Election 2024

I got up around 3.30am to check how things were going and at that point they were projecting something like 136 seats for the Conservatives and that unsettled me a bit.

I'm relieved that projection doesn't look like materialising.
 
I surprised myself by lasting until circa 4am.

I am pleasantly surprised - the Exit poll ended up accurate enough and Labour did get 410 seats, including Luke Murphy, aided by my vote, being a historic Labour gain in Basingstoke.

I actually had the sound up for a bit and thought Clive Myrie was different class to Laura K.

Impeccably neutral throughout and only spoke up for Labour when she talked their victory down.

Top bloke and everything the BBC should be.

I hope my numbers angle on all this proved enjoyable and entertaining to some here these past six weeks.
 
Ian_Davies said:
I actually had the sound up for a bit and thought Clive Myrie was different class to Laura K.
...

I hope my numbers angle on all this proved enjoyable and entertaining to some here these past six weeks.
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Luke Harvey would be different class to Laura K.

Yes, thoroughly enjoyed your ongoing number crunching. I almost can't wait until the next election!
 
Desert Orchid said:
... but for us up here sticking it right up Douglas Ross is a really big deal. The little Masonic shitebag is gone, hopefully for good.
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Shit.

Just dawned on me that we have our own excrement exhibition of a government in Holyrood and Ross is still there as Con leader.

Our elections aren't until next year.

At least the SNP will really need to get their act together ahead of that and might actually do something.
 
Yep, thanks for the regular updates ID

I started the night on BBC but my poor old peepers couldn't handle the hideous purple colour scheme they chose; it was like watching the results unfold whilst on an acid trip. So it was over to Sky News - which I generally prefer anyway - who had the rather good Andy Burnham and Ruth Davidson as pundits; the latter being particularly sharp analysis wise. And regular politics correspondent Beth Rigby I find to be a whole lot better than her beeb counterpart Laura Kuenssberg

I lasted until 5, having waited for my neighbouring constituency York Outer to declare: Labour gain another 'true blue' seat

Fab to see Rees-Mogg and Truss lose their seats; glad that the LibDems constructed an orange wall; heartening that the Greens picked up seats; and not sorry that the SNP got stuffed

Now the hard work starts: over to you Keir Starmer
 
Well, that’s it then. Good luck to the new Government, they inherit a record high National Debt, a record high level of taxation and crumbling public services that need much investment. I hope Keir Starmer is a magician! I also hope people are patient and give him the time to sort it out (if that’s remotely possible), it’s not going to be easy.
 
moehat said:
Oh hell. I was glued to the Guardian results for ages waiting for our result and when it came through I still couldn’t believe it and had to keep rechecking it. Catherine has won for North Derby and Erewash has gone Labour, too! The Reform vote is very worrying though.
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The whole of Derbyshire is now Labour, some result. Glad that tit Michael Fabricant has lost nearby Lichfield

Of Conservatives who've lost, sorry to see Tobias Ellwood and Robert Buckland go: decent coves both
 
Desert Orchid said:
Shit.

Just dawned on me that we have our own excrement exhibition of a government in Holyrood and Ross is still there as Con leader.

Our elections aren't until next year.

At least the SNP will really need to get their act together ahead of that and might actually do something.
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Douglas Ross is to sit as a back bencher I'm sure - he resigned as con leader in holyrood.
 
Drone said:
The whole of Derbyshire is now Labour, some result. Glad that tit Michael Fabricant has lost nearby Lichfield

Of Conservatives who've lost, sorry to see Tobias Ellwood and Robert Buckland go: decent coves both
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Oh no. I didn’t realise that Tobias had gone. Peter Bottomley has gone too. I returned to Ch4 after most of the results had come in. They were giving more individual coverage to certain results including the awful events at Yardley. Poor Jess, visibly shaken but thankfully holding on to her seat: just. And that after giving up her shadow cabinet post because of Gaza. The far left are as bad as the far right. One of the reasons why I left our local Labour Party years ago was because Chris Williamson was also a member. Thankfully he didn’t succeed in preventing Catherine from winning in Derby North. I’m fed up of the media playing down Keirs success by saying how few people had actually voted for Labour. I don’t remember them doing the same after the Brexit result ie 3 countries out of 5 not voting for it. What he has achieved in just over 4 years is almost beyond belief.
 
Desert Orchid said:
I saw that live and thought both he and the winning Labour candidate conducted themselves impeccably.

The Conservatives might be bearable if there were more like him around.

Contrast him with Cleverly who is one leopard who will never change his spots, spouting the same old Tory shite That last one is a piece of work. He may have lost his seat but the old oleaginous reptile is slithering away as we speak. For him and his ilk, the election was an outstanding success. Breakfast with Farago.

Worth celebrating is getting rid of Truss, Rees-Mogg and Schapps but for us up here sticking it right up Douglas Ross is a really big deal. The little Masonic shitebag is gone, hopefully for good.

The down side is that he'll probably be back on the football field doing his bit to help the Rangers cause.
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Rees-Mogg one is a piece of work. He may have lost his seat but the old oleaginous reptile is slithering away as we speak. For him and his ilk, the election was an outstanding success. Breakfast with Farago.
 
A pretty predictable outcome. Conservatives were always going to get smashed.

Well it has been an amusing thread. It should though be a criminal offence carrying a mandatory custodial sentence when talking such drivel!
Clearly we do need a hobnob tax, double hike with chocolate.

In Starmer we trust! :lolup:
 
barjon said:
Well, that’s it then. Good luck to the new Government, they inherit a record high National Debt, a record high level of taxation and crumbling public services that need much investment. I hope Keir Starmer is a magician! I also hope people are patient and give him the time to sort it out (if that’s remotely possible), it’s not going to be easy.
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I'm still coming to terms with the surreal notion that Thursday wasn't a one-off Cup tie and, having won it, Labour haven't simply returned to lower-league opposition football, they're in power and it's the Tories who are now relegated for at least five years.

Labour are going to govern.

I cannot say I'm a massive fan of Starmer or his Cabinet.

But he seems a decent enough bloke, his team are all well meaning with social consciences, and if I simply get through the next five years NOT thinking: "one rule for them, another rule for us," "lining their own pockets," or "rich getting richer, poor getting poorer," I will take that as a win.

Politics of self and wealth out, politics of social conscience in - let's hope that OVERALL (yes, maybe higher taxes but better public services) most people end up net better off and that they realise that it's a no-brainer that a moderate centre left government will always benefit the majority at the expense of the wealthy, who will still be rich, just not quite as rich as under the Tories.
 
I’m not sure I like the fact that Wes Streeting has declared that the NHS is broken. It has been struggling for some time because of a deliberate policy by the departing government of trying to privatise it. I have had excellent service over the last four years having been diagnosed with Leukaemia in early 2020, not the best timing! If his idea is to steam in with ideas of major changes that does not seem a good idea.
 
I'm really hoping Starmer and his government make good on all the things some commentators are saying about him, in that he is a workaholic, driven and committed to public service.

Like the man or not, those are the traits I want in whoever runs the country.

I've always been a believer that a benevolent despot is the best way of running a country (or any organisation, for that matter). Given that the people of the UK have voted for Tories and the SNP for over a decade I have little faith in their judgment.

Most of them will now have voted for change (rather than Labour or LD) and that is what they have got.

I have to trust it will be change for the better and hope a few years down the line they will see big improvements in their lives and in our economy and standing in the world.

The only thing the Tories were driven about was syphoning as much money out of the country and into their off-shore accounts and those of their cronies and benefactors as they could before they were found out.

I've been watching the Jonathan Pie videos and he's been nailing them.

(And I'd love it if Starmer invited James O'Brien to work for him in some capacity.)
 
In a sense I'd argue this country already has universal private healthcare in the sense that, via having to pay income tax and NI, we have a kind of mandatory private healthcare service (the NHS) which we cannot legally opt out of.

That said, I'm opposed to actual privatisation of it and simply want to see it better funded.

I also think Starmer is exactly the sort of bloke I want running the country - I don't care if he's boring, the main thing is he seems honest, intelligent, a man of integrity and moderate.

He knows this country has never wanted and will never want outright socialism - the 1983 and 2019 election results are stark evidence of that - but he also knows many are currently more receptive to the idea that decent public services benefit the vast majority and that such things can only be financed by a blend of economic growth (maybe a return to a form of Keynesian economics) and, if necessary taxation which, rather than being regressive (like VAT), is more proportionate, or even progressive (higher tax bands for higher earners).
 
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Just checked her out.

She is moderately photogenic (the beholder etc) and the O'Malley lineage is another plus.

As long as she delivers on the political front is all that matters, though.
 
A surreal feeling waking up to a labour govt. A great calmness has come down. Thank god we've got at least 5 to 10 years of the govt not robbing us of billions of pounds to give to their mates. Low turnout a worry and the reform vote shows a heck of a lot of dissullusioned voters. I'll just enjoy the good feeling as long as I can.
 
The low turnout and the "help" from Reform means this is a landslide majority built on sand.

1997 virtually handed Blair 2001 as well on the spot so long as he didn't mess up.

Not so here.

Plus Blair inherited an economy in good shape - Starmer inherits an economy in lousy shape.

If you add the Tory and Reform vote together that's a right-wing force to fear and if they unite and compromise that's a problem for Labour in 2029.

I don't see that happening anytime soon though and Starmer has basically got five years to make most people's lives better so he retains not only their votes but gets more of the 40% who didn't bother out to vote Labour five years hence.
 
Even from the first few hours, the country seems different. More at ease...no more steady flow of ministers touring the TV and radio studios trying to defend the indefensible, spouting nonsense...and a few days later doing their embarrassing u-turns.....treating us all as fools. Every problem solved with a ridiculous slogan. Every complex situation only needing a simple solution.
 
I've been voting in general elections since 1970 and the lesson of history is that, when a party has been in power for 10 years or more, the electorate have got bored and politicians have got complacent. Without a specific issue like Brexit or a war, any opposition worth its salt knows that victory comes from occupying the centre ground. The Tories have drifted right but not far enough for extremists like Farage and the other lesson of history is that when a governing party is kicked out, it tends to go more extreme making it even less electable.

Whether or not you admire their principles, Foot in the 80s and more recently Corbyn were never going to appeal to centrists and the same can be said for Duncan-Smith and Howard. As someone of the centre left, I'd be more than happy for the Tories to go with Braverman or Badenoch and move to the right whether or not they court Farage. He may claim that Reform is a centre right party but everyone knows that it's more extreme than that and centrists just won't go there. It seems to me that, of the presumed candidates, only Tugendhat would try to stay centre right.

As Johnson so eloquently demonstrated, in difficult times a leader needs to be a details man and a good administrator. These are very difficult times and Starmer is well suited to the role.
 
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