How is the Tory government doing?

Seems that in spite of all the allegetions of sleaze (the flat, dead bodies in the street, cronyism, etc.) made against them the Conservativies are still ahead in the polls leading up to next weeks local elections and also that Boris is still more popular with the public than Starmer.

As a lifelong Labour voter it does worry me that we are no closer to the Tories now that Corbyn has gone. 

Personally i wouldn't trust Boris as far as i could throw him but what do i know? 

Norpig wrote:As a lifelong Labour voter it does worry me that we are no closer to the Tories now that Corbyn has gone. 

Personally i wouldn't trust Boris as far as i could throw him but what do i know? 

Don't do yourself down, Norpig.

Norpig wrote:As a lifelong Labour voter it does worry me that we are no closer to the Tories now that Corbyn has gone. 

Personally i wouldn't trust Boris as far as i could throw him but what do i know? 

Says a lot about the electorate, that they can still find this tumid, lying, henpecked dishrag appealing.

boltonbonce wrote:
Says a lot about the electorate, that they can still find this tumid, lying, henpecked dishrag appealing.

I was just thinking, Boncey, what being truthful did for Gerald Ratner when I noticed this:

We know Boris has got no morals. But at least he doesn’t preach us on family values like John Major who said he likes getting stuck into a curry twice a week.

— Gerald Ratner (@geraldratner) April 28, 2021

And then I noticed this:

What’s important is we all being vaccinated unlike the EU who messed up. What’s not important is the wallpaper in the Downing st flat.

— Gerald Ratner (@geraldratner) April 28, 2021

And then I noticed that Saint Marcus hasn't filed his accounts on time AGAIN, despite being given an extra three months to do it.

Norpig wrote:As a lifelong Labour voter it does worry me that we are no closer to the Tories now that Corbyn has gone. 

Personally i wouldn't trust Boris as far as i could throw him but what do i know? 

As Sluffy implies- albeit indirectly, those people who committed to the Brexit/Tory bandwagon have painted themselves into a corner wherein they'll never ever accept that they were fooled.
I suspect that if Boris came round to their house, abducted their children, tied them up and pissed in their mouths they would still back him.

karlypants wrote:

Starmer at B & M calculating how many rolls of anaglypta are needed to redecorate Downing Street?

More great work from Boris and his underlings 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56940914

wanderlust wrote:

karlypants wrote:

Starmer at B & M calculating how many rolls of anaglypta are needed to redecorate Downing Street?

He was spotted in John Lewis eyeing up some wallpaper at the tax payers expense. 

He must have been feeling left out after Johnson’s spending spree.

wanderlust wrote:

Norpig wrote:As a lifelong Labour voter it does worry me that we are no closer to the Tories now that Corbyn has gone. 

Personally i wouldn't trust Boris as far as i could throw him but what do i know? 

As Sluffy implies- albeit indirectly, those people who committed to the Brexit/Tory bandwagon have painted themselves into a corner wherein they'll never ever accept that they were fooled.
I suspect that if Boris came round to their house, abducted their children, tied them up and pissed in their mouths they would still back him.

I wasn't implying anything really but it certainly was not the utter (and clearly sick) suggestions you've posted above.

Bonce touched upon the problem Labour has in his comment above "says a lot about the electorate..."

If Labour ever wants to win again then they simply have to get in tune with the electorate again - and the electorate (in the main) as moved towards 'self-interst" rather than 'community-interest'.

You only have to look at how the vast majority of people have behaved during the pandemic - panic buying and fuck you if I bought all the toilet rolls attitude, the fuck you I'm not wearing a mask in the supermarket, fuck you I'm not self isolating even though the test says I've got Covid, the fuck you I'll drive to the seaside during lockdown, the fuck you I'm the King around here and I'll go to Barnard Castle anytime I want, the fuck you I'm going to the illegal rave/party/pub lock-in/barbers/Liverpool win the league celebrations, etc, etc, etc...

Many people don't really give a fuck about dodgy deals, avoiding tax, abusing the system - so why should they be bothered much if Boris and his lot are doing it too - it isn't harming them really is it?  If anything it is what they aspire to themselves and are already doing on a lesser scale anyway.

If you want a history lesson, James Callaghan (Labour) lost the 1979 general election and the only time they got it back since then (a period of 42 years!) was when Blair held power from 1997 to 2007 - and Blair simply took over the centre ground as the then Tory party had gone towards the right under Thatcher.

Once a more traditional Labour leader took power - Gordon Brown - they promptly lost the next election and haven't been back since.

People aren't locked into Brexit (only Wanderlust believes bollocks like that - hedgehog thinking if you will!) they are simply after what they see that benefits them and fuck everybody else - can you think of any current Prime Minister that acts the same way?  I can, and that's why he's more like the mindset of many voters and therefore acceptable to them - people can in someways identify with him and thus his 'crimes' aren't seen as such a big deal to them - and why they still vote for him/the Conservatives.

So Labour needs to concentrate on the economy and how it puts money into peoples pocket and less at name calling IF they want to win votes (and seats) when it matters the most.

Boris probably DID try to dodge paying for the flat himself and also probably made the piles of dead bodies remarks too - but nobody will stop voting Tory and vote Labour instead because of that will they???

Does anyone REALLY think that most of the companies that didn't win any of the PPE contracts wouldn't have charged as much as they could if they had the chance - of course they would - it's nothing personal just business - as the saying goes.

Like it or not the Tory party is more representative of the general public - and that's why they get their votes - it's not rocket science really is it?

Starmer/Labour needs to start to see things through the real 'I'm entitled' type people who populates our country these days and not the appealing to the greater good - because the 'entitled' types think 'others' will be the ones who will do the greater good stuff but the balance has shifted now to where there are more 'entitled' than those of us in the 'greater good' camp.

If he doesn't then he will simply have to wait until the Tory's cock things up so badly that they become unelectable before Labour get back in to power - if they ever do!

Labour have no chance in the short term.
With the Tories hiking the national debt to ameliorate the impact of the pandemic and Brexit against a political shift towards the “fuck you” culture described above, personal financial pain is unlikely to be felt by the majority for a few years yet and even then the same old excuse will be trotted out. The government is almost immune to criticism for now as the can has been well and truly kicked down the road.

Add to that Labour’s inability to come up with convincing arguments or innovative policy proposals - which probably wouldn’t be listened to even if they did - and they’re going to be treading water at best until the birds come home to roost and the pandemic excuse no longer holds water.

In this climate it wouldn’t surprise me if they started leaking votes to the libdems who could even become the most credible opposition by the time Boris has been rumbled. Mind  you they’re another party that need to reinvent themselves to get anywhere.

wanderlust wrote:Labour have no chance in the short term.
With the Tories hiking the national debt to ameliorate the impact of the pandemic and Brexit against a political shift towards the “fuck you” culture described above, personal financial pain is unlikely to be felt by the majority for a few years yet and even then the same old excuse will be trotted out. The government is almost immune to criticism for now as the can has been well and truly kicked down the road.

Having said the above it was noticeable today that Sunak has decided to "water down" the proposal to hike CGT when the new taxation system is launched when the pandemic is under control. Here.
Frankly I was surprised that the Tories would even consider that type of taxation in the first place as it mainly affects big business and the rich, but an unprecedented amount of tax revenue will have to be generated from somewhere if only to service the debt he has accrued and to hedge against a rise in interest rates which is highly likely to come within the next year or so given that current rates are so low.

With successive Tory governments spending more than they received we currently have a budget deficit of approx £850 per head of population per annum - hard enough to claw that back, but if the new national debt is to be serviced on top of that - and ideally reduced to hedge against interest rises - there's now a strong chance that families and small businesses will have to carry a fair bit of the load in coming years. However, Sunak's March budget only set out to bring the deficit in line so I'm presuming that they're not concerned about the ND and will let that blight the economy long term. We'll see.

I see Boris has managed to postpone the commencement of the public inquiry into his (mis)management of the pandemic for a whole year! Here


Personally I don't see why it can't start today - but it's still fresh in people's minds so it could be dangerous for the Tories if it started now.

It'll probably get stalled for another year after that anyway.

It's anticipated that the findings of this Public Enquiry won't be published until after the next General Election. Boris might be many things ( a brazen, unapologetic , lying, blustering, incompetent, greedy, cunning, self serving, purveyor of sleaze/cronyism and serial shagger are just a few of his wonderful attributes).  But daft he very definitely isn't.

Hip Priest wrote:It's anticipated that the findings of this Public Enquiry won't be published until after the next General Election. Boris might be many things ( a brazen, unapologetic , lying, blustering, incompetent, greedy, cunning, self serving, purveyor of sleaze/cronyism and serial shagger are just a few of his wonderful attributes).  But daft he very definitely isn't.

Very neatly surmised 

At this stage Boris could get away with anything and Labour still wouldn't be able to beat him in an election. It must be the Covid effect and the vaccine roll-out thats blinding people to the incompetence and outright deception with holidays and flat improvements we see on an almost daily basis from him.