General Election 2019 thread

[Playford7]

That's a fallacy. As people get older and amass more personal wealth, they tend to become conservative.

Haha so true, once they grow up and realise it’s not all free stuff with unicorns and shiny things and you need to work then most tick the box named conservative when they mature.

 

[09237653]

That's a fallacy. As people get older and amass more personal wealth, they tend to become conservative.

That would make sense if they were amassing wealth but they arent any more, wages still at 2008 levels, outrageous rent and house prices, brexit kicking in soon so more job losses and price increases to come.

 

[Playford7]

That would make sense if they were amassing wealth but they arent any more, wages still at 2008 levels, outrageous rent and house prices, brexit kicking in soon so more job losses and price increases to come.

Not to mention the end of furlough and the impact this Chinese virus is having on us all with little sign of slowing up anytime soon...

 

[09237653]

Viruses dont have nationalities but yeah covid19 doesn't help on top of a decade of tory rule.

 

[Playford7]

Viruses dont have nationalities but yeah covid19 doesn't help on top of a decade of tory rule.

No but they have a origin.

Thankfully it was a decade of past tory rule or otherwise we would be up poo creak without a paddle.

 

[ChopleyIOM]

Don't worry folks, at least Johnson is still finding things amusing.

(Taken from yesterday's press conference.)

 

[mack341]

I can't help but wonder about the timing of this boris and cummings clash, just seems to me like a form of media management or diversion, strange boris and downing street would make public accusations against cummings they must have known he'd reject and react to but seeing as he is no longer part of the govt team around bojo, probably a bit of an easy target who the media also love to write stories about, a kind of svengali / maverick figure.

 

[TheAddict]

Looks a bit like Bojo stuck a sly thumb up cummings butt right at the say cheese moment.

 

[mack341]

After reading a bit more, I think the cummings flat decoration story could be a smokescreen to divert attention from the david cameron greensill scandal, as that also involves several senior civil servants and MPs, the timing is too much of a coincidence.

Guardian:

On Tuesday it emerged that the government’s chief commercial officer, Bill Crothers, had joined Greensill while remaining a civil servant – in a move sanctioned by the Cabinet Office. [in 2015 which was when cameron was PM] The revelation prompted alarm within No 10 over the growing scandal.

It came as Downing Street started to lose control of its grip on the response to the saga. Three select committees announced probes into the scheme, which is likely to mean cabinet ministers such as the chancellor,

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, and health secretary, Matt Hancock, will be asked to give public evidence.

No 10 had hoped to contain the response to the growing scandal by launching the Boardman inquiry where evidence can be given in private, though Johnson said it would have “carte blanche” to recommend changes.

But mounting pressure meant three select committees of MPs announced plans to carry out their own probe. The public administration and constitutional affairs committee formally announced on Thursday morning it would conduct a full inquiry into lobbying rules.


sky:

Did Mr Cameron approach any other cabinet ministers?

Yes. In October 2019 he went for a "private drink" with Lex Greensill - the founder of Greensill Capital - and Health Secretary Matt Hancock. They discussed a payment scheme that the firm wanted the NHS to start using.

Was the payment scheme used by the NHS?

Yes. It was used in parts of the health service. But allies of the health secretary say everything was above board and he "updated officials on the business that was discussed" in the October drinks meeting

 

[mack341]

DM front page, not exactly pro boris for middle england's main paper even if just sensationalising a claim:

 

[Mr_Slot5]

DM front page, not exactly pro boris for middle england's main paper even if just sensationalising a claim:

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Do I personally believe a word of that? No I don't.

I highly doubt Boris said anything of the sort considering he has been wary of opening back up. As I recall, it was reported last year that people like Rishi were the keenest to open back up?

Not sure what's going on but I find it highly amusing that the people slating Cummings last year for being a liar are now using his claims to beat Boris, like he's the most trustworthy source of information. People are fickle!

 

[mack341]

yes as a straight verbatim quote it doesn't ring true to me, especially as Boris seems to be more pro lockdown and wants to stick to the roadmap rather than lift it early.

 

[ChopleyIOM]

The stench of corruption and sleaze around the Tories is getting overwhelming, even for the usually compliant right-wing press, they're just putting a bit of distance and plausible deniability between themselves and Johnson and his cronies.

Andrew Rawnsley wrote an excellent piece over the weekend:

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A culture of impunity in which unethical behaviour, however outrageous, never goes punished, is pretty much a guarantee of even worse to come in the future. I cannot tell you how the Johnson government will end or when, but it will surely not be a happily ever after. Sleaze may not catch up with the Tories tomorrow or next week or next month or even next year, but there will be a day of reckoning. To paraphrase Ernest Hemingway, governments become bankrupt in the eyes of the voters gradually, then suddenly.

 

[dunover]

The stench of corruption and sleaze around the Tories is getting overwhelming, even for the usually compliant right-wing press, they're just putting a bit of distance and plausible deniability between themselves and Johnson and his cronies.

Andrew Rawnsley wrote an excellent piece over the weekend:

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A culture of impunity in which unethical behaviour, however outrageous, never goes punished, is pretty much a guarantee of even worse to come in the future. I cannot tell you how the Johnson government will end or when, but it will surely not be a happily ever after. Sleaze may not catch up with the Tories tomorrow or next week or next month or even next year, but there will be a day of reckoning. To paraphrase Ernest Hemingway, governments become bankrupt in the eyes of the voters gradually, then suddenly.

Wot!!! The Gradinua anti-Tory? Never!

 

[ChopleyIOM]

Well let's remember what Johnson had to say about Libya.....

"They have got a brilliant vision to turn Sirte into the next Dubai.. the only thing they have got to do is clear away the dead bodies." laughter.

 

[interlog]

Not the first politician that said something he may have regretted later.....

Like calling somebody a bigot when she expressed something that didn't quite fit the agenda.

 

[ChopleyIOM]

Anyone else watch Johnson lose his shit and get all angry and shouty at PMQs yesterday? Anyone would think he's a massive liar who's been caught lying and is about to have his lies exposed. (Well, even more of his lies, I suppose.)

I note even the Daily Mail are getting fed up with him.

Still, it doesn't seem to be hurting them too much in the polls, so I guess a lot of people are content with having a serial liar, adulterer and cheat as their Prime Minister.

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[paul7388]

Hard to name a politician that is not a liar.

 

[mack341]

I was about to post this pic 5 mins ago but thought no one would be interested ...I watched the actual clip, he was talking about brexit and the EU medicines agency, but must've been the flat business that sparked the anger. He was quite convincing on a superficial level but I'm starting to see through his act, he is good at it though it has to be said, gonna take a few more years and 'haven't we been here before' moments, for most of the public to see behind the mask.

 

[cncas2123]

Anyone else watch Johnson lose his shit and get all angry and shouty at PMQs yesterday? Anyone would think he's a massive liar who's been caught lying and is about to have his lies exposed. (Well, even more of his lies, I suppose.)

I note even the Daily Mail are getting fed up with him.

Still, it doesn't seem to be hurting them too much in the polls, so I guess a lot of people are content with having a serial liar, adulterer and cheat as their Prime Minister.

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In the big scheme of things , decorating a flat isn’t going to concern most voters as much as Covid and vaccine roll out , and love him or loath him Bojo has done an excellent job on the vaccine rollout.
I think this is more an indication of how out of touch with voters that Labour is.

 

[pinnit2014]

Hard to name a politician that is not a liar.

Hard to find a political job spec that doesn’t list it as essential criteria

 

[pinnit2014]

In the big scheme of things , decorating a flat isn’t going to concern most voters as much as Covid and vaccine roll out , and love him or loath him Bojo has done an excellent job on the vaccine rollout.
I think this is more an indication of how out of touch with voters that Labour is.

The Press again, learned nothing from the Cummings interrogation where you could taste their bile through the telly: it's happening again with the flat renovation and you just need to look at the comments to see the public going 'meh, shut up about it' - totally misgauging the public mood towards it.

 

[dunover]

So he finally does the right thing and sacks Scummings. Surprise Surprise! two weeks before local elections, Scummings comes out with all this. I frankly couldn't care less if the Tory party paid the initial sum, he put it on Barclaycard or hacked in to Scumming's bank account to pay for the bloody thing. What I do care about is beating Covid, ending restrictions and getting the economy back on track. It's hardly Jeffrey Archer-esque is it?

Johnson hated the effects of the first lockdown and was vehemently against another one, so presumably in a cabinet discussion shouted something like 'There'll have to be bodies in the streets before I want to see another one' which incidentally before Christmas was pretty much the public's point of view. But health won the argument, as it always should do. Heated discussions under pressure are nothing new - remember John Major calling the Ulster Unionists 'bastards' when he thought they weren't cooperating enough in the Good Friday Agreement negotiations?

Let's sack everybody everywhere who has said something out of place in their working environment. Most of the nation would be out of a job. Perhaps he had just been spanked by Priti Patel and was feeling the need to reassert himself.

It seems he has a lot of public approval right now despite all this, judging by the news reports even on Aunty Marx when they were out and about in towns yesterday asking passers by.

If all Labour has got is Starmer picking away at this old scab instead of positive campaigning, then no wonder they can't mount an effective opposition and get the public onside. They had enough bickering from politicians over Brexit for 4 years, so it's not really going to go down too well when all Labour can do is piss and moan about a refurb or a bit of table thumping in a cabinet meeting. I think they've shot themselves in the foot - as usual.

 

[colinsunderland]

People seem to be missing the point on the decorating. If it's proven he used funds he shouldn't have, then it's dishonest, and should start in depth investigations into other things, such as awarding million pound contracts to mates firms who had just been set up with a few quid in the company account.

 

[mack341]

There is probably slightly more involved in the comparison but something to look into, how well we compare to other countries, what they specifically do different to us and whether it achieves better results: