As a minority government I think it's half-a-crown (aka two and a kick - two fingers from Alan Duncan and a kick up the arse from Hammond) before he accepts the Queen's shilling.
I note the ridiculous Hogan-Howe now sits in the House of Lords. And Steve Roundhouse, one of the senior officers involved in ‘credible and true’ is now DG Operations at the National Crime Agency.
Failing upward.
A lot of policemen are just not very good, very second-rate in fact.
A lot of people in public life are second-rate, at best.
Does this come as a surprise to you?
No. But advancement on the back of public disgrace grates a little.
Whilst I don't like Tom Watson, and he partly was motivated by political spite in this matter, the blame really does lie almost wholly with the police.
If someone comes to you with very serious allegations, you really can do nothing else but encourage them to take them to the police.
It is beyond shocking that all the senior Plods have been promoted, or moved on to more prestigious appointments, or allowed to retire without censure or criticism.
I see three Junior Plods are still facing disciplinary action -- I am sure they will be made an example of -- but how very typical of modern Britain that all the Senior Plods have moved onwards and upwards.
I note the ridiculous Hogan-Howe now sits in the House of Lords. And Steve Roundhouse, one of the senior officers involved in ‘credible and true’ is now DG Operations at the National Crime Agency.
Failing upward.
A lot of policemen are just not very good, very second-rate in fact.
A lot of people in public life are second-rate, at best.
Does this come as a surprise to you?
No. But advancement on the back of public disgrace grates a little.
Whilst I don't like Tom Watson, and he partly was motivated by political spite in this matter, the blame really does lie almost wholly with the police.
If someone comes to you with very serious allegations, you really can do nothing else but encourage them to take them to the police.
It is beyond shocking that all the senior Plods have been promoted, or moved on to more prestigious appointments, or allowed to retire without censure or criticism.
I see three Junior Plods are still facing disciplinary action -- I am sure they will be made an example of -- but how very typical of modern Britain that all the Senior Plods have moved onwards and upwards.
Just like the Bankers.
I find it astonishing that Cressida Dick was thought a suitable person to lead the Met after the Menezes fiasco both in the killing and then the ducking and diving about responsibility afterwards. What sort of a lesson were our oh so political cops supposed to take from that?
I note the ridiculous Hogan-Howe now sits in the House of Lords. And Steve Roundhouse, one of the senior officers involved in ‘credible and true’ is now DG Operations at the National Crime Agency.
Failing upward.
A lot of policemen are just not very good, very second-rate in fact.
A lot of people in public life are second-rate, at best.
Does this come as a surprise to you?
and it's different in say journalism or banking ?
It isn't. The number of good and impressive people in lots of sectors is smaller than you would like. But public life and journalism and banking seem to attract a lot of people whose main talent is talking about how wonderful they are rather than actual achievements or skills.
I really cannot recall an ascension of a PM even remotely like this one. I think most people knew that Brown was going to be a disaster in advance but he had a honeymoon, a reasonably united/cowed party and of course a majority.
Boris is taking office with a paper majority (assuming the DUP play nice) of 2-3 but in reality it is obvious from day 1 that he cannot rely upon a significant strand of his own party, just as May couldn't before him. What on earth is he going to do?
Surely he needs to reach out to as many strands of his own party as will give him the time of day. Keeping Hunt as FS would be an obvious starting place. Asking Rory to reconsider is worth the rebuff. Not appointing people who are hated by minority sections of the party for their disloyalty and obsessions makes some sense.
But none of it works. When you have the likes of the absurd Duncan, the obsessed Grieve, the more than semi detached Greening, the I'm really interesting , I just hide it really well Hammond, you could go on most of the day, you are well short of a majority. The only sane thing to do is to identify the battlefield you want to fight on and then contrive a GE. Boris will not be PM in any practical sense until he has had such an election and won it. Which may never happen of course.
Thst appears to be what he is doing. Hes waiting for parliament to stop him leaving then fight a GE to save Brexit hoping it will work unlike 2017 as he can show it really is him or no Brexit.
Rumours that one of the three ex-Tory TIGs (i.e. Heidi or Sarah, now) is about to join the LibDems continue to circulate..
There'll be doing it one by one to maximise the impact.
Does that really work? Maybe it's me, but a group going all at once hits home harder. Going one by one just creates questions as to what the others are waiting for and makes me think they are not actually keen on the switch.
Five hours to go until I lose about £250, what a silly idea was it to keep laying the favourite for two and a half years!
If it is any consolation, you are not alone.
I’m sure there will be a few quiet PBers today. Betting strategies always work until they don’t!
What’s really annoying is that I had a brilliant cricket World Cup, won enough for a decent holiday and had to pile it all on Boris at 1/5 or 1/10 to minimise the losses.
On the positive side, the next Tory leader market will be open again this afternoon, with a blank book and probably not too long until the contest
I laid the favourite consistently. I am making a four figure sum today. It turns out that realising your error quickly enough is almost as useful a skill as being right in the first place.
It also helps that Boris Johnson was not the only favourite in that period and there were some ludicrously priced runners at various stages.
How many favourites did you end up laying?
I think I can remember: Rees-Mogg, Davis, Gove and Johnson, of course. Were Raab or Javid ever favourite?
Treating the next Prime Minister market as paired with this one, Jeremy Corbyn too.
My big money makers were Jeremy Corbyn, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Andrea Leadsom, Rory Stewart and David Lidington. Nigel Farage had a flowering for next Prime Minister too that I was happy to sell to. Having got on Jeremy Hunt at long odds, I was able to sell some of that at a big profit. I made a bit from most of the original hopefuls in the story leadership race by selling their delusions. This more than compensated for getting Boris Johnson wrong.
However, I would really welcome a few more Conservative MPs following Sir Alan Duncan’s principled lead. Boris Johnson not being next Prime Minister would turn a nice payout into a bonanza.
I guess this afternoon is when we find out if those Tory MPs who said they couldn’t countenance Boris as PM, have the guts to actually resign the whip and stop Mrs May going to see HMQ tomorrow. It only needs a couple, or the DUP, to make it happen as we’ve discussed on here before.
Yes, not-Boris as next PM turns a loss into a bigger win for me.
I really cannot recall an ascension of a PM even remotely like this one. I think most people knew that Brown was going to be a disaster in advance but he had a honeymoon, a reasonably united/cowed party and of course a majority.
Boris is taking office with a paper majority (assuming the DUP play nice) of 2-3 but in reality it is obvious from day 1 that he cannot rely upon a significant strand of his own party, just as May couldn't before him. What on earth is he going to do?
Surely he needs to reach out to as many strands of his own party as will give him the time of day. Keeping Hunt as FS would be an obvious starting place. Asking Rory to reconsider is worth the rebuff. Not appointing people who are hated by minority sections of the party for their disloyalty and obsessions makes some sense.
But none of it works. When you have the likes of the absurd Duncan, the obsessed Grieve, the more than semi detached Greening, the I'm really interesting , I just hide it really well Hammond, you could go on most of the day, you are well short of a majority. The only sane thing to do is to identify the battlefield you want to fight on and then contrive a GE. Boris will not be PM in any practical sense until he has had such an election and won it. Which may never happen of course.
The honeymoon arises mostly from the change - seeing the back of the tired incumbent and the refreshing novelty of focusing on somebody new. And of course the usual noteworthiness of their acceptance speech (despite the track record of nothing promised in Downing Street ever coming to pass) and the appointment of their team.
Bozo is enough of a showperson that I expect he'll have a few eye-catching announcements over coming days that will ensure the headlines and probably deliver a bounce. Unless he makes a complete tit of himself, and us all, with his appointments, of course.
I really cannot recall an ascension of a PM even remotely like this one. I think most people knew that Brown was going to be a disaster in advance but he had a honeymoon, a reasonably united/cowed party and of course a majority.
Boris is taking office with a paper majority (assuming the DUP play nice) of 2-3 but in reality it is obvious from day 1 that he cannot rely upon a significant strand of his own party, just as May couldn't before him. What on earth is he going to do?
Surely he needs to reach out to as many strands of his own party as will give him the time of day. Keeping Hunt as FS would be an obvious starting place. Asking Rory to reconsider is worth the rebuff. Not appointing people who are hated by minority sections of the party for their disloyalty and obsessions makes some sense.
But none of it works. When you have the likes of the absurd Duncan, the obsessed Grieve, the more than semi detached Greening, the I'm really interesting , I just hide it really well Hammond, you could go on most of the day, you are well short of a majority. The only sane thing to do is to identify the battlefield you want to fight on and then contrive a GE. Boris will not be PM in any practical sense until he has had such an election and won it. Which may never happen of course.
Thst appears to be what he is doing. Hes waiting for parliament to stop him leaving then fight a GE to save Brexit hoping it will work unlike 2017 as he can show it really is him or no Brexit.
Another attraction of a GE is that a number of May's zombies are surely likely to stand down and can be replaced with loyalists (if such a thing still exists in the modern Tory party).
Five hours to go until I lose about £250, what a silly idea was it to keep laying the favourite for two and a half years!
If it is any consolation, you are not alone.
I’m sure there will be a few quiet PBers today. Betting strategies always work until they don’t!
What’s really annoying is that I had a brilliant cricket World Cup, won enough for a decent holiday and had to pile it all on Boris at 1/5 or 1/10 to minimise the losses.
On the positive side, the next Tory leader market will be open again this afternoon, with a blank book and probably not too long until the contest
I laid the favourite consistently. I am making a four figure sum today. It turns out that realising your error quickly enough is almost as useful a skill as being right in the first place.
It also helps that Boris Johnson was not the only favourite in that period and there were some ludicrously priced runners at various stages.
A modest three figure sum for me, but no less welcome for that. It’s a four figure sum if Hunt somehow manages it but that’s vanishingly unlikely.
As soon as Boris looked a very strong runner with the MPs I reversed my position and clawed it back, helped by laying Stewart and, in particular, Leadsom who was ludicrously short for a significant period of time.
Yes, once the mps turned his status as favourite was assured. Prior to that even some of his allies worried hence their wanting the rules changed to accommodate him, but when mps gave up and decided they needed to gamble on him it was all over for the others.
Whether you won or lost on Boris, everybody should be able to thank Leadsom's backer for improving their book
I note the ridiculous Hogan-Howe now sits in the House of Lords. And Steve Roundhouse, one of the senior officers involved in ‘credible and true’ is now DG Operations at the National Crime Agency.
Failing upward.
A lot of policemen are just not very good, very second-rate in fact.
A lot of people in public life are second-rate, at best.
Does this come as a surprise to you?
and it's different in say journalism or banking ?
It isn't. The number of good and impressive people in lots of sectors is smaller than you would like. But public life and journalism and banking seem to attract a lot of people whose main talent is talking about how wonderful they are rather than actual achievements or skills.
And not having that talent to talk about how wonderful you are is probably a real hindrance.. for all our supposed cynicism, if someone is confident and acts like they are hot shit, we tend to believe them.
Reminds me of that recent story about the expert witness who hadn't even read a book on the subject.
I really cannot recall an ascension of a PM even remotely like this one. I think most people knew that Brown was going to be a disaster in advance but he had a honeymoon, a reasonably united/cowed party and of course a majority.
Boris is taking office with a paper majority (assuming the DUP play nice) of 2-3 but in reality it is obvious from day 1 that he cannot rely upon a significant strand of his own party, just as May couldn't before him. What on earth is he going to do?
Surely he needs to reach out to as many strands of his own party as will give him the time of day. Keeping Hunt as FS would be an obvious starting place. Asking Rory to reconsider is worth the rebuff. Not appointing people who are hated by minority sections of the party for their disloyalty and obsessions makes some sense.
But none of it works. When you have the likes of the absurd Duncan, the obsessed Grieve, the more than semi detached Greening, the I'm really interesting , I just hide it really well Hammond, you could go on most of the day, you are well short of a majority. The only sane thing to do is to identify the battlefield you want to fight on and then contrive a GE. Boris will not be PM in any practical sense until he has had such an election and won it. Which may never happen of course.
Thst appears to be what he is doing. Hes waiting for parliament to stop him leaving then fight a GE to save Brexit hoping it will work unlike 2017 as he can show it really is him or no Brexit.
Another attraction of a GE is that a number of May's zombies are surely likely to stand down and can be replaced with loyalists (if such a thing still exists in the modern Tory party).
Not sure they want loyalists. People who voted Tory in the euros are not real tories after all, only BXP backers are.
It's depressing how far this thread has wandered from Mike Smithson's intro about Brecon & Radnor.
Because, if the Number Cruncher Politics poll proves accurate - and it confirms my own impression from canvassing in the constituency - Mike's pointing out an existential crisis in the Brexit Party, and in the political analysis underpinning Johnson's rise to Tory power.
The Brexit Party fouled up its chances in Peterborough through its inability to campaign. Though it's had months to prepare a campaign in B&R, it's clearly repeating there its shambolic inability to organise a political campaign in friendly territory. Instead, by splitting the Tory vote, it's handed a seat to the LibDems the Tories would have kept if Farage and Tice had a scintilla of political acumen between them and kept away from B&R.
Carry on like this, and the Brexit pair of loud-mouth public school morons (essentially Johnsons without an education) will hand Labour Dover as well. And in the inevitable GE, will hand Labour and the LibDems/Greens the vast majority of Tory seats without returning a single Brexit Party MP.
F&T claim as many subscription-paying supporters as the LibDems. Yet, over the past two months, the LibDems have found the people to create real manifestos in thousands of council seats and hundreds of Euro slots, to canvass for their local, Westminster and Euro candidates - and increase their Euro share in national and by-election opinion polls. F&T are looking at Brexit Party poll results around half where they were before the Euros: and a succession of elections since May 23 with zero real effort from their supporters.
Farage & Tice understand just one management philosophy: how to run small property businesses. The past 20 years have shown us that philosophy translates well into rabble-rousing about political grievances (and making personal wealth out of it) - but it's a hopeless model for getting candidates elected to political office, and the structure of The Brexit Party makes it impossible for them to adopt any other model. Above all: in Britain, real politics needs motivated activists, and neither F nor T have the foggiest how to attract any.
Their test this coming Thursday of fielding candidates for Gloucester Town Council might show they've moved on - but the evidence on the ground so far is that they've not. Two months after the Euro elections, Farage and Tice seem doomed to repeat the failures of UKIP - but this time, destroy the Tory Party at the same time.
In a year's time, we Remainers will be celebrating the massive contribution the two arch-shysters' incompetence will have made to keeping Britain securely - and permanently - in the safety of the Single Market.
Rumours that one of the three ex-Tory TIGs (i.e. Heidi or Sarah, now) is about to join the LibDems continue to circulate..
There'll be doing it one by one to maximise the impact.
Why do they want to maximise the impact? At this point it's more of a walk of shame for them, wouldn't they be more focussed on minimising the embarassment?
It's depressing how far this thread has wandered from Mike Smithson's intro about Brecon & Radnor.
Because, if the Number Cruncher Politics poll proves accurate - and it confirms my own impression from canvassing in the constituency - Mike's pointing out an existential crisis in the Brexit Party, and in the political analysis underpinning Johnson's rise to Tory power.
The Brexit Party fouled up its chances in them and kept away from B&R.
Carry on like this, and the Brexit pair of loud-mouth public school morons (essentially Johnsons without an education) will hand Labour Dover as well. And in the inevitable GE, will hand Labour and the LibDems/Greens the vast majority of Tory seats without returning a single Brexit Party MP.
F&T claim as many subscription-paying supporters as the LibDems. Yet, over the past two months, the LibDems have found the people to create real manifestos in thousands of council seats and hundreds of Euro slots, to canvass for their local, Westminster and Euro candidates - and increase their Euro share in national and by-election opinion polls. F&T are looking at Brexit Party poll results around half where they were before the Euros: and a succession of elections since May 23 with zero real effort from their supporters.
Farage & Tice understand just one management philosophy: how to run small property businesses. The past 20 years have shown us that philosophy translates well into rabble-rousing about political grievances (and making personal wealth out of it) - but it's a hopeless model for getting candidates elected to political office, and the structure of The Brexit Party makes it impossible for them to adopt any other model. Above all: in Britain, real politics needs motivated activists, and neither F nor T have the foggiest how to attract any.
Their test this coming Thursday of fielding candidates for Gloucester Town Council might show they've moved on - but the evidence on the ground so far is that they've not. Two months after the Euro elections, Farage and Tice seem doomed to repeat the failures of UKIP - but this time, destroy the Tory Party at the same time.
In a year's time, we Remainers will be celebrating the massive contribution the two arch-shysters' incompetence will have made to keeping Britain securely - and permanently - in the safety of the Single Market.
Its not discussed as the outcome doesnt look hugely variable.
Brexiteers have been the best friend remain could have. Without them the Brexiters would have just been enough to see us leave and BXP not rise, and without BXP the Tories might even have had a chance.
I note the ridiculous Hogan-Howe now sits in the House of Lords. And Steve Roundhouse, one of the senior officers involved in ‘credible and true’ is now DG Operations at the National Crime Agency.
Failing upward.
A lot of policemen are just not very good, very second-rate in fact.
A lot of people in public life are second-rate, at best.
Does this come as a surprise to you?
No. But advancement on the back of public disgrace grates a little.
Whilst I don't like Tom Watson, and he partly was motivated by political spite in this matter, the blame really does lie almost wholly with the police.
If someone comes to you with very serious allegations, you really can do nothing else but encourage them to take them to the police.
It is beyond shocking that all the senior Plods have been promoted, or moved on to more prestigious appointments, or allowed to retire without censure or criticism.
I see three Junior Plods are still facing disciplinary action -- I am sure they will be made an example of -- but how very typical of modern Britain that all the Senior Plods have moved onwards and upwards.
Just like the Bankers.
I find it astonishing that Cressida Dick was thought a suitable person to lead the Met after the Menezes fiasco both in the killing and then the ducking and diving about responsibility afterwards. What sort of a lesson were our oh so political cops supposed to take from that?
That was the most astonishing of appointments, given her history. Anyone with any honour would have fallen on her sword and resigned back in 2005. But too many senior people think they can enjoy the power (and the large salary) without having to accept the responsibility that comes with being in charge.
I note the ridiculous Hogan-Howe now sits in the House of Lords. And Steve Roundhouse, one of the senior officers involved in ‘credible and true’ is now DG Operations at the National Crime Agency.
Failing upward.
A lot of policemen are just not very good, very second-rate in fact.
A lot of people in public life are second-rate, at best.
Does this come as a surprise to you?
and it's different in say journalism or banking ?
It isn't. The number of good and impressive people in lots of sectors is smaller than you would like. But public life and journalism and banking seem to attract a lot of people whose main talent is talking about how wonderful they are rather than actual achievements or skills.
And not having that talent to talk about how wonderful you are is probably a real hindrance.. for all our supposed cynicism, if someone is confident and acts like they are hot shit, we tend to believe them.
Reminds me of that recent story about the expert witness who hadn't even read a book on the subject.
Too good an opportunity to miss to reproduce my favourite email this year which my opponent received from the doctor who was to be his expert witness:
"Very sorry but I am at my GMC Hearing in Manchester and they eventually gave down their findings on the Facts at 5.30. They have found me guilty of all 17 charges so I do not expect you will wish me to proceed with the report?"
Rumours that one of the three ex-Tory TIGs (i.e. Heidi or Sarah, now) is about to join the LibDems continue to circulate..
There'll be doing it one by one to maximise the impact.
Why do they want to maximise the impact? At this point it's more of a walk of shame for them, wouldn't they be more focussed on minimising the embarassment?
I really cannot recall an ascension of a PM even remotely like this one. I think most people knew that Brown was going to be a disaster in advance but he had a honeymoon, a reasonably united/cowed party and of course a majority.
Boris is taking office with a paper majority (assuming the DUP play nice) of 2-3 but in reality it is obvious from day 1 that he cannot rely upon a significant strand of his own party, just as May couldn't before him. What on earth is he going to do?
Surely he needs to reach out to as many strands of his own party as will give him the time of day. Keeping Hunt as FS would be an obvious starting place. Asking Rory to reconsider is worth the rebuff. Not appointing people who are hated by minority sections of the party for their disloyalty and obsessions makes some sense.
But none of it works. When you have the likes of the absurd Duncan, the obsessed Grieve, the more than semi detached Greening, the I'm really interesting , I just hide it really well Hammond, you could go on most of the day, you are well short of a majority. The only sane thing to do is to identify the battlefield you want to fight on and then contrive a GE. Boris will not be PM in any practical sense until he has had such an election and won it. Which may never happen of course.
Thst appears to be what he is doing. Hes waiting for parliament to stop him leaving then fight a GE to save Brexit hoping it will work unlike 2017 as he can show it really is him or no Brexit.
Another attraction of a GE is that a number of May's zombies are surely likely to stand down and can be replaced with loyalists (if such a thing still exists in the modern Tory party).
Loyalty to what ? A leader who doesn't know what the term means ?
Mr. kle4, aye. Wasn't so bad last night but I'm expecting the next few to be uncomfortable.
Mr. Flanner, I disagree on the single market point (if only because MPs are perversely more interested in the customs union than the single market) but agree with your general point that Farage is good at getting votes in broad terms but when it comes to the business of constituency campaigning he (and his political vehicles) do seem distinctly mediocre.
It's depressing how far this thread has wandered from Mike Smithson's intro about Brecon & Radnor.
Because, if the Number Cruncher Politics poll proves accurate - and it confirms my own impression from canvassing in the constituency - Mike's pointing out an existential crisis in the Brexit Party, and in the political analysis underpinning Johnson's rise to Tory power.
The Brexit Party fouled up its chances in them and kept away from B&R.
Carry on like this, and the Brexit pair of loud-mouth public school morons (essentially Johnsons without an education) will hand Labour Dover as well. And in the inevitable GE, will hand Labour and the LibDems/Greens the vast majority of Tory seats without returning a single Brexit Party MP.
F&T claim as many subscription-paying supporters as the LibDems. Yet, over the past two months, the LibDems have found the people to create real manifestos in thousands of council seats and hundreds of Euro slots, to canvass for their local, Westminster and Euro candidates - and increase their Euro share in national and by-election opinion polls. F&T are looking at Brexit Party poll results around half where they were before the Euros: and a succession of elections since May 23 with zero real effort from their supporters.
Farage & Tice understand just one management philosophy: how to run small property businesses. The past 20 years have shown us that philosophy translates well into rabble-rousing about political grievances (and making personal wealth out of it) - but it's a hopeless model for getting candidates elected to political office, and the structure of The Brexit Party makes it impossible for them to adopt any other model. Above all: in Britain, real politics needs motivated activists, and neither F nor T have the foggiest how to attract any.
Their test this coming Thursday of fielding candidates for Gloucester Town Council might show they've moved on - but the evidence on the ground so far is that they've not. Two months after the Euro elections, Farage and Tice seem doomed to repeat the failures of UKIP - but this time, destroy the Tory Party at the same time.
In a year's time, we Remainers will be celebrating the massive contribution the two arch-shysters' incompetence will have made to keeping Britain securely - and permanently - in the safety of the Single Market.
Its not discussed as the outcome doesnt look hugely variable.
Brexiteers have been the best friend remain could have. Without them the Brexiters would have just been enough to see us leave and BXP not rise, and without BXP the Tories might even have had a chance.
They're standing for a town council?
They are principal council by-elections, one Tory defence and one Labour, both Gloucester,.
Swinson is a good choice for the Lib Dems. Young and energetic, telegenic and plausible.
She will take a lot of votes off Remainery Labourites.
Very unlikely I suspect. Her Tory -led Coalition CV is far too strong. She also comes across as pretty lightweight - the Libdems would have done better to stick with Vince.
Clearly you don't follow the polls. Recent YouGov surveys have the LDs taking 24% of the GE2017 LB vote and 35% of the Remain vote
I suspect I follow the polls rather more closely than you do.
Comments
Penny for your thoughts ??
That said Corbyn GAINS Harrogate ....
Yes, not-Boris as next PM turns a loss into a bigger win for me.
Bozo is enough of a showperson that I expect he'll have a few eye-catching announcements over coming days that will ensure the headlines and probably deliver a bounce. Unless he makes a complete tit of himself, and us all, with his appointments, of course.
Reminds me of that recent story about the expert witness who hadn't even read a book on the subject.
Because, if the Number Cruncher Politics poll proves accurate - and it confirms my own impression from canvassing in the constituency - Mike's pointing out an existential crisis in the Brexit Party, and in the political analysis underpinning Johnson's rise to Tory power.
The Brexit Party fouled up its chances in Peterborough through its inability to campaign. Though it's had months to prepare a campaign in B&R, it's clearly repeating there its shambolic inability to organise a political campaign in friendly territory. Instead, by splitting the Tory vote, it's handed a seat to the LibDems the Tories would have kept if Farage and Tice had a scintilla of political acumen between them and kept away from B&R.
Carry on like this, and the Brexit pair of loud-mouth public school morons (essentially Johnsons without an education) will hand Labour Dover as well. And in the inevitable GE, will hand Labour and the LibDems/Greens the vast majority of Tory seats without returning a single Brexit Party MP.
F&T claim as many subscription-paying supporters as the LibDems. Yet, over the past two months, the LibDems have found the people to create real manifestos in thousands of council seats and hundreds of Euro slots, to canvass for their local, Westminster and Euro candidates - and increase their Euro share in national and by-election opinion polls. F&T are looking at Brexit Party poll results around half where they were before the Euros: and a succession of elections since May 23 with zero real effort from their supporters.
Farage & Tice understand just one management philosophy: how to run small property businesses. The past 20 years have shown us that philosophy translates well into rabble-rousing about political grievances (and making personal wealth out of it) - but it's a hopeless model for getting candidates elected to political office, and the structure of The Brexit Party makes it impossible for them to adopt any other model. Above all: in Britain, real politics needs motivated activists, and neither F nor T have the foggiest how to attract any.
Their test this coming Thursday of fielding candidates for Gloucester Town Council might show they've moved on - but the evidence on the ground so far is that they've not. Two months after the Euro elections, Farage and Tice seem doomed to repeat the failures of UKIP - but this time, destroy the Tory Party at the same time.
In a year's time, we Remainers will be celebrating the massive contribution the two arch-shysters' incompetence will have made to keeping Britain securely - and permanently - in the safety of the Single Market.
Brexiteers have been the best friend remain could have. Without them the Brexiters would have just been enough to see us leave and BXP not rise, and without BXP the Tories might even have had a chance.
They're standing for a town council?
"Very sorry but I am at my GMC Hearing in Manchester and they eventually gave down their findings on the Facts at 5.30. They have found me guilty of all 17 charges so I do not expect you will wish me to proceed with the report?"
A leader who doesn't know what the term means ?
Mr. kle4, aye. Wasn't so bad last night but I'm expecting the next few to be uncomfortable.
Mr. Flanner, I disagree on the single market point (if only because MPs are perversely more interested in the customs union than the single market) but agree with your general point that Farage is good at getting votes in broad terms but when it comes to the business of constituency campaigning he (and his political vehicles) do seem distinctly mediocre.
New Fred