[Oboogie]

I think the penny is finally dropping amongst the Tories that Johnson, Brexit and his behaviour during COVID are no longer an electoral asset.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Find it hard to believe he hasn’t tried. Or is his vanity so colossal he thinks his charisma will keep Uxbridge for the Tories?

A chicken run might be harder to pull off than it was in the nineties heyday,

There was clear tactical voting in obvious Lib Dem target seats, but not so much in less obvious seats, Labour stacked up a lot of wasted votes, often with good vote share rises from distant third places. We won't get by-election like tactical voting, but I'd expect a fair bit more than in 1997, which reduces the safe score for a Tory chicken already doubtless attracting some negative attention.

Henley itself (where Bozo's new home is) was quite a good example in 1997. Hestletine won that with 46.4% which was an easy win over LAB-LD's combined 47.4% which was split fairly evenly. That Tory vote share would almost certainly win in 2024, but knock about 5 percent off for the Tories having pissed off its Remainer-commuter base, and you get something much more beatable, and I think would-be tactical voters would be switched on to that.

[davidjay]

The cult of celebrity invariably helps high-profile MPs to keep their seats. I don't doubt that over the next few months he'll be getting polls conducted and if he thinks there's much chance of him losing he'll stand down "in the interests of party unity."

[Watchman]

Must admit I did put my tinfoil hat on; has the party decided to “take a hit” on this one, and rather than de-select, humiliate him out of the party

[davidjay]

Must admit I did put my tinfoil hat on; has the party decided to “take a hit” on this one, and rather than de-select, humiliate him out of the party

They've learned from Thatcher. Never attack anyone who's popular with the members.

[Oboogie]

My tinfoil hat theory is that the saner Tories have high hopes for the new Oxfordshire constituency and don't want an electoral liability like Johnson fucking it up for them. Far better to let him lose in Uxbridge and South Ruislip for which the polling looks shaky, regards of the candidate.
Plus, no more Boris, no more problem.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I think that his local activists [headbangers] really want him, and if he loses there will be Taliban somewhere who will gift him another seat in the future.

[Crabcakes]

Massive asshat

[Dalem Lake]

Who is Kevin Edger? I googled him and seems to be a bit of a nobody but baffingly has a blue tick. The Huff Post described him as having a large Twitter following but he's got less than 35K which is practically fuckall on there. Did he buy his blue tick or something?

[Oboogie]

From that thread.

[kreuzberger]

A baffled-faced berk and amateur irritant. I pray that black Romanian drummers move in next door.

[satnav]

Isn't he the boyfriend of a Tory MP? He just seems to churn out the usual Tory attack lies.

[Crabcakes]

This reads to me that he is 100% shitting a brick because he knows they’ve got him bang to rights. If he really did have rock solid evidence he was following the best advice he’d been given, there would be absolutely no need to discredit anything - in fact you’d want it fully credited to absolve you.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... gate-probe

[Youngian]

Isn't he the boyfriend of a Tory MP? He just seems to churn out the usual Tory attack lies.

Edger is a prominent Tory activist in Suffolk where even the Turnip Taliban find him tiresome.
Not sure an Uxbridge by-election is a good idea as it will be another Boris circus all about him. And he'll be insufferable if he's re-elected.

[Crabcakes]

And he'll be insufferable if he's re-elected.

His local association might still (inexplicably) be in his thrall, but all signs point to Uxbridge as a whole being on the side of handing him his P45.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I wonder if the ULEZ expansion by Sadiq Khan, while good in itself, has the potential to improve Tory prospects in Outer London somewhat. I wouldn't be surprised if the party nationally tried to emphasize this as a "Labour coming after your cars" thing. If that comes off then Bozo, IDS and Villiers might all get a boost from it.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

He is, I believe, the partner of my MP, Elliott Colborn.

He is a grade A shit.

[Bones McCoy]

This reads to me that he is 100% shitting a brick because he knows they’ve got him bang to rights. If he really did have rock solid evidence he was following the best advice he’d been given, there would be absolutely no need to discredit anything - in fact you’d want it fully credited to absolve you.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... gate-probe

We've seen this arm-angle before.
You have to wonder whether it's muscle memory with those guys.

[Crabcakes]

If there’s one thing you can rely on with Johnson, it’s that he will without fail *always* put himself first. This sort of stunt would absolutely put the skids on any sort of slight Tory recovery, perfectly timed for the May elections. And he couldn’t give the slightest toss.

Additionally, he’d also 100% sell out *any* of those loyal colleagues if doing so would get him off the hook. Something I find bewildering that they remain unaware of.

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/im-bo ... gs-2217273

[Watchman]

They really do have a death wish