General British politics discussion thread

It is a British Overseas Terrority base, named Royal Air Force Akrotiri in Cyprus. That is like saying the Falklands is NATO territory which you would never ever hear.

Both Farage and Badenoch and their parties have been openly currying favour with Trump and parroting his lies about the UK since he took office. In another more innocent time this would indeed have been seen as disloyal if not treasonous, but these days it's just standard 'populist' politics. The Mail and the rest of the right-wing press have of course gone along for the ride.

What's interesting is that it appears to have convinced at most 30% (or less) of the UK public i.e. those that support 'Reform' and probably a minority of Tories. The far right obviously think this will be enough to get them into No 10 thanks to their bonkers electoral system. However, as two recent byelections have shown, voters seem to be copping on and voting for the party most likely to stop Farage in individual areas. The May local elections will show whether this has become a more general phenomenon.

If I were Labour

If you were Labour in Britain, you would be supporting genocide in Palestine, and you would be aiding nd abetting Trump & Yahoo's war against Iran.

Forage is as different to Starmer as Biden is to Trump i.e. different style, the same shíte. Many people seem to have already forgotten the smirking faces of Miller and Blinken as they dismissed Israel's campaign of blodody slaughter as unproven while telling us that the IDF is investigating the matter.

They should be repeating that message day and night. Both the Tories and 'Reform' are clearly very much a minority persuasion, but they are being portrayed by much of the media as being the vox populi.

I can't help thinking that Reform and the Tories blind support for Trump is a disastrous blunder. The guy is clearly unhinged and is becoming extremely unpopular in the US outside his hardcore MAGA base. It surely must be an electoral liability for the two parties to try and hinge the UK's fortunes to this out of control warmonger.

More evidence that Farage and Badenoch are in a hiding to nothing as regards Trump in general and Iran in particular:-

67% of Brits see themselves as anti-Trump, and only 13% as pro, while 70% see Reform as being pro-Trump. Huge majorities of all party voters other than Reform see themselves as anti, including 61% of Tories. Reform voters however see themselves as pro-Trump by 46% to 24%.

Which parties do Britons see as pro- or anti-Trump?

Only 25% of Brits support the war either strongly or somewhat, and 59% oppose. The figure for Tories is 43% either way, with only 14% strongly supporting. For Reform voters, it's 57% for, 27% against. For Lab, LD and Green voters, support is practically in single figures.

Do you support or oppose the military action that the United States has taken against Iran? | Daily Question

These two polls confirm the impression that on these issues Farage, Badenoch, the Daily Mail etc are appealing to a very specific minority of the UK electorate, namely those who support Reform and the more extreme Tory voters.

Given that Trump is the messiah or figurehead for 'right wing populist' movements in Europe, this is pretty disastrous for them. He being identified as a barking mad nutjob and warmonger may mean he is rapidly becoming an electoral liability for any party that wants to identify with him. If Trump is still president in three years' time', this will not be good news for Reform or the Conservatives (he is already a busted flush).

Not sure either how these Reform and GB News types are able to square the circle of being right wing nationalists and isolationists and yet pro-Trump and Israel and pro-overseas wars.

It's an ill wind and all that……

Not a good day for Starmer

Lost the appeal against Kneecap

Was warned about Mandelson before appointing him to the highest diplomatic post

Calliing the US attacks on Iran defensive is gaslighting of the highest order

Labour are abolishing the last 92 hereditary peers in the House of Lords. A deal has been reached to appoint some of them as life peers so they can keep their seats.

In 1998, there were about 2000 hereditary peers and Labour removed all but 92 of them.

Away from the immediate it's interesting to see that after a public consultation the most popular theme for new banknotes was national wildlife.

Sounds like the public has a bit of fatigue from UK historical figures.

A lot of sashes and union jacks being brought down from attics!😂

I watched the interview on Newsnight. The woman was a model of common-sense, a far cry from most political 'debate' these days.

More lies from the government