there's an election

[Pilgrim Meister]

What's clear though is that if Corbyn remains as leader of the Labour party, then they have a real good chance of a Labour majority in 2022. Infact I can see it coming.

 

[HertsWolf]

Sinn Fein have confirmed they won't be taking up their 7 seats

Meaning that the new Tory leader will have a working majority with DUP support. 650 less speaker less 7 SF means 322 needed.
Tories + DUP already have 324.

So business as usual for a while with the dulcet tones of Arlene Foster demanding, and getting, whatever she wants for Northern Ireland. All roads lead to Strandtown now. Remember all that antipathy towards Clegg and the LibDems? Well Foster is the new Clegg (Nick, not Norman). It will be a bit of a change, however, as the main British political parties were so concerned with the fortunes of Northern Ireland during the election campaign, that just one of the leaders visited the place. And Belfast appreciated her judging the marmalades at the Balmoral Show.

it may not be as easy as it sounds. The DUP can't even resolve the power-sharing deadlock in their own postcode, so it's intriguing to see how they can contribute meaningfully to power-sharing in Westminster.

Interestingly, it's possibly the first time in British history that newspapers have devoted whole pages to a party's manifesto, the day after an election.

 

[Bobbin']

What's clear though is that if Corbyn remains as leader of the Labour party, then they have a real good chance of a Labour majority in 2022. Infact I can see it coming.

Let's not get too carried away, he's still 56 seats behind after a quite shambolic Tory campaign led by the terrible Theresa May.

 

[Renegade]

Let's not get too carried away, he's still 56 seats behind after a quite shambolic Tory campaign led by the terrible Theresa May.

The conservatives now have an even weaker mandate to carry out Brexit, who of the Tory back-benchers do you think can compete with a surging Jeremy Corbyn that has clearly captured the public's imagination? The cult of Corbyn is only going to gain in popularity until the next general election. May was awful, but the entire Conservative Party are fighting an uphill battle for potentially the next five years.

He has gained a huge number of seats in just two months, what do you think is going to happen in five years? It's always a tougher job being the incumbent party, you generally have to deal with less and less public support no matter who you are. The Conservatives can't run on populism, because their failings in government are out there for everyone to see.

 

[HertsWolf]

Dexys Midnight Runners almost had it nailed on:
Come on Arlene
Come on Arlene

Poor old Theresa May
Sounded sad upon the radio
She promised a hard Brexit, yes she did
Our mothers cried, ran along, who’d blame them
...

 

[HertsWolf]

Let's not get too carried away, he's still 56 seats behind after a quite shambolic Tory campaign led by the terrible Theresa May.

After some quite staggering ad-hominem media attacks. Admittedly, you do wonder where we would be now had there been a Labour leader more acceptable in Netcurtainshire.

 

[HertsWolf]

What's clear though is that if Corbyn remains as leader of the Labour party, then they have a real good chance of a Labour majority in 2022. Infact I can see it coming.

And in the three intervening elections?

 

[Pilgrim Meister]

And in the three intervening elections?

Don't know about that. It won't quite be 1997 all over again

 

[HertsWolf]

Enola May:
Theresa May, you should have stayed at home yesterday
Oho it can't describe the feeling and the way you lied
These games you play, they're gonna end it all in tears someday
Oho Theresa May it shouldn't ever have to end this way

 

[HertsWolf]

This tory b*llocks that we had to sit back and just accept their choice for Brexit...prodded with a stick by their looney Far Right Brexit-determined back benchers and a view of their deal or we walk clap-trap that would destroy the country.

Amazingly Brexit will involve things like negotiation, discussion, meeting middle ground, giving concessions............the Tories ditched that idea months ago expecting UKIP voters to come to them in droves and them getting their way, then we find out today maybe a portion of UKIP voters do want out of EU, but not in the extreme one political viewpoint way the Conservatives did.

I think this is spot on. And I think you have isolated the fundamental flaw in May's logic. The assumption was that all UKIP voters were rabid right-wing zealots, and that the tough, non-nonsense Brexit line was the way to sweep the post-referendum UKIP vote especially in the Midlands and the North. Bad move. Looks like the UKIP voter is a lot more sophisticated than the media, the Tories and (especially) Labour thought. Gut feel is that this is an anti-Tory situation rather than pro-Labour though.

 

[Gashead]

It's not a Labour government, but its better than expected for sure!

Fair play to the campaigners, activists etc. Granted the Tories have run a dire campaign but I still didn't fancy some of these places to go Labour. Really raises questions about where the party goes, hopefully makes the PLP sit up and think about it.

 

[.V.]

What's clear though is that if Corbyn remains as leader of the Labour party, then they have a real good chance of a Labour majority in 2022. Infact I can see it coming.

They'd be mad not to unite behind him now.

I do hope that whoever ran his campaign stays on. They've looked far more on the ball, and reacted quickly as well as being proactive. Got to keep the pressure on the Tories and not let up.

My biggest concern is there's no way the Tories will run their next campaign as badly as this one, so Labour can't let up one bit. Pile it on Jezza pile it on.

 

[Bilo]

What a fuckup.

 

[smat]

Tories, happy with the DUP deal?

 

[GodsGift]

Fair play to Corbyn, he ran a great campaign based on positive, vote-winning policies which was in total contrast to the Tory shambles. I would have voted for Labour had I been in the country - which is something I couldn't have imagined saying at the start of the campaign - but Mark Hendrick extended his majority in Preston by beating the Conservatives by over 15,000 votes, so it didn't make any difference.

I'm not sure we should be celebrating too much though. The Tories have essentially lost 12 of their own MPs and will gain 10 from DUP. The Brexit negotiations will be an absolute mess (as if they weren't already).

As a former Lib Dem voter, I have to say I was saddened to see Nick Clegg lose his seat. I understand I might be out on my own with that one but he essentially scuppered the party's future chances for the good of the country when he entered the coalition, which is the exact opposite of what Theresa May did when she called this early election in what was a purely selfish move for the Conservatives - just as David Cameron did when he called the referendum to keep his backbenchers happy. The Tories deserve the kicking they got yesterday and one can only hope they'll lose power sooner rather than later.

 

[GodsGift]

Why is May taking her husband to see the Queen? That's not normal, is it?

 

[.V.]

I can't help but feel that this election is like a test match in the cricket. (Apologies to the cricket fans out there for the poor analogies, it was a long night.)

The test match is being held at Lords, naturally, with a wicket that looks pretty flat, but will break up and start turning (leaving the EU) by day 3.

The Conservative Captain T M May, has won the toss and elected to bat, but has had a bit of a 'mare and is probably 70/80 runs shy of a par score.

Coming out to bat are the 2 left handers J B Corbyn, an elegant stroke maker, and J M McDonnell, a bit more of a biffer.

The Conservative bowling attack, right arm over, is being opened by T M May, a bowler with a previously strong and stable action which has since deserted her, and P A Hammond, a bowler who keeps it tight, but doesn't take too many wickets.

The DUP are the sub fielders, as some of the Conservative team are currently signing on at the Jobcenter following their poor first innings,

May has marked out her run up and has the new cherry in her hand...

 

[Gilly?]

How the fuck has Rudd kept her seat? This is bugging me more than it should. Three recounts until she got the result she wanted. Odious c***.

 

[Dirk]

What a fuckup.

Exactly my thoughts.

The new 2016 calender in UK shows now that the end of May isn't the 31st but the 9th June.

 

[.V.]

Certainty in, strong and stable out. It's almost like last night didn't happen, the arrogance of the women.

 

[GodsGift]

 

[You Orns]

How many recounts are you allowed to call. Rumours Kensington is going to a 3rd as well.

 

[Captain Scumbag]

It’s weird.

The basic Blairite contention that a beardy Bennite throwback like Corbyn couldn’t win a general election remains unscathed. But that vote share stat changes everything.

Brown got 29%. Miliband got 30%. Blair himself only managed 35% in 2005. Corbyn got over 40%. The ‘pragmatic’ centrists in the Labour Party can no longer argue that social democracy – proper social democracy, not their disingenuous, watered down third way crap – isn’t popular.

That’s huge. It completely changes the dynamic within the party, especially the PLP. It’s a good thing, too. The left needed this. British politic did, too. It’s not easy for me to be positive the moment, but I do genuinely consider the above change very welcome.

I’m too tired and irate to write anything useful about the Tories and Brexit at the moment. I start a new job on Monday and therefore probably won’t be posting much at all in the next few months. Probably a good thing…

Here, for now, suffice it to say well done to the Labour folk who really put the hours in during the campaign. Obviously the Tory campaign was hampered by May being awful, terrible handling of policy, etc. But just as important, IMO, was the undeniable fact that the Labour campaign had an energy that the Tory campaign just didn’t.

 

[Blitzballer]

sorry couldn't resist

 

[NorfolkWomble]

Very glad to have been proven wrong on my views on Corbyn from a few months ago. Get the whole party behind him now and who knows what we can do.

 

[Aber gas]

This is great from Clive Lewis
https://twitter.com/george_mckay/status/873114933004689408

 

[Modernist]

I wonder if all those Tories who were so outraged that Corbyn said that to end the irish troubles was to find a way to sit down with Sinn Fein and work out a peace treaty and went on to demonize him as a terrorist sympathiser are equally as outraged that Theresa may has made a deal with the political wing of a terrorist organisation, the DUP, to actually put the terrorists into government?

And of course lets forget that the The DUP are involved in a scandal at the moment where they accepted money from a conservative organised company that accepted a donation from the guy who used to be head of Saudi intelligence who had to leave his job because he was involved in smuggling AK-47s to terror groups.

 

[Abertawe]

Pissed off with Lib Dems & SNP still.

Still think Labour should push for a minority government. Will of the people and all that.

 

[GodsGift]

I wonder if all those Tories who were so outraged that Corbyn said that to end the irish troubles was to find a way to sit down with Sinn Fein and work out a peace treaty and went on to demonize him as a terrorist sympathiser are equally as outraged that Theresa may has made a deal with the political wing of a terrorist organisation, the DUP, to actually put the terrorists into government?

And of course lets forget that the The DUP are involved in a scandal at the moment where they accepted money from a conservative organised company that accepted a donation from the guy who used to be head of Saudi intelligence who had to leave his job because he was involved in smuggling AK-47s to terror groups.

Ironically, it's going to be a coalition of chaos.

 

[NorfolkWomble]

This is great from Clive Lewis
https://twitter.com/george_mckay/status/873114933004689408

My MP, actually gives a shit about the students, came to the uni loads of times this campaign just talking to people.