General Election July 2024

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This could either be the shortest thread ever, or possibly not, but with cabinet ministers cancelling travelling plans today it does look like Sunak will announce an election later this evening.

Here we go….

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Cabinet meeting at 4.15pm, with ministers told to cut short travel plans to attend. The fact they are not denying the prospect of a July election is only fuelling speculation. I’m going for a 6 or 7pm announcement outside Downing St.

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CivicDuties said:

I guess the only question now is, who is going to be Leader of the Opposition? Penny Mordaunt or Ed Davey?

There is the small matter to Mordaunt retaining her seat.

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An election is going to be a disaster for the SNP.

Oh dear, what a shame.

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chrispmartha said:

Being trolled by D Ream :-)

A new dawn has broken, has it not?

I switched off during the loud music. Trying to be heard over the load music in the rain just made him look weak. Not a great start. It should have been held inside where they could control it.

Edited by tim0409 on Wednesday 22 May 17:29

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Bonefish Blues said:

John Swinney welcomes the GE.

Right you do son.

They are going to lose a lot of short money, which isn’t great for them when it comes to the Scottish election. But they do still have the use of a battle bus/motorhome (if the Police release it from the pound by then).

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I suspect one of the reasons Sunak has called the election is because of the threat a Farage comeback poses. If he does succeed Richard Tice as leader (and there is apparently a rally scheduled for Thursday), he could consign the Tories to election oblivion (even more than they are going to be) by splitting the vote even further.

Better to get it over with now before Farage gets a foothold.

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e600 said:

Has anyone any insight as to why he has called this for July. What tactical advantages could there be in doing so?

One of the reasons cited in a (well informed) article I read was that Sunak didn’t want to be accused of “clinging on” as the year progressed. Also, whilst a flight to Rwanda may take off between now and July, small boat crossing are likely to increase during the summer months. The chances of further tax cuts in the Autumn would be close to zero, and if they did it people would see it as trying to bribe the electorate.

So essentially, July is as good as it is going to get for them. I also think they are worried that by pushing the date out they would give a possible Farage return/led Reform more time to establish a foothold, which would further undermine their chances of retaining seats.

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crofty1984 said:

Hereward said:

I will turnout to draw a large penis across my ballot paper.

Today I learned that if you do it legibly and within the confines of the box, a penis works just as well as a cross and your vote will get counted.

The process is actually quite humorous during a count; I’ve stood for election and attended a number of counts, and the returning officer goes through each and every spoiled ballot paper with the candidates and agents, explaining their reasons for rejecting each one. When someone draws a penis, they would earnestly explain why they were unable to ascertain the voters intention to vote for a particular candidate…..of course you can’t…it’s a massive penis!

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vixen1700 said:

Just had the Labour MP and his assistant sniffing round our neighbours as we put the car on the drive

Getting the shopping and plants out of the car:

"Oh I can see you're busy" and just carries on to ask us about the election.

I think she saw how uninterested we were and finshed asking my wife "Can I put you down as...."

"I don't want you putting me down as anything, I don't want to be part of your statistics. Thanks".

"Nice car!"

"Thanks"

My mrs. was then mortified that she may have appeared rude to them.

Doubt the Tories will be coming door to door round here.

This just reminds me how dispiriting canvassing is; I stood and was elected for a council seat in Scotland but I absolutely hated it (canvassing), which probably should have alerted me to the fact I wasn’t cut out for a life in politics (I’m thin skinned). I was out leafleting one day when a child on a bike was pedalling furiously towards me. He stopped, and struggling to get his breath, told me his dad had told him to tell me to “stick the leaflet up my arse”, which made me smile.
If I wasn’t feeling up for it, I would head to an area where I would be guaranteed a warm welcome (invited in for tea/biscuits/sherry), which made me feel a bit better

Looking back now I can’t think of anything less appealing than knocking on doors asking for people’s support, but then I’ve grown to hate the general public having spent five years listening to them! (and I feel the same way about politicians too)

Edited by tim0409 on Friday 24th May 16:45

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Bonefish Blues said:

Sunak hectoring.

He did that in the leadership debates and he came across really badly. I would have thought his advisors would have told him to cut it out.

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markbigears said:

Starmer not rebuffing the £2,000 figure that the Sunak keeps banging on about

I was thinking the same. It’s obviously the main attack line from the Torys and I thought he would had have a response ready.

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Rishi Sunak just comes across as irritating and smug; he just doesn’t seem to have any charm or wit. David Cameron and Tony Blair (whatever you might think of them) were much better as type of thing. SKS does not inspire any confidence.

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I keep hearing about Afghan interpreters when immigration controls are mentioned.…there must be millions of them wanting to come here!

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LimmerickLad said:

Andy 308GTB said:

For those who have just tuned in, Starmer's old man was a toolmaker.

Never heard that before.

Or that he was the DPP.

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LimmerickLad said:

General Price said:

It was an open goal for Sunak,Starmer was like a rabbit in the headlights.It is obviously a lot easier when your speeches are scripted.

Did they both read their opening speeches from autocue?

Yes, it definitely looked that way.

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biggbn said:

Jeez, Mordaunt is painful to watch. I am likely bias, I don't lije or trust her, but she just repeats herself again and again and has no cogent argument. Someone pointed out the record Tory tax raises and her reply is 'but Labour will raise taxes' and she keeps repeating the claims Sunak lied about the other night...what the hell?

She is massively overrated by some due to her Thatcher cos play and the ability to carry a heavy sword for an extended period. Those who have worked with her say she isn’t very good. I personally think she would be a disaster for the Tory Party if they elected her as leader (assuming she herself is elected next month). That said, they don’t exactly have a deep talent pool to fish in.

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Here in East Lothian I haven’t seen any posters and the only leaflet I’ve received so far is from Labour; Douglas Alexander is standing and it’s one of Labours target seats. In reality I think it will be a walk in the park for them as the last two SNP MPs have been a disaster (there was a brief Labour interlude between 2017-19), with Kenny Macaskill defecting to ALBA and is now standing in another seat. He never lived in the constituency and was utterly hopeless. Also, I think those inclined to vote Conservative will vote tactically to remove the SNP, this election much more so than in the past.

Set against this, and purely from a local representative perspective, I would definitely take Douglas Alexander over the dross from the SNP. I assume he will be given a cabinet role, and therefore have some influence in getting things done for the people who elected him. I don’t support Labour but he does come across as smart and diligent, and he now lives locally.