General British politics discussion thread

Leroy42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781342#Comment_120781342

Sunak is saying that the government is going to appeal. Even releasing a letter about it.

So Sunak, while accepting the court's decision, is going to appeal it.

That's odd because last week when it came to a vote on Johnson he was adamant that he didn't want to influence anyone. But on this is he seems happy to take the lead.

PommieBast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120782174#Comment_120782174

Did Farage actually state the reason(s) from the bank? I could believe he had accounts closed due to inactivity, but I suspect complete fabrication rather than heavy embellishment in this story.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120784213#Comment_120784213

I didn't watch the video but I can't see any reason in any of the reports. He's of course playing the victim card as much as he can.

breezy1985

The Express reported that it is not Farage who has had any banking issues.

"Express.co.uk understands that all the British-based banks have denied the Reclaim Party a bank account and one of the accounts for Reform UK was also closed with minimum notice"

He has no reason to leave the UK other than the fact he is a rat and the ship is sinking.

PommieBast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120784294#Comment_120784294

That would actually make sense. Opening company bank accounts (and I assume this applies to other non-personal accounts) is actually a massive headache.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781342#Comment_120781342

No evidence the Rwanda policy is even popular with anyone in GB, apart from with a few racists and BNP types (and those who write opinion pieces for the Daily Mail).

If this is supposed to boost support for the Tories, it looks a disastrous failure.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120784993#Comment_120784993

It's a weird one. They u-turned on the disastrous marking system they implemented during covid but they're determined to die on this specific hill for no political benefit whatsoever. What's Sunak going to say he has achieved in 2024, exactly?

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120785081#Comment_120785081

I'm genuinely baffled that the Tories think they can somehow boost support for their hugely unpopular government with this obviously irrelevant PR stunt. Even most 2019 Conservative voters look totally disinterested in it : the only people cheering it on are a few fascists in the Daily Mail and on GB News.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120785113#Comment_120785113

Maybe they don't, though? Maybe, it's a trap for Labour? Alternatively, it could be cynical move to placate the likes of Braverman and Anderson. Most likely, it's both of these along with shoring up the membership after they increased the membership fee:

The cost will rise from £25 to £39, although existing members will see their fees frozen in 2023.

The party does not release membership figures, but based on those voting in recent leadership contests, it is thought to be about 172,000.

Donations to the party fell to their lowest level since 2020, according to the latest quarterly figures.

The party raised £2.9m between July and September.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63888581

They're not winners at the moment.

Christy42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120785113#Comment_120785113

Maybe it is a big deal for party donors?

Even if it gets overturned by a later government it could be used to justify slightly less severe measures anti immigrant measures in other countries as well. So many donors could see it as worthwhile.

Peregrinus

Tory party donors aren't really interested in being cruel to asylum-seekers. Principally, the donors want to make money. The point of the performative cruelty is not really to bring in donations, but to secure electoral advantage with the segment of the electorate that likes to feel righteous, threatened, angry and vindictive (which is a depressingly large segment).

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120785747#Comment_120785747

I think the party membership is very interested in performative cruelty but anyone wealthy who's making donations will of course be looking at these contributions as investments.

PommieBast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120785747#Comment_120785747

I suspect the electoral segment they are interested in is the reselection committee of their local constituency party.

Tom Mann Centuria

Labour is losing the run of itself.

Moved on from expelling Left wing members to also expelling nailed on Centrists.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/30/labour-expelling-mp-activist-neal-lawson

They just need to be very careful how many they alienate, maybe not for the next election but definitely the one after that when just being "not the Tories" might not be enough.

Brussels Sprout

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120787163#Comment_120787163

If that tweet is the only reason he's being expelled then that is lunacy.

serfboard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120787163#Comment_120787163

Indeed. The "we're not Tories" resulted in the turnout for the election dropping from 71% to 59% between Tony Blair's first and second terms. And, as portrayed in "Brexit: The Uncivil War", it was the genius of the Brexit campaign to find all the disaffected voters, and to convince them that Brexit was the solution to their problems.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120787580#Comment_120787580

I'm inclined to doubt that is the only reason because I agree it would be lunacy. But I certainly wouldn't rule out that they have in fact gone a bit crazy.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120787580#Comment_120787580

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120788600#Comment_120788600

Well, put the tweet in context. He called for voters to back the Green candidate in an election in which there was a Labour party candidate running. The Labour party has always had a rule that, if a party member campaigns against a Labour candidate (which includes campaigning for a candidate opposing a Labour candidate) they are liable to expulsion.

Labour is totally wedded to the first-past-the-post electoral system. Plus, they have a policy of running a Labour candidate in any election wherever possible, even if they have little chance of winning; voters must always be offered a Labour alternative.

Put those three principles together and the idea of cross-party electoral alliances, support for tactical voting, etc, becomes anathema (except when urging people to vote Labour for tactical reasons, which of course pretty much puts the kibosh on actual co-operation with other parties).

So this guy being expelled is not really surprising. The only aspect that might raise an eyebrow is the idea that retweeting the tweets of opposing parties counts as the sort of campaigning that Labour doesn't allow its members to engage in. But I can see why the Labour party would take that view.

To be clear, I don't agree with Labour on this point. I think FPTP is an appalling electoral system, and in supporting it both Labour and the Tories are putting party before country. But, given that they do support it, the rest kind of follows.

ancapailldorcha

Alastair Campbell was kicked out for a very similar reason.

Brussels Sprout

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120790725#Comment_120790725

I'd be interested to know how rigorously they have applied this rule. People calling for electoral pacts to try and oust Tories was extremely common in the last election. I can't imagine this guy was the only Labour party member to tweet out such things in a constituency where the Labour candidate was a no-hoper.

breezy1985

I've never met a guy who was "fired over one little thing" who was fired over one little thing.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120790725#Comment_120790725

Yup have since seen the extra context.

To further add to it apparently he had not yet been kicked out but contacted to explain his actions. Guess he saw the writing on the wall from such a clearly proscribed action but he's certainly guaranteed it now.

I agree that Labour shoot themselves in the foot with their approach to voting pacts or tactical voting.

Tom Mann Centuria

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120791061#Comment_120791061

Well he's employed lawyers to fight it on his behalf so we'll see whether he gets the boot or not. I think he may well succeed.

Regardless, the Labour hierarchy seem intent on poking bears with a stick.

Another pretty moderate MP Jon Crudass has called it a witch hunt, and yet again the party is Political news about internal matters.

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jul/01/rightwing-illiberal-labour-mp-jon-cruddas-condemns-keir-starmers-witch-hunt

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120793608#Comment_120793608

If he is going to the point of bringing in lawyers rather than just engaging with the party it does feel a bit like this is a fight someone was looking for.

Tom Mann Centuria

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120793622#Comment_120793622

Just how many have successfully appealed after such engagements would be an interesting stat to see.

Strazdas

That's an astonishing quote, if true. It suggests Sunak seems himself as Tory Party leader and not as the PM.

https://twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1675241507098447872

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120793715#Comment_120793715

So in a death spiral, the UK government has started lashing out at its own citizens out of spite? Ye god's it's like the final days of a regime with the army at the doors.

Total sidebar but god, the Mirror is impossible to read for the adverts embedded within each article. Scrolling through the words of that article was tedious stuff.

breezy1985

He wants to crack down on courses with "poor career opportunities".

That's a bit rich coming from a party full of classics graduates who spent their college years slagging off the science students for trying too hard.

Sunak himself studies PPE which is a well know joke course for posh boys and has very little E compared to PP.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120793715#Comment_120793715

I can't even laugh at this. Maybe it's because I play strategy games so much but he has no long term thought process whatsoever. He's removed their ability to seamlessly emigrate so what does he think the consequences are going to be. The Conservatives have completely destroyed the prosperity cycle which replenishes their voter pool.

The most depressing part is Labour's silence on just about everything now. I've no idea where this country is heading. I've spent the past week agonising over whether or not I should apply for a research position I found in Paris but given recent events, that's probably an abysmal idea.

Sam Russell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120793715#Comment_120793715

Even if Sunak sees himself as Tory Party only, he should be using the states generosity to such students as a method of making them Tory voters in the future. He guarantees they will be Labour voters now and forever.

From the other side, most Labour voters are not and unlikely ever to be true Trade Unionists - and Keir Strarmer need to remember he needs those on side, as well as the lefty young voters. Just to think they have nowhere else to go is not good politics. The Labour Party is a party made up of two wings - the Trade Union origins, and the left wing liberals who have never done any hard labour in the short lives.