# UK General Election {2024-07-04} **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 22, 2024, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932 "2024-05-22T23:15:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/361 "2024-07-03T16:05:18Z")
Oh well, game over. The Sun has come out for Labour. Sort of. > **[The Sun backs Labour Party saying it's 'time for change'](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd1751vv0z7o)** > > The newspaper says the Tories have become "a divided rabble" and need "a period in opposition to unite". ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/362 "2024-07-03T16:42:36Z")
They really have no shame, do they? Not for supporting Labour per se, but for switching when it is so obvious the Tories are toast. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/363 "2024-07-03T16:48:11Z")
Eh. They just want to claim to have backed the winner, which is pretty much a foregone conclusion anyway. And they’d also like their readers to forget their solid support for the Conservatives for the past many many years. ETA: > [@iamatractorboy](#): > > They really have no shame, do they? Well, no. No they do not. And they never have. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/364 "2024-07-03T17:28:03Z")
Never a bad time to link to this… [Yes Minister on British newspapers (little bit of naughty language in the clip))](https://youtu.be/DGscoaUWW2M?si=li9Rqk2tj4Byv-yC) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/365 "2024-07-03T17:34:54Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > > [@Alessan](#): > > > > Traditionally, the Monarch is the one who’s supposed to be the inspiring leader, > > Well, not so much the inspiring leader (not since Gladstone and Disraeli), but the non-controversial representative of the nation as a whole… Remind me, who was that guy during WWII? He didn’t do too badly at the whole inspiration thing. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/366 "2024-07-03T18:24:58Z")
Chamberlain. He really sold that whole “peace in our time” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/367 "2024-07-03T18:25:41Z")
No, no. The guy after him. Damn, it’s right on the tip of my tongue… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/368 "2024-07-03T18:28:34Z")
Oh, yeah, Bertie! ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/369 "2024-07-03T18:33:00Z")
> [@iamatractorboy](#): > > Never a bad time to link to this… > > [Yes Minister on British newspapers (little bit of naughty language in the clip))](https://youtu.be/DGscoaUWW2M?si=li9Rqk2tj4Byv-yC) Was that original to YM? I remember Dave Allen telling pretty much the same joke in one of his series. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/370 "2024-07-03T19:13:11Z")
YM is where I assume it’s from but I don’t know for definite. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/371 "2024-07-03T23:03:21Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Remind me, who was that guy during WWII? He didn’t do too badly at the whole inspiration thing. The exception that proves the rule. Think about it - how many Prime Ministers in living memory have had anything resembling a personality, for better or for worse? Churchill, Thatcher, Blair (charitably) and Boris. That’s it. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/372 "2024-07-04T04:59:44Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Churchill, Thatcher, Blair (charitably) and Boris. That’s it. Depends how you define personality. Macmillan and Wilson had their periods of dominance, and John Major had a more interesting hinterland than he let slip. Others are defined for history (fairly or unfairly) by their mistakes/misjudgements (Eden, Douglas-Home, Heath, Callaghan, Brown, Cameron) but that’s still personality of a sort. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/373 "2024-07-04T08:18:43Z")
Well, I’ve been out and done my duty, appropriately enough it is a lovely sunny morning here. Feels like a changing of the guard. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/374 "2024-07-04T08:25:33Z")
Yep. Voted. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/375 "2024-07-04T09:41:12Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > > [@Smid](#): > > > > Major, Brown, Cameron, May and Sunak, none of have been inspiring examples of human beings. > > Hey, [you missed one !](https://youtu.be/rX5En0JpIFk) Love this, from the top of the comments section: > I believe she is the best prime minster we have ever had because she managed to bury the queen,the pound,the tory party,one chancellor and the UK government in less than 1 month. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/376 "2024-07-04T09:55:02Z")
I’m lucky, my polling station is the primary school over the road, on the short walk I’d make anyway to pick up my paper in the morning, so it’s all done and dusted in a few minutes, first thing. Just a steady trickle of voters at that time, no party tellers outside (though I noticed a stern list of instructions as to what they may and particularly may not do), and the duty police officer was taking her ease in the sunshine at the children’s picnic table. I see one last minute poll is suggesting that 16 (_SIXTEEN_!) cabinet ministers might lose their seats… > **[General Election: Labour on course for biggest majority of any party since...](https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-sir-keir-starmer-to-win-largest-ever-labour-election-victory-with-biggest-landslide-since-1832-poll-suggests-13162987)** > > YouGov's final MRP of the election suggests that 16 of the current 26 cabinet minister employed by the government will lose their seats - including Jeremy Hunt. Other notable Tories, like Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Miriam Cates, also face ejection... ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/377 "2024-07-04T10:08:57Z")
I’ve voted, although on the walk down I still wasn’t entirely sure where that X was going. If I’d gone 20 minutes later/earlier it may have been in a different place. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/378 "2024-07-04T10:28:36Z")
I haven’t voted yet but will do so shortly. It’s a lovely day, perfect for a good turnout and a positive sentiment. I think the Tories will do a bit better than the polls suggest because there are a lot of undecided Conservative voters and I reckon they will feel they have permission to vote Tory again because they will be turfed out anyway and it will keep the Labour majority down. But before all that, the most important thing about today is #dogsatpollingstations [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRoR2BXXMAA4OOE?format=jpg&name=4096x4096) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRoR2BXXMAA4OOE?format=jpg&name=4096x4096) [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRoDOpZXkAA6LOk?format=jpg&name=large) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRoDOpZXkAA6LOk?format=jpg&name=large) [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRkY37PWUAENhnh?format=jpg&name=medium) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRkY37PWUAENhnh?format=jpg&name=medium) [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRoNgx3XIAAPIJG?format=jpg&name=large) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRoNgx3XIAAPIJG?format=jpg&name=large) [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRoLP3gWgAAPoqk?format=jpg&name=large) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRoLP3gWgAAPoqk?format=jpg&name=large) [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRnuoq0XsAAhDDN?format=jpg&name=medium) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRnuoq0XsAAhDDN?format=jpg&name=medium) …wait how did that get in there??? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/379 "2024-07-04T10:31:02Z")
And for an abiding image of haplessness: > **[Vote-Hunting Rishi Sunak Left Stunned by Britain’s Most Tattooed Woman](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/vote-hunting-rishi-sunak-left-234503239.html)** > > British PM Rishi Sunak was hunting for last-minute election votes on ITV’s “This Morning.” But first he silently listened to the graphic life-in-ink stories of Becky Holt. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932/380 "2024-07-04T10:37:15Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > I think the Tories will do a bit better than the polls suggest I think it’s because they have been talking _themselves_ down so that when they do a bit better than expected they can claim it as a win. Wankers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-2024-07-04/1001932.md?page=20)