Get Brexit done is the new Tory mantra in the run up to the forthcoming General Election but why should we trust them when so far they haven’t accomplished anything at all. Let’s not forget that Brexit and the EU referendum was their idea. Since then all the Tories have accomplished is 3 changes of Leadership: 3 Tory Prime Ministers and nothing at all to show for it other than a stream of incompetences.
Category: General Election 2017
A chance to explore the themes of the General Election 2017. Here I present a series of posts on topics related to the General Election of 2017, exploring issues facing the Labour Party and Tory Party policies.
Beware the Sun tabloid newspaper is a Cuckoo in Britain’s Class War
The Newspaper in general may have outlived it’s usefulness. It is after all strongly edited for political bias to represent its own interests and the views of their owners/bosses. Other information is now available and getting heard that is not so strongly censored nor representative of only a small minority. Freedom of speech is now more achievable than ever because of the accessibility of the Internet where some aspects of censorship can be overcome and the voice of both socialism and the youth can now be expressed far more freely than ever before without censorship from powerful newspaper editors. Newspapers have always sought to limit change and to suppress a voice and platform for socialism in Britain. Through censorship or false representation of socialist policies (Loony Left was a derogatory term coined by many of these newspapers to undermine socialist values) they have succeeded in limiting political choice for the masses and this could be viewed as actively sabotaging choice in the political electoral system of Britain by exerting pressures to manipulate political parties to either adopt or curtail political aspirations. One particular newspaper, the Sun tabloid newspaper, has done this whilst attaining mass appeal amongst the working classes whilst subversively encouraging divisiveness in order to prevent any sense of class realisation and class identity whilst also seeking to undermine the institutions which promote the interests of the working classes. This paper the Sun tabloid newspaper and it has been and still remains ‘the Cuckoo of British Class Warfare‘.
Continue reading Beware the Sun tabloid newspaper is a Cuckoo in Britain’s Class War
May appoints the unpopular Gove to her Cabinet further undermining public opinion in her abilities to govern
What a bizarre choice of appointment Michael Gove is by the Prime Minister. Only just recovering from her defeat and humiliation in the General Election of 2017 she adds a minister who is likely to further alienate her from the public. By appointing the ever unpopular Michael Gove to her cabinet she is further undermining the public confidence in her abilities to govern as Prime Minister. It demonstrates yet again a severe lack of political judgement by the already beleaguered Prime Minister.
Michael Gove is probably the most despised and hated politician of a generation so why appoint him to the Cabinet?
Michael Gove was one of the most despised and hated politicians of recent years and when in positions of Minister of Education and Minister of Justice he managed to galvanise public opinion against him. He became probably the most unpopular Minister of recent years. In fact there was a sigh of relief when he was dropped from the Cabinet by Theresa May. Now he is back in again. On the face of it this appears to be another, yet another, act of political blindness on behalf of Theresa May. Mistakenly Theresa May believed herself to be popular amongst the electorate. She falsely assumed that the working classes would swallow her garbage about the Tories being the Party offering the greatest choice and representing the interests of the working classes now she scores yet another political own goal by appointing the most unpopular politician of a generation to her Cabinet. How many more political gaffs can this Prime Minister make before she exposed as incompetent?
My own view on the matter is more that Gove has been appointed to stem the threat to her leadership from BoJo. Mr Gove clearly has some influence over Boris Johnson which became apparent in the leadership battle otherwise why did Mr Johnson drop out so easily to leave the field wide open for Gove himself? It may therefore be the case that May actually needs Gove at this moment in time and has been forced by circumstance to offer him a job in her Cabinet. This may be a dangerous move on her part as Gove may already be scheming to make his own leadership challenge and she may in fact have only served to strengthen his hand. It may also be a a strategy of keep your enemies close by giving Gove, at least in part, what he wants. The reality is that Michael Gove could never be palatable to the public as serious material for Prime Minister anyhow: he is just too unpopular and will always remain so but he is also: scheming, ambitious, greedy, and above all a major threat to the weakened Prime Minister at this moment in time.
Corbyn needs to put pressure on the Tories to be honest about taxation rises
It is quite obvious that Theresa May and the Tories are planning to scrap their 2015 election pledges not to raise taxation. Constrained now by awkward and awful Brexit Negotations by the arrogant Theresa May, a hard and austere Brexit is looming for Britain. To cover up these mistakes the people of Britain will have to pay for the Tories bungling through higher taxation and higher inflation. This is the real reason for Theresa May hurrying through another General Election in 2017.
Jeremy Corbyn needs to seize upon this weakness and exploit it for all it’s worth and get the Tories to admit that taxation will rise if they take office again in 2017.
The General Election 2017 should be the time for Labour to take a new path
The General Election 2017 should be the time for the Labour Party to take some risks. It’s chance of winning at the moment may be quite slim. Jeremy Corbyn has so far failed to deliver any significant left wing policies or principles. Time and time again Labour have failed to offer the voters any significant differences between them and the Tories. The Conservatives will always win battles for middle and the right so is it high time now that the Labour Party took the left wing path instead of sticking to the middle path. I believe so and so do many of the Labour Party Membership who have returned to the Labour Party believing that Jeremy Corbyn would steer the Party towards the left again. However so far we have seen no real change of course.
Labour now need to be more radical and experimental in this 2017 General Election after all what is there to lose because the middle path will only lead to another election defeat and may cost Jeremy Corbyn his position as leader.
Continue reading The General Election 2017 should be the time for Labour to take a new path
The Labour Party need to finance their plans without taxation rises
As was the case only yesterday regarding Labour’s plans to pay for Police officers, which so embarrassed Diane Abbott the Shadow Home Secretary, the Labour need to be clear about where this money will come from. Tony Blair has consigned the Labour Party to awkward financial constraints by ditching a commitment to Clause IV of it’s constitution and indeed Tony Blair/Gordon Brown’s Governments can now be viewed as failures simply because they could not raise sufficient capital to implement plans to improve the social infrastructure because they were unable to raise the necessary capital without resorting to taxation rises. So now where does Corbyn plan to get his money from?
He needs to be clear on this if he is to mount a plausible challenge to Theresa May. People need to be re-assured that Labour can manage the economy and better than the Tories. Diane Abbott did very little to cultivate this notion amongst Voters with her poor planning.
My own thoughts would be that Public Ownership of the Railways would be the first step to finding this Capital which is desperately needed to improve public services and the social infrastructure of Great Britain. This would be a step in right direction again for Corbyn’s Labour Party and a step away from the legacy of Tony Blair’s influence upon the Labour Movement.
Why has Theresa May called an early General Election in 2017?
Well the answer to this lies in 2 camps. The main reason is that Therese May’s negotiations with the European Union are certainly not going well. In fact she is simply annoying our European Neighbours with her arrogance that she will win. Facts are that she really holds no persuasive bargaining power in these negotiations and the outcome will always be what it has been from the start that Britain faces a very tough and unprofitable Brexit. For May the further these negotiations go then the more likely that the outcome of these negotiations will not be positive for Britain or for her personally. Therefore before this happens and people of Britain begin to see behind the facade and start to blame the Conservatives for Britain’s Economic Demise, May simply wants to buy more time for herself and her Conservative Party in government by calling an early General Election in 2017. Quite simply by ruining the Economy whilst in Government would not look good for the Tories in the run up to another Election so she is hoping that within 5 years she can salvage something that could save her and her Party. Added to this is the fact that because of Brexit and the uncertainties regarding our Economy and the strength of the Pound she is further hampered by the Tories previous Election Pledges under Cameron not to raise taxation. Because of Brexit and to shore up the Economy she has calculated that this will be a further hindrance so she desperately needs to re-adjust this situation. When recently questioned about tax rises she was vague and non-committal. She well knows that she will be seeking to raise taxation. So in the end we will be all worse off well at least those that can least afford a tax rise namely the working classes. In this way Theresa May is being very devious and attempting to use the General Election in 2017 to increase taxation by stealth. This is to shore up her ineptness to steer us out of the European Union without bankrupting the country and ruining the Economy. She knows that there is a risk of this so she is seeking a mandate for us all to foot the bill for her and her Parties ineptitude.
Lastly May sees this as an opportunity to eliminate the threat from Jeremy Corbyn before he has really had a chance to develop his position in the Labour Party. Being a decent man with a caring attitude and high moral fibre she does see him as a threat despite what she has said in public. So she is spearheading a smear campaign against him with dirty political tactics. In fact she is rather despicable and not a very nice lady herself despite the public image that she attempting to cultivate ( a public makeover in the style of Margaret Thatcher). Corbyn is a good speaker and is a match for her and her arrogance in the House of Commons and May knows that he represents a threat. She is hoping that a General Election defeat will result in the Labour Party seeking to oust him as Leader in favour of another further plunging the Labour Party into turmoil.
Will Jeremy Corbyn survive an Election Defeat?
I do not wish to be too negative here but this election has probably come when the Labour Party are the worst prepared than they have ever been for a General Election Battle. Theresa May knows this well and has seized upon this as the moment to pounce. However this is not a reflection of Mr Corbyn’s leadership it is simply that the Labour Party is itself in turmoil. Corbyn although appearing strong has failed so far to take ownership of the Party or to steer it in the direction that the membership want. He has failed so far to live up to his left wing promise and is struggling to appease both the growing left and diminishing right in his Party. The Labour Party is struggling with an Identity Crisis and amidst this we now have a General Election to fight. However there may yet be a twist in the story and the election of Trump in the USA is a reminder that there are no certainties. Corbyn could still claim a victory of sorts if he diminishes Theresa May’s majority in the House of Commons and/or if he wins back the Scottish Labour Vote: so even in defeat he could theoretically win something in this battle. Would this be enough to help him retain leadership of the Labour Party well this remains to be seen and in any case who could really follow him?
Scotland gifted the General Election of 2015 to the Tories so will they do the same in 2017?
In the May 2015 General Election the Tories exploited the Scottish People’s desire to get independence for Scotland. In truth Cameron was dependent upon the hope that people would vote for the SNP as a protest vote or at least to split the vote and divide what were traditional loyalties of the Scottish People towards the Labour Movement. There is some truth though that Miliband offered nothing more that a wet version of the Labour Party during this period but this is only a small part of the equation. Alex Salmond in his quest to become ‘King of Scotland’ simply took his eye off the ball and failed to grasp that he was nothing more than a Tory Puppet being used to undermine Labour’s overall position in Scotland.
The 2017 General Election is not a vote for Devolution for Scotland: it’s about which political party governs the United Kingdom in the meantime
In truth the Labour Party need to do better in Scotland and the only way they can do is to give the Scottish people what they want: which is a referendum on Scottish Independence. This is to avoid this General Election in 2017 simply becoming an opportunity to get this referendum regarding their independence and a vote simply about regional politics/issues or devolution. The SNP are in reality a single issue Party so the Labour Party need to blunt Sturgeon’s sword and steal the rug from under her and her Party by offering the Scottish people the very thing and only thing that the SNP can really offer. Once this is done and promised by Labour in a Manifesto Pledge then Scotland can get to grips with the real political issues that face not only Scotland but the whole of the United Kingdom.
If this can be achieved by Jeremy Corbyn and his Labour Party then if there were to be a swing back to Labour in Scotland then even if Labour were to loose the General Election it may still be possible to increase Labour’s seats and thus reduce the Conservative’s majority in Parliament. This could be seen as a miscalculation by Theresa May and a significant loss if her majority were actually to be decreased in a General Election of her own calling. The Labour Party have a great deal to gain by stealing the show from the SNP in Scotland by playing Sturgeon at her own game. In the same way the Scots have to answer questions about why they have let the Tories in at the last General Election by taking their focus off what happens to the rest of the United Kingdom by simply focusing on their own needs in a General Election situation. General Election’s should not simply be about regional politics and attempting to get the most out of it for yourself and your locality: you need to see the bigger picture by establishing a Government that will bring about not just localised improvements but improvements across the whole of the United Kingdom, this is a given up until the day when devolution does actually occur. In the last election the focus on regional politics simply let the Tories in to have a greater share of the vote than they have historically held. This situation simply gifted the last election to the Tories and gave the a much stronger position in Parliament than they actually deserve. Scotland and the Labour Party need to get it right this time for the sake of the greater good in the United Kingdom.