DEM not gonna CON dis NATION: Rolling UK politics in the short-lived Cleggeron era

http://www.daleklinks.co.uk/media/66500/ironside-poster.jpg

lib dems will contest thirsk and malton against the tories, should make for an awkward campaign.

This is Northern. Could Labour win it through the motivating factor of RAGE?

you're out of luck if you're studying working at an fe college or university though

Apparently Mrs V overheard our kids plotting emigration this morning, no lie. Might as well given imminent decimation of employment

Not that kind of North. This is basically Vale of York and Ryedale in a new constituency - 20-25pt Con majs.

xp

(xposts) In '05 Tories had over 50% to Lab at 20% and Lib at 18%, so unlikely, but some RAGE would be nice.

(Do Lib Dems like Tories more or less in very Tory constituencies? Perhaps I should know this since I voted Lib Dem in one in '05.)

Big Tory vote from the baboons at Flamingoland.

Apparently Mrs V overheard our kids plotting emigration this morning, no lie. Might as well given imminent decimation of employment

Oh no, and I only just got a job about 10 mins from Bondi...

here's a consolation: at least james delingpole is unhappy.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100039479/10-reasons-to-be-cheerful-about-daves-new-coalition-of-the-unwilling/

I bet the flamingoes aren't too keen on all those baboons coming in and taking their jobs. xps

Coldest May night since 1966 last night - -6C in Scottish Highlands, -4C in rural Wales, 0C in London. Day after the 1987 election (mid-summer), the sky was leaden all morning, like a meteor had hit and the debris had blotted out the sun. Mother Nature is not a Tory.

Coldest May night since 1966 last night

got the World Cup on lock now

Coldest May night since 1966 last night - -6C in Scottish Highlands, -4C in rural Wales, 0C in London. Day after the 1987 election (mid-summer), the sky was leaden all morning, like a meteor had hit and the debris had blotted out the sun. Mother Nature is not a Tory.

there have been several unseasonably cold days lately, it's felt quite apt

on the plus side I've just bought Kebab flavoured Pringles so maybe this is the dawn of a brilliant new era

What, in a "hell freezes over" kind of way?

Can I just say that now everyone I know in the UK realizes what it was like to be a lefty American in 2004?

lefty American = Lib Dem iirc

http://labservative.com/

^^^ kinda would have thought LD's new media time would have taken this down by now.

Um, no NV: you have to consider that half of the Dems in the US are to the left of Obama and hate 'blue dogs'; my own Dem congressman and senator would be more like Old Labour types.

I wonder how the "we got RATM to #1, let's get the Lib Dems into government" Facebook krew are doing?

"Killing (Foxes) In The Name Of"

So I'm guessing that Environment, Scotland and being Dave's deputy are the jobs that none of the Conservatives wanted. Fantastic bargaining by the LDs.

i wz half-joking suzy but come on I don't think American lefties have got anything to teach about misery to us Brits who are over 20 and anywhere to the left of Ken Clarke

It is such an endlessly recycled media meme that I am generally poised to cry bullshit whenever I see it, as with any generalizations about America produced by Brits on a press junket.

Ahaha apparently Alan Rusbridger phoned Clegg telling him he had a duty to not form a government with the Tories because it'd make the Graun look like twats for endorsing the LDs at the last minute.

The comments on the Graun's "maybe this isn't so bad after all, right guys?" editorial weren't pretty.

Coldest May night since 1966 last night - -6C in Scottish Highlands, -4C in rural Wales, 0C in London. Day after the 1987 election (mid-summer), the sky was leaden all morning, like a meteor had hit and the debris had blotted out the sun. Mother Nature is not a Tory.

There was a pretty rainbow above Westminster while Dave was on the way to the Queen, but I assume the BBC superimposed it on the footage at Dimbleby's request.

"Every one of the Lib Dem negotiators gave an individual report back of their meeting with Harriet Harman, Lord Mandelson, Ed Miliband, Ed Balls and Lord Adonis, and they each reached the same conclusion: that the Labour team were uninterested, with no movement on ID cards, the third runway at Heathrow, or increasing the proportion of renewable energy from 15% to 40%."

this would maybe have been acceptable if they forced the libdems into confidence & supply but now it's created this fucking abortion it looks kinda unforgiveable that they didn't even ~try~

― nakhchivan, Wednesday, May 12, 2010 1:02 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

there's going to be a lot of claim and counter-claim on those negotiations. some lab people claim clegg only got into it to make the tories (whom he instinctually wanted to go with) jealous. i don't believe that the tories could in good faith agree to that green pledge.

There was a pretty rainbow above Westminster while Dave was on the way to the Queen, but I assume the BBC superimposed it on the footage at Dimbleby's request.

Rather like the way they deftly remixed the location sound on the collage clips later in the day, to obscure the booing and shouts of "Tory scum" on Whitehall.

Yes, Clegg is on the right of the LDs, but I don't think his instinctive affinity had much to do with who he ended up forming a coalition with as much as the maths and the (lack of) labour concessions meaning that coalition was pretty much unworkable.

But yeah, I'm sure there'll be some interesting stuff in the papers about what really happened over the next couple of weeks.

That was just all kinds of WRONG. xpost

But not surprising: a couple of weeks ago there was a piece on Churchill going to look at bombed tenements post-Blitz and the meme of 'East End cheers on plucky Churchill/Royals' was shown to be a bit of a concoction. Basically, my best friend's dad was a surgeon in the war and his account of jeering not cheering was one I'd known since I was a student.

http://labservative.com/

^^^ kinda would have thought LD's new media time would have taken this down by now.

― Meowsy McDermott, Wednesday, 12 May 2010 12:53 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

oh look unmoderated comments box :D

http://www.labservative.com/comment-page-1/#comment-708

:( never noticed

"Your comment is awaiting moderation."

laws is chief secretary to the treasury. cable is bidness secretary. osborne is reichschancellor.

Tom Oates
Posted May 6, 2010 at 8:50 am | Permalink

This party is sexy as. To be fair I want the lib dems in charge and before anyone asks I am a student. If mat bellamy ran a party I would vote for it hands down. But as it stands cleggy will do ;)
any signs for conservative or labour I see I rip down or take them for my room :) it’s now looking colourful :) love you all xxx

can't see this getting through
http://i43.tinypic.com/nv4fnk.jpg

55% rule on no conf votes means Tories can keep power on their own (with their 47%). Can't believe LDs gave that away.

yah, that's appalling. is it more than a rumour at this stage?

Mr Hague told BBC Radio 4's Today programme a five-year fixed-term parliament had been introduced to help guarantee stability: "We have done everything possible to lock ourselves together to avoid the dangers of instability and haggling that are of course present in any hung parliament."

The BBC has learned that the only way to remove a government before the five years is up would be in a vote of confidence backed by 55% of MPs. Current rules are that the votes of 50% of MPs, plus one, can remove a government.

Yes, Clegg is on the right of the LDs, but I don't think his instinctive affinity had much to do with who he ended up forming a coalition with as much as the maths and the (lack of) labour concessions meaning that coalition was pretty much unworkable.

Read the Orange Book people, it's all in there, it was foreseen!

...goes away muttering...

oh great, xp.

I don't think there is any moral ground for them to insist on a fixed term and those margins when their authority is this shaky - it would feel more legitimate after a normal result.

yeah, fixed terms and enhanced majorities is the kind of thing you should have a much, much more explicit mandate for.

xp to myself
And then read this published in March. Sums up the reasons for it happening and the reasons it might not work quite well. (PDF file alert)
http://www.centreforum.org/assets/pubs/a-lib-con-trick.pdf

Iain Duncan Smith! It's like they're playing the worst game of Fantasy Football ever.

was in parliament working for the LDs when the orange book came out, so i've read it. will read that pdf on the train home.

but my point was that, whatever clegg's natural affinities are (and i don't disagree that they are more con than labour), with labour showing zero flexibility and LD + lab + sdlp still being short of a majority, i don't think his personal preferences came into it.

Where can find more on this 55% for No Confid motion / four-year fixed term stuff? Because if that's passed (and even if it's a free vote and half the LDs vote against it, it'll pass), we need to wheel Rifkind out again to see if he'd like to reframe his Mugabe comments of Monday. Truly outrageous.

Mr Hague told BBC Radio 4's Today programme a five-year fixed-term parliament had been introduced to help guarantee stability: "We have done everything possible to lock ourselves together to avoid the dangers of instability and haggling that are of course present in any hung parliament."

The BBC has learned that the only way to remove a government before the five years is up would be in a vote of confidence backed by 55% of MPs. Current rules are that the votes of 50% of MPs, plus one, can remove a government.

is all i've seen.

mugabe endorsed the tories, game recognize game.

Fixed term parliament is the worst thing about it.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, May 12, 2010 1:56 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

otm