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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The big trend: CON and LAB are still failing to win voters

SystemSystem Posts: 11,711
edited October 2016 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The big trend: CON and LAB are still failing to win voters from each other

One of the more remarkable features of the polling in the last parliament was the almost complete inability of both Labour and Conservatives to win voters from each other. Vote shares may have gone up and down but it was gains from and losses to the Lib Dems, UKIP, the Greens and SNP (and non-voters) that was responsible; the direct swing between the big two was negligible.

Read the full story here


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  • Options
    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,799
    First!
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    RobDRobD Posts: 59,018
    Second, like the Scottish Tories!
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,799
    RobD said:

    Second, like the Scottish Tories!

    Third! Like Scottish Labour....
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,799
    FPT:

    I see David Cameron's sofa is complaining about Mrs May's style of government in today's Times. She's doing something called 'Cabinet Government' and it is most put out......
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    PlatoSaidPlatoSaid Posts: 10,383
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/30/tory-party-conference-what-theresa-may-must-do-to-lay-road-for-d/

    Coulson 2p

    It’s not only the right thing to do – the Conservatives would not be in government were it not for his work – it’s also the most effective way of calming the not insignificant number of Tory MPs already muttering into the Commons tea room china.

    In short, when it comes to unity, the prime minister must now genuinely reach out to all parts of the Conservative family. This cannot be superficial, shop-front stuff – 'division is death’ must be the mantra.
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    The Lord said "Go Forth", but I came fifth (excluding RobD's duplicated post).
  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 59,018

    The Lord said "Go Forth", but I came fifth (excluding RobD's duplicated post).

    Sorry, old boy. Can't have you winning every day now, can we? :D
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    RobDRobD Posts: 59,018
    PlatoSaid said:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/30/tory-party-conference-what-theresa-may-must-do-to-lay-road-for-d/

    Coulson 2p

    It’s not only the right thing to do – the Conservatives would not be in government were it not for his work – it’s also the most effective way of calming the not insignificant number of Tory MPs already muttering into the Commons tea room china.

    In short, when it comes to unity, the prime minister must now genuinely reach out to all parts of the Conservative family. This cannot be superficial, shop-front stuff – 'division is death’ must be the mantra.

    "Over four days our new prime minister has an opportunity to lay the road for a potential decade of Conservative rule."

    Smelling salts on standby.... :D
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    BTW and totally off topic, can it really be true that Big Fat Stan is set to receive around £1 million compesation from the F.A. after just two months work (if you can call overseeing one England game "work") and having supposedly resigned in disgrace .... words fail me!
  • Options
    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,799

    BTW and totally off topic, can it really be true that Big Fat Stan is set to receive around £1 million compesation from the F.A. after just two months work (if you can call overseeing one England game "work") and having supposedly resigned in disgrace .... words fail me!

    I don't know what sort of contracts are drawn up these days, but in my day 'Gross Misconduct' was 'here's a bin-bag for your stuff (carefully checked) and the door is over there'.......
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    FishingFishing Posts: 4,561
    An excellent thread, and an intuitively highly plausible argument. In the world of two large parties, which have a hope of forming a government, and three or four smaller parties, identifying and targeting swing voters must be more complicated than in the good old days of Worcester Woman and Mondeo Man.

    Perhaps there is another important consequence. In such a world, voters votting for smaller parties, who are essentially casting protest votes, are effectively disenfranchising themselves under FPTP.

    For example, like Northern Ireland decades ago, Scotland has completely opted out of having any influence on a UK government, except in the relatively rare event of a hung Parliament, and even then it is far from clear what influence they would have, as Coalition negotiations are unpredictable and non-transparent, as the example of the Lib Dems in 2010-5 shows. Any change will come through the Scottish Parliament, or through action outside the political process, like bombs in the old days in Northern Ireland (God forbid we go back to that) or threatening another referendum in Scotland. (Of course, many Scots seemed to feel ignored anyway when they were dominated by Labour, as they were taken for granted by that party).

    The same is evidently true, on a much smaller scale for the citizens of Clacton and Brighton.
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    In their very different ways, Mike Smithson and David Herdson seem to be bigging things up for Tim's Two Taxi Party. I fear they have a mighty long way to travel before they are of any meaningful relevance whatsoever.
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,799
    Mr Green bang on message:

    "We are building a country that works for everyone - not just the privileged few.

    "A key part of that is making sure that all those who are able to work are given the support and the opportunity to do so. But it also means ensuring that we give full and proper support to those who can't.

    "That includes sweeping away any unnecessary stress and bureaucracy - particularly for the most vulnerable in society".
    If someone has a disease which can only get worse then it doesn't make sense to ask them to turn up for repeated appointments.

    If their condition is not going to improve, it is not right to ask them to be tested time after time. So we will stop it.


    http://www.itv.com/news/2016-10-01/reassessments-to-be-scrapped-for-chronically-ill-benefit-claimins/

    Also seems eminently sensible reform.......
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,799
    More differentiation:

    Theresa May has brought in Tony Blair's former policy chief to carry out a review of employment practices aimed at improving job security and rights for "ordinary working people".

    Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the RSA, will look at whether regulations are keeping pace with the "radically" changing labour market in a shake-up that will "prioritise the interests of the growing army of people working in new ways".

    The focus on protections for workers is in stark contrast to predecessor David Cameron, who oversaw reforms of employment law to ensure that they would no longer be seen as a "barrier to growth".



    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-3816704/Blairs-ex-policy-chief-lead-employment-practices-review.html#ixzz4Lo0EGcPS
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    So what was the concern of all the lefties about May heading off into the bright right-wing blue yonder, with the exception of grammar schools she appears to be tacking in closer to a Blairite agenda than even Cameron was.
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    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 5,021
    edited October 2016

    In their very different ways, Mike Smithson and David Herdson seem to be bigging things up for Tim's Two Taxi Party. I fear they have a mighty long way to travel before they are of any meaningful relevance whatsoever.

    I think most people now feel 'they've suffered enough'. Had Lamb rather than Farron won the leadership the revival would definitely have started. Nevertheless, a good conference and a decent performance in Witney could generate significant momentum.
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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    There's a gap in the market. It won't be filled by the Lib Dems alone though because they're now irrelevant nationally. It won't be filled by a Labour breakaway either unless they work out what they want, as opposed to what they don't want.
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    DecrepitJohnLDecrepitJohnL Posts: 13,300
    Indigo said:

    So what was the concern of all the lefties about May heading off into the bright right-wing blue yonder, with the exception of grammar schools she appears to be tacking in closer to a Blairite agenda than even Cameron was.

    Surely it was the right who saw Theresa May as a re-embodiment of Mrs Thatcher, based mainly on a scripted joke at PMQs and wishful thinking.

    If we take Mrs May on her own words, she wants to return to One Nation Toryism. If we judge her on her actions in six years as Home Secretary, she will do nothing of note and fail to control immigration.
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    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 5,021
    Off topic on the Telegraph investigation. After the Allardyce expose, it's all been a bit of a damp squib. My conclusion: English Football is a lot less corrupt than I thought it was.
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    RobDRobD Posts: 59,018

    Indigo said:

    So what was the concern of all the lefties about May heading off into the bright right-wing blue yonder, with the exception of grammar schools she appears to be tacking in closer to a Blairite agenda than even Cameron was.

    Surely it was the right who saw Theresa May as a re-embodiment of Mrs Thatcher, based mainly on a scripted joke at PMQs and wishful thinking.

    If we take Mrs May on her own words, she wants to return to One Nation Toryism. If we judge her on her actions in six years as Home Secretary, she will do nothing of note and fail to control immigration.
    To be fair, there is only so much you can do while being a member of the EU.
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966

    If we take Mrs May on her own words, she wants to return to One Nation Toryism. If we judge her on her actions in six years as Home Secretary, she will do nothing of note and fail to control immigration.

    I suspect the later is more accurate, it's always better to judge people on what they do rather than what they say. I think she will prove to be another ineffectual managerialist, the type of which we have had rather too many of recently from all parties.
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    ThreeQuidderThreeQuidder Posts: 6,133

    The Lord said "Go Forth", but I came fifth (excluding RobD's duplicated post).

    You don't win a toaster either...
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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    Meanwhile, the Conservatives look ready for further instability:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-37517901

    Steering a course between these diehards and Ken Clarke with a majority of 12 is going to be extremely testing.
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    BromptonautBromptonaut Posts: 1,113

    There's a gap in the market. It won't be filled by the Lib Dems alone though because they're now irrelevant nationally. It won't be filled by a Labour breakaway either unless they work out what they want, as opposed to what they don't want.

    Then the gap won't be filled.
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 36,005
    No surprise really that there should be few switchers. Few Conservatives would find Corbyn attractive and Corbyn's supporters have a distinctive world outlook.
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,971

    Meanwhile, the Conservatives look ready for further instability:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-37517901

    Steering a course between these diehards and Ken Clarke with a majority of 12 is going to be extremely testing.

    Morning. Mrs May's attitude is most likely to be what prevails, but it is good that our European counterparts can see there's a growing number of people willing to be just as belligerent as some of the Eurocrats in the negotiations, to walk away to WTO terms.

    This is a sharp contrast to Cameron's attitude, with his excellent Bloomberg speech about EU reform being followed by a damp squib renegotiation, as his opponents already knew his final position would be to remain.
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    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,088
    At last a recognition of what I’ve been saying for a while; the last election was a two parter. Cons vs LD in England & Wales and Lab vs SNP in Scotland. And now, in E&W, at any rate the swingback is happening.

    Incidentally, I think suspect that Farron is being somewhat underrated by the metropolitan elite, perhaps, unkindly, because he’s a Northern lad who went to a Northern university, and because he’s a practising, and somewhat evangelical, Anglican.
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    FF43FF43 Posts: 15,811

    Indigo said:

    So what was the concern of all the lefties about May heading off into the bright right-wing blue yonder, with the exception of grammar schools she appears to be tacking in closer to a Blairite agenda than even Cameron was.

    Surely it was the right who saw Theresa May as a re-embodiment of Mrs Thatcher, based mainly on a scripted joke at PMQs and wishful thinking.

    If we take Mrs May on her own words, she wants to return to One Nation Toryism. If we judge her on her actions in six years as Home Secretary, she will do nothing of note and fail to control immigration.
    I think she will have to leave the EU. That's noteworthy
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    Sean_F said:

    Corbyn's supporters have a distinctive world outlook.

    https://twitter.com/telepolitics/status/782100015850237952
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    edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,157

    Meanwhile, the Conservatives look ready for further instability:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-37517901

    Steering a course between these diehards and Ken Clarke with a majority of 12 is going to be extremely testing.

    It's a minefield. May is already executing the appropriate strategy, which is to stand still.
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966

    Meanwhile, the Conservatives look ready for further instability:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-37517901

    Steering a course between these diehards and Ken Clarke with a majority of 12 is going to be extremely testing.

    It's a minefield. May is already executing the appropriate strategy, which is to stand still.
    How many die-in-a-ditch Euro-enthusiasts are there really on the Tory benches ? 2 ? 3 ? The vast majority of Tory MPs supporting remain are careerists and Cameron loyalists, who for the same reasons will become May Loyalists and moderate their positions rapidly.
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    logical_songlogical_song Posts: 9,732

    Meanwhile, the Conservatives look ready for further instability:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-37517901

    Steering a course between these diehards and Ken Clarke with a majority of 12 is going to be extremely testing.

    It's a minefield. May is already executing the appropriate strategy, which is to stand still.
    Maybe, but in order to get out of the minefield she will have to move.
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    logical_songlogical_song Posts: 9,732

    There's a gap in the market. It won't be filled by the Lib Dems alone though because they're now irrelevant nationally. It won't be filled by a Labour breakaway either unless they work out what they want, as opposed to what they don't want.

    But gaps do tend to get filled, don't they?
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    mattmatt Posts: 3,789

    Meanwhile, the Conservatives look ready for further instability:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-37517901

    Steering a course between these diehards and Ken Clarke with a majority of 12 is going to be extremely testing.

    It's a minefield. May is already executing the appropriate strategy, which is to stand still.
    It's the same names every time.
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    JackWJackW Posts: 14,787
    edited October 2016
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    mattmatt Posts: 3,789
    Sandpit said:

    Meanwhile, the Conservatives look ready for further instability:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-37517901

    Steering a course between these diehards and Ken Clarke with a majority of 12 is going to be extremely testing.

    Morning. Mrs May's attitude is most likely to be what prevails, but it is good that our European counterparts can see there's a growing number of people willing to be just as belligerent as some of the Eurocrats in the negotiations, to walk away to WTO terms.

    This is a sharp contrast to Cameron's attitude, with his excellent Bloomberg speech about EU reform being followed by a damp squib renegotiation, as his opponents already knew his final position would be to remain.
    Sandpit said:

    Meanwhile, the Conservatives look ready for further instability:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-37517901

    Steering a course between these diehards and Ken Clarke with a majority of 12 is going to be extremely testing.

    Morning. Mrs May's attitude is most likely to be what prevails, but it is good that our European counterparts can see there's a growing number of people willing to be just as belligerent as some of the Eurocrats in the negotiations, to walk away to WTO terms.

    This is a sharp contrast to Cameron's attitude, with his excellent Bloomberg speech about EU reform being followed by a damp squib renegotiation, as his opponents already knew his final position would be to remain.
    While past performance is rarely a guide to future performance, May appears to be unable to do either presentation or delivery. Externally that will not matter while Corbyn and Farron are with us. Internally, I doubt it it will satisfy the very right.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    BTW and totally off topic, can it really be true that Big Fat Stan is set to receive around £1 million compesation from the F.A. after just two months work (if you can call overseeing one England game "work") and having supposedly resigned in disgrace .... words fail me!

    I don't know what sort of contracts are drawn up these days, but in my day 'Gross Misconduct' was 'here's a bin-bag for your stuff (carefully checked) and the door is over there'.......
    With gross misconduct don't you still get a payment in lieu of notice (but nothing for loss of position)?
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    MortimerMortimer Posts: 13,956
    Morning all. Charming as Sarf Ken is on a Saturday morning before busy, it is bladdy freezing compared to Provence!
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    JackWJackW Posts: 14,787
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    MonksfieldMonksfield Posts: 2,238
    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,129
    RobD said:

    Indigo said:

    So what was the concern of all the lefties about May heading off into the bright right-wing blue yonder, with the exception of grammar schools she appears to be tacking in closer to a Blairite agenda than even Cameron was.

    Surely it was the right who saw Theresa May as a re-embodiment of Mrs Thatcher, based mainly on a scripted joke at PMQs and wishful thinking.

    If we take Mrs May on her own words, she wants to return to One Nation Toryism. If we judge her on her actions in six years as Home Secretary, she will do nothing of note and fail to control immigration.
    To be fair, there is only so much you can do while being a member of the EU.
    She completely failed with non EU immigration, which was entirely within our remit.
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    AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    Guess who appeared in a soft core porn movie in 2000?

    If you answered Donald Trump then you are the winner
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,799
    Charles said:

    BTW and totally off topic, can it really be true that Big Fat Stan is set to receive around £1 million compesation from the F.A. after just two months work (if you can call overseeing one England game "work") and having supposedly resigned in disgrace .... words fail me!

    I don't know what sort of contracts are drawn up these days, but in my day 'Gross Misconduct' was 'here's a bin-bag for your stuff (carefully checked) and the door is over there'.......
    With gross misconduct don't you still get a payment in lieu of notice (but nothing for loss of position)?
    If that's the case, sounds like Sam was on one year's notice!
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,129
    Charles said:

    BTW and totally off topic, can it really be true that Big Fat Stan is set to receive around £1 million compesation from the F.A. after just two months work (if you can call overseeing one England game "work") and having supposedly resigned in disgrace .... words fail me!

    I don't know what sort of contracts are drawn up these days, but in my day 'Gross Misconduct' was 'here's a bin-bag for your stuff (carefully checked) and the door is over there'.......
    With gross misconduct don't you still get a payment in lieu of notice (but nothing for loss of position)?
    You seem to know a lot about this...
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    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,528
    edited October 2016
    Indigo said:

    So what was the concern of all the lefties about May heading off into the bright right-wing blue yonder, with the exception of grammar schools she appears to be tacking in closer to a Blairite agenda than even Cameron was.

    Which of course also explains why she is doing the grammars. Pill and honey etc.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,014
    Good morning, everyone.

    Perhaps the last time I'll post this, but just six hours left to vote here:
    https://twitter.com/MorrisF1/status/781845030336094208
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    RobD said:

    Indigo said:

    So what was the concern of all the lefties about May heading off into the bright right-wing blue yonder, with the exception of grammar schools she appears to be tacking in closer to a Blairite agenda than even Cameron was.

    Surely it was the right who saw Theresa May as a re-embodiment of Mrs Thatcher, based mainly on a scripted joke at PMQs and wishful thinking.

    If we take Mrs May on her own words, she wants to return to One Nation Toryism. If we judge her on her actions in six years as Home Secretary, she will do nothing of note and fail to control immigration.
    To be fair, there is only so much you can do while being a member of the EU.
    She was completely ineffective in controlling non-EU migration (in 2015: 289 000 non EU migrants gross; 189 000 net as I recall, and only 13 000 deportations. No exit checks at UK air and sea ports).

    She had 6 years in which to do something to reduce this and completely failed. Either she is incompetent at her job or the forces of globalisation are to great for government to control. Humans are a migratory species.
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    RobD said:

    Indigo said:

    So what was the concern of all the lefties about May heading off into the bright right-wing blue yonder, with the exception of grammar schools she appears to be tacking in closer to a Blairite agenda than even Cameron was.

    Surely it was the right who saw Theresa May as a re-embodiment of Mrs Thatcher, based mainly on a scripted joke at PMQs and wishful thinking.

    If we take Mrs May on her own words, she wants to return to One Nation Toryism. If we judge her on her actions in six years as Home Secretary, she will do nothing of note and fail to control immigration.
    To be fair, there is only so much you can do while being a member of the EU.
    She was completely ineffective in controlling non-EU migration (in 2015: 289 000 non EU migrants gross; 189 000 net as I recall, and only 13 000 deportations. No exit checks at UK air and sea ports).

    She had 6 years in which to do something to reduce this and completely failed. Either she is incompetent at her job or the forces of globalisation are to great for government to control. Humans are a migratory species.
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    MortimerMortimer Posts: 13,956

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    His is in danger of becoming a wrongheaded meme like the '2010 LD switchers'.

    The reasons for voting LD, especially at local government level are, apparently, manifold, but those same reasons misunderstood and misapplied to national elections.
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    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,528

    At last a recognition of what I’ve been saying for a while; the last election was a two parter. Cons vs LD in England & Wales and Lab vs SNP in Scotland. And now, in E&W, at any rate the swingback is happening.

    Incidentally, I think suspect that Farron is being somewhat underrated by the metropolitan elite, perhaps, unkindly, because he’s a Northern lad who went to a Northern university, and because he’s a practising, and somewhat evangelical, Anglican.

    I agree. He is a decent guy who is as he seems, and doesn't do for political games and spin. During an election campaign and an era where people value authenticity that will be to his advantage,
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 36,005

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,428
    While this observation is true it is interesting how many Labour voters think May is the better PM. With Corbyn Labour are testing tribal loyalties to the limit and, as with have seen with US republicans, there are limits. I suspect that a Corbyn led GE campaign will see Labour fall below 30% even if those voters find the Tories a step too far.

    It is interesting how successful Ruth Davidson is being in Scotland in picking up disillusioned Labour supporters. The Conservatives should watch and learn.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,014
    F1: P3 done. Bit sleepy, but short rundown appears to be Hamilton's much quicker than Rosberg.

    However, as of yesterday, rain was possible for both qualifying and race, so that could make things go wonky.
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    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,528
    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
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    MortimerMortimer Posts: 13,956

    RobD said:

    Indigo said:

    So what was the concern of all the lefties about May heading off into the bright right-wing blue yonder, with the exception of grammar schools she appears to be tacking in closer to a Blairite agenda than even Cameron was.

    Surely it was the right who saw Theresa May as a re-embodiment of Mrs Thatcher, based mainly on a scripted joke at PMQs and wishful thinking.

    If we take Mrs May on her own words, she wants to return to One Nation Toryism. If we judge her on her actions in six years as Home Secretary, she will do nothing of note and fail to control immigration.
    To be fair, there is only so much you can do while being a member of the EU.
    She was completely ineffective in controlling non-EU migration (in 2015: 289 000 non EU migrants gross; 189 000 net as I recall, and only 13 000 deportations. No exit checks at UK air and sea ports).

    She had 6 years in which to do something to reduce this and completely failed. Either she is incompetent at her job or the forces of globalisation are to great for government to control. Humans are a migratory species.

    RobD said:

    Indigo said:

    So what was the concern of all the lefties about May heading off into the bright right-wing blue yonder, with the exception of grammar schools she appears to be tacking in closer to a Blairite agenda than even Cameron was.

    Surely it was the right who saw Theresa May as a re-embodiment of Mrs Thatcher, based mainly on a scripted joke at PMQs and wishful thinking.

    If we take Mrs May on her own words, she wants to return to One Nation Toryism. If we judge her on her actions in six years as Home Secretary, she will do nothing of note and fail to control immigration.
    To be fair, there is only so much you can do while being a member of the EU.
    She was completely ineffective in controlling non-EU migration (in 2015: 289 000 non EU migrants gross; 189 000 net as I recall, and only 13 000 deportations. No exit checks at UK air and sea ports).

    She had 6 years in which to do something to reduce this and completely failed. Either she is incompetent at her job or the forces of globalisation are to great for government to control. Humans are a migratory species.
    Or, third possibility, all external factors were ignored by the Cameroon project. Fooled me for a good few years; was the last budget that turned me against Osbornite interference in too many areas of govt.
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    MortimerMortimer Posts: 13,956
    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The other issue that too many here are forgetting is that many voted LD in strongly Tory areas as a proxy for Blairite centrism. That option is no longer there, but not too dissimilar to one nation Toryism.
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    edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,157

    Meanwhile, the Conservatives look ready for further instability:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-37517901

    Steering a course between these diehards and Ken Clarke with a majority of 12 is going to be extremely testing.

    It's a minefield. May is already executing the appropriate strategy, which is to stand still.
    Maybe, but in order to get out of the minefield she will have to move.
    No need to leave the minefield. Pitch a tent, put the kettle on, she has plenty of milk.
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    JackWJackW Posts: 14,787
    Alistair said:

    Guess who appeared in a soft core porn movie in 2000?

    If you answered Donald Trump then you are the winner

    That was a hard on(e) ...
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    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,528
    DavidL said:

    While this observation is true it is interesting how many Labour voters think May is the better PM. With Corbyn Labour are testing tribal loyalties to the limit and, as with have seen with US republicans, there are limits. I suspect that a Corbyn led GE campaign will see Labour fall below 30% even if those voters find the Tories a step too far.

    It is interesting how successful Ruth Davidson is being in Scotland in picking up disillusioned Labour supporters. The Conservatives should watch and learn.

    Labour will be slaughtered during a general election campaign; they are so divided that there is bound to be some big name who will put the boot in (as there was during 1983), not to mention Corbyn's history being all over the press and any gaffes.

    Picking up David's analysis from the header, there will be a lot of non-Tories unwilling to back Corbyn. In a GE it is unrealistic to suggest that all of them will stay at home. Thus there is the hopeful scenario for the LibDems, and a counter-argument to the suggestion that Farron is too left wing for the opportunity, which in the short term is on the centre-left, not the right.
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    MortimerMortimer Posts: 13,956
    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
    Or we misunderstood tactical voting - few non political types are strongly non- anything: tactical voting is a proxy for centrism. Mayism stays close to the centre because there be electoral gold there.
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    More differentiation:

    Theresa May has brought in Tony Blair's former policy chief to carry out a review of employment practices aimed at improving job security and rights for "ordinary working people".

    Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the RSA, will look at whether regulations are keeping pace with the "radically" changing labour market in a shake-up that will "prioritise the interests of the growing army of people working in new ways".

    The focus on protections for workers is in stark contrast to predecessor David Cameron, who oversaw reforms of employment law to ensure that they would no longer be seen as a "barrier to growth".



    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-3816704/Blairs-ex-policy-chief-lead-employment-practices-review.html#ixzz4Lo0EGcPS

    Dont think she will be inviting Beecroft around any time soon.

    When she was talking about the nasty party all those years ago she was talking about Osborne type flat tax, cut welfare for the terminally ill beecroftism.

    Dave and Gideon foolishly thought that if they were outwarly nice to monirities who suffered from isms and phobias that the Guardian et al obsess over, no one would notice if they abolished welfare and employment rights.

    No wonder she booted out Osborne so humiliatingly. Rarely are just desserts served up so brutally.
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    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,528
    edited October 2016
    Mortimer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
    Or we misunderstood tactical voting - few non political types are strongly non- anything: tactical voting is a proxy for centrism. Mayism stays close to the centre because there be electoral gold there.
    Having spent a lifetime canvassing for the LibDems, I struggle to see anything in my experience that would paint tactical voting in the way you describe. Are you an armchair analyst or is your suggestion based on your own experience? IME voters have a clearer picture of what they don't want than of what they do. Indeed, further, in the far off days of two-party politics, it was very common indeed that if you asked either a Tory supporter or a Labour Party supporter why they supported their party, within seconds they would be listing the negatives of the other party, which they would never vote for.
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    Shades of Lysyistrata in reverse.

    https://twitter.com/hrtbps/status/782100258977374208

    Cries of 'win, win!' throughout middle America.
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
    I think that is very possible with Tactical Voting, and Farron has the advantage here of being the most prominent anti-coalition LD.

    One thing that is implied in DH's excellent header is that the fates of Labour and LD are linked. When the vote of one goes up so does the vote of the other. In part this is tactical voting and in part it is that when people get sick of the Nasty party, they turn to whichever more suits their objections. For the last three decades the LDs have only won seats at GE in the same years that Labour has too. This does not bode well for us LDs in 2020.
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 36,005
    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
    That worked when the non-Tory element was Labour or Lib Dem. They could persuade Labour voters in, say North Cornwall or Torbay to vote Lib Dem to keep out the Tories. But, now much of the non-Tory vote is UKIP. The Tories can play the same game, telling UKIP voters to vote tactically to keep out the party that wants to reverse Brexit.

    That said, one other seat which the Lib Dems should target is Bath.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Sean_F said:

    No surprise really that there should be few switchers. Few Conservatives would find Corbyn attractive and Corbyn's supporters have a distinctive world outlook.

    It also applies to Miliband - but when Labour got 30% in the general election, arguably they are pretty close to the tribal vote (i.e. not Conservative) anyway.

    I don't think this analysis suggests increased polarisation in society - just that Labour is at bedrock. (How deep they can drill down into the bedrock is the interesting question)
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    DecrepitJohnLDecrepitJohnL Posts: 13,300

    BTW and totally off topic, can it really be true that Big Fat Stan is set to receive around £1 million compesation from the F.A. after just two months work (if you can call overseeing one England game "work") and having supposedly resigned in disgrace .... words fail me!

    As said before, compensation is to attract the next guy, not the one who is leaving.

    Fwiw I do not think Sam should ever have been appointed but the Telegraph exposed greed, not corruption. Sam went along expecting and wanting six figure speaking engagements, which he did say he'd need to clear with the FA, and though he talked about skirting round the third-party ownership laws, he was quick to correct the guy who crossed the line.

    Today's revelation that Harry Redknapp once managed a side who'd bet on itself winning a game is also pretty lame.

    There are worse rumours about both men but it looks like the Telegraph has no real evidence against either, though it may have caught a couple of minnows -- quick, without googling, name the assistant manager of Barnsley (and even he denies it).

    Let's wait and see what else the Telegraph has, including the names of the eight premier league managers allegedly at it, but so far they've damaged the national side for less than an MP's duck house.
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    MortimerMortimer Posts: 13,956
    IanB2 said:

    Mortimer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
    Or we misunderstood tactical voting - few non political types are strongly non- anything: tactical voting is a proxy for centrism. Mayism stays close to the centre because there be electoral gold there.
    Having spent a lifetime canvassing for the LibDems, I struggle to see anything in my experience that would paint tactical voting in the way you describe. Are you an armchair analyst or is your suggestion based on your own experience?
    15 years canvassing in a LD Tory marginal.

    2005 - didn't want Howard
    2010 - split between fear of change (voted LD) and desire for change (voted Tory)
    2015 - happy with status quo and real fears expressed of Sturgeon and Miliband

    If that isn't mere centrism, I don't know what is. It was a strong maj in 05, smallest LD maj
    Over Tory in 2010 and now has a romping 10k Tory maj.
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    Meanwhile, the Conservatives look ready for further instability:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-37517901

    Steering a course between these diehards and Ken Clarke with a majority of 12 is going to be extremely testing.

    Sigh. How many times does it have to be said.

    Real majority is 40 for any issue that matters.

    If you think the likes of Ian Paisley, Douglas Carswell and Nigel Dodds are going to come to the progressive lefts rescue you are deluding yourself.

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    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,528
    Mortimer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Mortimer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
    Or we misunderstood tactical voting - few non political types are strongly non- anything: tactical voting is a proxy for centrism. Mayism stays close to the centre because there be electoral gold there.
    Having spent a lifetime canvassing for the LibDems, I struggle to see anything in my experience that would paint tactical voting in the way you describe. Are you an armchair analyst or is your suggestion based on your own experience?
    15 years canvassing in a LD Tory marginal.

    2005 - didn't want Howard
    2010 - split between fear of change (voted LD) and desire for change (voted Tory)
    2015 - happy with status quo and real fears expressed of Sturgeon and Miliband

    If that isn't mere centrism, I don't know what is. It was a strong maj in 05, smallest LD maj
    Over Tory in 2010 and now has a romping 10k Tory maj.
    Read your own post: didnt want Howard. Fear of change. Didn't want Sturgeon and Miliband. All essentially negative reasons for a political preference, not centrism (whatever that might be) at all.
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    MortimerMortimer Posts: 13,956
    Whoops, make that 11 years!
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    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,528
    Mortimer said:

    Whoops, make that 11 years!

    OK! For the Tories, I presume? And you never came across the many people essentially motivated by the prospect of someone (anyone) else winning?
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    MonksfieldMonksfield Posts: 2,238
    edited October 2016
    Mortimer said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The other issue that too many here are forgetting is that many voted LD in strongly Tory areas as a proxy for Blairite centrism. That option is no longer there, but not too dissimilar to one nation Toryism.
    That may be so, but remember it only applies if the Tories are actually delivering one nation policies. Saying they are whilst doing the opposite will rapidly be seen through by the electorate.

    One nation includes the 48%

    Yesterdays comments about how those in their 30s are being screwed over relative to those in their 40s and above are highly relevant. Will the Tories do anything about it?
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    Charles said:

    BTW and totally off topic, can it really be true that Big Fat Stan is set to receive around £1 million compesation from the F.A. after just two months work (if you can call overseeing one England game "work") and having supposedly resigned in disgrace .... words fail me!

    I don't know what sort of contracts are drawn up these days, but in my day 'Gross Misconduct' was 'here's a bin-bag for your stuff (carefully checked) and the door is over there'.......
    With gross misconduct don't you still get a payment in lieu of notice (but nothing for loss of position)?
    If that's the case, sounds like Sam was on one year's notice!
    Very possible
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    Paul_BedfordshirePaul_Bedfordshire Posts: 3,632
    edited October 2016
    JackW said:
    So basically the opinion polls are all over the place and no one has the faintest idea what will happen.

    Hardly surprising as voting patterns will cut across usual demographic voting trends which makes baselining as easy as it was on the Brexit referendum.

    Where is the early declaring equivalent of Sunderland I wonder.

    It may be that, as with Brexit, the best value betting will be after the first results have been declared.
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    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,528
    Sean_F said:

    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
    That worked when the non-Tory element was Labour or Lib Dem. They could persuade Labour voters in, say North Cornwall or Torbay to vote Lib Dem to keep out the Tories. But, now much of the non-Tory vote is UKIP. The Tories can play the same game, telling UKIP voters to vote tactically to keep out the party that wants to reverse Brexit.

    That said, one other seat which the Lib Dems should target is Bath.
    If there is a flaw in David's header it is the apparently lazy assumption that UKIP voters are closest to the Tories, or are mainly ex-Tories. I thought we had moved on from that.
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,129
    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    I don't know anything about Colchester, and agree re South West London and SW England!

    My only caveat is that if UKIP remains strong in Cornwall/Devon, perhaps because Mrs May negotiates something less than full Brexit, then the Eurosceptic vote is split. In that scenario, the LibDems might sneak through the middle in a seat or two. (Especially if West country Labour voters are unenamoured with Mr Corbyn.)
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    AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670

    JackW said:
    So basically the opinion polls are all over the place and no one has the faintest idea what will happen.

    Not really, with the exception of the La Times tracker the national polls are all saying Clinton leads.
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    Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905
    "What that suggests is that the big boys, but especially Labour, need the also-rans to be performing fairly strongly. Without those parties being attractive enough to their rival’s supporters, the negative campaigning of old will be far less effective as voters might be disillusioned but find no real alternative home."


    This is interesting. I had thought that the apparent net movement in the polls represented an (admittedly modest) additional transfer of moderate Labour voters directly to the Conservatives in response to Corbyn, but perhaps I was mistaken?

    If so, then the fact that we have seen a lot of large Tory leads in the polls, and yet Ukip and especially the Lib Dems seem generally to be polling around their GE levels of support, suggests a good deal of churn. Might it be possible that - in the national polls at least - voters are flowing away from the Lib Dems and Ukip toward the Tories, and to the Lib Dems and Ukip from Labour, in roughly equal numbers?

    I know that the Lib Dems are doing well in all these little by-elections, but I remain to be convinced that a big national revival is on the cards. It's one thing making a protest vote; it's an altogether different matter when you're confronted with the choice of who's going to run the country.

    Southern voters deserted the Lib Dems in their millions to keep Ed Miliband locked out of No.10. Are all the Yellow Tories going to want to go back again when the party is led by a social democrat whom they fear (with full justification) would be willing to use his votes in the Commons to put the Far Left into power, both out of revenge and in the mistaken belief that his influence would significantly moderate their policies? Huge tax and spending rises and an open borders immigration policy would swiftly follow.

    Regardless, it's very hard to see how Labour wins, or the Tories lose, an election under current circumstances. If the flow of voters between the big two is as constricted as David Herdson believes it to be then Labour is already stuffed, for reputable analysis from the Fabians and others suggests that most of the votes Labour needs to get anywhere close to power again must be captured directly from the Tories. The Lib Dems are currently an unattractive place for centre-right votes to go, for reasons given above, there is no sign of this happening in the national VI polls, and they would need to start attracting very large swings away from the Tories to win back more than a small handful of seats. Ukip still appears to have a relatively low ceiling of support, and if it were to disappear then the likelihood has to be that its vote would fragment between Lab, Con and stay-at-home, giving no real advantage to anybody.

    It's hard to see Labour doing as well as EdM did last time, or the Tories doing significantly worse than they did under Cameron. Now, but especially under revised boundaries in 2020, the next election is very much May's to lose.
  • Options
    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    edited October 2016

    BTW and totally off topic, can it really be true that Big Fat Stan is set to receive around £1 million compesation from the F.A. after just two months work (if you can call overseeing one England game "work") and having supposedly resigned in disgrace .... words fail me!

    As said before, compensation is to attract the next guy, not the one who is leaving.

    Fwiw I do not think Sam should ever have been appointed but the Telegraph exposed greed, not corruption. Sam went along expecting and wanting six figure speaking engagements, which he did say he'd need to clear with the FA, and though he talked about skirting round the third-party ownership laws, he was quick to correct the guy who crossed the line.

    Today's revelation that Harry Redknapp once managed a side who'd bet on itself winning a game is also pretty lame.

    There are worse rumours about both men but it looks like the Telegraph has no real evidence against either, though it may have caught a couple of minnows -- quick, without googling, name the assistant manager of Barnsley (and even he denies it).

    Let's wait and see what else the Telegraph has, including the names of the eight premier league managers allegedly at it, but so far they've damaged the national side for less than an MP's duck house.
    The Barnsley Assistant Manager is Tommy Wright.

    He was a fans favourite on the wing for Leicester City, still fondly remembered.
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    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    If you think the likes of Ian Paisley, Douglas Carswell and Nigel Dodds are going to come to the progressive lefts rescue you are deluding yourself.

    Never mind them. Can Corbyn really rely on Gisella and Kate Hoey?
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,129
    Mortimer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Mortimer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
    Or we misunderstood tactical voting - few non political types are strongly non- anything: tactical voting is a proxy for centrism. Mayism stays close to the centre because there be electoral gold there.
    Having spent a lifetime canvassing for the LibDems, I struggle to see anything in my experience that would paint tactical voting in the way you describe. Are you an armchair analyst or is your suggestion based on your own experience?
    15 years canvassing in a LD Tory marginal.

    2005 - didn't want Howard
    2010 - split between fear of change (voted LD) and desire for change (voted Tory)
    2015 - happy with status quo and real fears expressed of Sturgeon and Miliband

    If that isn't mere centrism, I don't know what is. It was a strong maj in 05, smallest LD maj
    Over Tory in 2010 and now has a romping 10k Tory maj.
    Errr: your description of 2005 sounds very much like tactical voting to me.
  • Options
    taffys said:

    If you think the likes of Ian Paisley, Douglas Carswell and Nigel Dodds are going to come to the progressive lefts rescue you are deluding yourself.

    Never mind them. Can Corbyn really rely on Gisella and Kate Hoey?

    Quite.

    And Frank.
  • Options
    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 36,005
    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
    That worked when the non-Tory element was Labour or Lib Dem. They could persuade Labour voters in, say North Cornwall or Torbay to vote Lib Dem to keep out the Tories. But, now much of the non-Tory vote is UKIP. The Tories can play the same game, telling UKIP voters to vote tactically to keep out the party that wants to reverse Brexit.

    That said, one other seat which the Lib Dems should target is Bath.
    If there is a flaw in David's header it is the apparently lazy assumption that UKIP voters are closest to the Tories, or are mainly ex-Tories. I thought we had moved on from that.
    On issues like the EU or immigration, they are closest to the Tories. They also have a very low opinion of Corbyn.

    A Lib Dem MP with a large personal vote could overcome that, but there aren't any MP's left in the South West, and the new Conservative MP's have the chance to build up a personal vote.
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    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,528
    edited October 2016

    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
    I think that is very possible with Tactical Voting, and Farron has the advantage here of being the most prominent anti-coalition LD.

    One thing that is implied in DH's excellent header is that the fates of Labour and LD are linked. When the vote of one goes up so does the vote of the other. In part this is tactical voting and in part it is that when people get sick of the Nasty party, they turn to whichever more suits their objections. For the last three decades the LDs have only won seats at GE in the same years that Labour has too. This does not bode well for us LDs in 2020.
    Historically, going way back (pretty much to WWII) the liberals have always done better when the Tories are unpopular, either when they are in power and unpopular, or completely down and out as they were under Hague and IDS. Hence 1974 was hopeful and 1979 disappointing. When Labour is unpopular a proportion of their voters are prepared to back a one nation Tory (although to be fair the pattern is as much to do with FPTP and where the votes are, than individual preferences).

    Which supports your point, and is actually a reason why the key issue for Conervative prospects is that extent to which May can maintain her one nation positioning against her activists (and some of her own instincts) and with Brexit going on in the background.
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    alex.alex. Posts: 4,658

    BTW and totally off topic, can it really be true that Big Fat Stan is set to receive around £1 million compesation from the F.A. after just two months work (if you can call overseeing one England game "work") and having supposedly resigned in disgrace .... words fail me!

    As said before, compensation is to attract the next guy, not the one who is leaving.

    Fwiw I do not think Sam should ever have been appointed but the Telegraph exposed greed, not corruption. Sam went along expecting and wanting six figure speaking engagements, which he did say he'd need to clear with the FA, and though he talked about skirting round the third-party ownership laws, he was quick to correct the guy who crossed the line.

    Today's revelation that Harry Redknapp once managed a side who'd bet on itself winning a game is also pretty lame.

    There are worse rumours about both men but it looks like the Telegraph has no real evidence against either, though it may have caught a couple of minnows -- quick, without googling, name the assistant manager of Barnsley (and even he denies it).

    Let's wait and see what else the Telegraph has, including the names of the eight premier league managers allegedly at it, but so far they've damaged the national side for less than an MP's duck house.
    The Barnsley Assistant Manager is Tommy Wright.

    He was a fans favourite on the wing for Leicester City, still fondly remembered.
    Well the source of the "eight managers" allegation has now challenged the truth of this, so I doubt this will see the light of day.
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 36,005
    Alistair said:

    JackW said:
    So basically the opinion polls are all over the place and no one has the faintest idea what will happen.

    Not really, with the exception of the La Times tracker the national polls are all saying Clinton leads.
    Gravis and UPI have the candidates tied, but overall, Clinton is about 4% ahead.
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    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,528
    Sean_F said:

    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
    That worked when the non-Tory element was Labour or Lib Dem. They could persuade Labour voters in, say North Cornwall or Torbay to vote Lib Dem to keep out the Tories. But, now much of the non-Tory vote is UKIP. The Tories can play the same game, telling UKIP voters to vote tactically to keep out the party that wants to reverse Brexit.

    That said, one other seat which the Lib Dems should target is Bath.
    If there is a flaw in David's header it is the apparently lazy assumption that UKIP voters are closest to the Tories, or are mainly ex-Tories. I thought we had moved on from that.
    On issues like the EU or immigration, they are closest to the Tories. They also have a very low opinion of Corbyn.

    A Lib Dem MP with a large personal vote could overcome that, but there aren't any MP's left in the South West, and the new Conservative MP's have the chance to build up a personal vote.
    In policy terms they are undoubtedly closest to the Tories as a political organisation. But that doesn't mean that, as to a great extent a protest vote, their supporters are all Tory swing voters.
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548

    JackW said:
    So basically the opinion polls are all over the place and no one has the faintest idea what will happen.

    Hardly surprising as voting patterns will cut across usual demographic voting trends which makes baselining as easy as it was on the Brexit referendum.

    Where is the early declaring equivalent of Sunderland I wonder.

    It may be that, as with Brexit, the best value betting will be after the first results have been declared.
    Not really. Pretty much all the polls have swung towards Clinton this week. The LA times tracker has some odd demographics (33% of Hispanics supporting Trump. Perhaps oversampling unemployed Mexican wall builders!). Even the LA times sample predicts the result as a Clinton win by 49-46.

    I think in 2012 Indiana was the US Sunderland. It is pretty safe for the Republicans, but a win by only 3-4% would be the pivot point in my rough estimate. If Trump wins by less then that then pile on Clinton, with the best value probably to be found on the states markets.

    DYOR! as always.
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    MortimerMortimer Posts: 13,956
    rcs1000 said:

    Mortimer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Mortimer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
    Or we misunderstood tactical voting - few non political types are strongly non- anything: tactical voting is a proxy for centrism. Mayism stays close to the centre because there be electoral gold there.
    Having spent a lifetime canvassing for the LibDems, I struggle to see anything in my experience that would paint tactical voting in the way you describe. Are you an armchair analyst or is your suggestion based on your own experience?
    15 years canvassing in a LD Tory marginal.

    2005 - didn't want Howard
    2010 - split between fear of change (voted LD) and desire for change (voted Tory)
    2015 - happy with status quo and real fears expressed of Sturgeon and Miliband

    If that isn't mere centrism, I don't know what is. It was a strong maj in 05, smallest LD maj
    Over Tory in 2010 and now has a romping 10k Tory maj.
    Errr: your description of 2005 sounds very much like tactical voting to me.
    Tricky one that - also suggests centrism doesn't it. Could be a mix of the two I suppose...
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    BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 8,008
    edited October 2016
    IanB2 said:

    Mortimer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
    Or we misunderstood tactical voting - few non political types are strongly non- anything: tactical voting is a proxy for centrism. Mayism stays close to the centre because there be electoral gold there.
    Having spent a lifetime canvassing for the LibDems, I struggle to see anything in my experience that would paint tactical voting in the way you describe. Are you an armchair analyst or is your suggestion based on your own experience? IME voters have a clearer picture of what they don't want than of what they do. Indeed, further, in the far off days of two-party politics, it was very common indeed that if you asked either a Tory supporter or a Labour Party supporter why they supported their party, within seconds they would be listing the negatives of the other party, which they would never vote for.
    That's my experience too.

    It's far easier to get someone fired up against something than for something.

    Imagine trying to get someone fired up for the EU, or for expertise and experience.
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    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,528
    edited October 2016



    If so, then the fact that we have seen a lot of large Tory leads in the polls, and yet Ukip and especially the Lib Dems seem generally to be polling around their GE levels of support, suggests a good deal of churn. Might it be possible that - in the national polls at least - voters are flowing away from the Lib Dems and Ukip toward the Tories, and to the Lib Dems and Ukip from Labour, in roughly equal numbers?

    I know that the Lib Dems are doing well in all these little by-elections, but I remain to be convinced that a big national revival is on the cards. It's one thing making a protest vote; it's an altogether different matter when you're confronted with the choice of who's going to run the country.

    Southern voters deserted the Lib Dems in their millions to keep Ed Miliband locked out of No.10. Are all the Yellow Tories going to want to go back again when the party is led by a social democrat whom they fear (with full justification) would be willing to use his votes in the Commons to put the Far Left into power, both out of revenge and in the mistaken belief that his influence would significantly moderate their policies? Huge tax and spending rises and an open borders immigration policy would swiftly follow.

    Regardless, it's very hard to see how Labour wins, or the Tories lose, an election under current circumstances. If the flow of voters between the big two is as constricted as David Herdson believes it to be then Labour is already stuffed, for reputable analysis from the Fabians and others suggests that most of the votes Labour needs to get anywhere close to power again must be captured directly from the Tories. The Lib Dems are currently an unattractive place for centre-right votes to go, for reasons given above, there is no sign of this happening in the national VI polls, and they would need to start attracting very large swings away from the Tories to win back more than a small handful of seats. Ukip still appears to have a relatively low ceiling of support, and if it were to disappear then the likelihood has to be that its vote would fragment between Lab, Con and stay-at-home, giving no real advantage to anybody.

    It's hard to see Labour doing as well as EdM did last time, or the Tories doing significantly worse than they did under Cameron. Now, but especially under revised boundaries in 2020, the next election is very much May's to lose.

    To go-to point in your post is that fear of Labour drives many voters to the Tories. I think you are right that Corybn may in that sense represent a significant inhibitor to people voting LibDem (which may in part explain their national poll rating being stuck so low). So the question becomes, will this be any different if it is obvious before the campaign begins that Corbyn cannot win?

    Arguably Dave's big advantage in 2015 rested solely upon the (false) assumption that Miliband might win (or at least come close)
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,129
    Sean_F said:

    Alistair said:

    JackW said:
    So basically thehe opinion polls are all over the place and no one has the faintest idea what will happen.

    Not really, with the exception of the La Times tracker the national polls are all saying Clinton leads.
    Gravis and UPI have the candidates tied, but overall, Clinton is about 4% ahead.
    It's a fascinating contest.

    I struggle with Trump; I understand the (rightful) well of anger he's tapped in to. But find him an even more flawed personality than Clinton: what he says about women and young girls makes my skin crawl, and his views on whether a Judge of Hispanic origin could be impartial seem more 1950s that 2016. There seems no shortage of evidence that he lies as much as "crooked Hillary", and his claims in the Republican debate about a casino development in Florida flatly contradict those he gave under oath. (It seems richly ironic, then, that he's chosen to make the contest about honesty.)

    If a forced choice, I would go for Hillary. But, really, I'd rather Kasich or Bush or almost any other Republican were on the ticket.
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    alex. said:

    BTW and totally off topic, can it really be true that Big Fat Stan is set to receive around £1 million compesation from the F.A. after just two months work (if you can call overseeing one England game "work") and having supposedly resigned in disgrace .... words fail me!

    As said before, compensation is to attract the next guy, not the one who is leaving.

    Fwiw I do not think Sam should ever have been appointed but the Telegraph exposed greed, not corruption. Sam went along expecting and wanting six figure speaking engagements, which he did say he'd need to clear with the FA, and though he talked about skirting round the third-party ownership laws, he was quick to correct the guy who crossed the line.

    Today's revelation that Harry Redknapp once managed a side who'd bet on itself winning a game is also pretty lame.

    There are worse rumours about both men but it looks like the Telegraph has no real evidence against either, though it may have caught a couple of minnows -- quick, without googling, name the assistant manager of Barnsley (and even he denies it).

    Let's wait and see what else the Telegraph has, including the names of the eight premier league managers allegedly at it, but so far they've damaged the national side for less than an MP's duck house.
    The Barnsley Assistant Manager is Tommy Wright.

    He was a fans favourite on the wing for Leicester City, still fondly remembered.
    Well the source of the "eight managers" allegation has now challenged the truth of this, so I doubt this will see the light of day.
    Football transfers have always been dodgy. As a fan I am really not that bothered, as long as my team wins. Football economics are not in the real world.
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    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,528
    Barnesian said:

    IanB2 said:

    Mortimer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Interesting analysis and seems about right to me, David.

    In this context I think the Tories should fear a Lib Dem revival below the Severn/Wash line. If Brexit takes the wrong direction, there are lots of opportunities for recapturing territory - the Sturgeon gambit won't wash again if the Tories look like they're leading us into Hard Brexit chaos.

    I think the Lib Dems could come back rapidly in SW London and Colchester. I don't see any prospects for them in SW England, for the forseeable future. They'd have to win back votes from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour, which will be very hard. The Tories now have some huge majorities in that region, with a split opposition.

    The big issue though is Corbyn. While he's in place, middle of the road voters will stick with the Conservatives, in marginal seats.
    The key to the sW is tactical voting - the non-Tory element of the local electorate simply needs to realise (remember) that in their part of the world it is LibDem or Tory. As the government becomes more unpopular and as Brexit fails to deliver apples for all, that isn't so unrealistic?
    Or we misunderstood tactical voting - few non political types are strongly non- anything: tactical voting is a proxy for centrism. Mayism stays close to the centre because there be electoral gold there.
    Having spent a lifetime canvassing for the LibDems, I struggle to see anything in my experience that would paint tactical voting in the way you describe. Are you an armchair analyst or is your suggestion based on your own experience? IME voters have a clearer picture of what they don't want than of what they do. Indeed, further, in the far off days of two-party politics, it was very common indeed that if you asked either a Tory supporter or a Labour Party supporter why they supported their party, within seconds they would be listing the negatives of the other party, which they would never vote for.
    That's my experience too.

    It's far easier to get someone fired up against something than for something.

    Imagine trying to get someone fired up for the EU, or for expertise and experience.
    I suspect it all goes back to hating the tribe over the hill who keep taking all our food.
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    ThreeQuidderThreeQuidder Posts: 6,133

    Meanwhile, the Conservatives look ready for further instability:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-37517901

    Steering a course between these diehards and Ken Clarke with a majority of 12 is going to be extremely testing.

    Sigh. How many times does it have to be said.

    Real majority is 40 for any issue that matters.

    If you think the likes of Ian Paisley, Douglas Carswell and Nigel Dodds are going to come to the progressive lefts rescue you are deluding yourself.

    In any case, I fail to see how a party which has 328 seats out of the 640 members eligible to vote has a majority of 12.
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