The 2015 General Election

[Mantis]

Listening to the radio on the way home from work and apparently Cameron has said he doesn't want a third term if elected this time…

So if you vote Tory you'll be voting for a PM, who will change mid term and with no idea who that will be. Cameron as a second term PM would be seriously undermined (as was Blair as soon as he announced his intention to step down but at least everybody expected it to be Brown this is worse.)

You know I keep saying that neither of these parties seemingly wants to win this election, well this hasn't changed my mind one bit

Why would it change mid-term? If the Conservatives win this election it'd mean he'd stand down after the next election in 2020.

[tonyh29]

Holy ****, just watched the BBC 6 o'clock news - must have been scripted by Cameron's PR office. Cameron watching his kid play football, Cameron preparing lunch (helped by correspondent James Landale), Cameron supported by his adoring wife in his picture postcard Cotswold village. It would have been pretty cynical and nauseating as a party political broadcast, but as a NEWS item??? Seriously considering a complaint.

Oh, and apparently Jeremy Clarkson is a 'neighbour and friend', FFS.

Yes, very poor.

Mrs Cameron wanders casually in to the kitchen and informs us that she believes, in her mind, that her husband is the best man for the job (of PM).

Well, I'm amazed - that's news, that is. I was expecting her to say that he was shite at it and she wouldn't even trust him to look after the children on a trip out for lunch.

More importantly which kitchen were they in the master one or the other one ?

[Chindie]

Listening to the radio on the way home from work and apparently Cameron has said he doesn't want a third term if elected this time…

So if you vote Tory you'll be voting for a PM, who will change mid term and with no idea who that will be. Cameron as a second term PM would be seriously undermined (as was Blair as soon as he announced his intention to step down but at least everybody expected it to be Brown this is worse.)

You know I keep saying that neither of these parties seemingly wants to win this election, well this hasn't changed my mind one bit

Why would it change mid-term? If the Conservatives win this election it'd mean he'd stand down after the next election in 2020.

The new leader would need to be in and have established a 'standing' as leader both by the party and by the nation (if they have any intention of winning). That would mean a mid term change.

You would also have the issue that Cameron's standing and legitimacy would be questioned and no longer respected, particularly in the domestic political sphere, if it was widely known he's on his way out, which again would force the party to change sooner rather than later.

On paper it shouldn't be like that, as technically our vote is only for a party, but practically it doesn't work like that. The Tories would have a new leader mid term. They'd be nuts to contest an election with a completely new face front and centre.

[tonyh29]

Based on the Brown / Blair change over it probably means someone has the goods on Cameron and is threatening to use them in the way Brown threatened ( I.e blackmailed )Blair

[Chindie]

Based on the Brown / Blair change over it probably means someone has the goods on Cameron and is threatening to use them in the way Brown threatened ( I.e blackmailed )Blair

Possibly.

I've always felt that Cameron doesn't actually like being PM very much. I think he likes the status and the power, of course, but he seems to treat the nitty gritty of the role with contempt. He seems to resent being interviewed (see his regular 'finish what I want to say and then storm off camera' routine), his PMQs performances are always ill tempered petulant displays, and whenever he's going on about anything outside of grand statesmanship (I.e the less eye catching stuff) he seems to deal with it with near boredom and sarcasm.

I could see him jacking it in, there only so much grandstanding a PM can do, unless there's a load of conflict to get there fingers into. He appears to despise everything else.

[tonyh29]

Its been observed before that he is quite lazy and easily distracted , he does sometimes respond well under pressure but conversely allowed himself to get into the weak position in the first place through his ineptitude

ultimatly he's been quite a weak PM as a result , he could have and should have been so much better

[Risso]

 

Holy ****, just watched the BBC 6 o'clock news - must have been scripted by Cameron's PR office. Cameron watching his kid play football, Cameron preparing lunch (helped by correspondent James Landale), Cameron supported by his adoring wife in his picture postcard Cotswold village. It would have been pretty cynical and nauseating as a party political broadcast, but as a NEWS item??? Seriously considering a complaint.

Oh, and apparently Jeremy Clarkson is a 'neighbour and friend', FFS.

Yes, very poor.

Mrs Cameron wanders casually in to the kitchen and informs us that she believes, in her mind, that her husband is the best man for the job (of PM).

Well, I'm amazed - that's news, that is. I was expecting her to say that he was shite at it and she wouldn't even trust him to look after the children on a trip out for lunch.

 

 

No different to the Miliband piece last week or whenever it was.

[bickster]

Can't wait for Natalie Bennet's Lesbian Wholefood Barbecue edition next week

Clegg's one will be five minutes of silence and a picture of an empty fridge

[snowychap]

No different to the Miliband piece last week or whenever it was.

Probably not (I didn't see it, fortunately).

Still - very poor stuff.

[bickster]

No different to the Miliband piece last week or whenever it was.

Very different, Millipedes was boring, Cameron's was vomit inducing

[chrisp65]

Yep agree with all the above about the Cameron two term thing.

 

You can't quit at the next election you have to go early and give the new bod a chance. If you presume 12 months for the newbie to make a mark, a few months for the official campaign and voting. The obvious conclusion to that being that should the tories 'win' and get Cameron in to Number 10 on 8th May and the internal tory jostling whispering and media jerk fest will start on the 9th.

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

If they stay in power, I imagine Cameron will call it quits after the EU Referendum, which is pretty much mid-term.

[Demitri_C]

if he quits then wont there have to be another election if midterm?

[Mantis]

if he quits then wont there have to be another election if midterm?

Not likely. Wasn't one when Brown took over from Blair and we've got fixed-term parliaments now.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Mantis

[chrisp65]

if he quits then wont there have to be another election if midterm?

 

No, because you voted for someone else, unless you live in Witney, West Oxfordshire and put your X next to his name.

 

It's the basic contradiction in the system, we all watch Cameron vs Milliband and wonder about trident and the NHS. Then we have to vote for the local guy that has no influence on any of that but will write a letter to planning about that conservatory extension application for us.

 

My local tory appears to be a fairly decent guy. But if I vote for him I get Osbourne and May et al making decisions.

[Mantis]

There's definitely an argument to be made for electing the PM, but I'm not really sure how that would work and it would create its own set of problems.

[meregreen]

There's definitely an argument to be made for electing the PM, but I'm not really sure how that would work and it would create its own set of problems.

That would make him more akin to a President, and Queenie would have to go......I'll have that 

[tonyh29]

if he quits then wont there have to be another election if midterm?

No, because you voted for someone else, unless you live in Witney, West Oxfordshire and put your X next to his name.

It's the basic contradiction in the system, we all watch Cameron vs Milliband and wonder about trident and the NHS. Then we have to vote for the local guy that has no influence on any of that but will write a letter to planning about that conservatory extension application for us.

My local tory appears to be a fairly decent guy. But if I vote for him I get Osbourne and May et al making decisions.

Which you should view as a better option than Balls and Miliband , but regardless of that , as I've said before the vote in you instance should go to the Tory guy in spite of your views of the party (imo)...

[Condimentalist]

 

 

Listening to the radio on the way home from work and apparently Cameron has said he doesn't want a third term if elected this time…

So if you vote Tory you'll be voting for a PM, who will change mid term and with no idea who that will be. Cameron as a second term PM would be seriously undermined (as was Blair as soon as he announced his intention to step down but at least everybody expected it to be Brown this is worse.)

You know I keep saying that neither of these parties seemingly wants to win this election, well this hasn't changed my mind one bit

Why would it change mid-term? If the Conservatives win this election it'd mean he'd stand down after the next election in 2020.

The new leader would need to be in and have established a 'standing' as leader both by the party and by the nation (if they have any intention of winning). That would mean a mid term change.

You would also have the issue that Cameron's standing and legitimacy would be questioned and no longer respected, particularly in the domestic political sphere, if it was widely known he's on his way out, which again would force the party to change sooner rather than later.

On paper it shouldn't be like that, as technically our vote is only for a party, but practically it doesn't work like that. The Tories would have a new leader mid term. They'd be nuts to contest an election with a completely new face front and centre.

 

 

Would they? Or would it give them a good opportunity to freshen up their image after 10 years? They're highly unlikely to be popular at that point - it will give them an opportunity to present themselves as a clean break, if it so suits them to do so.

[Mantis]

If they were unpopular though then odds are anyone from the cabinet would be tarred with that same brush.