msc

Speaking as a staunch socialist if Kier Starmer gets rid of this Tory government in four weeks time he'll be my best mate.

0-3 average for Reform in the actual working. Though they've got the Greens getting gubbed in both their realistic seats which feels off.

Carole Ann Ford is alive. As is Waris Hussein, though he's been a bit frail of late.

Even expecting the remorseful day, still awful news. RIP.

Be a shame if a quality drink was wasted on Farage. Ah no worries there then.

DDP pick for my theme team. Appeared on TV last year and looked utterly ghastly.

Everyone is trying MRP now but I'll wait for the YouGov one as they have a proven track record in getting the gist correct with them. Fucking hell!

As the wise old saying goes... If at first you don't succeed, sword swallowing is not for you.

In 2005 the Tories briefly ran a "vote Tony get Gordon" billboard which disappeared after a week or two. I found out later that this attack was having the opposite effect on the doorstep for Tory campaigners as people at that time quite liked Gordon Brown and were happier about labour when reminded Blair was leaving sooner than later!

Sucks to be Thangam Debbonaire! Waiting for the YouGov one though as they have a history of accuracy with MRP now.

@RoverAndOut I didn't imply it was likely! Btw, William Hague was rubbish as leader. Here's former Pan Breed pick, the legendary journalist and professional drinker Chris Moncrieff shortly after the 2001 election: "William Hague was talked into doing a lot of stupid things which he wouldn't have done on his own, going around with a baseball cap with "Hague" on the front. He looked a chump. People see through all this. A lot of the things he boasted about came back to hit him in the face. He used to claim he drank 14 pints a day when he worked as a drayman's assistant, and that he once drank 32 rums in a session. Well, that would kill most people, and in fact, one of the local publicans in South Yorkshire where he's supposed to have drunk these 14 pints a day said: "Oh that's all a lie, we used to call him Fizzy Willie, because he'd get drunk on half a pint."

Ken Clarke said that. Admittedly Hague beat Ken Clarke for the job! Genuinely not ruled out future PM Ed Miliband yet. Liz Truss has shown anyone from the Cabinet can be the right person at the right time. Stretching the definition of "right person" but you know what I mean!

The Ed Miliband of the Tories 1997-2010 period, William Hague, served in cabinet under David Cameron as Foreign Secretary. Even rarer, Alec Douglas-Home served in the cabinet of Ted Heath after being prime minister!

Braverman. 24% swing to Lib Dems needed. That's an example of what an actual Portillo moment would be. A defeat none of us saw coming. The term is overused now, see Ed Balls in 2015.

Aye Blair had talks with Paddy Ashdown in case of needing a coalition. Apparently Paddy, who had concessions on pr if that happened, phoned Blair to congratulate him the night of the results and said "so, you're sure you don't need that coalition?" Robin Cook was good fun on nights like that. He died far too young.

I was reading an old article by the late great David Butler recently written before the 1997 election where he noted that every pundit and paper has predicted nearly every election result from a Major win to a decent Wilson 66 sized majority and the one thing no one dared to predict was the 180 seat majority the polls were suggesting! But yeah I even said to @Death Impends earlier that I expect the polls to tighten, simply because my brain can't take in the sort of wipeout they keep suggesting.

I'm not sure the Logan thing was a defection in the crossing the floor sense. The guy said he was putting in an application to join Labour that day, so it sounded more like he's trying to join as a normal member. (Which would be problematic for him, given the whole "don't stand for another party for five years before" rule, I'm not this nobody is worth bending that one.)

If I've been following Toast's posts correctly, she's not just looking forward, she's got a brand new pair of boots for the kicking.

Well, you've just confirmed who Laura Kuenssberg's source is!

Oh go on then. Apparently, I'm a socialist, who knew? This also claims that Sunak is a lot like me on social and environmental issues which I think is absolute bollocks.

It is, though that makes the SNP complaining about it being a bad idea this morning (it'll hurt all the oil jobs, apparently) look strange. But tbh, the SNP are having an absolute shocker of late. Down to absolutely shite regulation of the energy companies and the profits they make over us plebs. This needs to be a priority of the next government, alongside the million other broken things which need emergency fixing. I think the future is in the Brits (including our bit of the island, in or out of the UK) being massive energy exporters with our unique geography for renewables and that the sooner we focus on this, the sooner we can all retire to our castles as a nation of billionaires and buy football clubs, like I assume every citizen of Saudi Arabia has done by now! There's a lot of stuff up here (prescriptions for example) which have shown up in recent Labour Westminster manifestos because its not the case in England yet. 14 years of Tory rule for you. As for more powers up here, that depends on Big Gordon keeping healthy to add weight to the devolved powers argument, and to be fair to Brown, he still believes in that Devo Max Vow unlike everyone else who signed the fucking thing. Whenever David Cameron shows up on screen I suddenly get fucking Tourettes. Bastard1 They're out of practice on Scotland a bit these days. But remember, if you ever feel down, that the wrecker of the 79 vote George Cunningham is now in fact, as dead as a Thatcher.

I mean, I wouldn't say 85% in common was a vast gulf myself!

Because she published some racist comments and then made an excuse about it being an early draft (wtf) sent early and then various influential groups said publicly Labour would be judged on their decision to let her stand again. She doomed herself.

She were innocent all along? Who knew?

It's a new iniatitive? "Jacob Rees Mogg has just lost his seat, over to a bunch of the public for live reaction of them pissing themselves laughing!"