"we'll change the things that need changing and that's all we'll change": the paSUKification of post-brexit politics 2021

uneverno

An actual quote from Wakeford, says it all really:

I was elected as a moderate and as a centrist and I am still a moderate and a centrist. I’m just wearing a different rosette.

at the risk of attracting familiar flak, that doesn't strike me as a particularly awful response from LRM; he correctly identifies wakeford's voting (and speaking/leafletting/etc) record as trash and invites him to recant, knowing the unlikelihood of this (following up 'reserve judgement' with the instant thespy volte-face 'issues he's been wrong about') - better this than a bland 'welcome to the party of the future' bromide

obviously it is worrying that Labour is attracting such sorts, but this is hardly news considering some of their extant MPs

obviously making any sort of welcome, no matter how caustic, to a man so flagrantly awful as wakeford, is a bad look for a SCG member, so the flak he's getting is understandable, even if the sentiment isn't evil or anything

whittome for instance, who's a much sharper politician, has kept her trap shut on wakeford

It’s obviously meant to be taken as barbed but it’s lame

you sure know about it when you get a hard shoulder barge from the soft-left!

Jeebus

lol even the BBC asking Reeves why the whip isn't restored to Corbyn if they are now quite an undiscerning broad church. And the defection is being spun as a failure that shored up Tories enough to keep their powder dry until the whitewash report comes out. In the long term it will prove to be a terrible move when Labour are back to -10.

Also Reeves

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FJfzrgKWUAgUteN.jpg

Rachel Reeves says this on a day in which a Tory MP - elected under Boris Johnson - who demonised refugees and voted to drive children into poverty was embraced by the Labour party.

Presumably she thinks he "shares our values". pic.twitter.com/s17hTOd4Il

— Owen Jones 🌹 (@OwenJones84) January 19, 2022

she cares a lot about eradicating anti-Semitism wherever it shows its ugly head. Special rules apply to hanging up a Nancy Astor portrait in her office.

Labour glad they have fewer members and Tories glad they have fewer MPs is the take I'm seeing.

Got an instant flash of Ian Faith in Spinal Tap saying the band playing smaller venues showed their appeal was merely becoming more selective.

(xp) the difference being the Tories have plenty to spare.

so this guy voted for the Elections Bill that is likely to disenfranchise a lot of Labour voters (well the ones that haven't already been alienated by Kieth) just like a day or so before he joins the Labour Party.

― calzino, Wednesday, 19 January 2022 bookmarkflaglink

The takes I'm seeing are from 'Tories locked in' to actually 'no more than 10 seats gained' for them. It's obviously terrible for democracy but I'd really like more analysis on the impact.

Pushing formerly engaged people away in cities could do a lot more long-term damage. Reeves ofc saying 'this is good actually' but what's the impact over the years? We might see some of this at the council elections later this year.

at the risk of attracting familiar flak, that doesn't strike me as a particularly awful response from LRM; he correctly identifies wakeford's voting (and speaking/leafletting/etc) record as trash and invites him to recant, knowing the unlikelihood of this (following up 'reserve judgement' with the instant thespy volte-face 'issues he's been wrong about') - better this than a bland 'welcome to the party of the future' bromide

obviously it is worrying that Labour is attracting such sorts, but this is hardly news considering some of their extant MPs

― imago, Wednesday, 19 January 2022 bookmarkflaglink

https://www.finecheese.co.uk/media/catalog/product/2/0/20150224_fcc_bath_blue_5769_b_fcolo3psknvi9gyn.jpg

defintely feels (as of this morning and a v superficial vibe check)* like the floor-crossing has actually eased the pressure on BJ a little lol

*i perform no other kind

a low GE turnout *selective* strategy that seems to be far more effective at pushing away 2019 Labour voters than it is at persuading Con voters to switch will most likely do long term damage and if the latter fails badly it could make the 2019 wipe-out look like a high-water mark!

There were reports late last night about this, and it looks like Keith has fucked it again lol xp

Practically every commentator says that but idgi.. Are MPs so easily distracted: “we no longer have any confidence in you, but hang on a minute we hate this traitor more so let’s forget that for the moment - it was only the leadership of our party we were discussing” ?

(X-post re superficial vibe check)

How many defections would be needed for the pressure to increase again?

41? ;)

Oh it's 37 now (I think)

@William_Wragg says MPs concerned about reports of blackmail within government should refer the matter to the Metropolitan police

*camera*

Are MPs so easily distracted: “we no longer have any confidence in you, but hang on a minute we hate this traitor more so let’s forget that for the moment - it was only the leadership of our party we were discussing” ?

Yes.

Are MPs so easily distracted: “we no longer have any confidence in you, but hang on a minute we hate this traitor more so let’s forget that for the moment - it was only the leadership of our party we were discussing” ?

That assumes the vote of no confidence is in good faith and not rats trying to leave a sinking ship; if given the chance to rally 'round the flag of course they'll take it.

how is rats leaving a sinking ship not in good faith?

i was leaving the sinking ship IRONICALLY

there is absolutely a mechanism poised to remove BJ at the point it leaves the party least damaged: that means not giving aid to KS in the process

the defection was widely taken to be giving aid to KS (if only as an excuse to kick the over-excited left): which gave the rebels pause

im not convinced it HAS given much aid to KS -- to return to my usual metaphor, whose pigeons did it end up putting the cat amongst? turns out it was kieth's (push comes to shove he is going to need significant numbers of the over-excited left)

( re "over-excited": the left shd by now be spending less time pearl-clutching and re-re-litigating every new momentary outrage that signifies a battle lost and more time regrouping quietly and reorganising SITO)

What's SITO?

Site Inspectors' Trade Organization?

Sounds like a good place for beer and sandwiches.

the defection was widely taken to be giving aid to KS (if only as an excuse to kick the over-excited left): which gave the rebels pause

I wasn’t convinced this was the case either: defectors are often somewhat flakey and it didn’t seem at all likely to start a stampede to cross to the other side of the Chamber.

Sorry if this offends, pf

https://assets.octodon.social/media_attachments/files/002/734/811/original/32ea086ab9e95d22.png

ugh i had an extended post once back in the brexit thredz dayz abt the diff between blair and corbs in terms of tactics strategy and ethos and now i can't find it >:(

i wanted to put KS thru the same lens: this has been the first tactical stunt i can remember him pulling (blair via campbell was pulliung them weekly if not daily in and out of govt, i accept that pandemic has made instant reaction complex maybe but it's something nu-blairism -- to be needlessly kind abt it -- absolutely sucks at)

Won't stop them going on about Labour day and night.

What a waste of time the Corbyn era was.

— Vimon Sessey (@2Si_2Vess) January 19, 2022

lo hangin' lol

pic.twitter.com/6yvV5iAcqZ

— The Agitator (@Agitate4Change) January 19, 2022

Huge if true pic.twitter.com/9t0guOP9IA

— Babble (@Babble____) January 19, 2022

Just a little complicity what's your problem

I was told by Tory MPs, at the height of the Rashford row, that members of the govt were threatening to withhold money from schools in their (deprived) constituencies if they voted to extend free school meals. These practices aren’t new but Will Wragg has shone a light on them.

— Ben Kentish (@BenKentish) January 20, 2022

William Wragg was on that Tory whips excel spreadsheet with an entirely legal but embarrassing entry iirc - so he might be all out of fucks about it I guess.

indeed, he's no longer bothered about being seen as the golden boy

I think we're back to some May-era Game Theory where the plotters worry that if they go too soon, most of the MPs will have qualms about ejecting him before the Sue Gray report, and then he'll be untouchable for a year. The 1922 committee is "considering" halving it to six months but maybe only because they like talking to newspapers.

I did see the fact earlier that of the 23 MPs who've crossed the floor in the last 30 years, the only two who called a by-election won it - because they were going further out, from Tory to UKIP. Of the other 21, 19 didn't return after the next election (Change UK will have been the bulk of the ones that even contested one) and the other two are Woodward and Alan Howarth ("the first former Conservative MP to sit as a Labour MP since Sir Oswald Mosley") who were both rehoused in safe seats by Blair.

"who were both rehoused in safe seats by Blair"

Alan Howarth and don't forget his butler as well were re-housed in a Liverpool safe-seat!

That was Woodward according to Wikipedia? Howarth got Newport East in Wales. But yeah way to reward the loyal electorate.

abt the diff between blair and corbs in terms of tactics strategy and ethos and now i can't find it

I’m guessing it compared the chess based zugzwang skills of one versus the plodding methodical mastermind coloured pegs skills of the other… but which was which ?

xp

ah right but he did have a Jeeves-a-like butler

Tory turncoat Christian Wakeford is a bundle of nerves as he calls party leader Sir Keir Starmer 'Keir Llama' https://t.co/n7nX2vO0TM

— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) January 20, 2022

NEVER FORGET

https://e3.365dm.com/21/08/768x432/skynews-geronimo-alpaca_5470168.jpg