Election

[TheOstrich]

Given that Labour is now showing a 3% poll advantage over the Conservatives per the Evening Standard (and tying in many others) ....

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politic ... 57106.html

... which has to be a huge indictment of BoJo and his Government over their handling of the Covid crisis, do we now think in hindsight that Jeremy Corbyn might have made a better fist of things?

[Workingman]

It will forever be a "what if", BoJoke owns the lot.

We have BoJoke, the perambulating haystack Mr Mop Head till the next GE, unless the Tory backbenchers discover a backbone.

Demonic will be doing his level best to keep them away from the CT and MRI equipment just in case.

And it's not only Covid.... Brrrrr.

[victor]

Comrade Corbyn ?? Never

[cruiser2]

Slightly off tangent, if Bojo is broke, how come his partner can stay in a five star hotel in Italy?

Will she have to self isolate when she returns?

[Kaz]

No. I think Sir Keir is FAR more electable, and the polls reflect that.

[cromwell]

Given that Labour is now showing a 3% poll advantage over the Conservatives per the Evening Standard (and tying in many others) ....

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politic ... 57106.html

... which has to be a huge indictment of BoJo and his Government over their handling of the Covid crisis?

Well, there a few things to deal with here.
Given the consistently hostile press towards the government (and that's before we consider the BBC and Ch4 news) it is hardly surprising that Labour have finally managed to get a lead in one poll (was it YouGov btw?).
I do wonder if the spotlight was cast onto Labour and the likes of Dawn Butler, Nadia Whittome, Annelise Dodds etc how long the Labour lead would actually last?

A huge indictment of BoJo and his lot? Yes, they haven't handled it well at all. But given that they are listening to public service employees like Whitty, Vallence and Van Tam etc - would a Labour government have done anything differently? Because surely they would be listening to the same advice from exactly the same people?

It's hard to know if Labour would have done anything better because although they are quick to say that the Tories are rubbish and they are doing everything wrong, they seem to fall very silent when they are asked what the Labour party would do!

So no. Keir Starmer is profiting by the fact that the media is overwhelmingly on his side and the fact that he is very much the "I'm not Boris Johnson" candidate. Whether he will be able to maintain his lead when he is asked to actually say what he will do - who knows?

Starmer was responsible for Labour's Brexit policy of "constructive ambiguity", which meant never being tied down to anything. Say one thing to one audience, another to another, and I expect when an election rolls round he'll do the same again. He will imo need all the help he can get from the media mouthing phrases like "forensic intelligence" and "Prime Minister in waiting" that he can get.

Btw I don't expect Johnson to be in charge of the Tory party for the next election.

[Suff]

Kier Starmer, on the back of a global catastrophe, has managed to claw Labour up to a whole 3% over the Tories. Assisted by a press who are making a fortune out of the pandemic, don't understand that in terms of Health, which the pandemic sits under, Boris ONLY has control of England and don't care what happens to the country so long as this bonanza continues.

If anyone believes that once this and Brexit, are over, that Starmer will continue to carry this level of support, personally I think they are kidding themselves.

This current Conservative government wss voted in on a single issue and Covid was not it. Harsh as it is to say, when this is all over, covid will have been a sideshow.

But to answe the OP, ossie, can you honestly even Contemplate a Corbyn government in a 3 way coalition with the SNP and the Lib Dems, running the UK, still tied to the EU, for the next 2-3 years, unable to even certify a vaccine designed and made in our own country?

My nightmares are bad enough without having to contemplate this too.

Under press pressure the Government has finally cracked and said they will push for vaccine release in December. The press want you to think that a vaccine won't be ready for half a year or even years so that people keep reading their stories. But reality is not anything I read in the headlines of the press, on any front.

I find it ludicrous that I have to go to India to find out when the UK vaccine will complete its phase 3 tests, complete the documentation and submit it for approval.

Here is another thought to take away. Whils Starmer and the UK press thrash the naked body of the UK with Nettles, for having close to 7,000 cases per day, France hit over 16,000 cases per day.

Has France locked down again? No it hasn't because the daily deaths are hardly higher than they were at 1,000 cases per day. The same is true of the UK.

Countries are now looking harder and finding what they would have found at the beginning. That those who show symptoms are the very tip of the iceberg.

So whilst the press try to stampede the government into collapse, so they can feed on the broken carcass of Westminster, aided by millions who hate Boris on principle, it is worth remembering that this pandemic will end, it will go back to normal and people will remember 2hat was said and done.

As the world tries to lift itself out of the economic ruin the pandemic and the attempts to halt it, it will become apparent who was doing the right thing and who was not.

4 years from now,3. 5 years post pandemic, 4 years post finally leaving the EU, that is when I will judge Boris' populatity compared to Starmer.

[Suff]

We crossed cromwell.

[victor]

Watched Starmer on Andrew Marr show--would'nt give a straight answer to any question

[Workingman]

Btw I don't expect Johnson to be in charge of the Tory party for the next election.

I don't think either of them will be the heads of their respective parties come the GE.

The stilettos are being sharpened in BoJoke's case and many of the blades have ERG engraved into them.

Starmer is seen as not much more than a steady hand on the tiller to get Labour through some choppy waters, but he is not the pilot.

Both have too much baggage.

The other problem all parties have at present is that they have no stand-out alternatives either individually or collectively. One or two might emerge over the next few years, but I will not be holding my breath.

My bet is that we are heading for a hung parliament come the next GE. Large parts of the red wall will have been rebuilt by then but not enough to see Labour get in, and the LibDems might make a bit of a comeback and that would damage the Tories more than Labour in some parts of the country.