Reform, and the death of the Tory Party

[Pross]

Thing is it's not just failing to declare eg free football tickets or anything. £5m buys a lot of favours and influence and failing to declare is very significant.

(Excl. charitable donations) Nobody gives away £5m without even indirectly expecting something in return at some point hence it the system of declarations being so important.

I suspect he'll hang his hat on it being donated before he announced an intention to stand and we can believe Honest Nige, Man Of The People that the person in question was completely unaware that he was even thinking about standing. After all, who doesn't have mates that give them £5 million every now and again with nothing expected in return? I checked my bank statement last month to see yet another £5 mill had been deposited by my mate Gaz.

Obviously, if someone gave me tickets to Taylor Swift or an Arsenal match I'd be wondering what they expected from me though. That has bribe written all over it!

 

[Dorset Boy]

Did he strike lucky and find the only genuine African prince trying to move some money to the UK?

 

[Pross]

Couldn't decide where to put this one. I'm really struggling to decide where my vote on Thursday needs to go for the best chance of minimising the number of Reform members in the Senedd. The new voting system combined with new boundaries are making it tricky. The whole of the new 'super constituency' would traditionally have been solid Labour pretty much forever but Reform are predicted to get 2-3 of the seats this time with the Tories getting another whereas Plaid and Labour look like getting 1-2 (so probably 3 between them) so possibly Green vs Reform for the 6th seat. It looks like it will be a Plaid vs Reform battle for the most individual seats but I'm hoping that nationally the three other 'Leftie' Parties will get enough seats to ensure a coalition rather than it being Reform and the Tories.

I'm not sure how many of those who vote will have a clue how the new system works, I specifically looked it up but wouldn't have known otherwise.

 

[Psamathe]

Thursday needs to go for the best chance of minimising the number of Reform members in the Senedd

Whilst tactical voting has always played a normally minor role in elections I do wonder what it says about our politics when it becomes so (apparently) widespread, even forming the basis for some candidate campaigning.

 

[Pross]

Whilst tactical voting has always played a normally minor role in elections I do wonder what it says about our politics when it becomes so (apparently) widespread, even forming the basis for some candidate campaigning.

I think the new system reduces the effectiveness of tactical voting and the chances of a 'wasted' vote but with the only Party I would be likely to vote for being predicted not to get a seat in the constituency I guess it comes down to selecting what will be the least bad choice of the rest which seems to be a toss up between Plaid and Labour.

 

[briantrumpet]

Couldn't decide where to put this one. I'm really struggling to decide where my vote on Thursday needs to go for the best chance of minimising the number of Reform members in the Senedd. The new voting system combined with new boundaries are making it tricky. The whole of the new 'super constituency' would traditionally have been solid Labour pretty much forever but Reform are predicted to get 2-3 of the seats this time with the Tories getting another whereas Plaid and Labour look like getting 1-2 (so probably 3 between them) so possibly Green vs Reform for the 6th seat. It looks like it will be a Plaid vs Reform battle for the most individual seats but I'm hoping that nationally the three other 'Leftie' Parties will get enough seats to ensure a coalition rather than it being Reform and the Tories.

I'm not sure how many of those who vote will have a clue how the new system works, I specifically looked it up but wouldn't have known otherwise.

I was similar in the last GE, and that was with just simple FPTP. In the end the Tory sneaked in because the GTTO vote was split between Labour & Libdems, as it was impossible to work out who was the better bet. Annoying.

 

[briantrumpet]

I thought I was joking about the RW press doing a "look over there... it's Rayner!!" whilst ignoring Farage's £5m bung.

Well, I was wrong, wrong, wrong.

 

[Blazing Saddles]

I think the new system reduces the effectiveness of tactical voting and the chances of a 'wasted' vote but with the only Party I would be likely to vote for being predicted not to get a seat in the constituency I guess it comes down to selecting what will be the least bad choice of the rest which seems to be a toss up between Plaid and Labour.

I am in the same boat.
I am left concluding it’s anyone bar Deform, though in the past it didn’t matter as Labour had a stranglehold. Now, it’s a real head scratcher.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

I thought I was joking about the RW press doing a "look over there... it's Rayner!!" whilst ignoring Farage's £5m bung.

Well, I was wrong, wrong, wrong.

View attachment 14820

C'mon BT, if an upstanding Member of Parliament can't even accept an undisclosed £5million gift from a secretive billionaire donor, what can he do?

 

[bobzmyunkle]

I don't suppose £12000 would fill a lot of potholes. Let's have a massive patriotic roundabout.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyjyd2qv49o

 

[Psamathe]

Re: Next Elections
For me just local Councillor so less of a challenge and looking at the prediction websites thinking I can't really tactical vote as projected outcome (consistent across several such sites) Reform 41%, Conservative 26% Green 21% ... Labour 5%

So for anybody but Reform would mean voting Conservative and ignoring the party, the leaflet that candidate posted through was just daft and irrelevant. Only party I could bring myself to vote for (slightly holding my nose) is a complete "no hoper".

 

[briantrumpet]

This is how Farage should be challenged... he's going to have a radical policy to improve adult social care in Sussex, but he doesn't know what it's going to be, other than it's going to be radical, when he's worked it out.

https://bsky.app/profile/bestforbritain.org/post/3mks2ifwjji25

 

[Pross]

This is how Farage should be challenged... he's going to have a radical policy to improve adult social care in Sussex, but he doesn't know what it's going to be, other than it's going to be radical, when he's worked it out.

https://bsky.app/profile/bestforbritain.org/post/3mks2ifwjji25

I suspect the most radical thing will be how much it cuts funding compared to the existing strategy.