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

This result means dick btw

Some Fabian Society type was saying today that Miliband is more likely to be next PM than most people recognise, because Cameron would have to become more popular by the end of his first term, and that never happens to Prime Ministers, especially in difficult economic times. He obviously didn't notice that this was exactly what happened to Margaret Thatcher.

She did murder a bunch of random Argentinians to achieve the dream tho

war

― legerndrymayne (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 12 January 2011 13:36 (2 days ago)

Keep your head down for the next few years if you live on the Spanish side of the Gibraltar border, just sayin'

the UK has kind of shot its load in that respect

war on criminals, like with actual guns and remote mines and shit

we'll be fine as long as we can con a bunch of lesser nations into supporting whatever empire-building adventures we decide to embark on in the next oh hang on

I was reading somewhere (I can't remember where, probably the Guardian website) earlier, that polling figures suggest that of people who voted Lib Dem at the last election, virtually all of them whose second preference was for Labour have now switched their (first-choice) support to Labour. So what's left of the Lib Dem support now is basically people who would consider the Tories their second-preference (and who are presumably quite happy with the coalition arrangement). So ironically, AV would actually be quite useful for the Tories in seats like Oldham.

because Cameron would have to become more popular by the end of his first term, and that never happens to Prime Ministers, especially in difficult economic times. He obviously didn't notice that this was exactly what happened to Margaret Thatcher.

Not sure about that Matt- I think the tory vote was a little down in 1983 from '79. It was a fragmented opposition that made those eighties majorities so big. Don't know what effect a fragmented government will have.

Yup, wikipedia agrees with this. Tories lost about 700,000 votes between 1979 and 1983 and their share of the vote slightly fell (from 43.9% to 42.4%). The real story is that Labour lost more than 3 million voters and the Liberal-SDP Alliance got 3.5 million more votes than the Liberals got in 1979.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12212240

good work setting the minimum price at about the cheapest level you can buy booze for already. looks like they'll just have to carry on sending missionaries to the poor benighted working classes for a while yet.

The Tories and Lib Dems both opposed SNP's minimum pricing policy in Scotland.

minimum pricing is arse imo but hardly surprised that the Tories agin it. hardly surprised that the LDs are opportunist twats either.

onino, what's the SNPs minimum pricing policy per unit? i think it's 40p per unit at the moment but was supposed to increase, is that correct?

onimo*, sorry.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jan/19/michael-gove-tactical-voting-liberal-democrats

Mostly depressing story, but I liked this bit:

In the debate Gove reacted angrily when Burnham quoted an article by his wife, the Times journalist Sarah Vine, to show the Tories were out of touch.

She wrote last week: "Like all angst-ridden working mothers I live in terror of upsetting my cleaner." Burnham, MP for Leigh in Greater Manchester, said: "Now, I can tell you, angst-ridden mums in Leigh talk of little else. I do sympathise with Mrs Gove's predicament. But I wonder if the secretary of state might pass on a bit of advice to all the wives of cabinet colleagues who fret about the same curses of modern living.

"Can I respectfully suggest that the best way to stay on the right side of the cleaner might not be to clean the oven oneself, but instead to press one's other half not to remove the cleaner's kids' EMA."

oh snap

served

That's a mistake from Gove, it makes the LibDems look like complete feebs.

Ugh, the Vine/Gove household. This agnostic-to-atheist couple 'got religion' to get their kids into a C of E state school in Kensington and I'm told Vine is so gung-ho she's now teaching Sunday school there.

Maybe my gaydar is on the fritz, but I am very surprised that Gove is married.

let's not bring michael gove's sex life into play here

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/09/27/article-0-02CADB2400000578-486_468x421.jpg

Excellent work there, drunken football fans of Aberdeen.

"leaving Gove and his face to take the rap"

brilliantly put

OMU?

can imagine gove getting his stupid ugly wee face battered by football casuals in aberdeen while his pal legged it as a transformative event in his revolting tory life of the same order as bruce wayne witnessing the murder of his parents

Maybe a typo/slip for OMV, Order of Malta Volunteers?

Jazz Cellar sounds like an Oxonian euphemism for something.

DRUDGE SIREN Alan Johnson's just resigned for "personal reasons". Or Ed Miliband realised what a gigantic mistake he'd made.

http://mhpbooks.com/mobylives/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/google.jpg

Maybe Miliband just wants to wind up Ed Balls a bit more by giving the job to some other no-mark with no understanding of economics.

Apparently, AJ's wife 'just left him'...

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRFIFMFQIF_151Oii_i2_T8Yse9y9cCwbhEYLxVib3Sh

I'm not having much luck with images. That's supposed to be a side-splitting picture of Alan Johnson from Peep Show.

Mark where you gettin that info??

Google, then saw it via a twitter.

All speculative, still where are we without gossip without impeccable sources? Here. That's where. I think....

Also, seems that Bed Alls is the successor. Or something.

how could she leave him? he's so genial and twinkly-eyed

It's more likely that some rampaging Malcolm Tucker types have been piling pressure on him to go quickly and quietly since his cockup the other week. That poll lead will evaporate without economic credibility and there wouldn't be any economic credibility with Johnson shadowing the Treasury.

can imagine gove getting his stupid ugly wee face battered by football casuals in aberdeen while his pal legged it as a transformative event in his revolting tory life of the same order as bruce wayne witnessing the murder of his parents

Amazing

oh balls

Balls In

xpost

Balls will be able to give Osborne a hugely enjoyable savaging but given that he a) evidently completely disagrees with Miliband on cuts and b) wants his job there should be some, erm, lively exchanges behind the scenes.

In full: Alan Johnson's resignation statement

"I wish you all the best at this diffuclt time, I know you will contineuy to make a major contrinutoiopn to public life and the Labour Party".

:S

lol get an iphone

that was probably BECAUSE of an iphone. fucking useless touch keyboards

i'd put money on that being a blackberry fuck up. if it were an iphone it be like I wish you all the best at this octopus time, I know you will drainage to make a major artillery to public life and the Labour Party thanks to autocorrect