I'm sure she's done a great job during her stardust sprinkled tenure... can't wait for the stats showing how many chalk streams have been improved, investments made, the high number of brown flag (sorry, blue) beaches we have etc
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[Politics] Reshuffle news...
- Thread starter Titanic
- Start date
- Jul 10, 2003
- 27,766
But when smartarse
Every day this lot are in power many people in this country are suffering unnecessarily
Obviously we agree on that Lenny, but the majority voted for 5 years of this, not 4 or 4.5 years. Everyone knew the deal
stewart12
Well-known member
- Jan 16, 2019
- 1,920
Obviously we agree on that Lenny, but the majority voted for 5 years of this, not 4 or 4.5 years. Everyone knew the deal
wasn't the majority- 43.6% voted Tory at the last election, or 13.9m people
- Jul 10, 2003
- 27,766
Absolutely correct (about 29% of the total electorate) and that constitutes a very significant 'majority' (of 80 seats) as defined by the British FPTP electoral system
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Bob!
Coffee Buyer
- Jul 5, 2003
- 11,630
But when smartarse
Every day this lot are in power many people in this country are suffering unnecessarily
But the same happens under every Conservative Government.
Public services, NHS get worse due to less funding.
If you vote Tory it's what you get.( or don't)
Actually they voted for 4.5 years as the Fixed Term Parliament Act was in force at the time of the last Election - which specified an Election on 2nd May 2024.Obviously we agree on that Lenny, but the majority voted for 5 years of this, not 4 or 4.5 years. Everyone knew the deal
Sorry mate. Apologies for the usual. The sad fact is they will stay on till the very last moment because it seems unlikely they will reach a sweet spot with the electorate and rush to an election. Unless, of course they get a Cameron Bounce and go to the people when the sun starts to shine in May (a traditional strategy).But when smartarse
Every day this lot are in power many people in this country are suffering unnecessarily
I am content they will soon be gone, and am prepared to wait. Who knows, they may even stop gouging chunks out of the British fabric with their cuts, anti-woke obsessions, class warring and flag waving, and actually get on with doing sensible things for a while. They have done it in the past.....
So, just hold your nose, and wait
Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
I'm sure you're right but I think I have read somewhere, the latest date can be in January 2025? Yep, found it.
General election 2024: what happens when an election is called? | Institute for Government
The general election took place on Thursday 4 July 2024.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Sunak doesn't care. He'll be off to the States as soon as it's over, renewing his green card.
Indeed. That is now the case....I'm sure you're right but I think I have read somewhere, the latest date can be in January 2025? Yep, found it.
General election 2024: what happens when an election is called? | Institute for Government
The general election took place on Thursday 4 July 2024.
Sunak doesn't care. He'll be off to the States as soon as it's over, renewing his green card.
....due to some on-brand Johnson shenanigans of ditching the Fixed Term Parliament Act meaning that the next election can now be up to 8 months after the date which voters expected when last voting.
One irony is that the more successful Cameron becomes, the more division it will sow in the tory party. Cameron wrote Howard's right wing manifesto, then re-invented himself as Blair lite ('call me Dave'), and blows with the wind in pursuit of money. As the worst prime minister ever (for the Brexit debacle) when he was the poster boy for the entitled wing of remainers (too lazy to campaign), he represents everything that the Braverman clique detests. Can the tories step away from right wing 'English for generations' 'betrayed by woke foringers' contingent, who presumably think Braverman is white, and repopulate the centre ground? No. Too late. Bringing back Cameron is about as exciting as the reformation of the Rubettes.I'm sure you're right but I think I have read somewhere, the latest date can be in January 2025? Yep, found it.
General election 2024: what happens when an election is called? | Institute for Government
The general election took place on Thursday 4 July 2024.
Sunak doesn't care. He'll be off to the States as soon as it's over, renewing his green card.
Colonel Mustard
Well-known member
- Jun 18, 2023
- 2,240
I'm happy with coalitions. It forces parties and votes to take a more consensual approach to government which is how most of us live our lives. As adults, when faced with big decisions we tend to speak to different stakeholders and take a balanced decision. With FPTP we bounce between the two main parties, despite neither ever having a majority of the popular vote. That said, yes there are risks with coalitions — but are these greater than the risks with all-powerful governments gaining power with a minority of the popular vote? That is the permanent state of our politics, and personally I don’t like that at all.
The closest we got to it was when the LibDems forced the issue after the 2010 coalition. The 2011 referendum defeated voting reform but I think since then, opinion has changed. It may take a future coalition to have another crack at it.
We can’t, and I wouldn’t want to. No party would ever be "endowed with seats." They would win seats by enough of the electorate voting for them. In that case, in a democracy, their voices should be heard — like it or not.
Is this sarcasm? Hard to tell. Germany has been a massive success story, the best in Europe, until recently. Their recent economic troubles, like those of almost every other nation in the developed world, and certainly Europe, are rooted in the aftermath of COVID and the Ukraine war.
Correct, but no British government ever gets a majority. Remember Blair's landslide victory in 1997? He had 43.2%, even less than Johnson in 2019. Blair won in 2005 with 35% of the vote. It’s how things are under FPTP.
beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 36,015
the fixed term was for 5 years, setting the date for next election to May 2015 and every 5 years after that. the repeal act set an automatic dissolution to 5 years after parliament sits. the significant change was to return the power dissolve parliament early without a vote. there is an extra month for running the election after dissolution.
Blues Guitarist
Well-known member
It’s worse than that. Sunak stood in a vote to be PM, and lost. But he’s PM anyway. So even the bits of democracy we do have don’t work very well.
Blues Guitarist
Well-known member
Not fact. I support PR because it minimizes the chance of ANY team winning. And the less power politicians have, the less they can f*ck up.
I support it because I realised it's wildly unfair that the number of votes that actually count matter are the total for the second placed candidate plus 1.
I'd never advocate not voting, but the fact is for most people under first past the post it's a waste of time.
Colonel Mustard
Well-known member
- Jun 18, 2023
- 2,240
I don’t think that’s true at all. They are in such a terrible state that any improvement in polling figures would surely help unite them. Think of Corbyn in 2017. He was despised by most Labour MPs but suddenly, after the close-run election result, Labour became much more solid.
As for Cameron being the "the poster boy for the entitled wing of remainers (too lazy to campaign)", well I’m staggered by that. One of the few things I remember favourably about Cameron was that he campaigned very energetically for Remain. He was on the TV news every night, tub-thumping away, and taking part in interviews. Compare him with Corbyn who has been a lifelong opponent of the EU, and even declared himself during the campaign to be 70% in favour of staying in the EU! He also disappeared for stretches and unlike Cameron, almost never appeared in TV interviews, despite being invited. Far fewer Labour voters (just over 50%) voted in the referendum compared with around 70% for the Tories and UKIP — a direct consequence of the prominence of the party leaders. This is all largely forgotten about now.
maltaseagull
Well-known member
hart's shirt
Well-known member
It's not common.
- Jul 10, 2003
- 27,766
I was pretty sure the Fixed term parliament act was 5 years, hence December 2025
*edit*
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06111/
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Fair points. Perhaps Cameron did campaign for Brexit, albeit evidently not well enough, and in any case he set up the referendum thoughtlessly, without the safeguard of a 60:40 bar that was used when we joined the EU. It all seemed too casual to me at the time, meaning I was very angry with him.
Despite being a labour member I accept there is a fair chance Corbyn would have been a worse PM than Cameron. His pathetic behaviour during the Brexit run up ground my gears.
Finally your first point, I am sure the tory polling will improve now. There is something about Cameron that may resonate, for the electorate at large, with a time before the headbangers took control of the tory party. But his appointment will surely cause splitting in tory ranks, as it cannot possible have been greeted with warmth by those tories who abhorred his vigorous campaigning for Remain (I'm taking your word that he was tremendous in this regard - I have simply forgotten; perhaps the tory faith will too, in which case my take will be wholly wrong. Time will tell).