Westministenders: The Only Election That Matters - The Tory One

[RedToothBrush]

Fallout from the Euro Elections makes for interesting reading for the leadership hopefuls.

Its not a clear cut as some make out. There is still a case for a deal. The trouble is passing it through parliament. And there is no time to do that. Nor no will.

Any new leader's priority isn't going to be a deal. Its going to be avoiding a General Election. And thats going to be hard.

We are also realistically facing the prospect of another extension which France is likely to block leading to no deal or no deal.

Or a 2nd Referendum.

A 2nd Referendum might be the only way to avoid a General Election. And that will still have no deal on the ballot. Of that you can be sure.

Peter Foster of the Telegraph remarked this morning that in fact the only way to a deal now, might well be via no deal, because of all the routes we have exhausted through incompetence. And that will come at a very high price.

Rundown of the eleven (eleven!!) candidates - and a new word to add to our vocabularies

Candidate Guide according to Newsthump

Our system selects jurors at random, there’s none of the jury selection shenanigans one sees on US courtroom dramas. AFAIK.

Our system selects jurors at random, there’s none of the jury selection shenanigans one sees on US courtroom dramas. AFAIK.

Jury challenges were severely curtailed under PACE 1984, I believe.

My DM was challenged as a juror on a rape trial at the Old Bailey. There were 3 defendants, which meant 9 challenges "without cause". The defence used them to remove women and black people (the defendants were black).

It's tempting, but what that means in practice is a body who can say to the electorate "You are not allowed to elect this person to Parliament". Once you have done that, you have established a higher authority than democracy.

I am no lawyer, but that sounds a flimsy argument to me, as to what Johnson has said in public. I think it's worth establishing two things - whether politicians are allowed to tell the public the most blatant lies, with a view to influencing their vote and whether this makes them unfit for office. I would see this as strengthening the existing democracy. I bet that person is a Leave voter!

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btw, the bus is a little bit of a red herring in the BJ case. It's much more about the fact that as Mayor of London he instructed staff to work for the Leave campaign - the bus being a small part of that.

Anyone who is arguing solely on the basis of the bus needs to be factchecked.

DGRossetti not sure if it's a or a for that Gove article.

Brexit is the gift that just keeps giving, isn’t it. Keeping up to date with what’s going on is practically my hobby now.

In BJ's defence there will be Lord Denning's "Fare's Fair" judgement on Ken Livingstone's GLC promise to cut bus fares, which Denning said was a manifesto promise and so not a promise at all, and so the Tory Govt. could block it.

I see this as two parts - the 'Let's spend it on the NHS' is a form of Manifesto promise. The 'We send £350 million a week to the EU', is a lie, although I suppose Johnson's lawyers might argue that according to the letter of the law, we do send it and then get some back via a rebate.

I don't think I've ever spent so much time on the CPS' website! Here's the bit about jury selection: www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/jury-vetting

Boris will have to hope that the jurors are all predisposed to like him. And understand what they're being asked to decide!

TiP shared this on FB. Thought of you lot when I saw it

Is the bus that lied the same as the old fag adverts on buses just that an advert, I mean what sort of idiot believes anything on the side of a bus or in the papers or in the hews it’s all crap intended to control you.

I never even saw it other than repeatedly on tv. Shouldn’t the bus, the tv, the papers all be in the dock in place of an mp. MPs don’t tell the truth. They can’t . It’s their job to lie.

We are constantly told by Leavers that they didn't believe the lie on Johnson's red bus.

On the night of the Referendum the BBC interviewed someone who said she would be very angry if there wasn't more money for the NHS. I wish they would go back and re-interview her now and ask her how she feels about it.

I very much doubt if she was the only person who voted Leave because of it.

Peregrina my mum totally believed the bus that’s why she voted. No other reason she said she wouldn’t have bothered voting but for the promise of more money to the NHS.

One for the Leavers who deny that Farage is a fascist

It’s their job to lie.

It really really isn't.

There's definitely nothing in the Code of Conduct which says it's their job to lie!

I'd say that actually it's their job to be honest to their constituents and the country.

They wouldn't wriggle round interviewers asking difficult questions if it was OK to lie.

To me it's about informed consent. If politicians break that ethical boundary the law needs to step in.

I would have thought judges in particular would want to stop the "fake news" such as "Judges are ENEMIES of The People" That should have been a reminder that the press supporting certain types of political figures certainly aren't afraid of the lawmakers in this country. Inciting people to hate them is a short step from The People finding out where they live, after all...

Lots of people still believe that bus : the money we 'give to the EU' was mentioned by my politics A Level studying DS last week....

On another note, anyone see the rather alarming article that says Raab is 'more right wing than Thatcher'? Heavens to Betsy!

Judges certainly aren't friends to those who have done wrong, but 'enemies' is not the correct word for it.

Most Tory Brexiters are more rightwing than Thatcher
The party has moved significantly further to the right, since she started the swing

However, the old bat was at least very hard-working and pretty competent too

I think there's more right wing than Thatcher. And then there's Raab...

Follow the money !

Tom Newton Dunn@tnewtondunn

Interesting. A lot of money now being spent to promote this on social media/digital advertising.

Very similar peer pressure whipped up on Tory MPs to vote down May’s Brexit deal, which worked.
Same graphics too.

Who’s paying for it ?

Guido Fawkes is pushing a campaign (Inc funding promotion of it) to tell MPs to back Johnson. Nicky Morgan was moaning about it.

Is there still scope for the DPP to take over the Boris prosecution and then drop it ?