[Politics] Tory meltdown finally arrived [was: incoming]...

[Machiavelli]

Well actually it's a group of voters that is getting bigger all the time, and will keep doing so for another decade or two. It's not a long term strategy, but it should win an election or two in the meantime.

Well, not this one, nor the next one, but possibly the one after that

They'll need to have short memories of how dire our current predicament is. To think that Cameron and Osborne had the brass neck to speak of Broken Britain in 2010. New Labour got its fingers burned for cosying up to the financial sector but, beyond that, they left things behind in good shape. Now pretty much everything is, at best, on its knees and, if not, approaching collapse.

 

[nicko31]

View attachment 184422

Some journey from Britannia Unchained with Truss and Qwasi to waking up to climate emergency.

My real fear is what remains of the Tories will be a pound shop versus of the modern US Republicans.

 

[nicko31]

Laura Saunders who is being investigated by the gambling commission is threatening to sue the BBC for covering the story.

“Breach of her privacy” she claims.



The brass neck on the fucker.

You've worked your way through the Tories ranks having joined the party at 18 and the first opportunity to bag a few hundred quid, I'll av some of that.

Thick as mince and now doubling down

 

[mikeyjh]

Fun fact in the wake of the news Sunak might be the first sitting PM to lose his seat, at the last Labour landslide in 1997 John Major’s, the last decent Tory leader, percentage majority actually went up in Huntingdon.

I imagine it's because despite his party's deep unpopularity at the time, he wasn't generally regarded as an utter c***.

 

[A1X]

I genuinely don't understand Tories' thinking: everything they do is designed to appeal to 65+, a group of voters that is literally dying out. What future do they have?

As so often during the last 14 years, they aren’t thinking about the long term. They’re desperate to fight a fire right now and will do anything to cling to power,, with the future being someone else’s problem. From Austerity to Brexit to HS2 to Net Zero, it’s always about the next hour / day / week and hang the future problems.

 

[Pevenseagull]

As so often during the last 14 years, they aren’t thinking about the long term. They’re desperate to fight a fire right now and will do anything to cling to power,, with the future being someone else’s problem. From Austerity to Brexit to HS2 to Net Zero, it’s always about the next hour / day / week and hang the future problems.

'A society grows great when old men plant trees in who's shade they know they will never sit'. Greek Proverb

'There's no such thing as society'. Tory Proverb.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Well actually it's a group of voters that is getting bigger all the time, and will keep doing so for another decade or two. It's not a long term strategy, but it should win an election or two in the meantime.

Well, not this one, nor the next one, but possibly the one after that

In 15 or so years most Gen Xs will be over 60. I can't speak for all of them but certainly me and my friends from that era would all rather shit in our hands and clap than vote Tory.

 

[Bodian]

It's utterly bonkers. One thing we know that Labour is planning to do is to give votes to 16 and 17 year-olds. So, as well as the 18-23 age group voting for the first time, he's reinforced in the minds of teenagers that the Tories are hostile to them - that's a massive tranche of first-time voters (and their parents) whose votes they could be attracting.

I genuinely don't understand Tories' thinking: everything they do is designed to appeal to 65+, a group of voters that is literally dying out. What future do they have?

They were saying on the news the other day that millions of potentially first time voters in that age bracket haven't registered to vote. So, the Tories are betting (ha!) on not losing votes of voters that aren't going to vote anyway.

 

[SeagullsoverLondon]

'A society grows great when old men plant trees in who's shade they know they will never sit'. Greek Proverb

'There's no such thing as society'. Tory Proverb.

Good to know that the Greek's (sic) were as bad at spelling and grammar as we are!

Great proverb nonetheless.

 

[Hugo Rune]

So, Tory candidate and Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer lowering the bar as far as it will go accusing Fred Thomas of lying about his military service because he won’t answer questions about it at the hustings.



It’s not the done thing to talk about your service when you were involved in special forces operations, I’m sure the vast majority of Plymouth voters will see through this vile attack.

 

[Pevenseagull]

Good to know that the Greek's (sic) were as bad at spelling and grammar as we are!

Great proverb nonetheless.

How do you spell Greek?

Asking for my mate Ern.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

So, Tory candidate and Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer lowering the bar as far as it will go accusing Fred Thomas of lying about his military service because he won’t answer questions about it at the hustings.



It’s not the done thing to talk about your service when you were involved in special forces operations, I’m sure the vast majority of Plymouth voters will see through this vile attack.

The Plymouth Herald has published the story, complete with a Certificate of Valediction from an unnamed Lieutenant Colonel backing Fred Thomas.

Johnny Mercer accuses Labour rival of lying about military career

Labour candidate Fred Thomas has defended his military record after accusations he was a 'real life Walter Mitty'

www.plymouthherald.co.uk

Mercer has since deleted his post, and could be referred to the Electoral Commission for attacking his political opponent.

 

[clapham_gull]

So, Tory candidate and Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer lowering the bar as far as it will go accusing Fred Thomas of lying about his military service because he won’t answer questions about it at the hustings.



It’s not the done thing to talk about your service when you were involved in special forces operations, I’m sure the vast majority of Plymouth voters will see through this vile attack.

It's got a bit more complicated than that over the last few hours, Labour press office confirming that certain things printed about their candidate aren't true, if not potentially his fault. I'm not sure either come out devoid of criticism.

That said, Mercer is really one I'd like to see gone. Supporting veterans is one thing (good), but politicising the military for your own political career is not a good look.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Said copy from the Special Forces.

 

[clapham_gull]

Said copy from the Special Forces.

Yes, but that does not confirm what had been reported in the press that the candidate didn't correct.

Mercer is a huge arse and an odd one at that. A very strange character. Labour decided to put another ex-soldier up against him and that's where it starts. The military being used as a PR game.

You've ended up with two ex-footballers arguing about whether they actually played in a Rumberlows Cup semi final, but were actually on the bench. With all due respect to any any ex-military, it's being played out exactly like that on Twitter.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Tory cheerleader stoking the rumours of a cabinet minister being involved in Rishi’s election batting scandal.



So who would you put your money on?

• Rishi Sunak MP, Prime Minister - 2/1
• Oliver Dowden CBE MP, Deputy PM - 5/1
• Jeremy Hunt MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer - 10/1
• Lord David Cameron, Foreign Secretary - 3/1
• James Cleverly MP, Home Secretary - 8/1
• Grant Shapps MP, Defence Secretary - 8/11F
• Alex Chalk KC MP, Justice Secretary -
• Michelle Donelan MP, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology - 12/1
• Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities - 5/2
• Victoria Atkins MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care - 10/1
• Steve Barclay MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - 2/1
• Penny Mordaunt MP, Lord President of the Council, Leader of the House of Commons - 15/1
• Lord True CBE, Lord Privy Seal, Leader of the House of Lords - 12/1
• Kemi Badenoch MP, Secretary of State for Business and Trade, President of the Board - 5/1
• Claire Coutinho MP, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero - 4/1
• Mel Stride MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions - 9/2
• Gillian Keegan MP, Secretary of State for Education - 12/1
• Mark Harper MP, Secretary of State for Transport - 15/1
• Lucy Frazer KC MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport - 7/2
• Richard Holden MP, Minister without Portfolio - 1/1
• Chris Heaton-Harris MP, Secretary of State - for Northern Ireland - 8/1
• Alister Jack MP, Secretary of State for Scotland - 20/1
• David TC Davies MP, Secretary of State for Wales - 8/1

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Yes, but that does not confirm what had been reported in the press that the candidate didn't correct.

Mercer is a huge arse and an odd one at that. A very strange character. Labour decided to put another ex-soldier up against him and that's where it starts. The military being used as a PR game.

You've ended up with two ex-footballers arguing about whether they actually played in a Rumberlows Cup semi final, but were actually on the bench. With all due respect to any any ex-military, it's being played out exactly like that on Twitter.

Mercer’s words were ‘he served two minutes and never in a combat zone - a Walter Mitty.’

He knows FT cannot say where he served as Special Ops, but he served for seven years, and was promoted to Captain. The certificate of valediction is extremely unusual.

It‘s a smear campaign that has completely misfired from what I can see. Supposedly, one veteran got up and walked out from the hustings, but many more are standing up for him.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Jonny Mercer is a creepy person, who has fallen foul before, boasting he’s never met a straight woman who didn’t fancy him.

Anger at MP for joking that all straight women fancy him

His comment was described as 'deeply creepy' - but others said people were too quick to take offence.

metro.co.uk

He also thinks food banks are a lifestyle choice.

A few months ago, I answered a tweet of his, saying Fred Thomas will win his seat, and he blocked me. What a melt.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

In 15 or so years most Gen Xs will be over 60. I can't speak for all of them but certainly me and my friends from that era would all rather shit in our hands and clap than vote Tory.

Me as well. I realised the other day that my dad was my age, 50, in 1997. And he couldn't bring himself to vote Labour because he 'remembered what they were like in the 70's', so went and put a cross by the Referendum Party.

They say people get more Tory with age, and i can believe it, i mean I'm personally 'more' Tory than i was at 20, albeit still a long long way from actually voting Tory. But also I wonder how much of is to do with memories of the Wilson government, with the strikes, three day weeks, rubbish going uncollected. Not to relitigate those times, because i wasnt really there, but memories of a bad government can last a lifetime. Those specific recollections will die out soon enough, to be replaced perhaps by an older generation that will always hate the Tories.

 

[Peteinblack]

Me as well. I realised the other day that my dad was my age, 50, in 1997. And he couldn't bring himself to vote Labour because he 'remembered what they were like in the 70's', so went and put a cross by the Referendum Party.

They say people get more Tory with age, and i can believe it, i mean I'm personally 'more' Tory than i was at 20, albeit still a long long way from actually voting Tory. But also I wonder how much of is to do with memories of the Wilson government, with the strikes, three day weeks, rubbish going uncollected. Not to relitigate those times, because i wasnt really there, but memories of a bad government can last a lifetime. Those specific recollections will die out soon enough, to be replaced perhaps by an older generation that will always hate the Tories.

I do find many Tory voters bizarre - they'll say they can't possibly vote Labour because they remember the chaos of the 1970s (er, 50 years ago!), but they don't seem to remember the chaos and incompetence of the last 5 years.

I think a lot of Tory voters suffer from selective amnesia.