Boris has been fined - Part 3

[Roussette]

Here we are.

And here is Part 2

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4529283-Boris-has-been-fined-Part-2?reply=116839783

"I think the letters will creep up but I think the whips' strategy is still to avoid a confidence vote. My view is we need to see less of the PM from now on".
Anonymous ex minister to Beth Rigby.

Honestly if you've got to a stage where you need to hide your leader away that should tell you something.

The thing is Big Dog is worth hiding away because he is a proven vote winner.

Honestly if you've got to a stage where you need to hide your leader away that should tell you something.

They may be onto something there. At the last GE Johnson spent his time hiding in fridges and got a stonking majority, partly courtesy of UKIP. This time he and Sunak went and canvassed in Sunderland which stayed firmly Labour.

Well it will be interesting who they choose to put front and centre instead of Johnson. Not a bad way to begin a sly run at leadership (not you Schapps/Dorries/Fabricant).

Oh please let it be Fabric cat.

The Conservatives lost 6 seats on Elmbridge council. It's an interesting one because that's Raab's constituency which was marginal in the first place.

Johnson was voted in despite a very spotty record because he was seen as someone who wins elections. Now he's lost one, there is literally no point in him being leader.

It's got worse for the Tories as results come in...

-482 as I type

Weird BBC News was reporting different. It's a hammering.

The BBC is still saying -397 for the Tories. Still trying to talk down Labour as much as they can.

Sorry that was the Guardian - I suppose they are a bit behind.

They sent Boris Johnson to a school today to paint a lovely picture for the children ( who didn't seem that engaged with our current leader tbh)

-486 now with 2 English and 1 Welsh council to declare.

NI - a long way to go yet.

The Welsh Conservatives lost 43% (!) of all the council seats they were defending.

Yet the Express thinks that bullish boris is back on track after better than expected election results. Is losing the better part of 500 councillors really a good result? The Red Wall kept faith with him, apparently. Do tell that to Sunderland where they were hoping to win control. Or Denbighshire in N Wales - where they went from being the largest party on the council to being pushed into 4th place.

Oh and funnily enough the right wing rags aren't covering this. Harry and Andrew and Starmer's beer are bigger news apparently.

Election Maps UK

Scotland Final Result:

🎗️ SNP: 453 (+22)
🌹 LAB: 282 (+20)
🌳 CON: 214 (-63)
ℹ️ INDs: 152 (-15)
🔶 LDM: 87 (+20)
🌍 GRN: 35 (+16)

Changes w/ LE2017.

So one political party loses nearly 500 seats, being a quarter of those they contested. Another wins more than 250, with voting in seats mostly contested 4 years ago, when they were on a bit of a roll, so not as much margin to improve.

How does Laura Kuenssberg portray this?
No breakdown or big breakthrough in uncomfortable night for big parties

No Laura - one of the parties has had a thrashing, and you would have been the first to tell us, if the figures had been reversed.

(The actual article is better.)

Unfortunately I think it was not as bad for the Tories as it should have been, and certainly not much good for Labour. My take:

Scotland- last time these elections were fought, Ruth Davidson a much respected person across politics was Scottish Tory leader, who garnered new support. Not there this time, new Scottish Tory leader is the flip-flopping part time football linesman. So should have actually been worse.

Wales- Plaid did well, only one Tory council to lose, Labour did not gain places such as Wrexham.

England- in London of the three Councils Labour gained, Westminster had the Marble Arch mound fiasco, and Barnet only had a large Conservative majority in 2018 because of Jeremy Corbyn's response to anti-semitism in his party. So Wandsworth the only real shock.

Outside London the net Labour gain was small if any, the Lib Dems and Greens were the real winners.

So losing nearly 500 seats isn't that bad because Labour didn't win them all? Is that the spin?

Also carefully forgetting that last time these seats were fought it wasn't a good night for the Conservatives, and these results are worse.

That said whilst Labour are now the 2nd party in Scotland for a GE they will need more to form a majority government. If I were a Shire Tory MP I would be seriously worried and many of the Red wall seats have small majorities, so whilst the votes in those areas haven't changed as much, they may still be at risk. In many ways the upcoming by-elections will tell us more than the local elections.

The Southern Blue sea wall is also not looking as strong as it once was and still hardly any mention of Cumberland, Kirklees, Rossendale

The one by-election we had locally was won comfortably by the LibDems - until then one of those pig with a blue rosette seats. But there has been a lot of housebuilding and an influx of new people.

The Southern Blue sea wall is also not looking as strong as it once was and still hardly any mention of Cumberland, Kirklees, Rossendale

Shush! Don't tell the Tories that - let them be caught out by their own complacency. I suspect that they are beginning to wake up slowly though.

Now why anyone would dress up nearly 500 losses and control of 12 different councils as anything other than disastrous?

It went far beyond most mainstream pollsters predictions.

I suppose if you expected all Cons seats to pivot to Labour you'd be disappointed - but that rather mangles the picture.

The Conservative majority would be demolished nationally which, given Johnson's election winner status, should give the Cons serious pause for thought.

What I do find shocking is that Tory CCHQ were informed about Durham being reopened yesterday morning. Starmer found out via journalists in the afternoon.
Why would that be I wonder?
Something is a miss there.