If it smells corrupt

[the other bob wilson]

Re: If it smells corrupt

I think the difference between here and the US is the dominance of only two parties there and our electoral system. Trump ultimately failed because he could not break out much beyond the 40% or so of people who would support him through thick and thin. 40% core support here is the basis of a political landslide.

On your broader point, covid still rules. The vaccination programme's success is likely to benefit incumbents not just in England but also Wales and Scotland. Thinks like the corrupt self-centred nature of Johnson's government and the impact of Brexit on things like Fish and Finance may not have the immediate impact they would in more normal times.

If Covid rules, then it seems that the first nine months of it in the UK doesn’t, because it seems that only what has happened since the vaccine was rolled out rules.

Apparently, well over fifty per cent of responders to that poll regard the what’s in it for me party as corrupt and sleazy, so it’s entirely possible that there are people who believe that party is corrupt and sleazy, yet still intend to vote for them. We’re getting close to the situation where Trump, probably rightly, said that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in broad daylight and people would still vote for him.

[jon1959]

Re: If it smells corrupt

If Covid rules, then it seems that the first nine months of it in the UK doesn’t, because it seems that only what has happened since the vaccine was rolled out rules.

Apparently, well over fifty per cent of responders to that poll regard the what’s in it for me party as corrupt and sleazy, so it’s entirely possible that there are people who believe that party is corrupt and sleazy, yet still intend to vote for them. We’re getting close to the situation where Trump, probably rightly, said that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in broad daylight and people would still vote for him.

There is an element of the Teflon Trump about Johnson - he thinks different rules apply to him, and on the evidence of the polls he may be right.

The vaccination bounce is massive (and has buried a year of stupidity and corruption from this government in the public's short attention span). But the other factor is the lack of an opposition (other than the nationalists in Scotland and Wales).

Starmer has sat on the fence, got his MPs to vote for the government or abstain where he should have opposed on grounds of principle as well as advantage, has demoralised and shut down large parts of the Labour Party (reneged on all 10 of his leadership election pledges, seen over 50,000 members leave, gagged and/or suspended officers of over 200 constituency parties, and countless other internal attacks whilst promoting non-Labour and Blairite influence).

The Lib Dems are irrelevant and anonymous.

Johnson has got a clear run!

We are back to the position where sections of the Tory press are more effective at holding the government to account on sleaze and corruption than the official opposition. No wonder the clown in No 10 is content to bluster it out.