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It seems there is just no hope.

But I think that is also your answer. I can't remember which of the Adam Curtis documentaries it was (all of them maybe?) where he describes how we've collectively seem to have lost any hope that politicians will do stuff that feels meaningful to us in our own day to day lives. That's because the politicians are too busy wrestling with large nebulous forces that average dolts like us can't comprehend.
But following the pandemic rules is something we all had to deal with, so finally we can go all in and judge them without worrying that it's us who don't understand the full picture etc.

This could be him done, red wallers gonna give him the boot
https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1483544039555321864?t=WVjgs9nrpudevFcfqVsvgA&s=19

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The thing is they're fucked either way.

No one who changed their vote in 2019 is ever likely to vote Tory again.

I just hope that when all this is done that a lot of people are going to realise just how big a lie they were sold on Brexit.

My dad thinks that they should swap the PM for Jeremy Hunt because he seems very sensible.

Nice to see Ghana has already told Priti and co to fuck off https://mobile.twitter.com/GhanaMFA/status/1483467010612903937

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I think the best outcome would be a VONC which Johnson wins by a wafer thin margin, but is then safe for another year - during which time he'll doubtless be revealed to have done far, far worse than just relentless lockdown partying, but will also refuse to resign.

Hopefully the damage he'll do to the Tories electability will take 20 years to recover.

Why can’t he be sacked?

I’m not massively into politics. Presume there’s a reason

Hopefully the damage he'll do to the Tories electability will take 20 years to recover

Thing is... should this happen, the emergency plan could be Scottish independence and they're right back in the game?

Scottish independence and they're right back in the game

Would they be though? In the last ~7years labour hasn't exactly won back many of its traditional Scottish seats as their politics are too similar to those of the SNP where as the Tories currently hold 6 of Scotland's 59 Westminster seats.

Thing is... should this happen, the emergency plan could be Scottish independence and they're right back in the game?

The Conservative party are (at a minimum) two parties pretending to be one, it's likely to be more. Johnson was (and maybe still is) capable of holding together low-tax libertarians with the high tax authoritarians, but Sunak and Truss won't be able to.

You'll have the ERG and 2019 intake fighting like cats in a sack, and I suspect ultimately a split.

Be interesting to see if the Scottish Tories split off, we need More Mogg to make that happen, maybe, but it's clear to Ross et al that they're viewed as children who are play-acting, and need to grow up and do what they're told. Depends on how craven they are I suppose.

You'll have the ERG and 2019 intake fighting like cats in a sack, and I suspect ultimately a split.

That would be amazing, but there's always just enough cohesion / self-interest to keep the party together.

The 2019 intake can't (based on current polling) win re-election as they are. Sticking with the ERG is of no benefit to them. If they split, there's a possibility that they can push the culturally Conservative+tax and spend/big state message.

But lose those and they lose 30 seats from the FPTP majority requirement and that's a big lump.

Then inevitably, they will argue losing those seats from the overall will have to lead to a redrawing of boundaries . So they will gerrymander their way to the greatest chance of winning also.

The Conservative party are (at a minimum) two parties pretending to be one

This is true of Labour also though, as was very evident leading up to, under and then immediately after JC's tenure.

Just imagine how many parties we would have if we ditched FPTP and you could actually vote for who you wanted rather than against the evil people.

Yup. It would be (comparatively) amazing. But then you look at other countries with PR and see who ends up in the coalitions... It's still way better than FPTP though. And the diversity of ideas you would end up with in Government is surely (mostly) a good thing also.

This is true of Labour also though, as was very evident leading up to, under and then immediately after JC's tenure.

True, but current polling shows that the Labour Party, however fractious, are going to win back 42 of the 45 "red wall" seats, in what would be a bloodbath for the Tories in Wales/Midlands/Norf.

If, and it's a big if, Labour can stop screaming at itself for long enough to capitalise on the wholesale, venal incompetence of the Johnson administration.

If, and it's a big if, Labour can stop screaming at itself for long enough to capitalise on the wholesale, venal incompetence of the Johnson administration.

Nail hit smack on the head there.

(pinched from the Beeb)

I STILL don't get the Truss thing. Can anyone explain it?

Tbf she hasn’t done anything stupid for a while.

But more likely if they split they'll disappear into obscurity without the big party mechanism behind them. Just look at Change UK.

She’s pointlessly optimistic about brexit and lets con party members believe in this global Britain fantasy.

She's got strong Maggie twinset and pearls vibes?

Christian Wakeford crosses the floor to Labour. PMQs even more interesting now.