Free as a Dodo: UK Politics Welcomes 2021

No foreigners no sports just James Bond and The Queen throwing Yorkshire puddings at actors dressed as NHS staff for 10 hours a Mendes/Boyle joint

That Flying Rodent quote is absolutely otm, unfortunately the PLP has no interest or need for those voters either

He's lost the dressing room: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/07/humiliation-hartlepool-smalltown-detective-di-starmer

That Flying Rodent quote is absolutely otm, unfortunately the PLP has no interest or need for those voters either

― Chickpeas, Scamps and Beeves (Noodle Vague), Friday, 7 May 2021 bookmarkflaglink

Thing is loads of them will still turn out for Lab in 2024, which is why the racist taxi driver that Luke the Nuke loves will not be 'won back'

"The Tories have once again caught Labour with the Offsite Trap"

yet even more thermonuclear brilliance from the incomparable.... ..

Lord Adonis tells BBC that candidates in next Labour leadership race should not be restricted to members of the House of Commons 👀

— John Stevens (@johnestevens) May 7, 2021

Bring back Tony's prog-rock mullet!

he needs help

xp yeah they’ll elect Lord “Walney” or Lord Austin

Having said that, I would acknowledge this, and I think it is a broader and frankly more interesting point, that Brexit attitudes - the sort of cultural or social values or outlook that we associate with Brexit, rather than the issue itself - are still present in voters in Hartlepool, and elsewhere in northern England. And that’s something the Labour party has got to understand and to come to terms with.

In a sense it’s Brexit values, or a cultural set of attitudes, that have overlain the economic interests, or the class identity, that people have in a constituency like Hartlepool. And the Labour party is not making that cultural connection with those people.

And it’s not about whether or not we’re in the European Union. It’s about broader social attitudes and a broader cultural outlook that people have, which the Labour party has got to understand and connect with once again if we’re going to stand any chance of winning back the support and votes of those people.

Would be fascinated to know what ‘Brexit attitudes’ Mandelson thinks are being undersold by Starmer / Ainsley.

I hate it when ilx just becomes links to tweets, but today I cannot resist

Labour source: Just because we have stopped pissing in the bath doesn’t mean people want to jump in with us straight away 🤣

— Liz Bates (@wizbates) May 7, 2021

bringing back blair would be like when dalglish came back for a season, it would be a complete disaster, but might finally make a load of cunts shut up and fuck off afterwards

"And it’s not about whether or not we’re in the European Union."

It is as paper-thin as that (excellent Lab vote in 2017 when we'd respect the ref).

The Tories need to grow that magic money tree now that Brexit has been delivered. It's whether the peanuts they chuck to these seats will be enough. Probably for one election.

How about the “Brexit attitude” of accepting the referendum result and working together for an anti-austerity future that puts public ownership and full employment at the centre of the conversation? Or would that be unacceptable to the finance industry?

itisamystery

How about the “Brexit attitude” of working people over unaccountable managers?

the crumbling shithole I live in got a decent chunk of that Towns fund from the Tories and there hasn't been any discernible improvement. Dodds turned up the other week campaigning for Brabin and made a short video in the town to make some point about this maintained decay but filmed it all in a couple of the prettiest parts for some strange reason.

It's a great phrase because it could mean 'taking more local control of decisions that matter most to people' or 'singing the spicy verses of God Save The Queen, not just the normal ones' and nobody ever asks you which.

Mandelson quote could be from any number of Actual Leftists on Brexit. of course it's not really about the EU but as long as everyone is terrified of sounding PC gone mad we have to put up with euphemisms like "brexit values"

A question. Did anyone on this thread vote Labour yesterday?

While there is much talk about losing right-wing voters to Cons, etc (which suits Labour Right in a way), I assume that they must have lost a very large part of their socialist voting base, to other parties or abstention. I don't feel convinced that the "younger / millennial / diverse / metropolitan / etc coalition" is going to vote for Labour anymore.

voted for the lab assembly list because the first person on it is momentum-endorsed; did not vote Khan or local lab assembly member

for my sins I voted Labour on one of the four ballots I had, as a long-shot chance to get rid of the twat who is bound to be re-elected as mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough.

Voted for that youtuber candidate cos I saw a poll that put him close to the lib dem vote and that'd be sweet- probably an outlier though. TUSC (remember them?) for both assembly seats. I'm all for the war on the motorist though, so I'll feel clowned if Khan doesn't get back in, but w/e

Abstention seems much more of a thing than moving to other parties, at least on the relatively sparse amount we've got to go on so far. xp

Scottish turnout is quite something, busting 70% in places.

^ xp lol me not specifying this was in London, the Default Place

Voted for two just-about-tolerably melty Labour councillors out of lack of other options because couldn't bear the thought of the ward going Tory.

We only had a Police Commissioner vote in Brighton for the whole of Sussex - this means there is no chance anyone other than Tory is getting in, despite the city leaning heavily green and labour.

I voted green first choice (sue me) and labour second, because there were no other options except a frankly quite insane independent candidate.

I didn't vote but the coalition (such as it is) could easily have been mostly won over again if the party hadn't decided that relentlessly shitting on them(us) to appease aging fascists is the way forward (actually I'm pretty sure they know it's not, they just hate us that much)

My votes were split between Womens Equality (LA, mayor 1st) and Labour (council, mayor 2nd pref).

voted 'green' in locals, the only other candidate was a tory. spoiled my ballot by writing 'blm' on the police commissioner vote. oh and re. that tweet the bbc shared/promoted i am older, a car owner and a home owner and i didn't even vote against brexit( nor did i vote for it) i am also not white, so no i don't believe that the tories care about me and never will do so fuck off luke akehurst.

what?

Cambridgeshire Result #LE2021:

CON: 28 (-8)
LDM: 20 (+5)
LAB: 9 (+2)
LOC: 2 (=)
IND: 2 (+1)

Conservative LOSE to NOC. pic.twitter.com/1YlWgeF924

— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) May 7, 2021

didn't vote because DJ Smile wasn't running for organised crime commissioner

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E0yncaqX0AMzdie?format=jpg&name=medium

"then fuck it"

The most frustrating thing is that Starmer's leadership pitch - a more united party offering something like the 2017 manifesto delivered in a more media-friendly way - wasn't bad. It was, as I suspected, completely fraudelent, and people know when they've been lied to.

— Juliet. (@zinovievletter) May 7, 2021

I was never convinced he was anything other than a con-man on a mission to wreck the left. Not trying to say I'm Nostradamus or more observant than those that got their wallets inspected, but it seemed blindingly obvious from the beginning of 2020.

Yeah, his margin of victory was too big for there not to have been an awful lot of rubes who got played lol

Ominous tweet from Ali Milani earlier about "numbers suggesting an unprecedented crack in the Muslim Labour vote" and that includes in the London mayor poll.

Kieth thought he could treat them like shit without any consequences.

Is there anyone he actually treated well? It's just been ... nothingness.

Tees Valley Mayoral election (+/- since first round result in May 2017):

CON: 73% (+33)
LAB: 27% (-12)

Under Jeremy Corbyn, Labour lost Tees Valley by 2pts in the final round in May 2017.

Under Keir Starmer, Labour has lost it by 46pts. pic.twitter.com/vTf2feYOqy

— Stats for Lefties (@LeftieStats) May 7, 2021

"Want more of this" -- Lab party rn

Keir Starmer asked for concrete policy changes Labour will now make in response to these election results, tells the BBC that he will "change the things that need changing and that is the change that I will bring about."

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) May 7, 2021

Calzino, whose hatred of Starmer I admire, was more prescient than me. I thought he would be bland and inoffensive.

I know that KS's plan is to alienate people like me - Corbyn supporters who love reading Perry Anderson - and that would make sense if it made him popular with others. But it hasn't. He's also made Labour much more unpopular with all kinds of other people who aren't much like me. He's creating a big tent, a broad, multi-stranded coalition, of hostility to himself and the Labour Party.

Tfw you don't get a promise of a pay rise

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA pic.twitter.com/twHltHsn6U

— joolsd (@joolsd) May 7, 2021

well well well

I can’t believe I’m writing this. But Tory sources say Shaun Bailey’s campaign now believe they can win the London mayoralty.

— Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire) May 7, 2021

tough on votes, tough on the causes of votes xp

Round-up of the council election results so far:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/beginning-end-labour/

BBC: Is the Labour Party facing an existential crisis?
Starmer: No

— Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire) May 7, 2021

He won. https://t.co/APne2l8hFZ

— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) May 7, 2021

Extraordinary video now where KS is asked the same question multiple times and gives the same long non-answer, word for word.

Like something that May or Miliband used to be slated for.

Re: Bailey that's some Guido bullshit.

From a locked acct on twitter: "Most recent count I could see before website crashed was 38-37 Khan, and the likes of Camden, Islington, Tower Hamlets and Newham not started"