The Blair Witch project

Smudges Dad

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Latest news is that Tony Blair and others are getting together with the possibility of starting a new centre party.

What do you think a disgraced PM from 15 years ago, and a failed Scottish Tory leader who is an unelected member or the Lords with no accountability to anyone, could bring to British politics, apart from destroying any chance of Labour ever being elected again?

 
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Sounds like the stuff of nightmares...
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So following the logic Starmers Labour is not right of centre and still left! It all makes sense now.
 
Aside from the slightly misogynistic thread title, I'm not sure what a has been and never was would bring to the table. Blairs rhetoric on 'woke' is increasingly to the right, so presume this would be a party akin to the old tories before the ERG Headbangers took over. conservative with a small c as opposed to something Labour would have to worry about.

Suspect it will sink like Alba, Veritas and Chuk though, even if there is room for it.
 
Aside from the slightly misogynistic thread title, I'm not sure what a has been and never was would bring to the table. Blairs rhetoric on 'woke' is increasingly to the right, so presume this would be a party akin to the old tories before the ERG Headbangers took over. conservative with a small c as opposed to something Labour would have to worry about.

Suspect it will sink like Alba, Veritas and Chuk though, even if there is room for it.
Before we try any analysis it’s probably worth noting that the headline and lead suggesting they are forming a political party is in no way reflective of the facts laid out in the actual article. They are doing an event. With others too who one assumes absolutely won’t be part of any such political party….Martin Lewis for one who has a career staked on being politically neutral. So yeah….I’m not exactly thinking this is anything beyond sensationalist nonsense. There is a gap in our politics really but that gap won’t be filled by an ageing Blair. If we are to find a Macron, them like EM it will be absolutely a new face to politics. However, the British system doesn’t allow explosions like Macron to happen so anything like this would be more like reform of the LDs into a truly exciting centre ground project with fresh impetus and direction from new blood.
 
Doesn't some variation of this "story" make the rounds every couple of years only to amount to nothing?
 
Should also add I think the thread title is misogynistic and unnecessarily offensive and should be changed.
 
Davidson was not a failed Scot Tory leader - they had their best results in years under her leadership (8 years + an extra year as leader at Holyrood) and she departed on her own terms.
 
Davidson was not a failed Scot Tory leader - they had their best results in years under her leadership (8 years + an extra year as leader at Holyrood) and she departed on her own terms.
If you consider 22% of the vote and 31 seats in Holyrood, both less than half of the SNP, as a success, what do you consider a failure?
 
If you consider 22% of the vote and 31 seats in Holyrood, both less than half of the SNP, as a success, what do you consider a failure?
As far as Scot Tory leaders go, she was a success - taking them to second place. You know what I meant.
 
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As far as Scot Tory leaders go, she was a success - taking them to second place. You know what I meant.
I suppose that’s like an English tennis player getting to the second round of a grand slam. A great success in their own terms, a failure to everyone else in the world.
 
I suppose that’s like an English tennis player getting to the second round of a grand slam. A great success in their own terms, a failure to everyone else in the world.
Some parties will be forever opposition, doesn't make their leaders failures. She took them from nowhere to second place, ahead of Labour, and now with Ross, a true failed leader, they're fudgeed again.
 
I am not sure the OP fully understands Scottish politics if he thinks Davidson was a failure. No point continuing this thread.
 
Davidson was merely a temporary blip in the fortunes of the Tories in Scotland and any modest success she may have brought them has been very short-lived. The second there was the prospect of anything more lucrative for her on the horizon, she was off like a rat up a drainpipe, and on to pastures green.

Whilst she may have been correct in her earlier assessment of Johnson as a complete arse, she was not averse to accepting a seat in the House of Lords at his instigation, so I'm afraid that for most pragmatic Scots, this is seen as fairly typical Tory self-advancement and hypocrisy and demonstrates a complete lack of moral scruples.

Any perceived "success" is of a very personal nature and Ruth Davidson is the sole beneficiary of it. She has done the square root of bugger all for the people of Scotland. :smashin:
 
Some parties will be forever opposition, doesn't make their leaders failures. She took them from nowhere to second place, ahead of Labour, and now with Ross, a true failed leader, they're fudgeed again.
The only reason the Tories achieved second place is because of the collapse of the Labour vote. The 2014 referendum Tory-Labour joint platform illuminated how Labour was willing to betray anyone of a centre-left perspective. The betrayal continues - look at how Labour and Tories work together to oust the SNP Council in Edinburgh for example.

Labour may be back in second place now but that is because the Tory vote has collapsed once more. But that is just a consequence of Johnson. I don't think centre-left Scottish voters will return to Labour anytime soon.
 
I am not sure the OP fully understands Scottish politics if he thinks Davidson was a failure. No point continuing this thread.
Davidson got a lot of publicity for herself but her impact on the people of Scotland is non existent. She was media friendly but her policies were decidedly in line with what Westminster told her to do. As a constituency MSP she was reputedly noticeable for her absence from surgeries and direct contact with her voters.
 
As much as I do not like Davidson's politics, I have to chuckle at the title of this thread and the sheer hypocrisy of the misogyny used. Especially since the OP once threatened to get multiple people banned from another forum for 'misogyny and racism(!)' for calling Nicola Sturgeon 'wee Jimmy Krankie' . I mean, ban them for being highly unoriginal, sure....

Pure brocialist hypocrisy that is sadly massively part of the Scottish independence movement and is such a turn off for anyone who is genuinely interested in a fairer, economically successful Scotland rather than these games of namecalling.

From a Scottish green as well! The holier than thou! Goodness.
 
As much as I do not like Davidson's politics, I have to chuckle at the title of this thread and the sheer hypocrisy of the misogyny used. Especially since the OP once threatened to get multiple people banned from another forum for 'misogyny and racism(!)' for calling Nicola Sturgeon 'wee Jimmy Krankie' . I mean, ban them for being highly unoriginal, sure....

Pure brocialist hypocrisy that is sadly massively part of the Scottish independence movement and is such a turn off for anyone who is genuinely interested in a fairer, economically successful Scotland rather than these games of namecalling.

From a Scottish green as well! The holier than thou! Goodness.
It's a play on the film title, not misogynist. Plus I never threatened to get people banned so you can shove that false accusation where the sun doesn't shine
 
It's a play on the film title, not misogynist. Plus I never threatened to get people banned so you can shove that false accusation where the sun doesn't shine
The fact you’ve put her name in brackets suggest that the play on a film title is still misogynistic. It really should be changed as it’s inappropriate.
 
The fact you’ve put her name in brackets suggest that the play on a film title is still misogynistic. It really should be changed as it’s inappropriate.
What are you talking about? It was changed yesterday and Ruth Davidson's name does not now appear in the title.
 
There is a gap in our politics really but that gap won’t be filled by an ageing Blair. If we are to find a Macron, them like EM it will be absolutely a new face to politics. However, the British system doesn’t allow explosions like Macron to happen so anything like this would be more like reform of the LDs into a truly exciting centre ground project with fresh impetus and direction from new blood.

There is a gap in our politics? Not with regard centrism there isn't. Unless you're finally admitting Starmer is hopeless and not to be taken seriously. Because the only reason there are so few centrists around is they have been wholly rejected by the electorate. Sadly populism is the only vote winner, Brexit winning being the prime example.

It's 2022 and the only system the electorate as a whole absolutely does not want is the Big Corp Neolibereal "keep everything exactly the same, but with better public services" centrist ideology. So the centrist pro-EU LibDems under Swinson got absolutely ruined at last GE - explain that, when they were the ONLY party in GE 2019 offering these centrist world beating policies. Oops, they weren't were they, there was TIG. How did they go again? And the "sensible" side of the Tories were ousted by Tory voters and the electorate as a whole. Finally, a special mention to the unpopularity of the likes of Chuka Uma, Nick Clegg & Tony Blair to name but three on an endless list of rejected centrism (Keir Starmer to be added to that very soon) that the electorate will not vote for. Centrism is a guaranteed loser.
 
There is a gap in our politics? Not with regard centrism there isn't. Unless you're finally admitting Starmer is hopeless and not to be taken seriously. Because the only reason there are so few centrists around is they have been wholly rejected by the electorate. Sadly populism is the only vote winner, Brexit winning being the prime example.

It's 2022 and the only system the electorate as a whole absolutely does not want is the Big Corp Neolibereal "keep everything exactly the same, but with better public services" centrist ideology. So the centrist pro-EU LibDems under Swinson got absolutely ruined at last GE - explain that, when they were the ONLY party in GE 2019 offering these centrist world beating policies. Oops, they weren't were they, there was TIG. How did they go again? And the "sensible" side of the Tories were ousted by Tory voters and the electorate as a whole. Finally, a special mention to the unpopularity of the likes of Chuka Uma, Nick Clegg & Tony Blair to name but three on an endless list of rejected centrism (Keir Starmer to be added to that very soon) that the electorate will not vote for. Centrism is a guaranteed loser.
Odd how many councils are now being run by "centrist coalitions".

With the lurch to the right by Tories, the old centre is looking comparatively on the left.
 

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