This thread exists to discuss British politics.
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Recent political stuff:
- The vote to see if Britain should adopt Alternative Voting has failed.
- Lib Dems lose lots of councils and councillors, whilst Labour make the majority of the gains in England.
- The Scottish National Party do really well in the elections.
A link to the BBC politics page containing relevant information.
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 3rd 2023 at 11:15:30 AM
Rt Hon Alister Jack MP, Secretary of State for Scotland, is in self-isolation after showing COVID-19 symptoms.
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Reasons such as "Is not a Tory donor".
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Trump tweeted that Harry and Meghan won't get personal protection from law enforcement sources in California when they mentioned that they contracted a private security company.
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Okay, Mr. Spraytan. That's fine. That's why it's a private security company.
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Hon. Stephen Kinnock MP has been criticised by South Wales Police for visiting his parents. [1]
Dominic Cummings has displayed symptoms and is self-isolating.
Edited by TommyR01D on Mar 30th 2020 at 2:39:23 AM
Wales left short of coronavirus testing kits after firm pulls out
But the health secretary, Vaughan Gething, said on 31 March that a private company had pulled out of a contract to provide 5,000 of the tests, leaving Wales only able to carry out 800 tests a day now – and no more than 1,100 a day by the end of the week.
Gething said he was disappointed and admitted getting more tests done sooner would have helped the fight against coronavirus but refused to name the company involved.
He said: “We had a clear agreement for that company’s team to come into Wales and to set up the infrastructure required. The company made a decision they weren’t able to fulfil the agreement they’d reached with us.
Edited by Wyldchyld on Apr 1st 2020 at 11:52:34 AM
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
A 1:1 message from the Prince of Wales.
Johnson's approval rating has skyrocketed in response to the coronavirus pandemic. I wouldn't have expected this effect at all, given how he seemed to react too late to get the outbreak under control. Certainly not as bad as Trump, but that's a big jump nonetheless.
Disasturbator
I see his skyrocketing approval as being a thing for now,while he's being competent compared to Trump he can enjoy it,but it won't last forever
New theme music also a box
The theory is that it's a 'rally round the flag' effect. It's a trend being seen across multiple countries right now, regardless of how well or badly the country's leader is actually handling it. It's a pattern that's been seen before during periods of national crisis, especially if the crisis is seen to be global.
One of the few leaders who don't appear to be seeing a rise in approval during this outbreak is Bolsonaro.
Coronavirus: Why Boris Johnson and other world leaders have become more popular during outbreak
Edited by Wyldchyld on Apr 1st 2020 at 11:48:11 AM
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
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Gee, I wonder why Bolsonaro isn't seeing a rise in popularity... could it be the fact he's being a blithering idiot denying the need for action?
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![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Unfortunately, the answer to "how long will the effects of this popularity boost last?" is suggested to be "long enough for Johnson to hold - or even increase - his majority at the next GE."
The perceived answer to "how well did he handle it?" may have an impact there of course. But anyone on his side before all this will say "better than anyone else would have."
One part of me is pointing out that being staunchly anti-bojo likely puts me in the group of "someone else would have done better" no matter what, though I'd like to believe it's not so. I'm quite convinced that there is enough objective evidence that in this case, yes, it 100% could have been handled better.
Whether Labour would have... I think they'd be more inclined to try, being less fond of disaster caitalism. I think they should have been shouting from the rooftops what they think should be done for the past 3 months. Either they've been fairly quiet or the msm have been drowning them out.
Labour have been hamstrung by the fact they are electing a new leadership team.
Once that gets done, well things might get interesting?
There was talk of a government of national unity to see us through Covid-19. Not too sure if those discussions are going anywhere and since the comments I read suggested it was Tories wanting to share the blame I'm not too optimistic but nevertheless it does invite the question.
If given the option, should Labour join a Government of National Unity?
A procrastination in of itself
The short-term rallying boost isn’t going to last until the next election, especially as this is liable to digger a recession and the way that is handled is liable to shape public opinion a lot more. If the Tories don’t bail out their base of the self-employed and the small business owners then it’s going to hurt them.
Also if the conversation turns to how the NHS wasn’t able to prepare for something like this due to underfunding, that’s also going to hurt Boris.
If the public consciousness moves from “government can’t do things” to “government can help everyone and we need a government to do that” then I’d expect that to see a move towards Labour.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Captain of the Dead City
The rallying boost isn't going to last five years come on... 
I'm just going on the article: the effect of the boost fades away over time, but it takes a long time to get down below where they started.
To some extent that makes sense: if you're looking on someone favourably, you're more inclined to be generous with their motives and actions. So it takes significantly more failures from them before you're against them than if you started neutral.
And many people will be paying more attention to politics: long enough to be impacted by the rallying cry effect; and then drop it like a hot potato, so their last impression was formed in that rallying cry stage.
The potential difference between this and 9/11 for Bush is the clear, direct contrast with other countries.
Edited by annemarisa on Apr 2nd 2020 at 10:58:12 AM
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Of course, it's not like the Tories are currently holding a gun to the country's head with a timer until they pull the trigger. Oh wait.
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I guess I've just lost hope in the general public agreeing with any of that interpretation. Especially now the Tories have been given the gift wrapped "blame the virus" package to justify everything that will go wrong with the economy over the next 5 years.
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Having a scapegoat tends to not work so well for parties in elections. You still get the blame.
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James Ramsden, Secretary of State for War 1963-1964, died on Sunday aged 96.
The Lord Alvingham, about whom I cannot find any noteworthy information, died on Sunday aged 93.
Joe Ashton, Member of Parliament for Bassetlaw 1968-2001, died on Monday aged 86.
Peter Sinclair, Professor of Economics at the University of Birmingham 1994-2012note , died on Tuesday from COVID-19, aged 73.
The Lord Gordon of Strathblane, Chair of the Scottish Tourist Board 1998-2001, died on Tuesday from COVID-19, aged 83.
The Lord Armstrong of Ilminster, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service 1979-1987, died yesterday aged 93.
Edited by TommyR01D on Apr 4th 2020 at 2:58:48 AM
The results of the Labour Party leadership election have been announced:
- Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer - 275780
- Rebecca Long-Bailey - 135218
- Lisa Nandy - 079597
Angela Rayner has become deputy leader, though I cannot find the full results.
The Marquess of Bath, co-founder of the Wessex Regionalist Party, died yesterday from COVID-19, aged 87.
Dr Catherine Calderwood, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, has been criticised for visiting her second home. [1]
I mean they're presumably using it for the same reason we're currently converting the NEC and ExCel into temporary hospitals - a large easily accessible bit of real estate currently sitting unused.
"Yup. That tasted purple."