Just to show I can be unbiased, I'm now going to slag off Nick Clegg for being a hypocrite. He has been opining that it's undemocratic for the next Tory leader to run the country without an election. He, of course, decided that the line in the sand item was fixed-term parliaments. If only he had given way on that one instead of the Student fees...

 

Not a Labour foot-shooting I know, but we digressed a while back.

Just to show I can be unbiased, I'm now going to slag off Nick Clegg for being a hypocrite. He has been opining that it's undemocratic for the next Tory leader to run the country without an election. He, of course, decided that the line in the sand item was fixed-term parliaments. If only he had given way on that one instead of the Student fees...

 

Not a Labour foot-shooting I know, but we digressed a while back.

Unless he's said something else today, that's not quite what he said. He has said - with some justification - that no PM should negotiate the terms of exit form the EU without putting it to the country in an election.

 

On the general issue of whether a new PM should call an election, I will repeat what I have said earlier. Roughly half of the changes of PM since WWII have been due to a change in the leader of the governing party. Only one of those new PMs called an early election. We don't elect PMs. We elect MPs.

Unless he's said something else today, that's not quite what he said. He has said - with some justification - that no PM should negotiate the terms of exit form the EU without putting it to the country in an election.

 

On the general issue of whether a new PM should call an election, I will repeat what I have said earlier. Roughly half of the changes of PM since WWII have been due to a change in the leader of the governing party. Only one of those new PMs called an early election. We don't elect PMs. We elect MPs.

 

a good point, though I'm not sure an election would work in terms of voting on the terms of the exit - sounds like something the Tories would run a mile from doing in case the whole thing unravels and it's viewed as Referendum Lite. If the EU sticks with it's assurances, the terms of the exit are non-negotiable. We leave first, then we negotiate (trade). That likely means we leave 2019-ish and there won't be anything to put to the electorate before 2020.

 

Labour's attitude towards the EU remains confused, the Libdems want back in, and The Tories will prob line-up behind whichever woman wins the PM job. So that's unclear too. My guess is the Libdems will be the only party keen on an election as they stand to seriously benefit. I will, of course, be 100% voting for them because I want to return/not leave the EU and it's the Number One issue for me, over and above anything else that any other party could offer (not that I would believe a word either of them said anyway) :lol: