They well get away with it, and I suspect the a good chunk of their base wouldn't care even if they were bothering to follow the story.
Theresa May's Conservatives
Jeremy Corbyn's Labour
Tim Farron's Liberal Democrats
Paul Nuttall's UKIP
2 people's Greens
Nicholas Durgeon's Scottish Nationalists
Satan's Sinn Fein
Dr Ian Paisley's DUP
Some other bunch of nonces
I'm foreign, but I wish I were an Englishman
They well get away with it, and I suspect the a good chunk of their base wouldn't care even if they were bothering to follow the story.
It's not their base that matters though particularly, it's just the general setup of politics. If Thatcher had tried to pull such a stunt the party would have laughed at her.
I blame the press. They won't even call it corruption ffs.
Oh I see. Well yes you're right there.
But I guess my point is there's no reason not to just keep filling the party with self-serving, corrupt shitbags as long as they keep getting voted in to do it at this point. And Boydy's point is right too.
Unless somebody of principle ends up in a position of influence in the party which, y'know, lol.
Presumably he knows where the bodies are buried.
With this lot I'm not even convinced it's that (though it might be.)
They just want them and their mates to be entirely unaccountable.
This is also why you need a vocal opposition that cuts through (a la 90s Blair or even 00s Cameron) rather than Keir Starmer responding today with a strongly-worded article in the Guardian comment pages.
Yeah Starmer is a waste of space.
"We're going to call the Tories cunts" isn't a position to run a campaign on but there's so much they should be holding them to account for that they just fucking don't so they're as culpable as the media for letting them away with it. More so really given this is one of the basic bits of their fucking role.
They need to choose one thing that will cut through (corruption is normally a good one, but it's not like there aren't a few to choose from) and hammer it relentlessly for months and years. Then they also need to have a positive vision (this is an area where Boris always wins out currently) and a solid top team who looks capable of delivering it. Finally, if Boris is still the opponent, plenty of high profile women would help, but no shrill ones (male voters can't stand those).
No more floppy shite, no more worrying about the loony left and definitely no more putting Ed Miliband on TV.
I honestly don't know what Labour think the motivation for voting for them would be at the moment.
They'll have whatever's left of the "Well I've always voted Labour" mongs who treat political parties like football teams, the "Well I feel this is the best chance of the Tories not getting in" but what do they think is the appeal for anybody else? Not even what is the perception, I have no idea what they think they're telling people is a good thing about trying to put Labour in charge of the country.
They're beyond useless.
Starmer is such a disappointment. He should be really quite good, but just isn’t.
The problem Labour have is that the popular side of their platform (pissing money up the wall) has been claimed by New Conservatives, which just leaves them with the mental activist-driven side of things like mandatory sex changes and forty million immigrants a year. Precisely who is at the front saying it doesn't matter all that much.
Honestly this whole thing has been more ballsy than I thought they were willing to go for.
Everyone knows there’s been a massive amount of corruption on the covid stuff and they keep pushing the envelope.
I thought Boris saying that ‘Paterson is a close personal friend’ is the sort of thing that would have been the death knell for anyone else.
What was the whole corruption thing about there, I’d not seen anything about it.
I think they are just so tone-deaf they never see it's going to create an issue. Hence the then massive U-turns constantly because they then realise what they are doing doesn't play well with the general public.
On the opposition stuff, there is no way I will vote Conservative whilst Boris Johnson is PM and it also doesn't help that my MP is Liz Truss so it's not even like I can hold my nose and do it because she's decent whilst there is more of a chance of me voting Labour than when Corbyn was about I still don't actually know what they really stand for and as others have said that's a massive issue. With the ineptitude that has been shown in the last two years by Boris Labour should be absolutely streets ahead in the polls but they just can't seem to seize on any of the mistakes being made.
Used his position to help some companies who were paying him, got investigated, his wife topped herself, he blamed the inquiry for it, Conservatives went "Good point let's make it impossible to investigate us for anything ever", country went 'u fkn wot m8s."
I'm paraphrasing slightly, and probably only getting half of it wrong.
I bet he killed his wife.
I can't remember what the numbers were but yeah, they paid him to consult and then they got an uncontested £100m+ testing deal, the tests were then made mandatory and the firm reported mega profits.
That consultancy fee was just resting in his bank account.
Good to see GS and his identity keeping busy.
https://streamyard.com/wx8p3q2hgiv7
Peston just said that Boris Johnson saying ‘those who break the rules must be punished’ was an ‘I was there’ moment of history.
Genuinely the thickest man in politics.
Is this the same speech when he said the public sector couldn’t have created peppa pig?
Will there be an exit poll for North Shropshire?
No, only a lunatic would pay for that.
I'm thinking LD gain. The conditions are ripe.
LD smashed it.
Is it likely to actually mean anything? All he has to do is placate a load of Tory backbenchers by legalising Fox Hunting, noncing or racism. Job done. He's still got years left for Joey Public to forget about all this shit.
Doesn't matter what Joe Public think at this stage. If the rest of his MPs think him to be an electoral liability, he's had it. The Tory party tend to do clean kills.
I think he will be gone relatively soon. Maybe if Omicron is a milder version of Covid & things hold up over the next few weeks that will be the point to get rid of him. If not then any enquiry would finish him off with the public even if the Tories hadn't gotten rid of him. He might have always seemed fairly teflon but a lot of people will know where the bodies are when the time comes to dish the dirt on him during an enquiry.
Weren't the 1922 committee saying they'd accept letters of no confidence if they lost North Shropshire?
By-elections are meaningless, and he will go when they need a new leader, so probably early-2023.
How had I not seen this before?
That might be better than when he hid in a fridge.
In fairness to Bojo if the two options are speak to Piers Morgan or hide in a fridge, I'm in the fridge everytime.
Are they having a laugh?
That useless twat is my MP.
Mine is Raab, let's have a twat-off.
It’s so fucking annoying when they parachute these helmets into the area. Matt Hancock is the MP for the next constituency along as well. That’s the thing round here the seats are so safe they could rock up with a mannequin and they would still win.
Mine has been Tory for 150 years but will probably go at the next election. All things pass.
My old MP was Sir David Amess RIP before I moved.
I only dodged ending up with Mark Francois by a few miles after the move. Ooofff.
Anyone still voting Tory after all this shit has absolutely no self-respect.
They're on about the garden parties again? The blonde prick and his judgement donned all the soft shites too hard for that to be forgotten so easily.
Don't worry lads, Sue is on the case.
Boris could be in a lot of trouble here. I think the MPs are looking at it as if Covid is pretty much over so he can be the fall guy now.