UK General Election 2015

[hector62]

Yes that is possibly a reason. I happen to think that Labour could win the next election if they actually came up with an idea or 2 that the public can relate to and get all their MP's to actually answer questions that are put to them unlike everyone during this election. If they could also find someone to blame for the last spending crisis and throw them out of the party that would show they mean business.

[MANTIS01]

Don't buy the no story Tighty. He seems a really bright man and would have never gone into politics without knowing he would be scrutinised. I thought he was a very strong candidate for leader and I was looking forward to hearing him a lot more. Someone's got to stand up against that muppet Boris so we get a PM with some gravitas.

Or maybe on reflection he saw the writing on the wall for the next 5 years and wanted to bide his time. Looks a creditable guy to me and might just be thinking about the election after this as the opportunity. In the meantime he'd not want to be the leader of a party in a mess and oversee a defeat as leader in 5 years. If he did that his leadership would be over.

Think my first post itt said people are self interested and that's why leftie views are ideology. Would be no surprise to discover the potential leader is biding his time to drive the party forward until it suits him personally. Ta-dah!

[RED-DOG]

I think it would be better if their campaign didn't consist almost completely of dissing the opposition at every turn.

PS- This applies to all parties.

[DaveShoelace]

I think it would be better if their campaign didn't consist almost completely of dissing the opposition at every turn.

PS- This applies to all parties.

This. My single number one grip with politics. In fact, I do have a small bias towards whomever is in power when all the opposing sides can do is take potshots at them. In life I really do believe that people are divided into doers and complainers, and politics always reminds me of that.

I'd also love opposition parties to once in a while say something to the effect of 'We agree with [Party in power] about this policy, we commend them on it and we would not change it if we were in power'. When they are contrarian about everything I don't trust them.

[MintTrav]

I think it would be better if their campaign didn't consist almost completely of dissing the opposition at every turn.

PS- This applies to all parties.

This. My single number one grip with politics. In fact, I do have a small bias towards whomever is in power when all the opposing sides can do is take potshots at them. In life I really do believe that people are divided into doers and complainers, and politics always reminds me of that.

I'd also love opposition parties to once in a while say something to the effect of 'We agree with [Party in power] about this policy, we commend them on it and we would not change it if we were in power'. When they are contrarian about everything I don't trust them.

It may not happen as often as it should, but opposition parties (Tory, Labour or other) do support the government on occasion. Sometimes they may broadly agree but disagree about some aspects and the discussion then focuses on those elements, so it may seem like they are being negative when they are mainly in agreement.

I think it is unfair to broadly paint them all as dissing each other during the campaign when the distasteful stuff came overwhelming from one side.

[DaveShoelace]

I think it would be better if their campaign didn't consist almost completely of dissing the opposition at every turn.

PS- This applies to all parties.

This. My single number one grip with politics. In fact, I do have a small bias towards whomever is in power when all the opposing sides can do is take potshots at them. In life I really do believe that people are divided into doers and complainers, and politics always reminds me of that.

I'd also love opposition parties to once in a while say something to the effect of 'We agree with [Party in power] about this policy, we commend them on it and we would not change it if we were in power'. When they are contrarian about everything I don't trust them.

It may not happen as often as it should, but opposition parties (Tory, Labour or other) do support the government on occasion. Sometimes they may broadly agree but disagree about some aspects and the discussion then focuses on those elements, so it may seem like they are being negative when they are mainly in agreement.

I think it is unfair to broadly paint them all as dissing each other during the campaign when the distasteful stuff came overwhelming from one side.

Yes it might be a selection bias, that I am just seeing the juicier stuff the media wants to show.

Out of interest, which side overwhelmingly did the distaseful stuff? Genuine question, I didn't personally get a sense that one partcicular side had more spin than the rest.

[nirvana]

Watching Sunday politics with regard to UKIP's navel gazing about the stridency/invective of someone like Farage's approach costing them votes.

What do people think - did his approach cost them votes or was it the exact reason they got so many ?

Mary Creagh also interviewed, never heard of her before but Ima vote for her as next labour leader, as I'm a certain age I pretty much fancy her tbf

[George2Loose]

Watching Sunday politics with regard to UKIP's navel gazing about the stridency/invective of someone like Farage's approach costing them votes.

What do people think - did his approach cost them votes or was it the exact reason they got so many ?

Mary Creagh also interviewed, never heard of her before but Ima vote for her as next labour leader, as I'm a certain age I pretty much fancy her tbf

As good a way as any to reach out to middle England

[TightEnd]

Labour’s triple whammy defeat has left the party in a triple vice http://gu.com/p/49xb5

[MintTrav]

I think it would be better if their campaign didn't consist almost completely of dissing the opposition at every turn.

PS- This applies to all parties.

This. My single number one grip with politics. In fact, I do have a small bias towards whomever is in power when all the opposing sides can do is take potshots at them. In life I really do believe that people are divided into doers and complainers, and politics always reminds me of that.

I'd also love opposition parties to once in a while say something to the effect of 'We agree with [Party in power] about this policy, we commend them on it and we would not change it if we were in power'. When they are contrarian about everything I don't trust them.

It may not happen as often as it should, but opposition parties (Tory, Labour or other) do support the government on occasion. Sometimes they may broadly agree but disagree about some aspects and the discussion then focuses on those elements, so it may seem like they are being negative when they are mainly in agreement.

I think it is unfair to broadly paint them all as dissing each other during the campaign when the distasteful stuff came overwhelming from one side.

Yes it might be a selection bias, that I am just seeing the juicier stuff the media wants to show.

Out of interest, which side overwhelmingly did the distaseful stuff? Genuine question, I didn't personally get a sense that one partcicular side had more spin than the rest.

Really? Here's a clue:

Click to see full-size image.

[TightEnd]

I think it would be better if their campaign didn't consist almost completely of dissing the opposition at every turn.

PS- This applies to all parties.

This. My single number one grip with politics. In fact, I do have a small bias towards whomever is in power when all the opposing sides can do is take potshots at them. In life I really do believe that people are divided into doers and complainers, and politics always reminds me of that.

I'd also love opposition parties to once in a while say something to the effect of 'We agree with [Party in power] about this policy, we commend them on it and we would not change it if we were in power'. When they are contrarian about everything I don't trust them.

It may not happen as often as it should, but opposition parties (Tory, Labour or other) do support the government on occasion. Sometimes they may broadly agree but disagree about some aspects and the discussion then focuses on those elements, so it may seem like they are being negative when they are mainly in agreement.

I think it is unfair to broadly paint them all as dissing each other during the campaign when the distasteful stuff came overwhelming from one side.

Yes it might be a selection bias, that I am just seeing the juicier stuff the media wants to show.

Out of interest, which side overwhelmingly did the distaseful stuff? Genuine question, I didn't personally get a sense that one partcicular side had more spin than the rest.

Really? Here's a clue:

Click to see full-size image.

which was hugely hugely effective, and not really very negative at all compared to some dirty tricks in past campaigns

came up unprompted on the doorstep, actively made people who had never voted conservative do so

what several said to me after was "if i had known conservative would get a majority i would never have voted for them, but it was going to be a coalition, and i didn't want the snp running things" (paraphrasing the feedback)

[MintTrav]

I think it would be better if their campaign didn't consist almost completely of dissing the opposition at every turn.

PS- This applies to all parties.

This. My single number one grip with politics. In fact, I do have a small bias towards whomever is in power when all the opposing sides can do is take potshots at them. In life I really do believe that people are divided into doers and complainers, and politics always reminds me of that.

I'd also love opposition parties to once in a while say something to the effect of 'We agree with [Party in power] about this policy, we commend them on it and we would not change it if we were in power'. When they are contrarian about everything I don't trust them.

It may not happen as often as it should, but opposition parties (Tory, Labour or other) do support the government on occasion. Sometimes they may broadly agree but disagree about some aspects and the discussion then focuses on those elements, so it may seem like they are being negative when they are mainly in agreement.

I think it is unfair to broadly paint them all as dissing each other during the campaign when the distasteful stuff came overwhelming from one side.

Yes it might be a selection bias, that I am just seeing the juicier stuff the media wants to show.

Out of interest, which side overwhelmingly did the distaseful stuff? Genuine question, I didn't personally get a sense that one partcicular side had more spin than the rest.

Really? Here's a clue:

Click to see full-size image.

which was hugely hugely effective, and not really very negative at all compared to some dirty tricks in past campaigns

came up unprompted on the doorstep, actively made people who had never voted conservative do so

what several said to me after was "if i had known conservative would get a majority i would never have voted for them, but it was going to be a coalition, and i didn't want the snp running things" (paraphrasing the feedback)

I lost some respect for William Hague when I saw him defending the negative campaigning: "If we think there are major weakness in other parties we are entitled to point them out. That may be a different debate but we are certainly entitled to say whatever we like about the opposition."


They don't all agree with it. Esther McVey, Theresa May and Nicky Morgan have publicly expressed disquiet about the party's negative campaigning:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/11420520/Esther-McVey-criticises-Conservative-use-of-YouTube-attack-adverts.html
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article4357439.ece
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/10586568/Tories-need-less-hate-to-win-election-says-minister.html

And a succession of prominent Conservative women spoke against it last year:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/26/tory-women-warn-against-personal-attacks-on-ed-miliband

[Kmac84]

http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/politics/scottish-politics/mhairi-blacks-diary-of-a-novice-mp-in-which-our-heroine-goes-through-the-.126259431

[DungBeetle]

I think it would be better if their campaign didn't consist almost completely of dissing the opposition at every turn.

PS- This applies to all parties.

This. My single number one grip with politics. In fact, I do have a small bias towards whomever is in power when all the opposing sides can do is take potshots at them. In life I really do believe that people are divided into doers and complainers, and politics always reminds me of that.

I'd also love opposition parties to once in a while say something to the effect of 'We agree with [Party in power] about this policy, we commend them on it and we would not change it if we were in power'. When they are contrarian about everything I don't trust them.

It may not happen as often as it should, but opposition parties (Tory, Labour or other) do support the government on occasion. Sometimes they may broadly agree but disagree about some aspects and the discussion then focuses on those elements, so it may seem like they are being negative when they are mainly in agreement.

I think it is unfair to broadly paint them all as dissing each other during the campaign when the distasteful stuff came overwhelming from one side.

Yes it might be a selection bias, that I am just seeing the juicier stuff the media wants to show.

Out of interest, which side overwhelmingly did the distaseful stuff? Genuine question, I didn't personally get a sense that one partcicular side had more spin than the rest.

Really? Here's a clue:

Click to see full-size image.

Pretty laughable to suggest labour weren't negative about the Tories.  Bullingdon Boys.  The party of the mayfair hedge funds. They were both up to it you're honest with yourself.

[RickBFA]

I see Andy Burnham now says Labour ran too high a defecit and wants an EU referendum.

What a difference the wrong election result makes!