The On-going Never-ending Brexit Story Part Four

Gove quitting is conclusive proof of that IMO. Very clever, unusually articulate and a congenital plotter who lives for the hunt, he's the last man to quit if there was any point in being reelected. I mean, "what's the point of living if you can't knife someone in the back old boy""

Which is why him stepping down came as such a shock. His seat is safe enough even now, but he saw Rishi, ahem, "Sunaking in the rain" on Wednesday, followed by the first two cluster******** days of campaigning and realized the scale of the hammering that's coming.

He's not alone. From ITV's Robert Peston:

Senior Tories expect a significant number of further MP resignations over the weekend, in the wake of Gove’s and Leadsom’s decisions not to fight the election. Quite a number who have been re-approved as candidates have been in two minds, and thought they had till the autumn to decide. The party has more than 150 seats and rising with no candidate. That is a lot of candidates for CCHQ to find before 7 June and a lot of wasted campaigning days. It does rather indicate Sunak called the election before his party was ready​

 

The recent local elections being a case in point. If he'd called a snap election in March, a lot of standing-down MPs in a constituency where it's too late to call a selection convention could have been replaced by a locally well-known councillor to at least "fly the flag" for the party.

Many of those lost their seats in the recent local elections and are too dispirited to run again when the only reward is a second pasting in two months or just too dispirited, period. Meanwhile, many of those who did survive have nothing left in the tank emotionally or financially.

He really is bad at politics, isn't he?

 

You're giving him too much credit here.

 

Christ, how are we going to keep up with all the new podcasts?

 

Labour leads the Tories among every age group except the over-70s and the Greens lead the Tories among the under-40s. pic.twitter.com/b4UFyEr5cN

— George Eaton (@georgeeaton) May 25, 2024

 

Incommunicado? What, Brits don’t have cell phones? I’m legit confused.

 

I remember like 30 years ago I was in a John LeCarre kick. He wrote a non-spy book about IIRC a man whose father was running for parliament. I didn’t finish it because I flat out didn’t understand the context. This thread gives me a clue.

 

Believe it or not, but people often go on holidays and turn off their phones at least pat of the time.

Given the situation, I'd be surprised if some of them who hadn't turned theirs off didn't watch the news on CNN, BBC World, etc. see Sunak in the rain and decide to do so.

 

City's fitness coach picks up a yellow

 

Least surprising news since Reform had to remove a candidate for historical racist tweets.

🚨 NEW: George Galloway's Workers Party has had to ditch a candidate because of antisemitism

[@whazell]

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) May 25, 2024

 

So this is all they could come up with on the "replanning" day

NEW: Rishi Sunak pledges to bring back mandatory national service for every 18 year old if Tories win election.

They will have to do either year-long army placement or one weekend a month volunteering for a year.

— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) May 25, 2024

 

The White Cliffs of Dover are receding about 12.2" per year. How soon will Ireland be taking over?

 

“No national service without representation!”

Smart move, targeting people who can’t vote yet.

 

National service? A attractive-sounding idea for teaching people skills, which costs money - trainers, barracks, uniforms, food, equipment, managers, support staff, etc. That's lots of money. Which means more borrowing, higher taxes, etc. Suddenly it doesn't look so attractive any more.

For the building-up-the-army types, there's also the interesting fact that the army, the navy and the air force absolutely hate it and won't be shy about leaking that hatred. Even if they don't, their recently retired colleagues will be all over the airwaves on their behalf.

Oh, and is he planning to extend it to Northern Ireland?

He's desperate and making it up as he goes along

 

An excuse to post from Yes, Minister? Go on then.

Ok I know it sounds bonkers, but the idea of *some* form of national service is actually quite popular https://t.co/eea4THmHHd pic.twitter.com/85zlHR4JN1

— Tom Calver (@TomHCalver) May 25, 2024

 

Being a bit of an old-line righty, I usually find a trip down memory lane instructive.

In which spirit, I offer this from the Times' Tim Shipman as he watched the Carabao Cup final back in February:

The Liverpool end at Wembley strikes up a chant of "fuck the Tories" and the Chelsea end fights back with a chant of, er, "fuck the Tories". Look away now prime minister

— Tim Shipman (@ShippersUnbound) February 25, 2024

 

I posted the Yes, Minister clip somewhat in jest, but it turns out the polling the decision was based on pretty much did exactly what Sir Humphrey said.

You know the polling for this report is *fascinating*. First respondents are asked to rank a series of things negatively affecting young people's lives. Then they're asked if young people are patriotic enough and THEN they're asked about National Service. https://t.co/5ORWVlzX0F pic.twitter.com/aOOYyMSWzQ

— Chris Terry-Enescu (@CJTerry) May 26, 2024

 

More evidence of the great plan.

This by @Geri_E_L_Scott is a real eye opener. CCHQ accidentally emailed private criticisms of their own candidates to said candidates - including naming and shaming those who “won’t knock a door” or are thought to be slacking off. Not a great start… https://t.co/IgfOVp4y6d

— Kate McCann (@KateEMcCann) May 27, 2024

 

He's trying to lose. There can be no other reason for all of this.

Politics for beginners- If you are really shit at something, don’t do it in front of the cameras during an election campaign… https://t.co/8f2nbzlAIH

— John O'Farrell (@mrjohnofarrell) May 27, 2024

 

Given that Farage is not currently an elected politician, is not standing in the upcoming election and has clearly indicated his focus is on Trump, why is he still being given a platform to be overtly racist?

Nigel Farage under fire after saying Muslims do not share British values https://t.co/ndXLJuPpwV

— The Guardian (@guardian) May 26, 2024

 

What are British values?

 

Or at least spend like five minutes practicing in the morning so you don’t look like a complete goober.

In American Politics, on occasion, the national media decide a presidential candidate is hopeless or derisory and then reports on his campaign through a bully’s prism. Either Bob Dole or John McCain (pretty sure it was Dole) fell off a stage late in the campaign and so for every journalist, that was a metaphor they could report on rather than the candidate’s tax policy. Same thing happened to Gore 4 years later, and Kerry 4 years after that, and to an extent to McCain in 2008. Haven’t seen the same specific phenomenon since then.

Anyway, is there the same dynamic at play there? Is that what’s happening to Sunak, or is this how politics is normally covered there?

 

According to the government web site, "the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs."

From that, one might easily think it's Farage who is the one diverging.

 

It's pretty normal for candidates to be filmed doing "normal" things.
My guess is they've got some polling back that it worked for Johnson, especially when he messed things up, but he was a renowned buffoon (so it was part of the act) rather than someone trying to come across as serious like Sunak.