General Election - June 8th

I thought both Farron and Corbyn had ruled-out any form of coalition. Obviously not.

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"Progressive Alliance" is simply a polite way of saying "Coalition of Chaos".

Oh, if we are going to be silly, then I shall point out that "Strong and Stable" is a straight lift from "Mein Kampf", chapter 11.

You found that out by reading Nick Clegg's Twitter feed, didn't you?!!

I'd be amazed if the phrase "strong and stable" hadn't been used before in some context or other. In Mein Kampf the phrase is "strong and stable power" whilst Theresa May and the Conservative Party's slogan is "strong and stable leadership".

The only thing "silly" about this is that we now know that the Lib Dems are actively and secretly seeking an alliance with Labour and the Greens whilst publicly distancing themselves from any such arrangement. Even though Corbyn voted in favour of Britain's Article 50 notification, once could reasonably suppose that the Lib Dem's price for supporting Labour would be the withdrawal of that notice and Brexit irrevocably cancelled. Except that won't save the Union as Sturgeon will simply manufacture some other excuse for her independence referendum.

Well Andrew, you are a member of the Lib Dems, if that isn't being silly then nothing is

Sorry Andrew, just pulling your leg, I don't suppose you are getting much amusement pounding the streets and getting abuse at the door with your Lib Dem muckers

Is "Coalition of Chaos" the new mantra for the so-called #ProjectFear ?

I'm not sure there is enough evidence to come to that conclusion. Oops, now I'm being "silly". Whenever have you used evidence for reaching a conclusion?

Being silly has not stopped you before, cart on, we like silliness

It appears from what I have seen in the media that there are some local deals being struck.

These appear to be between the Greens and Lib Dems. There's also an agreement to let Jeremy Hunt stand against an NHS candidate and I think he'll have to hand over the baton of killing the Health Service to someone else - most likely GMTV's Gossip Presenter, Esther McVey. Surely even she can't lose Tatton!

Electoral Calculus puts the Tory majority at 188! More snooper's charters to come.

I'm hoping May gets a comfortable majority so she can do with Brexit as she likes but I don't like the idea of a 188 majority, it just isn't politically healthy.

Having said that, it is up to the other political party's to do something about it, Labour can at least make a start by letting JC go after the election.

The projected majority is 191 according to Electoral Calculus just now. And yes, that's much too great.

The Labour Party is stuck with JC and his Marxist pal McDonnell: they've both said that they won't go. I read that Clegg, Blair, Campbell and Mandelson have been in discussions with a view to launching a new centre-left party which might launch after the general election - and no doubt one of its central planks will be to rejoin the EU.

Brighton Pavillion, Richmond Park, Ealing, Twickenham ....

The political pundits seem to be throwing cold water on another party being formed but you never know, the line up you quoted doesn't sound like a very trustworthy one, it will be the reverse of UKIP without the charisma of Farage

Its an interesting one, I just think Labour need to change their leader and direction and Labour supporters will return.

It does look as if Corbyn is all set to do pretty much what Michael Foot did in 1983.

The conditions are pretty similar too. The one difference is that Foot resigned a few days after the 1983 General Election. Corbyn won't - or so he says. Foot's manifesto was "the longest suicide note in history", I wonder if the same will be said for Corbyn's.

Here's Corbyn being asked seven times by Laura Kuenssberg to confirm Britain will leave the EU if he becomes PM:

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Does his refusal to give a straight answer indicate that his behind-closed-doors deal with the Lib Dems, Greens and SNP is a reality?

More UKIP voters going to the Tories then

Does anybody here on the forum believe JC will not resign after the election?

If he stays he will then push the Labour party closer and closer to oblivion in my view.

It's suicide.

Corbyn is a man who, after a lifetime in careerist politics, is no longer able - if he ever was - of giving a straight answer to a simple question, but, his minders having "clarified" the issue afterwards, Labour are for Leaving , as indeed Corbyn's use of the three line whip on Article Fifty makes clear.

Accordingly, to reply to Mark's question, there is now no prospect of a "progressive alliance".

I am intrigued by the use of the double negative above . Do you mean that there is a progressive alliance? The evidence - election posters going up all over Richmond - would appear to give credence to that. And the web site given on those boards does exist but the organisation appears to be rather coy about revealing the identities of their founders and backers but it does appear to be part of Compass. It would be reasonable to assume that Vince Cable, Sarah Olney, the Richmond Lib Dems and the Richmond Labour Party, among others, are all involved.

As for Corbyn and Brexit, I don't believe a word anybody in the Labour Party says; they keep contradicting each other!

Ha ha! The double negative is a typographical error.

I do know a bit about tactical alliances. When I was Secretary of the Cambridge University Labour Club ("CULC") and a member of the Gaitskellite wing of the Labour Party, I was simultaneously a member of the Cambridge University Conservative Association, ("CUCA") because I was a party to an alliance with the Butler-Macleod wing in CUCA. We voted for each other and kept the slavering Trots and Powellites permanently out of power. It worked beautifully. No racists, no Trotskyites, and we all agreed about Europe.

I am a member of a local pro-EU alliance body here in Suffolk now.

I think you are looking for a big national alliance when what you should be looking for is a handful of alliances in a limited number of constituencies.

If my MP were Ken Clarke, I would vote for him. If my local MP were a Labour MP who had defied the Whip and voted against Article 50 I would do the same.

If my local Labour Party put up a strong Remain candidate I shall vote for him or her because my sitting Tory is a turncoat, a woman of no principles, like her friend the Prime Minister, who, having urged us all to vote Remain, is now a Quitter.

But don't expect a national agreement.