election Archives – A Write Old Life.

* I wrote this blog in May 2018. In the wake of last nights election results, I thought I’d post it again because to be blunt, I nailed it. *

As you seemingly haven’t noticed, the last four attempts to get a vote of confidence in your party have resulted in the delivery of something of a kicking by the British electorate.

The most recent being yesterdays local government elections where traditionally, the party in opposition (that’s you apparently) have done quite well.

Inevitably, both the mainstream press and social media are currently full of how it all went horribly wrong for you yet as far as I’ve seen, no one has had the balls to call it as really it is, or at least how we non-Labour supporters see it.

So, as a 59-year-old bloke who has never voted Labour and probably never will, I thought I’d let you know why with a few simple bullet points which may or may not help.

One of the most important things you have to understand, and which a majority of your supporters seem incapable of grasping, is that calling people idiots, stupid or racist just because they don’t agree with you is counter productive.
Your supporters can scream, shout and protest all they like but unless you recognise that the silent majority are silent for a reason, you’re never going to get anywhere. UKIP might be finished as a political force but they cracked it when it needed cracking and you can learn a lot of lessons from them and how Nigel Farage did what he did.
Failing to grasp that the vast majority of people in this country are hard-working, decent, respectful, law-abiding tax payers who are sick and tired of you promising to prop up every other bugger but them is also counter productive.
You have some truly awful people in the upper echelons of your party. Your leader might be a lovely bloke but he has never once come across as a person I’d want to see at the helm of my country. However, he’s not the worst. The odious David Lammy takes that spot and every time he opens his mouth, it strengthens resolve against you. The vile and arrogant John McDonnell is not far behind him closely followed by the train crash that is Ms Abbott.
On which note, speaking as an armed forces veteran, your leaderships history of cosying up to the murders of the IRA whilst leaving our soldiers to the mercy of the courts continues to prove more damaging than you clearly recognise.
The anti-semitism issue is killing you, as it should.
Patriotism is not racist. It’s not even xenophobic. Stop making out that it is and show some faith in the UK and it’s people.
Banging on about issues such as the NHS, policing, defence and housing is fine if you provide properly thought out alternatives, but you don’t.
Similarly, promising to prop up the lazy and the feckless at our expense isn’t doing you any favours. Nor is pounding away at the rich when most of your MP’s and former ministers are sickeningly minted. Indeed, hypocrisy is never good so calling the government out on something when your history on that same subject is equally dubious is plain stupidity.
Immigration IS a problem too many people and most of those blame you. Many live in areas which traditionally vote Labour so if you want them to vote for you again, come up with a policy that recognises their concerns and deals with them in a way that isn’t defined by political correctness but by their reality.
Wheeling out a succession of champagne socialists to urge the electorate to vote for you merely underlines the ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality which has divided your party. Eddie Izzard strolling around in a pink beret with freshly applied lipstick might attract a few headlines and appease the snowflakes but to the average working man (and woman) it’s embarrassing. Similarly, all the traitorous tool that is Alistair Campbell does is harden attitudes against those who took us into Iraq (i.e: your lot) and as for Owen Jones and James O’Brien…
Once in a while, take the government to task on an issue which the vast majority of the country would support you on. The madness of Overseas Aid is an obvious example.
Admitting you got it wrong once in a while is a sign of strength, not weakness.
Finally, like it or not, Brexit is going to happen and the majority of this country want it. Just as importantly, they want the PM to get tough with the EU, not bend over and let them screw us, again. So back the government and by definition, your country. Because not doing so is not only damaging to you, but were you to get behind the country, you might actually start to get the electorate on your side. Well, some of them anyway.

There you go. Hope that helps a little, but not too much obviously.

Best wishes

@dougiebrimson

Just in case you didn’t already know, all of my books and DVD’s are available from both Amazon and iTunes.

Further information at dougiebrimson.com

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brexit, theresa may, tory, EU, Even as news broke that Theresa May was going to be handed the keys to 10 Downing Street, social media became awash with members of the remainiac camp screaming for a snap general election. Their reasoning being that as a nation, we couldn’t possibly be governed by someone who hasn’t actually been elected by anyone. No irony there then.

Given that most of those wanting the country dragged back to the polls would never vote Tory in a million years, it struck me that the majority of these professional whiners have either forgotten, or have no idea, how the electoral system works in this country. So with that in mind, here’s a very simple explanation for them.

At a general election, you don’t vote for a Prime Minister, you don’t even vote for a specific party, the way it works is that you vote for your local constituency MP.

Once the votes have been cast and counted, the person with the most (that’s another word for majority) is elected as the MP for that constituency. After that, the party with the most MP’s (again, the majority) form a government who are placed in charge of the country for a fixed term of office. That being five years.

At the last election, around two years ago, the party with the most MP’s were the Tory party who were already in office, albeit sharing power with the Liberal Democrats. Amazingly, this time round they actually had more MP’s than in the previous election which was, in part, because they promised to hold a referendum on our position within the EU.

However, when they finally put this question to the population, 52% of people who voted (the majority) supported the campaign to leave. As a result, David Cameron, the Prime Minister and head of the Tory party, resigned on account of the fact that he had supported the campaign to remain. At this point, the Tory party decided that he would be replaced by Theresa May who will take over as Prime Minister tomorrow (Wednesday).

Now, and this is the part some people seem incapable of grasping, since we do not vote for the leader (see above) there is no requirement for a general election if and when they are replaced. It is not our decision, it’s the parties.

Similarly, the mandate to negotiate leaving the EU wasn’t given to David Cameron by the 52% majority who voted for it, it was given to the Tory government who are still in power. As such, it is still the governments mandate which means, again, that there is no reason for a general election.

It really is as simple as that.

If you would like anything else explained using the seemingly forgotten skills of basic common sense and stating the obvious, please feel free to ask.

@dougiebrimson

For those who aren’t aware, all of my books and DVD’s are available from both Amazon and iTunes.

A Write Old Life.

Tag Archives: election

General Election? No chance, no need.

The official blog of author and screenwriter Dougie Brimson www.dougiebrimson.com