Imagine getting a request from Rishi "on pain of death". It doesn't exactly strike fear into the heart.
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Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party.
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Yes I've been a little bit uncomfortable with the tone of some of the material coming out of Government department social media feeds for a little while now. It's hard to put a finger on but it feels like the line between party political and promoting government policy has become quite blurred. I think the Home Office is the worst offender with some of the stuff they've put out in the past about "activist lawyers" (which I think they ended up deleting and apologising for) but it feels a bit like its spread across Whitehall.Is there a precedent for a UK government using a Govt department communication channel for propaganda purposes before now:
x.com
x.com
I'm not quite sure how to balance it, and it's not been an issue really in the past with other Governments either. That HM Treasury account for instance is from early 2009, social media was a very different beast back then. Some other example such as the Home Office twitter being from is April 2010 so just before the election whilst DWP is September 2011 so about a year later.
But it certainly feels like at least some Departmental twitter feeds are being used to push party political points rather than just "This is what the Government are doing" and I'm not sure that's entirely healthy. I suspect that the issue is probably Special Advisers giving instructions to Civil Servants, potentially quite junior, and then them just doing what they're told.
Rishi's 'death' is likely to come in the form of being slapped around with a large trout.
Busaholic
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Even Chris Mason, BBC Political Editor, seems to be suggesting there could be something in it, with Shapps and Cameron rescheduling trips abroad. Let's hope and pray the Ayes have it in the unlikely event of the vegetables getting a vote.
Howardh
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Thursday July 4 is in "the next half of the year".
The decimal odds at Oddschecker for a July-September 2024 election are now 1.5, and 11 for October-December. If you bet £10 and got the right date, you would get your £10 back as well as £5 winnings for July-September or £55 for October-December.
Other than a June or January and that's nearly no lose bet
birchesgreen
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Gone on the Fourth of July
No one less loyal than I
When my country said go I wasn't ready to do so
And I wish I'd been left to fleece the UK some more
brad465
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I've got fraction odds of 1/7 from Sky, which would see a £10 bet return £11.40 (so £1.40 profit).
Gloster
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Sunak probably thinks that if he has it on 4th July everybody will be patriotically celebrating Independence Day and will vote for the party that brought the country the freedom from the oppressor that…hang on, have I got the wrong country? That is for after he has decamped to California.
Howardh
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At what point, exactly, does a PM become an ex-PM on election night - assuming he doesn't resign on the spot? Think there's a certain point in the evening when the government "accepts defeat" but at some point power must hand over - for example if at 7am Fri it's obvious Labour are winning, but Putin does something ridiculous that requires urgent attention, would that be Starmer or Sunak??
They remain PM until their meeting with the monarch. Then, technically, we don't have a PM until the incoming appointee has their meeting.
birchesgreen
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He has to resign to the monarch, when Brown lost he hung on for a week while Cameron and Clegg worked out their coalition agreement. I recall that Darling (then the Chancellor) still went to a finance minister meeting even though Labour has lost.
Howardh
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Thanks, so if before Sunak visits the King, if something crops up he'll have to deal with it. Didn't something similar happen in the USA (Clinton?) r/e hostage situation which, if memory serves, he had to deal with while he was losing (or winning?) on the actual election night? Please correct me, I don't really follow US politics!
birchesgreen
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Yes in the US there is a period after the election until the losing (or outgoing) president steps down. The new president will have his transitional office. Its about 2 months i think?
Yes. Though, it's worth keeping in mind that we don't operate like the UK Presidential system - the PM isn't Commander in Chief so even in his/her absence the MoD would continue to operate and implement standing government policy.
The election is the first Thursday in November and the inauguration is on January 20th (or 21st if the 20th is a Sunday). There is almost a parallel administration for some of that period.
She really does have form for breaking the rules, doesn't she?
She always preaches about other people yet never seems to face any consequences herself.
Following him slapping an opponent repeatedly with small fish while doing a dance.
Independence Day. From the Conservatives.
Howardh
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Looks like cabinet meeting later this afternoon then ride to the Palace. If he does call that election, I think it's more to save him having to resign as all those letters might have gone in, rather than the inflation news!
Indeed, Darling signed us up to underwrite a Euro bailout package during that meeting - https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/may/10/eu-rescue-package-q-a
brad465
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Howardh
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Looking more and more likely the Fourth of July. I'll be one of those Libdems lending my vote to Labour. Tactically I wouldn't mind reform returning to the Tories so we get a hung parliament with LD/Labour the largest "party", and we can move on Europe. But that's for another day, the first job is to hire a decent removals firm!!
brad465
Established Member
Various weather radars have drizzle/rain in the London area, and it looks like it won't clear for a few hours at least. If he does announce an election, he's got a metaphorically bad backdrop to do it in.
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