Results are, of course - as I draft this - still coming in. Four ReformUK MPs so far, including Nigel & Tice! And Galloway out! That's a surprise! Corbyn voted back in sadly. The SNP have lost 36 seats so far, and gained none. Labour held my own area - no surprise - but with ReformUK hot on their heels.
The only thing left now is Sunak to resign. He can't even say 'the best man won' since the new party in power doesn't appear to know what a man is.
Recriminations have begun to fly around the Conservatives as a senior figure called the last few weeks the “worst campaign in my lifetime” and criticised the party for failing to tackle the threat from Reform.
Rishi Sunak started the week with warnings against handing Labour a “supermajority” and a “blank cheque” and claimed a vote for Reform would hand more power to Keir Starmer.
They even brought on Boris at the last minute to 'help':
I expect, like me, a lot of ex-Conservatives looked at that and said to themselves 'Why would we need to vote Starmer in for that, when we've got it under Sunak anyway?'...
...and I'm off to go do my bit, passport in hand! This is the first general election for which photo ID is required.
We won;'t see this man in No 10, sadly, but I really hope his party wipes out the so-called 'Conservative Party' completely. Then it might just evolve into something I can vote for once again.
If there's anything to vote in, that is, after five years of a Labour government.
Streeting continued: “He's a formidable campaigner, but what Farage has never been tested on is actually delivering the change he says he wants to bring about."
...but the Tories and Labour both have. And both have been found wanting.
Lord Cameron has blasted Nigel Farage's 'dog whistle' rhetoric and claims the Reform leader is 'intent of destroying' the Tory party.
I see your problem, Dave ol' chum, that's your job, isn't it.
More GP surgeries and diagnostic centres would be built under a future Conservative government funded by slashing the number of NHS managers, the Tories have said.
In their first major health offer of the General Election, the Conservatives have said they will bring more care services into the community.
...so I'd be a fool to believe you now, wouldn't I?
Diane Abbott said she wants to remain as an MP for as long as possible, as she accused Labour of wanting to "exclude" her from Parliament. She told supporters at a rally on Wednesday she had been "banned from running" for Labour. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said no decision had been taken to bar her.
Clearly, no decision has been taken to support her, either! Kier is not falling into that trap!
Writing on X earlier, Ms Abbott suggested there was a wider "cull of left wingers" happening within Labour, referring to the case of another prospective candidate, Faiza Shaheen.
On Wednesday, it was confirmed that Ms Shaheen had not been endorsed by Labour to be their for Chingford and Woodford Green in north east London, after she allegedly liked a post on X that downplayed antisemitism accusations. Ms Shaheen told BBC Newsnight she had received an email that claimed she would "frustrate Labour's purpose".
"I'm just in a state of shock to be honest," she said.Kier's cleaning house, love. But don't worry, I'm sure you'll crawl back to a post with them after he's safe in No 10 and no longer has to try to convince everyone his party isn't full of antisemites and race-baiters.
Police dropped an investigation to Angela Rayner's living arrangements yesterday – but her former neighbours were left furious.
The deputy Labour leader will face no further action by officers over questions about where she was living when she sold her Right-to-Buy home.
Announcing their decision, Greater Manchester Police said it had also passed information on to Stockport Council and HMRC, but they too will be taking no further action against the Ashton-under-Lyne MP.
We've imported the equivalent population of a dodgy Third World corrupt kleptocracy, so why not go the whole hog and adopt their methods too?
Sylvia Hampson, 83, had claimed that Ms Rayner was living next door to her in a terraced home – owned by her then husband, Mark Rayner – in Lowndes Lane in Stockport for a good 'six or seven years', rather than in the ex-council house she later sold.
The mother-of-two, who gave evidence to the police investigation, said: 'It's bloody ridiculous. 'I know the truth and so does my son. She was definitely living next door to me and she knows she was.'I guess you won't be voting Labour then?
Chris Hinett, 64, who lives a few doors down from the house where Ms Rayner claimed she lived in Vicarage Road, Stockport, also reacted with anger.The car salesman said of her being cleared: 'It's disgusting. I co-operated with the police but when they knock on my door next time, I won't bother.
'It's the police's job to investigate election law. She is potentially going to the next deputy prime minister – it's not right.'
They've declined to do their job. Which shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone.
So there I was yesterday afternoon, having caught up with work as court wasn't sitting, relaxing and browsing Twitter, when some monumental news, long awaited but never sure if it would ever happen, suddenly dropped to gladden the heart of your host...
What? No! Not that news!
...not a mark of disaster.
The YouGov survey for the Department of Politics at Royal Holloway University of London found 24 per cent of Londoners aged 18 to 24 were not aware of this legal requirement for local and regional elections in England and at the general election.
Because frankly, if they are so incurious as to have ignored all the adverts, the posters (one went up in my Tube station last week) and the mailshots, not to mention all the MSM and social media campaigns, then they are people who shouldn't deserve a vote, and if they are turned away, it can only improve society.
This compares to four per cent of Londoners aged 65 and over having this lack of awareness about the need for photo ID, seven per cent for 50 to 64-year-olds, and 13 per cent for the 25-49 age group.
And these will have been people voting without it for most of their lives. They've managed. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?
Assaulting a shop worker will be made a separate criminal offence in England and Wales as part of a government response to a wave of retail crime.
So, assault me and it's dealt with under normal assault rules, but assault the lady stacking the shelves in Asda and ... it's somehow different and more of a crime? Why?
Rishi Sunak said shops must be free from the threat of crime or abuse. The government previously said it did not think a law change was required or would be "most effective" in response to a petition on the subject.
And now it's changed it's mind. Obvioulsy they think it's a vote winner.
There has been a long-running campaign - backed by several business leaders - to see violence against shop workers made a standalone offence. Helen Dickinson, chair of the British Retail Consortium, welcomed the announcement, saying "the voices of the three million people working in retail are finally being heard".
Three million votes on offer, eh?
The new offence will carry a maximum sentence of six months in prison.
If activist judges don't fall for the defence's sob story, you mean?
The UK could officially recognise a Palestinian state after a ceasefire in Gaza without waiting for the outcome of what could be years of talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a two-state solution, David Cameron has said.Although I suppose Labour could keep you on, you really aren't a Conservative, after all...
“What we need to do is give the Palestinian people a horizon towards a better future, the future of having a state of their own.”
Why would we want to do that? If ever a populace has squandered every chance they've ever been given to prove they deserve one...
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly rejected the creation of an independent Palestinian state after the war, and has even boasted in recent weeks that he was instrumental in preventing Palestinian statehood.
Well, Ben, I think they've had a hand in that too...
Jeremy Hunt has dangled the prospect of big tax cuts in his March budget, in what is seen as one of the last opportunities for the Conservatives to claw back Labour’s huge opinion poll lead.'Elect us again, and we'll steal less from you!' Well, it's a slogan for the times, I guess...
In his first public comments on his budget strategy, the chancellor made clear that only unexpected bad news would prevent him from answering the call from Tory MPs for a substantial giveaway before an expected autumn general election.
And where did he make this pronouncement? From No 11? Or from the real seat of power in the UK?
Speaking in Davos, where he was attending the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum...
Thought so.
One senior Tory MP suggested that Hunt could focus on cutting national insurance.
I'd be satisfied with him just renaming it. Since it's not insurance at all.
