Run the country? They can't even run a campaign.

[noblegiraffe]

I can't get my head around quite just how bad the Conservative campaign has been so far, and we're only a few days in. We had the optics of the drowned-rat announcement, the visit to the Titanic, the planting of Tory councillors in the crowd to ask friendly questions.

Then the disastrous tossing off of the random national service announcement without any sort of serious thought about it leading to cabinet ministers like Steve Baker publicly questioning the strategy.

And now I'm reading that they're trying to dub Starmer "Sleepy Keir" taking a line from Donald Trump about an octogenarian. No one thinks Starmer is old, especially not Tory voters.

How on earth can we have five and a half more weeks of this? I'm not sure I can cope with all the cringing.

I mean, we knew they were shit at running the country, but I dunno, I kind of expected more competence than this. My mistake, clearly.

What these Grant Shapps

It’s funny isn’t it. People always support the idea of PR when it will give them what they want. Support drains away when they realise they might not like the results.

Something needs to be done about the rampant ageism in this country snd others.I will admit that Biden looks a bit weary but he has presided over some change making policies and has a mixed intergenerational team.Big mouth AOC hasn't put herself up to govern cos it's too much work.Biden has an old fashioned notion of service.People now want work life balance ...fair enough but they also want to shout and accuse and deal with all online.omg.i had to talk to someone.Im traumatised.Starmer has no vision and had none at 40.His age is immaterial

The Conservative Party have not run a good campaign, from the announcement of the General Election in the rain to D-Day to their attacks on Kier Starmer because of his age. Their Policy ideas seem to be illogical and unrealistic and I am also not sure who they are trying to appeal too. We now have a second Conservative candidate who is being investigated by the Gambling Commission over a bet about the timing of the general election. I have a relative who is a lifelong Tory voter and he is not voting this time. It is not only about Policy it is just that he feels they are not trustworthy.

On the other hand the Labour Party have run a very cautious campaign with very few new Policy ideas. I have mostly voted Labour (occasionally Liberal) and will probably do so again this time but honestly I don’t have much enthusiasm for them.

Well, thr good news is that the Conservative Director of Campaigning (Tony Lee) has taken a leave of absence whilst he is being investigated by the Gambling Commission. So, with any luck, we will be spared from the Tories campaign efforts for a few days.

Going quiet might help their poll results, too. I don't think it can get much worse.

I'm rather enjoying the delicious irony of the fact that the Tories have had to pull their latest attack ad about the dangers of "betting on Labour because of all the gambling probes. You literally couldn't make it up!

FFS. It's Keir

It certainly supports Starmer’s observation about Sunak’s reverse Midas touch.

I hadn't actually heard that comment from Starmer but it seems very apt!!

Shades of Eat Out To Help the Virus Out.

So, with any luck, we will be spared from the Tories campaign efforts for a few days.

What, do you mean no photos of Sunak dressing up having been in the ‘hard hat’ box, giving speeches in the rain or trying to feed sheep?! Shame!

Given the evidence of the Conservative campaign can we be sure he didn't take leave of absence on the 22nd May?

It was delivered at PMQs, from memory in February.

I've gone from laughing to actually being quite worried about who could possibly form the official opposition. Lib Dems and Greens? Not good for womens rights. Tories/ Reform? Doubtful as I don't think Reform will get more than one or 2 seats. We could have a very strong Labour government with basically hardly any opposition at all, apart from possibly the Hard Left in their own party pairing up with the Greens. The Tories will be less than useless. There will be hardly any of them left, and they will lurch around with recriminations, trying to scrabble a party together from whoever is left, and that will depend on who is left, and whether the NatCons are left or the centre Right Tories (the ones who are in charge of the brain cells)

I am a little confused as to your concern about who might form the official opposition. Despite what some have led us to believe it is not actually But Jeremy Corbyn or his puppet Starmer as Leader of the Opposition who runs the country, but rather the Prime Minister.
On the 5th July for the first time in my daughters lifetime we will have a Prime Minister who may consider the interests of the country rather than how he can enrich himself and his mates. This is to be celebrated.

Agree that it looks like the Tories may be decimated. My bet is on Kemi Badenoch for the next Tory leader as she looks like she'll be one of the only ones left standing. Whether the Tories will have enough MPs to form the official opposition though is anybody guess though.

LibDems in opposition could be interesting - and beyond their wildest dream! I don't think the Labour Party will actually do anything stupid in relation to women's rights, personally- I think they've already peaked but don't have the guts to admit it.

I do hope that there is a credible opposition though, whoever it is. Unfettered power is never a good thing, whoever it resides with. Governments of any shade need to be held to account properly!

Because for the sake of democracy and proper scrutiny of government we need to have a decent opposition. We have two unelected bodies in our Parliamentary system, one with pretend powers and one with limited powers. The only elected body is the Commons, and they are the ones who hold all the power. There is a reason why we have a government and an Official Opposition, and that is because the job of the official opposition in a working democracy is to make sure the government aren't going completely mad. I agree Starmer seems like a decent chap dedicated to public service, rather than a complete self serving loon, but the principle of democracy is that you need a healthy opposition to government. Not one that fights like rats in a sack, allowing the government to do what it likes, which is likely what we will have.

Do we also need a decent government? And should we concentrate on that first?

I'm not worried about a large majority. After Liz Trussterfuck, I knew the Tories probably not get enough seats to be the Opposition. So the Opposition will be a coalition. I don't think that's a bad thing for British politics.

I’m genuinely hoping the official opposition will be LibDem. It’s only a faint possibility but I’m optimistically hanging on to it.

I would also be very interested in seeing this play out. It could make for a very different style of government indeed!

Yes of course. Part of ensuring we have a decent government is making sure they are held to account. Admittedly, the Conservatives would not be able to do that in their current form, but someone needs to do it.

@DramaLlamaBangBang

"I've gone from laughing to actually being quite worried about who could possibly form the official opposition"

I agree with you on the official opposition.

I think though that the actual opposition will be a number of disgruntled Labour MPs who wish to have a harder left wing agenda just as the Tories had a problem with their anti EU MPs and the defections to UKIP.

Absolutely. If Labour have a huge majority the real opposition will come from within the Labour Party itself.

But surely the bigger the majority of newer MPs, the less powerful a (very depleted) left of the party is? The new intake will be much more Starmerite in character. And the problems of the last Conservative administrations came because their right wing was too numerous within the party.

I did say on another thread that the composition and influence of select committees worry me more, especially if the total number of non-Labour MPs is below 200.