Political Shenannigans
Jun. 11th, 2017 07:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rosa_heartlily Well, what a ride THAT was!
BTW - this s a long post and I'm not going to hide it because, as far as I know, only one person is going to read it. If you are interested in my personal view of British politics, please read. Otherwise, just skip over the whole thing :)
When TM called a snap general election (after saying several times that she absolutely, categorically, irrefutably would NOT call one under ANY circumstances whatsoever), she was riding high in the opinion polls. For some reason, people loved her and her party with their 'we need MORE austerity and we need it NOW' mantra, even though people were literally dying from poverty (in the fucking 21st Century!!!) and rich people had seen their income DOUBLE since the financial crash of 2008.
And her opponent was a Leftist geography teacher lookalike who actually believes Socialism is not only a good thing but can work, who had 0 credibility with the people, the press and even his own MPs. Not only would she wipe the floor with him but she would trample all over him, then hang him out to dry.
But she did have a problem. Well, two problems. Firstly, she, as leader, had never been given a mandate by the British public to push ahead with Brexit. I mean, she wasn't even elected to BE leader by her own party because she bullied/bribed the other candidates into standing down! But, I hear you say, she had a large majority in the House of Commons; what need had she of this 'mandate'? Which brings us to problem number 2. 30 Tory MPs were under investigation for electoral fraud in 2015. If any, or all, of them were found guilty, she would lose her majority.
Personally, I think P2 was the bigger player here. TM is SO arrogant that the idea of a 'mandate from the people' feels like a convenient excuse rather than something she would actually see a need for. And what happened to these 30 MPs? Well, AFTER the call for the GE, the Crown Prosecution Service decided that there wasn't a case to answer because all 30 had simply been following orders from the central party and it was THEM who had got the rules wrong. What's a poor innocent Tory to do? So, all 30 cases were dropped. And none has been brought against the party. Yeah...
Anyway, over the 7 weeks of campaigning, Labour's popularity grew. The 'unelectable' Jeremy Corbyn went out and actually spoke to people. And people, thousands of people, came to listen. And he changed people's minds. It was a beautiful thing to see, so to have Ian Hislop on 'Have I Got News For You' still sneering at him was uncomfortable. And Jo Brand's line about 'the only thing TM won was 50 more seats than JC' is a gross over-stating of the facts. OK, the Tories have about 50 more seats than Labour - but they LOST 13 and Labour WON 30. And TM is now without her majority and without a fucking Government.
Personally, I vote Green not Labour. Partly that's about my MP, with whom I have a fundamental difference of opinion about Israel/Palestine. but also, I actually believe the Green Party better represents my views and interests. Although Labour are MUCH greener under JC.
So, what happened? Yup - we got the worst of all possible worlds. A hung Parliament. With Brexit negotiations due to start on 19 June.
And now we have the humiliating sight of the Democratic Unionist Party holding the whole fucking UK over a barrel in a way that the paramilitaries of both sides could only have dreamed of.
I'm not sure I want JC to step in at this point. Brexit is a poisoned chalice par excellence and it's going to be extremely difficult to get anything good out of it. The advantage he would have is that he called neither the referendum nor the election and could, legitimately, ask for time to properly prepare the UK's plan. Because we still don't have a fucking PLAN!!! The referendum was a YEAR AGO and we still don't have a fucking PLAN!!!
On the other hand, it's really difficult to see Britain coming out of this process with a 'good' deal and I wouldn't want JC, or Labour, to be the ones that screwed it up. What he has now, for the first time in 7 years, is a strong opposition. If I were him, I'd take full advantage of THAT and bide my time for a fresh election to be called.
Because if we don't have another GE in the next 12 months (possibly even 6) I would be VERY surprised.
So, yeah, interesting times...
BTW - this s a long post and I'm not going to hide it because, as far as I know, only one person is going to read it. If you are interested in my personal view of British politics, please read. Otherwise, just skip over the whole thing :)
When TM called a snap general election (after saying several times that she absolutely, categorically, irrefutably would NOT call one under ANY circumstances whatsoever), she was riding high in the opinion polls. For some reason, people loved her and her party with their 'we need MORE austerity and we need it NOW' mantra, even though people were literally dying from poverty (in the fucking 21st Century!!!) and rich people had seen their income DOUBLE since the financial crash of 2008.
And her opponent was a Leftist geography teacher lookalike who actually believes Socialism is not only a good thing but can work, who had 0 credibility with the people, the press and even his own MPs. Not only would she wipe the floor with him but she would trample all over him, then hang him out to dry.
But she did have a problem. Well, two problems. Firstly, she, as leader, had never been given a mandate by the British public to push ahead with Brexit. I mean, she wasn't even elected to BE leader by her own party because she bullied/bribed the other candidates into standing down! But, I hear you say, she had a large majority in the House of Commons; what need had she of this 'mandate'? Which brings us to problem number 2. 30 Tory MPs were under investigation for electoral fraud in 2015. If any, or all, of them were found guilty, she would lose her majority.
Personally, I think P2 was the bigger player here. TM is SO arrogant that the idea of a 'mandate from the people' feels like a convenient excuse rather than something she would actually see a need for. And what happened to these 30 MPs? Well, AFTER the call for the GE, the Crown Prosecution Service decided that there wasn't a case to answer because all 30 had simply been following orders from the central party and it was THEM who had got the rules wrong. What's a poor innocent Tory to do? So, all 30 cases were dropped. And none has been brought against the party. Yeah...
Anyway, over the 7 weeks of campaigning, Labour's popularity grew. The 'unelectable' Jeremy Corbyn went out and actually spoke to people. And people, thousands of people, came to listen. And he changed people's minds. It was a beautiful thing to see, so to have Ian Hislop on 'Have I Got News For You' still sneering at him was uncomfortable. And Jo Brand's line about 'the only thing TM won was 50 more seats than JC' is a gross over-stating of the facts. OK, the Tories have about 50 more seats than Labour - but they LOST 13 and Labour WON 30. And TM is now without her majority and without a fucking Government.
Personally, I vote Green not Labour. Partly that's about my MP, with whom I have a fundamental difference of opinion about Israel/Palestine. but also, I actually believe the Green Party better represents my views and interests. Although Labour are MUCH greener under JC.
So, what happened? Yup - we got the worst of all possible worlds. A hung Parliament. With Brexit negotiations due to start on 19 June.
And now we have the humiliating sight of the Democratic Unionist Party holding the whole fucking UK over a barrel in a way that the paramilitaries of both sides could only have dreamed of.
I'm not sure I want JC to step in at this point. Brexit is a poisoned chalice par excellence and it's going to be extremely difficult to get anything good out of it. The advantage he would have is that he called neither the referendum nor the election and could, legitimately, ask for time to properly prepare the UK's plan. Because we still don't have a fucking PLAN!!! The referendum was a YEAR AGO and we still don't have a fucking PLAN!!!
On the other hand, it's really difficult to see Britain coming out of this process with a 'good' deal and I wouldn't want JC, or Labour, to be the ones that screwed it up. What he has now, for the first time in 7 years, is a strong opposition. If I were him, I'd take full advantage of THAT and bide my time for a fresh election to be called.
Because if we don't have another GE in the next 12 months (possibly even 6) I would be VERY surprised.
So, yeah, interesting times...
(no subject)
Date: 2017-06-11 11:59 pm (UTC)It will surprise you not the tiniest bit to know I was rooting for Labour/JC and that I am about ready to puke with rage at the DUP. FUCK THOSE GUYS. Fuck TM. Fuck all of it. (I am nearly as angry about UK politics as I am at the US, since France and Germany have decided to be the adults in the room.)
(no subject)
Date: 2017-06-12 06:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-06-16 12:16 am (UTC)