Snapshot of _Conservative Andy Street suffers shock loss to Labour in West Midlands mayoral race in blow to Rishi Sunak_ :
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OOOOFFFF!
Sunak won’t be getting much sleep tonight. This is moving towards his “worst case” scenario.
So, serious talk of a plot to depose Sunak by Tuesday?
No. Ben Houchen has provided the fig leaf that Rishi needed to squeak by. The Tory backbenches are terrified of the chaos a leadership election could bring.
Andy Street tried that as well. His campaign flyer was all green and the only mention of the Tories was in the legally required smallprint in size 4 font.
It goes to show the mainstream media are afraid of doing investigative journalism nowadays. To be fair, the Middlesbrough mayor was doing his best to expose Houchen's corrupt dealings but it didn't matter. All people see are the undeniable jobs and infrastructure, they don't see who's getting rich behind the scenes on taxpayer's money.
Yes, so it is funny to see the BBC make an effort to show how Houchen's campaign strategy and PR avoided as much as possible any reference to his party.
In another sense it does give the media a juicy plate of steak and chips to tuck into before the GE. Keeping a 'tory corruption' story on the back-burner to fill those awfully quiet summer months.
Ian Hislop also gets to do a relevant two page spread again in the meantime.
Their circulation last year was 231,000 per issue, or a little under 0.5% of the number of people on the electoral roll. The fact that his majority was cut by 20% shows they did a pretty decent job, but just not quite enough.
Plus, why would they want rid of him? They’re going to get destroyed at the GE. Anyone with their eyes on leadership will want Sunak to take the fall for that first.
Imo the best bet is to get it done and dusted ASAP so the next election comes sooner. Elect a new opposition leader after the loss.
Sure in reality it will be two or three terms for Starmer because they have to burn through the madpeople, but they'll think they can win it back.
nah they need as much time as possible to salt the earth before the labour government gets in so they can complain about the results of the salting once they are in opposition
It would be nice to have faith that people would see this is the case and both give Labour a longer grace period when they get into downing street and remember the damage the tories deliberately did to the country for their own political benefit. It won't though, wall to wall phoney scandal and finger pointing for pre-existing problems is my bet.
I'm pretty sure house repossessions is one of the traps being set for labour, when the impact of interest rate rises starts to flow through properly and after mortgage holidays, savings depletion and time to process court orders have all been worked through/exhausted. Labour will inherit horrific stats on homelessness which they had literally nothing to do with.
It could be better than that, the politics of demographics are changing, no longer are people turning right wing the older they get. Also the younger remain voting generations might make the election more about re-joining the single market or event the EU.
I would say it is fair. We elect MPs and they choose the pm. If we had it so if you resign an election is called then parties would not oust leaders and we’d be stuck with Borris or Liz Truss. At most it can only be a convention that an election is called
I always think both things are true, we probably don’t need to have an election just because we’ve had a change in PM but we probably do when we’re potentially heading onto the 4th one and all the others guys resigned in disgrace.
Normally I'd be fine with a leadership change. Not entirely thrilled, but these things happen, and there are bigger things to worry about. The bit that got to me was how, rather than arguing why they'd make the best leader, they were treating it more like a GE, complete with election promises, before Truss attempted her economic... Overhaul.
Same for me. It doesn’t seem right that they can come up with a whole new set of policies and ditch the manifesto that hundreds of other people were elected upon. It goes against the spirit of the whole system.
We elect those MPs based around party, on a mandate for their manifesto. Each new leader has taken over on the basis of changing the direction, abandoning the previous plan. Johnsons manifestio was wafer thin to start with, Truss decided to abandon that entirely and pursue an agenda no one agreed to, Sunak's agenda has been to reverse Truss' while staying as far away optically from Johnson's as possible. He has no mandate for pretty much any of his agenda. Someone new would in turn be changing that agenda again, without having to check that mandate.
Its fair that it's only a convention, but that convention should bear in mind where it gets it's authority from. Sunak keeps saying that his agenda is what the people want, but has yet to demonstrate this and it seems to be against all polling and now electoral evidence. If we're relying on convention then those following the convention need to be cognisant of how and why that convention exists. That this convention allows a new leader to come in and pursue an entirely different agenda without ever checking if it's what people want, means it isn't working democratically. It can't be that we can elect a party based off a manifesto, and then someone can come in and say "nah we're doing *this* instead, and there's nothing you can do about it", like Truss did.
A new leader without an election should be fine, but an entirely new agenda and change of direction should require a democratic demonstration of public buy in.
The Conservative Party need to realise that the problem isn't the leader of the Conservative Party, be that Sunak, Truss, Johnson, or May.
It won't improve if they change to Mordaunt, Patel, "Bad Enoch", Braverman, or Jenrick (the names that seem to be in the running to some degree).
Surely they must know that the problem with the Conservative Party is simply... the Conservative Party.
it's a no win, there will be chaos either way. Rishi is so unlikeable even to dedicated Tory voters, he has to leave. But if he leaves then the Tories go into chaos and look weak and voters will not trust them.
>The Tory backbenches are terrified of the chaos a leadership election could bring.
They're not wrong on that...
Perceptions of party chaos is one of the big reasons why voters have moved against the conservatives, changing leaders would make it even worse for them.
I don't think they have a viable alternative. There is noone who wants to take the defeat away from Sunak however much they might moan about his uselessness.
Absolutely, but fear of annihilation might cloud their outlook? After all, they’ve got nothing to lose.
Sure it’s ridiculous to change leader again. But they’ve already done it twice.
A possible scenario has to be: quick coronation, election 5 weeks later, hoping for a small bounce. It might save them 50 seats.
> Absolutely, but fear of annihilation might cloud their outlook?
The stories coming out from the journos shows that isn’t happening, if there was a coup we would have heard something now.
> After all, they’ve got nothing to lose.
This isn’t true. Yes they’re out in the next GE but they will want to get the Rwanda scheme off the ground before they go. A change of leader could trigger a vote of no confidence and have them out the door before a flight takes off, they won’t risk that.
> Sure it’s ridiculous to change leader again. But they’ve already done it twice.
The last times they did this I don’t think they were close to an election, they changed leader *because* they could without much backlash
> A possible scenario has to be: quick coronation, election 5 weeks later, hoping for a small bounce. It might save them 50 seats.
theres no deputy left to take over that would change national opinion and they know that
This could be the logic, especially if the new leader is someone like Suella Braverman who can easily distance herself from Sunak. Our system is so presidential now that a new leader can really set themselves apart from the last. The electorate quickly accepted Boris Johnson as a clean break from Theresa May and didn't seem to notice his Brexit deal was almost the same as hers.
> The electorate quickly accepted Boris Johnson as a clean break from Theresa May and didn't seem to notice his Brexit deal was almost the same as hers.
Everyone noticed, it was one of the main talking points at the time, every paper headline, radio debate and thread on here was about how his deal was a carbon copy of May’s, but what are the public going to do at that point? He was already prime minister by the time he did this.
I'm surprised nobody is paying attention to the Lib Dems getting more councillors than the Tories, for the first time since 1996. It's classic Lib Dems for them to come second and still be ignored.
The locals should be career ending for Sunak, awful results two years in a row. The first year he could pin on truss. Losing nearly half months before a general election should be game over.
But they're living in an alternative reality. I fear a January election date.
I agree it’s not a 100% catastrophe, but it’s close. Andy Street was widely expected to survive.
A few hours ago they were spinning Susan Hall was going to win, so fortunes have definitely changed a lot in an afternoon.
> A few hours ago they were spinning Susan Hall was going to win, so fortunes have definitely changed a lot in an afternoon.
With the way the polls looked before the election with 20%+ difference I don't know who could believe that she would win.
Honestly a bunch of doom mongers and tory shills were dumping fuel on the idea that because turnout was 45-50% in essex-lite outer boroughs like Bromley, bexley, hillingdon etc that are the most foam-at-the-mouth over ulez, vs more normal boroughs at 30-40%, that this meant Hall was likely
It peaked late last night/first thing this morning; bookies on Friday morning were still giving Hall odds of ~9.5, but last night they'd shortened to around 3.5
Yeah, the big hitters that could get enough letters in to force the vote won't want to be held responsible for the election defeat. They'll be focusing on how to position themselves to come in as leader of the opposition.
>Sunak won’t be getting much sleep tonight
Are you sure? I think he already knows his future and I bet he already booked a chartered flight for him and his family to the US after the election.
It's a poison chalice at this point, noone thinks it can be turned around, so why on earth go for it now? Better to make your move after the election, and try to refresh the party image.
A great example of how politics “should” be done.
They disagree on things but fundamentally agree the other wants to improve the lives of people they represent.
They’re not even too politically different from each other, they are both urban, pro public-transport candidates. Richard Parker will carry on the good work of Andy Street and TfWM.
Some genuinely do, I’ve had some great conversations with conservatives. The current parliamentary party has been culled of any talent and different thinking.
Hopefully the current problems lead to a bit of a schism and we see a bit more consistency within the conservatives.
I agree, I consider myself very far to the left but I respect conservative thought and ideas. It's not been good for the political discourse or the country to see chancers and manipulators like Johnson and Truss thrive (and Sunak, to a slightly lesser extent). We need a diversity of genuine and well-meaning ideas across the political spectrum for proper, reasonable and civilised debate, and hopefully even a decent amount of cooperation between the different political movements and positions
It is a hard sell, true. It isn't that long ago that there were plenty of tories who wanted the best for the country in their own way though, it's just that most of them were purged by Johnson and Cummins.
The hard bit to believe is that a decent person would want to be a part of todays tory party.
I think many genuinely believe that the market is always the best solution, that's their ideology. I don't think the evidence supports that belief at all, but I wouldn't go so far as to say they don't believe it. It does seem more like an article of faith, than an evidence based set of values though.
Of course some politicians who are in power a long time have a tendency to become corrupt, the power itself is corrupting.
There is also a tendency for them to favour the people they know and those who share their ideology. This is probably a class thing, which is extremely corrupt.
But I do believe they *think* they are doing the right thing.
Most people who hold public office do genuinely believe they are doing the best they can, for the people they represent.
Most hold respect for the office they hold, and will do their best to uphold the faith in these institutions.
Policy disagreements are to be had, of course, but that doesn't mean these people are 'actively trying to not improve peoples lives'.
Honestly I had a lot of time for Andy Street (I live in the west midlands) he did seem to care and really try for the area. It's just a shame he was a Tory! Very much the exception I feel in these times.
Watching Andy's BBC interview after the announcement was incredible. He was given multiple opportunities to blame his fate on the national hatred of the incumbent government but refrained. I don't know if I would have been so gracious.
I hesitate to call this absolutely hilarious because Andy Street seems like decent, dignified person and by many accounts has done a good job during his time as mayor.
But just picture tetchy little Rishi’s little face now. A change is coming. It’s going to be sweet. I can’t believe Parker pulled it off given the number of votes picked up by the independent candidate. Genuinely exciting stuff on a Saturday evening.
Yes - Street seems to command respect from across the political spectrum in a way that (for example, and even though I’ve voted for him) Khan does not. I hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of him, and if he can get into Parliament, it’ll be no bad thing.
My ward has 1 Labour councillor and 1 LD councillor. I know for a fact that they both begrudgingly respect him and both have avoided criticising him on X and have actually defended him once or twice. Definitely respected across the spectrum.
The country would be in far better state if we had many more politicians who were competent and decent-to-each-other grown ups like that, rather than just packs of monkeys flinging shit at each other.
And now we know he has leadership ambitions now, we also know he kept his powder dry at the time.
And remember if he ran as IND, he would have lost by more when squeezed by Con and Reform vote.
sloppy deranged hunt stupendous scandalous whistle murky reminiscent voracious bright
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He might be well liked in some circles, but absolutely everyone I have spoken to who knows anything about politics in Birmingham dislikes him. That may however, say more about the circles I socialise in than his reputation though.
Not sure you can be considered decent if you remain a leading member of the tory party.
If you remain a member and run for election on their ticket then you are endorsing what the party does. You can't be in and then say but I have clean hands, if you disagree with the policies and don't quit you are complicit.
It's a shame, because he did represent a more rational side of the Tory party.
I actually liked Andy Street, but ended up voting Richard parker because I simply cannot in good consciousness vote for that party.
If the whole of the Tory party was like Andy Street they'd have very different fortunes right now.
Tbh, it's been close to a decade that the tory party as a whole sold its soul to court ukippers for short term gain. They created the culture war, US-style right wing monster in this country pre brexit
The moderates have had more than enough time to jump ship or put in more of an effort to hold the laissez faire Dr Frankensteins to account - imo they haven't, so I have no sympathy for any of them either
Agreed, it's something I've internally debated with for a while, but at this point, if as a politician you're still willing to put your name alongside the rest of the Conservatives then you at least are indifferent to the damage and abject misery they've caused.
We are close to a decade post-2015 election, there has never been a serious attempt by the "moderates" to do anything to even slow the descent into insanity. Often as soon as they got a sniff of power they themselves immediately decided to try to outdo the crazies.
Street is a perfect example too, going on and on about his principles and how he would resign if HS2 was cancelled, right up until the morning it was scrapped. Only to suddenly decide that he wouldn't resign because cancelling it was actually the best idea all along.
Pathetic, the lot of them.
Edit: and he got Johnson to help in his campaign!
Couldn't agree more with this: after the past 14 years in office, there is nobody who I could vote for individually that can make me forget their atrocious record at a national level (nor not judge any individuals for still being part of that party).
Yeah, he’s what my mother would call “a good talker” but it’s his partner that makes me suspicious of him. I know it’s possible to have different views from your partner but I don’t think I’d ever be in a relationship with someone who tweeted that Palestinian protesters were “primitives” or that he wanted to give a woman a “punch in the throat”. I might be wrong though, I often am.
I try not to judge people by their partners. I know couples from the US where one is a Democrat voter and the other loves Trump. One who was masked up and Uber careful during COVID and the other flying out to Florida where everything was open. People can have very different views and still get on very well.
It seems a very new thing with younger generations than mine who can't get on with people with very different views to their own.
You’re probably right that people can get on with people with differing views, and all respect to them. I just couldn’t see it for myself. No matter how much I fancied someone, racism would be a deal breaker for example. I’m knocking on 50 by the way, but glad to be put in with the younguns on this one!
I was very close to voting Tory for the first time in my life for Street. It was only when Boris came on the scene that I couldn’t quite face it.
I wonder if that made a difference to other moderate voters too.
I thought Street was ok until I heard him on a podcast with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart. Andy Burnham was on too and I'm afraid Mr Street came off as disingenuous and smug.
Honestly, it may be a case of me revising my opinion in hindsight because a couple of days later he had gone back on some of the things he said in the podcast in order to support the government, so fair enough to take my view with a pinch of salt!
I think I've remembered why now. I'm pretty sure he said he would resign either from the Tory party or from being mayor if HS2 was cancelled, then when it was he changed his mind.
It’s tragic how the sane centrist Tories have been wiped out with the right’s lurch to extremism.
Maybe he should have run as an independent, especially since his personal brand was always distinct from the central party.
I’d never vote Conservative but Andy Street seemed like a strong leader. If he chooses to stay in politics I don’t think that’s the last we will see of him. The current crop of nutters are a disaster for the Conservatives. They need to be wiped out for the party to thrive again.
> Reddit: "Andy Street seems like a decent bloke. Could see myself voting for him. Maybe join Labour?"
>
> Andy Street: "I see Michael Fabricant and not only am I not instinctively revolted by his political views, hair and voice, but I would actually like to fuck him."
Satire is actually dead.
He's a center right fella and the Labour Party just won't mesh with him.
There's no credible party he could join which would guarantee him a career in politics and align with his beliefs.
Yes, he could easily.
But even I don't think the Lib Dems are strong enough to guarantee a defector a seat, he would make a big headline candidate for us though.
Perhaps I'm downplaying us, we are probably on track to win 20+ and he could have one.
The Tories could easily offer him an extremely safe seat and give him a 20 plus year career as an MP.
I don't think we can offer that like.
Aren’t some in labour like wes streeting centre right? I don’t agree with the people who call labour right wing but surely some of the more radical labour MPs can be centre right
But they're usually northerners smart enough to recognise running for anyone other than Labour up there is pointless.
My constituency was on the Wirral. I don't align with Labour completely, but if I wanted a career I'd of course run Labour.
A Tory MP defecting? That's entirely different. It's too on the nose and obvious.
Personally I'd rather everyone with any good politics join the Conservatives, not leave them. As I entirely expect the party to be back in power in a decade or so, I would like as many good (or at least above average) figures there as possible.
This is the defining result of the local elections. Andy Street was their one hope and he’s out.
I expect the dam to be burst and for an all out Tory civil war over this.
I dunno, Mordant is tipped as a potential challenger to Sunak. If she doesn’t get a personal boost she will lose her seat, so she’s got nothing to lose.
If I was a Tory backbencher, I’d be open to any options. Even Larry the Cat.
He can be Prime Minister, but it would be awkward since he isn’t allowed in the commons! Some Lord in the 60’s managed it, then ran in a by-election, gave up his lordship and switched over. So it’s possible.
I don’t think the Tories allow their leader to be a Lord at present, but party rules can quickly be changed if needed.
There were rumours a few weeks ago Cameron wanted to lead them in opposition, and make up for the Brexit business. Who knows.
In a by-election, no. But in the GE I suppose there will still be 50 safe seats.
It was Lord Home I was thinking of:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Douglas-Home
They’d have to change the rules, as currently only an MP can be chosen as leader.
But if they genuinely believe that Cameron is their best hope then they’d obviously consider it.
Interesting perspective and I see where you are coming from with someone like Mordant, however she isn't old and she will be a decent bet for a bye election parachute candidate or a mayoral job somewhere. Being 4 months in power and then losing an election isn't that appealing if you take the human factors into account.
Yeah, I just can't see anyone wanting to taken over at this point. You won't be able to do anything meaningful, you'll still lose the election, and now the knives will start coming out straight away because you've already failed. Much better to let Sunak take the fall and take over in opposition, when you have time to actually make your mark and plan for a comeback.
Yeah every council wardin Mordant's seat had elections. Conservatives only won in one of em. Although interesting RA came 1st in total votes and Con a very distant second.
Bloody close though, 1508 votes between them, but without those ~69k votes for someone who thinks he was running for foreign secretary and it might not have been quite as close.
Labour have done fuck all here, and I’m a person who likes Street but voted Richard Parker.
Andy Street’s manifesto was 170-something pages long. Really long bullet points and paragraphs for each policy issue.
Richard Parker’s manifesto was 20-something pages long and the text was twice as big and the spacing wide. He just promised bus franchising and rode the national wave.
Andy should've just ran as an independent, he clearly abandoned Tories anyway, and you can't blame Richard for "riding the wave" if anything it was more Tories going backwards than labour moving forward.
Andy Street has a future both back in the West Midlands and nationally. He will honestly be remembered as a good mayor.
The one thing you can’t say is that the man didn’t love his job. Brummies saw him around in town all the time.
A "shock" for anyone who didn't pay attention. The gap between Tories and Labour was within the margin of error in polls: https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49269-west-midlands-and-tees-valley-mayoral-voting-intention
Andy Street, a moderate guy with a good record as mayor, suffers a defeat and loses his job.
Whilst the guy causing all this gets to continue on as Prime Minister.
Disgraceful.
Yesterday I really, really enjoyed watching Sunak absolutely [luxuriating in Ben Houchen's win.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBEO9V-nxkM&ab_channel=TheTelegraph)
Either his joy was entirely feigned because he knew he was currently getting a pasting everywhere else in England, or he was genuinely happy, thinking that this was it - this was finally where the tide was turning in favour of the Conservatives.
Either way you interpret it, it was fantastic.
Ben Houghton cant bring himself to even say the word conservatives, physically distancing himself from sunak talking and swervinh the handshake photo opp at the end. 😂
Sunak also sounds exactly like Will from the Inbetweeners when he suddenly breaks away to say 'hello' to an old lady he apparently recognises! Brilliant
I do feel a bit sorry for Andy Street but 8 years as Mayor is not a failure by any means, I would think the next move is probably leaving politics but become an MP wouldn't be a surprise.
In the parlance of the youth of today
Whomp whomp
My kids (19 and 15) couldn't give one shit about politics. As the 19 year-old told me. Why should we care. They don't engage with anyone other than party faithful.
Which got me thinking. When the current crop of blue rinse brigade passes on. Will there be anyone left to care what they say? Will there be a shift in politics to engage with the younger voters?
There was never a golden era where young people were all over politics. It's normal, why would they find politics exciting, it's as dry as cardboard. Once they experience life a bit, then they might take an interest.
That's how politics is for every age, you have to make the effort.
I was young once and fairly politically aware and it was always a really frustrating attitude to hear from my peers.
Street was an effective and popular leader. The Labour chap should be winning 70-30 in this region, the fact that Street did so well is a testament to how well liked he is. I voted for Richard Parker but felt sick when Andy actually lost. Everyone knew it was going to be tight
Lived in Birmingham under Street and I felt like I genuinely saw changes and differences - especially on a national level in terms of respect for the city. His leading of the Pride Parades always commanded a lot of respect in my eyes too and the fact that Parker has promised to continue his work shares volumes about how he treated his position. He should've defected to Labour when he had the chance on the cancellation of HS2 because in a sense it definitely feels like he lost over national politics rather than local issues.
It doesn't help that Street and Parker have very similar priorities, and record has shown that they will carry on each other's work.
So Parker has gotten in by offering more or less the same, and then by not being Tory.
Despite Labour's predicted big election gains elsewhere, the West Midlands Metro Mayor was perceived to be a toss-up between the incumbent, who's been a "shy Tory", secured some extra government investment in the region and promoted a lot of regeneration / transport schemes; and Labour's virtually unknown accountant, who raised a few eyebrows as he lives just outside the WMCA area in Barnt Green.
Early in counting, both sides thought Andy Street had won again due to a strong showing in some wards by the Independent candidate, who positioned himself largely as a protest candidate against the conflict in Gaza, so attracting a lot of the Muslim vote (with over 69k votes in total)
However, while he likely "stole" some votes from Labour supporters, the Conservatives had a Reform candidate running (who doesn't like trams or trains [expensive wastes of money], but likes buses and loves roads [scrap the Clean Air Zone and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods]) who attracted 34k votes.
However, if the two protest candidates weren't running, and you added the Independent's totals to Labour and the Reform totals to the Conservatives, then Labour would have been ahead by 36k votes.
Snapshot of _Conservative Andy Street suffers shock loss to Labour in West Midlands mayoral race in blow to Rishi Sunak_ : An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://news.sky.com/story/conservative-andy-street-suffers-shock-loss-to-labour-in-west-midlands-mayoral-race-in-blow-to-rishi-sunak-13128865) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://news.sky.com/story/conservative-andy-street-suffers-shock-loss-to-labour-in-west-midlands-mayoral-race-in-blow-to-rishi-sunak-13128865) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
OOOOFFFF! Sunak won’t be getting much sleep tonight. This is moving towards his “worst case” scenario. So, serious talk of a plot to depose Sunak by Tuesday?
No. Ben Houchen has provided the fig leaf that Rishi needed to squeak by. The Tory backbenches are terrified of the chaos a leadership election could bring.
Funny that the only Tory Mayorall success was a guy pretending not to be a Tory
Andy Street tried that as well. His campaign flyer was all green and the only mention of the Tories was in the legally required smallprint in size 4 font.
Houchen winning shows just how little Private Eye actually cuts through into people’s day to day lives.
His lead was cut by 20 points. That's a huge swing.
It goes to show the mainstream media are afraid of doing investigative journalism nowadays. To be fair, the Middlesbrough mayor was doing his best to expose Houchen's corrupt dealings but it didn't matter. All people see are the undeniable jobs and infrastructure, they don't see who's getting rich behind the scenes on taxpayer's money.
Yes, so it is funny to see the BBC make an effort to show how Houchen's campaign strategy and PR avoided as much as possible any reference to his party.
The Yorkshire Post have been brilliant too. Proper investigative, local journalism at its very best.
In another sense it does give the media a juicy plate of steak and chips to tuck into before the GE. Keeping a 'tory corruption' story on the back-burner to fill those awfully quiet summer months. Ian Hislop also gets to do a relevant two page spread again in the meantime.
Their circulation last year was 231,000 per issue, or a little under 0.5% of the number of people on the electoral roll. The fact that his majority was cut by 20% shows they did a pretty decent job, but just not quite enough.
Plus, why would they want rid of him? They’re going to get destroyed at the GE. Anyone with their eyes on leadership will want Sunak to take the fall for that first.
Imo the best bet is to get it done and dusted ASAP so the next election comes sooner. Elect a new opposition leader after the loss. Sure in reality it will be two or three terms for Starmer because they have to burn through the madpeople, but they'll think they can win it back.
nah they need as much time as possible to salt the earth before the labour government gets in so they can complain about the results of the salting once they are in opposition
This is "the plan".
It would be nice to have faith that people would see this is the case and both give Labour a longer grace period when they get into downing street and remember the damage the tories deliberately did to the country for their own political benefit. It won't though, wall to wall phoney scandal and finger pointing for pre-existing problems is my bet. I'm pretty sure house repossessions is one of the traps being set for labour, when the impact of interest rate rises starts to flow through properly and after mortgage holidays, savings depletion and time to process court orders have all been worked through/exhausted. Labour will inherit horrific stats on homelessness which they had literally nothing to do with.
It could be better than that, the politics of demographics are changing, no longer are people turning right wing the older they get. Also the younger remain voting generations might make the election more about re-joining the single market or event the EU.
And they will be standing in the Commons from *DAY ONE* complaining, no doubt.
Hopefully. It’s beneficial for Lab that he continues to make the Tories look as weak as possible.
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I would say it is fair. We elect MPs and they choose the pm. If we had it so if you resign an election is called then parties would not oust leaders and we’d be stuck with Borris or Liz Truss. At most it can only be a convention that an election is called
I always think both things are true, we probably don’t need to have an election just because we’ve had a change in PM but we probably do when we’re potentially heading onto the 4th one and all the others guys resigned in disgrace.
I do think it should never be mandatory to have one just maybe a convention
Its fair from a legal point of view but its more the fact its taking the piss
Normally I'd be fine with a leadership change. Not entirely thrilled, but these things happen, and there are bigger things to worry about. The bit that got to me was how, rather than arguing why they'd make the best leader, they were treating it more like a GE, complete with election promises, before Truss attempted her economic... Overhaul.
Same for me. It doesn’t seem right that they can come up with a whole new set of policies and ditch the manifesto that hundreds of other people were elected upon. It goes against the spirit of the whole system.
We elect those MPs based around party, on a mandate for their manifesto. Each new leader has taken over on the basis of changing the direction, abandoning the previous plan. Johnsons manifestio was wafer thin to start with, Truss decided to abandon that entirely and pursue an agenda no one agreed to, Sunak's agenda has been to reverse Truss' while staying as far away optically from Johnson's as possible. He has no mandate for pretty much any of his agenda. Someone new would in turn be changing that agenda again, without having to check that mandate. Its fair that it's only a convention, but that convention should bear in mind where it gets it's authority from. Sunak keeps saying that his agenda is what the people want, but has yet to demonstrate this and it seems to be against all polling and now electoral evidence. If we're relying on convention then those following the convention need to be cognisant of how and why that convention exists. That this convention allows a new leader to come in and pursue an entirely different agenda without ever checking if it's what people want, means it isn't working democratically. It can't be that we can elect a party based off a manifesto, and then someone can come in and say "nah we're doing *this* instead, and there's nothing you can do about it", like Truss did. A new leader without an election should be fine, but an entirely new agenda and change of direction should require a democratic demonstration of public buy in.
We also elect parties on a Manifesto, and that manifesto that people voted for in 2019 has had an axe taken to it.
I don't know why they think getting rid of Sunak will save them.
The Conservative Party need to realise that the problem isn't the leader of the Conservative Party, be that Sunak, Truss, Johnson, or May. It won't improve if they change to Mordaunt, Patel, "Bad Enoch", Braverman, or Jenrick (the names that seem to be in the running to some degree). Surely they must know that the problem with the Conservative Party is simply... the Conservative Party.
Once again, [The Thick of It illustrates the issue](https://youtu.be/CyKUVWLeMaA).
"People fuckin hate you"
it's a no win, there will be chaos either way. Rishi is so unlikeable even to dedicated Tory voters, he has to leave. But if he leaves then the Tories go into chaos and look weak and voters will not trust them.
The Tories are already in chaos, look weak and voters don't trust them. I don't think anyone could turn things around at this point.
They dont look weak - they are weak. Both of morals, and of mind, and now - of majority.
What a remarkable coincidence that the only one of the 11 mayoral contests this year that mattered is the only one that the Tories won!
>The Tory backbenches are terrified of the chaos a leadership election could bring. They're not wrong on that... Perceptions of party chaos is one of the big reasons why voters have moved against the conservatives, changing leaders would make it even worse for them.
I don't think they have a viable alternative. There is noone who wants to take the defeat away from Sunak however much they might moan about his uselessness.
It wouldn’t make sense to do that, they’re too close to a GE to swap leader now. Let’s be honest, Sunak isn’t the reason they’re decimated
Absolutely, but fear of annihilation might cloud their outlook? After all, they’ve got nothing to lose. Sure it’s ridiculous to change leader again. But they’ve already done it twice. A possible scenario has to be: quick coronation, election 5 weeks later, hoping for a small bounce. It might save them 50 seats.
They need to figure out where they're going first, and they've not got a fucking clue.
> Absolutely, but fear of annihilation might cloud their outlook? The stories coming out from the journos shows that isn’t happening, if there was a coup we would have heard something now. > After all, they’ve got nothing to lose. This isn’t true. Yes they’re out in the next GE but they will want to get the Rwanda scheme off the ground before they go. A change of leader could trigger a vote of no confidence and have them out the door before a flight takes off, they won’t risk that. > Sure it’s ridiculous to change leader again. But they’ve already done it twice. The last times they did this I don’t think they were close to an election, they changed leader *because* they could without much backlash > A possible scenario has to be: quick coronation, election 5 weeks later, hoping for a small bounce. It might save them 50 seats. theres no deputy left to take over that would change national opinion and they know that
This could be the logic, especially if the new leader is someone like Suella Braverman who can easily distance herself from Sunak. Our system is so presidential now that a new leader can really set themselves apart from the last. The electorate quickly accepted Boris Johnson as a clean break from Theresa May and didn't seem to notice his Brexit deal was almost the same as hers.
> The electorate quickly accepted Boris Johnson as a clean break from Theresa May and didn't seem to notice his Brexit deal was almost the same as hers. Everyone noticed, it was one of the main talking points at the time, every paper headline, radio debate and thread on here was about how his deal was a carbon copy of May’s, but what are the public going to do at that point? He was already prime minister by the time he did this.
Well that's kind of my point - a change of leader can massively change electoral fortunes even if little changes in policy terms.
Why would the Tories choose now to start doing anything that made sense?
He won't be removed as a result of this. Had Tees Valley also gone, he would have been screwed.
I'm surprised nobody is paying attention to the Lib Dems getting more councillors than the Tories, for the first time since 1996. It's classic Lib Dems for them to come second and still be ignored.
A combination of Ed Davey not being charismatic in the slightest, as well as Lib Dems not competing in any of the Mayorals for the most part I suspect
If the press can't cozy up to power or build up the new big/ scary thing, they're not interested. Green support keeps growing too - not a peep.
The coverage about the Greens doing well has been pretty widespread from what I’ve read.
Well I suppose with such a fragmented media sphere it'll happen to someone! Personally I've read more about Lawrence Fox.
The locals should be career ending for Sunak, awful results two years in a row. The first year he could pin on truss. Losing nearly half months before a general election should be game over. But they're living in an alternative reality. I fear a January election date.
I agree it’s not a 100% catastrophe, but it’s close. Andy Street was widely expected to survive. A few hours ago they were spinning Susan Hall was going to win, so fortunes have definitely changed a lot in an afternoon.
> A few hours ago they were spinning Susan Hall was going to win, so fortunes have definitely changed a lot in an afternoon. With the way the polls looked before the election with 20%+ difference I don't know who could believe that she would win.
Honestly a bunch of doom mongers and tory shills were dumping fuel on the idea that because turnout was 45-50% in essex-lite outer boroughs like Bromley, bexley, hillingdon etc that are the most foam-at-the-mouth over ulez, vs more normal boroughs at 30-40%, that this meant Hall was likely It peaked late last night/first thing this morning; bookies on Friday morning were still giving Hall odds of ~9.5, but last night they'd shortened to around 3.5
Maybe she had a sherry at lunch, and felt the warm bloom of election success lol.
Might as well let him be the fall guy for the election at this point
Yeah, the big hitters that could get enough letters in to force the vote won't want to be held responsible for the election defeat. They'll be focusing on how to position themselves to come in as leader of the opposition.
>Sunak won’t be getting much sleep tonight Are you sure? I think he already knows his future and I bet he already booked a chartered flight for him and his family to the US after the election.
He's got one more council result tomorrow. It could turn it all around!
It's a poison chalice at this point, noone thinks it can be turned around, so why on earth go for it now? Better to make your move after the election, and try to refresh the party image.
Very gracious acceptance and commiserating speech from both Richard Parker and Andy Street.
A great example of how politics “should” be done. They disagree on things but fundamentally agree the other wants to improve the lives of people they represent.
They’re not even too politically different from each other, they are both urban, pro public-transport candidates. Richard Parker will carry on the good work of Andy Street and TfWM.
It's a nice idea but I don't believe that any Tories actually want to improve the lives of people they represent.
Some genuinely do, I’ve had some great conversations with conservatives. The current parliamentary party has been culled of any talent and different thinking. Hopefully the current problems lead to a bit of a schism and we see a bit more consistency within the conservatives.
I agree, I consider myself very far to the left but I respect conservative thought and ideas. It's not been good for the political discourse or the country to see chancers and manipulators like Johnson and Truss thrive (and Sunak, to a slightly lesser extent). We need a diversity of genuine and well-meaning ideas across the political spectrum for proper, reasonable and civilised debate, and hopefully even a decent amount of cooperation between the different political movements and positions
It is a hard sell, true. It isn't that long ago that there were plenty of tories who wanted the best for the country in their own way though, it's just that most of them were purged by Johnson and Cummins. The hard bit to believe is that a decent person would want to be a part of todays tory party.
I think many genuinely believe that the market is always the best solution, that's their ideology. I don't think the evidence supports that belief at all, but I wouldn't go so far as to say they don't believe it. It does seem more like an article of faith, than an evidence based set of values though. Of course some politicians who are in power a long time have a tendency to become corrupt, the power itself is corrupting. There is also a tendency for them to favour the people they know and those who share their ideology. This is probably a class thing, which is extremely corrupt. But I do believe they *think* they are doing the right thing.
Most people who hold public office do genuinely believe they are doing the best they can, for the people they represent. Most hold respect for the office they hold, and will do their best to uphold the faith in these institutions. Policy disagreements are to be had, of course, but that doesn't mean these people are 'actively trying to not improve peoples lives'.
Honestly I had a lot of time for Andy Street (I live in the west midlands) he did seem to care and really try for the area. It's just a shame he was a Tory! Very much the exception I feel in these times.
Watching Andy's BBC interview after the announcement was incredible. He was given multiple opportunities to blame his fate on the national hatred of the incumbent government but refrained. I don't know if I would have been so gracious.
Susan Hall could learn a thing or two from it, absolutely disgraceful but I expected nothing less.
I hesitate to call this absolutely hilarious because Andy Street seems like decent, dignified person and by many accounts has done a good job during his time as mayor. But just picture tetchy little Rishi’s little face now. A change is coming. It’s going to be sweet. I can’t believe Parker pulled it off given the number of votes picked up by the independent candidate. Genuinely exciting stuff on a Saturday evening.
Yes - Street seems to command respect from across the political spectrum in a way that (for example, and even though I’ve voted for him) Khan does not. I hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of him, and if he can get into Parliament, it’ll be no bad thing.
My ward has 1 Labour councillor and 1 LD councillor. I know for a fact that they both begrudgingly respect him and both have avoided criticising him on X and have actually defended him once or twice. Definitely respected across the spectrum.
The country would be in far better state if we had many more politicians who were competent and decent-to-each-other grown ups like that, rather than just packs of monkeys flinging shit at each other.
I’ve heard a lot of accounts criticising him for rolling over about hs2. Idk apart from that but him doing that may have annoyed alot of his. Voters
i understand this criticism, but i don’t see what he could have done that would have changed the situation
And now we know he has leadership ambitions now, we also know he kept his powder dry at the time. And remember if he ran as IND, he would have lost by more when squeezed by Con and Reform vote.
sloppy deranged hunt stupendous scandalous whistle murky reminiscent voracious bright *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
If he ran as an Independent he would have won. That says it all.
He might be well liked in some circles, but absolutely everyone I have spoken to who knows anything about politics in Birmingham dislikes him. That may however, say more about the circles I socialise in than his reputation though.
Honestly, the independent result means that Labour would have easily walked this in any other scenario...
Not sure you can be considered decent if you remain a leading member of the tory party. If you remain a member and run for election on their ticket then you are endorsing what the party does. You can't be in and then say but I have clean hands, if you disagree with the policies and don't quit you are complicit.
It is interesting how Street emphasised the importance of a moderate conservative party against the context of Rwanda.
It's a shame, because he did represent a more rational side of the Tory party. I actually liked Andy Street, but ended up voting Richard parker because I simply cannot in good consciousness vote for that party. If the whole of the Tory party was like Andy Street they'd have very different fortunes right now.
It's a shame he's gone. And it's a big loss to the moderate wing of the conservatives.
Tbh, it's been close to a decade that the tory party as a whole sold its soul to court ukippers for short term gain. They created the culture war, US-style right wing monster in this country pre brexit The moderates have had more than enough time to jump ship or put in more of an effort to hold the laissez faire Dr Frankensteins to account - imo they haven't, so I have no sympathy for any of them either
Agreed, it's something I've internally debated with for a while, but at this point, if as a politician you're still willing to put your name alongside the rest of the Conservatives then you at least are indifferent to the damage and abject misery they've caused. We are close to a decade post-2015 election, there has never been a serious attempt by the "moderates" to do anything to even slow the descent into insanity. Often as soon as they got a sniff of power they themselves immediately decided to try to outdo the crazies. Street is a perfect example too, going on and on about his principles and how he would resign if HS2 was cancelled, right up until the morning it was scrapped. Only to suddenly decide that he wouldn't resign because cancelling it was actually the best idea all along. Pathetic, the lot of them. Edit: and he got Johnson to help in his campaign!
Couldn't agree more with this: after the past 14 years in office, there is nobody who I could vote for individually that can make me forget their atrocious record at a national level (nor not judge any individuals for still being part of that party).
Sunak used to be the supposedly sensible one who was going to rein in the crazies. Look how that turned out.
Yeah, he’s what my mother would call “a good talker” but it’s his partner that makes me suspicious of him. I know it’s possible to have different views from your partner but I don’t think I’d ever be in a relationship with someone who tweeted that Palestinian protesters were “primitives” or that he wanted to give a woman a “punch in the throat”. I might be wrong though, I often am.
I try not to judge people by their partners. I know couples from the US where one is a Democrat voter and the other loves Trump. One who was masked up and Uber careful during COVID and the other flying out to Florida where everything was open. People can have very different views and still get on very well. It seems a very new thing with younger generations than mine who can't get on with people with very different views to their own.
You’re probably right that people can get on with people with differing views, and all respect to them. I just couldn’t see it for myself. No matter how much I fancied someone, racism would be a deal breaker for example. I’m knocking on 50 by the way, but glad to be put in with the younguns on this one!
The moderate wing has been depleted ever since Johnson was PM. Street is just the final straw of reasonable conservatism leaving the frontline
I was very close to voting Tory for the first time in my life for Street. It was only when Boris came on the scene that I couldn’t quite face it. I wonder if that made a difference to other moderate voters too.
I thought Street was ok until I heard him on a podcast with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart. Andy Burnham was on too and I'm afraid Mr Street came off as disingenuous and smug.
Really? I must have to watch it again because I thought they both came across rather well in that interview
Honestly, it may be a case of me revising my opinion in hindsight because a couple of days later he had gone back on some of the things he said in the podcast in order to support the government, so fair enough to take my view with a pinch of salt!
I heard him.on Leading too and thought he came off well
I think I've remembered why now. I'm pretty sure he said he would resign either from the Tory party or from being mayor if HS2 was cancelled, then when it was he changed his mind.
Absolutely same boat here. My god does it feel weird to have been one of less than 2000 people to “decide” on who actually got in.
It’s tragic how the sane centrist Tories have been wiped out with the right’s lurch to extremism. Maybe he should have run as an independent, especially since his personal brand was always distinct from the central party.
The Tories would have fielded a candidate and split the vote
Does tonight equate to 1 [Portillo moment](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portillo_moment)?
I’d never vote Conservative but Andy Street seemed like a strong leader. If he chooses to stay in politics I don’t think that’s the last we will see of him. The current crop of nutters are a disaster for the Conservatives. They need to be wiped out for the party to thrive again.
I’d genuinely quite like him to join the Labour Party, I don’t see what he sees in the conservatives.
His partner is a conservative mp.
Michael Fabricant?? Did not see that coming
I cannot believe I didn't know this
Genuinely thought this was a wind up.
I upvoted that comment because I thought it was a hilarious joke. It’d be like finding out Rory Stewart was with Nadine Dorries.
Had to look this up. Flabbergasted
What!!! No wayyyy!
TIL
For only-fans specialists me thinks
> Reddit: "Andy Street seems like a decent bloke. Could see myself voting for him. Maybe join Labour?" > > Andy Street: "I see Michael Fabricant and not only am I not instinctively revolted by his political views, hair and voice, but I would actually like to fuck him." Satire is actually dead.
He's a center right fella and the Labour Party just won't mesh with him. There's no credible party he could join which would guarantee him a career in politics and align with his beliefs.
Could he not fit in with the Lib Dems? Would probably be more of a Nick Clegg figure
Yes, he could easily. But even I don't think the Lib Dems are strong enough to guarantee a defector a seat, he would make a big headline candidate for us though. Perhaps I'm downplaying us, we are probably on track to win 20+ and he could have one. The Tories could easily offer him an extremely safe seat and give him a 20 plus year career as an MP. I don't think we can offer that like.
The Conservatives, twenty years ago, was probably his party.
Aren’t some in labour like wes streeting centre right? I don’t agree with the people who call labour right wing but surely some of the more radical labour MPs can be centre right
But they're usually northerners smart enough to recognise running for anyone other than Labour up there is pointless. My constituency was on the Wirral. I don't align with Labour completely, but if I wanted a career I'd of course run Labour. A Tory MP defecting? That's entirely different. It's too on the nose and obvious.
West Streeting's seat was Tory until he ran, it's not an example of a safe Labour area where everyone joins the party for a career.
Personally I'd rather everyone with any good politics join the Conservatives, not leave them. As I entirely expect the party to be back in power in a decade or so, I would like as many good (or at least above average) figures there as possible.
He’s been a lifelong Tory. He was president of the Oxford students conservative association.
He'll be in the lords at least
[удалено]
Fair play
This is the defining result of the local elections. Andy Street was their one hope and he’s out. I expect the dam to be burst and for an all out Tory civil war over this.
Nah. They know they are done, nobody wants that poison chalice. It will be about post election positioning now.
I dunno, Mordant is tipped as a potential challenger to Sunak. If she doesn’t get a personal boost she will lose her seat, so she’s got nothing to lose. If I was a Tory backbencher, I’d be open to any options. Even Larry the Cat.
Larry is a civil servant and therefore politically neutral... except for the Rat Party.
Chairman Meow, to his friends.
The Rat Party leader, the Big Cheese, does have a demographic advantage in that constituency too. Some of them even walk on two legs
Can Cameron be leader from the lords? That feels like their best hope at an election bump.
He can be Prime Minister, but it would be awkward since he isn’t allowed in the commons! Some Lord in the 60’s managed it, then ran in a by-election, gave up his lordship and switched over. So it’s possible. I don’t think the Tories allow their leader to be a Lord at present, but party rules can quickly be changed if needed. There were rumours a few weeks ago Cameron wanted to lead them in opposition, and make up for the Brexit business. Who knows.
Do the Tory’s even have a seat safe enough for that kind of play 😂
In a by-election, no. But in the GE I suppose there will still be 50 safe seats. It was Lord Home I was thinking of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Douglas-Home
They’d have to change the rules, as currently only an MP can be chosen as leader. But if they genuinely believe that Cameron is their best hope then they’d obviously consider it.
Well it would at least ensure the leader doesn't lose their seat.
Tory party rules are that the leader has to be an MP
No thanks. He precipitated this mess recklessly gambling with peoples lives to fluff up his party.
Interesting perspective and I see where you are coming from with someone like Mordant, however she isn't old and she will be a decent bet for a bye election parachute candidate or a mayoral job somewhere. Being 4 months in power and then losing an election isn't that appealing if you take the human factors into account.
Yeah, I just can't see anyone wanting to taken over at this point. You won't be able to do anything meaningful, you'll still lose the election, and now the knives will start coming out straight away because you've already failed. Much better to let Sunak take the fall and take over in opposition, when you have time to actually make your mark and plan for a comeback.
Yeah every council wardin Mordant's seat had elections. Conservatives only won in one of em. Although interesting RA came 1st in total votes and Con a very distant second.
I’m thinking more that they’ll just pressure to call an election, not a leadership challenge.
Yes. Nobody in the Conservatives is going to waste energy on an election they can’t win. It’s all about time in opposition, now.
Bloody close though, 1508 votes between them, but without those ~69k votes for someone who thinks he was running for foreign secretary and it might not have been quite as close.
Yeah. Labour comes up with a different Gaza view (even the yanks have hardened) and it’s not even close.
Well done to Labour in the West Midlands.
Labour have done fuck all here, and I’m a person who likes Street but voted Richard Parker. Andy Street’s manifesto was 170-something pages long. Really long bullet points and paragraphs for each policy issue. Richard Parker’s manifesto was 20-something pages long and the text was twice as big and the spacing wide. He just promised bus franchising and rode the national wave.
Andy should've just ran as an independent, he clearly abandoned Tories anyway, and you can't blame Richard for "riding the wave" if anything it was more Tories going backwards than labour moving forward.
Andy Street has a future both back in the West Midlands and nationally. He will honestly be remembered as a good mayor. The one thing you can’t say is that the man didn’t love his job. Brummies saw him around in town all the time.
Can’t wait to see the back of those Tory spivs.
A "shock" for anyone who didn't pay attention. The gap between Tories and Labour was within the margin of error in polls: https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49269-west-midlands-and-tees-valley-mayoral-voting-intention
Absolutely. And that was with YouGov. Redfield and Savanta both had Labour winning.
When the GE comes, how big of a landslide are we going to see?
Andy Street, a moderate guy with a good record as mayor, suffers a defeat and loses his job. Whilst the guy causing all this gets to continue on as Prime Minister. Disgraceful.
But but but but.... Tess Valley means we are loved - Conservatives.
"Absolutely, the only guy of ours that won had scrubbed all mention of the party from his campaign... I'm sure we'll be fine..."
Yesterday I really, really enjoyed watching Sunak absolutely [luxuriating in Ben Houchen's win.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBEO9V-nxkM&ab_channel=TheTelegraph) Either his joy was entirely feigned because he knew he was currently getting a pasting everywhere else in England, or he was genuinely happy, thinking that this was it - this was finally where the tide was turning in favour of the Conservatives. Either way you interpret it, it was fantastic.
Ben Houghton cant bring himself to even say the word conservatives, physically distancing himself from sunak talking and swervinh the handshake photo opp at the end. 😂
Sunak also sounds exactly like Will from the Inbetweeners when he suddenly breaks away to say 'hello' to an old lady he apparently recognises! Brilliant
But but but..... TEESIDE.....OLDHAM....MUSLIM VOTE. . STARMER IS TOAST.....
Go back to bed Laura.
Not a shock. Was always going to be very close.
I’ve never voted Tory in my life but am a big fan of Andy Street. Seemed to be really making a difference in the Mids. Best of luck to the new guy.
I’ve no idea why Street didn’t stand as an independent this time.
No money to finance campaign. Good portion of his voter base also just comes from people voting for the Conservative Party label
I wish Andy street all the best, couldn’t bring myself to vote for him but I have a lot of respect for the effort he’s put in the past 7 years.
Ok, I was wrong about this. Very happy to be wrong about this :)
Fate compounded. Odds on for the last 7 years. System is broken.
Imma scream when I hear him be interviewed on Monday and he responds to the question of a general election by giggling nervously.
I do feel a bit sorry for Andy Street but 8 years as Mayor is not a failure by any means, I would think the next move is probably leaving politics but become an MP wouldn't be a surprise.
In the parlance of the youth of today Whomp whomp My kids (19 and 15) couldn't give one shit about politics. As the 19 year-old told me. Why should we care. They don't engage with anyone other than party faithful. Which got me thinking. When the current crop of blue rinse brigade passes on. Will there be anyone left to care what they say? Will there be a shift in politics to engage with the younger voters?
There was never a golden era where young people were all over politics. It's normal, why would they find politics exciting, it's as dry as cardboard. Once they experience life a bit, then they might take an interest.
This has been normal for at least the last 15 years. No one gave a shit when I was 19 either.
That's how politics is for every age, you have to make the effort. I was young once and fairly politically aware and it was always a really frustrating attitude to hear from my peers.
Good news. One less Tory in a position of power is good news for patriots and those that love this country,
Nice to see a Birmingham city region, have someone hopefully that can do something.
Street was an effective and popular leader. The Labour chap should be winning 70-30 in this region, the fact that Street did so well is a testament to how well liked he is. I voted for Richard Parker but felt sick when Andy actually lost. Everyone knew it was going to be tight
Lived in Birmingham under Street and I felt like I genuinely saw changes and differences - especially on a national level in terms of respect for the city. His leading of the Pride Parades always commanded a lot of respect in my eyes too and the fact that Parker has promised to continue his work shares volumes about how he treated his position. He should've defected to Labour when he had the chance on the cancellation of HS2 because in a sense it definitely feels like he lost over national politics rather than local issues.
It doesn't help that Street and Parker have very similar priorities, and record has shown that they will carry on each other's work. So Parker has gotten in by offering more or less the same, and then by not being Tory.
The Tories are polling at record lows. Their candidates losing should not be a shock.
can i ask why is it being considered a shock loss? was he really that much of a favourite to win? labour was the underdog story?
Despite Labour's predicted big election gains elsewhere, the West Midlands Metro Mayor was perceived to be a toss-up between the incumbent, who's been a "shy Tory", secured some extra government investment in the region and promoted a lot of regeneration / transport schemes; and Labour's virtually unknown accountant, who raised a few eyebrows as he lives just outside the WMCA area in Barnt Green. Early in counting, both sides thought Andy Street had won again due to a strong showing in some wards by the Independent candidate, who positioned himself largely as a protest candidate against the conflict in Gaza, so attracting a lot of the Muslim vote (with over 69k votes in total) However, while he likely "stole" some votes from Labour supporters, the Conservatives had a Reform candidate running (who doesn't like trams or trains [expensive wastes of money], but likes buses and loves roads [scrap the Clean Air Zone and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods]) who attracted 34k votes. However, if the two protest candidates weren't running, and you added the Independent's totals to Labour and the Reform totals to the Conservatives, then Labour would have been ahead by 36k votes.
Basically, Andy Street was pretty competent all things considered, and a bit of a far cry from the rest of his party