However the results pan out the Conservative leadership has to agree Conservatives need to do better. The polls show we have lost the support at least in the short term of many people who voted Conservative in the 2019 election. There is an argument over why they have moved, and over what has to be done to win them back.
My advice to the leader is to understand these were Conservative voters. It is unlikely adopting more Labour or Lib Dem policies will win them back. The political market for those who want a faster drive to net zero, who want higher taxes, who want more subsidies and interventions in business, who want rent controls and more migrants, who want to import more and make less here is highly congested. Labour, Lib Dem, SNP, Plaid and others are all jostling to offer a bigger state, more money taken from those who work hard and who save, more directions over how we should travel, what we should eat and how we should pass our time. There is no point in Conservatives trying to compete for that part of the electorate.
There are some Conservative advisers who tell the leadership not to lurch to the right, not to adopt more Conservative policies. It is high time Conservatives moved on from right/left as a method of analysis of politics. The current divides are not traditional left/right ones. Brexit appealed to people from all shades of political opinion, as the issue was could we make our own laws and set our own budgets or should these be done by Brussels? Wanting to restore more personal freedoms is not right/left. Wanting to take control of our money, our borders and our laws is not right wing, but a passionate wish by people with widely ranging views of how these freedoms should be used.
What Conservatives need to do is to put through policies that are both on the side of greater freedom, and are popular. There is a majority to be had amongst people who want to be left to get on with their own lives, who want to spend their own money in ways of their choosing, and want to keep enough of the proceeds of their work and savings. The five themes of the present PM are fine. The public want success around them. So when will the small boats stop? When will taxes be cut and growth accelerate? When will more capacity be put in to help bring price rises under control?
May 5, 2023
Good morning.
With respect, Sir John there is no argument. All your leader and his collegues have to do is read some of the comments here. Many of us are on the same side.
This is the problem. It is more akin to the EU when things go wrong – ie “More Europe>”
They will see people voting for Labour and assume that they do so because they want Labour policies, they do not ! They vote for other parties as a means to punish the government. This is why I believe that there should be a, “None of the above” category on the voting paper. It gives voters the choice to express their disapproval without endorsing a party and policies they do not like.
You have had 13 years and have done very little as we have stated here numerous times.
You have lost our trust.
May 5, 2023
Thirteen years spent travelling in entirely the wrong direction. Vast tax and regulation increases, state debt thought the roof, still increasing (and most of it completely wasted or given away to vested interests or corruption spending), the currency hugely debased by Sunak’s/BoE money printing, vast inflation, living standard declining, no attempt to tackle illegal or even legal immigration, high interest rates, lack of houses, public services like the police, NHS, social services, criminal justice… generally a sick misdirected joke, total mishandling of Covid, woke lunacy in every direction, a war on motorists, landlords, the self employed, small businesses, appalling windfall taxes, in hock to the mad net zero religion…
The one positive that they still occasionally claim is the efficient vaccine roll out. Alas a roll out of dangerous vaccines net harm vaccine that were not safe and did far more harm than good.
Vote Conservative we are appalling incompetent, green crap, tax to death socialists but very slightly less bad than Labour/SNP/LibDims. Plus we kick out some of best MPs like Andrew Bridgen.
Is the sales message it seems.
May 5, 2023
Rishi Sunak is making us ever more reliant on mass immigration
Brexit was meant to take back control â but with millions coming in, few will believe itâs being delivered
FRASER NELSON in the Telegraph today.
Also as they did nothing that was promised in the last few manifestos why would anyone trust their next on in Autumn 2024?
Other insanities I had missed of:- the pointless lockdowns, the school closures, HS2, enforced masks and coerced vaccines (even for the young and people who had already had Covid already), the failure to use treatments that worked like Vitamin D, remdesivir…, the dumping of the infected into care homes untested, the failure to reform planning, the failure to make work pay…
May 5, 2023
Lifelogic
You have comprehensively summed it up today. We have the situation where everything the country and people desire and need is completely ignored in favour of ideas cooked up by malign, unelected and foreign influencers which are actively harmful to us.
May 5, 2023
A recent review in âThe Spectatorâ of âTory Nation How one party took overâ suggests :-
â The winning formula, he argues, has been to present themselves as the party of patriotism and economic competence, combined with a fair degree of pragmatism and a ruthless appeal to base instincts on issues such as immigration, the Bomb and, above all, Brexit. â
Patriotism has long gone out the window. Pulling down statues and apologising for our history is the current way and there is no reaction..
âEconomic competenceâ has been replaced by a profligate approach and punitive taxation.
I donât see any pragmatism. Talking/ debating has replaced action.
âBase instinctsâ is more a reflection on the reviewerâs outlook – a former Labour MP(one of the better ones). However, there is no voter appeal or credibility left over immigration or a genuine Brexit. People are angry with Tory failure on these issues.
â Not for nothing is the Conservative party widely regarded as the most formidable electoral machine in Europe. It has been in power for roughly two thirds of its 200-year history. Of its 19 leaders, only four have failed to win at least one election (and three of those were up against Tony Blair). In contrast, only four of Labourâs 19 leaders have ever won an election.â
The Conservative Party used to have a winning formula. That has now been lost.
May 5, 2023
“reliant on mass immigration”
In what way are we reliant on mass immigration? Do we need millions — yes, millions — of workers who are unqualified to make a living in our overcrowded islands? And if we don’t then why are we letting them in with minimal control? Workers, yes, workers who can come and build themselves a new life without demanding subsidies from those already here, but do we really need more mouths to feed, more heads to shelter, more minds to train?
We are not responsible for the rest of the world. We must take responsibility for those who it is our business to care for, helping them improve their skills and resilience so they can then offer help to those overseas if they so choose. Simply increasing the burden on the people already here will eventually cause problems: those ignored by the tiny number who are benefitting from the short-sighted policies that are overcrowding our schools, roads and health services will eventually protest. It will not be pretty.
JF
May 5, 2023
Spot on. The boat issue is one of many problem caused by mass migration. Least of all massive long term economic problems. The Conservatives clearly do not think there is a problem and just smear people and call them racist. They will go the same way as the Remainers.
May 5, 2023
+1
May 5, 2023
Fantastic post L/L. Everything I wanted to say but you’ve put it better. Reading the comments in the Telegraph today it would seem most people feel the same way. Braverman being blamed for the result in Medway. No! Not Braverman but the Conservatives total failure to stop the illegal invaders. Your party are blinkered. None of you have the gumption to stand together and publically call out where you’ve gone wrong. Just read the comments today and the answers are staring you in the face. All this net zero is asking many people to do the impossible. They simply can’t afford it. The country and our car industries can’t afford it. I’ve lived in my house for over 4 years and never had one councillor or MP come to my door. It’s a simple failure of the party to not see what is needed. Start being concerned for your own people before going all global on us and taking care of everyone else. The Coronation is a prime example. Talking about other faiths and being all diverse. Last time I Iooked this was still Great Britain. This is part of OUR culture and history. Why do we have to change it and dilute everything? Oh for a government that instills pride in the nation.
May 5, 2023
+1 Lifelogic
I didnât vote because there wasnât anyone to vote for. Our local Conservative candidate told us we could vote blue to go green. His election leaflet was full of Globalist climate c***.
Hopefully there will be a choice at the General Election.
May 5, 2023
“no attempt to tackle illegal or even legal immigration, high interest rates, lack of houses,”
Indeed, this Vichy administration give higher priority to it’s foreign clients than British subjects.
May 5, 2023
+1
Trust flew out of the window slowly but surely over the last 13 years, and the horse bolted long ago. Too late now. You will reap what you sow. Being force-fed by a bunch of people not fit for purpose is more than enough for most rational decent human beings. Your obsession with ÂŁÂŁÂŁ is revolting, even though most of understand the need for a healthy economy. Your obsession with migrants is offensive to watch sometimes, even though we all appreciate the need for control. How long do you need to solve a problem? Any problem? The debates in the HoC are laughable sometimes, almost like being back at school. However, brutal domination will never win. Crack on and you will be gone.
May 5, 2023
I agree. The Conservatives, Labour and LibDems are offering an identical agenda of netzero, mass migration, authoritarian laws, globalism, national decline and woke nonsense.
If you canât see how that vast majority of policies are arbitrary, unnecessary, harmful and disliked then you are not going to see whatâs coming behind you.
May 5, 2023
Indeed virtually identical to Labour/Libdim/SNP and all these policies are totally wrong too.
May 5, 2023
Agreed.
May 5, 2023
After forty years or so tied to the EU our current political class have loss the ability to Govern and are still far more comfortable sub contracting the Government of this country to the EU irrespective of what the voters say.
Their time will come.
May 5, 2023
Exactly! We need freedom from the âparty listâ to SELECT the people we know and want to represent us. Not one would qualify for a âparty listâ and thatâs the point. We want independent minds and people who are invested.
May 5, 2023
Yes
May 6, 2023
Lynn, I’m sure the “Corybnista” on the left agree with you!…
May 5, 2023
@majorfrustration; Except what voters appear to have said is, they support and listen to europhile parties, or at least parties with a more realistic approach to dealing with the EU after 50 years of being tied to Brussels apron strings. There was only two possible Brexit outcomes, 1/. clean break WTO exit, with all its problems but also total freedom; 2/. BRINO – Boris chose neither…
May 5, 2023
There’s none so blind as those who can’t see. They blame other factors but can’t see that we are fed up with a fake Labour government.
May 5, 2023
I agree. The Government still doesn’t seem to grasp:
– The majority of the population are non woke, and do not appreciate a very small number dictating what they can do or say without ‘offence’.
– Many support moves to improve the environment (Net Zero) but NOT if it means imposing taxes, or making their lives more expensive as a result.
– The majority DO NOT support mass migration, especially of people who will be a net loss to the economy. Certainly not tens of thousands arriving illegally.
– Many are sick and tired of big business taking advantage by continually ripping off consumers. Fuel and energy prices is an example.
May 5, 2023
I looked at my local ballot paper yesterday and was given the choice of at least two candidates from each of the tired old legacy parties who bleat the same message about and supporting climate change, mass immigration, woke/pc nonsense, higher taxes etc. I thought. Why on earth would I vote for my Country and families destruction under this traitorous bunch? So I voted for a solitary Independent candidate as there was no Reform candidate. That won’t happen again here as I will even put my name forward rather than, NO CHOICE. Your party deserves oblivion after 13 years of lies and deceit. Perhaps a couple of decades of opposition will help you all reflect how trust is lost and not easy to regain when all your leadership do is lie, lie, lie. Remember Major?
May 5, 2023
The Tories are doing badly because of one simple fact: some people – though not enough – happen to follow the news.
May 5, 2023
The news, as you put it, is clear for all to see in their everyday lives. You don’t have to be a news reader/listener or watcher to know what is happening around you! These last 3 Governments have allowed excessive legal and illegal immigration, made policing a farce, raised taxes to critical for many low paid, stayed defiant on energy crisis, done nothing to avoid food importation, slept on lack of business success, thrown ÂŁbillions at failed NHS, watched union political destruction of education, created wide differences in the UNION as to what is state subsidised in the countries. And possibly the worst – demonstrated wide divisions within the ruling Party with the H of C now a squabbling primary school playground.
May 5, 2023
Nlh
As informed and vacuous as ever.
May 5, 2023
You’re right, lad. If they don’t stop the boats, they won’t get the votes.
May 5, 2023
Only 36% usually come out to vote in local elections because the public is so disillusioned with all candidates that the local councils don’t have to put on their websites so that we can see who they are and what their qualifications for the role are, what their main aims are for the local area.
May 6, 2023
Low turnouts maintain the political party status quo âŠ.any higher and the political picture could change, they welcome a low turnout
May 6, 2023
27% in my ward glen. This is what happens when 67% come out thinking they were electing a Boris led Tory party and were betrayed. Everyone I speak to thinks it is not worth bothering with because we get what is planned for the UK anyway.
May 6, 2023
The lower the turnout the more impact the voter who is prepared to change their vote has. We punch above our weight.
May 5, 2023
Well said!
May 5, 2023
Mark B
A good post!
The conservative Conservatives are in a minority within the party – thatâs the problem!
May 5, 2023
@Mark B +1
After 13 Years of Centralist rule lying and lying again to the electorate, through false promises of a Conservative Agenda this is what we have a Socialist Cabal.
Its the reason that people will stop voting, no matter how horrendous the opposition. Suggesting you are the least worst is not a Vote Winner.
The Conservative Party needs to get a âgripâ of its Party, it is their Party, it does not belong to those that have high-jacked it in Parliament. The Conservative Party are letting the destruction of Conservative Values happen under their noses. As it stand Party members would do better to join Labour they will have more influence.
May 5, 2023
This is the problem. It is more akin to the EU when things go wrong â ie âMore Europe”
This single sentence should serve as a warning to Conservative High Command.
May 5, 2023
I agree with the ‘None of the Above’ category. Then voters who are completely disillusioned with the way things are can clearly make sure the message is received.
May 5, 2023
And if the ânone of the aboveâ wins? âNone of the aboveâ is not a candidate and so is in violation of the Representation of the Peopleâs Act.
May 5, 2023
But it would be then interesting to change the law to have another election with different candidates but I guess that would start getting too expensive. However, my town had no Tories standing, so where was the local Tory vote supposed to go, Lib Dem, no it seems it went to a group of independents that no-one knew anything about.
The Tories standing for the County Council but not the Town council then caused a vote split at County level and we ended up with same old same, old councillors who do bu*g*r all for our town for decades.
May 6, 2023
The local Tories need to join and take control of the Association and select a candidate for whom Tories can vote.
May 5, 2023
@Mark B; “They will see people voting for Labour and assume that they do so because they want Labour policies, they do not !”
By that ‘logic’, all those voters who lent their vote to Boris in 2019, to “Get Brexit Done”, what they actually wanted was a govt even further to the left than Corbyn, and they wanted Brexit Undone; those who voted for Mrs Thatcher in 1983 actually wanted Derek Hatton as PM… đ Stop trying to run with that 1983 Militant excuse, it was idiotic then, and it’s still idiotic now.
Who joins the Golf Club and then expect to play Rugby, or the Chess club and then expect others to play tiddlywinks, perhaps you do Mark but 99% of people do not.
People vote for a party because they agree with, or are at least neutral towards, their polices, those who want to “punish the government” or a party will do either of two things, sit on their hands or vote for a party whose values are similar – in your scenario, Reform UK, UKIP, perhaps even the far-right. No one in their right mind votes for polices to be enacted that they detest, even more so if such polices will cause real harm.
What matters is not what is said on this site, repeated each and everyday, but what is not said, or said less frequently, often to howls of protest from those daily commentators.
May 5, 2023
Sir John calls for Conservative policies, but for that you would need a *conservative* party. The Tories have been hopelessly taken over by the Left. The final nail in the coffin was the pitiful 22 MPs who voted against the Windsor Betrayal. The fact that no more than that stood up for Britain and the British people, for independence and for sovereignty, proves that the Conservative party is BEYOND HOPE. It is a lost cause. Let’s kill it off and leave room for Reform UK to grow and flourish.
May 5, 2023
Top marks as usual, Mark B, especially for the “none of the above” on the ballot slip.
An even better reform – which I have advocated for many years – would be print two columns, to offer the opportunity for the elector’s single mark to be set FOR or AGAINST a particular candidate.
This would be administratively quite straightforward, and give the electorate a genuine voice at last instead of the asinine and basicially fraudulent ‘Buggin’s turn’ electoral system with which UK government has so long been cursed.
[ A lighthearted analogy lampooning the present 3-party charade … “Sorry all our surgeons have taken early retirement, but the good news is that there are three experienced butchers in town and you can select the one you want to do your heart bypass! It’s called NHS Choices” ].
May 5, 2023
Sir
In the local elections, I had little or no choice.
There was no Reform Party candidate.
Hopefully this will be rectified in the next General Election.
May 5, 2023
Exactly. Here in Esher the same thing. But the good news is they will be standing candidates up everywhere.
May 5, 2023
Thirteen wasted years. Not a single conservative policy to be seen
Mass immigration, ruinous net zero twaddle and the highest taxes since WW2.
You don’t deserve my vote despite being a natural Tory.
You allow minority groups to disrupt our lives and do absolutely nothing about us.
A generation in opposition is called for.
May 5, 2023
@Ian+wragg +1
May 5, 2023
Indeed. Everything you say and most of the posters on this site reflects the majority sentiment of former traditional conservative voters who aren’t fooled by a lying soundbite or lefty local or msm ‘s agenda around ram multi culty, woke bullshit down our throats. Zero consideration for the 46% of English people who are just used to …….pay the bills for the feckless, ide and vested interests who are encouraged to say and do as they like with immunity. No more. End of. Goodbye Tory’s.
May 5, 2023
We didn’t have local elections in our locality. When it comes to local elections, I look for the candidate who has a plan of how to reduce council spending and reduce council tax. The national party doesn’t matter to me.
Usually they are all falling over themselves on how they will spend more.
May 5, 2023
Oldwulf. We didn’t have local elections unfortunately. I would have been in the same position if Reform didn’t have a candidate. I would spoil my ballot paper as I can’t see the point in voting for more of the same rubbish.
May 5, 2023
Spoil the paper then. It sends a message and the more voters who do it, the more the parties are likely to change.
Non-voters will not change the result, those who can be bothered to turn up but not vote are votes that can be swung so they will attempt to swing you.
May 5, 2023
+1. Apparently they are putting up around 600 candidates at the next GE.
Reform are our only hope now.
May 5, 2023
I hope you spoiled your ballot paper by writing a suitable message to the traitors who were standing!
May 5, 2023
Pinning your hopes on Reform Party will probably end in tears.
They have no funds and little visibility. Tice is not even a great speaker.
Maybe they are keeping what little powder they have dry until the government are itâs lowest ebb, but thatâs not really a winning plan of campaign.
There is a void in politics but that does not mean that the Reform Party will be able to fill it.
May 5, 2023
Sir John.
What they have sowed?
The government is perceived to be totally out of touch with the supporters let alone the country.
They are totally deaf and blind to what is really required and all the posturing over NZ is slowly destroying this country. Too many years of all talk and very little else. Too many of our representatives are too woke, out of their depth and too committed to globalist thinking. It is and will not be the panacea to all our ills.
May 5, 2023
Spot On
May 5, 2023
The leadership should have listened to you a long time ago.
Your list of things that people want could be a great rallying call for a party, but not the Conservative Party (their ex-voters have been betrayed x times too many). It could work for the new Parties springing up, if they were given more media coverage and had articulate spokespeople like you. Of course with FPP it would be a hard slog.
May 5, 2023
Not a hard slog if itâs a replacement for the Tories who must fold now.
May 5, 2023
did you type your own name wrongly due to angry frustration at the keyboard?
May 5, 2023
Yes! Foaming at the mouth and squinting with anger! đđ€Ł
Seriously thought, it is pathetic that Sir John has to list these most basic political facts, and worse that nobody in the Parliamentary party will acknowledge them!
Iâm afraid they will only learn the hard way, so every real Tory has to (and has it seems) voted for whoever could beat the Tories. Personally Iâm delighted that Labour was not the beneficiary. The fringe armies need to comprehend that they are collectively the Dustbin vote.
We want a proper patriotic capitalist party and a proper patriotic socialist party. We have neither.
May 5, 2023
âArmiesâ because they are lobby groups, not political parties. goldsmith correctly called his âreferendum Partyâ the âRabble Armyâ. Members agreed on no politics only on constitutional issues.
May 5, 2023
…and at the next general election, when they lose big they’ll say ‘no one told us’, our advisors said that ‘everybody loved net-zero’, ‘welcomed immigrants’ and agreed with ‘higher taxes’ …if only someone told us
May 5, 2023
They won’t learn, Lynn. They’ll say they weren’t left wing enough, weren’t anti Brexit enough.
May 5, 2023
The two socialist parties – Labour and fake Tories have election results stitched up between them with FPTP. Too many of us in the past have held our noses and voted Tory for fear of letting Labour in. Hopefully people will now finally see that there isnât much to pick between the two tax to death, big state, pro immigration, pro EU, anti English, net zero parties so may as well vote for a third party instead.
I am a lifelong Tory voter who will be be taking that chance and voting Reform and if it means letting Labour in, so be it. Yes they will be slightly worse than the fake Tories but I am willing to take that chance and just hope many more feel the same.
May 5, 2023
I do Jools B
May 6, 2023
Oh Jools, you are late to the party. After the treason at Maastricht by the Tory Party, and by my own MP (Roger Evans) who swore to oppose it and then voted for Maastricht âbecause you would have to upturn the entire constitution to implement itâ (he was a Lawyer) I voted against the Tories i.e for Labour for nearly 25 years.
If more of you had followed suit, we might have got them back on track, but you taught them that they could be treasonous and yet be elected.
Voting for a no-hoper 3rd party is a waste of a vote, it takes your vote away from the Tories so they lose one, if you vote Labour itâs a swing of 2. You have to have the courage of your convictions. The first time I had to vote Labour I stood in the voting booth for 10 minutes. I worked up such loathing for what the Tory Party was making me do, making me sick, that I managed to do it. The second time was easierâŠ
May 5, 2023
I still have conservative views which don’t fit into the spectrum which the government relay, however listening to Mr Starmer irritates me as he still puts old fashioned ideas into categories.
For example “I lived in a pebble dashed semi ,had a father who was a tool maker and a mother who was a Nurse” This sentence immediately lowers the status of the aforesaid and categorizes class into an old fashioned structure.Downing st is terraced ,yet it is perceived as different from all other Victorian terraces.In other words a building which is the same as many others is superior in some way.One rule for one and another rule for that which is virtually the same.I could apply this to professions but most ,if they are at all interested, would get it.
May 5, 2023
BTW. Spot the deliberate mistake and see how many don’t understand the essence and argue on a side argument.
May 5, 2023
Starmer/Labour’s two plans to raise money for them to waste post election are VAT on private school fees (to make such parents pay four times over and kill much of what is left of freedom and choice in education) and to abolish the non Dom Status (which will deter inward investment and make many leave). Both will cost far more than they ever raise – he (and Labour) must surely know this? Unless he is even thicker than I thing he is. Socialist green crap pusher Gove also wanted VAT on private school fees – the man who inflicted May on the nation.
Oh and it is not warming anyway.
NOAA makes it official. Last 8 years… global cooling… at a rate of 0.11°C/decade…. despite 450+ billion tons of emissions worth 14% of total manmade CO2 in the atmosphere.
May 5, 2023
LL, Do you know how to use the tool at ncei.noaa.gov âGlobal time seriesâ?
If you cannot understand the difference between a trend computed on eight years and one computed on a longer timescale (30 years is the usual benchmark for climate), it is to despair.
Trend on 1992-2022 : +0.22C/decade
May 6, 2023
As an expert on these sort of claims hefner, how accurate was that ncei.noaa going back the last 30 years did all their predictions from the 1990s onwards come true as they expected?
May 7, 2023
They are not predictions but meteorological observations.
There is a problem with people on this blog unable to make the difference between climate model predictions and years of meteorological observations.
NASA launched their first TIROS-1 weather satellite in April 1960, NOAA their first (polar orbiting) NOAA-1 in 1970 and their first geostationary GOES-A in 1975, EUMETSAT the first METEOSAT-1 in 1977. Plus over the years the Japanese, Indian and now Korean meteorological satellites. There are right now on average thirty meteorological satellites and 200 research satellites in orbit. The met satellites produce about a terabyte (10^12, thousand of billions) of data per day.
The figures at the end of geo.libretexts.org âMeteorological Reports and Observationsâ give a good idea of the cover of the different types of data.
May 7, 2023
You seem very confident in these NOAA meteorological observations, were they accurate with their meteorological observations for the 30 years from 1980 or not?
May 7, 2023
When compared to other types of surface temperature measurements, typical standard deviation on point wise temperature retrieval from satellite observations was 5 K (K like degree Kelvin, same size as degree Celsius) in the â80s, usually better than 2 K nowadays (varies depending on the type of surface, better (0.2 K) over water/ocean, as high as 2 K over land), which once aggregated as a global temperature including all sorts of temperature measurements (not only from satellites, but also from radio sondes, buoys, synoptic station thermometer measurements, âŠ) gives a better than 0.05 K uncertainty on a monthly Mean Global Temperature (MGT).
So a temperature trend of +0.22 degree per decade (for the period 1992-2022) on this mean global temperature is a signal several times bigger than the combined uncertainty linked to the accuracy of the various individual measurements entering the calculation of the MGT.
May 5, 2023
Should being a son of a bus driver qualify someone to impose ULEZ?
May 5, 2023
and the buses are not even ‘green’.
May 5, 2023
When buses are horse drawn, they’ll ban the horse
May 5, 2023
Totally agree with you thoughts on the direction the conservatives should take.
May 5, 2023
You say “The five themes of the present PM are fine”.
Sunak;- my five immediate priorities. These are the five foundations I know can build a better, more secure, more prosperous future that this country deserves.
We will halve inflation this year to ease the cost of living and give people financial security.
(Living standard have declined hugely and halving inflation means the cost of living is still increasing)
We will grow the economy, creating better-paid jobs and opportunity right across the country.
(Why will the economy grow with little incentives to work and taxes at absurdly high levels relative to other places and wars on small business, the self employed and hard working).
We will make sure our national debt is falling so that we can secure the future of public services.
(It was you who increased it so much with your wasteful spending and it is still going up mate)
NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly.
(they do not get even an ambulance or a GP appointment quickly and waiting lists are still rising circa 200 excess all cause deaths a day currently)
We will pass new laws to stop small boats, making sure that if you come to this country illegally, you are detained and swiftly removed.
(Sure, new laws they will ignore just like the old existing laws – you are not even controlling legal immigration to any degree Sunak).
I see they want not to count thefts from outbuilding of your home as Burglary. This so as to fiddle the crime figures even further.
May 5, 2023
@ LifeLogic “…not to count thefts from outbuilding of your home as Burglary” – indeed, although the promise likely was not to tackle crime, just reduce the numbers so that is what might happen.
It is the same as “..if you come to this country illegally, you are detained and swiftly removed” where true appreciation requires the missing words “to Rwanda or somewhere else where you will be held temporarily pending being granted the right of admission and brought back to our eternal cost”.
May 5, 2023
And we hear the same from Starmer. All about what he’s going to achieve but nothing on how he’s going to do it. I feel higher taxes coming. When will the voters of this country realise they are ping ponging between two useless wastes of space with another (lib dims) waiting on the sidelines. I mean, seriously?
May 5, 2023
I’m disgusted by the dreadful performance of the Lib-Cons in government; the party really has lost its way and much of the blame I would pin on Cameron’s A-list innovation. I’m disgusted by my local Conservative Party association, of which I am, allegedly, ‘automatically’ a member. I joined the party – for a fourth time – as soon as the incompetent Bozo resigned. I then wasn’t ‘on-boarded’ and an email to the chairman went unanswered. There’s been an AGM, presumably – but I wasn’t invited to that. In this campaign, no Conservative candidate knocked on my door and and no flyers were put through my letter-box. Had they asked, I could have leafletted my estate (a quarter of the ward) in a couple of hours. So what happened yesterday? I went to the polling-station to give the candidate a blast – no, he wasn’t there – and to spoil my ballot-paper, because your party doesn’t want my vote. Who won? The Independent, with 56% of the vote – a 36% margin over the Conservative in second place. My MP? The liberal Penny Mordaunt. Amusingly, this former strong candidate to run the Conservative Party lives on my (marina) estate, in the most Independent ward in Portsmouth (they have all three seats). When CCHQ asks me to renew my membership in June they’ll be getting a response worthy of Father Jack.
May 5, 2023
Sea Warrior
Just one Conservative leaflet here from a very young candidate who has just moved into the area, having left university a couple of years ago.
I do not doubt his thoughts and wishes, but really, what does he know about life or the local area.
LibDems posted 6 leaflets through my door in 8 weeks, mostly highlighting twisted facts and opinions, claiming credit for everything good (even when funding was from central Government) and blaming the conservatives for anything bad (when they have local control) but at least they were out and about. They were even contesting the next general election already, with some very personal attacks and comments on our Host !
No one at my Polling station.
May 5, 2023
What was the result, Alan?
May 5, 2023
Yes SW – just one leaflet here too (vs numerous Lib Dem ones). Perhaps unsuprisingly the Lib Dems won our Ward on a turnout of 39% – which was higher than other local wards with just 32% or so. Maybe the local Conservative Party is aging or (as likely) they just decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
Perhaps Mr Sunak’s advisors should take a good long look at your Diary Sir John.
Most people here are the ones you need to turn out and vote for you. However, there is zero enthusiasm and no support for the current Sunak/Hunt agenda. I’m sure they are nervous about roocking the boat but I cannot see they have anything to lose at this point. People will not turn out to vote for thinly disguised socialism, which is what they are offering currently. Frankly, the Conservative Party deserve to lose votes because they simply not very conservative any more (or unionist either).
Just seen our neighbour (Bracknell Forest) has collapsed to Labour too…not going well….
May 12, 2023
Sorry for delay been away on holiday.
Lib Dems largest Party with a couple of gains, but not yet in complete overall control if all other Party’s and independents join together as an opposition.
May 5, 2023
Young people are not joining the Conservative party and so there are not enough people to deliver leaflets etc. in many constituencies. I used to deliver but I am physically unable to do so any more – The Government policies over the past few years have made life difficult for young people and tended to favour the older generation. The housing situation for instance is dire – mainly due to not enough building at the same time as allowing mass legal immigration. The young have nowhere to live and their parents and grandparents do not want mass housing near them. If Governments do the exact opposite of what people want and fail to look to look after their possible future supporters and neglect the country’s infrastructure they will be dismissed.
May 5, 2023
We can’t build our way out of an immigration-fuelled housing crisis. I really do feel for those twenty/thirty-somethings unable to get on the housing ladder. It’s shocking that the Conservative Party doesn’t give a damn about them. Getting the young into home-ownership is a sure-fire way of tackling the left-wing indoctrination they experience in school and at university. A ‘net zero’ approach to immigration is the easiest way to help.
May 5, 2023
…don’t forget the 1.4 million unemployed
May 7, 2023
Elizabeth, the conservatives have allowed the deputy leader of the opposition to call us scum then wonder why they canât persuade people to put on a blue rosette. We are sick of being tainted, I read one elected labour councillor has said he wants to hang tories, this is a hate crime, where do we report him, oh we donât weâre above that but it has as impact as the lowest of the low on that side of politics knows full well. I wouldnât dare put a vote Tory poster up!
As for âpolicies..made life difficult for young peopleâ, lockdown had a massive impact on young people and their life being put on hold for a year but all politicians of all colours supported that, Starmer wanted more!
The Tories have kept teenagers in school funded for a further two years that costs a lot of money. Pupil premium has cost a fortune. Perhaps the Tories actually need to start talking about what they have done since 2010 for teenagers, massively hiking the NMW and reducing the age it is eligible for the National living wage, taking lots of them out of tax and national insurance (which increased from ÂŁ9500 to ÂŁ12570 last year). Help-to-Buy has helped those less choosy about what postcode they want to live in to buy properties. My small area has gone from 25,000 residents to 35,000 since 2010. There are new homes a plenty and I support that problem is we have very few services or entertainment or top paying jobs so when they come here it is like being buried alive for city folk unless they have a car and residual money for fuel for regular one hour round trips to commute to work or do anything fun!
The down side, the ridiculous hike Osborne did to tuition fees on the English only and the ridiculous interest rate that Iâm sure he and his rich buddies donât take on for their own children!
Taking successful married partners child benefit away if they do well enough to enable their partner to only work part-time to look after their own children, disgusting anti-Tory policy.
May 5, 2023
Alan, the Tories should set up a false claim report line/e-mail box on leaflets and election communications. I could send a couple of examples.
May 12, 2023
a-tracy
I would if I thought ot would help, but the Conservative information, communication and Party Promoton team appears to be so poor, its seems they are incapable of drawing up anything relevant or worth reading, so the LibDems promotional stuff goes straight into the re-cycling bin.
Just back from a Norway Cruise, 95% of electricity generated by Hydro, streets all clean, pothole free roads, 85% of new cars purchased are electric. Diesel cheaper than here, but petrol more expensive.
Why is it that diesel is cheaper in many Countries abroad, but more expensive than petrol here, (government taxes ?)
May 13, 2023
I went on a Norway cruise a few years back, beautiful but not great weather even in June. I found it very expensive there, sandwiches double the price and drinks, clothes a lot more expensive. I noticed the number of Smart cars at the time.
Diesel is used by lots of businesses the government wants to extract as much tax from business as possible as it is less painful for them than taking it directly from voters.
Norway benefits from all that lovely North Sea Oil revenue for such a small population (5.4m 2021) and smaller immigration (16%) as they have a language barrier and better processing. 9.43m London, 6m not British nationality and 40% immigrant.
May 5, 2023
It’s truly shocking. No leaflets or knocks on doors here either. It’s as though they know they are flogging a dead horse. I believe a lot of them know where they are going wrong but with two total idiots at the helm there is no chance of common sense or a U turn.
May 5, 2023
Well said Sir, your situation is mirrored up and down the country
May 5, 2023
The number of people who voted in the local elections will be very low. Not because of producing ID, but because the only parties on offer are all the same, but operating under different colours.
May 5, 2023
Repeating the same experiment and expecting a different result?
I am tired of doing that.
May 5, 2023
+1. We need a change of direction but they’ve all lost their sat navs and can’t read a map.
May 5, 2023
Exactly how I felt Shirley, which is why I didn’t bother to vote yesterday.
May 5, 2023
Agree – I volunteered as a poll clerk yesterday and can confirm that there âwasnâtâ any problems with voter ID âŠhowever one lady brought in the incorrect bus pass (there are two types) but returned later with passport âŠit just wasnât an issue
May 5, 2023
“what has to be done to win them back?” Well a U-turn on almost every single Sunak/Hunt policy would be a good start. The people are now climate alarmist, anti-Brexit, tax and regulate to death, open door to immigration socialists.
May 5, 2023
The current Tory government don’t believe that they’re doing anything wrong ….and therein lies the issue
May 5, 2023
Net zero rubbish illegal immigration rubbish getting ripped off by fuel and oil companyâs, these are easily sorted if the will was there by a party with a 80 seat majority, so now itâs looking like the tories are in for a big kicking come the General Election and they only have them selves to blame and we the plebs are going to end up with a government of labour/ libs/ greens/Welsh/snp finishing off taking the great out of Great Britain, people seem to think this country is bad under the tories but itâs going to be a hell of a lot worse with the opposition running us with even higher immigration inflation to start with, I wish I was 30 years younger and leave this once great country to be trashed by Armageddon of the opposition
May 5, 2023
We left Spain 20 years ago and now think we made a mistake.
May 5, 2023
I think the ‘Great’ only ever applied to the comfortably off elite. The saving grace was that basic values ran through most of the population. WW1 followed by WW2, women’s roles changing, media and left policies suggesting alternatives, education, health and moving to globalisation took a toll on those former values.
The grey misery of the 40s and 50s was replaced by the young and the 60s (my generation) – we toiled to get good jobs, homes, families and loved the music. As we got older, wiser and reflected, we came to see the working class ‘lot’ as not acceptable. Authors like George Orwell (a totally different Blair by name) were widely read and that woke (oh no) us up to reality. The Common Market came into focus, and by stealth we were conned into subservience.
Now politics is not a calling, it is a brief entry on a CV… networking for future favours.
The class struggle replaced by ‘friends of friends’.
The main political parties for much of my lifetime have become a rabble of confused, divided opinion changing quickly to suit circumstances. The Civil Service and Judiciary now seen for what they are an ‘old boys club’ working for their own ends.
‘Great’ should be replaced by ‘Divided’
May 6, 2023
âGreatâ refers to the biggest of the British Isles – well there are 189 permanently inhabited of the 7700 British isles.
May 5, 2023
It takes a combination of spectacular incompetence, deliberate betrayal of your voters and the arrogance of the Westminster LibCONs to destroy an 80 seat majority in less than 4 years.
What was so difficult to understand about:
1. Deliver Brexit
2. Spread wealth and opportunity more fairly across the country
3. Cut Immigration
The Not-a-Conservative-Party has done none of them. Instead they wrecked the economy; ruined millions of lives and are entirely responsible for the current inflation, the ridiculous cost of energy and the criminal migrant invasion on the south coast.
We’ve had Sunak and Hunt, the WEF’s puppets foisted on us to deliver the WEF’s Agenda…..and not surprisingly, the Not-a-Conservative-Party is heading for an entirely justified obliteration in the General Election.
Ronald Reagan explained how to get re-elected: “Dance with the one who brung ya.”
May 5, 2023
A brilliant and insightful post, Donna! Well put!
May 5, 2023
Great closing line!
Regarding the anti-democratic WEF, Sunak needs to distance the government, and his party, from the forum: no further contact of any kind. And if he’s smart, he’ll go to the Dispatch Box and make a statement about the policy, forcing the WEF-attending, champagne-swilling, canapes-munching Starmer to defend the indefensible.
May 5, 2023
Dance with the one who brung ya.
But isn’t that the issue Donna – they are pandering to the Red Wall with many of their polices. What they are not seeing is (as Sir John writes) that the Red Wall did not vote for them because of net zero and social Conservatism, the Red Wall voted to leave the EU and reduce immigration.
Tone deaf dancing and stepping on toes.
May 5, 2023
“It takes a combination of spectacular incompetence, deliberate betrayal of your voters and the arrogance of the Westminster LibCONs to destroy an 80 seat majority in less than 4 years.”
Well, that’s what you get with an Eton education.
JF
May 5, 2023
Well said Donna, totally agree with you.
May 5, 2023
I don’t take pleasure in the Stories (or Labour) losing elections.
I do take pleasure in the EU losing . . . it’s scapegoat role for everything under the sun.
May 5, 2023
We’re not voting for or against the EU, here. We’re voting (in part) for or against the incompetence of Tories in handling the EU withdrawal situation over the past 7 years. The fact that we don’t feel the need to be part of a continental club as it manifests itself in 2023 (as opposed to 1973) is water under the bridge.
May 5, 2023
I agree Sir JS. Let’s not extrapolate anything about the EU in this pitiful local election. My local council didn’t even stand one conservative candidate out of 3 votes. The one good local conservative councillor we had didn’t bother standing this time, a big loss for our area.
May 5, 2023
The EU has plenty of it’s own problems Peter, which aren’t going to get any better with time. We might not be happy with our current bunch of UK politicians and thier policies but we can (and will) eventually do something about them. We never really had that chance within the EU and other EU Countries are starting to see that now.
So I don’t blame the EU for our current problems but they didn’t help then and they are not helping now. We’ll sort ourselves out and we will still be here when Europe finally gets around to wanting a good neighbour again. We don’t need to be under a Blue Flag to be that do we?
May 5, 2023
@IanT:
You cannot be under the blue flag anymore, be happy!
And the EU27 do want a good neighbour right now.
The EU27 though, is patient.
May 5, 2023
I am happy enough Peter, although obviously there’s always room to be happier.
Clearly our definitions of “Good Neighbour” are different. Good neighbours don’t try to divide their neighbour’s property. Good neighbours don’t try to impose their house rules on other peoples houses and Good Neighbours don’t expect to be paid to live next door to them.
May 6, 2023
In the U.K. âthe blue flagâ means the Tory Party. Atm itâs a false flag, thatâs our complaint. The EU is irrelevant, it always has been, no foreigner did anything to us. Our argument was always with our own people who broke our constitution and subjugated our people, including our Monarch, to a foreign power.
May 5, 2023
I see that the EU has given the Dutch government approval to destroy much of the farming industry. How proud you must be.
May 5, 2023
On the other hand, the Swedes (who have very sensibly kept out of the Euro) appear to be moving significantly in a Swexit direction.
I wonder if they’re looking at Norway and Iceland and are planning an escape from the EU straitjacket.
May 6, 2023
Donna
This just shows you absolutely nothing about Sweden
May 5, 2023
That approval is what we wanted. There will be enough farming left over, which will transform into more eco-friendly farming with higher profits for the reamining farmers (that is what pilot shcemes tell us)
May 5, 2023
“There will be enough farming left over, which will transform into more eco-friendly farming with higher profits for the remaining farmers…” Which will also translate into higher prices for the consumer by any chance Peter?
I’m sorry but many of those preaching carbon reduction don’t seem to think it applies to them. I wonder what your view would be, if you were about to have your family business taken away from you? Of course, I’ve always believed that some sacrifices are neccessary – provided it’s not me making them
May 5, 2023
@IanT: OK – first realise how very small the Netherlands is! The farmers are not to blame, rather those banks, which lured them into investments into far too intensive mega farming. The targeted farmers will now receive 120% of the total value of their business when bought out, hopefully mostly on voluntary terms. A harsher approach of some large, polluting industries is also required. All required to make needed infra and house building possible again and prevent more destruction of nature.
May 5, 2023
Who gives a toss about EU matters? This is about our country. By all accounts it’s not all cosy in EU wonderland.
May 5, 2023
but while we remain in the EU….
May 5, 2023
Oh, but are the EU fingers still constraining us, Peter? We have only just started reducing the big bills from the EU, and now they want us back conjoined/trapped (not in) paying their bills. Or are the conservatives lying about having the European court stop our planes going to Rwanda?
Isn’t it your EU making things more difficult for British tourists than they do for other third countries like America, Australia, Japan, China etc. as our press frequently tells us? Purposefully delaying offloading our planes for longer than they do these other Countries, perhaps.
Yes, the Tories are taking the rap because too many of them were remainers who have aided and abetted the EU, and that is why they will be punished because they didn’t work to our advantage, and there are advantages to be had. I can expand if you wish.
May 5, 2023
@a-tracy: the ECHR is NOT a EU institution. It is the court for last resort for some 800 million people. (the EU27 have some 450 million people). The ECHR is connected to the Good Friday Agreement.
Leaving it completely would really break the relations between the UK and the EU27 in a most serious way.
May 5, 2023
The EU walked all over the GFA with the NI Protocol Peter and that’s been further concreted over with the Windsor “Framework”.
Mr Sunak thinks he got away with that one but perhaps todays election results are suggesting not entirely, although (as always) – It’s mainly The Economy Stupid!
May 5, 2023
@IanT: Let us wait for the local elections in N. Ireland (18 May?)
After all, this is about (all !) the peole in N. Ireland, not about using N. Ireland as a toy to score points in the ultra brexit religion. In 1998 it took Ian Paisley years to bring the DUP into a functioning devolved government. Let’s hope the DUP will need less time this time round.
May 6, 2023
I may not understand the full details of the Dutch Farmers issue Peter but you clearly do not understand the situation in NI. This runs far, far deeper than any Brexit issues and the EU is deeply & irresposibly meddling in an area they either don’t understand or choose to abuse. There were (and still are) much better & simpler solutions to the cross border problems but the EU decided to use NI as a weapon in my view. A territorial grab, pure and simple.
If there was just one thing needed to convince me that we are better off without the EUs fingers in our affairs, their hyprocrisy over the NI border would be it. As for Mr Sunak (and the Windsor Framework) he’s made a serious mistake.
May 5, 2023
Why Peter?
The EU say they want a unified Ireland but if the reality is that you want to keep N Ireland attached to the EU and the UK attached to the ECHR via the GFA then a unified Ireland is the last thing you want as it would mean the GFA would be void.
May 6, 2023
@Tracy: Is a unified Ireland the same as a united Ireland? The EU really has no opinion or policy on that, nor should it have. The EU just needs to protect its single market. That may seem exaggerated to some in the UK, but that is what caused the Windsor Framework, which hopefully can be further improved to bring the DUP into accepting it too.
We had good English friends staying with us last week. They had no problem whatsoever crossing the border. I’ll check with the next load of British family coming over, but for now I don’t believe these stories about worse treatment from other so-called third country passengers at our borders.
I understand how frustrating it must be that the ECHR seemed to overrule the UK government w.r.t. Rwanda (a weird and unnecessary policy in my view). We also get overruled by the ECHR if we don’t treat migrants with basic humanity. I’m happy that there is an ECHR. It is too easy to scapegoat others, it leads to dehumanising and worse. Great countries like the UK can do better Tracy.
Reply Unhelpful comments from someone who misrepresents EU intentions. Windsor is another successful EU power grab which deeply offends Unionists in NI and undermines the Good Friday settlement. The single market would not be at any risk with mutual enforcement. No need to impose EU law on NI.
May 6, 2023
Peter, thank you for your reply, it is quite insulting to us to imply that the UK doesnât do enough for migrants! You maybe arenât as close to UK news as you think you are. We are one of the most generous nations subsidising migrants in Jordan and other camps abroad, as well as housing migrants and asylum seekers in proper accommodation unlike France that leaves people in offices with a lack of bathroom facilities or squatting (criticised by the UN but nothing done) and worse such as mud and tents for months on end. Why doesnât your beloved ECHR get on to France rather than trying to score political points against the UK, thats why we got sick of your EUâs overbearing fees, fines, tolls and taxes on us.
As for protecting your single market, from what, for the market to be threatened for the market to be threatened the Southern Irish would have to be complicit because the goods would have to travel through them, are you saying you donât trust them, but expect us to have to trust them? It seems the EU can find plenty of things to fine the UK for such as untaxed imports that they can just estimate fingers and tax and fine us for. Where are the actual lists and if a nation can be fined (or is it just the UK that was) the risk to the Southern Irish would be too great. Itâs just bull Peter, sorry if you donât understand that expression ask one of your English friends perhaps.
May 5, 2023
Dear Peter, We were hoping by now that our EU membership would be a fast fading bad memory of unelected tyranny. However, your masters and our traitorous parties, have strung this out to cause more harm and upset by trying to hide alignment and continued rule by your dictators. e.g. the one sided trade agreement and Windsor Betrayal.
Definition- A dictator is a political leader (or group) who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The EU.
So this sore will carry on until all traces of the EU and its laws are gone. No matter how long it takes. The Tory’s will be removed at this and the next general election because of their treachery. Good luck Mr EU and goodbye.
May 5, 2023
@Tmwaction: Interesting how you refer to 27 democratically elected heads of government as “a dictatorship”.
You are a bit behind the times in terms of your comprehension of what the EU27 is.
Don’t worry though, just study your UK institutions.
May 6, 2023
Timeaction
This is the most pathetic answer I have read for a long time
May 6, 2023
Just saying that Bill doesnât make these feelings go away, this is why Brits I spoke to lost faith and being told this is âpatheticâ is why you lost because your side just didnât listen and wouldnât make a couple of simple concessions, go have a chat with your mate Juncker and Verhofstadt.
The EU just showed us all how complicit our politicians were, taking our jobs away and helping to resite our manufacturers to E Europe, just as they have decided the gig is up for farmers in the Netherlands, is France evenly having to give up their farming operations.
There is only 650 of them but many of them acted contra to what the electorate voted for not only in the Brexit vote but afterwards in the European elections when the leavers got a massive majority and then again when Borisâ manifesto and leadership got an 80 seat majority. What happened to the Lib Demâs then promising to overturn the vote they all but disappeared, this re-emergence will be seen as a signal people have changed their minds, keep fooling yourselves.
May 6, 2023
@Tracy: No intention whatsoever to insult the UK, least of all British people! Sorry if I gave that impression. I have personal English freinds who work with migrants, nothing but a lot of admiration for them! They stayed with us last week! But that doesn’t imply I would have to agree with your government’s policies and implementation. I also know international statistics on migration and they also show light on the UK.
What concerns the non-border on the island of Ireland, of course with modern techniques like block-chain, I imagine this could all be solved one day to everyone’s satisfaction. But the UK had been invited over and over to come with acceptable solutions, right from 2016 onwards.
There may be some continental politians (also in the EP) who would like N. Ireland to be united with the R.O.I. but that IS NOT an EU27 policy or aim, whatever the impressions on your side of the Channel.
Reply There are several solutions to NI issues that respect UK sovereignty but the EU has deliberately set out to stop them
May 6, 2023
Peter, its not just the numbers it is how they are treated and when they come to the UK we house them, provide them with money, clothes, food, legal aid, phones and healthcare, it is not the same for all the other nations which may on paper receive more it doesnât mean they stay and it certainly doesnât mean they are looked after. I read figures once on people given leave to stay in the EU that just hopped into the UK I canât remember the piece now Iâll have to take a look again.
It would be more interesting to see a totting up of costs for migrants each country takes on, not just those we look after in the UK but those in camps we also fund, including all our legal and translation fees that encourage UK lawyers and hangers on to keep this problem going on and on for longer than it should by making references to guess what?âŠ
I am absolutely horrified at the lack of productivity in our processing centres, these public servants working from home are doing a terribly poor job and we need to get to the bottom of that and if individual productivity per member of staff has not been maintained in their homes they need calling back under supervision in an office.
May 6, 2023
What is the EU for? It is an overarching law making body that imposes laws it makes alone on the member states. The Parliament does not make laws but imposes them on those States. I’m afraid my experience shows arch remainiacs like you and Mr EU seek to defend, the indefensible. Go live there Bill.
May 5, 2023
Peter. Do you support the EU backing Mr Rutte in compulsorily purchasing successful farms and closing them in order to contain nitrates?
May 5, 2023
It is not to contain nitrates, it is to build more housing for immigrants.
May 5, 2023
@Mark B: why not stop reading the wrong tabloids Mark? You should know that this is nonsence.
May 6, 2023
Peter, are France buying up Farms in similar %âs to those that the Dutch are?
May 8, 2023
@Tracy: France is so much larger than the Netherlands and is in a different situation.
The over intensive farming (turning large quatities of imported fodder into meat and nitrogen-containing dug) is a dutch thing. That is how little Netherlands became the world second largest agri exporter, unsustainable.
May 10, 2023
Why does it matter where meat is made Peter? You would then still have to import the food you have stopped producing yourself which then increases the amount of gases produced by the vehicles transporting them or are the Dutch only going to eat plants and bugs and what fertiliser will you use to grow it, will there be enough for your people or are they to be cut too?
Will your next big issue be the Dutch stopped being allowed to waste land growing flowers as you need to grow food instead? Will your pig farms be re-allocated – to where Romania?
May 5, 2023
@Stred: of course I do !
I understand the the complex problems and challenges we face somewhat.
A blog like this is not the place to explain this – it IS complicated.
But in quality articles on the internet you should be able to find explanations.
May 5, 2023
But whilst true is not “There is a majority to be had amongst people who want to be left to get on with their own lives, who want to spend their own money in ways of their choosing, and want to keep enough of the proceeds of their work and savings.” all rather Thatcherite? Recall she only won three elections and created an economic miracle that fizzled out after c. thirty years. Still, if that is what Mr. Sunak and the Party want, you show how it might come about.
May 5, 2023
Actually she won the election for Major too – so 4 on the trot.
Conservatism is popular – we should try it again!
May 5, 2023
Maidenheadache.
May 5, 2023
That could be a special “schadenfreude” case of a spectacularly incompetent ex-PM losing her seat.
May 5, 2023
a poetic justice?
May 5, 2023
â So when will the small boats stop? When will taxes be cut and growth accelerate?â
Much the majority of the electorate appears to have rightly decided that none of these will happen whilst the current so-called Conservative Party remains in power.
May 5, 2023
The same tired old politicians uttering the same tired old nonsense. Is it any wonder people are seeking new political parties.
I had the opportunity to vote for ‘Independents’ yesterday, I took that opportunity.
May 5, 2023
People are realising there’s no point in voting for a slightly less bad version of the Labour Party or Libdems.
Unfortunately the last chance saloon was also the high risk strategy of allowing Truss to take the rudder. That failed too, for whatever reason. You’re going the way of Reading FC I’m afraid.
May 5, 2023
Correct – Labour aren’t winning its the Tories who are losing
May 5, 2023
You are correct John, the Conservative Party has lost both the plot and direction, perhaps by taking notice of too many advisors who have never been there and done it, and have little connection with the average type of person who really does need to work hard for a living, and nowadays to simply survive.
So easy to just raise taxes to cover inefficient management, spending, and pipe dream policies, without realising what a huge impact that is having on most of the population and it’s businesses.
Once again Government Politicians do not seem to understand Human Nature and the part that plays in peoples decisions and actions.
People go to work for the benefit of themselves first, not the Government.
May 5, 2023
Berkshire Alan. Great point.
May 5, 2023
Perhaps we should ask Donald Trump to be PM. For all his faults he is a model Conservative. He is more a business person than a Politician. Maybe thats what we need to run a counrty. At least he wants to stop the war between Ukraine and Russia which is the biggest threat to the UK economy in more ways than one. He shows more support for the UK than the majority of MPs in Parliament, not to mention the Civil Service.
May 5, 2023
100% – he Iâd half Scots – has more investment in this country than Sunak, so qualifies.
May 5, 2023
@John McDonald +1
Then again Conservatives in the UK thought they were voting Conservative â instead they got a Socialist WEF lead cabal instead that is determined to wipe the very idea of Conservatism of the map. That’s what happens when the Conservative Party are excluded from voting for their leadership.
May 5, 2023
John. I second that. People might not like him but he knows what needs to be done and does it.
May 5, 2023
@JM; “Perhaps we should ask Donald Trump to be PM”
Well yes, if we want Jeremy Corybn (or some such) to be the following PM… Pay closer attention to US politics, you will see both Trump and Biden are despised equally, serious challengers are emerging within both the GOP and DNC for 2024.
But I agree with your comment about needing the barons of business, and indeed union barons, or at least people who have come up from the factory or office floors in parliament, not just PPE grads and interns.
May 5, 2023
“For all his faults he is a model Conservative.”
Before he stood for the Presidency ( and against the Clinton cabal ), Trump was a paid up contributor to the Democratic party.
May 5, 2023
@APL; Indeed, and didn’t Trump suggest he would run as a Independent candidate if not adopted by his adopted party, and had the serious independent means to run for POTUS outside of the party machines.
May 5, 2023
How would we decide? We were told Sunak understood money because of his background and look what he has done to the economy as Chancellor in charge of the money. Useless, the lot of them Good at self enrichment and that’s about it.
May 5, 2023
Sunak married money. So did a lot of big spenders. We needs someone who understands how to create honest money so that wealth can be created. The number of young entrepreneurs who have been bankrupted is heartbreaking. They will never take these risks again. Sunakâs fault!
May 5, 2023
I wonder if he had to sign a pre-nuptial agreement?
May 5, 2023
Spot on John McDonald. Trump would get my vote for many reasons.
May 5, 2023
Strength of reaction to Conservative Government.?
For six solid hours it was as quiet as could be at the Maidenhead leisure centre where the count for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead took place. And then just as we hit 4am we got the first result… and what a result it turned out to be.
The Conservative leader of the council Andrew Johnson out, knocked off his perch by baby-faced 22-year-old Liberal Democrat candidate George Blundell.
Cue huge cheers from the men and women in yellow, while all around those in blue rosettes seemed to droop in front of your eyes. It was a huge personal blow for the Tory leader.
They would never have been expecting to lose their figurehead, and certainly not to a 22-year-old, taking his first steps in politics.
May 5, 2023
Wow! Wonder if the Tories will hold Richmond in the GE?
May 5, 2023
I guess he’ll be getting a letter of commiserations from Mrs May. She’s had practice.
May 5, 2023
Hopefully Karma for her treachery will see her gone as well………….remember Chequers with your lying mate Ollie! We all do!
May 5, 2023
that’s Lord Ollie of Brexit
May 5, 2023
Mickey. Says it all.
May 5, 2023
As I said a while ago, the Conservatives need to deliver or get out, the clearest proof of that is immigration and the boats, something that is well within their power to do, but as is usual we get all the tough talk and no action. Rishi Sunak gave us the promises, then started prevaricating , you despair of the message ever sinking home.
May 5, 2023
“So when will the small boats stop? When will taxes be cut and growth accelerate? When will more capacity be put in to help bring price rises under control?”
And when will the green religion be disestablished and the energy emergency effectively tackled? If the answer to all of this is some form of “we don’t know” or “never”, we will have to conclude that the Conservative Party has moved so far to the trendy left that it is irretrievably unrecognisable.
May 5, 2023
Where have all the Tories gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the Tories gone?
Long time ago.
Where have all the voters gone?
The elite have tricked them every one.
Oh, When will you ever learn?
Oh, When will you ever learn?
Young girls
They will refuse to vote every one.
Young men
They’re all in depression every one.
Supporters-
They’ve gone to graveyards every one.
Graveyards
They’re covered with concrete every one.
Voters
Youngsters tricked again every one.
…
Apology to Songwriter: Pete Seeger
May 5, 2023
Eco-taxes reached a record high in the UK, raising ÂŁ47.4 billion in 2022, a 6.9% increase from ÂŁ44.3 billion in 2021. https://www.energylivenews.com/2023/05/05/uks-environmental-tax-revenue-blossoms-to-new-heights/?fbclid=IwAR24_WUOEw3g-0SPsyu3shsx4mkO6cMTrMDs-GFKn8bjzEffR08Vvo5jREM
Maybe this is why traditional tory voters are turning away from the party
May 5, 2023
Sir John, your party has a death wish. Most MPs and the undemocratic Lords are so consumed with trying to destroy Brexit that they have destroyed both the country and their own party. Your party could have stayed in power for decades if only it had followed the will of the majority of the British people, but no, they had to ram woke, diversity, net zero, high taxes, disastrous economic policies, out-of-control immigration, and EU control down our throats. Until you have a leader that puts this country first rather than the globalist currently foisted upon us I wonât be voting for you.
May 5, 2023
âConservatives need to do betterâ? – miss placed statement. The Conservative Government needs to become Conservative, shake of its Socialist doctrine and stop aping Labour.
Better still the âConservative Partyâ needs to get a grip and formally elect their own leadership.
May 5, 2023
The conservative party needs a ‘Reformation’
May 5, 2023
I will vote Conservative when the party gets back to Conservative policies.
Dump all the EU regulations.
Sort out the NHS. it has more than enough finances . It needs to have less back room staff and more front line staff.
Control immigration.
Knock HS now.
Repair the roads.
Reduce all taxes and watch the money rolling in.
May 5, 2023
+1
May 5, 2023
When you listed those who want a bigger state you omitted the consocialists who now form the government. It is your party who have drifted from the people, not the people suddenly thinking that any alternative was any better. I see the sequence of drift as follows.
1. 2016 Shock horror, the people voted Brexit.
2. May /Robins do everything they can to reverse the decision , at best leaving subsequent negotiators in a minefield.
3. Boris tries to bluster his way out, but not being a man of substance he fails, leaving another IED the NIP. Just for laughs he and his wife give us Nett Zero. Not a bad aim but dreadfully thought through, if at all.
4. Liz Truss offers a way forward, Singapore north of Calais. The EU loving blob hate it and engineer an undemocratic coupe, putting manager of decline Sunak and his halfkick Hunt in the driving seat. All they offer is rhetoric , big state, and lots more tax, just like the cabal of labour, snp, greens and clywd. Little surprise that as a party you are dead in the water. The 100 or so left who still think they are Conservatives should cut themselves free of this consocialist sea anchor and join Reform en bloc. Reform being the only party espousing Conservative values.
May 5, 2023
Agree completely with your last sentence
May 5, 2023
What you write is largely correct Sir John, and good advice. The Conservatives must stop apologising for believing that self improvement and social mobility are possible and aiming for equality of opportunity for UK citizens. Targeting the floating voter with ever more giveaways stymies the economy through increased taxes and increased cost of living so, while it sounds goods it makes us all poorer (as does unlimited immigration which increases GDP which reducing output per head and increasing taxes to pay for it).
If someone calls you scum, they will not be convinced your programme is correct. Implement polices to make us all better off and then shout about the results.
May 5, 2023
Sir John,
There is nothing to add, everything has been said this morning and I agree with them.
We do need to push the Globalists over the cliff as they are evil.
Finally, I voted for two independents yesterday as they were the only ones who knocked my door. They were also the ones who gave me their address and offered help if I need it. They appeared to be nice caring people.
The global liblabcons are finished in my house!
May 5, 2023
Sir John
A lot of angry Conservative Voters in the Country. The Conservative Party has denied them the option of voting for Conservative Candidates, as the Conservative Party has demonstrated vote Conservative and get an extremist left wing cabal. As the Conservative Government has shown they will not manage the UK on behalf of the UK Voter, but instead will let the WEF, The collective Blob do what they want.
Its the Destruction of the Conservative Party writ large. Its destruction of the UK by the never ending of just giving money away to those that dictate the UKâs direction. No accountability, no purpose, no responsibility attached just money for those that believe it is their Country to run and money seemingly to create jobs-for-the-boys. Te kitty will run dry the destructors will move on and those of us left will pay for generations.
Its all down to the Conservative Party to get their Party back, their silences is deafening
May 5, 2023
The problem is not necessarily adopting more Conservative polices or values, the problem is NOT doing so, going beyond such traditional polices & values simply to retain political distance from traditional opponents who have adopted many Conservative values over the last four decades.
As I’ve said before, I fear the Tory party of 2023 is making the same basic mistake as Labour did in 1983, the average Tory voter is not giving their vote to Labour, LibDems, even Greens because what they really want is policy even further to the right, anymore than onetime Labour voters in the 1980s gave their support to Thatcher because what they really wanted was a lurch to the far-left (as Militant Tendency claimed after their 1983 grubbing)!
Also, turnout needs to be assessed against total votes for each party, unless Reform UK is -unsuccessfully- taking Conservative votes for no/few gains, given the massive social media campaign from the LibDems and Labour etc but silence (or worse) from the right, reminding supporters of the need to have Photo ID, might have the Tories scored a spectacular own goal?…
May 5, 2023
My advice to the leader is to understand these were Conservative voters. It is unlikely adopting more Labour or Lib Dem policies will win them back
Please also advise your leadership that it is England that returns Conservative governments. Less pandering to the devolved councils and more consideration for the majority please.
May 7, 2023
Yes NS and what did that get us Osborne charging only our children ÂŁ9500 pa in student loans, a massive interest on those loans and punishing only his own voters all backed by other Tory ministers, I donât forgive what they did to two of my children.
May 5, 2023
As of 09:00 the Conservatives have lost 190 seats. Rishi Sunak the man charged with looking after the UK purse string, as Chancellor, then PM. âWe are actually making progress in key election battlegroundsâ.
May 5, 2023
as at 19.54 they have lost 1,040 seats – – and counting the loss of 45 Councils.
May 5, 2023
I wonder who’s going to resign
May 6, 2023
The Tories keep putting up people without personalities bland men like Hands, they have no fight in them, they donât stir people, their e-mails make me laugh, if you try to respond you get this e-mail box doesnât get monitored, well stop filling up my e-mail box with one way conversations, that sums up everything that is wrong, we will not be dictated to and told what is best for us without a right to reply. I have sent them all straight to junk now. Just like a lot of decent conservative councillors have been. A long established council leader replaced with a 22 year old, I hope those electors seriously get that level of inexperience in charge of one of their local departments, lets put them in charge of the social services portfolio! We donât even get to see these applicants for councillors cvs, what employer would hire someone because of what colour shirt they are wearing, I despair.
May 5, 2023
Yesterdays ballot spoilt, only conservative and Lib Dems available. General election ballot will be spoilt as well. Sadly, all I see is a country in decline to 3rd world status. Luckily I’ve lived in 3rd world countries, know what to expect and how to survive.
Maybe 10 years from now a true Conservative party will emerge that can govern the country and not be led by the nose by the un, who, eu etc.
May 5, 2023
George Osborne admitted that the Tories had no intention of complying with their 10000pa immigration promise (a number that now seems like a far-off dream). Sajid Javid replied ‘So what?’ when responding to concerns of the British people that they were now an ethnic minority in a number of their major cities. Sunak was made PM against the wishes of the party membership and one of his first priorities was to arrange immigration for more of his co-religionists from India. Few will have any illusion that the Uniparty can be deposed under the Establishment’s electoral system, or that even if a minor party did obtain influence they wouldn’t rapidly be brought to heel by the same Establishment, but not voting for the Uniparty is at least a declaration that we recognise that we are being lied to and those leading this country to extinction are not our representatives.
May 5, 2023
And one is left to wonder what this 22 year old knows about the world and it’s realities – because most of the Lib Dems I’ve come across seem to live on another planet.
May 5, 2023
Most folk were content enjoying the quality of their own lives in peace and harmony. Govt was once an efficient machine performing services, ticking over quietly in the background.
Not now! Political vandals hijack the machine in a tug of war. They pull left then right, then left again, right out of control. People scramble and pay to avoid being steamrollered at any cost.
Most folk want to keep straight ahead for goodness.
SJR steers on the side of greater freedom; that is most popular.
May 5, 2023
If it were just policies that the government was failing with, that would not be so bad – because even the most stubborn socialist eventually learns better – look at China.
What is not forgivable is the governments attitude to those they are supposed to serve. They lied to us, misled us, indoctrinated us via syops and the media – and none of this has stopped.
Many now recognize the antics that go on in Parliament and number 10 as pure theatre, staged to distract us from the vile legislation they constantly put out to restrict our freedoms and to punish us in every way possible for inane minor infringements.
May 5, 2023
There’s an argument that only conservative and liberal approaches are useful in politics.âMinuscule C and L.âThe tribe in a valley have existed happily for generations.âComplex systems have evolved in their way of life.âWhilst they work, they should be conserved.âIf something breaks, say over-population or the river ebbs, then risky liberation is sought as there’s not much to lose.âA portion exit the valley into the unknown.âAny alternative approach is man’s hubristic concoction.âChanges to an evolved system with complex interactions have unpredictable outcomes.âClip the butterfly’s wings and wreak havoc.
Yet today, the UK political consensus is social democracy and that is the faction of the Conservative Party in power.âIÂ think this is because the system needs ever more voters taking the Government shilling.âAs the currency debases, dissent is quelled by feeding the hand which might bite them.âAs fear grows, or is employed, ever more strict ‘temporary’ laws will be supported by a large public desperate to avoid repossessions, etc.âCapital controls is an obvious one.âBanning the holding of alternative money another.âCensorship of speech underlies it all.
We’ve seen how the centralised conveyors of Internet speech willingly censor, including when nudged by the Government.âA decentralised Internet is evolving in response.âNostr is a new protocol which flips the power back to how it used to be: simple servers and smart clients.âThe servers are simple and not a single point of failure as there are many of them, all alike.âThe smarts are in the client run by the user on their device.âExperimentation and evolution of clients happens much faster with this orientation.âThere is already messaging and payments happening over Nostr.âPayments across the globe, near instantly, for a very small fee.âMore of the existing centralised Internet will be duplicated, decentralised and so without Government censorship, to this new distributed network.âLord Rees Mogg’s co-authored ‘The Sovereign Individual’ is popular amongst those working in this area.
May 5, 2023
So when will the Net Zero lunacy stop?
May 5, 2023
When the lights go out forever and Africa sends us aid…..
May 5, 2023
Please stop net-zero
May 5, 2023
It is appearing to be a local election bloodbath for the Conservatives, however what did they expect?
People are sick and tired of the lack of inaction by the Conservative Government in keys areas, such as the NHS, cost of living crisis and the small boats issue.
People also want to see a governing CONSERVATIVE party, not some quasi Liberal one. If I wanted a Liberal party in charge, I would vote for the Lib Dems.
I didn’t bother to vote l, as in my ward of Wokingham Borough it was a choice of Conservatives or Lib Dems. Neither are worthy of my vote at this time around.
As John quite rightly states, the Conservatives need to stop completing in the same corner on many issues, such as Net Zero and start adopting common sense policies.
My advice to the Conservatives is this (as a humble voter). Start acting Conservative, sack the advisers that are pulling you in a Liberal direction, start delivering on promises, with clear results and less waffle on what you want to do. Stop idiots like the SNP and Sadiq Khan inflicting economically damaging policies that will affect the wider UK economy – revoking powers if needs be.
May 5, 2023
John, I’m representative of your core voter. I have a small business, own a single holiday let cottage and want to be left in peace to work hard and make my own choices. I live in the country, drive a car and believe in Brexit. I’m happy to improve pollution but believe Net Zero is utter madness.
I should be a vote in the bag for your party. However with respect, your party has become my mortal enemy, a fact I still find almost unbelievable. Your party has literally gone to war on me. I’m fighting on all fronts, business, home, freedom and the fight is against you unbelievably.
Sorry but I’m done.
I will no longer close my eyes and vote for you when your enacted policies are the exact opposite of what I believe. Labour will be worse, but your party is quite clear that only a spell in opposition will make your party rethink, and even that might not be enough
May 5, 2023
And so say millions!
May 5, 2023
Well said Lloyd, hear hear
May 6, 2023
100%. They tax you on income, investments, taxes on profits on taxed money and savings, then add duties on petrol, booze etc on top. VAT on top of that is a third tax cherry on the same money. Then add on IHT and freeze all allowances for decades. They get more than you,to giveaway to welfare, immigrants and foreign aid. The 46% have paid enough. Goodbye Consocialists.
May 5, 2023
I voted Conservative yesterday, mainly because the Lib Dems are doing a pretty bad job here for the majority of residents. Want to change rubbish collection to every second week, no longer supply liners for food recycling caddies (I will just put waste food in with general rubbish in future), pot holes everywhere, putting up parking charges and still take [read that as common theft] more business rates from shops…
But for the national Conservatives this is just a taster for the forth coming General Election. Can they halt the slide, I doubt it. Might be worth a punt at actually stopping illegal migration, abandon Net Zero until India, China, USA etc etc get on board.
For Sir John past General Election results:
2019 Majority 7,383 49.6% of vote (Lib Dems second @ 37.7%)
2017 Majority 18,798 56.6% of vote (Labour second @ 25.1%)
2015 Majority 24,197 57.7% of vote
Should you stay with a party that seems to be totally ignoring you input?
May 5, 2023
For a pothole experience – drive the length of Lodge Road, Hurst. Start at the Jolly Farmer (Hurst) – make your way slalom fashion along to the Elephant & Castle. Don’t blame me for damaged tyres, collapsed suspension springs, punctures.
May 5, 2023
Rejoice comrades. Another glorious victory for the Uniparty. Nothing changes.
May 5, 2023
Canât get a passport
Canât get a driving licence
Canât get probate done
Canât get healthcare.
All fits in with the demands of the commies who are threatening our lives.
I reckon it is Maoism.
And the tories have not once confronted âmid level violenceâ
Which means as per no doubt their philosophy (Sartre?) that the war will be conceded.
The end of Western CivilisationâŠno more no less.
May 6, 2023
We are their public servants now, just without the defined benefit pension and now we are being threatened with means tested state pensions from the State ponzi national insurance scheme set up by Labour by much fanfare, this is the problem with Labour things catch up with those at the bottom of the chain whilst their unionised sector keeps yanking on it.
Just what did politicians expect when they pushed the minimum wage up 10%, that everyone above that level would say its ok just pay us 3% weâre cool with that. Just stupid and when Labour want a NLW of ÂŁ15 what will the doctor, nurse and passport office workers want as their hourly rate and the sucker on the NLW wonât be any better off theyâll be worse off because everything they need to buy will go up in line with this unnatural wage inflations.
May 5, 2023
Using cutting taxes as a way of going for growth is not a sure certain way of doing things in our economy. Problem is we have too many dependents, idlers, pensioners and early retirees who will do one of two things with the extra – spend it down the road in the pub or else stuff the mattress – you’d be naive to think otherwise.
May 5, 2023
Clearly the Conservative government has not listened to you, Sir John for a long time, even though you think they do. If they do why would you need to write this.
Will it change after the losses which are coming its way? I think not, as they are as fixed in a mindset, as you are fixed in yours, and we will hear from them how it is all temporary as they understand. Guff and nonsense. It is locked into beliefs which are nothing to do with people as they are miles detached from majority life.
No matter what it does, no matter how much its practises cause drastic and dangerous economic, political and cultural damage, no matter how far it is from what Sir John believes in, and what many would like to see, fixed Tory loyalty is vital to Sir John.
He cannot contemplate anything else, he is comfortable where he is and that is also vital to him.
Reply I have more chance of influencing the government by remaining as a Conservative MP. I also promised my electors I would do that.
May 5, 2023
Right to Reply –
SirJ maybe its time to ask your electors again ?
May 5, 2023
Sir John your influence on your party was seen most clearly when Liz Truss was Prime Minister and was pursuing some good policies. This shows that you are in touch with the membership.
Unfortunately Liz Truss could not control the narrative for those sensible policies and the parliamentary party, which unfortunately does not appear to agree with you or its membership, ousted her.
How many times has Prime Minister Sunak or one of his acolytes sought your opinion? If you stand at the next election it would be interesting to see your impact as an independent. Losing the party machine and funding would make it very difficult but it would be interesting.
May 5, 2023
reply to reply.
As a constituent before you were provided with this VERY safe seat, I’m afraid the evidence screams that you are ignored at PM/Cabinet level. We vote you in because we believe you to be an honest, wise representative of the constituency. Sadly if you were not standing here, any other ‘Conservative’ standing in Wokingham would be unseated at the first opportunity. Your voice is a whisper against the gale blowing at you. Time to face facts any future influence you may have is not from within this facade of a Party.
May 5, 2023
The message to the Tories is clear – there is little faith in the present leadership . The Tories have weakened our place in the world , have destroyed initiative in business and commerce , allowed illegal migration to get entirely out of hand and permitted outside bodies to influence the economy . The way back is a monstrous target to achieve before the next national election . Sunak’s persona does not click with the public and as for Hunt – well , I consider him the wrong person to be Chancellor . In times of previous national crises management of the country has been in the hands of a coalition ; it may be the right time to follow this course now .
May 5, 2023
Is this voter ID thing just something to get us used to having ID cards imposed on us? You’ve got to wonder about the state of BBC news coverage when a so-called ‘business’ person was ‘incensed’ after being unable to vote because he ‘forgot’ his passport. God help him running his business if he can’t do something so basic its been in the news for weeks on end and not being able to just pop home when local stations are so close to each ward is just ridiculous!
Someone else unable to vote with their NHS photo ID? Those cards must be easily exposed to fraud if the government decides that type of photo id wouldn’t do, or was this something overlooked by the electoral commission?
I truly hope that voters not bothering to turn up aren’t blamed on voter ID because everyone I have spoken to who didn’t bother has said it’s because the applicants are all the same and they don’t care who gets in because nothing changes for them.
May 5, 2023
It is noticeable that the party which complains the loudest about voter ID is also the one which keeps finding itself in trouble where fraud is concerned. HMG needs to press on with tightening up and do something about postal voting. The only safeguard is for us to vote in person on the day with pencil and paper, and for the votes to be counted by hand that night in full view of the candidates and their teams.
May 5, 2023
Voter ID Fraud is a very serious issue, a-Tracy. But it mostly confined to one ‘section’ of society.
May 5, 2023
I know of people that committed voter fraud Mark they were bragging about voting twice once at uni digs residence and by postal vote at their parents home location. Yet weâre told the youth didnât get their say!
May 5, 2023
“Brexit appealed to people from all shades of political opinion, as the issue was could we make our own laws and set our own budgets or should these be done by Brussels?”
Is there any evidence that was why Brexit appealed to people? My impression was that many people voted Leave for more practical reasons, namely, because EU membership was costing us too much and, in particular, that we would have more money for the N.H.S. if we left.
May 5, 2023
The majority were found by Lord Ashcroft’s polling to have voted to regain sovereignty.
May 5, 2023
Thank you. I looked briefly at the poll report. “Reasons to leave, reasons to remain”: people were asked to “rank the following in order of how important they were in your decision”. Was it possible to vote for the reasons which I suggested (above)?
May 8, 2023
lordashcroftpolls.com 24/06/2016 âHow the United Kingdom voted on Thursday ⊠and why â.
May 5, 2023
I pretty simplistic summary I’m afraid. Membership cost us over many years in all manner of ways, the people see those ÂŁmillions being thrown at the NHS with no evidence of improvement…so not a decision maker.
May 5, 2023
The greens have won 70 seats out of a possible 8,053 âŠwhere is the net-zero, green revolution mandate for the Tory green policiesâŠ.the people have spoken again, and are being ignored again !
May 5, 2023
+many
Extremely good point.
May 5, 2023
That kind of critical thinking eludes the Conservative policy wonks. They will reason that because Conservatives champion (false accounting) net zero there is support for it. Like SNP saying all their voters are voting for independence when they are really just voting for more handouts
May 5, 2023
Good point.
May 6, 2023
But Greenies didn’t need to vote Green, Glen. They know they’ll get green climate alarmist policies from a Tory government, or for that matter from a Labour government.
May 6, 2023
Too True
May 5, 2023
Sir John,
“Conservative advisers who tell the leadership not to lurch to the right, not to adopt more Conservative policies” are probably not Conservative.
May 5, 2023
nor are the leadership that listens to them
May 5, 2023
Another good article. You are right that when we voted in Dec 2019 we wanted, & still do, a conservative government with conservative policies. So here are two examples.
1. Net Zero – How can any Conservative Government or MP accept a situation so serious that it will impoverish the UK, without doing some proper research & reading about it? There is plenty of information available now to show it is complete nonsense, yet the government seem utterly unable to accept they are wrong. Cheap, reliable energy is the essential basis for a modern, prosperous country.
2, Illegal Immigration – Yes, there has been lots of talk from both the PM & Home Secretary but what is needed is action. Passing new laws won’t make a blind bit of difference. Why do the Government not bluntly say the problem is France’s refusal to take back illegal immigrants & take punitive action against France? I suggest one fishing license lost for every illegal immigrant as a starting position. Far from giving France money, we should be demanding they pay compensation satin to the UK!
May 5, 2023
Because it isn’t just France’s fault. French politicians have been saying for years that Britain should reduce the ‘pull factors’, but our leaders have done nothing. They have also done nothing to cut the red tape involved in assessing a claim or remove the opportunities for continued appeals. If they do actually deport someone they often return and are treated with kid gloves instead of a mandatory five year prison sentence. Keith, you have to consider the possibility that ‘people who know better than you’ are less concerned with illegal immigration than they are with suppressing reports of it.
May 5, 2023
The councillors who lost because of the lack of Conservative policies and the consequences of implementing WEF/UN/World Banking/ ESG/ anti fossil fuel/ wind and solar expanded , all as the King’s military style Reset. They apparently support an ex hedge fund whizzo who has made millions from investment in modified RNA vaccines and is now putting taxpayer’s money into production of these for treatment of other diseases. No wonder he and Hancock turned on Bridgen and had him slung out. No wonder the first change of policy after Truss was removed was to stop any fracking. All the policies are as ordered by the globalist Green cartels. When he’s completed his brief career in politics, he’ll be off and making more millions from the new order.
It’s pointless arguing for policies that might attract votes. They don’t want votes. They want the Reset and Starmer is going to do the job instead, while they will be rewarded by the men with the money. You’re in the wrong Party. Join Reform if you want to stay in Parliament.
May 5, 2023
Join Reform if you want to have influence on the politics in this country!
Under the fake Tories you’ll never be listened to. They are about cultivating networking, power broking, globalisation, joining modern day elitism… When does anything they do assist making (Great) Britain strong again?
You could be forgiven for concluding the Cambridge Five are now reborn as the Eton & Winchester 100.
May 5, 2023
Spot On MT
May 5, 2023
Sir John. This Diary post is probably the best you have ever written. You have even agreed with a point I have made, that political differences are not a matter of Left and Right. They are far more about common sense on what is beneficial to this country and about our personal freedom to live our own lives without State Interference.
Unfortunately I see very little evidence that your Party has any intention of returning to these conservative principles.
Obviously none of the other Parties will do it so I spoiled my postal vote ballot paper by writing on it ‘None of these’.
May 5, 2023
Yesterday I volunteered as a poll clerk, and I witnessed only a 20 % turnout with 20% of them being foreign nationals with british nationality still using european passports and about 60% over 60yrs, 5% postal and 15% other (working age UK citizens)âŠ.this needs reform, this isn’t inclusive
May 5, 2023
Of the two other people with me, one was a civil servant and the other a local council employee, both told me that they where still working from home and got âspecialâ leave to work at the poll station, on full pay while collecting the days fee âŠwhy are all these people still working from home !
May 5, 2023
BBC – The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that Covid-19 no longer represents a “global health emergency”
So why are civil servants, local government and quango employees still working from home ?
May 6, 2023
Do they pay them net of tax and ni? Lol. Or is this just another perk of the public sector.
May 5, 2023
@ glen cullen – the Kinnoch & Mandelson solution (a more than ample hint it is wrong) was to make voting compulsory, thereby to disguise entirely the issue of voter disaffection.
Would that the twenty per cent. had stayed away too to send a signal loud and clear to the politicians that they do not offer anything worth having.
May 5, 2023
or include on the ballet paper a box for ”None of the Above”
May 5, 2023
Iâve no doubt that the electoral commission has been instructed âneverâ to consider this inclusion
May 5, 2023
Monster Raving Looney is allowed so, None of the Above as a candidate might be allowed.
May 5, 2023
MT – What happens when ‘None of the above’ win the seat …..that’s what they’re scared off
May 5, 2023
“My advice to the leader is to understand these were Conservative voters. It is unlikely adopting more Labour or Lib Dem policies will win them back. The political market for those who want a faster drive to net zero, who want higher taxes, who want more subsidies and interventions in business, who want rent controls and more migrants, who want to import more and make less here is highly congested.”
This is the right advice without a doubt. But the PCP also need to have their noses rubbed in the desertion of people who weren’t conservatives but voted for them in 2019. Over and over again I have heard, “We voted for Boris. We didn’t vote for them.” These disgruntled voters have either stayed at home or gone straight back to Labour. They could have been hung on to and added to if the PCP had a backbone..
May 5, 2023
John
I agree with most of your thoughts but your ‘colleagues’ do not listen.
I suggest you need to join and support Reform UK.
Frankly. I am surprised you have not already done so.
May 5, 2023
+1 Just imagine the impact he could make, the feathers he could rustle, the media frenzy, the support of millions âŠsometimes you just have to decide to be a tiger for a day
May 5, 2023
“Conservatives need to do better.”
Au contraire, they need to do far worse: until they do the diehard rejoiners who control the party leadership will not be forced out. They will never see reason of their own accord.
May 5, 2023
I hope a new party emerges
May 6, 2023
Coalitions of independents will develop. The establishment destroys any new party that could succeed.
May 5, 2023
Here in Wokingham we have gone from an effective good quality low cost Local Council, to one of the worst, least performing, most expensive, infective in the UK. But people would sooner suffer than vote Conservative, as there is no Conservative Party
The decline in Wokingham coincides with a Conservative Government in Westminster. Yet if we had had 13 years of effective management would have made them unassailable.
But of course Sunak and Hunt will maintain they have done well. There job is nearly done, they have removed the idea of Conservativism from people minds for at least a generation.
May 6, 2023
I also live within the confines of the Wokingham District, and has done so for 37 years. In terms of increases in Council Tax year after year, it looked to me they have always been near the top of the allowed range. If one considers this with the fact that the Wokingham District has also seen one of highest rates of house developments in the country (and therefore of parallel increase in the number of council tax payers) I donât think the Local Tax had been particularly low cost, more likely average cost, specially considering the number of streets and more rural lanes with pot-holes (officially somewhat fixed with very localised patches of tarmac, repairs whose impact generally disappears within six months).
In some recent leaflets the local Conservatives advertised that the previously Conservative-led council had passed the baton in May 2022 to a LibDemD/Lab controlled council with ÂŁ9 m in reserves (claiming they were as such among the top 20 financial performing councils in the country).
With this amount of unspent money, one can wonder why the pot-holes had not been more properly dealt with, or why more of them had not been fixed during the 33 years (minus four years 1995-96, 2002, 2022 of no majority) of Conservative control of Wokingham.
May 7, 2023
Band D Wokingham avg ÂŁ2157.35, what makes Woodley ÂŁ2196.82 so different to Barkham on ÂŁ2113.25.
Reply. The Parish/Town Council precept
May 5, 2023
The Prangwizard
Reply to Reply.
Consider this SJR, I suspect that Nigel Farage has decided that he can have far more influence on the electorate’s thinking by fronting four evening TV programmes a week with exclusives such as his interview with Donald Trump.
Equally Jacob Rees-Mogg has, through his four nights a week appearances on GBNews, made himself a very real person. Much more than a voice in the Commons.
I judge from ministerial replies to questions you pose that at best you are an irritant that can be dismissed. To be honest you would need to take a flamethrower to their backsides to influence the present incumbents. It is the electorate you need to connect with, our government are a lost cause. If you doubt what I say, judge government by their response to yesterday’s drubbing. I suspect they will sit in place like lamped rabbits, offering more of the same and deaf to your help. In my humble judgement we need an electoral earthquake to put this country of ours back on course, and I would like you to be part of it.
May 6, 2023
I have never admired Nigel Farage and the more I see of him the more there is to confirm my disquiet about him, he is just a provocateur who walked away, he knows he couldnât deliver what he winds everyone up about so he left the field. He will get what he is working towards at the moment which is a Labour win probably in coalition with LibDems and SNP and they will conjoin us back into the straight jacket of the EEC without a backward glance.
May 6, 2023
I agree. Nigel hates the British people for rejecting him. They did so because they got the measure of him. He has never had a job where he had to deliver more that a 3 minute cheeky speech in the EU âParliamentâ written by someone else. The Civil Servants would have him over a barrel in less than 10 minutes.
May 7, 2023
The thing which discredits him most, apart from his continual carping at Boris even after he and the rest of the media have toppled him and deprived us of Brexit, is his quest for PR. He knows damn well we’d never have got the referendum without FPTP, and that his party would never win overall power with PR, only at best a small part in a coalition of chaos, yet he continues to push PR as a short term measure we would never be rid of, at every opportunity.
May 7, 2023
Interesting, so in 2019 PR did not deliver 30.5%, 5,248k votes, 29 MEPs and the biggest party to the Brexit Party in the European elections?
May 5, 2023
Tory MP Tobias Ellwood is sadly typical of so-called conservative MPs hired to get the best Brexit for the UK on Boris’ manifesto; they then set about stopping Boris and Cummings in every way possible.
Tobias that meant a good deal for the UK, not just a good deal for the EU. He has said, “Brexit is costing our nation 4% of GDP a year; we (who is his we I want to know) need to be braver. Look ahead. Look at what’s best for Britain” on Peston.
So Tobias thinks that without Brexit, the UK would be growing faster than China! Frankly, after the extended long down during covid, the furlough costs, and the complete and utter take-out of action we were put through, I’m surprised we achieved what we have. This constant bombardment with poor information with no blowback at all from Tory MPs is partially why today has happened, it seems that too many (John not included) MPs don’t care.
Then in a Bloomberg headline they claimed “the OBR Hughes says UK Economy is 4% smaller because of Brexit”. However, that was clarified that the 4% was a cumulative impact over the next 15 years (an estimate)!
May 5, 2023
@a-tracy; Brexit was what the then PM wanted, with an 80 seat majority he not only had the votes but enough troops to promote and demote when needed, if he or his then advisor(s) were unhappy with job performance Ministers could have been replaced. The Brexit farce is the responsibility of one man, Mr Johnson, no one else, not even the Eurocrats in Brussels, had we walked towards a WTO exit.
As for Covid, other countries had harsher lockdowns and/or had greater economic damage than the UK, yet the UK currently has the worst economic performance in the G20, below that of even Russia, due to mistakes made by the previous two UK Prime Ministers Brexit has been an omni-shambles at best. Go make yourself a coffee, then inhale deeply for goodness sake!
With regards the Bloomberg OBR forecast headline, stop bleating, people and groups are allowed to make forecasts, if not how come Brexiteers used forecasts to suggest how better the UK would do outside the EU…
May 5, 2023
Jerry, I donât drink coffee, it makes your breath smell.
Re Bloomberg I was saying that Tobias Elwood was using incorrect figures misrepresenting what the OBR had published. They can write what they please I will judge them in time on how accurate they were. But to be honest I think Hunt has done far more damage to UK growth prospects than most.
Where is your source that âcurrently the UK has the worst economic performance in the G20â? In the OECD report on growth within the G20 for the 4th quarter of 2022 puts the UK at a higher rate of growth than the whole of the EU.
Where is your source that other countries had harsher lockdowns and greater economic damage than the UK yet the UK currently has the worst economic performance it will give me some interesting reading this weekend as I seem to be reading different reports to you. E.g.
Weak EU retail data today sales volumes fell by 1.1% in March led by Germany -2.4%. UK sales fell 0.9% March, take a look at Julian Jessop his source Eurostat ONS.
Retail GDP rose by 7.6% 2021 and by 4.1% in 2022.
I disagree about Boris but youâre welcome to your opinion.
May 6, 2023
@a-tracy; So you can’t drink coffee, except I said smell the Coffee, not drink it! đ
Those G20 stats I gave originate from within the IMF’s April 2023 “World Economic Outlook” report.
Of course UK Retail GDP rose in 2022 compared to 2021, no surprise there given most shops were closed for the best part of 2021, duh. But GDP is about more than retail shopping, or domestic (non tourist) hospitality for that matter, how is our industrial sector doing for example.
As for Boris and Brexit, your logic is way off, next you’ll suggest Jim Callaghan played no part in the turmoil that was the Winter of Discontent, or Heath didn’t sign the UK up to join the EEC, the Suez crisis had nothing to do with Eden. The buck stops with the PM, even more so when they have an *unquestioning* parliamentary & party majority as Johnson did. Regarding the current Chancellor, perhaps, he has certainty made few friends with his Budgets, but he has one arm, if not a leg too, tied behind his back due to the absurdity of the Brexit Withdrawal agreements and the damage done to the national reserves by the Johnson govt handing out privatized CV19 contracts without proper due diligence – how many millions, if not billions of GBP wasted on useless PPE, track and trace, etc. Thank goodness we were only fighting a virus, not a war…
May 6, 2023
No the shops werenât shut for the best part of 2021 I think you were thinking of 2020 when lockdown occurred we were freed thanks to Boris for the vast part of 2021, just some local tier lockdowns which were eased early on in the year. No need to say duh itâs quite rude, if youâve got a valid point just make it.
You tell me what facts you have about our industrial sector. We were recovering until Hunt stabbed every business this April.
If the IMF April 2023 report is just a prediction that is not the same as what is actually taking place is it.
I wonât suggest any of your straw men points? Odd. I suggest that you take a look on twitter at some positive people who report on good results for the UK Robert Kimbell, Gully Foyle #UKTrade, Julian Jessop.
May 6, 2023
@a-tracy; Of course the IMF report is going to be retrospective to some extent, putting their projections into context; something you never do, such as trying to lay blame on Hunt when he wouldn’t even be Chancellor if that Truss ‘written’, Kwarteng delivered, Sept. 23 budget with its uncosted tax cuts had not already torpedoed many company and family budgets, crashed the GBP etc, hence why I said “perhaps” to your assertion, Hunt has certain prescribed a bitter pill, but had the patient not already caught double pneumonia it wouldn’t be needed!
“Take a look on Twitter” you suggest. I’ve given up on that site, to many pretenders (never mind impersonation, and that is only going to get worse now), to many personal opinions dressed up as informed fact and of course another other Tweet will say the polar opposite. That is why I cited the IMF, but of course they don’t tell *you* want you want to hear – nor me…
As for retail, fair cop regarding lockdown dates, but shops were still badly affected by the second and third CV19 waves in 2021, not as bad as 2020 obviously but many restrictions remained (and of course the inward tourist was still largely absent), some areas suffered more than others, and many people still only did essential in-person shopping until late summer 2021. What is more there were supply-side shortages, trade & retail outlets can’t trade if they have limited or no stock, even when trading 100% online. I stand by my point with regards the fallacy of comparing 2021 and 2022 results.
May 7, 2023
But you said the IMF is a forward looking projection?
What do you think of Johnâs response about Truss taking the can for the bank. Defined benefit pensioners took the hit themselves, no-one jumped in to sort the impact on them and they recovered. JR âIt was the Bank raising interest rates and announcing QT that took the gilt market down, and it was the Bank then shifting to short term QE that rallied it!â
Your memory of 2021 is very different to mine but whatever, weddings opened up again and getting a weekend date free was very difficult they were so busy. We stayed in this country and holidayed in the UK so there must have been an offset in tourism there as I know a lot of people that did the same that year. Then again I worked throughout not one day off so I never got as paranoid as some people.
May 8, 2023
@a-tracy; Unlike you I do not have a politically selective memory, you only appear to see what suits your argument, supports your favored polices and politicos. I hold no candles, had Truss survived in post I would have be as supportive or critical of her as I am Sunak, Starmer, Davey etc.
Yes hospitality opened up in 2021 (to some extent), so what, other sectors never shut, such as the motor trade, they too were very busy, your point being what. Beyond though, as I said retail, but in addition, manufacturing and the building industry for example both had real problems, often not because of UK govt Covid policy, car factories shut with staff laid off for the lack of imported electronic circuit boards etc; the building trade desperately short of first and second fix essentials such as electric cable and plaster.
As for the IMF report, perhaps I was unclear, such reports are both forward looking and retrospective, the latter to put their predictions in to context. Future events do not occur in a vacuum, they grow out of past decisions.
As for the Truss-Kwarteng budget you appear to be suggesting the fiscal ‘events’ seen immediately after were (very) delayed reactions to the Sunak budget of 23 March, *six* months before…
May 9, 2023
The Truss-Kwarteng budget just highlighted a huge problem that had been allowed to build up in the UK pension markets. The process of liability-driven investment used by the pension funds left them to exposed to change sin bond prices. âLDI is built on a straightforward premise: Pensions need enough money to pay what they owe retirees well into the future. They buy long-dated bonds to plan for payouts in 30 or 50 years while purchasing derivatives to hedge these bets. In the process, they have to put up collateral. If bond yields rise sharply, they are asked to put up even more collateral in whatâs known as a âmargin call.â This obscure corner of the market has grown rapidly in recent years, reaching a valuation of more ÂŁ1 trillion ($1.1 trillion), according to the Bank of England.â CNN Business, October 8th 2022.
The margin calls required under these LDI regimes were so large as to destabilise the markets, which caused band values to drop further. Had the pension funds invested the money of their policyholders more robustly, then the Bank of England would not have needed to intervene.
If you are as non-partisan as you claim, lay the blame where it belongs and stop propagating this myth that it was all Truss-Kwateng.
May 5, 2023
If you follow the policies of the Green Party
If you follow the tax plans of the Labour Party
If you follow the immigration mandates of the EU & UN
âŠ.you get this Tory government, and if the Conservative Party are too stupid to realise their mistakes and change in double quick time, you deserve to lose âŠand I mean change direction on net-zero, tax & immigration next week
May 5, 2023
@glen cullen; So where are all these Reform UK, or UKIP, run councils then?
If the people want green polices, unnecessarily high taxes, want socialism (lite or full-bore), understand the need for fair but managed migration, how ever mistaken these Sheeple, never mind wanting a functioning Brexit, or better protection against food and energy inflation caused by international events etc; if the Tory party won’t offer such polices do not be surprised when votes go to parties who do.
I’m getting a DĂ©jĂ vu feeling, its 1983 all over again, but something is not quite correct … it’s the Tory party signing off on a political suicide note, instead of a manifesto…
May 5, 2023
âThe political market for those who want a faster drive to net zero, who want higher taxes, who want more subsidies and interventions in business, who want rent controls and more migrants, who want to import more and make less here is highly congested.â
Net Zero is the back door route to communism. Since the communists cannot obtain power in the democratic West through votes they are using the totally false catastrophic global warming narrative to destroy western capitalism/democracies through the implementation of the âNet Zero Stategy â Build Back Greenerâ which entails forcing us into meagre, expensive and intermittent supplies of energy with restricted/rationed food, travel and goods and with authoritarian legislation to transition us into using impractical and inferior electrical replacements and de-industrialisation.
As a consequence we will have become another poor communist state with no freedom of speech as the âscience is settledâ and no further discussion is allowed.
Eat your insects, ride your bike in your 15 minute cities and be happy.
May 5, 2023
Before last year’s elections, the Conservatives ran 4 of the 6 councils in Berkshire. They now run 0.
May 5, 2023
Thatâs because they cheated and lied to the people and we no longer believe them
May 5, 2023
I few things which scuppered the Cons.
1. No plan before Brexit.
2. No plan after Brexit.
3. Tax too much.
4. Unfairness
5. Increasing the state pension age, those effected won’t riot, burn tyres or strike, they’ve put you out of business by the vote.
May 5, 2023
I’d say it was the two coups d’etat, not taking us out of the EU, raising tax, causing inflation, doing away with our energy self sufficiency, and letting immigration rip while not providing houses etc.
May 5, 2023
@rose; Yet voters have clearly opted for parties who want more EU, more taxes, more net zero etc…
May 5, 2023
60-70% stayed away.
May 6, 2023
@rose; Your point being what exactly, if the non voters are to be counted as wanting the status quo then the UK voted to “Remain” back in 2016…
May 5, 2023
Letâs hope those parties make that very clear thats what they intend in the general election Jerry.
more EU, more taxes, more net zero etc
If true and thats what they intend to do that should go on every leaflet they print and put through peopleâs doors.
May 6, 2023
@a-tracy; By the same measure the Tory party, Reform UK and the rest of the right wing should have to make very clear their (often unwritten) policy agendas too.
I had leaflets from all the four main parties through my door (Con, Lab, LD, Green), all but one made their local/national polices very clear, it was the Blue leaflet that talked more about the personalty’s of the candidates than their polices…
May 6, 2023
I absolutely agree that Tories, Reform, Uncle Tom Cobley Party and ALL should have full cvâs for their candidates and what they are standing for that they can actually vote on.
We had a party standing that Iâd never heard of, the Tories didnât stand locally. Iâd never heard of any of their candidates nor did they canvas my area, I wrote to them and they gave me full information on each candidate and what they were hoping to achieve locally. I actually wrote to all three parties standing to ask for more information on each candidate and I voted for the people that gave me personally the most confidence in them as people wanting to do their best for my town.
May 6, 2023
Those are not issues in local elections. Voters opted for âdustbinâ parties to send yet another message to the erstwhile Tories.
May 7, 2023
@Lynn A; Stop trying to have it both ways! Brexiteers (and others…) did not suggest such things when it was UKIP winning local elections, even controlling the odd council, they hyped such results, calling them voter trends.
May 5, 2023
Sir JR
Making Brexit equal with more freedom doesn’t actually seem to be realised nor has it delivered.
So your synonymous between Brexit and more freedom just seems totally off course.
May 5, 2023
Itâs starting to deliver now Bill, weâve only been free of the withdrawal agreement a short time, the UK needs to move faster, leaner and get this job done now theyâve had a kick up the backside.
May 6, 2023
A Tracy
I fundamentally disagree with your conclusions
May 6, 2023
I know you do Bill and people like the ONS are helping your side by creating unreal shopping baskets, to show exaggerated inflation.
I always check their basket prices of goods and I can ALWAYS find goods a lot cheaper than that on the shelves the day I check. I could give you examples if you donât believe me or do the exercise yourself.
May 5, 2023
It’s the way you throw these labels about SJ – freedom and prosperity, control, make our own laws, spend our own money, small boats, taxes and growth, it’s like you can’t miss a chance to squeeze them all into the same space just as you and your chums did during the brexit campaign – must be something to do with slinging enough around some of it might stick. Either way you Cons are bunched now for at least the next ten maybe twenty years.
May 6, 2023
Your party has been infiltrated by Lib Dems / socialists. Asking them to offer conservative policies is like asking a dog to be a cat – a dog won’t climb a tree whatever you say to it.
Every time the memebrship vote in a conservative)ish) leader, the MPs connive to arrange their downfall and a replacement who’s one of their own. Sunak and Hunt are the worst nightmare of any true conservative, they will never win an election and you have seen that in these local elections – the polls don’t begin to show the scale of the problem.
You will never persuade them, history shows you that. You have to work out how you will fight fire with fire and purge your party of these interlopers and keep them out in future.
Your new movement (David Campbell Bannerman) suggests that the party needs reform from the grass roots up. he is wrong. The grass roots is fine, the top of the tree is rotten and needs to be pruned. Of course, he may know that, just feels that he can’t say it.
May 6, 2023
In modern democracies general elections tend to be a duel between the leaders of the two biggest Parties.
The local elections have shown both major parties, Conservative and Labour, have a ‘leader problem’. Both Leaders, Starmer and Sunak are uncharismatic, very inconsistent on policies and tactically inept. Considering the past year has been the worst year for a British government for 50 years the main opposition party should have done better. Understandably voters outside core Labour areas have been reluctant to vote for a Starmer-led Party.
Labour really ought to change their Leader but their senior shadow Cabinet members look no better and maybe worse. The Conservative situation is different. First of all Sunak’s credibility will only get worse as people increasingly realise just how incompetent he is as most of his 5 key rash promises fail to be fulfilled. Sunak reminds me of Peter Sellers’ simple minded character in the film ‘Being There’ where people initially mistake unconventional idiocy for wisdom. However Conservatives have clearly better alternative leaders. By far the best of all is Boris Johnson who is genuinely interested in electioneering technique and is exceptionally good at it. Though I don’t like his openness to selective mass immigration (Hong Kong etc.,) and his economic interventionism, yet sees the wood from the trees (in Brexit, Covid, Ukraine etc.,)better than anybody in politics and when it matters is a really good Leader. For various reasons the snooty (which includes most Conservative M.P.s) don’t like him but he sure goes down well with sootier types, partly because he entertains and partly because he understands and skilfully directs his appeal to ‘ordinary people’. To stand a chance at the next election Conservatives need to reinstate Boris as Leader without delay.
May 6, 2023
Totally wrong conclusion. Boris was a disaster on every front who got every big decision wrong. Even when he was right (the couff) he did not have the character, as PM, to assert himself selling out to the civil service. We need a Conservative. Nothing more, nothing less.
May 7, 2023
Boris had the wrong Chancellors. If he had had Sir John, he’d still be PM. The same applies to Cameron and to Miss Truss. Boris did very well in London because he had the right people to help him. Clever, clued up people like Lord Moylan.
May 6, 2023
The Globalist UK NWO Establishment control the agenda and the narrative regardless of who you vote for. We the people are irrelevant so until the whole system of government is changed nothing will happen. Remember we do not have a Constitution like the USA, however change is coming and Nothing can stop what is coming, NOTHING.
May 6, 2023
The Magna Carta was a charter of rights agreed to by King John of England in 1215, and was Europe’s first written constitution.
I was listening to Jacob Rees Mogg on tv talk about constitution and our equivalencies very interesting.
May 6, 2023
We have the Greatest Constitution ever devised, it was created over 800 years. You must go to the House of Commons Library and look at the âConstitutional Statutesâ. They are our highest level of law.
The codified US constitution is very constricting and fundamentally very basic. Our constitution allows us to respond to an unforseeable act that harms it. The Constitutional Monarch has the duty of defending the Constitution.
Our Monarchy has been poor for a hundred years and looks like weakening. But that is not the Fault of the Constitution! Itâs the fault of the Monarch. We need a Constitutional Court as the Monarch is incapable or unwilling to do its single duty.
May 6, 2023
I see that Wokingham Council still has no overall control :
Liberal Democrat 26
Conservative 22
Labour 5
Independent 1
My place of birth, Windsor and Maidenhead, has gone Libdim for the first time. That is a truly shocking result with the Libdims now having 22 council seats and the Conservatives only 7 ! Perhaps these two very different results have something to do with the relative merits of their respective MPs !
May 6, 2023
The electorate took a courageous decision in 2016 to withdraw from the European Union. This decision was a true Conservative decision in my mind.
Since that day, we have been searching for a courageous Conservative leader who would lead us through the battle with the EU, the international organisations, and those within our ranks, who were distraught with our referendum result.
The electorate believed that it had found that man in Boris. Unfortunately that was not to be. He had been tainted by the liberal left within the Party.
We, the traditional conservative Brexit voters, from across the political spectrum are now left stranded without that courageous leader nor an established political party to vote for.
The Conservative Party always claims to be the One Nation Party. The One Nation Party was created in 2016 by the referendum vote. The Conservative Party was too busy with its internal battles to grasp the chance to rid us of the socialist menace for years to come.
The only group which truly reflects the ambition of the 2016 voters is Reform.
Sent from my iPad
May 6, 2023
I’m glad we didn’t have to vote in our area because it would have been pointless, embarrassing and giving credence to nonsensical fayre on offer. Taking the voters as fools has been confirmed absolutely since 2016.
No wonder our enemies and competitors have been emboldened in their contempt for us sadly.
May 7, 2023
Rishi Sunak is the wrong person to lead the conservatives to the elections, he has no ideological or personal following within the voters likely to vote for us.
The policies Rishi is talking about are slow in coming and are mostly just a fudge.
The conservative party, and the country, is walking into a long dark chapter of woke socialism which will probably end in rejoining the EU.
The blame is equally shared between the 1922 and its leader Brady, and the BoE which jointly tripped up the only real hope for the country – Liz Truss and ended up with a loser like Rishi.
Elli