Good morning!

Well, not so good for some of us, and not so good for the environment, but a very clear result.

I managed to stay up until after 01:30 this morning and saw Sue Hayman, a good Shadow Environment Secretary, lose her seat at Workington. And then I woke again just a little while before 06:00 and am now catching up on the momentous results: Jo Swinson, Zac Goldsmith, Mary Creagh, Holly Lynch, Dennis Skinner and a host more. And my own constituency now has a Tory majority of 10,000.

Time for a cup of tea and a longer look at the results.

It’s no compensation that every bet I had on this general election was a winning vote – they weren’t (in retrospect) big enough and although they were, in a way, a triumph of reason over emotion, I’m feeling the emotion right now.

Back later – I feel there ought to be a compensatory Redpoll on my niger seeds (but I bet there won’t be).

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19 Replies to “Good morning!”

  1. Its going to need more than a compensatory Redpoll, Mark.
    Whilst one has to respect the vote, part of me also says how can so many vote for a party led by a lying charlatan, but then I have always found it difficult to understand how any ordinary folk ever vote Tory.
    Sadly I cannot drink alcohol so a compensatory tea is in order.
    What a bloody disaster!

  2. What a bloodbath! This was an extremely depressing result to wake up to. After the casual complacency of Cameron, the paralysis of May and the cynical chicanery of Johnson over the last ten years and all the harm this has wreaked, Labour potentially had the most wide-open goal they are ever likely to get but instead of hammering the ball into the back of the net Corbyn ‘s shot went tamely wide.

    Corbyn may be on the right side of the argument on many issues but that is no use if you cannot get into government to bring about the change you seek. The despised Blair-Brown governments achieved much more for working people than Corbyn has. In the end he has opposed some wars that happened anyway.

    I understand Corbyn has indicated that he will not be leading Labour into another election. I hope the party thinks very carefully about who they replace him with. We cannot afford to allow the Conservative Party to become unchallengable in future elections.

  3. yet despite the importance, turnout was 1.5% lower than 2017 (BBC) which is interesting though perhaps understandable. Until we get PR (makevotesmatter.org) we’ll still be stuffed.

  4. Thanks to a combination of greed, selfishness, bigotry, stupidity and pure evil, the death warrants of hundreds of thousands of innocent people were signed yesterday. It’s too late for my generation now. We’ll be saddled with this bunch of criminals for what remains of our lives.

    The tory party: living proof that shit floats.

    1. Indeed Coop the Tories are living proof that you can get turkeys to vote for Christmas. They lie they cheat and persuade ordinary folk to vote for them yet only ever represent the interests of the elite, rich and profiteers. The fact that they are led by an old Etonian Bullingdon club philandering liar makes it even worse.
      Brexit is the stupidest thing the UK has done since letting royalty back into the country in1688 and this election result is just a bloody bad.

  5. Wonder how the Green Party voters in Blyth Valley are feeling this morning?

    Probably smug and self righteous, just like every other morning.

    1. Save the vitriol for those 150 or so Labour MPs and Peers who campaigned so vociferously against AV in 2011.

        1. Dismayed Lib Dem activist actually. And I tactically voted Labour in my own constituency.

          I’ve spent all day listening and reading to various dissections in the media regarding the dismal performance of the progressive parties. Some cogent, some plausible and some that clearly belong in the file marked bollocks. The notion that the Green party voters are responsible for Labour’s collapse in the Blyth Valley falls firmly in the latter category.

          1. If those who voted Green had voted Labour instead they would now have a Labour MP.

            As it is they have a Tory MP.

        2. It’s undeniable that had those Green votes gone to Labour, Blyth Valley would have a Labour MP. I’m sure similar things can be said in other seats. Whether that would make a significant difference is another thing.
          It’s good to get that anger out now because we’re going to have to work together to have any chance of winning in the future. As I vote Green I apologise if this comes across as smug and self-righteous.

          1. Yes, when Labour lose it’s always someone else’s fault. The poor Greens..I’m surprised nobody has come on here to blame the “the right wing press”. May I point out that the Green Party has different policies to the Labour Party and is an identifiable party and not just the environmentally focused wing of the Labour party – it would be somewhat smug to hint that they should be. And also consider that some principled people actually vote for what they believe in rather than compromising their views to give someone they don’t support the favour of winning by following instructions to vote against someone else they don’t support.

            I’m afraid your party were the true charlatans here. Only 2 years ago they “promised to deliver Brexit” and have reneged on that promise, they offered this freeby and that unaffordable gift as election bribes and they failed to learn from history that the British people simply do not embrace far left, near Marxist policies.

            I’m only the messenger. Go and listen to the thousands who deserted Labour last night, although in your smugness you will believe that “they did not know what they were doing” (We’ve heard that one before) and re-watch last night’s broadcast and hear what some of the defeated MP’s had to say.

            Don’t point the finger at the Greens, not even the Tories, maybe in your smugness you wanted the SNP to stand aside too. Labour lost this election because of weak leadership, unpopular policies, a dangerous extreme left wing cabal who have little interest in genuine working class people, and a failure to keep their word. They got exactly what they deserved.

  6. The ratio of Green Party votes to seats is now about 850,000:1, with no prospect of PR for at least 5 years.

    1. Yes I believe our electoral system is grossly unfair. Whilst the small parties such as the Greens get precious little return for the votes they receive, the bigger parties prosper. The Tories got 56% of the seats in Parliament with 43% of the overall votes cast. In Scotland it is even more extreme – the SNP won 81% of the seats with just 56% of the votes cast. Labour’s 203 seats were roughly in proportion to their overall share of the vote.

  7. What a disaster as others say. I am afraid I never thought Mr. Corbyn was the right person to lead the opposition to Johnson. (as commented in an earlier blog ). Although many Labour supporters would like a real left wing Government the fact is that the electorate will not accept such a Government, see also Michael Foots loss back in the 1980s To have a chance to win there must be a strong person leading just to the left of the centre of politics.
    Well, the battles on behalf of our wildlife unfortunately will have to continue with the vested interests of the Tories.

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