Rumblings Of A New Political Party

[Zacs-Master]

Still looks a bit embryonic and possibly in danger of looking a little Lib-Demish but I like the idea of potential candidates being asked to sign strict term limits, to stop the current practice that sees MPs in safe seats remain in post for decades.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/apr/07/new-political-party-break-mould-westminster-uk-brexit

[Garaman]

Sorry, ichy, I didn't see your post. That is twice I have done that today!

[Jackdaw33]

Anyone old enough to remember 'Butskellism'?

[jim360]

Maybe this new party has decided to learn from the lessons of the Labour Party rather than the SDP.

[New Judge]

"May has been forced to lurch rightwards,..."

Of course you are joking, eh Gromit?

It will come as no surprise that I lean, shall we say, slightly to the Right of the centre. If Mrs May has shown a tendency to lurch in that direction I must have missed it. She is the most un-Conservative of Conservative leaders I think I have known. That even includes the late (and unlamented) David Cameron. Even in the Brexit "negotiations" (which is not a Left/Right issue anyway) she has shown no Right Wing tendencies at all.

"Consensus politics" is a farce. The idea of politics and elections is to give people a clear choice. These days, of course, nobody must be disappointed (witness the ridiculous furore since the referendum and the continued attempts to water down of nullify the outcome). Shifting everything to the middle gives voters no choice at all and everybody ends up getting what nobody wants. Recent politicians are so petrified of alienating one side or the other so they move to the middle to avoid alienating anybody. The result is they alienate almost everybody and the electorate choose the mob they least dislike. Hardly a ringing endorsement.

Conservative supporters have not had a Conservative Party they could truly support for many years. At least Labour voters now have and I envy them for it. Mr Corbyn represents what the proper Labour Party (last seen in 1996) stands for.

[Zacs-Master]

The debate about the possibility of a new party, what their political standpoint and manifesto will be is very interesting, particularly their stance on Europe.

Personally, I could affiliate myself with a party who’s stance was to press ahead in a non EU position without the baggage associated with the conservatives leaving. I think Europe might see us in a fresher light.

I’d need to see them demonstrate how everything was to be funded first, of course and examine their manifesto carefully.

[Jackdaw33]

From the guardsman's song from Iolanthe:

"... ev'ry child that's born alive,
Is either a little Liberal,
Or else a little Conservative".

Replace Liberal with Socialist and you'll see what I mean. The two-party system is here to stay, like it or not.

[Zacs-Master]

So the poem you chose to quote from was basically flawed. Mmm.

[ichkeria]

Needless to say Garaman, I agree with you :-)

[Jackdaw33]

The song was written in the 1880s. There was no third party then.

[jim360]

Yes, but there's a different second party now -- which shows that the system isn't entirely immutable.

The Lib Dems were a bona fide "third party" for about 20 years.

In the long run, we get the democracy we vote for, but I don't see how a perpetual two-party system is anything to celebrate.

[Zacs-Master]

That all changed 20 years later tho didn’t it JD.

[ichkeria]

I think the exchange between Gromit and New Judge illustrates the point about left and right. Is May right wing or centre? Hard to say really: she’s ‘right’ wing on some things and actually not a million miles from ‘red’ Ed Miliband on others. The arguments that are dividing the parties at the moment are not really based on traditional left and right.
It’s about liberal economics versus protectionism, ‘identity’ and nationalism versus ‘stronger together’
All of which makes Corbyn and his fan club seem even more outmoded. Not that that means they might not win an election tho.

[Jackdaw33]

I concede that point. Over a period of about 30 years Labour effectively replaced the Liberals as the party of the working man.

[Zacs-Master]

The point I was making, JD, was that a new party emerged because the general public felt disaffected or unrepresented by the parties vying for power.

[Khandro]

Isn't there already a third party; the old, 'new labour' disaffected group embedded in Labour, who seem to have been stiffled by the momentum gang?

[-Talbot-]

With a bit of support, we could get Nick onboard


https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/liberal-democrats/nick-clegg/news/94216/nick-clegg-refuses-rule-out

[ludwig]

It sounds a bit like the the Blairite side of Labour are quietly conceding defeat to the Corbynistas in their battle to retain the Labour brandname and they're forming their own party.

It's fair enough. People who are naturally left of centre but not mad enough to vote for Corbyn need an alternative to the existing parties.

[Jackdaw33]

It will all end in tears.