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UK General Election on July 4th

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DuckHairback
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22 May 2024, 4:53 pm

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-69050450

Rishi Sunak has called a General Election for the 4th July.

Finally. It's been long 5 years.


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Last edited by DuckHairback on 22 May 2024, 5:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Aspinator
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22 May 2024, 5:23 pm

I am trying to understand British politics so please don't dismiss this as a dumb question. Unless Sunak is confident he will win, why is he calling for a general election? By the way your link does not work; all I get is error 404 page not found



DuckHairback
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22 May 2024, 5:29 pm

^ thanks, I've fixed the link.

He has to call an election before January because there's a time limit but the question of why now is a good one and its being hotly debated in the UK media.

General consensus seems to be he's concluded that things will probably be worse for him and his government if they leave it any longer. His party is deeply unpopular and facing massive losses at the election, I guess they want to make sure something is left after that they can rebuild from.


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Rossall
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23 May 2024, 8:57 am

I can't wait to vote out this sorry lot.


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blitzkrieg
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26 May 2024, 12:05 pm

I think many people will be glad to see the back of the conservatives... especially disabled folk.



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27 May 2024, 7:13 pm

Larry the cat for Prime Minister

Indeed.


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BillyTree
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28 May 2024, 4:34 am

I find it a little strange to choose the date 4th of July as the election day in the UK.


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blitzkrieg
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28 May 2024, 7:19 am

BillyTree wrote:
I find it a little strange to choose the date 4th of July as the election day in the UK.


The conservatives seem to want to turn the UK into a mini US, so perhaps it isn't so surprising.



eurovisionfan1990
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06 Jun 2024, 7:13 am

No more Tories, please!! !

We want Labour back!! !



blitzkrieg
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06 Jun 2024, 7:17 am

^



Biscuitman
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07 Jun 2024, 11:09 am

Aspinator wrote:
I am trying to understand British politics so please don't dismiss this as a dumb question. Unless Sunak is confident he will win, why is he calling for a general election? By the way your link does not work; all I get is error 404 page not found


He only had a few months left to call one in anyway, inflation just came down so was the last good news moment expected under their government.

Also his main pledge of 'stopping the small boats' is going disastrously and the numbers arriving go up in the summer as the weather is good, so he wanted to get in before that.



DuckHairback
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07 Jun 2024, 2:50 pm

^While all that is true, I'm increasingly convinced that he'd just had enough. I don't like him, but it must have been a miserable job, when everyone in the country hates you and even most of your own party hate you. There's a lot of evidence that he didn't even tell most of his own party he was going to call it. Many seats didn't even have candidates lined up and all Conservative MPs had been told it was safe to book a holiday in July/August. It may have been that he'd been informed that it was getting close to a no confidence vote in his leadership and he just thought 'screw you lot then. We'll go to the country'.


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blitzkrieg
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07 Jun 2024, 3:01 pm

DuckHairback wrote:
^While all that is true, I'm increasingly convinced that he'd just had enough. I don't like him, but it must have been a miserable job, when everyone in the country hates you and even most of your own party hate you. There's a lot of evidence that he didn't even tell most of his own party he was going to call it. Many seats didn't even have candidates lined up and all Conservative MPs had been told it was safe to book a holiday in July/August. It may have been that he'd been informed that it was getting close to a no confidence vote in his leadership and he just thought 'screw you lot then. We'll go to the country'.


I had the feeling also, that Sunak had just had enough. If he was thinking about his party and its interest I think he would have held out for a winter election.



Biscuitman
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09 Jun 2024, 12:17 pm

I keep finding myself feeling a bit sorry for him, then quickly pull myself out of it and remember what he is like :lol:

He is now 48 hours into refusing to speak to the media or answer any questions.



blitzkrieg
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09 Jun 2024, 12:18 pm

^ He is surely toast as a possible, future prime minister at this point.



Biscuitman
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10 Jun 2024, 3:17 am

blitzkrieg wrote:
^ He is surely toast as a possible, future prime minister at this point.


Tories are done for. The election is now only about what size majority Labour get, and how small the Tories are afterwards, because the smaller they are the easier it is for Farage etc to infiltrate and take over