schools, hospitals and policing. The country is set go to the polls on December 12 after Jeremy Corbyn caved in to huge pressure from the PM, the Lib Dems and SNP. He was also faced with a huge rebellion among his own MPs, with more than 100 abstaining on the vote. The legislation for the plan was finalised in the Commons after a day of bitter wrangling and procedural tricks. The last outstanding issue was resolved in a crunch vote, with MPs deciding that the snap poll should happen on the government's preferred date of December 12 rather than December 9.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...s-final-bid-force-pre-Christmas-election.html
The Prime Minister pledged that if he wins at the polls he will return immediately to the Commons to get his deal passed by January and end the 'dither and delay'. Downing Street said he would devote 2020 to delivering his domestic agenda, including on schools, hospitals and policing. The country is set go to the polls on December 12 after Jeremy Corbyn caved in to huge pressure from the PM, the Lib Dems and SNP. He was also faced with a huge rebellion among his own MPs, with more than 100 abstaining on the vote. The legislation for the plan was finalised in the Commons after a day of bitter wrangling and procedural tricks. The last outstanding issue was resolved in a crunch vote, with MPs deciding that the snap poll should happen on the government's preferred date of December 12 rather than December 9.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...s-final-bid-force-pre-Christmas-election.html
Easy win worthy of England rugby: HENRY DEEDES sees Boris's wish come true
By Henry Deedes for the Daily Mail
29 Oct 2019
And so, despite all Labour’s pathetic huffing and puffing and the hoo-ha of their blocking tactics the previous day, the Government’s early election bill sailed through barely opposed. A cinch. Easy-peasy. One of those nonchalant, stroll-in-the-park victories we’ve come to expect from the England rugby team.
Four more days. That is how long this House will now sit, barring any mischief in the Lords today.
Then we shall be done with the most sclerotic, catarrh-ridden Parliament in living memory.
The match has been struck, the blue touch paper finally lit. Hallelujah!
Parliament votes to hold a general election on December 12th
The afternoon’s debate ended up being wasted hot air. Any dramatic tension was pretty much lost by mid-morning when Jeremy Corbyn suddenly decided Labour would back the Bill.
With the Lib Dems and Scottish Nationalists prepared to support the Government, he bowed to the inevitable in front of TV cameras, surrounded by some of his shadow cabinet. What a lot of grey-haired men in one place. Rebecca Long-Bailey, the party’s business spokesman, must have been the only one too young for free bus travel.
Vote for New Year's LEAVE: Boris Johnson pledges to get UK out of EU by January as he finally wins his bid for December 12th election (but there's embarrassment for Jeremy Corbyn as more than 100 Labour MPs defy his call to back Christmas poll)
The Bill encountered the usual Parliamentary chicanery early on. Speaker Bercow allowed an amendment from Stella Creasy (Lab, Walthamstow) which allowed various goal-post shifting, such as an attempt to give EU nationals a vote. How they love their petty games, these Remainers. Eventually, only a debate on changing the election day was permitted.
Bercow is meant to retire tomorrow. Hang out the bunting! But not too fast. Imagine his delight when Maria Miller (Con, Basingstoke) urged him to stay on until Parliament is dissolved next week.
‘I will do my duty and, if the House asks me to do as people have requested, of course I take that extremely seriously,’ the Speaker informed the Chamber, glazing himself in honey.
As for the debate, Boris Johnson was chipper, twisting and jabbing those podgy Cumberland sausage fingers across the despatch box, buoyed perhaps that an election was finally in sight. He continued to goad Corbyn for having tried to avoid the electorate for so long.
‘Dogs bark. Cows moo. Oppositions are meant to vote for an election,’ he cried.
Andy McDonald (Lab, Middlesbrough) suggested the PM had forgotten to rewrite his speech now that Labour had agreed to an election. Boris was undeterred.
‘Maybe it’s because he’s been following the precepts of his intellectual mentor Fidel Castro whose adoring crowds used to serenade him, Mr Speaker, with the cry of Revoluciones, Si! Elecciones, No!’
Corbyn was ratty. Unsurprising, considering the dramatic flip-flop he’d been forced to perform.
His mood wasn’t improved by repeated attempts from Sir Hugo Swire (Con, East Devon) to intervene during his speech, snarling: ‘I’ve told him four times, I’m not going to give way.’
When the Labour leader pledged to get Brexit ‘sorted’, Boris’s eyeballs spun faster than Catherine wheels. ‘Sorted?!’ the PM screamed, incredulously slouched in his seat. ‘Sorrrrtedddd?!’
Such hypocrisy from a man who’s spent the past three years frustrating Brexit at every turn. Johnson ended on a rallying cry. ‘Whatever date the House decides for the election, I am ready for it. We are ready for it!’ Reaction from the Labour benches as he sat down? Tepid.
The other Opposition parties pursued their own narrow agendas. The SNP’s Ian Blackford’s rant about independence received applause from his own MPs, though they may secretly have been welcoming its relative brevity, for once, more than its content.
By contrast, Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson launched into an anti-Brexit tirade which went on so long that the moustaches on the Democratic Unionist benches next to her were starting to perm.
Strangely aggressive figure is Swinson. Glad I never encountered her on a hockey pitch.
Behind the Speaker’s chair, Remainer Dominic Grieve (Ind, Beaconsfield) tugged his chin and looked glum. Philip Hammond and Chris Leslie (Change UK, Nottingham East) held an impromptu confab. Decisions, decisions.
What fate now awaits these ardent Brexit spoilers? We shall see in six weeks’ time.
Six very, very long weeks.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7628029/HENRY-DEEDES-sees-Boriss-wish-come-true.html
By Henry Deedes for the Daily Mail
29 Oct 2019
And so, despite all Labour’s pathetic huffing and puffing and the hoo-ha of their blocking tactics the previous day, the Government’s early election bill sailed through barely opposed. A cinch. Easy-peasy. One of those nonchalant, stroll-in-the-park victories we’ve come to expect from the England rugby team.
Four more days. That is how long this House will now sit, barring any mischief in the Lords today.
Then we shall be done with the most sclerotic, catarrh-ridden Parliament in living memory.
The match has been struck, the blue touch paper finally lit. Hallelujah!
Parliament votes to hold a general election on December 12th
The afternoon’s debate ended up being wasted hot air. Any dramatic tension was pretty much lost by mid-morning when Jeremy Corbyn suddenly decided Labour would back the Bill.
With the Lib Dems and Scottish Nationalists prepared to support the Government, he bowed to the inevitable in front of TV cameras, surrounded by some of his shadow cabinet. What a lot of grey-haired men in one place. Rebecca Long-Bailey, the party’s business spokesman, must have been the only one too young for free bus travel.
Vote for New Year's LEAVE: Boris Johnson pledges to get UK out of EU by January as he finally wins his bid for December 12th election (but there's embarrassment for Jeremy Corbyn as more than 100 Labour MPs defy his call to back Christmas poll)
The Bill encountered the usual Parliamentary chicanery early on. Speaker Bercow allowed an amendment from Stella Creasy (Lab, Walthamstow) which allowed various goal-post shifting, such as an attempt to give EU nationals a vote. How they love their petty games, these Remainers. Eventually, only a debate on changing the election day was permitted.
Bercow is meant to retire tomorrow. Hang out the bunting! But not too fast. Imagine his delight when Maria Miller (Con, Basingstoke) urged him to stay on until Parliament is dissolved next week.
‘I will do my duty and, if the House asks me to do as people have requested, of course I take that extremely seriously,’ the Speaker informed the Chamber, glazing himself in honey.
As for the debate, Boris Johnson was chipper, twisting and jabbing those podgy Cumberland sausage fingers across the despatch box, buoyed perhaps that an election was finally in sight. He continued to goad Corbyn for having tried to avoid the electorate for so long.
‘Dogs bark. Cows moo. Oppositions are meant to vote for an election,’ he cried.
Andy McDonald (Lab, Middlesbrough) suggested the PM had forgotten to rewrite his speech now that Labour had agreed to an election. Boris was undeterred.
‘Maybe it’s because he’s been following the precepts of his intellectual mentor Fidel Castro whose adoring crowds used to serenade him, Mr Speaker, with the cry of Revoluciones, Si! Elecciones, No!’
Corbyn was ratty. Unsurprising, considering the dramatic flip-flop he’d been forced to perform.
His mood wasn’t improved by repeated attempts from Sir Hugo Swire (Con, East Devon) to intervene during his speech, snarling: ‘I’ve told him four times, I’m not going to give way.’
When the Labour leader pledged to get Brexit ‘sorted’, Boris’s eyeballs spun faster than Catherine wheels. ‘Sorted?!’ the PM screamed, incredulously slouched in his seat. ‘Sorrrrtedddd?!’
Such hypocrisy from a man who’s spent the past three years frustrating Brexit at every turn. Johnson ended on a rallying cry. ‘Whatever date the House decides for the election, I am ready for it. We are ready for it!’ Reaction from the Labour benches as he sat down? Tepid.
The other Opposition parties pursued their own narrow agendas. The SNP’s Ian Blackford’s rant about independence received applause from his own MPs, though they may secretly have been welcoming its relative brevity, for once, more than its content.
By contrast, Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson launched into an anti-Brexit tirade which went on so long that the moustaches on the Democratic Unionist benches next to her were starting to perm.
Strangely aggressive figure is Swinson. Glad I never encountered her on a hockey pitch.
Behind the Speaker’s chair, Remainer Dominic Grieve (Ind, Beaconsfield) tugged his chin and looked glum. Philip Hammond and Chris Leslie (Change UK, Nottingham East) held an impromptu confab. Decisions, decisions.
What fate now awaits these ardent Brexit spoilers? We shall see in six weeks’ time.
Six very, very long weeks.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7628029/HENRY-DEEDES-sees-Boriss-wish-come-true.html
No, he didn't.
It seems definite now, though, that Britain will regain her independence on 31st December. That will be our Independence Day.
Well, in two days it'll either be a done deal, or you'll have to come up with another lie.
I'm sure BoreJo will provide you with one.
I'm sure BoreJo will provide you with one.
A huge boost for Boris's prospects in this General Election as it seems he very much has the crucial support of "Workington Man"...
SIMON WALTERS: Poll showing PM is winning in Workington proves Labour should worry about the Brexit Party just as much as the Tories
If Boris Johnson is worried about losing his election gamble, he should head 300 miles north and visit Workington on the edge of the Lake District.
To call Workington a Labour stronghold is an understatement. It has returned a Labour MP in every general election since 1918. The Tories have held it for just three in 101 years after winning it in the 1970s in a by-election – where wild swings are commonplace.
Workington Labour MP Sue Hayman romped home with a 3,925 majority over the Conservatives in the 2017 election and gained a whopping 51 per cent of the vote.
The poll suggests that the result could be reversed, with the Tories winning by 4,000 instead.
The Cumbrian town has found itself the centre of attention this week after a Right of Centre think-tank, Onward, identified 'Workington Man' as the key to the result on December 12.
Along with other Northern towns, which like Workington, have a rugby league team, many of its voters are over 45, white, non-university educated males.
They value security above freedom and feel the country's economic and social culture no longer represent them, said a report by Onward. Which is why 60 per cent of people in Workington voted to leave the EU, it concluded.
'Workington Man' is crucial to Mr Johnson's hopes because the Tories are resigned to losing seats in pro-Remain Scotland, London and parts of the South.
So they have to grab seats from traditional socialist areas in the North and Midlands who voted Leave, do not trust Labour to deliver it and have no time for 'Islington Man' Mr Corbyn's Left-wing views or style.
According to the Survation poll, the leader who can expect a warm welcome from 'Workington Man' is Mr Johnson. A study of the individual responses of those who said they were switching from Labour in the 2017 election to Conservative on December 12 is revealing.
Asked why she was voting Conservative, a 35-year-old woman, who voted Leave in the 2016 EU referendum and Labour in 2017, cited Mr Johnson's slogan: 'To get Brexit done.'
The Prime Minister will be even more buoyed by the 41-year-old Workington woman who voted Remain in 2016 but said she intends to switch from Labour to the Conservatives 'because of the NHS'.
The poll also challenges the received wisdom of political pundits who say Mr Johnson could lose as a result of Tory voters backing Brexit Party candidates.
Support for the Brexit Party in Workington is at a modest 13 per cent, roughly the same level as the party commands nationwide.
Moreover, its votes in the town are made up of almost exactly the same number of former Labour and former Tory voters.
It suggests the risk of Mr Farage handing Mr Johnson's No 10 crown to Mr Corbyn on a plate is not as great as claimed.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...kington-proves-Labour-worry-Brexit-Party.html
SIMON WALTERS: Poll showing PM is winning in Workington proves Labour should worry about the Brexit Party just as much as the Tories
If Boris Johnson is worried about losing his election gamble, he should head 300 miles north and visit Workington on the edge of the Lake District.
To call Workington a Labour stronghold is an understatement. It has returned a Labour MP in every general election since 1918. The Tories have held it for just three in 101 years after winning it in the 1970s in a by-election – where wild swings are commonplace.
Workington Labour MP Sue Hayman romped home with a 3,925 majority over the Conservatives in the 2017 election and gained a whopping 51 per cent of the vote.
The poll suggests that the result could be reversed, with the Tories winning by 4,000 instead.
The Cumbrian town has found itself the centre of attention this week after a Right of Centre think-tank, Onward, identified 'Workington Man' as the key to the result on December 12.
Along with other Northern towns, which like Workington, have a rugby league team, many of its voters are over 45, white, non-university educated males.
They value security above freedom and feel the country's economic and social culture no longer represent them, said a report by Onward. Which is why 60 per cent of people in Workington voted to leave the EU, it concluded.
'Workington Man' is crucial to Mr Johnson's hopes because the Tories are resigned to losing seats in pro-Remain Scotland, London and parts of the South.
So they have to grab seats from traditional socialist areas in the North and Midlands who voted Leave, do not trust Labour to deliver it and have no time for 'Islington Man' Mr Corbyn's Left-wing views or style.
According to the Survation poll, the leader who can expect a warm welcome from 'Workington Man' is Mr Johnson. A study of the individual responses of those who said they were switching from Labour in the 2017 election to Conservative on December 12 is revealing.
Asked why she was voting Conservative, a 35-year-old woman, who voted Leave in the 2016 EU referendum and Labour in 2017, cited Mr Johnson's slogan: 'To get Brexit done.'
The Prime Minister will be even more buoyed by the 41-year-old Workington woman who voted Remain in 2016 but said she intends to switch from Labour to the Conservatives 'because of the NHS'.
The poll also challenges the received wisdom of political pundits who say Mr Johnson could lose as a result of Tory voters backing Brexit Party candidates.
Support for the Brexit Party in Workington is at a modest 13 per cent, roughly the same level as the party commands nationwide.
Moreover, its votes in the town are made up of almost exactly the same number of former Labour and former Tory voters.
It suggests the risk of Mr Farage handing Mr Johnson's No 10 crown to Mr Corbyn on a plate is not as great as claimed.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...kington-proves-Labour-worry-Brexit-Party.html
ROD LIDDLE I’ve only voted Tory once. Afterwards I felt ashamed, like I’d had sex with an elderly goat — but there is NO alternative
Comment
Rod Liddle
30 Oct 2019
ISN’T it exciting! A general election. Six weeks of shifty looking weasels lying to you and kissing your baby.
Jabbering monkeys on the TV every evening, fatuous arguments which amount to naff all.
I've only voted Tory once afterwards I felt ashamed, like I'd had sex with an elderly goat — but there is no alternative Credit: AFP or licensors
Outlandish claims, ludicrous allegations. Earnest experts telling us what the swing is likely to be in Baked Gusset West or whether the Brexit Party will take many votes in Lower Scrotum and Ladygarden.
Hell, after all this, Christmas will come as a kind of RELIEF. You’ll greet the in-laws with a cheery smile and break out the best Scotch.
Although you may be less likely to do that if the mad old clown Magic Grandpa — Jeremy Corbyn to his mates — is busy putting up hemp curtains and posters of Leon Trotsky in No10.
You think that can’t happen? Oh, it can happen, believe me. That’s why this is the most important general election in Great Britain since 1979, or maybe even 1945.
On those occasions the public got it right. You’d better pray they do this time. I’ve seen how things are going in Venezuela, Cuba and Ecuador, Grandpa’s favourite countries.
It’s not looking too good, frankly, what with the starvation and the riots and so on. The Conservatives go into this election as clear favourites by a mile. Just check out the bookies’ odds.
The Tories are 1/8 on to get most seats. Magic Grandpa is 20/1. That all very strongly suggests that Boris & Co are home and dry.
'FELT TRULY ASHAMED'
But then look at the odds for a hung parliament. They’re 11/10. And a hung parliament is effectively the same as a Labour win.
Same outcome — Jezza in No10. Backed up by the Scottish legion of dwarves and the Liberals (I refuse to call them Democrats any more).
Those odds suggest the bookies reckon it’s a fairly likely outcome. So, alas, do I. Stranger things have happened. Not many worse things have happened, though.
The terrible thing is that the only way to stop that happening is to vote Conservative. I do not like voting Conservative. I am NOT a Conservative. I trust them about as far as I could spit.
I’ve only voted Tory once in my life and I felt afterwards truly ashamed, as if I’d just had sex with an elderly goat.
But the alternative is beyond appalling. It would mean — for starters — no Brexit. Three years of agony for nothing and a democratic decision overturned.
The Lib Dems — who are going to gain lots of seats — are clear about that. So are the SNP and most of Labour.
'LABOUR ADORE IMMIGRATION'
But it would also mean a descent into financial and cultural chaos. Labour has been talking about absolutely unlimited immigration.
They adore immigration — not least because it hands them more votes on a plate. We would be enveloped by the woke snowflake culture.
The divisive identity politics of the Liberals and Labour, where everything is raaaacist and there are transgender toilets every few feet.
And Labour will take money from the people who create wealth and give it to people who prefer to spend it.
Labour no longer cares about the hard-grafting working-class people, the very people it was set up to represent.
This is why I won’t be voting for the Brexit Party. Because admirable though they may be, and dedicated though their leader Nigel Farage undoubtedly is, a vote for them will let Corbyn in through the back door.
And at last once this election is over we can get behind a genuine alternative to the Tories — that’s the Social Democratic Party.
Astounding Remoaner hypocrisy
THE hypocrisy is astounding. Yet again the Remoaner MPs, especially Labour MPs, are demanding that the campaigning for the General Election be conducted nicely.
They mean we mustn’t use words like “betrayal” or “surrender”. They are not permitted to control the narrative.
They are not in a position to decide what language we can use to describe the three years in which they have done everything possible to thwart Brexit.
They betrayed the electorate, and we should say so at every available opportunity. And if it hurts their feelings, good.
A hung parliament is effectively the same as a Labour win — Jeremy Corbyn will end up in No10 Credit: AFP or licensors
As dedicated as Nigel Farage is, a vote for the Brexit Party will let Corbyn in through the back door Credit: EPA
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10247766/voted-tory-once-felt-ashamed-goat-no-alternative/
Comment
Rod Liddle
30 Oct 2019
ISN’T it exciting! A general election. Six weeks of shifty looking weasels lying to you and kissing your baby.
Jabbering monkeys on the TV every evening, fatuous arguments which amount to naff all.
I've only voted Tory once afterwards I felt ashamed, like I'd had sex with an elderly goat — but there is no alternative Credit: AFP or licensors Outlandish claims, ludicrous allegations. Earnest experts telling us what the swing is likely to be in Baked Gusset West or whether the Brexit Party will take many votes in Lower Scrotum and Ladygarden.
Hell, after all this, Christmas will come as a kind of RELIEF. You’ll greet the in-laws with a cheery smile and break out the best Scotch.
Although you may be less likely to do that if the mad old clown Magic Grandpa — Jeremy Corbyn to his mates — is busy putting up hemp curtains and posters of Leon Trotsky in No10.
You think that can’t happen? Oh, it can happen, believe me. That’s why this is the most important general election in Great Britain since 1979, or maybe even 1945.
On those occasions the public got it right. You’d better pray they do this time. I’ve seen how things are going in Venezuela, Cuba and Ecuador, Grandpa’s favourite countries.
It’s not looking too good, frankly, what with the starvation and the riots and so on. The Conservatives go into this election as clear favourites by a mile. Just check out the bookies’ odds.
The Tories are 1/8 on to get most seats. Magic Grandpa is 20/1. That all very strongly suggests that Boris & Co are home and dry.
'FELT TRULY ASHAMED'
But then look at the odds for a hung parliament. They’re 11/10. And a hung parliament is effectively the same as a Labour win.
Same outcome — Jezza in No10. Backed up by the Scottish legion of dwarves and the Liberals (I refuse to call them Democrats any more).
Those odds suggest the bookies reckon it’s a fairly likely outcome. So, alas, do I. Stranger things have happened. Not many worse things have happened, though.
The terrible thing is that the only way to stop that happening is to vote Conservative. I do not like voting Conservative. I am NOT a Conservative. I trust them about as far as I could spit.
I’ve only voted Tory once in my life and I felt afterwards truly ashamed, as if I’d just had sex with an elderly goat.
But the alternative is beyond appalling. It would mean — for starters — no Brexit. Three years of agony for nothing and a democratic decision overturned.
The Lib Dems — who are going to gain lots of seats — are clear about that. So are the SNP and most of Labour.
'LABOUR ADORE IMMIGRATION'
But it would also mean a descent into financial and cultural chaos. Labour has been talking about absolutely unlimited immigration.
They adore immigration — not least because it hands them more votes on a plate. We would be enveloped by the woke snowflake culture.
The divisive identity politics of the Liberals and Labour, where everything is raaaacist and there are transgender toilets every few feet.
And Labour will take money from the people who create wealth and give it to people who prefer to spend it.
Labour no longer cares about the hard-grafting working-class people, the very people it was set up to represent.
This is why I won’t be voting for the Brexit Party. Because admirable though they may be, and dedicated though their leader Nigel Farage undoubtedly is, a vote for them will let Corbyn in through the back door.
And at last once this election is over we can get behind a genuine alternative to the Tories — that’s the Social Democratic Party.
Astounding Remoaner hypocrisy
THE hypocrisy is astounding. Yet again the Remoaner MPs, especially Labour MPs, are demanding that the campaigning for the General Election be conducted nicely.
They mean we mustn’t use words like “betrayal” or “surrender”. They are not permitted to control the narrative.
They are not in a position to decide what language we can use to describe the three years in which they have done everything possible to thwart Brexit.
They betrayed the electorate, and we should say so at every available opportunity. And if it hurts their feelings, good.
A hung parliament is effectively the same as a Labour win — Jeremy Corbyn will end up in No10 Credit: AFP or licensors
As dedicated as Nigel Farage is, a vote for the Brexit Party will let Corbyn in through the back door Credit: EPAhttps://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10247766/voted-tory-once-felt-ashamed-goat-no-alternative/
Lib Dumb leader Jo Swinson complaining she's not allowed to take part in the ITV leaders' debate.
Many would say an anti-democrat like Swinson, who wants to stop Brexit, shouldn't be allowed to take part in a General Election.
But I would like to see her in the leaders' debate. I would like her to explain her husband's relationship to the EU Commission. Jo Swinson is married to Duncan Hames, a former aide to former Deputy PM Nick Clegg, who is the acting executive director of Transparency IntUK. According to its accounts on its own website, in 2018 Mr Hames' company received £3,463,555 from the European Commission. Does Ms Swinson have a vested interest in remaining in the EU? Has she declared this financial interest? Perhaps she can explain what services Mr Hames' company provides that are worth 3.46 million pounds. Does she know if the European Commission pays similar sums to other MPs? I really would like to see Ms Swinson explain this on television.
Many would say an anti-democrat like Swinson, who wants to stop Brexit, shouldn't be allowed to take part in a General Election.
But I would like to see her in the leaders' debate. I would like her to explain her husband's relationship to the EU Commission. Jo Swinson is married to Duncan Hames, a former aide to former Deputy PM Nick Clegg, who is the acting executive director of Transparency IntUK. According to its accounts on its own website, in 2018 Mr Hames' company received £3,463,555 from the European Commission. Does Ms Swinson have a vested interest in remaining in the EU? Has she declared this financial interest? Perhaps she can explain what services Mr Hames' company provides that are worth 3.46 million pounds. Does she know if the European Commission pays similar sums to other MPs? I really would like to see Ms Swinson explain this on television.