BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[briantrumpet]

Gov. Minister on the radio this morning and ... electorate has got it wrong, unions have got it wrong, critical backbenchers have got it wrong ... Starmer has got it right.

Starmer & his cronies gone full Buzz Lightyear "To Oblivion and Beyond". They really seem to be rejecting anything and everything including the decisions of the electorate!

If they don't learn anything from this, they deserve to sink.

 

[Psamathe]

Amusing irony from Reform Chairman on the radio when interviewed he commented (critically of Green's campaigns) along the lines of "what relevance does Gaza have to Gorton & Denton?" ... why didn't the interviewer ask what relevance Chagos has to Clacton? And in reality Gaza does have relevance both probably for a number of families as well as being highly indicative as to the sympathies and morals of our current Government.

 

[Stevo 666]

Gov. Minister on the radio this morning and ... electorate has got it wrong, unions have got it wrong, critical backbenchers have got it wrong ... Starmer has got it right.

Starmer & his cronies gone full Buzz Lightyear "To Oblivion and Beyond". They really seem to be rejecting anything and everything including the decisions of the electorate!

Saying the electorate has got it wrong is pretty unwise. Although there is some merit in taking that stance with the unions and disgruntled leftie backbenchers.

 

[BoldonLad]

1. No
2. Yes

Reform polled approximately 10,000 votes, Conservatives lost approximately 5,000 votes, where did the "extra" 5,000 come from?

 

[icowden]

Amusing irony from Reform Chairman on the radio when interviewed he commented (critically of Green's campaigns) along the lines of "what relevance does Gaza have to Gorton & Denton?"

A good response would have been, "what relevance does Matt Goodwin have to Gorton and Denton given that he's apparently never ventured further North than Birmingham?"

 

[Pross]

Interestingly Lbour lost around 12000 of their 2019 votes in the 2025 GE (although turnout also dropped by 9000). I think this result confirms that Reform have replaced the Tories although I still can't tell what the difference is between the two and they may as well merge.

 

[Stevo 666]

I think the Lib Dems deserve a mention as they got even fewer votes than the Tories.

 

[TailWindHome]

I think the Lib Dems deserve a mention as they got even fewer votes than the Tories.

They usually do.

 

[briantrumpet]

An interesting vox pop thread from the constituency yesterday - one would hope the kind of info that the parties would be reflecting on.

https://bsky.app/profile/lizziedearden.bsky.social/post/3mfti5j3qw22l


Lizzie DeardenFebruary 27, 2026 at 10:16 AM GMT

As the analysis starts of the Gorton and Denton result, I wanted to flag some aspects that my experience yesterday suggests are being over or under-played (Caveats - I went to Longsight, Gorton and Denton town centres and spoke to as many people as I could, but it was mostly during the working day)

Potentially overplayed: Gaza In the many conversations I had yesterday, even with people who identified themselves as Muslims, no one mentioned Gaza or Israel. I did not notice any Palestinian flags or other symbols referencing the conflict in the areas I went to or from bus journeys between them

Potentially underplayed: Andrew Gwynne As well as the dim public response to its national policies, Labour’s chances were hurt by the a scandal over WhatsApp messages where the former local Labour MP had mocked local voters Several people brought it up with me and were visibly angry

Potentially overplayed: Anti-Reform tactical voting No-one I spoke to said they were personally voting tactically, although several people thought it was happening. I saw Labour campaigners distributing these leaflets and they seem to have gone down badly. People didn't like being told what to do

Potentially underplayed: Positive politics Everyone I spoke to who was voting Reform gave reasons as concerns and fears of various kinds, mainly over immigration and general state of the country The Green voters generally said they were inspired by what the party was standing for and its vision

Potentially underplayed: Campaign energy The Greens were everywhere yesterday. They were on road junctions in the rain (my photo), they were door knocking, they were the only party that stopped me in the street According to my count from buses they had by far the highest number of signs in windows

Potentially overplayed: Labour's troubles Quite a lot of people I spoke to yesterday strongly suggested they could go back to voting Labour, and several believed Andy Burnham would have won the seat. Many said Keir Starmer should go and the party needed to change policies, but there is a route back

Potentially underplayed: Personality politics Taking a step back from party politics, the 3 frontrunners were a charismatic local plumber with 4 greyhounds on the campaign trail, a southern ex-academic and a councillor who works in Arup's Stakeholder Engagement and Communications service

 

[Blazing Saddles]

Reform polled approximately 10,000 votes, Conservatives lost approximately 5,000 votes, where did the "extra" 5,000 come from?

Georgia?…….

 

[Pross]

I do think that being denied Burnham as their Labour candidate won't have helped. I doubt it went down too well having the Labour Party HQ dictating so obviously to the locals he seem to hold him in high regard.

 

[briantrumpet]

https://bsky.app/profile/cursedpingu.bsky.social/post/3mftunsr2l224