In all of this, it seems to be forgotten that being an MP is a job requiring work. I feel sorry for the many MPs (across all parties) who put in the work and serve their constituencies - reducing voting to a circus is such an insult to them and to the public generally.
I would amend that slightly to: it should be a job requiring work. Given the number of side jobs as TV hosts and columnists, let alone peddling cryptocurrency, it often gives the impression of being job that takes up as much time as you want it to.
My understanding is that members of the cabinet often have an arrangement with the MP of a neighbouring constituency to help out with constituent affairs. I don't think the PM attends his local surgery every Friday.
But most MPs aren't doing the side hustles you mention. Most MPs are also not cabinet members. The PM not attending their local surgery every Friday is, imo, reasonable in the same way as the Bishop of Dover handling local diocesan business on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It doesn't mean that bishops in general are slacking off.
My MP for instance had a Normal Job before politics (not a lawyer or lobbyist either) and is very present in the community even when Parliament is in session - obviously being relatively close to London helps there, of course. But rather like the comments about PE teachers, suggesting that all MPs are dishonest layabouts doesn't do anything to attract decent people to the role.
In all of this, it seems to be forgotten that being an MP is a job requiring work. I feel sorry for the many MPs (across all parties) who put in the work and serve their constituencies - reducing voting to a circus is such an insult to them and to the public generally.
I would amend that slightly to: it should be a job requiring work. Given the number of side jobs as TV hosts and columnists, let alone peddling cryptocurrency, it often gives the impression of being job that takes up as much time as you want it to.
My understanding is that members of the cabinet often have an arrangement with the MP of a neighbouring constituency to help out with constituent affairs. I don't think the PM attends his local surgery every Friday.
But most MPs aren't doing the side hustles you mention. Most MPs are also not cabinet members. The PM not attending their local surgery every Friday is, imo, reasonable in the same way as the Bishop of Dover handling local diocesan business on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It doesn't mean that bishops in general are slacking off.
My MP for instance had a Normal Job before politics (not a lawyer or lobbyist either) and is very present in the community even when Parliament is in session - obviously being relatively close to London helps there, of course. But rather like the comments about PE teachers, suggesting that all MPs are dishonest layabouts doesn't do anything to attract decent people to the role.
I'm not sure what you are talking about. Nobody thinks that all MPs are slackers and that all have jobs outside of their official duties.
In all of this, it seems to be forgotten that being an MP is a job requiring work. I feel sorry for the many MPs (across all parties) who put in the work and serve their constituencies - reducing voting to a circus is such an insult to them and to the public generally.
I would amend that slightly to: it should be a job requiring work. Given the number of side jobs as TV hosts and columnists, let alone peddling cryptocurrency, it often gives the impression of being job that takes up as much time as you want it to.
My understanding is that members of the cabinet often have an arrangement with the MP of a neighbouring constituency to help out with constituent affairs. I don't think the PM attends his local surgery every Friday.
But most MPs aren't doing the side hustles you mention. Most MPs are also not cabinet members. The PM not attending their local surgery every Friday is, imo, reasonable in the same way as the Bishop of Dover handling local diocesan business on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It doesn't mean that bishops in general are slacking off.
My MP for instance had a Normal Job before politics (not a lawyer or lobbyist either) and is very present in the community even when Parliament is in session - obviously being relatively close to London helps there, of course. But rather like the comments about PE teachers, suggesting that all MPs are dishonest layabouts doesn't do anything to attract decent people to the role.
I'm not sure what you are talking about. Nobody thinks that all MPs are slackers and that all have jobs outside of their official duties.
We are not here talking about "most MPs".
I was responding directly to Sipech so I'm not sure where the confusion has come from. Sipech was talking about MPs generally.
In all of this, it seems to be forgotten that being an MP is a job requiring work. I feel sorry for the many MPs (across all parties) who put in the work and serve their constituencies - reducing voting to a circus is such an insult to them and to the public generally.
I would amend that slightly to: it should be a job requiring work. Given the number of side jobs as TV hosts and columnists, let alone peddling cryptocurrency, it often gives the impression of being job that takes up as much time as you want it to.
My understanding is that members of the cabinet often have an arrangement with the MP of a neighbouring constituency to help out with constituent affairs. I don't think the PM attends his local surgery every Friday.
But most MPs aren't doing the side hustles you mention. Most MPs are also not cabinet members. The PM not attending their local surgery every Friday is, imo, reasonable in the same way as the Bishop of Dover handling local diocesan business on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It doesn't mean that bishops in general are slacking off.
My MP for instance had a Normal Job before politics (not a lawyer or lobbyist either) and is very present in the community even when Parliament is in session - obviously being relatively close to London helps there, of course. But rather like the comments about PE teachers, suggesting that all MPs are dishonest layabouts doesn't do anything to attract decent people to the role.
I'm not sure what you are talking about. Nobody thinks that all MPs are slackers and that all have jobs outside of their official duties.
We are not here talking about "most MPs".
I was responding directly to Sipech so I'm not sure where the confusion has come from. Sipech was talking about MPs generally.
They never stated anything about MPs in general. The only confusion is with you deciding that when someone is directly talking about MPs that busy themselves with well-paid employment in addition to elected office, that therefore implies that all MPs are doing it. Nobody thinks that.
I think the more interesting question is what happens when Farage wins in all likelihood.
The sequence of events would likely be, providing that the Commons standards committee decides that rules have been broken, that Farage is removed from the House of Commons for 10 or more days.
After that point it is open to the constituents to sign a recall petition. This would require more than 10% of eligible electors to force another byelection.
Given that this would be the second in that constituency in a few months, and the third in about two years, I think there's a good chance that apathy would prevent the petition getting quorum.
Which would presumably mean Farage continuing in the Commons as if nothing had happened.
In all of this, it seems to be forgotten that being an MP is a job requiring work. I feel sorry for the many MPs (across all parties) who put in the work and serve their constituencies - reducing voting to a circus is such an insult to them and to the public generally.
You mean Farage vs. Binface is a circus, and hence an affront to all the hard-working MPs? If so, then those MPs' parties should have run candidates in Clacton, thus guaranteeing a normal by-election.
In all of this, it seems to be forgotten that being an MP is a job requiring work. I feel sorry for the many MPs (across all parties) who put in the work and serve their constituencies - reducing voting to a circus is such an insult to them and to the public generally.
You mean Farage vs. Binface is a circus, and hence an affront to all the hard-working MPs? If so, then those MPs' parties should have run candidates in Clacton, thus guaranteeing a normal by-election.
But those MPs have no power to decide that. It's not put to a vote.
Technically you are voting for a person not a party. You don’t really have a “right” to insist a particular party fields a candidate in your constituency.
In all of this, it seems to be forgotten that being an MP is a job requiring work. I feel sorry for the many MPs (across all parties) who put in the work and serve their constituencies - reducing voting to a circus is such an insult to them and to the public generally.
You mean Farage vs. Binface is a circus, and hence an affront to all the hard-working MPs? If so, then those MPs' parties should have run candidates in Clacton, thus guaranteeing a normal by-election.
But those MPs have no power to decide that. It's not put to a vote.
No, but the MPs are very much part of the party elites(which include, in most cases, leaders who are MPs). So at the end of the day, any lese-majesete against MPs resulting from an uncontested byelection is essentially one section of the party elite doing something that affronts another section of the party elite. I don't really see victims that anyone else needs to care about here, and if the MPs think their image has been so tarnished by the stunt, well, they know who to complain to.
The people I do sympathize with are party supporters in the constituency, who might want to vote for someone else other than Farage or Binface, but have now been deprived of that opportunity by this dubious reverse-psychology ploy of "depriving Farage of the oxygen provided by a by-election".
In all of this, it seems to be forgotten that being an MP is a job requiring work. I feel sorry for the many MPs (across all parties) who put in the work and serve their constituencies - reducing voting to a circus is such an insult to them and to the public generally.
You mean Farage vs. Binface is a circus, and hence an affront to all the hard-working MPs? If so, then those MPs' parties should have run candidates in Clacton, thus guaranteeing a normal by-election.
But those MPs have no power to decide that. It's not put to a vote.
No, but the MPs are very much part of the party elites(which include, in most cases, leaders who are MPs). So at the end of the day, any lese-majesete against MPs resulting from an uncontested byelection is essentially one section of the party elite doing something that affronts another section of the party elite. I don't really see victims that anyone else needs to care about here, and if the MPs think their image has been so tarnished by the stunt, well, they know who to complain to.
The people I do sympathize with are party supporters in the constituency, who might want to vote for someone else other than Farage or Binface, but have now been deprived of that opportunity by this dubious reverse-psychology ploy of "depriving Farage of the oxygen provided by a by-election".
You think that it would make sense for the Labour (or other) party to waste time and resources on this by-election when there may well be another one in the same constituency in a few months?
The chances of anyone being deprived of a vote for Labour/Conservative/Green must be quite low - unless somehow the general apathy means quorum is not met in any recall petition as I mentioned before.
And even if the worst happens (Farage wins, no recall petition) then nobody is any worse off than they were before. Farage had his moment of publicity, looked a bit stupid and so on.
Another thing I think is interesting is how Farage seems to be leaning into his persona whilst also claiming to be anti-establishment.
He says he has broken no rules, which is for the proper authorities to work out. However even if no rules have been broken, he is still aggressively saying to the electorate "I received a gift of £5 million, what of it?"
You think that it would make sense for the Labour (or other) party to waste time and resources on this by-election when there may well be another one in the same constituency in a few months?
The alternative way of looking at this is the chance to campaign for several months to get rid of a particularly odious individual -- and political threat. Local organization tends to work like a muscle rather than a battery.
As it is, come a possible (but not definite) recall, Farage can run on a 'the political elites couldn't be bothered with you' platform.
This isn't a 'normal' by-election. Neither was Makerfield and Reform were vociferous about that one.
Lots of people, including some Labour supporters, had misgivings about Makerfield but that by-election wasn't called to forestall investigations into alleged breaches of the rules on donations.
This isn't a 'normal' by-election by any manner of means and I think all those political parties who aren't putting up candidates are right not to do so in this instance. To do so would be to legitimise Farage's stunt.
I can't see how he can emerge from this unscathed other than in the eyes of his most die-hard supporters.
You think that it would make sense for the Labour (or other) party to waste time and resources on this by-election when there may well be another one in the same constituency in a few months?
The alternative way of looking at this is the chance to campaign for several months to get rid of a particularly odious individual -- and political threat. Local organization tends to work like a muscle rather than a battery.
As it is, come a possible (but not definite) recall, Farage can run on a 'the political elites couldn't be bothered with you' platform.
Or another way to look at it is that Farage and co have to scrabble around spending time and energy making sure he doesn't lose to a bin. All the other parties have several more months to come up with a plan for another election. If it does not happen then then Farage has really only wasted his own time and spent his own political capital on this vanity project.
This is a lose-lose for Farage and anyone else involved in the charade. The managers of the other political parties have done well to quickly decide to sit it out, in my opinion.
This is a lose-lose for Farage and anyone else involved in the charade. The managers of the other political parties have done well to quickly decide to sit it out, in my opinion.
Which works well, up to the point where the election becomes a spectacle.
This is a lose-lose for Farage and anyone else involved in the charade. The managers of the other political parties have done well to quickly decide to sit it out, in my opinion.
Which works well, up to the point where the election becomes a spectacle.
If it becomes a spectacle and more people come out then that's good for democracy (and likely bad for Farage).
I think it is highly unlikely to be a spectacle. Most likely it will be his core support of old racist bigots and nobody much else bothering.
This is a lose-lose for Farage and anyone else involved in the charade. The managers of the other political parties have done well to quickly decide to sit it out, in my opinion.
Which works well, up to the point where the election becomes a spectacle.
If it becomes a spectacle and more people come out then that's good for democracy
That's only true if they are then presented with a genuine choice.
This is a lose-lose for Farage and anyone else involved in the charade. The managers of the other political parties have done well to quickly decide to sit it out, in my opinion.
Which works well, up to the point where the election becomes a spectacle.
If it becomes a spectacle and more people come out then that's good for democracy
That's only true if they are then presented with a genuine choice.
I think you underestimate the power of British irony.
Police have apparently opened a murder investigation into the death of Ann Widdecombe. She was a former Reform (I think when it was a previous name, but I'm not sure) MEP and prior to that a Tory MP and minister.
I disliked almost everything about her as a person but this is clearly a horrible personal tragedy and also a pretty dangerous political moment.
This is a lose-lose for Farage and anyone else involved in the charade. The managers of the other political parties have done well to quickly decide to sit it out, in my opinion.
Which works well, up to the point where the election becomes a spectacle.
If it becomes a spectacle and more people come out then that's good for democracy (and likely bad for Farage).
I think it is highly unlikely to be a spectacle. Most likely it will be his core support of old racist bigots and nobody much else bothering.
It will attract a lot of media coverage (it is the Silly Season, after all), which will deflect attention from the more serious matter of how the new Prime Minister is doing...
I won't speculate on what's happened to Miss Widdicombe, but I will admit to a sigh of relief that police are looking for a suspect who is a white man.
Apparently the election will be in August when people are often on holiday. Will Farage have the gall to encourage his supporters to vote by postal ballot?
I’m sure Count Binface would sit in Parliament under his real name. He might try to enter in his Count Binface costume, but I doubt the Speaker would allow it.
Mr Speaker can hardly complain about outlandish costume given his own attire ( though I dont think the full bottom wig hasn't be worn since the days of Mr Speaker Weatherill).
No law compels an MP to take their seat if elected, as Sinn Fein members don't, but you can't get paid unless you turn up and take the Oath of Allegiance. You would, however, be allowed to claim some office and travel expenses. In an interview Binface has noted that a number of MPs have been known to cross their finger when taking g the Oath
In all of this, it seems to be forgotten that being an MP is a job requiring work. I feel sorry for the many MPs (across all parties) who put in the work and serve their constituencies - reducing voting to a circus is such an insult to them and to the public generally.
You mean Farage vs. Binface is a circus, and hence an affront to all the hard-working MPs? If so, then those MPs' parties should have run candidates in Clacton, thus guaranteeing a normal by-election.
But those MPs have no power to decide that. It's not put to a vote.
No, but the MPs are very much part of the party elites(which include, in most cases, leaders who are MPs). So at the end of the day, any lese-majesete against MPs resulting from an uncontested byelection is essentially one section of the party elite doing something that affronts another section of the party elite. I don't really see victims that anyone else needs to care about here, and if the MPs think their image has been so tarnished by the stunt, well, they know who to complain to.
The people I do sympathize with are party supporters in the constituency, who might want to vote for someone else other than Farage or Binface, but have now been deprived of that opportunity by this dubious reverse-psychology ploy of "depriving Farage of the oxygen provided by a by-election".
I do not see how regular, non-cabinet MPs are "part of the party elites". That's not how political parties in the UK work - backbench MPs really do not have that kind of influence, and it also very much depends on the party as different parties organise themselves differently.
To be clear, I'm definitely not saying that I don't also feel sorry for people living in Clacton who have to put up with all this. But you can feel sorry for more than one group of people at once.
Because Ms Widdecome was part of Reform - I don't mean that it should be delayed for legal reasons, I mean out of respect. Certainly all campaigning should be paused.
She was a member of Reform, but I don't see why her death should prolong the misery of the voters of Clacton, or give Farage more time to prevaricate about his finances.
Your reference to her on another thread - Good riddance to a horrible bigot - doesn't show much respect.
After that point it is open to the constituents to sign a recall petition. This would require more than 10% of eligible electors to force another byelection.
Given that this would be the second in that constituency in a few months, and the third in about two years, I think there's a good chance that apathy would prevent the petition getting quorum.
There have, so far, been 6 recall petitions. The Blackpool South petition in 2024 was cancelled because the MP resigned (thus making the petition pointless). The North Antrim petition in 2018 managed 9.4% and hence no by-election - though whether that's representative is questionable, first because it was the first recall petition and hence something new and unfamiliar to the voters, politicians and media pundits, and second because Northern Ireland politics is quite different from the rest of the UK especially when the MP is called Ian Paisley. The other four petitions passed easily. For Clacton the number of people who would need to sign the petition is just under 8000; about the same as the number of votes for the Labour candidate in 2024 and significantly less than the votes for the Conservatives. Voter apathy can never be dismissed, but it's only a third of those who voted for any of the other parties in 2024, and you can't rule out some of those who voted Reform deciding they got a dud and seeing a chance to get someone better.
Which would presumably mean Farage continuing in the Commons as if nothing had happened.
It would, though there would still be the black mark against his name for having failed to correctly declare everything in his register of interests (I expect the register of interests will be updated to list the 'gifts').
She was a member of Reform, but I don't see why her death should prolong the misery of the voters of Clacton, or give Farage more time to prevaricate about his finances.
Your reference to her on another thread - Good riddance to a horrible bigot - doesn't show much respect.
....which if you read the thread was clearly made before the murder inquiry was made known. I had no way of knowing that it was even potentially murder at that point. I think that this is an odd comment to make, as if murder vs a natural death doesn't affect how someone would comment on another person's death. Murder is a very different situation to someone simply having died. Brexit campaigning was paused after Jo Cox was murdered and I don't think it's that weird to extend that consideration to Ann Widdecome.
To be clear - I still think that she was a horrible bigot. But her murder is still shocking and awful, because it's murder. If she had simply passed away from old age or illness I wouldn't be proposing this, because murder is a different situation.
I, man of the people Farage, have personal friends who give me gifts of 5 million pounds - I am like you.
Also, "I, man of the people Farage, have personal friends I've known for decades who are barons with connections to royalty* who have given me gifts of cash and nights in their London pad - but I'm not Establishment".
* "Posh George" Cottrell, the convicted fraudster who let Nigel use his flat, is the grandson of the 3rd Baron Manton and nephew of the 3rd Baron Heskith, his father attended Gordonstoun with Andrew Mountbatton, and his mother (daughter of Baron Manton) had at one time been the girlfriend of Charles Prince of Wales (now His Majesty King Charles III). That's almost the definition of Establishment.
In all of this, it seems to be forgotten that being an MP is a job requiring work. I feel sorry for the many MPs (across all parties) who put in the work and serve their constituencies - reducing voting to a circus is such an insult to them and to the public generally.
You mean Farage vs. Binface is a circus, and hence an affront to all the hard-working MPs? If so, then those MPs' parties should have run candidates in Clacton, thus guaranteeing a normal by-election.
But those MPs have no power to decide that. It's not put to a vote.
No, but the MPs are very much part of the party elites(which include, in most cases, leaders who are MPs). So at the end of the day, any lese-majesete against MPs resulting from an uncontested byelection is essentially one section of the party elite doing something that affronts another section of the party elite. I don't really see victims that anyone else needs to care about here, and if the MPs think their image has been so tarnished by the stunt, well, they know who to complain to.
The people I do sympathize with are party supporters in the constituency, who might want to vote for someone else other than Farage or Binface, but have now been deprived of that opportunity by this dubious reverse-psychology ploy of "depriving Farage of the oxygen provided by a by-election".
I do not see how regular, non-cabinet MPs are "part of the party elites". That's not how political parties in the UK work - backbench MPs really do not have that kind of influence, and it also very much depends on the party as different parties organise themselves differently.
To be clear, I'm definitely not saying that I don't also feel sorry for people living in Clacton who have to put up with all this. But you can feel sorry for more than one group of people at once.
Okay. Can we agree that it is the party leadership, and no one else, who is responsible for transforming the election into a "circus" and hence subjecting their MPs to an "insult"?
I think there would be an argument for pausing campaigning for a day for some kind of parliamentary memorial - realistically it can’t be done for the funeral, as that will be quite a long time in the future given the murder enquiry, (they have released rather than charged the person they originally arrested). Having said that, Ann Widdecombe’s public persona was very much a show must go on stuff upper lip vibe - and she might not have wanted that. Presumably those who were close to her would know.
It will be interesting to see what Farage does today. He cannot really stop campaigning and none of the other serious parties are standing so there's no sense in which they can stop something they have not started.
I expect he will say he is deeply shocked and make some claims about whoever did this.
The morning news is that police have released the person arrested yesterday and said they are "no longer part of investigation."
FWIW under the parliamentary dress code Binface wouldn't be allowed to wear his costume if elected.
Would he need to renounce his title too?
Well, to be pedantic, Count is not a rank in the British nobility ( the equivalent would be 'earl', though confusingly we do have viscounts). Foreign titles are not recognised in UK law, and official documents etc. cannot be issued using them. Count Binface will be simple 'pronoun of choice' Binface on his Partiamentary pass.
As I understand it, only nobility from England Wales and possibly Scotland needs to be renounced to enter the Commons. There was until fairky recently Lady Hermon from Northern Ireland kept her title and it was used by the Speaker when calling her.
On that basis even if "Count" was a title that needed to be renounced, clearly Count Binface gained his title from some jurisdiction in Outer Space so presumably he could keep it.
Lady Hermon's title was a courtesy title, because her husband ( a former cheif constable of Northern Ireland) was knighted. Knighthoods/ damehoods are not titles of nobility, nor are baronets, so they don't have to be renounced. A number of sitting MPs have such titles,
In fact, since all hereditary peers are now excluded from the House of Lords, I think nobody can actually renounce a title for the purposeof enteringthe House of Commons, there's no mechanism to renounce life peerages
Ever since I saw the title, I have lodged in my mind an image of the bin, in the guise of a grey R2-D2, projecting a grainy hologram of Theresa May saying, "Help us, O Binface, You're our only hope".
Comments
But most MPs aren't doing the side hustles you mention. Most MPs are also not cabinet members. The PM not attending their local surgery every Friday is, imo, reasonable in the same way as the Bishop of Dover handling local diocesan business on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It doesn't mean that bishops in general are slacking off.
My MP for instance had a Normal Job before politics (not a lawyer or lobbyist either) and is very present in the community even when Parliament is in session - obviously being relatively close to London helps there, of course. But rather like the comments about PE teachers, suggesting that all MPs are dishonest layabouts doesn't do anything to attract decent people to the role.
I'm not sure what you are talking about. Nobody thinks that all MPs are slackers and that all have jobs outside of their official duties.
We are not here talking about "most MPs".
The photo of the winning announcement is going to be one for the ages.
I was responding directly to Sipech so I'm not sure where the confusion has come from. Sipech was talking about MPs generally.
They never stated anything about MPs in general. The only confusion is with you deciding that when someone is directly talking about MPs that busy themselves with well-paid employment in addition to elected office, that therefore implies that all MPs are doing it. Nobody thinks that.
I think the more interesting question is what happens when Farage wins in all likelihood.
The sequence of events would likely be, providing that the Commons standards committee decides that rules have been broken, that Farage is removed from the House of Commons for 10 or more days.
After that point it is open to the constituents to sign a recall petition. This would require more than 10% of eligible electors to force another byelection.
Given that this would be the second in that constituency in a few months, and the third in about two years, I think there's a good chance that apathy would prevent the petition getting quorum.
Which would presumably mean Farage continuing in the Commons as if nothing had happened.
You mean Farage vs. Binface is a circus, and hence an affront to all the hard-working MPs? If so, then those MPs' parties should have run candidates in Clacton, thus guaranteeing a normal by-election.
Would he need to renounce his title too?
But those MPs have no power to decide that. It's not put to a vote.
No, but the MPs are very much part of the party elites(which include, in most cases, leaders who are MPs). So at the end of the day, any lese-majesete against MPs resulting from an uncontested byelection is essentially one section of the party elite doing something that affronts another section of the party elite. I don't really see victims that anyone else needs to care about here, and if the MPs think their image has been so tarnished by the stunt, well, they know who to complain to.
The people I do sympathize with are party supporters in the constituency, who might want to vote for someone else other than Farage or Binface, but have now been deprived of that opportunity by this dubious reverse-psychology ploy of "depriving Farage of the oxygen provided by a by-election".
You think that it would make sense for the Labour (or other) party to waste time and resources on this by-election when there may well be another one in the same constituency in a few months?
The chances of anyone being deprived of a vote for Labour/Conservative/Green must be quite low - unless somehow the general apathy means quorum is not met in any recall petition as I mentioned before.
And even if the worst happens (Farage wins, no recall petition) then nobody is any worse off than they were before. Farage had his moment of publicity, looked a bit stupid and so on.
He says he has broken no rules, which is for the proper authorities to work out. However even if no rules have been broken, he is still aggressively saying to the electorate "I received a gift of £5 million, what of it?"
The alternative way of looking at this is the chance to campaign for several months to get rid of a particularly odious individual -- and political threat. Local organization tends to work like a muscle rather than a battery.
As it is, come a possible (but not definite) recall, Farage can run on a 'the political elites couldn't be bothered with you' platform.
Lots of people, including some Labour supporters, had misgivings about Makerfield but that by-election wasn't called to forestall investigations into alleged breaches of the rules on donations.
This isn't a 'normal' by-election by any manner of means and I think all those political parties who aren't putting up candidates are right not to do so in this instance. To do so would be to legitimise Farage's stunt.
I can't see how he can emerge from this unscathed other than in the eyes of his most die-hard supporters.
Or another way to look at it is that Farage and co have to scrabble around spending time and energy making sure he doesn't lose to a bin. All the other parties have several more months to come up with a plan for another election. If it does not happen then then Farage has really only wasted his own time and spent his own political capital on this vanity project.
This is a lose-lose for Farage and anyone else involved in the charade. The managers of the other political parties have done well to quickly decide to sit it out, in my opinion.
Which works well, up to the point where the election becomes a spectacle.
If it becomes a spectacle and more people come out then that's good for democracy (and likely bad for Farage).
I think it is highly unlikely to be a spectacle. Most likely it will be his core support of old racist bigots and nobody much else bothering.
That's only true if they are then presented with a genuine choice.
I think you underestimate the power of British irony.
I disliked almost everything about her as a person but this is clearly a horrible personal tragedy and also a pretty dangerous political moment.
la vie en rouge, Purgatory host
It will attract a lot of media coverage (it is the Silly Season, after all), which will deflect attention from the more serious matter of how the new Prime Minister is doing...
I'm reminded of Jon Stewart's punch-line after highlighting one of then-candidate Trump's moronic statements in the 2016 primaries...
Mr Speaker can hardly complain about outlandish costume given his own attire ( though I dont think the full bottom wig hasn't be worn since the days of Mr Speaker Weatherill).
No law compels an MP to take their seat if elected, as Sinn Fein members don't, but you can't get paid unless you turn up and take the Oath of Allegiance. You would, however, be allowed to claim some office and travel expenses. In an interview Binface has noted that a number of MPs have been known to cross their finger when taking g the Oath
I do not see how regular, non-cabinet MPs are "part of the party elites". That's not how political parties in the UK work - backbench MPs really do not have that kind of influence, and it also very much depends on the party as different parties organise themselves differently.
To be clear, I'm definitely not saying that I don't also feel sorry for people living in Clacton who have to put up with all this. But you can feel sorry for more than one group of people at once.
What developments?
(Although this probably isn't the appropriate time or place to discuss the matter, bearing in mind this afternoon's post by @la vie en rouge)
Only that there is a current murder investigation going on, per @Basketactortale 's post.
Your reference to her on another thread - Good riddance to a horrible bigot - doesn't show much respect.
It would, though there would still be the black mark against his name for having failed to correctly declare everything in his register of interests (I expect the register of interests will be updated to list the 'gifts').
....which if you read the thread was clearly made before the murder inquiry was made known. I had no way of knowing that it was even potentially murder at that point. I think that this is an odd comment to make, as if murder vs a natural death doesn't affect how someone would comment on another person's death. Murder is a very different situation to someone simply having died. Brexit campaigning was paused after Jo Cox was murdered and I don't think it's that weird to extend that consideration to Ann Widdecome.
To be clear - I still think that she was a horrible bigot. But her murder is still shocking and awful, because it's murder. If she had simply passed away from old age or illness I wouldn't be proposing this, because murder is a different situation.
* "Posh George" Cottrell, the convicted fraudster who let Nigel use his flat, is the grandson of the 3rd Baron Manton and nephew of the 3rd Baron Heskith, his father attended Gordonstoun with Andrew Mountbatton, and his mother (daughter of Baron Manton) had at one time been the girlfriend of Charles Prince of Wales (now His Majesty King Charles III). That's almost the definition of Establishment.
Okay. Can we agree that it is the party leadership, and no one else, who is responsible for transforming the election into a "circus" and hence subjecting their MPs to an "insult"?
I expect he will say he is deeply shocked and make some claims about whoever did this.
The morning news is that police have released the person arrested yesterday and said they are "no longer part of investigation."
Well, to be pedantic, Count is not a rank in the British nobility ( the equivalent would be 'earl', though confusingly we do have viscounts). Foreign titles are not recognised in UK law, and official documents etc. cannot be issued using them. Count Binface will be simple 'pronoun of choice' Binface on his Partiamentary pass.
On that basis even if "Count" was a title that needed to be renounced, clearly Count Binface gained his title from some jurisdiction in Outer Space so presumably he could keep it.
In fact, since all hereditary peers are now excluded from the House of Lords, I think nobody can actually renounce a title for the purposeof enteringthe House of Commons, there's no mechanism to renounce life peerages
Ever since I saw the title, I have lodged in my mind an image of the bin, in the guise of a grey R2-D2, projecting a grainy hologram of Theresa May saying, "Help us, O Binface, You're our only hope".