How have we ended up with the imminent prospect of a socialist takeover that nobody asked for? The simple answer is because the Right-wing commonsense majority is fatally divided between the Conservatives and Reform. Our first-past-the-post electoral system means that Reform splits the “small c” conservative voting bloc, and provides Labour with a majority so large, they can change our country for a generation.
Despite the Conservative Party and Reform’s combined vote share being on level pegging with Labour’s, it is not implausible that 85 per cent of our elected MPs could come from the Left. Even in the most optimistic of scenarios, Reform can only win a handful of seats – while costing Conservative MPs who have strived for lower taxation and reduced immigration their seats to Labour.
There’s very little evidewnce of the lsat part of your last sentence there. Thus people – some number that is – are voting for a party whoich at least claims to be more interested in those questions.
Or, to make it simple for a politician – as we must – if you lot had actually been right wing then you’d not have had a further right challenger.
The Labour Party scored two seats in their first election.
Small acorns and all that……….
Reform can only win a handful of seats – while costing Conservative MPs who have strived for lower taxation and reduced immigration their seats to Labour.
Really?
I must have missed all those Conservative MPs striving for lower taxation.
My fault clearly. I’m just too busy struggling under the highest tax burden since WW2!!!
Back in Ukip days Nigel used to point out that it took the SNP 25 years to win its first seat (or was it 50?).
It may well be that 80% of the seats are left-wing, given that most of any seats taken up by the Conservatives will be taken by people who are indistiguishable from Labour to begin with.
Well it’s as if the Conservatives never had the chance to do anything about it, is it?
Like many here, I’m of the mind that a vote for the Conservatives is a vote for Labour.
The Conservative & Unionist party needs to be ground into dust and consigned to the dustbin of history. Even some of the thicker MPs have figured out which way the wind is blowing and have jumped ship.
I would laugh like a drain if (when?) Nigel ended up as the official opposition. Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesdays would be a hoot!
People have caught on to the fact that the ‘ Conservatives’ have conserved precisely nothing and, in fact, have overseen the largest influx of Africans and Asians into the UK in the country’s history; despite promising to cut immigration dramatically.
Zero seats….
“Take illegal migration. The best way to stop migrants crossing the Channel is to detain and swiftly deport anyone who comes here illegally. But Starmer’s policy could soon be: if you come here illegally from a safe country like France, you can kick back and stay.”
But we don’t detain and swiftly deport many people. It’s less than 10% of the observed illegal immigration. So, Jenrick’s argument is that Starmer *might* make illegal immigration 10% worse than the current situation.
“A Labour Party with an elective dictatorship will be equally unrestrained on raising taxes. Labour can’t rule out raising fuel duty, council tax, capital gains tax or even road pricing.”
As opposed to the party with the highest tax burden since the war?
“And there are so many more dangers. More expensive and unaccountable government quangos. The proliferation of toxic diversity, equity and inclusion policies that divide and discriminate against hard-working people.”
There are 8000 DEI officers in the public sector as of 2023. People are harassed by cops for non-criminal hurty tweets, and the government has done nothing about it. The government is funnelling huge money into unaccountable charities, often charities that oppose government policies.
“A foreign policy that puts Davos man first and British workers last. Not to forget the likely surrender of our independent trade and regulatory policy to Brussels.”
And he campaigned for Remain back in 2016. He thought that the EU was a fucking great idea until 5 minutes after the result. The idea that he’s ideologically against surrendering to global institutions is laughable.
“..while costing Conservative MPs who have strived for lower taxation and reduced immigration their seats to Labour.”
Shame none of them were Chancellor or Prime Minister. Oh, wait. Two of them were and the fuckwits threw them out in favour of the present pair of losers.
“…the Right-wing commonsense majority is fatally divided between the Conservatives and Reform…
“…Reform splits the “small c” conservative voting bloc…”
The large C conservatives abandoned the small c conservatives. Reform is collecting all/most of the small c conservative common-sense votes. Reform isn’t splitting the vote, most of the people who will vote for Reform have given up waiting for the large C Conservatives to do small c conservative things so wouldn’t be voting large C Conservative anyway.
What an utter fucking turd. Exactly the sort of slimy fake conservative who has got us to the miserable state we are in today.
View from the colonies: Massive schadenfreude anticipated when England goes from bad to worse thanks to Farage handing Labour a landslide victory.
“…Reform splits the “small c” conservative voting bloc…”
One could equally say Tories split the “small c” conservative voting bloc. Or more than equally since Reform’s currently leading in the polls.
So maybe the Tories should be conservatives & get out the way & stop splitting the vote..
Theo around? Theo? Fuck off Theo, there’s a good chap.
Eat shit and die, “Conservatives”.
To paraphrase Douglas Adams this must be some strange new usage of “strived for” that I wasn’t previously aware of.
My arse they were.
As others have said, voting “Conservative” to get some Blairite/Cameroonian “Blue Labour” is no choice at all. I vote Conservatives to repeal Socialist nonsense, cut taxes, legislation (especially dead-hand former EU implemented crap) and cut spending.
The “Conservative” (in name only) governments of 2010-2024 have done nothing of substance other than the BRExit referendum, which they then subsequently fluffed up because they’re so incompetent.
So I’d rather vote Reform, which I intend to do.
Tories delenda est!
Zero Seats!
Hmm, seems like Tory concern trolling isn’t going to save them this time.
Lol.
Cheer up chaps!
The parliamentary estate is so decrepit it’s likely to go the way of Notre Dame soon enough.
Hopefully there’ll be a patriot on duty to lock the doors.
“if you lot had actually been right wing then you’d not have had a further right challenger.”
You’d have thought they might have learned that lesson from the Brexit business.
Perhaps our two established Churches might contemplate ‘if you lot had actually been religious then you’d not have fallen into terminal decay’.
“ How have we ended up with the imminent prospect of a socialist takeover that nobody asked for?”
UK has been Socialist since 1945: redistribution of wealth via taxation; State run public services expropriated from the private sector; NHS & State education; State directed businesses like the utilities; State owned railway and rail services (outsourced to pretend it’s private).
People don’t understand what Socialism is or its ugly twin Fascism.
The other week someone bemoaned that 2 000 NHS hospitals pre-date 1948 (anctually there used to be more) and this was a scandal. What they missed is if a hospital and medical care infrastructure pre-dated the NHS, what’s the NHS for.
– Eat shit and die, “Conservatives”.
This will be jolly fun ‘n all for five minutes, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that we really are going to have a massive socialist takeover that nobody asked for. None of the “Conservatives” will eat shit and die. But we normal folk? Oh, we are going to eat so much shit and absolutely some of us will die.
PJF – This will be jolly fun ‘n all for five minutes, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that we really are going to have a massive socialist takeover that nobody asked for. None of the “Conservatives” will eat shit and die. But we normal folk? Oh, we are going to eat so much shit and absolutely some of us will die.
Yarp. The entire point of the Rishi Coup was to bring us back to this point – where British people’s votes no longer matter.
I hope they win the Sir David Amess award.
@Southerner – “when England goes from bad to worse thanks to Farage handing Labour a landslide victory.”
Farage may be highly visible, but doesn’t have the power to influence the result significantly. The people handing Labour a victory will be the Conservative party. And rightly so, as they haven’t been significantly conservative in government – most obviously so with Brexit which was a sudden large radical change – nothing like a conservative action.
most obviously so with Brexit which was a sudden large radical change – nothing like a conservative action.
Lol, good one.
– And rightly so, as they haven’t been significantly conservative in government – most obviously so with Brexit which was a sudden large radical change – nothing like a conservative action.
Ah, so the point of the “Conservatives” is to conserve every left-liberal policy that is mad and/or treasonous.
Suddenly it all makes sense.
PJF – we’re being asked to believe the electorate that gave the Con Party an 80 seat landslide majority to Get Brexit Done wants to rejoin the EU.
How do you know a Tory is lying? He’s talking.
I’m sick of the pols and pundits who are so invested in the westminster bubble paradigm that that is all they can see. The polls we have seen are worthless in the current atmosphere.
If reform can sustain, in those dodgy polls, a lead over the tories, that becomes permission to vote for them in the minds of the doubters who were tending to vote tory to keep labour out. Also, the undecided, who don’t figure in the polling, come to about 40% of the population. If they were wavering over dodgy-looking labour and proven-failure tories perhaps a lot of them might take a punt on reform as a substitute for ‘none of the above’.
What I’m getting at is that Reform could just pull off a 2016 surprise (and a Canada 1992 for the tories.) Probably not government but a lot of votes and maybe seats.
Wishful thinking? Yeah, but…
@PJF – “Ah, so the point of the “Conservatives” is to conserve every left-liberal policy”
No. But it must be to conserve most things, and if it proves necessary to make a huge change like Brexit to do so carefully and competently.