The Cable Forum Exit Poll, 2024

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

Labour got over half a million fewer votes under sir beer than they did under corbyn...

But received a higher percentage of those who actually voted - 33.8% vs 32.1%

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Hugh

But received a higher percentage of those who actually voted - 33.8% vs 32.1%

Massive. Mind blowing.

Not a massive point of interest but still noteworthy.

Starmer has appointed two non-MPs to the cabinet. Sir Patrick Valance of COVID fame is the Science Minister. Fair enough.

But probably bigger news. James Timpson of Timpson - the key cutters company - has been made Prisons Minister!

Both are being appointed to the Lords to be able to do this.

I quite like this decision. Timpson recruits out of prisons quite a bit and I saw an interview with him on Channel 4 a few months ago where he had an excellent understanding of it.

Putting people who understand the topic as Ministers makes sense to me. For balance, I said the same about making Cameron Foreign Secretary.

We should make the cabinet more qualified like the Americans do rather than try to find someone from the 99% of MPs who are humanities graduates to be the Minister for Science or whatever.

[Stephen]

Well as Timpson specialise in keys he should make a good Prisions minister

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Damien

Not a massive point of interest but still noteworthy.

Starmer has appointed two non-MPs to the cabinet. Sir Patrick Valance of COVID fame is the Science Minister. Fair enough.

But probably bigger news. James Timpson of Timpson - the key cutters company - has been made Prisons Minister!

Both are being appointed to the Lords to be able to do this.

I quite like this decision. Timpson recruits out of prisons quite a bit and I saw an interview with him on Channel 4 a few months ago where he had an excellent understanding of it.

Putting people who understand the topic as Ministers makes sense to me. For balance, I said the same about making Cameron Foreign Secretary.

We should make the cabinet more qualified like the Americans do rather than try to find someone from the 99% of MPs who are humanities graduates to be the Minister for Science or whatever.

I’m not necessarily against the concept however there could be better ways of Governments getting expertise into the decision making process without elevating more people to the Lords.

A risk, in an unscrupulous era, would be giving these “experts” political accountability at the same time sets them up as fall guys. Or worse, “expert” advice gets designed to curry favour with a ruling party.

In Scotland there’s a tendency towards “expert groups” or “advisory groups” of publicly funded third sector orgs representing “lived experience”. A cynic may, occasionally, view this as a shield for political parties to dodge political accountability.

If Lords get appointed to junior positions they subsequently resign from due to incompetence or error (as opposed to personal scandal) the buck should really stop with the corresponding Secretary of State.

In a sense I have less opposition to Cameron as foreign secretary, as a clear and unambiguous political operative. If we oppose Ministers being in the Lords we shouldn’t have a House of Lords.

Note - “Experts” follows my hypothetical dive into an unscrupulous era. Not a judgement on the expertise of either Vallance or Timpson.

The turnout was low, the lowest since 2001.
Was it apathy ? The need for ID ? or something else ?

This picture shows how bad it went for the blue party this election.

[jfman]

I think there were dynamics in both 2019 (Get Brexit Done) and 2024 (a Reform surge) that make the numbers look more dramatic than changes within the population as a whole. I think that the Labour victory - telegraphed since forever in opinion polls - slumped in the polls slightly on the day. Maybe the Conservatives scare tactics worked a bit (1% or 2%).

Ultimately I don't think the Labour Party - the people or manifesto - sell the vision for the UK that people will ultimately want. It'll do for now. Far larger numbers backed the Labour Party in 2017 and 2019, despite a major campaign against the then leader.

There was some good stuff in there - ultimately the plan for Labour was to eliminate it in policy and people. Sure, they won. What do the unhappy people do next?

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Hugh

But received a higher percentage of those who actually voted - 33.8% vs 32.1%

Oh, that's okay then...

Has anyone noticed the state of the country under labour?

Originally Posted by Damien

Not a massive point of interest but still noteworthy.

Starmer has appointed two non-MPs to the cabinet. Sir Patrick Valance of COVID fame is the Science Minister. Fair enough.

But probably bigger news. James Timpson of Timpson - the key cutters company - has been made Prisons Minister!

Both are being appointed to the Lords to be able to do this.

I quite like this decision. Timpson recruits out of prisons quite a bit and I saw an interview with him on Channel 4 a few months ago where he had an excellent understanding of it.

Putting people who understand the topic as Ministers makes sense to me. For balance, I said the same about making Cameron Foreign Secretary.

We should make the cabinet more qualified like the Americans do rather than try to find someone from the 99% of MPs who are humanities graduates to be the Minister for Science or whatever.

Timpson are great for reforming prisoners and I've never understood how an mp proves themselves completely unsuitable for one ministerial role can be appropriate for another based on nothing other than seemingly that past failure.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Damien

We should make the cabinet more qualified like the Americans do rather than try to find someone from the 99% of MPs who are humanities graduates to be the Minister for Science or whatever.

I agree on that, we have a Business secretary that wouldn’t know how to run a bath, let alone a business.

[ianch99]

I was impressed by Starmer's speech outside No. 10. So different from the past Tory PM's, a breath of fresh air.

---------- Post added at 09:52 ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 ----------

Originally Posted by Hugh

Depends - Reform will have to reform its rules and practices to be (or seen to be) democratic in how it’s run and candidate selection; at the moment, it’s Farage’s personal fiefdom, but you can’t run a (British) mainstream political party that way. If more people get a say in how it’s run and what its policies should be, it may not be as effective.

Agreed but the key move will be the planned merger with the right wing Tories, at which point they will transition into a more conventional structure.

Originally Posted by Paul

This picture shows how bad it went for the blue party this election.

It also shows that the puke-yellow team god a good shoeing north of the border - far worse even than it looks, given the enormous size of those rural highland constituencies. With one seat to declare and the Nat already conceding he’s lost, the SNP finishes on 9 seats. The talk now is whether the party might be in serious financial difficulty. It was already having cash-flow issues and now it’s lost about £0.75m per annum of parliamentary funding.

/infighting intensifies

[Mr K]

The last piece of that map can be coloured in now.

The Liberal Democrats have won in Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire after two recounts in the constituency.
Angus MacDonald of the Scottish Liberal Democrats won the seat from the SNP’s Drew Hendry, taking the Lib Dems’ total number of seats won to 72.

From today’s Reformagraph…



<cough>None of the last 4 Tory Prime Ministers lasted one term…<cough>

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Hugh

From today’s Reformagraph…



<cough>None of the last 4 Tory Prime Ministers lasted one term…<cough>

Nobody takes Cammy seriously since her toe licking 'Whisper it quietly, Rishis making a comeback' fantasy/article....