UK General Election 2024

[dgl]

Sometimes what's real and what's parody is very blurred:

x.com

x.com

By ensuring that only the maddest of people will vote for us and so have no chance if getting into power!

 

[birchesgreen]

Love reading this thread then at the bottom of the page is an advert for Reform with frog face on it lol

 

[Bald Rick]

I suspect the more revealing question would almost certainly be to ask them "protect the children from what"

50p says it's some combination of "Muslim grooming gangs", "the LGBTQ agenda" and "immigrants"...

Close enough, IOU 50p.

”Comprehensive Sexuality Education has been introduced by the Tories, and orher mainstream parties orovide no opposition. Schoolchildren are now being exposed to appalling lesson content that confuses them about gender, undermines traditonal family values and encourages sexual experimentation. The Heritage Party will ban these lessons and make it illegel to sexualise children. Let kids be kids.”

I am quite close to searching the candidate out to have a ‘pleasant conversation’ with him and see how quickly I can turn him purple.

 

[Cross City]

Aggregating Predictions for the General Election

has a table with the predictions of the winner at each constituency from these sources:

• Britain Predicts (New Statesman) (22 June)
• The Economist (26 June)
• Electoral Calculus (26 June)
• Focaldata (24 June)
• The FT (25 June)
• Ipsos (18 June)
• More in Common (19 June)
• Savanta (19 June)
• Survation (16 June)
• WeThink (26 June)
• YouGov (19 June)

This is great. My constituency is remarkably close considering the Tories have a 23k majority here. 4 of those links predict a CON hold, 4 a LAB gain and 2 of them say it's too close to call.

If the Cons do lose in places like mine, there's a solid chance the LDs will be the opposition this time next week.

 

[jon0844]

Councils raise Council Tax (the clue's in the name) so the government only has the option of preventing them rising above a certain percentage level. There are different rules for councils that have effectively gone bust.

Labour would need to commit to giving councils more money, or taking back some of the duties into central Government control. The Tories have made councils responsible for more and more things over the year, despite the cap on increases. With inflation as it is, councils can do nothing but make cuts and STILL raise the cost. Are they suggesting any of this? If not then the problems will persist.

People are always moaning about reduced bin collections, potholes and now it seems grass cutting (no mow May is seen as a conspiracy to save money). But, sadly, if you want to maintain essential services then there are indeed going to be loads of smaller things cut back.

Council tax is flawed in so many ways, but even though the poll tax riots were decades ago, nobody dares to talk about how to make things fairer. The current system doesn't work, unless you are a Government wanting to be able to shift the blame onto councils. Then it seems to be working just fine. My MP couldn't wait to start laying into the council once the Tories lost control. Within minutes it seems we were bombarded with social media posts about the failures of the council and it being down to the Labour/LibDem coalition. ALL of the issues were from before the local-election where they lost, obviously.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Jun 2024 ==

Standard for Reform, an openly racist, xenophobic and homophobic party.

Their canvasser in Clacton was caught describing Sunak as a "P*k*", said all asylum seekers landing on beaches should be shot for target practice by the army. Also promoted the Islamic replacement conspiracy theory, and described Muslims as "sick motherf***ers".

Their events organiser called Pride "degenerate" and implied queer people were "nonces", saying he'd change the police to be paramilitaries instead.

We don't see real fascism in the UK very often, but this is what it looks like.

John Hall fits right in, I'd say - into the bin with Reform.

But but but.. it was just one person and it doesn't represent the views of anyone else in the party. Until they're exposed also, then okay, it's that person too but not the others. No, really, they're all nice people really. Please don't follow any more though.

I still see trolls all the time demanding evidence that Reform is a racist party or has racist views, and every time this happens they just do the same thing 'Oh, just one bad apple' and carry on pretending they're all saints.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Jun 2024 ==

I am scared of what will happen if Reform get in the next election, I'm disabled, the first targets the right wing media and right wing people target. What will they happen if they win? Will they try and tie disabled up because they're enemys of the state or punish us for being diagnosed with multiple conditions through no fault of our own. If Reform get in I'm frightened.

I fear they'll want to cut benefits, and if they ever got enough power to dismantle the NHS then they'd also want to go for an insurance based healthcare system that would mean people with existing conditions being made to pay insane premiums.

Thankfully, I have zero belief that Reform is going to get anywhere. If Farage gets to be an MP, he'll be thinking of his own career plan and will be seeking to defect to the Tories and dump everyone who helped him get there.

THEN he might be a danger, but I can only hope that even the people of Clacton can see through him.

 

[Bayum]

The comments made by the canvasser for Reform, Andrew Parker, are genuinely terrifying and deeply concerns me with the direction of the party. Normally, I wouldn’t generalise an entire party’s candidates on one bad egg, but much as Farage says the views are not that of the party, all you need to do is look at the various comments and activities of some of their candidates to see that this is a widespread issue. In some ways, Farage has been very clever knowing that this is going to raise massive media attention and will pull voters from the far right and those across the country that we know will share the shocking views of some of their candidates. He’s raised the profile of the party and attracted the secret racist and homophobic members of the population whose views will not be uncovered publicly because they vote in secret.

Shocking racist and homophobic comments and views of murdering immigrants made by Reform canvasser

A Reform UK activist in the constituency where Nigel Farage is standing has been secretly filmed making extremely racist comments about Rishi Sunak, as well as using Islamophobic and other offensive language.
Farage said he was “dismayed” by the views expressed by Andrew Parker, a Reform canvasser, who was filmed as part of an undercover investigation by Channel 4 News.
The channel also secretly filmed George Jones, a longtime party activist who organises events for Farage, making homophobic comments, calling the Pride flag “degenerate” and LGBT people “nonces”.
The emergence of the footage, filming of which concluded last week, comes on the same day that Reform dropped an election candidate in another seat, after the Guardian informed the party that Raymond Saint had been on a list of members of the British National party.
The most serious comments uncovered by Channel 4 News involved Parker, who was covertly filmed making them while canvassing and travelling by car around Clacton, where Farage is the favourite to unseat the incumbent Conservative.
During one journey, Parker described Sunak as “****ing [P-word]”. He said: “I’ve always been a Tory voter, but what annoys me is that ****ing [P-word] we’ve got in. What good is he? You tell me, you know. He’s just wet. ****ing useless.”
Telling the reporter, who was posing as an activist, to “emphasise ‘illegal’” if discussing migration with minority ethnic voters, Parker called Islam “a cult”, saying: “We’re ****ing kicking all the Muslims out of the mosques and turning them into Wetherspoon’s.”
In one doorstep conversation with a voter, Parker suggests shooting asylum seekers who try to come to England on small boats. “You’ve got Deal, haven’t you,” he says, referring to the town in Kent. “The place near Dover. Army recruitment. Get the young recruits there, yeah, with guns on the ****ing beach, target practice. ****ing just shoot them.”
In another covertly filmed exchange, at a pub in Clacton, Jones reacts with scorn when he sees a police car going past displaying a Pride flag. He says: “You see that ****ing degenerate flag on the front bonnet? What are the old bill doing promoting that crap? They should be out catching nonces not promoting the ****ers.”
Later, explaining what he says would be policies for a future Reform government, Jones says: “Our police officers will be paramilitaries, they won’t be police,” and that the party should “bring back the noose”.
In a statement to Channel 4 News, Parker said Farage and Reform were not aware of his views, and he was sorry if they “have reflected badly on them and brought them into disrepute”.
“I would like to make it clear that neither Nigel Farage personally or the Reform party are aware of my personal views on immigration,” he said. “Any comments made by me during those recordings are my own personal views on any subject I commented on. At no time before I was sent out to canvass did I discuss my personal views with any representative of the Reform party or Nigel Farage.”
Farage said: “I am dismayed by the reported comments of a handful of people associated with my local campaign, particularly those who are volunteers. They will no longer be with the campaign.
“The appalling sentiments expressed by some in these exchanges bear no relation to my own views, those of the vast majority of our supporters or Reform UK policy. Some of the language used was reprehensible.”
While the party swiftly distanced itself from the rhetoric, it is the latest in a series of controversies in which Reform candidates or other party figures have been shown to have said offensive things or held extreme views.
This month, the Reform UK candidate Grant StClair-Armstrong resigned after it was discovered he had previously encouraged people to vote for the BNP.
The party has not yet appeared to have taken any action against its candidate in Southend East and Rochford who was reported as having said arriving asylum seekers should be “slaughtered”.
Leslie Lilley made the comments in a Facebook post in 2020, the Times reported, also referring to “more scum entering the UK”.

 

[jon0844]

While X is full of bots and paid-for shills, the comments on there do suggest a lot of people coming out with 'now I'm definitely voting Reform' and 'owning the libs' style statements. Most are probably not real people or opinions, but it does help embolden those who do have such views and now feel they can openly support the party because they're not alone.

 

[nw1]

Agree - and Farage isn't getting the kind of scrutiny he should be - in part because he has a free pass from much of the right wing media and because his team are careful not to let him near any scrutiny!

The problem is they COULD win seats.

Is it too early to place Reform on the far-right?

I ask as many people, including the BBC, describe the RN in France as far-right:

Jordan Bardella: France's far-right leader 'ready' to rule and fight immigration

Six days before France votes, the National Rally leader says he is the only credible alternative.

www.bbc.co.uk

.
.. and to me, Reform seems to have similar politics.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Jun 2024 ==

I suspect the more revealing question would almost certainly be to ask them "protect the children from what"

50p says it's some combination of "Muslim grooming gangs", "the LGBTQ agenda" and "immigrants"...

People should protect their children from the influence of such organisations as Reform UK or the Heritage Party...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Jun 2024 ==

Aggregating Predictions for the General Election

has a table with the predictions of the winner at each constituency from these sources:

• Britain Predicts (New Statesman) (22 June)
• The Economist (26 June)
• Electoral Calculus (26 June)
• Focaldata (24 June)
• The FT (25 June)
• Ipsos (18 June)
• More in Common (19 June)
• Savanta (19 June)
• Survation (16 June)
• WeThink (26 June)
• YouGov (19 June)

Some interesting predictions there.

Just looking at the 'A's and the 'B's:

A 100% consensus for Basingstoke to go Labour, for instance. The seat was never Labour before, even in 1997.

All but one going for Labour taking Ashford (Kent) and Aldershot.

I wouldn't have predicted a Labour gain in any of those three, to be honest.

Arundel and South Downs an early 100% Con, no surprise there.

Even Bognor Regis and Littlehampton has more than 50% prediction Lab gain, the kind of seat I wouldn't expect them to get in a million years.
By contrast Braintree, which was Labour between 1997 and 2005, has mostly Con predictions.
For whatever reason, Braintree has clearly moved rightwards relative to the rest of the country in recent years. Maybe it's as simple as Cleverly being seen as a good local MP, or maybe something deeper in terms of demographics is going on - not sure.

Further on:

All but one going for Mogg out. And all but one for going for Labour taking both IoW seats.

By contrast, some seats, such as Earley and Woodley, the newly gerrymandered Reading West, and Woking, have more Con predictions than I'd have expected. The pattern seems to be that socially more conservative seats are trending more Labour than I'd have expected but socially more liberal but affluent seats in the south, but not in the north, are trending more Tory than I'd have expected.

 

[Kaliwax]

Reform supporters are at it with conspiracy theories again, this time, they are claiming that the idiot who said shoot the immigrants was racist, claimed that he was an actor hired from Channel 4 to try and destroy reform UK's reputation. I find that to be a lot of rubbish. You can't defend someone who makes appalling and horrific comments like that. If you can, it just sure what a vile and nasty person you are.

 

[jon0844]

Psyop, Antifa, BLM, FBI, CIA, false flag, fake news, etc

All modern defences of the indefensible. And it seems to work in the USA, so why not here?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

On the topic of misleading stuff by the parties: I'm on the mailing lists of all 3 main parties, and it seems to me that Labour and the Tories are both very bad when it comes to sending out emails that are designed to look like they don't come from them - usually by taking advantage of the way you can stick anything in the 'From' field of emails. As an example, the Tories have often sent me emails with everything in red and the 'From' field being something like 'Labour Watch' - so on a first glance, you'd think they come from Labour. Labour has also done exactly the same thing - more than once sending me emails supposedly from 'Tory Watch' and with most of the content in blue. The LibDems by contrast seem to me relatively honest: Their emails generally make it pretty clear upfront that they are from the LibDems.

But anyway, this morning I received a particularly awful one from the Tories. The 'From' field was 'Tax Check UK' and the subject was 'Payday Update for <my name>'. It looked for all the World as if it was nothing to do with politics, but rather some random stuff from a tax consultant or someone similar. Until of course you open it whereupon it turns out to be full of the (false) claims the Tories keep making about Labour's tax plans, with the only indication that it is actually from the Tories being in the signature right at the bottom of the email, plus the reply/from email addresses (for anyone geeky enough to look at those).

I really wish we had tougher standards on emails/other communications so organisations/political parties sending them had to make it very clear who they are.

 

[SteveP29]

Just as an addition to my post about Sir John Hall, above, some shocking quotes have been reported: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/major-tory-donor-ex-newcastle-29432244

As grateful as I was for him rescuing NUFC and sending us on this journey we've been in the last 35 years or so, (being as the previous owners were custodians of the club (via their lineage) since its formation and as admirable as that is, they just didn't have the capital to enable us to survive and thrive in the top division) the man is a piece of sh*t.

He destroyed my other great love in the North East, Durham Wasps, buying them, moving them out of Durham and into Crowtree Leisure Centre, where approximately 12 men and a dog were able to watch them play, because the arena in Newcastle wasn't ready, they never recovered from that massive downturn in support, eventually folding in 2010 after undergoing several ownership and name changes.

What 'ways' will his great grandchildren not have available to them? I'm pretty sure they won't live in an inner city estate or any council estate, his money has ensured that.
That money will enable them to have what they want
That English culture he goes on about, which has been pointed out too many times to mention everywhere, has been formed and evolved forever, he can't claim any kind of 'Englishness' apart from the one he has grown up and lived with Times, cultures and countries change, he needs to understand that and deal with it, we cannot have everything in life that we want, I suspect what he wants is to be able to go wherever he wants, look down his nose at the proles and only see a sea of white faces as he commands them to do his bidding.

The Labour party give religious people anything they want do they? If that were the case, they'd be grovelling to the nation's Muslims after insulting them over their non stance/ support for Israel on Gaza.

'I am not against people coming in, but', is exactly the same as saying 'I'm not racist, but' which is usually followed by something racist, so this can be interpreted as he IS against people coming in.

'I have to follow English law and customs then so should they' Is he able to demonstrate or show any examples/ evidence of where this doesn't happen?
As usual, if pressed, he'd come out with some bull about Muslim enclaves enacting Sharia Law within their community.

The man is 91 now, he won't be around much longer to witness the idiocy, the effects of this era of division and finger pointing, one that is likely to take a generation to recover from, thanks to imbeciles like the man he is now supporting.
He can go to hell in a handcart as far as I'm concerned.

Better not mention his ar*ehole son either, the prostitutes and calling Shearer Mary Poppins, the man that rented an office in Gibraltar for personal use and charged it to NUFC.

BTW, local postings on social media (and it made it onto the news on Planet Rock yesterday) said that the event at Rainton Arena in Houghton le Spring actually charged people to attend. As they say grifters gotta grift

 

[birchesgreen]

Countries and cultures change, some can handle it and some can't.

 

[AlterEgo]

Countries and cultures change, some can handle it and some can't.

Did you see the bloke standing for election in Liverpool who was saying he doesn't want any more foreigners? In a thick Scouse accent - full of Irish and Nordic influence.

 

[Kaliwax]

My tory candidate claimed Boris was her inspiration to get her into politics. That's a very good way to not get yourself elected!

 

[Oxfordblues]

As a constituent in a safe Lib-Dem seat (West Oxford & Abingdon), having scanned all the opinion polls, I'm at a loss to imagine exactly where the Tories will actually gain enough votes to win any constituencies at all. For a proper balance in political debate I almost hope that the Tories might win a few at least!

 

[Kaliwax]

As grateful as I was for him rescuing NUFC and sending us on this journey we've been in the last 35 years or so, (being as the previous owners were custodians of the club (via their lineage) since its formation and as admirable as that is, they just didn't have the capital to enable us to survive and thrive in the top division) the man is a piece of sh*t.

He destroyed my other great love in the North East, Durham Wasps, buying them, moving them out of Durham and into Crowtree Leisure Centre, where approximately 12 men and a dog were able to watch them play, because the arena in Newcastle wasn't ready, they never recovered from that massive downturn in support, eventually folding in 2010 after undergoing several ownership and name changes.

What 'ways' will his great grandchildren not have available to them? I'm pretty sure they won't live in an inner city estate or any council estate, his money has ensured that.
That money will enable them to have what they want
That English culture he goes on about, which has been pointed out too many times to mention everywhere, has been formed and evolved forever, he can't claim any kind of 'Englishness' apart from the one he has grown up and lived with Times, cultures and countries change, he needs to understand that and deal with it, we cannot have everything in life that we want, I suspect what he wants is to be able to go wherever he wants, look down his nose at the proles and only see a sea of white faces as he commands them to do his bidding.

The Labour party give religious people anything they want do they? If that were the case, they'd be grovelling to the nation's Muslims after insulting them over their non stance/ support for Israel on Gaza.

'I am not against people coming in, but', is exactly the same as saying 'I'm not racist, but' which is usually followed by something racist, so this can be interpreted as he IS against people coming in.

'I have to follow English law and customs then so should they' Is he able to demonstrate or show any examples/ evidence of where this doesn't happen?
As usual, if pressed, he'd come out with some bull about Muslim enclaves enacting Sharia Law within their community.

The man is 91 now, he won't be around much longer to witness the idiocy, the effects of this era of division and finger pointing, one that is likely to take a generation to recover from, thanks to imbeciles like the man he is now supporting.
He can go to hell in a handcart as far as I'm concerned.

Better not mention his ar*ehole son either, the prostitutes and calling Shearer Mary Poppins, the man that rented an office in Gibraltar for personal use and charged it to NUFC.

BTW, local postings on social media (and it made it onto the news on Planet Rock yesterday) said that the event at Rainton Arena in Houghton le Spring actually charged people to attend. As they say grifters gotta grift

Usually in my experience when I find when people say something along the lines I'm not racist or I'm not homophobic, just the I'm not line, in general, it usually means you are from my experience, you just try and word it to appear that you aren't!

 

[edwin_m]

My tory candidate claimed Boris was her inspiration to get her into politics. That's a very good way to not get yourself elected!

I guess it could have been horror at how bad Boris was motivating her to offer something better.

But it probably isn't.

 

[gg1]

But anyway, this morning I received a particularly awful one from the Tories. The 'From' field was 'Tax Check UK' and the subject was 'Payday Update for <my name>'. It looked for all the World as if it was nothing to do with politics, but rather some random stuff from a tax consultant or someone similar. Until of course you open it whereupon it turns out to be full of the (false) claims the Tories keep making about Labour's tax plans, with the only indication that it is actually from the Tories being in the signature right at the bottom of the email, plus the reply/from email addresses (for anyone geeky enough to look at those).

Another own goal by the Tory party campaign team.

If I received an email from that sender ID with that subject, my first though would be it was a scammer trying to somehow con money out of me.

 

[birchesgreen]

My tory candidate claimed Boris was her inspiration to get her into politics. That's a very good way to not get yourself elected!

Now if it was Boris Karloff she'd probably get my vote.

 

[SteveP29]

Is it too early to place Reform on the far-right?

I ask as many people, including the BBC, describe the RN in France as far-right:

Jordan Bardella: France's far-right leader 'ready' to rule and fight immigration

Six days before France votes, the National Rally leader says he is the only credible alternative.

www.bbc.co.uk

.
.. and to me, Reform seems to have similar politics.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Jun 2024 ==



People should protect their children from the influence of such organisations as Reform UK or the Heritage Party...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Jun 2024 ==



Some interesting predictions there.

Just looking at the 'A's and the 'B's:

A 100% consensus for Basingstoke to go Labour, for instance. The seat was never Labour before, even in 1997.

All but one going for Labour taking Ashford (Kent) and Aldershot.

I wouldn't have predicted a Labour gain in any of those three, to be honest.

Arundel and South Downs an early 100% Con, no surprise there.

Even Bognor Regis and Littlehampton has more than 50% prediction Lab gain, the kind of seat I wouldn't expect them to get in a million years.
By contrast Braintree, which was Labour between 1997 and 2005, has mostly Con predictions.
For whatever reason, Braintree has clearly moved rightwards relative to the rest of the country in recent years. Maybe it's as simple as Cleverly being seen as a good local MP, or maybe something deeper in terms of demographics is going on - not sure.

Further on:

All but one going for Mogg out. And all but one for going for Labour taking both IoW seats.

By contrast, some seats, such as Earley and Woodley, the newly gerrymandered Reading West, and Woking, have more Con predictions than I'd have expected. The pattern seems to be that socially more conservative seats are trending more Labour than I'd have expected but socially more liberal but affluent seats in the south, but not in the north, are trending more Tory than I'd have expected.

My Great Uncle's constituency (West Dorset) is predicted by 10 of the 12 on that site to turn orange. It has been blue since it's creation.
Chris Loder currently has a majority of 14,106, almost unimaginable that the people of that constituency can reject the Tories on the scale that is predicted if it does change colour.

 

[Kaliwax]

We need more politicians like Dennis Skinner, he was truly a man of the people, unlike Lee Anderson, when he was in parliament and always stood for his constituents and truly cared about people across the country.

 

[Bald Rick]

My Great Uncle's constituency (West Dorset) is predicted by 10 of the 12 on that site to turn orange. It has been blue since it's creation.
Chris Loder currently has a majority of 14,106, almost unimaginable that the people of that constituency can reject the Tories on the scale that is predicted if it does change colour.

I saw that. IIRC when Letwin had the seat in 2017 it was one of the safest Conservative seats in the country.

 

[Kaliwax]

My favourite ever speech by an MP. Extremely passionate, imagine if he was the secretary of state for DWP.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Did you see the bloke standing for election in Liverpool who was saying he doesn't want any more foreigners? In a thick Scouse accent - full of Irish and Nordic influence.

My parents (lived near Warrington) said that Liverpool was "full of Lascars" - this would have been just post-war.
But Liverpool was then a major global port with a huge floating population of foreign mariners.
Today, I doubt if Liverpool has any more immigrants than anywhere else.

 

[iainbhx]

I saw that. IIRC when Letwin had the seat in 2017 it was one of the safest Conservative seats in the country.

Yes, but it was close in 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2010 and the LibDems have been second here for over 50 years. Good LibDem candidate I understand and Loder has not impressed. It's not going to be easy, but it's been their main target in Dorset since 2019.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Jun 2024 ==

I’d never heard of them - 41 candidates according to the text inside https://heritageparty.org/heritage-party-to-stand-40-candidates-in-general-election/

One of the more "successful" UKIP splinters, they probably have more members than UKIP now and are standing more candidates in this election. A very Kinder, Küche, Kirche party.

 

[edwin_m]

Good LibDem candidate I understand and Loder has not impressed.

Loder was previously a manager at SWR so presumably one of the MPs with most understanding of the rail industry. I don't have any knowledge of how he was regarded in either role, but on the face of it losing him might not help the railway.

 

[JonathanH]

Chris Loder currently has a majority of 14,106, almost unimaginable that the people of that constituency can reject the Tories on the scale that is predicted if it does change colour.

Not really. It only takes 7,054 members of the electorate to change their allegiance. Some of the people who previously voted Conservative will have died, others will be voting for Reform, so they don't even all need to be switching to the winning party to unseat Chris Loder.

I'm at a loss to imagine exactly where the Tories will actually gain enough votes to win any constituencies at all.

Someone expressed that point to me in conversation the other day. Is there any reason for anyone to vote for the Conservatives at all? There seem to be a few seats in rural areas of the South East which are projected to be Conservative in all of the recent polls.

For a proper balance in political debate I almost hope that the Tories might win a few at least!

That isn't really a valid reason to vote for them though. While there are undoubtedly some people with their heart in the right place among the people standing for the Conservative party at this election, there would still be 650 people in parliament with political views who can form debate without them.

 

[Class 317]

Not really. It only takes 7,054 members of the electorate to change their allegiance. Some of the people who previously voted Conservative will have died, others will be voting for Reform, so they don't even all need to be switching to the winning party to unseat Chris Loder.


Someone expressed that point to me in conversation the other day. Is there any reason for anyone to vote for the Conservatives at all? There seem to be a few seats in rural areas of the South East which are projected to be Conservative in all of the recent polls.


That isn't really a valid reason to vote for them though. While there are undoubtedly some people with their heart in the right place among the people standing for the Conservative party at this election, there would still be 650 people in parliament with political views who can form debate without them.

My parents are considering voting conservative for the first time ever in Clacton just to keep Farage out.

 

[jfollows]

My parents are considering voting conservative for the first time ever in Clacton just to keep Farage out.

Especially after his acolyte said (reported at https://www.theguardian.com/politic...ilmed-secretly-making-racist-homophobic-slurs):

Of course I regret what I said. Christ, I’m not a racist. I’ve had Muslim girlfriends. It was typical chaps-down-the-pub talk.

There may be some people who have genuine reasons for voting for them, but there seem to be a lot of them who think that some words and phrases are normal and acceptable. I certainly don’t say the sorts of things he said with my mates in the pub.

I remember once using the “p” word he used when I was about 12 and I was ashamed in myself for weeks afterwards. We learn from our mistakes, I hope.