I agree but I don't think Rayner is the answer. She can't even speak properly! Biggest joke was her as Shadow Education when she got knocked up at 16. Some fine example. Can't imagine her with World leaders. They have no-one who could reverse their fortunes really. I say let Starmer lose in 2023/24 then he'll go hopefully.

 

What kind of misogynistic shit is this? I think that might be a new low for you.

 

Glad to see Labour win! Hopefully recent events will lead to a bit of momentum for them in the polls.

A brilliant result, especially for Labour.. although that IMO is testament to Kim Leadbeater's strength as a candidate more than anything else.

 

Well done to Brett-Butler who actually called it right!

Why oh why did Rebecca Long Bailey stand instead of her housemate in that leadership election?

 

The only consolation would be that Rayner is gaining experience as deputy for when she makes the move. Unless she waits for Burnham in a few years.

 

Burgon*

I agree but I don't think Rayner is the answer. She can't even speak properly! Biggest joke was her as Shadow Education when she got knocked up at 16. Some fine example. Can't imagine her with World leaders. They have no-one who could reverse their fortunes really. I say let Starmer lose in 2023/24 then he'll go hopefully.

 

Rayner speaks like and for the average English person than Johnson who sounds like a member of the Royal family!

Edited July 3, 20213 yr by steve201

A brilliant result, especially for Labour.. although that IMO is testament to Kim Leadbeater's strength as a candidate more than anything else.

 

Well done to Brett-Butler who actually called it right!

 

Thank you DB the first person to say Labour won because of themselves and their positive campaign instead of blaming everything else like it was a fluke!

Rayner speaks like and for the average English person than Johnson who sounds like a member of the Royal family!

 

And this is the problem, as Chris' comment shows, there's still remnants of RP-supremacy, northerner (or Cockney or any other perceived 'low class' accent)-dumb in our politics that help explain why Johnson is so successful. There's a lot of implicit biases that voters need to be challenged on.

 

in fact I think Rayner might be a good leader for that reason, to start challenging that and provide a visible Northern 'vibe' to set Labour apart (as much as it shouldn't be, politics is often as simple as image), and contrast with Starmer, who's getting all the negatives of being a London elite without any of the positives, because he's not as charismatic as Johnson.

Can’t win can they?

I agree but I don't think Rayner is the answer. She can't even speak properly! Biggest joke was her as Shadow Education when she got knocked up at 16. Some fine example. Can't imagine her with World leaders. They have no-one who could reverse their fortunes really. I say let Starmer lose in 2023/24 then he'll go hopefully.

 

What a disgusting judgmental view.

 

 

Some interesting results in yesterday's local byelections.

 

The most interesting result in England was a near miss for the Lib Dems is Suffolk in a seat they didn't even contest last time. The lack of an Independent or Green candidate (after they got just over half the vote between them last time) made comparisons slightly awkward but it adds to other good results for the Lib Dems in eastern England. The Lib Dems easily held a seat in South Lakeland (Tim Farron's constituency) but it would have been a big surprise if they had managed to lose it. In Tower Hamlets, Aspire (one of a number of splinter groups in that part of London) gained a seat from Labour.

 

Perhaps more interesting, though, is the fact that the Lib Dems gained two seats in their former Scottish strongholds - Inverness and Caithness. Maybe the party isn't quite as dead in Scotland as is often reported.

Lib Dems has more comebacks than Cher. I think the weak Labour leader helps them.

Some interesting results in yesterday's local byelections.

 

In Tower Hamlets, Aspire (one of a number of splinter groups in that part of London) gained a seat from Labour.

 

Aspire is the latest party from Lutfar Rahman, the former Labour council leader who became the first mayor of Tower Hamlets (first as an Independent, then as Tower Hamlets First), until being disbarred for electoral fraud (the wonderful Britain Elects has a good rundown of this corruption both in the mayoralty and at council level in their weekly by-election rundown). Rahman-affiliated politicos had dominated Tower Hamlets local politics for the past decade, although in recent years they've declined to the point that after this by-election, they have 2 sitting councilors under his current banner, Aspire. He's apparently allowed to run for office again from this year, so will probably try another crack at elected politics, although any results will be viewed with expected suspicion.

 

Surprisingly given his apparent "success" locally, we haven't seen this transfer over to national politics, with both the constituencies Tower Hamlets finds itself in being firm Labour strongholds - it doesn't look like any Lutfar affiliates have stood there in the past 10 years. Although it's worth noting that one of them, Bethnal Green & Bow, is the former constituency of George Galloway when he ran as a Respect candidate. Whether either him or Aspire-ites would try to unseat the Labour candidates there remains to be seen, but it would take quite a swing to unseat either of Labour's MPs.

Aspire is the latest party from Lutfar Rahman, the former Labour council leader who became the first mayor of Tower Hamlets (first as an Independent, then as Tower Hamlets First), until being disbarred for electoral fraud (the wonderful Britain Elects has a good rundown of this corruption both in the mayoralty and at council level in their weekly by-election rundown). Rahman-affiliated politicos had dominated Tower Hamlets local politics for the past decade, although in recent years they've declined to the point that after this by-election, they have 2 sitting councilors under his current banner, Aspire. He's apparently allowed to run for office again from this year, so will probably try another crack at elected politics, although any results will be viewed with expected suspicion.

 

Surprisingly given his apparent "success" locally, we haven't seen this transfer over to national politics, with both the constituencies Tower Hamlets finds itself in being firm Labour strongholds - it doesn't look like any Lutfar affiliates have stood there in the past 10 years. Although it's worth noting that one of them, Bethnal Green & Bow, is the former constituency of George Galloway when he ran as a Respect candidate. Whether either him or Aspire-ites would try to unseat the Labour candidates there remains to be seen, but it would take quite a swing to unseat either of Labour's MPs.

That's exactly where I got my information from! Politics in Tower Hamlets has been very messy for a long time, at local government level at least.

Among yesterday's results was a Lib Dem gain from the Tories in Rutland. The successful candidate first stood as a Liberal in 1970 and this is the first time he has won :lol:

 

More later (or over the weekend). The byelection for the Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner was also held yesterday (after the winning Tory candidate was immediately disqualified for having a criminal record). No result from that yet.

It’s tough to read anything into the Inverness and Caithness results. They’re Single seat STV elections but Scottish Councils are multi-member so seats have a tendency to change hands in by-elections. also there was major changes in who stood for the election in Wick - they had ⅔ of the vote going spare from the last time out with 9% from Labour who weren’t standing and also from the 55% vote share of the Indy who stood down.

 

 

Rather unexpectedly, Lib Dems and Labour (who were almost level in second place last time) have both been knocked out of the Wiltshire PCC contest by an independent. If Lib Dem and Labour voters gave their second preferences to each other (which would have made sense based on the May result), the Tory will probably win.

Rather unexpectedly, Lib Dems and Labour (who were almost level in second place last time) have both been knocked out of the Wiltshire PCC contest by an independent. If Lib Dem and Labour voters gave their second preferences to each other (which would have made sense based on the May result), the Tory will probably win.

It was closer than I expected but the Tory won by 52% to 48%.

An interesting result from Medway (Kent) yesterday. In a ward where three of the last four elections (including the last one in 2019) have seen the Tories win two seats and Labour one, Labour gained a seat from the Tories. The Tory vote was down even without a UKIP candidate (who got 14.5% last time). In another Medway byelection, the Tories won easily. Again there was no UKIP candidate but, this time, their vote does seem to have transferred to the Tories.

 

In Cumbria, the Lib Dems romped home in a straight fight against the Tories in a seat previously held by a popular independent councillor. Before the independent gained the seat, it was held by the Tories.

 

There was also a byelection in a Tory-held seat in Newport (South Wales) but there is no result yet.

The Tories held the Welsh seat although there was a pro-Labour swing.

That Labour gain in Kent was the first (off the Tories at least - not sure about other parties) in a by-election since Keir became leader. Given there are dozens of these a month, that's a bit yikes.

That Labour gain in Kent was the first (off the Tories at least - not sure about other parties) in a by-election since Keir became leader. Given there are dozens of these a month, that's a bit yikes.

Some of their gains in May will, almost certainly, have been byelections and those elections were the first in England since he became leader.