The deadline for GE candidates’ nominations to be handed in is today at 4pm. Our beloved MSM are slavering like hyenas to see what Nigel Farage and TBP will do. There were reports of a ‘last-minute’ offering from the Tories and there were reports and speculations about Farage’s voting intentions. It’s as if no other politician and no other Party actually matters, even as Johnson and Corbyn were ‘out and about’, meeting the plebs. 

The one question which is occupying our minds is: what do we do now that TBP has stood down in all Tory seats? This is a question which goes well beyond tactical voting proposals coming from vested interests. We have 28 days in which to think and plan. My fury has now become the ice-cold anger Kipling describes in his poem. I’ll describe my thoughts below, after setting the scene with the election reports that have come in overnight.

Firstly, about that Tory ‘offering’ to Farage – here – of standing down 40 Tory candidates if TPB would not stand their candidates in Labour marginals Johnson must win. This was rejected:

“Mr Farage made it clear he did not trust the Tories to honour the deal […] By Wednesday night, 270 of the mooted 300 Brexit Party candidates had submitted their nomination papers. On Wednesday night the Conservatives insisted there had never been any formal talks with the Brexit Party, but multiple sources have told The Telegraph there were twin-track talks behind the scenes.” (paywalled link)

So that was a ‘no’ then, Mr Johnson (link), unless those remaining 30 PPCs are being stood down. We’ll only mention in passing that the MSM were desperate to get Nigel to say if he would or wouldn’t vote Tory in his constituency (e.g. link, paywalled). Yes, that’ll matter to us peasants out here …

Something which should’ve mattered to BRINO Boris: the flooding in Yorkshire was due to EU Directives which were fulfilled compliantly and unquestioned by our Environment Agency, just as a few years ago in Somerset (link). Johnson got an earful from angry residents – we’re not told if Corbyn and Swinson were also told off (link, paywalled).

I suggest this is an issue where TBP might make hay. All the nice noises about becoming really truly ‘green’ if we all vote for BRINO Boris have been shown up for the twaddle they are, given that these green EU policies actually led to this devastation, not once but twice. 

A quick look at yet another “Labour split” demonstrates their economic illiteracy. As we know, they’re going to ‘save the NHS’ by splashing another £6bn into their coffers. However, Labour also advocates a four-day week which surely would affect the NHS – or would it? See this:

“Labour’s leadership has split over whether NHS staff would be included in the party’s four-day week policy during a chaotic period of campaigning in which Jeremy Corbyn also stumbled over his position on the Union. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, rebuked Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, for saying that doctors and nurses would not have their hours cut. Mr McDonnell said everyone would benefit.” (link, paywalled)

Oh dear … One main party has suddenly vanished, sunk below the MSM horizon: the LibDems. That’s strange because they are the certified Remain Party, unlike Labour where Brexit policies are still vague to non-existent (link). Thus the interference by a certain Mr Tusk has made hardly any waves. He encouraged Remain voters ‘not to give up’ (link), using the same hoary warning that the UK would become a 3rd-rate country after Brexit. I wonder if Ms Swinson is in secret talks with Mr Verhofstadt …

There’s a rather intricate argument made in RemainCentral, pondering if Corbyn could win the GE. The writer, their political editor, comes to this conclusion:

“On the Remain side, support is split between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The latest polls suggest Labour may have begun to squeeze some Remain votes back but even so while 42 per cent of Remain voters are currently backing Labour, 29 per cent are still opting for the Lib Dems. The crucial question of course is whether Remain supporters will be willing to vote tactically. If they do then Mr Corbyn’s path to Downing Street looks much easier than it would otherwise.” (link, paywalled)

More advice for tactical voting then! But is it ‘vote Corbyn – get Remain’, or is it ‘vote Swinson – get Corbyn’? Is it better to have Remain Corbyn in No 10 rather than BRINO Boris? Is ‘Socialism in the UK’ the better option because: “Remain”? Well I never!

Having thus set the scene we can start thinking about what to do in 28 days when we’re in the polling stations. Yes, we Leave voters have lost our choice. TBP’s Alexandra Phillips MEP tried to address this question in an article in yesterday’s DT, making good points about our FPTP system. But she makes a rather worrying statement in regard to Nigel Farage’s decision to stand down PPCs:

“Whilst I understand and in many respects support this manoeuvre, putting principle and policy above party, frankly it is wrong. I, like millions of others, be they Brexit Party supporters, Lib Dems, Greens or Plaid Cymru backers, will not get my first choice candidate on a ballot paper. This is wrong and needs to change. Of course both the Conservatives and Labour have zero interest in opening the door to new parties. Is universal suffrage only for those who vote Red or Blue?” (paywalled link)

Is it really wrong to put principle above Party? I strongly disagree and think this decision actually opens the way for a profound debate we must have, about how we voters want to make ourselves heard.

The ‘broad church’ of the Tories, where anything goes as long as the whips get their MPs to vote ‘the right way’ shows that the old and dare I say ‘left-progressive’ understanding of a political Party having to be monolithic has in fact become obsolete. Even socialist Labour with their splits demonstrate this.

I’ll not enter into a debate about reforming FPTP – that is meaningless in the context of this GE. However, the examples of the SNP and the LibDems, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party in the just dissolve Parliament show that yes, one can have a ‘one-ideology’ party, only these parties can never represent all voters and can never form a government unless they enter into a huge coalition – or become another ‘broad church’ like the Tories. 

I think this issue is actually an opportunity for us voters. It shows that the future lies with us as we are no longer bound by tribal considerations since the Parties themselves do not feel bound to listen to us, to honour our votes.

But is it really the case that we voters are, apparently, left with ‘no choice’ in this GE? I suggest we liberate ourselves from the horror of a ‘hung parliament’, pushed by the vested interests of BRINO Boris and the MSM. The ‘advice’ about tactical voting, promoted by those same interests, also goes towards preventing this ‘hung parliament’. 

A hung Parliament is their latest  ‘Project Fear’. As all MPs standing for re-election do so out of self-interest, wanting to keep their cushy jobs, let’s put a spoke in their wheels by not playing their game. 

So – what to do? Where there is no candidate to represent us, honouring our vote to Leave, vote for any candidate who isn’t LibLabConGreenPlaidSNP. Reduce their majorities, frighten them. Show them that we are the sovereign and that we don’t care about their eternal games of who sits on which side in the HoC.

The last Parliament has shown us all that this doesn’t matter any longer. With a very few exceptions the MPs are dross, put in the HoC by their Parties after internal power games. We don’t need to support them by giving them our vote. 

We’re only disenfranchised if we believe that all but a vote for the establishment parties is a ‘lost vote’. We disenfranchise ourselves when we vote tactically, holding our noses. Let’s liberate ourselves from this straightjacket imposed by vested interests.

We still have our vote. Let’s not throw it away by not voting: that is the worst of all options because a non-vote means you agree with the MP who gains the majority. If you must, spoil your ballot – they are counted. Vote for Independents, even a Monster Raving Loony, but not for the conglomerate of the establishment parties. If there’s no Leaver standing in your constituency, do as one colleague wrote: vote to punish. 

These are just a few first thoughts. Let’s talk more about how we can vote to frighten That Lot in the coming days – and 

KBO!