As Expected, A General Election Has Been Blocked.

[Bigbad]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49630094

What are those that voted against it or abstained, most worried about?
Losing the election or the Conservatives winning, which would show that the electorate are happy with a no deal.

[Old_Geezer]

In the event that Johnson won an election early enough surely that would be a clear mandate from the public to simply repeal a law which ties a PM's hands forcing them to do that which they are in major opposition to ?

[jim360]

We're constantly told that No Deal would be a failure of statecraft. An election on 15th October merely guarantees that failure. Allowing Boris Johnson control of the date, too, is the chief issue here. Agreeing to an early election gives him control over when to set it, and since there's very little reason to trust anything Johnson says, why take his suggestion that he'd hold it on October 15th seriously?

All of this stuff about opposition parties "running scared" is just an attempt to seize the narrative, but it's based on very little. The SNP won't be scared -- they are almost certain to crush the Tories in Scotland. The Lib Dems won't be scared, either -- even if they don't translate support into seats, they're on the up right now. And, after the events of 2017, when Corbyn was expected by more or less everybody to be utterly marmalised but somehow ended up gaining 40% of the electorate and removing May's majority, do you really think he'd be scared of the campaign either?

[naomi24]

//do you really think he'd be scared of the campaign //

Terrified.

[fiction-factory]

> is just an attempt to seize the narrative
What does that mean, jim? It doesn't sound like something a physicist would say.

[ichkeria]

“Failure of statecraft” was an expression used by Johnson himself when with the Taoiseach yesterday.
Which I thought was interesting ...

[Old_Geezer]

Fair enough. Refusing letting the tech manage border issues, preferring a hard border post and associated reaction from certain extreme groups among others, does seem a failure to adjust, as a statesman/women would know to do, purely in order to stick to initial unnecessary demands. Well worth hinting at.

[ichkeria]

Except that there was a deal of course.
He even voted for it :-)

[Old_Geezer]

Many Tories did, I suspect to show that even when supporting the leader it was clear it wasn't anything worth the title "deal". (We were supposed to be negotiating getting out, not getting trapped in.)

[jim360]

This is politics, not theoretical physics. :/

Barely a week ago Johnson et al were insistent that they didn't want a General Election. It's pretty obvious, and should have been from the start, that this wasn't even remotely true, and that Johnson's entire strategy was to force such an election. It isn't terror that keeps Corbyn from supporting that call right now -- it's the fact that he suddenly has the whip hand, and may as well make the best use of it to put Johnson in the worst position possible before allowing him his election. Delaying an election is cynical, for sure -- but born of terror? Not remotely.

[gulliver1]

JIM, Have to agree with you, Labour certainly have the whip hand .

[dannyk13]

Whiphand, you must be joking.
https://www.markpack.org.uk/155623/voting-intention-opinion-poll-scorecard/

[gulliver1]

Boris is sitting behind the steering wheel of his Bus ,but he can't go anwhere because he ain,t got any fuel .

[Spicerack]

gulliver1//293 against 46 , What a defeat for Boris .//

God Almighty,

[dannyk13]

Also that result was in Boris's favour.He just didn't have a two thirds majority.

[jim360]

dannyk: the whiphand in Parliament, I mean.

Also, I shouldn't be surprised to see Johnson's poll lead evaporate come October, in the same way that the Conservatives under Theresa May were riding stupendously high in the Polls right up until March 31st.

[dannyk13]

Jim //Also, I shouldn't be surprised to see Johnson's poll lead evaporate//
Not if we leave it won't.

[jim360]

In those circumstances, yes. But we've been here before, haven't we? When Johnson has to sign the letter he has refused to sign -- I'm sure he would sign the letter rather than let Corbyn become PM, however temporarily, and I simply don't believe that he can singlehandedly deliver a deal that will command support in Parliament -- then the Tory's fortunes will plummet in the same way that they did in March-May.