Bleedin’ Hell.
Cabinet to Shadow Cabinet to losing his seat in only three elections?
Apologies for the disturbing mental image but a performance of the Middle Aged White Man Dance will now happen in celebration of this victory.
Bleedin’ Hell.
Cabinet to Shadow Cabinet to losing his seat in only three elections?
Apologies for the disturbing mental image but a performance of the Middle Aged White Man Dance will now happen in celebration of this victory.
And I laughed and laughed and laughed…
On a par with the image of Katie Hopkins dancing naked round her house?
Amazing how a country can unite in a sense of Schadenfreude. How nice it would be for him if he could use his flat-lining hand gesture for his own performance. But he can’t.
Didn’t he only just hold on in 2010? I’m sure I remember his smug fat face on the telly after just keeping his job.
”Kier Hardy, Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock, Gordon Brown – Tony Blair, can you hear me Tony Blair? Your boys took one hell of a beating.”
I’m with HD. You’d need a heart of stone not to laugh.
Pack yer bag Ballbag!
This time yesterday I was very gloomy, thinking that gurning bell-end Miliband might get in. Cameron and co might be wets but this is A Good Day.
I love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning.
God, the coffee tastes good this morning, and I don’t even like the current Conservative Party!
Bye bye eddies!
The electorate has delivered a resounding verdict – No More Eds.
Oh, and if you have a few quid left over this week you might want to donate to the Lib Dems. Apparently they’ve lost over £150,000 so far in electoral deposits.
Ed Balls loses his seat.
Vince Cable loses his seat.
Ed Miliband loses (maybe) the leadership.
Nick Robinson loses his voice.
Oh, and it’s a Friday.
Can the day get any better?
Today is a very good day!
Ed Balls, Simon Hughes, Jo Swinson, Mark Reckless…all gone!
And a vote on leaving the EU to follow!
And no more Ed Davey!
Just been listening to the woman he beat hm. She gave up her job and moved in with her mother 2 years ago to work on her campaign so fair do’s to her.
Like most people here, the schadenfreude is big in this one.
Well that’s that,then. Two or three years grace ’til it all falls over. Plenty of time to get food stocks in & buy barbed wire. It may not be a disaster but it sure ain’t victory. That’s gone to the Bunch of Cnuts party, wins every time.
Ed Miliband loses (maybe) the leadership.
Maybe? For the look of the thing he’ll wait for the victory speech before standing down, but the loss of his leadership (and political career) are not in doubt. If it had been close run, he might have been able to hang on.
A few pollsters might be shuffling into the office with hangdog looks too…
I see the stupid, ignorant peasants of Morley and Outwood were brainwashed by Tory propoganda.
Can I have a Fair Tax Mark, please?
Mwhhaahhaahhaaa….
Talking of schadenfreude, I don’t do the retired accountants blog unless someone recommends a comment, how’s he spinning this one?
As others have said, I’m not really a big fan of the conservatives (more like a case of best of a bad bunch) but this is a glorious day nonetheless.
Isn’t this called a “Portillo Moment”? I think the Portillo Moment of this election was Labour’s massacre in Scotland.
Expect a couple of dozen carpetbaggers slinking down to English seats over the next few years.
@Philip Scott Thomas
Can the day get any better?
Yes, I’m off on holiday to the Canary islands tomorrow.
Bloke in North Dorset, our retired accountant is strictly neutral. His neutrality follows:
The BBC live feed is practically in tears over Ed Balls.
Oh, and it means there’s no chance of Richard Murphy being able to squawk in the ear of anyone of influence.
Just seen Balls Balling his eyes out- undoubtedly at the loss of all those expenses – but explaining the boo-hoo-show by his fear of what will happen over the next five years.
Yeah, I’d crap myself if my wife were Yvette Balls and about to become leader of the Labour Party.
@Andrew K
He worries a lot. Could give him an ulcer. If we are lucky.
Pity poor Richie. His dreams of a top job ashes in his mouth. Lol
Harriet Harperson next leader please. Please.
It’s Balls to the wall today!
Two Eds are worse than one. And soon there won’t even be one. Will Pixiebelle, Madam Balls, win the leadership? Will anyone care? Someone less communist than Mr Moribund next time, if you please, Labour.
As for Scotland, the Nationalist Socialists beat the Unionist Socialists. The surge of the Nationalist Socialists seems to have followed Gordon Brown’s intervention in the referendum campaign. If I may say so, ha ha ha ha.
Does this mean the big cleanup bill undoing Labour micromanagement of our lives we were promised five years ago might just happen and that there will be a slaughter of the quangoes, spads and licence fee? Or am I being unrealistically optimistic?
For Sale: One stone tablet. Nearly new. VGC. Slight stain of bacon grease.
Maybe they should erect in Highgate graveyard, Steve, beside the tomb of Charlie Marx.
Rob – Harriet Harperson next leader please. Please.
Oh please, please, please… let me… let me… let me… get what I want this time.
dearieme – 🙂
They could chisel it into a new headquarters for their Scottish MP’s.
Thanks, Andrew K. I did the old newspaper trick of working backwards and hadn’t got to
Tim’s post.
Any footage of Paddy Ashdown eating his hat yet?
“Rob
Harriet Harperson next leader please. Please.”
I’m reporting you to the sexism policy. It’s not Harriet HarperSON, it’s Harriet Harperchild
@Rob ref BBC and Balls
Robinson is predicting that now he’s out we’ll all come to love him as he’s an intelligent excellent convo it’s who plays the piano.
So they’ve started his rehabilitation and campaign for a safe seat already.
Is Ed the the first political leader to design his own political tombstone before he even lost? I suppose it fits in with their ability to write political suicide notes.
Just when it seemed the English had thrown in the towel, they turned round and kicked their oppressors in the balls. And daveys.
As much as I loath Ed Balls, the better news is that sh!t George Galloway has gone. Feel a bit sorry for Charles Kennedy but he was a dead man walking for a long time. Simon Hughes? Don’t care but Parliament won’t be worse without him.
How incompetent do you have to be to be a Tory and lose your seat though?
It is good that ZaNu flopped miserably and –as their base of support ages and passes on– the future does not look too bright –for one brand of statism/socialism at least.I wish ZaNu’s future was in even more doubt. But they won in 220+ seats so there are still lots of Labour voting mugs. It is not a wipeout outside of Scotland. “We have but scotched the snake, not killed it”.Up there it is just a name-change from one gang of leftist crooks to another. And they have a reserve of support in the SNP. Who are jubilant now but they even nastier and more arrogant than ZaNu They will alienate many of their own supporters by the mess they will make up there. English money will enable both their economic stupidity and their arrogant dictatorial socialism. There will be driftback to ZaNu and there will be a third (approx.) of Scots who don’t want to be a part of the whole mess. A recipe for trouble.
And–as expected– BlueRinse slimed his way back in. There will be no EU vote–unless it can be fixed. Every liar in the world will be brought out to support the Eurotrash but I still think Camorgueron doesn’t have the balls to risk it. The” Evil Ed+Scottish National socialism ” threat got him thro this time–but he doesn’t have the bottle for an EU vote. Another promise to be broken. We shall see.
And when the crash comes –and it will, BlueLab being in means it will be blamed on –God help us–“free markets” — as if the Tories could even spell the phrase. There is a lot of ruin in a country–but the whole world system of corporate socialism pretending to be a free market is in trouble. The Crash could come from Japan, the EU, the US–all have vast debts and shaky economic toeholds.
Anyway I am glad that we have not transferred from the back half of the submerged Titanic to the crash-diving front half. And UKIP is now the no 3 party in the country–so there is some good news.
Yeah — Galloway was an unlooked for sweetener!
Of course (of course) he’s blaming it on The Joos. Still I’m sure he’ll find another dictator whose arse he can cram his tongue up.
Looks like it’s going to go south for Nige, he doesn’t sound confident at all. Is it deffo going to be Carswell as leader then?
Good result for UKIP in NI, I thought. Roughly on a par with the Tories, beating them in most seats. I honestly expected they’d get literally dozens of votes there, but no, thousands. For a party who have literally nothing to do with the old shitty preoccupations of Northern Irish politics, no appeal to either side of the traditional voting tribes, and (unlike the Tories) no history of being involved in the peace process to point to, that’s impressive. I don’t feel like my vote was wasted at all.
SMFS: For once, I agree completely with you. Best news of the night was Galloway getting wiped out. Fingers crossed a criminal prosecution follows.
Caroline Lucas is back. But Nathalie Bennett didn’t win.
Meh
The big disappointment is the Lib-Dems. I was expecting, at least hoping, they would be reduced to four. They might recover from ten.
I’m barred but if anyone wants to post this link on Richard’s website I’m sure it would cheer him up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI1nPd7hezM
Oh, God, Galloway was beaten by a mental health campaigner. That’s just too perfect.
The Beeb is reporting that Miliband is ‘expected to step down.’
That’s a shame. Now who will we play Point At The Weird Kid And Laugh with?
One of the new Labour MPs is married to the Danish PM. Has there ever been a spouse of a foreign leader in the UK Parliament before?
SQ2: “Oh, God, Galloway was beaten by a mental health campaigner. That’s just too perfect.”
I almost believe there is a God, and she has a wicked sense of humour…
> Now who will we play Point At The Weird Kid And Laugh with?
More Malthusian nonsense. We are not running out of natural resources.
@ljh – “that there will be a slaughter of the quangoes, spads and licence fee? Or am I being unrealistically optimistic?”
Yes, you are being unrealistically optimistic.
> One of the new Labour MPs is married to the Danish PM.
And is the son of an ex party leader and EU Commissioner. Yet our republicans worry about the power wielded by Elizabeth.
Shame to see John Hemmings out, though. He did a lot of good work challenging the Family Court secrecy…
Although I have to admit I didn’t vote UKIP, I’m still a bit disappointed with the Thanet South result. Might wind up being good for UKIP though – I liked Farage but my wife really didn’t – a new face could improve ratings?
“I am worried that those who cannot survive in the world the Conservatives want to create may not be able to constrain their frustrations.”
I don’t want to encourage anyone to resort to violence but……
My only regret at the Lib collapse is that we will presumably see fewer photos of Cleggie’s wife. Pretty girl, she is.
Who said that, Jonathan? Isn’t it a crime to foment riot?
@Dearime
It was Andrew K quoting Murphy
I’m guessing our favourite national socialist?
“Caroline Lucas is back. But Nathalie Bennett didn’t win”
For anyone deeply antagonistic to the Green’s, the second result is nothing less than a tragedy.
UKIP, right now with 638 seats declared, has more votes than the Scot Nats and the Lib Dems put together.
Will Cameron dare say now that one in eight of the electorate are fruitcakes and closet racists?
But Farage loses Thanet South by 2,812. 🙁
UKIP as number 3 party does tend to put more pressure on BlueRinse to have an EU vote. But he has the reins again. If he was Heir to Bliar in his 1st term I think he will be Heir to The Bottler in his second. Unless he can think of a foolproof way to ensure the vote goes his way.
Farage is best suited to be a spokesman.
Someone new–if well chosen–might be a good thing.
I’m sorry Farage didn’t get in, but UKIP should take heart. They’re the third most popular party in the UK and their vote held up well given the circumstances. They should note that until only a few years ago the SNP struggled to win a handful of seats in Scotland. Look at them now.
Also interesting is how “vote UKIP, get Labour” didn’t happen. UKIP and the Conservatives won more votes than in 2010.
I am absolutely delighted Labour lost. Ed Miliband would have been a nightmare as PM, and the mountains of salt being excreted in Guardianland puts a spring in my step. In this case, I believe we really are better off with the devil we know.
And without the Lib Dems to help ram through politically correct legislation, Cameron will have to be extra nice to his backbenchers, many of whom are wiser than he is.
This is a good day.
@mr ecks – “Unless he can think of a foolproof way to ensure the vote goes his way.” – he doesn’t need to, there is no majority to leave the EU in the UK, never was, still isn’t.
Ho ho ho.
Clegg says it’s a pity that LibDem MPs lost their seats due to “forces outside their control” – or, as we would call them, “voters”.
Johnny Bonk: Lets hope we get the chance to find out.
CJ Nerd – “Will Cameron dare say now that one in eight of the electorate are fruitcakes and closet racists?”
I am sure he will. He believes it after all.
However, notice that British politics has ceased to be about class and is now openly tribal (or racial, if you will). Northern Irish politics has long been sectarian rather than divided by any serious class issues. Now Scotland has joined them. They voted for a party that is about Scots and has no representation outside Scotland. They are like the DUP or SF really. Wales is not far behind.
The Tories and UKIP are English parties. That is, they are both essentially ethnic parties. Labour is a party of new immigrants and to some extent, northern English people. They are pretty much the only non-tribal political party left. However they tend to get all the non-White votes which is why they flooded Britain with Third World immigrants. So they are only a quasi-non-tribal party.
Murphy’s getting ever frothier at the mouth.
My false names now generally last no more then 3 or 4 posts before being barred and I’m not even malicious in my comments. More tweaking the tail realy.
I think it’s a great result. We don’t get Labour, but the Tories are in by a narrow enough margin not to convince themselves that Cameronism is some sort of unassailable electoral steamroller, and UKIP’s national vote sends a strong message not only to the Tories but, it turns out, to Labour as well. What’s not to like?
“they tend to get all the non-White votes which is why they flooded Britain with Third World immigrant”: yes, another racist assumption from Labour that has paid off well for them.
@”Mr Ecks
May 8, 2015 at 11:42 am
Farage is best suited to be a spokesman.
Someone new–if well chosen–might be a good thing.”
https://twitter.com/idhamramadi
The orpington candidate could be a good choice
The media are reporting, Milimong’s falling on his sword is imminent.
No doubt with bacon sandwich competence.
CJ,
> UKIP, right now with 638 seats declared, has more votes than the Scot Nats and the Lib Dems put together.
Oo, brilliant. I will now look forward to saying to the next lefty who talks about electoral reform to give a government that truly reflects how people voted, “Yes, you’re right, UKIP should have more seats than the SNP and Lib-dems combined.” Something tells me that still won’t be what they mean.
dearieme,
> “they tend to get all the non-White votes which is why they flooded Britain with Third World immigrant”: yes, another racist assumption from Labour that has paid off well for them.
A black friend of mine was telling me the other day that he was surprised to discover his Nigerian parents are die-hard Tories. It was the right to buy that did it, apparently: Thatcher lifted them out of poverty, and they’ll never forget it.
Squander Two – “A black friend of mine was telling me the other day that he was surprised to discover his Nigerian parents are die-hard Tories.”
But that is hardly a positive outlook is it? The son is so alienated from the Right, so acculturated in Toynbee-style politics, the idea his parents could be Tories comes as a surprise. Just as the more British education someone has the more likely they are to support or be suicide bombers, the longer they have been in Britain the more that race shapes their entire world view.
SMFS,
You are, as ever, wildly extrapolating into your own private fantasies.
> The son is so alienated from the Right, so acculturated in Toynbee-style politics
Nope, none of that’s true, which is why I didn’t say any of it.
Farage really doesn’t like Carswell – witness his earlier belief that any new leader had to be an MP, and his suggestion today that Suzanne Evans should be the interim leader.
Carswell will, if given the chance, take the party in a much more economically liberal, even radical direction, and talk much less about immigration – and he will also ultimately be looking to re-unite the right. The first of which our gracious host would presumably approve of, the second not so much, although I’m sure you’ll be too discreet to comment, right Tim?
Squander Two – “Nope, none of that’s true, which is why I didn’t say any of it.”
All I am going on is what you said. He was surprised by the political views of his parents.
If I am wrong, by all means, explain to me how the son can be a stranger to the two who brought him into the world and raised him.
Mr Eks Keep your eye on Diane James MEP.I hope she could be persuaded to think about the job. Very impressed whenever I have seen her on TV, and even outfoxed Andrew this week!
https://www.politicshome.com/party-politics/articles/dot-commons-diary/best-defence-against-andrew-neil-ever-dunno-ask-me-later
> All I am going on is what you said.
No, you have added your own prejudices into the mix, as always.
> If I am wrong, by all means, explain to me …
I’ve already told you you’re wrong. Why would the fact that I know the guy and you don’t not be enough? He’s a fan of Dambisa Moyo, for fuck’s sake.
SMFS/squander.
On today of all days please don’t bicker.
This is a blog to celebrate the defeat of German Socialism 70 years ago and English Socialism yesterday.
The Nazis were finished for good, IngSoc endures. BlueLab being a part of it. Lets not be kidding ourselves however glad we maybe at Milliboy’s bashing.
Time for a celebratory bacon sarnie for lunch, I think!
I was going UKIP up until it came to make my cross and I went Tory, as I have since I was eighteen.
As others have said, this lot are not my idea of a Tory party (though it will probably never get to wher I want it) but fuck me it was good to watch Clegg and Miliband resign, and see Alexander, Balls, Cable and a fuck ton of the rest of them get the arse.
Taking the day off to get pissed.
I watched the full 2m57s Farage resignation statement:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32654046
I found there was something odd about tit that I coudn’t put my finger on. And then it clicked: “human”.
He’s kept his word to resign, he hasn’t had a proper holiday in over 20 years, and he’s going take a few months off. Good for him.
Meanwhile, Cameron, probably having had only a couple of hours sleep in the last 2 days, is deciding who does what ministerial job NOW because it’s REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT that it should be decided NOW.
And lots of Tory MPS are drinking coffee and propping their eyes open, waiting for the phone to ring, because it’s REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT to stay awake in case the phone goes to ask them if they’d care to serve as PPS to the Junior Under-Secretary of State for Paperclip Procurement.
I just like the human touch that Farage brings to it. There are rough edges to his speech, which the BBC edit will doubtless hilight, but he’s a real person.
As other have pointed out, even if the Conservatives are a horrid shower, the fact their victory forestalls the creation of Lord Murphy of Fairtaxmark should be a cause for celebration. And getting rid of the appalling Vince Cable, Simon Hughes and (urgh) Lynne Featherstone is nice. Ed Balls? Well, it’s easy to laugh from the comfort of my chair 8000km away, but I’d really like to laugh up close, in his face.
Wee Jimmie Krankie and her army of demented Porridge Wogs are going to be a nuisance. Safest course is probably to give ’em enough rope to hang themselves.
“Oo, brilliant. I will now look forward to saying to the next lefty who talks about electoral reform to give a government that truly reflects how people voted, “Yes, you’re right, UKIP should have more seats than the SNP and Lib-dems combined.” Something tells me that still won’t be what they mean.”
As a non-lefty supporter of electoral reform, it was never about one group getting an advantage, just more accurate representation. My strongest objection after the last election was the Greens winning a seat with less than 1/3rd of the vote, which is no mandate for power.
That said, FPTP with primaries isn’t a bad idea – pick the sort of conservative/socialist you want first, then they go into battle. As a result, minor parties barely exist. The Tea Party don’t put up candidates for election, they work to get a Tea Party guy as the Republican contender.
Milliband has resigned to spend more time wandering on Hampstead Heath.
It would have been near-perfect if Harman had gone too, but if Labour had lost that seat they’d have had about 20 MPs.
I see Labour increased its vote in Rotherham by 7.9%. I suspect there is nothing Labour can do which would lose them that seat, or others like it.
“demented Porridge Wogs”
Brilliant! I can’t wait for an opportunity to use that one with some of my more wild eyed acquaintances.
@mr ecks – “Johnny Bonk: Lets hope we get the chance to find out.” – yes, lets, looks like we’re gonna.
> FPTP with primaries isn’t a bad idea
Sounds ideal to me. What are the chances of Dan Hannan becoming party leader at some point? He’s well into primaries. Open ones, at that.
@bicr – “Wee Jimmie Krankie and her army of demented Porridge Wogs” you win the internet 🙂
Perhaps now we’ll get the demographic boundary adjustments that the LDs scuppered last parliament. It really shows up the political class for what they are when perfectly reasonable changes required due to demographic drift get blocked for party political advantage. Of course there is still scope for gerrymandering if the Boundary Commission is unduly influenced. Let’s hope the Commission is suitably independent & Bercow doesn’t get his grubby fingers in there by his usual machinations (he’s ex-officio chairman!).
I wonder if the Nats will try to stop a boundary review in Scotland? If they really have to face up to paying out of their own pockets that will concentrate a few minds up there, which might require a bit of ‘control’.
@bicr
Yep, ‘demented porridge wogs’ etc is going to be reposted and even though I usually claim such stuff as my own work, I’d just feel too guilty this time and will credit you.
Well I’m going to dig a fox hole and put my tin hat on and say that I was glad Nick Clegg kept his seat.
He made a tough choice and did the right thing at the time. The vilification he has received has been out of all proportion for trying to make a coalition work and as a very junior member they were never going to get much that they wanted and it could be argued they got more policies and ministerial positions that they deserved.
It wasn’t his fault that’s the way the cookie crumbled in 2010.
What has been demonstrated by the LibDem wipe out is that the country in general and LibDems in particular aren’t grown up enough for PR.
@Rob
I looked up Rotherham’s 2011 census figures as data for a comment. Muslims made up 3.7% of the population – up from 2.2% in 2001 & actually lower than the national average at 5%.
A little calculation gave me the number of girls aged 12-16 (4 years) at about 8000. So a one in forty chance of being a lucky winner in the annual Asian Grooming Gang Chase. Although one’d imagine the actual odds would improve up the later portion of the age range. Wonder what their conversion rate was, against tried but told to piss off?
Similar calculations gives the number of Muslim blokes in the 15-75 y/o range to do the dirties at about 3500 (17.5 per groomed teen) & if we presume grooming gangs prefer their members not to be on Zimmer frames & in the 15-45 range, a potential membership of half that.
Enthusiastic guys those Asians.
Or the numbers been banded about are…er….a little overinflated?
One of those options might influence an election result?
Bloke in Costa Rica – Wee Jimmie Krankie and her army of demented Porridge Wogs
BIND,
> He made a tough choice and did the right thing at the time. The vilification he has received has been out of all proportion
Couldn’t agree more. He appears to be the only Lib-dem who actually believes the stuff they say about a fairer electoral system that reflects the true will of the people. His voters wanted him to prop up an unequivocally ousted government and were furious that he didn’t. Fuckers.
bnis
Your second assumption is that all of the abusers came from the town.
I don’t know if the 1400 figure is correct, an understatement or an overstatement. Say it is an overstatement and the true figure was 700. A mere 700. You can see why that wouldn’t trip any switches in the electorate. Covering up and denying even a hundred should have been a scandal to bury the Labour party in the town, but no.
BiND,
“He made a tough choice and did the right thing at the time. The vilification he has received has been out of all proportion for trying to make a coalition work and as a very junior member they were never going to get much that they wanted and it could be argued they got more policies and ministerial positions that they deserved.”
The trouble is that most Lib Dem supporters were hopey-changey types. They thought the LDs could perform magic and rather than accepting that they got something out of the coalition, and in some areas, made a positive contribution (IMHO), and yes, that Clegg was doing the best he could for the LDs, lost their collective minds over student fees (and that was only new students) or just for getting into bed with the Tories, even Tories who are pretty damn close to Orange Book lib dems. As a result, they now have no influence on government at all.
(I don’t mind if people object to Tory policies, but I have really had it with this laughable characterisation of Cameron as some beyond-the-pale right-wing bastard).
So Conservative seats are worth 34k votes, Labour ones are 40k votes. SNP gets away with just under 26k votes per seat.
On the other hand, the Greens are paying 1.16m votes for a seat, and UKIP have to fork out almost 3.9m votes for a seat.
Under PR, the numbers would be rather different
Rob:”Covering up and denying even a hundred should have been a scandal to bury the Labour party in the town, but no.”
Northern working-class support for Labour is a strange thing. It is as if the present middle-class Marxism, Milliboy, the Russell Brands, the Laurie Pennys don’t exist or are a just shadow show. They are still voting for the Ghost of Harold Wilson or for the 1950s –for something that has long gone. The ethnics, the gays–most aging Northern working class wouldn’t give them the time of day. But even tho’ they are white working class and despised by the modern crew they still vote for ZaNu.–almost as if they can’t not.
Electoral reform is good because it gives us more choice.
In countries with PR like Denmark parties can go from Government to oblivion in 20 years.
In Holland it happened in 6 years
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pim_Fortuyn_List
Balls and Osborne are an interesting pair, being as incompetent and vile as each other in 2010.
Osborne has had some sort of Damascene conversion, presumably as a result of Omnishambles, and is much better for it.
Balls, meanwhile, clearly has “issues” though comes across as quite amiable outside politics.
Both are reasons for appointing only those of a suitable age.
This thread is so long, I haven’t read any of it.
“He made a tough choice and did the right thing at the time. The vilification he has received has been out of all proportion for trying to make a coalition work and as a very junior member they were never going to get much that they wanted and it could be argued they got more policies and ministerial positions that they deserved.”
I wasn’t a LibDem voter but the thing that seems clear to me is that when for the first time in godknows how long the LIbDems actually gained office, the only two things they really fought for were AV and Lords Reform, both with the objective of cementing the LibDems as perpetual kingmakers. That and their childish dishonesty about boundary reform. So looking in from the outside…. fuck em…
The thing that came through to me watching the election last night was the transparent absence of political beliefs. It revealed without doubt that the old barb that the Liberal vote was just a “protest” vote, a “neither” vote, was true. There is no other explanation for how the Liberal votes could be annihilated while UKIP- the very opposite party in terms of policies- picked them up.
This was the bad message for UKIP. There was no political revolution and no great support. It was the protest vote of this election. I did a poll of one this morning as I was at my Dad’s house to be off assistance due to a Sky engineer coming to install a new box. Since the election was on the telly, there was a brief chat about politics, and he said he voted UKIP “because Labour made a mess last time and the Tories don’t care about ordinary people”.
The protest vote is different people at every election. It’s not a bloc. It seems now apparent that most Liberal votes were not for Liberal policies, but “not them or the other ones either” votes and those were the type of votes UKIP got. The Liberal vote collapsed because you can’t cast a protest vote against a governing party, can you?
Last night at about 2am was a scales-from-eyes point for me. It became apparent to me that for all my political enthusiasms, theyre a waste of time. There is nothing to work with in the population. The populace vote for the bit-more-tax party or the bit-less-tax party and neither, and that’s all there is.
Steve, Russ Abbot would probably get his collar felt by the filth if he tried that on today. I would have voted for Cooperman, though.
TL;DR – Wee Jimmy Krankie and her Demented Porridge Wogs ousted Labour and the Lib Dems from Scotland. Tory fears of WJKahDPW forming a coalition with Labour held up the Tory vote.
Mr Ecks, there are plenty of people who vote Tory out of mindless sheepiness as vote Labour for the same reason. Reality doesn’t matter, very often it’s tribal on both sides.
Mr X opines “Northern working-class support for Labour is a strange thing.”
Aye. ‘Tis that.
The northern working class are, if anything, right rather than left wing. In a National Socialist sort of way. They’re not intellectual, revolutionary socialists. Why they voted Labour in days of yore. Why the BNP were having some successes. Why certain strands of UKIP policy appeals.
They vote Labour because wtf else are they going to vote for? Tories are the class enemy, handed down father to son. Wouldn’t matter if Cameron announced a new spaceport for Salford & unlimited free Eccles cakes all round. Give them a suitably authoritarian right wing party & Islington Labour would be toast. There’s be diversity enablers going up on bonfires in the streets.
Ian B – “The protest vote is different people at every election. It’s not a bloc.”
Except the Lib-Dems acted well as the party of protest for decades no matter who was in power. There are just some people who feel a need to vote but don’t want to vote for any policies that might make them feel bad by being actually implemented. If the Lib-Dems collapse totally – and I think they might – then UKIP may move into this role.
But without Farage I am not sure UKIP will survive either. Remember who used to run the party. Perhaps we can lobby to get TW back from the ‘ore mountains or wherever he is?
John Galt – “TL;DR – Wee Jimmy Krankie and her Demented Porridge Wogs ousted Labour and the Lib Dems from Scotland. Tory fears of WJKahDPW forming a coalition with Labour held up the Tory vote.”
Even shorter tl;dr version: Britain turned into Maggie Simpson
https://twitter.com/Esthermccarthy/status/596543266394247168
Not as short shorter version: Russell Brand said he would not vote. Then said he would vote Green. Then spent the last few days campaigning for Ed. Ed lost and lost big. Russell Brand is a d!ck who symbolises everything wrong with British politics but the voters were not listening. Chalk one up to the voters of Britain.
S2
+1
It may look as if sufficient UKIP votes have stopped Cameron gaining a larger majority – and which may restrict his ability to ignore his back benchers?
It’ll be interesting to look at the numbers in more detail tomorrow.
“Army of demented porridge wogs”
I’m still chuckling about this. Best comment of the election.
Night all.
Over 1 million voted for the Green Party and got just one seat and whether you agree with them or not, UKIP also suffered from this yawning democratic deficit.</em
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/uk_electoral_reform_locb
Given that PR would have given the UK a Tory/UKIP coalition government (49.5% of the vote) I think lefty support outside the Greens is going to be muted for a while.
@DevonChap – it would have been Tory-Ukip-DUP. And I would have really rather enjoyed the Labour hypocracy when criticizing that construction for relying on a “local” party.
For me, the most interesting thing is to watch the Lib Dems shed at both ends: their right wing, Orange Bookers in the South West getting sloughed off and replaced by Tories, and the lefty SDP wing getting spaffed off to Labour. Which illustrates the internal conflict between the orange bookers and the SDP faction, and their attempt to appeal to be all things to all men depending on the audience.
In respect of UKIP, last time round I looked at seats that the Tories had lost by a margin of less than the UKIP vote, and there were quite a lot. I wonder if the same phenomenon exists this time around, but I have no time to go look.
As I said above, watching the election overnight it seemed inescapable to me that if the Tory vote had risen, and the UKIP vote had risen, and the LibDem vote had collapsed, the only reasonable interpretation was that in most cases the protest vote that the Libs used to get had gone to UKIP. The Liberals no longer served as a protest vote because they were tainted by being a governing party. But UKIP filled the market gap as plucky challengers nicely.
Meanwhile, under “The work for tax justice ….”, Ms Dutt-Pauker is giving Himself a maths lesson.
Oh, Jesus wept. Why is so impossible for lefties to grasp that the Tories want the same things as they do for the (relatively) poor, but just disagree fundamentally about how to go about doing it?
And don’t they understand that someone voting Labour out of “compassion” is being just as selfish and is voting as much in their self-interest as a banker wanting to be not taxed as much? That “compassionate” voting has a social capital adding to the self-worth of the metropolitan lefty voter seems to be too nuanced… http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2015/may/08/democracy-a-religion-that-has-failed-the-poor?CMP=fb_gu
Yep, keep them poor so they can control them. Welcome to Progressivism. The last Tory leader who believed that the poor en masse could become wealthier and live independent and admirable lives was Thatcher, and she was kicked out by the party.
@Ian, I think for some of them it’s inconcievable to think that the Tories want the same thing, cos if they succeed at it then it brings entirely into question the lefty worldview (which is often the entire self-definition of the person)
the only reasonable interpretation was that in most cases the protest vote that the Libs used to get had gone to UKIP
I think that’s simplistic. My interpretation is the Libdem vote was made up of the SDP element, who had no reason other than habit not to go back to Labour now that it has no significant hard-left element, tactical voters who are really Labour supporters, tactical voters who are really Tories, and social liberals who support Conservative fiscal policy. Oh, and people who for some reason actually like the party. The first group went back to Labour because they couldn’t stomach the Condem coalition. The second group went to Labour because the “vote Libdem to keep the Conservatives out” argument doesn’t wash any more. The third group stuck with them. The fourth group found out that the Conservative are now socially liberal anyway (same-sex marriage instead of Clause 28) so realised they could vote Conservative after all.
Meanwhile, UKIP picked up votes from bigots who would otherwise have voted for one of the two main parties, and from libertarians who would otherwise have voted Conservative.
The Greens picked up votes mainly from unimpressed Labour supporters (the Greens did have a big increase in votes).
The SNP picked up votes mainly from Labour.
The overall effect was that Labour gained from the LibDems, lost to UKIP, Greens, SNP. For a slight overall increase. The Conservatives gained from the LibDems, lost to UKIP, for an even slighter overall increase.
The way the constituencies worked is that these changes were very good for the Conservatives,
Does this mean that Labour’s been castrated?