New Tory Leader

[Herman 10,691]

Well it wasn't very close was it? W⚓ journos.

 

[Daz Sparks 1,500]

1 hour ago, Herman said:

Well it wasn't very close was it? W⚓ journos.

Ha! Increased share of the vote.

[Well b back 3,561]

They really don’t get it’s the lies that have turned lifelong Tory voters like me against them, yet they still have to spurt out lie after lie. Before leaving for St Andrews this morning I was watching BBC news, where the West Midlands Mayor was being discussed with a Tory MP. The lady presenter said yes but the Tyne Tees mayor and Andy Street both actively campaigned by disassociating themselves with the Tories, the MP replied I don’t think that’s correct. He was then confronted with ‘ but Andy Streets campaign literature was in green, not blue ‘. His reply to us living up here was not just astonishing but a huge porky. He said ‘ Andy Street has always used Green ‘. I can assure you he hasn’t !. Had he been shown on the ballot paper as Independent, which he campaigned as I would happily have voted for him, but he didn’t.

[Well b back 3,561]

Last area counting in West Mids, with Labour slightly behind, but the area is Sandwell, that had a huge swing to Labour in Thursdays elections. A Labour MP seen celebrating, beginning to look a real possibility Street has gone.

If he has he will launch a major attack on the Tories, would this see the end of Rishi boy as well ? He couldn’t survive if Street has lost could he ?. Even with it being really close, wether he wins or not, this really can’t be spun, complete disaster, twice in the day for the blues of the West Midlands.

[Well b back 3,561]

A sign of Labour confidence?

Liam ByrneCopyright: Liam Byrne

 

Labour MP Liam Byrne has just posted a picture of himself cheering alongside Richard Parker, the party's candidate in the West Midlands, to social media. 

Byrne is a long-standing MP and represents the Birmingham constituency of Hodge Hill.

A sign of growing confidence in the Labour camp?

Edited May 4 by Well b back

[Well b back 3,561]

This is how close it is, for once my vote may actually count and make a difference.

Just Sandwell to go - with Labour closing in

Professor Sir John Curtice

Polling expert

With Sandwell the last local authority to declare in the West Midlands mayoral contest, Labour need to win Sandwell by at least 11,456 votes.

In the last contest, Labour were 5,171 votes ahead of the Conservatives. So all now turns on whether Labour can win over 3,143 Conservative votes into their camp.

Our modelling of the results so far suggests Labour may well achieve this.

[Well b back 3,561]

Goodnight Andy, Goodnight Rishi, Goodnight Mogg, your time is up call an election now. 
 

BREAKINGLabour sources think they've won

Nick Eardley

Political correspondent

Labour sources say they have won West Midlands mayoral election.

[Well b back 3,561]

Looks like no recount, so Labour could well have won easily. Ironically Andy Street has done huge amounts for Sandwell, the area that brings him down possibly.

[A Load of Squit 5,844]

Andrew Mitchell called it. 

 

[Well b back 3,561]

They think it’s all over

Hugs, whoops and tears in the Labour camp

Rajini Vaidyanathan

Reporting from Birmingham

A crowd of Labour supporters are standing by the stage here at the Birmingham International Convention Centre. 

Labour’s Richard Parker is receiving lots of hugs, and we can hear some party members whooping, others are even crying. It’s expected he’ll shortly be announced as the new mayor here.

This would be a stunning victory for the party in the West Midlands – probably one of their highest points from this run of elections. 

The Conservative incumbent Andy Street’s personal brand seemingly didn’t make it over the line here – although it was a close race. Some Labour members simply can’t believe they seem to have done it.

[Well b back 3,561]

It is almost

Just 1,000 votes in it, say Labour sources

Nick Eardley

Political correspondent

My sources say Labour may have won this race by as little as 1,000 votes.

But they’re confident they’ve won.

[Well b back 3,561]

Candidates asked to gather at West Midlands count - result imminent

[Well b back 3,561]

O dear, they aren’t happy with their fellow Tories

Campaign was a mess, says Tory soruce

Rob Mayor

Political editor, West Midlands, reporting from Birmingham

A Conservative source in the Midlands, with good knowledge of the campaign, tells me: "It was never going to end well, as the campaign was a mess.

"Literature arriving late, activists only turning up for photos. Too much hubris and arrogance, assuming we'd win 'because it's Andy'.

"Good experienced people not consulted, brought in or engaged. I'm gutted, the West Midlands is screwed."

As a reminder, the final result in the West Midlands is due any minute.

[Well b back 3,561]

It is now

BREAKINGLabour wins West Midlands mayoral contest

The results are in - and it's official.

Labour's candidate Richard Parker has won Sandwell - the last of seven constituencies to be declared in the West Midlands mayoral contest.

Overall, he wins by 1,508 votes.

[Herman 10,691]

31 minutes ago, Well b back said:

It is almost

Just 1,000 votes in it, say Labour sources

Nick Eardley

Political correspondent

My sources say Labour may have won this race by as little as 1,000 votes.

But they’re confident they’ve won.

👍👍👍

[Well b back 3,561]

Reform have just lost Andy Street the job.

[Well b back 3,561]

So a message for you Rishi, Birminghams Labour council who you have lambasted, has totally destroyed your party. Nobody believes you anymore certainly the people of the West Midlands don’t.

Call a GE now.

Just a pity Andy Street didn’t stand as as an Independent, he would have won by a country mile.

[Yellow Fever 4,222]

I see the blame game and infighting in what's left of the Tory ranks has begun.

[dylanisabaddog 5,618]

The Lib Dem vote in West Midlands was small last time round but what should frighten the Tories is that the Lib Dems vote dropped 50%. Small numbers but indicative of tactical voting. 

Very disturbing that a pro Palestine candidate polled 70,000 votes. @Well b back where would those 70k votes have gone if that candidate hadn't stood? 

[dylanisabaddog 5,618]

On 03/05/2024 at 12:03, Barbe bleu said:

I agree wholeheartedly with the 'vibes' comment.  Generally people don't decide who to vote for because they saw a spreadsheet or a line graph. They don't really care about percentage points or GDP figures. They vote based on feelings and emotion.

The current feeling is that we need change and that's going to be hard for the tories to displace,  even if the graphs start looking better.

The threat for Labour though is that although people want change they don't really buy into labour as a great alternative.  It might take as little as a lot of exposure for Farage and Galloway over the course if a general election campaign to really change things up.   Even the Liberal Democrats (remember them?) might start getting a look in.

I saw another take on the move away from the Tories yesterday. A woman who is not remotely political posted on a friend's Facebook thread that she was fed up with Sunak because he is dragging it out. 

[A Load of Squit 5,844]

John Curtice has been giving his analysis on TV and radio for four days solid, not had any sleep and he just keeps going. I think for his sake, at least to allow him to have some sleep, Sunak must not call an election any time soon.

We need a completely rested Curtice otherwise no-one will know who did well and who were the Tories.

[Herman 10,691]

 

[Creative Midfielder 2,148]

4 hours ago, Herman said:

 

To be fair to Sunak (although I can't think of a single reason why we should be!) who on the earth is there amongst the remaining Tory MPs that would be worth giving a chance to?

I certainly can't think of anyone and it seems pretty obvious now that neither can the Tories themselves 😂😂

Edited May 5 by Creative Midfielder

[A Load of Squit 5,844]

22 minutes ago, Creative Midfielder said:

To be fair to Sunak (although I can't think of a single reason why we should be!) who on the earth is there amongst the remaining Tory MPs that would be woth giving a chance to?

I certainly can't think of anyone and it seems pretty obvious now that neither can the Tories themselves 😂😂

The Tories are so much of a lost cause that even Neil Warnock turned them down.

[mrD66M 146]

47 minutes ago, A Load of Squit said:

The Tories are so much of a lost cause that even Neil Warnock turned them down.

Politicians (cun+servatives in particular) can fool some people sometimes, but they can't fool all the people all the time.

In a way we're lucky that Sunak is a completely inept politician, or he would have made use of the goodwill he had as chancellor and call a snap GE within one year of becoming PM, shape his party more to his liking and screw the country some more.

As it is though, he's just an expensive (and short) suit with a petulant child inside. Most cowardly example of a leader.

Edited May 5 by mrD66M

[Well b back 3,561]

6 hours ago, dylanisabaddog said:

The Lib Dem vote in West Midlands was small last time round but what should frighten the Tories is that the Lib Dems vote dropped 50%. Small numbers but indicative of tactical voting. 

Very disturbing that a pro Palestine candidate polled 70,000 votes. @Well b back where would those 70k votes have gone if that candidate hadn't stood? 

Labour, was the Balsall Heath and Ladywood areas.

Areas some posters would hate, decked out in Palestinian flags. Of course the bit not mentioned is that plenty of machine guns crossed which appear on walls with the initials IDF underneath. A lot of this type of area put up an Independent candidate just simply a Palestine support candidate.

There are plenty of traffic lights at present where collections are being made.

Edited May 5 by Well b back

[Creative Midfielder 2,148]

Duplicated

Edited May 5 by Creative Midfielder

[Well b back 3,561]

The party I supported all my voting life is in complete disarray. Told by Braverman he must go this way when he did Bravermans response is Sunak needs to take responsibility of his decisions and change course. Others are clambering for the return of Johnson, not quite grasping that he was the reason lots of us turned. Others argue, don’t worry we are on course and we will win the election as Labour have no plan. Astonishingly they even think they are going to woe the Muslim vote ? Do they not realise why the Muslim vote has gone to independent ?. 
The one person I think you can trust is Andy Street, but he says the party must come back to the centre right. Make him the leader, at least there would be a chance of sorting it out.

Then we have the right wing telling us we support their view, news again only about 10% of the country think we should be doing things like leaving the court of human rights and beating up the RNLI.

To cap it all they seem to think at the top of our list is the boats ???? Wrong again, try the NHS and The cost of living which have both suffered a hammer blow from Brexit.

We need a General Election now, no ifs, buts or maybes now, before these idiots leave us ( if they haven’t already ) at a point of new return. Their only current policies seem to be to make it impossible for Labour to introduce their policies. Just for once put the country first we are not interested in getting involved in hate thy neighbour.

[Herman 10,691]

They're trying the coalition of chaos nonsense again. The greatest hits of tory dusted down. 

[A Load of Squit 5,844]

1 hour ago, Herman said:

They're trying the coalition of chaos nonsense again. The greatest hits of tory dusted down. 

Somebody tell Starmer at all costs he must avoid bacon sandwiches.