I wouldn't imagine for a second that he would do that, but it's unlikely to prove very useful anyway - the headbangers in the remains of the Tory party will count every vote the party got as a vote for being even more extremist
I'm not sure either man would be particularly happy to be described as a friend of Nigel. Really more "judge a man by the people he awkwardly hangs around near and casually name-drops like they're besties"
I see no reason why he shouldn't vote LibDem, there presumably being more than a chance of them being successful this time.
A constituency that selects and elects a more centrist Tory is probably going to have a more centrist electorate, who are more likely to look at the recent trajectory, conclude it isn’t their party any more and switch to Labour or LibDem. Meanwhile any right wing voters may decide their Tory is actually a closet socialist and go for Reform.
That comes as no surprise. It doesn't just affect the candidates, but the entire party. If the press didn't just use reform and Nigel Farage as clickbait, but did their job and dealt with the content, that would be progress. Even the simplest questions on substantive policy make it clear how empty and factually incompetent this party is. In an interview with Independent TV, the simplest questions on climate change, Russia and finance were enough to turn Farage into the stammering heap of misery he really is. Beyond disinformation, disgust and contempt, there is not much substance to their policies.
What exactly do you think is coming from Clacton if they vote in Farage
Should it be illegal for a UK political party to stand for parliament if it's leader isn't elected by it's members? On asking that, I appreciate that you can stand as an unelected individual, such as Binface, which makes my suggestion problematic, but if Farage gets elected this is the first time and Ref have 3+ seats, to my knowledge, that a party with (say) more than there seats has an unelected leader?
Whether the voters are OK with that is down to them. Reform's governance structure is hardly a secret. Seems a bit iffy to suddenly ban "private" parties because one appears with you politics you don't like. Lists based around a single person who created it aren't uncommon in Europe. The current French president runs a personal party. The tory Party while letting grassroot members vote for their leader they don't get any say on which candidates they get given, and until recently Labour wasn't a one man one vote democracy either.
Non right-wing-extemist French politics is indeed being torn apart by the massive egos of Macron and Melanchon. I'm not a huge fan of changing the rules, but I'm struggling to think of any ego-driven populist mass movements which have been good for their respective countries.
Well that sort of questioning would also dismantle virtually all of the parties, as was demonstrated when Beth Rigby tore both Starmer and Sunak to pieces.
Depending on quite how you’re defining that, none of Gordon Brown, Theresa May, or Rishi Sunak were elected by the wider membership of their parties.
You have a very short memory! The current Prime Minister was not elected by the party members: when the previous Prime Minister resigned, the appointment of a successor was an urgent matter, where holding an election carried some significant risks for the stability of the UK economy.
Involvement of party members in selecting party leaders is a relatively recent phenomenon. Neil Kinnock, elected by an electoral college in 1983, was the first Labour leader where party members had the opportunity to vote. In the Conservative Party that did not happen until David Cameron in 2005. I can remember Ted Heath replacing Alec Douglas Home in 1965 when he was the first Conservative leader to be chosen by a transparent vote of party MPs.
Nothing will come from Clacton and nothing will change for the people who live there. It’s a protest vote.
Would Keir give then something different than national policies he's already announced if they voted in the Labour candidate? Your post almost read like a threat they should be punished for voting a way you don't like
I’ve just had a look at the Getvoting website and found it quite interesting.
If you really want the Conservatives out, hold your nose and vote Labour - it doesn't bind you for the future!
I think as well as that it carried a significant risk that the party members would once again select somebody not on the "approved" list.
No, but Labour’s politics - a continuation of neoliberalism - will not uplift the people of Clacton anyway. And it is not a place they can be bothered to play pork barrel politics anyway. I don’t know how or why you read it as a threat I was making. I’ve just stated what I thought would happen.
The existence of sites that tell people their best anti-Tory tactical vote is to some extent a self-fulfilling prophecy. If all who are willing to vote tactically in a constituency go for the same candidate then the Tory is more likely to be voted out.
If you want the Tories out then vote Labour. I understand you want to take advantage of the wave and use your vote to send a message, but you are part of the wave. Lots of people voted Brexit or didn't vote to send a message, and look how that turned out.
A Labour landslide in this election could be what the Greens need for the next, since people on the left will start to see that their views are better represented by the Green Party and have more conviction to vote for them next time. I'd imagine that a lot of people who would like to vote Green feel they have to vote Labour to kick the Conservatives out.
Even then, I would say I’m the target demographic for the Green Party but they have failed to capture my interest as they oppose most of the meaningful climate policies and I believe the Lib Dems have a better manifesto regarding the climate.
