by firehazard Sat Jun 10, 2017 10:15 am
One day later...
A lot of it's about what the expectations were at the beginning of the campaign and what actually transpired.
Theresa May saw a series of opinion polls giving her party a massive lead, with the opposition looking very weak, and so changed the law (the last government passed a fixed-term parliaments act, meaning general elections could take place only every 5 years) to allow her to call a snap election, imagining a Tory majority of 150+ MPs.
Something happened during the subsequent campaign, and things changed. The Tory campaign was frankly terrible, and seemed based on their sense of entitlement - "We know what's best for you plebs. Don't question us." Meanwhile, and against everyone's expectations (including mine, I have to admit), the Labour party produced a raft of policies that were both sensible and popular. More significantly, for the first time possibly ever in this country, Jeremy Corbyn energised the "youth" vote. Historically, in this country, people aged 18-24, in particular, have been politically alienated and just haven't voted. This time they did, and the vast majority of them voted for him.
So Labour improved markedly on what was expected, and increased their number of MPs significantly. The Tories still won most seats, but lost their parliamentary majority. Theresa May had stated repeatedly that if that happened, she'd step down. She has since, obviously, changed her mind. So now, to retain power, she has to make a deal to get support from other parties. And her chosen allies have turned out (predictably) to be Northern Ireland's DUP, who are notoriously homophobic, opposed to reproductive rights, anti-Catholic, climate-change-denying social conservatives. Oh, and with strong links to loyalist paramilitaries. Which is somewhat ironic given the repeated Tory charges against Jeremy Corbyn that he's a "terrorist sympathiser".
Meanwhile, many Tory MPs are reportedly furious with May (one senior Tory MP quoted as saying, "We all fucking hate her. But there is nothing we can do. She has totally fucked us"). And the leader of the Scottish Tories (who gained about a dozen seats in this election, thus saving May from even more electoral problems), Ruth Davidson, a strong supporter of LGBT rights, has expressed grave concerns about any alliance with the DUP, and there are rumours that the Scottish Tories are considering setting themselves up as a separate entity from the UK party. And today May's two closest advisers have resigned...
Get the popcorn. This could get interesting.
One day later...
A lot of it's about what the expectations were at the beginning of the campaign and what actually transpired.
Theresa May saw a series of opinion polls giving her party a massive lead, with the opposition looking very weak, and so changed the law (the last government passed a fixed-term parliaments act, meaning general elections could take place only every 5 years) to allow her to call a snap election, imagining a Tory majority of 150+ MPs.
Something happened during the subsequent campaign, and things changed. The Tory campaign was frankly terrible, and seemed based on their sense of entitlement - "We know what's best for you plebs. Don't question us." Meanwhile, and against everyone's expectations (including mine, I have to admit), the Labour party produced a raft of policies that were both sensible and popular. More significantly, for the first time possibly ever in this country, Jeremy Corbyn energised the "youth" vote. Historically, in this country, people aged 18-24, in particular, have been politically alienated and just haven't voted. This time they did, and the vast majority of them voted for him.
So Labour improved markedly on what was expected, and increased their number of MPs significantly. The Tories still won most seats, but lost their parliamentary majority. Theresa May had stated repeatedly that if that happened, she'd step down. She has since, obviously, changed her mind. So now, to retain power, she has to make a deal to get support from other parties. And her chosen allies have turned out (predictably) to be Northern Ireland's DUP, who are notoriously homophobic, opposed to reproductive rights, anti-Catholic, climate-change-denying social conservatives. Oh, and with strong links to loyalist paramilitaries. Which is somewhat ironic given the repeated Tory charges against Jeremy Corbyn that he's a "terrorist sympathiser".
Meanwhile, many Tory MPs are reportedly furious with May (one senior Tory MP quoted as saying, "We all fucking hate her. But there is nothing we can do. She has totally fucked us"). And the leader of the Scottish Tories (who gained about a dozen seats in this election, thus saving May from even more electoral problems), Ruth Davidson, a strong supporter of LGBT rights, has expressed grave concerns about any alliance with the DUP, and there are rumours that the Scottish Tories are considering setting themselves up as a separate entity from the UK party. And today May's two closest advisers have resigned...
Get the popcorn. This could get interesting.
