Angela from Housing

It will be interesting to see how AfD performs this month in Germany. I know it's irrelevant to Angela's theme, but the way this thread is going now.

What achievements? And it’s not only female politicians who are lampooned! Tbh as far as I can see most senior politicians, whichever party, male or female, lack integrity and for the most part fail at the tasks they are charged with, and are, therefore, fair game. It’s not misogyny, if they’re not up to the job they assured us they could do before they were elected.

Living up to your username @crockofshite - nobody can accuse you of false advertising.

Louise Haigh was recently a member of the cabinet which is why I listed her separately.

Keir Starmer joined Reigate Grammar in Year 7 in 1974 and the school reverted to independent status in 1976 so clearly not in his last year. Surrey County Council only covered fees for existing pupils up to O level. Starmer received a bursary/scholarship (or part bursary - we don't actually know if his parents contributed something however small) - presumably because of his musical ability as he didn't do particularly well in his O levels. Most of the Sixth Form pupils would have been fee paying.

Is she the bird who flaps around in a lime green badly fitting trouser suit?

I concur 👏

Are you applying the Dominic Raab description of misogyny?

Im Not a fan of her either and have never and will never vote labour but why pick at the age she became a mother?

Not nice or relevant just because someone becomes a young parent doesn't mean their life is over.

@LostittoBostik

I think you're missing the point - a few posters here, myself incl, are trying to say that Reform is rising now because people who hoped that Labour can turn the country around after Tory failure are beginning to see how incompetent and ruinous Labour are. That instead of getting better, or at least seeing the light at the end of tunnel, the situation is becoming much worse very quickly with unemployment and inflation both rising.

So having tried both Tory and now Labour, disillusioned public is turning to Reform. This speed of this is amplified by Musk's intervention and no doubt putin's funding as well. I think most posters here arguing against Labour are terrified of prospect of Reform. They are welcome to confirm.

By calling us CPHQ or Putin's bots (oh irony of it, if you could only know how much money I donated to Ukraine) you're failing to understand these points and actually contradicting your own point about democracy.

That’s quite a lot of projections for something 4 years down the line, so only time will tell - but yes, the threat of the tax-evading millionaires with no real policies or political competency who blame all of society’s issues on immigrants, is something we need to be wary of. Braverman and Jenrick are certainly campaigning for themselves at the moment, so it will be interesting to see which way they go with Reform or pitch against them in the Tories.

You make the point about Musk supporting Reform: how does that work when he has publicly stated that Farage is not up to the job when Farage is the owner of Reform Ltd. and currently, cannot be voted out by party members? Do Musk and Lowe buy him out? Farage is a media personality at best, a self-serving grifter - he’s never really done the hard work or taken responsibility for anything in his political career, so it will be interesting to see if he sticks it out (he certainly doesn’t like to be challenged or questioned). They’ve also courted the Tommy Robinson supporters for social media bragging on Reform member numbers; that’s already proving a challenge for them, so let’s see how that goes.

Look, 4 years is a long time in politics - it’s always foolish to dismiss populist opportunists like Reform, but I think confident projections about a party who are so new, shambolic and self-serving are shaky, despite the constant stream GB News presenters declaring daily poll victories and demanding Starmer’s resignation for a different reason each week. Similarly, it’s still early days for the new government.

Literally lots of posters are implying she shouldn’t be called out due to her ‘chromosomes’.

It's easy for Reform to increase vote share with Labour in. Labour's policies are too far from what Reform voters are after and failing on various things gets Reform votes.

That's why it's increased markedly since the GE. Still some time to go, they have votes but seats are a different issue. Three years is a long time though.

I agree that the collapse of the tories has helped reform, but I don't think that explains their current poll ratings.
People were clearly sick of the tories and pinned their hopes on labour. Labour have introduced so many policies that have caused harm, non of which was even mentioned during the campaign or in their manifesto. It also became apparent that Keir Starmer likes a freebie after running on a ticket of honesty and integrity. There seems to be a new scandal every week with this government.
As for Kemi B, she's totally useless! I'm gobsmacked that she won the leadership tbh. I doubt she will last more than a year.
So that leaves anyone right of centre very few options. Enter stage right, Nigel bloody Farage.

Rayner is in too deep as is Cooper Phillipson Reeves Lammy in fact reread Duffields resignation letter to Starmer she puts it all in it. He has put in a whole front bench of non politically savvy ministers Cooper is the only one who has served before

@LostittoBostik nobody strong enough mind you after seeing Zia Yussef on newsnight a few weeks ago I was seriously impressed. So if he’s going to be the leader of reform the tories are in big trouble

Literally nobody here is arguing that her chromosomes are the reason she's in post

She’s clueless and scarily incompetent. I honestly think she wings it. And I don’t think she should have a free pass just because she’s a woman.

Oh god.

And here we come to the conclusion that Putin wants.

I hope this is just another bot.

People should just concentrate on bettering themselves in all ways. Arguing over politics is like arguing over WWE matches. Youre arguing about something that has an already scripted conclusion, doesn't matter what colour tie is in power. In the last 25 years, immigration has soared no matter who was in power and nothing has been done to offselt the demand on resources, the banks kept hold of their power no matter who was in government, the NHS continued to be run in to the ground no matter who was in power, housing demand has soared, schools have packed their classrooms to the full and wrapped up the profession of teaching with red tape, wages in real terms have stagnated for the majority and cost of living has continued to rise along with crime - no matter who was or is in power!

Democracy was a nice Athenian dream and I think it most certainly can work, but its a rigged game in today’s society and even in Ancient Athens only about 20% actually had a say. What will happen is going to happen. Concentrate on you and your family and bettering yourself and your position.

A lot of Labour voters think Starmer is to the right of Blair (not me, I think that's ludicrous - but the perception issues are fascinating)

@TheNuthatch @Parsley1234

Whatever voters think of Labour, isn't the real reason for the rise of Reform the fact that the Tory opposition has collapsed?

How long do you see Badenoch lasting? Tories are usually fairly quick to replace a leader that isn't doing the job. The stuff on immigration didn't land despite there being appetite for that narrative - poorly executed

Personally I find it very disappointing seeing Starmer now trying to out Kemi her, especially because it really didn't connect anyway

@TheNuthatch@LostittoBostik that’s the difference to be a leader of a country on the front bench you need to act like it speak like it not be dragging your background around like a badge of honour. Labour have always been the same apart from Blair who was right wing in disguise

I think he did speak like that regularly, but by the time he took over, nobody was listening. I thought he was a brilliant PM (apart from D Day) but he was trying to govern an ungovernable party.

‘Call me Dave’ ‘milk Snatcher’

Yes I agree. Sunak's response to the budget in the HoC was amazing. The difference in calibre was clear for all to see.