Should I vote Conservative

More obfuscation from T May in her interviews yesterday.

Interviewed by Robert Peston this morning Theresa May said the Conservatives have no plans to increase taxes, and claimed Labour had. However, when askedto reiterate the tax triple lock brought in by David Cameron, covering national insurance, income tax and VAT May only ruled out increasing VAT. The ambiguities are obvious, not least because Labour has already committed to no VAT or NIC increases.

This is why we need rules about how much people can spend on electioneering.

"The Conservatives’ candidate to become West Midlands mayor has defended spending up to £1m on the campaign, dwarfing his opponents’ spending power.

Andy Street, the former John Lewis boss who quit to run for the role, said that targeting voters before spending rules begin can be justified because the role is vital to 2.5m people in Birmingham and the surrounding area.

The comments come ahead of a tightly-fought race and a string of mayoral contests to be held on Thursday. Many council elections are also happening that day.

There is a strict spending limit of about £130,000 during the final five weeks leading up to the May 4 election but there is no cap on spending before that, and most of Street’s material was distributed during January, February and March.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Street said: “I haven’t spent quite a million, but I have spent a substantial amount more than my opponents and actually I think that’s ok, and I’ll tell you why.

“This is a very important election, a new start in democracy for this region. It is 2.5m people and so it is absolutely appropriate.
“We have worked within the rules, which are that if you raise money you can spend it.” "

More evidence that although to some she 'looks and sounds the part' (obviously the most important thing to some on here) she is clueless.

German paper's damning account of Prime Minister's talks with European boss

No wonder she will not debate with anyone or meet real people.

But was he sober?

An alternative view of Jeremy Cliffe and his observations:

Guido fears the sad decline of The Economist will continue under the new editor – the new Bagehot columnist is Jeremy Cliffe, currently the UK politics correspondent. Undeniably a bright boy, he is after all a former Harvard Fellow, graduating from Oxford where he studied modern languages specialising in the Marxist literature of Spain and Germany. A spell in Brussels interning for the Party of European Socialists led to him working for Chuka Umunna and briefly on the “David Miliband for Leader” campaign. Guido reported some controversy a couple of years ago when it was suggested that Andrew Rawnsley was plagiarising Cliffe’s writing – something Rawnsley angrily denied. Last week Cliffe wrote that the Conservative Party was “a party simply not grown-up enough to deserve/win a majority.” We shall see in a few weeks if this is a great insight or just the hope of Chuka’s former intern….

so a non-biased view would be good if anyone can find one.

Anyone who cares for the NHS should vote for any party but Tory. Except Ukip, of course, but that goes without saying.

Gracesgran, I love the Heinz ketchup bit.

What I did notice from all those tweets is that May still wants things to be kept secret, and Juncker said no chance.

Jalima, I wouldn't expect anyone on May's team to give an unbiased report about the meeting.
According to one of the tweets, she still wants to keep things secret.
Anyone on her team who leaked anything would quickly lose his job.

"Well after the event, someone has decided that having the PM’s visit down as a child’s party wasn’t a good idea. Bolted horses and stable doors come to mind – especially as the image of the original booking is well and truly ‘out there’ now so there’s no hiding it.

The problems for May and the Crathes Trust are not gone, of course. The Trust’s statement of purpose still says that it exists for the benefit of the local community – and locals were not allowed in, or even near, an event that was deliberately disguised in a way designed to prevent them turning up.

And Theresa May is still, of course, failing to meet the public – which was her excuse for dodging TV debates with Jeremy Corbyn – except by accident and disastrously."

Remind me Jen, what was Corbyns excuse for dodging tv debates in the eu referendum, I know you defended his decision at the time

For heavens sake, Annie, give up.
You have such a selective memory.
You sound like the animals in Animal Farm - May good, Corbyn bad, to paraphrase.

This is the 2017 general election, in which you should be trying to get Labour elected, not cheering on May because you can't stand Corbyn.

voxpoliticalonline.com/2017/05/01/did-we-ever-thank-the-scots-for-the-treatment-they-gave-theresa-may/

As my friend said this morning, They coudnae run a menage'. She went on to say that if they cannae manage to set up a village hall meeting and a doorstepping photo opportunity without making themselves into a laughing stock, then there is little hope that they can successfully undertake the delicate and risky Brexit negotiations.

Can I offer a few words of advice?

DOORSTEPPING PHOTO OP.

1) choose a street where canvass returns show near total support for your party
2) send a team down the street in advance to ascertain who is at home and if they are willing to be filmed
3 Have someone who knows the local area and people like the back of their hand accompany the PM or other prominent person so that they can be introduced by name.

taken from the beginner's guide to canvassing

All hiding from her in the village hall that they'd hired for a party?

Jen, do stop trying to control people, how hypocritical to condemn one leader for refusing to take part in tv cebstes but make excuses for another party leader for doing the same.

I hope you don't attempt canvassing, if you do may I give some advice?

When you knock the door and ther person who answers tell you they will vote Tory, you do not tell them to piss off, you grit your teeth and thank them for their time , always a chance they may change their mind come polling day. And don't tell them to shut up and lecture them , not the way to win over voters . I do speak as a labour activist at fifteen general elections , plus Welsh assembly elections, plus council elections ,

Be prepared to be told the voter would vote labour if they had a different leader , it is their vote and their choice.

Oh and be prepared to be told to bugger off

Did you notice Corbyn preaching to the converted in a field; sheep or what? His wife was hiding under a tree with a security officer.

In case she was mugged by a rogue ewe?

It was Juncker's aids who reported the meeting with May. Apparently she had invited Juncker to dinner at short notice and he repeated what he's been saying all along. This is the original article from the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung". Sorry I don't have time to translate it, but the headline "Das desaströse Brexit-Dinner"should give an inkling.

www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/brexit/juncker-bei-may-das-desastroese-brexit-dinner-14993605.html

Annie, I've never had anyone tell me they will vote Tory.
I obviously live in the right part of the country. And I'd never tell anyone else to piss off.

This is quite funny. Because May called a snap election, they do not have time to collect many funds. Note the last paragraph.

"Political parties are able to spend £30,000 for every seat they contest during the regulated period. There are 650 seats around the country, and the Conservative party is likely to contest almost all of them. This means the party can spend up to £19.5m during the regulated period.

The regulated period for political parties runs for the year leading up to the 8 June general election, meaning it has already begun. For the 2015 general election, there were two regulated periods for candidates known as the ‘short campaign’ and ‘long campaign’. For the election on 8 June 2017, there is only a short campaign, according to the Electoral Commission.

In politics, parties are willing to talk about personalities, policies and principles, but very rarely allow themselves to be drawn on the distasteful topic of money.

A Conservative spokesman declined to comment on the £19m figure, saying: “All donations to the Conservative party are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission, published by them, and comply fully with the law.” "

You haven't answered annie's question dj! There must be some good reason that J.C's reticence was ok, and T.M's isn't! I can't believe you haven't got the answer?!!

^Annie, I've never had anyone tell me they will vote Tory.
I obviously live in the right part of the country.^
There must be some Tory voters in your part of the country djen (over 10,000 of them unless you've moved) but they're all scared to tell you!

I think we all know

Jalima

Out of interest, what do people do when canvassers come to the door (or if)?

Do you invite them in for a chat, stand on the doorstep and talk to them, listen to them whichever party they are from out of politeness/interest/curiosity or hide behind the sofa?