[Arrowhead]

I've only just noticed that North Warwickshire - a seat which the Tories claimed from Labour by a margin of just 54 votes in 2010, and which was therefore Ed Miliband's #1 target seat as recently as 2015 - now boasts a fully gammonised Tory majority of virtually 18,000. Absolutely desperate stuff for Labour.

And therein lies the great existential threat to Labour, as evidenced by the sort of numbers we saw recently in places such Mansfield and especially in their former Scottish heartlands; namely that once voters get a taste for voting for a different party, they often stick with their choice from that point onwards.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Hard to see what shifts the Tories from that position in North Warwickshire. Even going over the No Deal edge, which I don't think is likely anyway. With Farage out of the game, they can get any old bollocks through and make it out it's a triumph. Poor decision making is a slow burner, and Johnson can stick the shortfall on the national debt and tell Labour "you lot wanted to spend £500bn more" or something.

[The Red Arrow]

Could have dropped this elsewhere, but here's an interesting post mortem perspective from the New York Review of Books.

The Center Blows Itself Up: Care and Spite in the ‘Brexit Election’
David Graeber
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/01/1 ... -election/

[youngian]

Could have dropped this elsewhere, but here's an interesting post mortem perspective from the New York Review of Books.

The Center Blows Itself Up: Care and Spite in the ‘Brexit Election’
David Graeber
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/01/1 ... -election/

A lot to unpack there. He doesn’t reflect on Corbyn’s inability to do his job and leaves out Theresa May and her pitiful role in this national tragedy. Her refusal to lead and reach an EEA compromise over Brexit is what has left the nation at loggerheads. And contempt for the irritating pen pushers is nothing new.

[The Weeping Angel]

Having read it strikes me as an attempt to let Corbyn off the hook, ignores his personal failings and just how toxic he was on the doorstep and instead lays the blame on the Centrists.

[youngian]

It’ll be useful to know why they stayed at home before everyone paints their viewpoint onto a blank canvass. I’ll have a go anyway; Labour Leave voters who can’t stand Corbyn but Brexit’s not a deal breaker enough to put a twat like Johnson into No 10. And Labour Remainers who can’t stand Corbyn but are going nowhere near the LDs who are a wasted vote in their seat anyway.

Confidential Labour election report reveals 1.2m party voters just stayed at home

The Labour Party lost 2.6m voters between the 2017 and 2019 general elections, a major internal report has found.

Around 750,000 former supporters switched to the Lib Dems while a similar number went to pro-Brexit parties, primarily the Tories. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/ ... s-21389293

[Arrowhead]

Twelve months to the day since this grimmest of grim days. What a flaming tower of shite it proved to be.

I have three vivid memories of December 12th 2019 - i) of it absolutely pissing it down with rain for the entire day and thinking to myself that in no way were folk going to venture out in those conditions to save Corbyn's bony arse, ii) glumly visiting my father's grave in said rain, and iii) seeing the result come in from Blyth Valley early in the evening and feeling like somebody had punched me in the guts.

Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, how many on here truly believed Johnson was going to deprived of his victory?

[Andy McDandy]

I expected a Tory win, but hoped for a few high profile decapitations.

[mr angry manchester]

No, it went exactly how I thought it would.

[Arrowhead]

I expected a Tory win, but hoped for a few high profile decapitations.

Raab was the closest we got in the end, unless we're counting Zac Goldsmith.

Swinson losing her seat to fellow Remainers the SNP neatly summed up the futility of the night for me.

[Cyclist]

The only thing that surprised me about that election was Nadine Dorries vote share going down. Nowhere near enough, mind.

[davidjay]

Twelve months to the day since this grimmest of grim days. What a flaming tower of shite it proved to be.

I have three vivid memories of December 12th 2019 - i) of it absolutely pissing it down with rain for the entire day and thinking to myself that in no way were folk going to venture out in those conditions to save Corbyn's bony arse, ii) glumly visiting my father's grave in said rain, and iii) seeing the result come in from Blyth Valley early in the evening and feeling like somebody had punched me in the guts.

Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, how many on here truly believed Johnson was going to deprived of his victory?

I said then that the 10/11 odds on a Tory majority was a licence to print money. I only wish I'd had the nerve to stick a nought (or maybe two) on the end of the stake I did place.

[youngian]

Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, how many on here truly believed Johnson was going to deprived of his victory?

I was surprised how little people knew about Corbyn (including Remainers) in 2017. But two years later voters had caught with what those who are politically engaged already knew about him. Whether the same will happen with Johnson I'm not so sure as a third of the electorate are just horrible cunts at heart.

[Andy McDandy]

The traditionally fringe and disenfranchised became represented, while the mainstream were left out in the cold. Strange days indeed.

[mattomac]

I thought it would be a lower majority, deep down I thought it would be good to be around 40.

It was the result I think we all expected in 2017, Putney the only bright spark.

I’m not sure how Corbyn would have done with COVID-19, he couldn’t do much worse but he isn’t the most promising person to put medical expertise in front of.

Without the Brexit party this could have been much worse mind. The last 11 months will help Labour in the long run but it could have been a disaster too far to come from.