The Absolute State Of It - It's The UK Politics Thread!

[Wrathbone]

General election called for 4th July. Have to say I’m enjoying Sunak getting absolutely drenched at the podium while protesters blast out Things Can Only Get Better at full volume.

[Hatredsheart]

[Mantis]

The best thing is that they have a £2,000,000 press room in Downing Street that they could have done that announcement from and yet for some reason thought that making him stand outside in the pissing rain looking like an utter loser was a better idea.

I hope they get utterly wiped out. Absolute bottom of the barrel scumbags the lot of them.

[Raid]

Wow, ok, wasn't expecting this until January. I wonder what exactly prompted him to call it now. I can only assume it was the nuclear option of a threat to oust him as Tory leader.

I want to think of a Labour win as a given, but my brain has been hard-wired to assume the worst when it comes to elections in this country. The dream though is that the Tories aren't even in opposition afterwards, that they end up third after the Lib Dems.

Edit: I've watched Sunak's speech now. I was expecting Things Can Only Get Better to be barely audible, but it was loud enough to make out every note, which was hilarious. I also note just how many times the twat used the term "Bold Action", so I assume that's this year's "Strong and stable." Expect to be sick of that phrase by the end of the week.

[Mantis]

This is the front cover The Spectator is going with tomorrow.



It would be amazing if this turned out to be his 'lettuce' moment. Absolute own goal and turned himself into a meme literally the moment he announced the election. Hopefully the image will stick with people and he'll never hear the end of it. The music drowning him out in the background of the video is just the icing on top.

[Hatredsheart]

https://x.com/sturdyalex/status/1793359 ... qYnaxJcJKA

[eny]

https://x.com/coldwarsteve/status/1793324426177446145

[pappaduck]

[Sly Boots]

[Animalmother]

Why the fuck would you do that to yourself? Would a shotgun barrel have popped out of the letterbox if he tried to run back in without saying his bit?

[Wrathbone]

The most gleeful thing about it is that it will be his legacy. That will be the clip they dig out whenever he’s mentioned in future, stood there like a schoolboy who’s forgotten his coat, being humiliated by a mocking tune. Robert Peston said the press gang could barely hear what he was saying.

Like Raid, there’s still that nugget of terror that this could somehow still backfire, but surely this is it. These six weeks have to be the death knell of the Tories.

[Wrathbone]

And the games have started already:

https://bylinetimes.com/2024/05/23/rish ... ary-voter/

The man told Sunak that “the biggest issue is going to be immigration over this election campaign” before asking him whether “your Rwanda plan is going to see results and stop the small boats coming.”

The Prime Minister thanked the man for his “important question.”

However, neither Sunak, nor broadcasters informed viewers that the man asking the question was actually Conservative Leicestershire County Councillor Ross Hills.

[Wrathbone]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0kkvkkejgno



"Cut daoown on all de confusion."


Incidentally, I wonder what the stats are for sexual assaults committed by Conservative MPs since 2010 compared to the number of sexual assaults committed by transgender people in a public bathroom different to their biological gender at birth, during the same timeframe...

[Raid]

So Labour have launched their manifesto, and... is this the best we're going to get? I think if the Tories weren't so desperate and hadn't been picking their policies out of the glove box of a clown car, the only thing that would make Labour's look any different is the tax on public school fees. I mentioned above that I actually like my (Labour) MP and am happy to vote for her on that basis, but that's about the only thing not making me vote Green instead. Basically the same policies, but hopefully a little less corrupt, doesn't feel like the change Mr Starmer claims we're voting for. I get it, stabilising the economy is, I'm told by people who understand these things better than I do, important, but where's the sense of bright-eyed idealism that I think British politics desperately needs? Voting Labour because I want the Tories decimated is not enough.

[Wrathbone]

I completely agree. As you say, our local MP is good and she's the only reason I'll be voting Labour beyond not wanting the Tories anywhere near power ever again. We should demand better, but sadly the best we can expect for the time being is Starmer attempting to repair things.

What does grind my gears is the apathetic line from some people of "they're all the same" when discussing politicians. They're really not, are they? I low-key loathe Starmer and some of his political leanings, but when you compare the integrity of his character to Sunak and Johnson, or compare his competence and professionalism to those two clowns plus Truss, it's night and day difference. I don't have to love Labour for the time being, I just need them to do the job they're almost certainly going to be elected to perform. And once the country is closer to being back on its feet, that's when I'll entertain better options.

On a more entertaining note, I can't get enough of Sunak being absolutely ridiculed and ransacked by the public and by journalists. Nick Robinson tore him to pieces in his interview earlier this week - it was beautiful. I'm still convinecd Sunak called the election because he wants out and he's intentionally doing everything he can to destroy the party around him on the way down (out of spite, I guess?). Leaving the D-Day events early to do an ITV interview where he pretended to understand hardship by pointing out he didn't have Sky TV as a child is just peak Sunak. What a wretch.