The Conservative Party

[mat]

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Does this mean ministers get a discount for visiting these private bars?

 

[East Level 2]

It shows all those MPs are thinking about is keeping their jobs.

Would you expect them to be thinking about their constituents instead?

 

[mat]

Would you expect them to be thinking about their constituents instead?

I could have sworn that's what they were elected to do?

How naïve of me.

 

[Pam]

A party of cunts and shysters , as are those who still support them and vote for them .

Spivs, criminals and outright psychopaths.

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

The Times reporting that 6 Conservative MPs are considering defecting to Labour. Sounds more of a threat at this stage but likely to add to the pressure on Johnson.

The irony is that that would likely strengthen Johnson's position, 6 less votes to vote him out as leader(as I assume they won't be BJ supporters!)

 

[Gabriel]

Apologies, Gabriel, for hijacking your post, but it explains what I said in another thread; that the leap between the Cons and the current Labour Party is not very far at all.

Even taking into account that the threat of of defection is there, the fact that there's a threat of a step across the aisle would be a thought process unthinkable under the last leadership and it says a lot.

Thanks Gabriel for allowing me the example.

Hijack away!

We saw Chris Wakeford cross the floor in January (Conservative to Labour) but before that we have to go back to Quentin Davies jumping from blue to red in 2007. It's really not that common and could be more an empty threat. Indeed, it's even rarer heading in the other direction, with only one example (Reg Prentice in 1977) since the 1940s. Far more common for the disgruntled to sit as independents. Were the parties really that close, then we could even imagine Labour MPs countenancing crossing, yet under the present Conservative leadership that is even more unimaginable.

I see them both as rather broad churches so a degree of individual similarity here and there is to be expected.

 

[Gabriel]

The irony is that that would likely strengthen Johnson's position, 6 less votes to vote him out as leader(as I assume they won't be BJ supporters!)

That also assumes that all 211 who did back him have not had second thoughts after last Thursday's humiliation.

I don't suspect it will happen, but defections are always embarrassing for a Government, and if the defectors left in dribs and drabs, rather than en masse, then that would have the effect of keeping the focus on him and his leadership for months.

 

[BrianW]

Both Labour and the Tories are quite broad coalitions. They have to be to have a hope of getting into power under the antique FPTP voting system. They have to try to be all things to all men.

This is why there is continual internal discord in both parties - though the Tories are usually quite good at hiding theirs. It is also why both parties gain a reputation for being dishonest liars and con artists. They sort of have to be, because neither has a truly coherent philosophy across the piece.

 

[bluethrunthru]

one for the free thinkers and free speech advocates to ponder

 

[East Level 2]

Spivs, criminals and outright psychopaths.

I know you intend that description as an insult, but their supporters will see those as positive attributes.