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

As for ground game etc. You don't need to be a member to canvass as such you just show up. Conversely members don't have to show up either.

the ground game advantage is already long gone imo and seemed like a myth in 2019 where I live. The word on the doorsteps is Kieth shags in his office and is truly inspirational.. what a legendary orator, now fuck off and let me vote Tory

those days when the Tories where too embarrassed to disclose how many members they had left was only a few years ago. I think they initially got a big boost from UKIP entryists who joined to vote for Boris.

Have v vivid memories of bumping into some old pals in a boozer in Kensington (before a B&S gig at the Royal Albert Hall, full disclosure) who had come down from the north-east after canvassing on Brexit vote day, and assured me that the Labour canvassing machine would secure the vote for remain as leave had no ground operation :/

i'm a bit naive but i'm not sure how annoying people in their homes helps much

^

I'd imagine canvassing for Kieth would be about as much fun as hawking blank Betterware catalogues or something. But could imagine how people became enthused during Corbynism - even though they probably got puzzled indifference or told to fuck off most of the time.

I remember on the day of the last election I gave a group of labour canvassers in Hackney a thumbs up, they were all smiles and energy. Later on that day I encountered an absolutely miserable looking woman canvassing alone for the tories in West London. Felt very The Two Genders.

i'm a bit naive but i'm not sure how annoying people in their homes helps much

I can see annoying people on doorstep may seem counter-productive, but the lack of presence is most likely more of an issue. Contributes to the general feeling of being ignored and unheard. Suspect a surprising number of people actually like it, even if appearing annoyed - as it gives the opportunity to speak back.

Think the annoyance isn't actually at people at the door, but more 'how come you only appear here once every four years'

I recall someone I follow on twitter posting about canvassing in 2019, possibly in London I think. And they came to a house with a union jack in the window and after expecting the worse it turned out the occupant was a charming old bloke who wasn't remotely fash and they had a pleasant and engaging politics conversation with them. Lol probably still a 100% chance they voted tory though.

also canvassing might get you to meet exciting celebrities such as Adam Curtis (allegedly), the drummer from Blur and members of Chumbawawa

Most of my own experience of door-knocking has been re: people who were already thought to be Labour-leaning or possibles, from previous data.

Knocking on random doors and bothering unsympathetic people would clearly be a different matter.

And yet ... now I think about it, I have often been quite intimidated knocking on doors, and have met an awful lot of people saying "I'll be voting, but not for you", and "I won't be voting for you, because you want to stop Brexit" - that kind of thing. So even knocking on a pre-selected group does get mixed results.

However, I have never felt that it had actively bad results, pushing a voter away who would otherwise have voted Labour.

My regret is that I spent time doing this for Neil Coyle in Bermondsey in 2015, not yet knowing that he was a dangerous, reactionary and offensive lunatic.

First biography of Keir Starmer set to be released 8th July. ‘A Life of Contrasts’ is written by former FT journo Nigel Cawthorne. PR release says it will find the man behind this “complex leader” and include “the girlfriends and his country roots.”

— James Heale (@JAHeale) May 25, 2021

kieth starmer in a country root-down

yeee haw!

looking at Cawthorne’s bibliography now and his past works include “Sex Lives of the Great Dictators” and “Flight MH370: The Mystery.

sex lives of the great kieth starmer QC370: the mystery

Oliver Eagleton is also writing a book!

his publishers seem quite keen to get this rooting-tooting book on the shelves at least a few weeks before the Batley & Spen byelection!

in conclusion, Keir Starmer is a life of contrasts

I canvassed in Ladbroke Grove for Emma Dent Coad in Kensington and for the most part, it was good but there was one vile red trouser man in training who was like ‘how DARE you canvass here!’ and someone who wasn’t sure how to vote despite EDC reuniting him with his lost wallet and keys earlier in the year. We were like ‘dude! She did you a solid there - how could you even consider voting for someone else?’ EDC herself was excellent, particularly later in the pub.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/25/labour-needs-more-real-people-in-parliament-says-kim-leadbeater-sister-of-murdered-mp-jo-cox?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

"I don’t have a traditional route into politics"

apart from the distasteful and undemocratic nepotism that has put her there she's a real fucking trailblazer. "civility" "robust debate" "fact-based" "real people" "Westminster bubble" "latte-sipping croissant munchers" well 4 out of 5 ain't bad.

That’s six things.

civility + robust debate come together as one

COBRA meetings do sound boring af tbfttc

Cummings says he and other Downing Street officials deliberately stopped Boris Johnson from chairing COBRA because Johnson thought it was all just a scare story and would have made the meetings pointless.

— Arieh Kovler (@ariehkovler) May 26, 2021

If you can remember the COBRA meetings you weren't there

Cummings said he doesn't remember whether he attended COBRA meetings in February.

Says he didn't recommend the PM did.

Again- central tension. Cummings saying ministers and officials wasn't taking Covid seriously. But DC wasn't attending COBRA and wasn't saying PM should.

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) May 26, 2021

Dominic Cummings: <Dies>

Me: Hmmm, what angle is he working here?

He disagrees with the WHO messaging on death.

will Boris ever recover from these devastating revelations that he's still in fact Boris Johnson.

bbc news need to ration these Breaking News phone alerts more judiciously ffs. I've had about 8 in the last hour and nothing has actually happened.

Did they do one for this?

"The main person I spoke to in the whole of 2020 was @bbclaurak [...] I could give guidance to her on very big stories" says Dominic Cummings

— Moya Lothian-Mclean (@mlothianmclean) May 26, 2021

laura k was live tweeting the whole thing and then suddenly stopped 37 minutes ago, what could have happened? 🤔

Breaking News: Laura K is a CCHQ stenographer and not a real journalist

BREAKING: Hillsborough: The judge has STOPPED the trial of two ex South Yorkshire police officers and the force's lawyer, for perverting the course of justice over amending officers' statements.

He has ruled there is NO case to answer.

1/3

— David Conn (@david_conn) May 26, 2021

ya don't say https://t.co/eSRHX1wmnI pic.twitter.com/YielEwdpHx

— Simon Vessey (@Simon_Vessey) May 26, 2021

Prof here:

oh for such a universe pic.twitter.com/WfNPRtoldd

— michael (@Sisyphusa) May 26, 2021

no accountability ever all round then

also twitter has thoroughly destroyed any lingering meritocratic delusions I had about credentialed academics

Tories +10

This is probably the most chilling thing I’ve seen so far this morning.
“Who do we not save?”#DominicCummings pic.twitter.com/4hxniCNr6h

— Kit Yates (@Kit_Yates_Maths) May 26, 2021

well well well well well pic.twitter.com/Eb1eTcTdG5

— jonathan nunn (@demarionunn) May 26, 2021

https://images-production.bookshop.org/spree/images/attachments/11204772/original/9781675297063.jpg?1577335328

who didn't know what the tories were about even before they literally already culled a large part of the population from 2010. a lot of people apparently

as ever, the pundit class faces no penalty for being wrong in real time ever

Was that ever the case? One or two high profile fuck-ups aside...

Lol @ the 35 second mark in this video

Here is video of the BBC coverage of the moment Dominic Cummings names Laura Kuenssberg as the media person he kept leaking to. pic.twitter.com/NRP6REAv17

— Card5hark 🌍 🇪🇺 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (@Card5hark) May 26, 2021

"It doesn’t matter if you’ve got great people doing communications. If the prime minister changes his mind 10 times a day, and then calls up the media and contradicts his own policy, day after day after day, you’re going to have communications disasters."

As an example, he says Boris Johnson was warned by his head of communications, Lee Cain, not to pick a fight with Marcus Rashford over school meals. But Johnson ignored that advice, and had to back down twice.

Zarah Sultana MP takes part in this Cummings interview via video link! At 14:10.

Surely the best human being to be involved.

yes, she is the best. as for the worst...

Were British weapons used to murder Tala (13), Rula (5), her big sister Yara (9), and hundreds of other Palestinians in Gaza in Israel's latest bombardment?

The Prime Minister couldn't answer this question at #PMQs today. Horrific. pic.twitter.com/XHn3FYUgHD

— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) May 26, 2021

Live footage of Johnson reacting to today's revelations.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-57253967

Today on Normal Island we have a senior government advisor attempting to describe the Spiderman meme to an inquiry into 130,000 deathspic.twitter.com/KVMTSmYvYI

— James Felton (@JimMFelton) May 26, 2021