Westminstenders: Johnson v Stewart

[RedToothBrush]

Debate time.

I also asked what he was doing to lessen the likelihood of a no deal.

red I was assuming it was those two !
With the spoiling being "wank, wank" alongside each name

I've read several articles suggesting Brexit may finally destroy the 2 main parties
and bring in an era of multiparty politics, 4-5 parties jostling, each with a signifiant # of MPs

No Peregrina I started off with Boris and had to do a quick trade after Gove pulled his stunt - assumption being BoJo / AL was a joint ticket anyway.

Seems someone heard you Sos

per Laura K:
Source in Hunt camp - 'Boris and Michael are great candidates but we have seen their personal psychodrama before - it's time to offer the country someone the EU will actually talk to'

Still more people don’t want Noris than do...

More than half voted for Boris : 2x157=314, only 313 votes available

Re the 2 spoiled ballot papers, my vote is for Grieve and Clarke

According to George BoJo is the man to give us back our MoJo.

If that's where my mojo is he can keep it

I don't know but I'd suggest its rather more likely that a voter (May perhaps?) has indicated at this stage that she/he would support any of the remaining contenders by voting for all of them. That's just as surely a spoiled ballot paper as writing "none of them" or whatever.

Johnson and Gove Psycho Drama?

Why the hell not? We are into full on dsytopia anyway.

Bring it on...

(BCF, I bet thats who EVERYONE is assuming it is! Which is hilarous! Especially if its not!!!! Ken Clarke and Dominic Grieve are also obvious suspects)

I completely disagree with the analysis that we are about to enter the realms of multiparty politics. Assuming Brexit gets done the Brexit Party disappears and the LibDems would have to come up with some policies. They also have a Coalition record millstone which Boris can happily disavow.

The issue for me is how the Brexit outcome alters the PLP civil war dynamics? I however have absolutely no idea what the answer to that question is but TW and co will have to come up with a different stick to beat JC with if they are to get anywhere. I think Boris at PMQs will also be easier for him to deal with than Theresa because he won't have the potential pitfall of perceived sexism and Boris is at least as loose and as nuanced with his language as JC is.

I just registered for three of the hustings (I won't attend them all but no locations yet published so not quite sure which will suit best).

It confirms you needed to be a member before 22nd April...and I have scraped in having joined on 14th!

Would this be a feasible scenario?

BJ becomes PM, immediate vote of confidence brings down the Govt. GE produces a Lab/Lib/SNP coalition and Lib's/SNP insist on a second referendum that Corbyn can't block. A50 extended, remain win and we all wake up in the shower a la Bobby Ewing...

You forgot to add in the Indyref2 that the SNP would demand as part of their S&C agreement

I also think in that scenario SNP would push for Revoke rather than 2nd Ref. They may even be "persuaded" to postpone Indyref2 in the interests of building cohesion in that scenario as the trade off along with Devo Max and a reopening of the Smith Commission (would give them more time to try to get to the 60% decisive point)

This would also make the LibDems very uncomfortable which would suit Labour and SNP fine.

That's feasible too

....we can but dream

BJ becomes PM, immediate vote of confidence brings down the Govt. GE produces a Lab/Lib/SNP coalition and Lib's/SNP insist on a second referendum that Corbyn can't block. A50 extended, remain win and we all wake up in the shower a la Bobby Ewing...

This is what I'm hoping for. Heck - they could even forgo the election - Jezza reaches out to Libdems, SNP, what remains of the tiggers and the centrist tories and creates a truly cross party government. though Keir Starmer may actually have to hit jezza over the head with a spade and stuff him in his garden shed for that to happen

I assumed that George O was backing Boris in order to see him crash and burn.
I think it’s a bit unfair to characterise TM as incompetent, certainly in comparison with any of the other actors on this stage. She negotiated a best of a bad job agreement with the EU. I don’t believe any Tory leader could have got it through the HOC, even by “reaching out to the other side” because the other side wouldn’t have worn it, same for the DUP and ERG.

I wouldn't much want to be one of those "centrist Tories" that puts Jeremy Corbyn into Downing St, in this scenario. Not unless I was very, very close to retirement.

I assumed that George O was backing Boris in order to see him crash and burn.

That was my feeling.

The problem with following Boris, is there will be a string of people who will all be able to say they gave him their full backing damn well knowing he'd fuck it up.

I wonder if there's also an existential risk now attaching itself to Brexit that wasn't there previously. After all, Boris is "Mr. Brexit" as far as the country is concerned. Certainly he's the only "Mr. Brexit" in parliament while Farage makes himself scarce. If "Mr. Brexit" can't pull it off , who can ?

Should Boris and 'pulling things off' be in the same sentence?

When asked who did you vote for Stewart replied “no one” so likely one of the spoilt ballots was his.

I disagree with the theory / hope of the main parties that once Brexit has happened,
they can return to their cosy duopoly carve-up of power

Brexit means several years of negotiating with countries across the world, trying to regain the trade deals and markets that Brexit would have lost
It would seem endless

Meanwhile, the economy continues to roll downhill and standards of living fall for most ordinary people

After a Brexit crash, many angry voters will be looking for a party or parties to blame, politicians to string up

Either or both main parties could be permanently relegated to minor party status

It could be Labour, if JC continues to ignore the 70-80% of members and voters who are Remainers,
so they go elsewhere, permanently

It could be the Tories, if their angry 80% of fanatical No Dealers decide the crash is because Brexit wasn't sufficiently pure and needs more benefit bashing & immigrant-bashing.
They have a replacement party ready and waiting to their right

It could be both

Maybe Stewart and Soames (Churchill's grandson and Stewart supporter) spoiled their papers.

Would an MP not choosing anyone - leaving the ballot paper blank - be counted as "spoiled" or as an abstension ?

SonEtLumiere, why was that question directed at me? Sure you got the right person?

Excuse me whilst I phone my husband to tell me I'm wrong and stupid and ignorant about politics. I shall refrain from attending my next momentum branch meeting after he has forbidden me from leaving the kitchen.

slightly bemused at wtf that question was all about

After a Brexit crash, many angry voters will be looking for a party or parties to blame, politicians to string up

I'm starting to doubt it ... Tory voters will blame Labour, Labour voters blame Tories and so it goes. Never underestimate the human capacity to delude oneself. Look at religion and the suffering a "merciful" God is quite happy to visit on the innocent. Yet somehow he gets the praise, not the blame ?

I'm sure every poster on this thread knows someone who has a belief in something that is just "because".