Theresa May calls snap election in June

When Theresa May was making her announcement I had a feeling of this...

Cynical, is my impression.

No chance of any opposition at the moment.

Gives her, Gove, Johnson and Redwood a full five years to screw up the entire Brexit situation.

Might as well have gone the whole hog and done a "Turkey" move. 12 year terms.

I wonder just who Vladimir Putin will favour in this particular election?

His buddy Nigel Farage and the UKIP are well and truly past their sell by date, and I don't see him favouring Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party over an increasingly right wing and authoritarian Theresa May and the Tory party. Indeed I have a feeling he may be secretly happy with a Tory win this time round.

Will he try to throw a spanner in the works by trying to influence the vote in Scotland? Again, I don't think so. I suspect he will be very happy to have an anti Globalisation party in control of the UK.   

Don Atkinson posted:

Cynical, is my impression.

No chance of any opposition at the moment.

Gives her, Gove, Johnson and Redwood a full five years to screw up the entire Brexit situation.

Might as well have gone the whole hog and done a "Turkey" move. 12 year terms.

 

Don,

Just the mention of John Redwood's name really scares me. He has a divisive political mind-set that could do irreparable damage to society (of course Redwood will argue that there is no such thing as 'Society') in the UK.  

I agree. Redwood, and a few others are dangerous people.

I'm not sure how the HoC will vote with the proposed election. 2/3 majority is required, IIRC.

the opposition parties could block TM's plans.

So much for fixed term Parliaments.

Corbyn has said he will vote for the bill to allow the election. Turkeys and Christmas come to mind.

Oh well, at least it will be a short campaign.

I predict record low turnout and Tories 50 seat majority.

Bruce

Lab and Lib already making noises about welcoming it.

My bet, it's going to happen.

The best result to come out of this surprise General Election would be a hung parliament, and hopefully with a re-gained Lib-Dem result doing a coalition with Labour with the caveat of rejecting the Tory Hard Boiled Brexit completely [and perhaps getting rid of Corby] and offering the 'real' people of the UK a re-vote on EU membership.

I can see the Lib Dems doing far better than last time, so it's something to hope for : )

I'm left wondering why May didn't call for it in May.

naim_nymph posted:

I can see the Lib Dems doing far better than last time, so it's something to hope for : )

Well they are not going to do worse!

As  a lifelong labour supporter I see the only upside as being that we will get thrashed and the centre left can get on with the job of  rebuilding/realigning 3 years earlier than otherwise. (Assuming  Corbyn is dumped after the defeat - if he stays on we are all doomed)

Bruce Woodhouse posted:

So much for fixed term Parliaments.

Corbyn has said he will vote for the bill to allow the election. Turkeys and Christmas come to mind.

Oh well, at least it will be a short campaign.

I predict record low turnout and Tories 50 seat majority.

Bruce

Corbyn has to vote for the bill, if he doesn't is he not admitting that he is unelectable?  He's caught between a rock and a hard place.

as a lo

labour voter all my life , it is a blessing,,,    we will go to the lowest mp count in history, then we can start again on real labour values.

Southweststokie posted:

Bruce Woodhouse posted:

So much for fixed term Parliaments.

Corbyn has said he will vote for the bill to allow the election. Turkeys and Christmas come to mind.

Oh well, at least it will be a short campaign.

I predict record low turnout and Tories 50 seat majority.

Bruce

Corbyn has to vote for the bill, if he doesn't is he not admitting that he is unelectable?  He's caught between a rock and a hard place.

Indeed. Not sure all his MPs will agree though. 3 line whip again?

Mrs May really does hold all the cards.

Bruce

Hmack posted:

I wonder just who Vladimir Putin will favour in this particular election?

His buddy Nigel Farage and the UKIP are well and truly past their sell by date, and I don't see him favouring Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party over an increasingly right wing and authoritarian Theresa May and the Tory party. Indeed I have a feeling he may be secretly happy with a Tory win this time round.

Will he try to throw a spanner in the works by trying to influence the vote in Scotland? Again, I don't think so. I suspect he will be very happy to have an anti Globalisation party in control of the UK.   

Given Corbyn's long-held anti-nuclear deterrent position and rather pacifist inclination, I would expect Putin to be strongly in favour of a Labour win. 

I wonder if we'll see any of the opposition parties including in their manifesto a commitment to another EU referendum? The Lib-Dems perhaps?

And on that topic, it will also be interesting to what if any role messrs Blair and Major play during the campaign, given their publicly stated views on Brexit.  

Bruce Woodhouse posted

 

Mrs May really does hold all the cards.

 

And yet she and the Brexiteers are the only people who can lose. She’s prime minister and we’re heading for a hard brexit, after the election that may not be the case, especially if the lib dems do very well by campaigning to cancel brexit.

Just her calling to bail .... and get someone else to sort it all out. As usual.

fatcat posted:

Bruce Woodhouse posted

 

Mrs May really does hold all the cards.

 

And yet she and the Brexiteers are the only people who can lose. She’s prime minister and we’re heading for a hard brexit, after the election that may not be the case, especially if the lib dems do very well by campaigning to cancel brexit.

May has a pretty poor overall majority though-and sufficient dissent amongst the Conservative MPs ranks. If she gets 50 or more new tory post-Brexit MPs then the dissenters can go whistle.

Lib Dems have said they want a final referendum on the full Brexit deal before signing it off. How practical that would be in reality is another thing.

I just hope that other issues get a look-in. Health and Social Care for example. Everyone says it is their most important issue but they never seem to follow that through at the ballot box.

Bruce

A question for the constitutional lawyers perhaps ... but if the Lib Dems went in campaigning saying "If we get elected we will withdraw Article 50 notification" ... could they?

A good question, Eloise, but wouldn't it be politically very difficult for the Lb Dems to adopt such a position? They would be very vulnerable to the argument that they have no mandate to set aside the result of the EU referendum by withdrawing Art 50.

More likely they could commit to another referendum, pledging to argue the case to stay in the EU, while indicating privately to leading EU politicians that if the general election and a EU referendum Mark II goes their way, they would move quickly to request withdrawal of the Art 50 notification.  All rather unlikely, though.

Most MPs of all persuasions made it clear before the Brexit vote that they were Remainers.

Are MPs going to have to declare to their constituents what their Brexit position will be post the election ?

If our local Conservative says he will now support Brexit, and our opposition Lib-Dem says she would "reverse" Brexit, then I shall vote LibDem.

TM has called this election purely to get a clear majority of pro-Brexit MPs on side so as to prevent any form of opposition whinging about accountability or hard brexit. It would be unfair IMHO if MPs weren't crystal clear where they stand re Brexit. But when did fair-play or clarity ever feature in a politician's actions.

I'll say it again, I just hope the election is about a lot more than Brexit.

As a committed Remainer I have moved on and accepted it will happen. Spilt milk etc. I just want a lot more opposition to the rest of the tory agenda.

Bruce

audio1946 posted:

as a lo

labour voter all my life , it is a blessing,,,    we will go to the lowest mp count in history, then we can start again on real labour values.

Agree, but I just don't think Tony Blair is still available. 

Bruce Woodhouse posted:

naim_nymph posted:

I can see the Lib Dems doing far better than last time, so it's something to hope for : )

Well they are not going to do worse!

With 'Tim, nice but dim' Farron at the helm? Are you sure about that?