Thread: The 2017 UK General Election

Two-thirds of Conservative Party members think May should resign.

Our snap survey. Two in three Conservative Party members say that May should announce her resignation | Conservative Home

Originally Posted by cyrille

Two-thirds of Conservative Party members think May should resign.

Our snap survey. Two in three Conservative Party members say that May should announce her resignation | Conservative Home

Surprised it's not higher, get through to the summer recess and I imagine she will be gone by the Autumn.

Originally Posted by buriramboy

Anyway should be some good opportunities on the markets. Situations like this do present some benefits.

I would be tempted to cut my holdings in any companies in the FTSE.

Just a bit too much uncertainty. I am pretty confident that any liquidated holdings could be purchased in the future at a lower price.

Originally Posted by Iceman123

Originally Posted by buriramboy

Anyway should be some good opportunities on the markets. Situations like this do present some benefits.

I would be tempted to cut my holdings in any companies in the FTSE.

Just a bit too much uncertainty. I am pretty confident that any liquidated holdings could be purchased in the future at a lower price.

Lot of international companies on the FTSE who earn majority of their loot in $, just got to choose your stocks carefully and probably wise to stay away from UK centric stocks for the time being.

Originally Posted by khmen

There is no way SF will EVER swear allegiance to the queen, they wish no part of being involved in British mainland politics or Westminster as they do not recognise it's legitimacy as an institution which should be directing policy on the island of Ireland.

If you had even the most basic grasp of Irish history, and Sinn Feins long running policy of abstentionism you would know all of this and not make such ridiculous suggestions.

Plenty of people regularly discuss this topic.

So, based on your advanced knowledge of political history, when was the last time the DUP were part of the UK government? This is a first. If sinn fein see the DUP winning favour which disrupts the UK government's usual impartial involvement in NI powersharing, they could easily threaten to take up their seats.

They will not take their seats, they will not give up their decades long policy of abstentionism now. Why on earth would they?

Think about it. They don't want to be involved in UK politics, and they don't want the UK government involved in NI politics. The UK government are heading in that direction by getting into bed with the DUP and being indebted to them. If bias occurs, they may play their ace to stamp it out.

You really don't understand Sinn Fein do you? If they took seats in Westminster, and pledged allegiance to the queen the leadership would be fucking finished, and at the very least a schism would split the party. It'd be suicide for them!

I'm fairly certain they'd rather reignite the paramilitary wing than take their seats in Westminster!

Are you sure?

MESSAGE FROM GERRY ADAMS

Irish interests – of any kind – unionist or nationalist are of no concern to Theresa May. Her only interest is Brexit. Her only interest is British or English national interest.

That’s the same interest being promoted by the DUP and the UUP. Both these parties are for Brexit.

Sinn Féin is opposed to Brexit. Our task is to challenge those parties which support Brexit. June’s election provides an opportunity to do this.

Originally Posted by khmen

You really don't understand Sinn Fein do you? If they took seats in Westminster, and pledged allegiance to the queen the leadership would be fucking finished, and at the very least a schism would split the party. It'd be suicide for them!

I'm fairly certain they'd rather reignite the paramilitary wing than take their seats in Westminster!

That's what I fear, those hard line fanatical paramilitary types using this as an opportunity to start their nonsense again.
You are correct, they won't take their seats but that won't stop the gunmen.

Originally Posted by Immigrunt

MESSAGE FROM GERRY ADAMS Irish interests – of any kind – unionist or nationalist are of no concern to Theresa May. Her only interest is Brexit.

for fuck sake
AVIODING Brexit, that's why she called the election, aggravated pensioners etc , and achieved her aim - a hung parliament

Boris Johnson would make a brilliant PM.

His ability to get up anyone's nose is second to none.

As a London mayor, I think he was excellent, and popular,...not a lad to toe the party line.

Having said that, I await the flack.

Originally Posted by ENT

Boris Johnson would make a brilliant PM.

His ability to get up anyone's nose is second to none.

As a London mayor, I think he was excellent, and popular,...not a lad to toe the party line.

Having said that, I await the flack.

He's sharpening his dagger and will strike when the time is right, she should never have been PM following 6 years as a shite home secretary. Cries about Islam after the latest slaughter, but it was her who banned David Spencer and Pamela Geller from the UK when they wanted to go there and talk on an anti sharia platform. She certainly does not understand the Islamic threat at all. At least Boris's great granddad was one of the bastards.

Originally Posted by DrB0b

The DUP are not Tories.

I'm no DUP expert but I remembered reading that last year.

DUP toasts success of first champagne reception - BBC News

DUP toasts success of first champagne reception

A champagne reception hosted by the DUP at the Conservative Party conference has been hailed as a success and "all good PR" by DUP leader Arlene Foster.

It was the first alcoholic drinks reception the DUP had ever organised at a party conference and it attracted widespread interest on social media.

Under the late Ian Paisley's leadership the DUP had a tee-total reputation.

Mrs Foster brushed off suggestions the event had embarrassed the party, saying she was pleased with the large turnout.

The late Ian Paisley (right) was tee-total and famously referred to alcoholic drink as the 'devil's buttermilk'

The lunchtime reception was held in an art gallery at the International Conference Centre in Birmingham.

It was packed and it proved so popular there were long queues to get inside. Mrs Foster was joined at the reception by DUP MPs Nigel Dodds, Gavin Robinson, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, Ian Paisley - the party founder's son - and many party activists.

A number of senior Conservative MPs also attended the event.

The DUP leader told the BBC the event was not originally meant to be billed as a champagne reception but something had been "lost in translation" during the booking. She said she was pleased with the amount of people who attended and said it "was all good PR".

I didn't look further into it other than thinking they must be quite similar to the Tories to be invited to do that.

Originally Posted by Immigrunt

....DUP had a tee-total reputation...

Fwkn hypocrites...Bushmills was their tipple.

Originally Posted by Immigrunt

Originally Posted by DrB0b

The DUP are not Tories.

I'm no DUP expert but I remembered reading that last year.

DUP toasts success of first champagne reception - BBC News

DUP toasts success of first champagne reception

A champagne reception hosted by the DUP at the Conservative Party conference has been hailed as a success and "all good PR" by DUP leader Arlene Foster.

It was the first alcoholic drinks reception the DUP had ever organised at a party conference and it attracted widespread interest on social media.

Under the late Ian Paisley's leadership the DUP had a tee-total reputation.

Mrs Foster brushed off suggestions the event had embarrassed the party, saying she was pleased with the large turnout.

The late Ian Paisley (right) was tee-total and famously referred to alcoholic drink as the 'devil's buttermilk'

The lunchtime reception was held in an art gallery at the International Conference Centre in Birmingham.

It was packed and it proved so popular there were long queues to get inside. Mrs Foster was joined at the reception by DUP MPs Nigel Dodds, Gavin Robinson, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, Ian Paisley - the party founder's son - and many party activists.

A number of senior Conservative MPs also attended the event.

The DUP leader told the BBC the event was not originally meant to be billed as a champagne reception but something had been "lost in translation" during the booking. She said she was pleased with the amount of people who attended and said it "was all good PR".

I didn't look further into it other than thinking they must be quite similar to the Tories to be invited to do that.

Do you also think the IRA are Royalists now that their leaders have shaken the Queen's hand?

Oranges and apples Bob.

The Tories are forming a coalition with a party backed by terrorists
The UDA is a violent loyalist paramilitary group, which is still active today. Just weeks ago, it murdered a man in broad daylight in Northern Ireland – he was shot dead in a Sainsbury’s car park in front of horrified shoppers and his three-year-old son


The Independent Online

Northern Irish politics has been thrust from the sidelines into centre stage this morning, as the UK woke up to a hung parliament and a DUP-Conservative coalition. After a disastrous election for Theresa May in which her gamble failed to secure the majority she sought, the obscure Northern Irish party’s support is now required for her to enter No 10.

A partnership between the Conservatives and the DUP will be deeply harmful and destabilising for the peace process in Northern Ireland, which is now being risked by the Tories in an unconscionable way in order to retain power.

Most striking about the Conservatives’ new stablemates is that after running a campaign based on fearmongering and whipping up false hysteria about Jeremy Corbyn and his alleged IRA sympathies, the Conservatives will enter government with the DUP, which is backed by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).


The UDA is less known in England than the IRA, largely because they killed Northern Irish Catholics during the Troubles, which didn’t make the news as often as the killing of English people or security personnel. The UDA is a violent loyalist paramilitary group, which is still active today. Just weeks ago, it murdered a man in broad daylight in Northern Ireland. The man was shot dead in a Sainsbury’s car park in front of horrified shoppers and his three-year-old son.

The UDA backed the DUP in this election by issuing a statement in support of the party’s South Belfast candidate Emma Little Pengelly, “strongly urging” people to back her. The news drew sharp criticism from political opponents, including former Northern Ireland Justice Minister David Ford, who said: “Arlene Foster needs to make clear if her party accepts an endorsement by a group closely connected to the UDA. The electorate, particularly in South Belfast where this endorsement was given, deserve to know.

“It is now 2017 – paramilitaries should not even exist, never mind be giving ringing endorsements of political candidates.”

There is no suggestion that the DUP actively sought the endorsement from the group or that it in turn supports the UDA.

However, concerns were further fuelled when it emerged that the DUP’s leader Arlene Foster met with the UDA’s chief during the election campaign, just 48 hours after the murder of a local man in a supermarket car park. She defended the meeting, saying that the party did not support any terrorist groups or actively seek endorsement from them: “If people want to move away from criminality, from terrorism, we will help them to do that, but anyone who is engaged in this sort of activity should stop, should desist, and if they don’t they should be open to the full rigour of the law.”

When challenged on the issue during the live TV debates, the DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson said that the party would “divorce” itself from any association with terrorist or paramilitary groups.

However, considering all the Conservatives’ talk about Corbyn and the IRA, it is now they who are entering coalition with a political party that has been backed by a terrorist organisation.

Such a move will have dire consequences for the peace process. In so doing, the Conservatives are essentially telling the DUP that they will turn a blind eye to it returning to the dark days, when Northern Irish politics was intertwined with bloody violence. This may embolden paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland who feel that they have been given a get-out-of-jail-free card from the Tories’ deal with the DUP.

The uncomfortable coalition of the Conservatives and the DUP has many more worrying implications for the peace process. An essential element of the peace process has been that the British government is, ostensibly at least, a neutral broker in talks between the Catholic and Protestant parties. Now however, the power balance has been permanently toppled as the DUP hold the cards in deciding whether the Conservatives remain in office. They no longer have any credibility of being neutral brokers in the Northern Ireland peace process. This will alienate Catholic/nationalist people in Northern Ireland who can no longer consider their position and status as equal in the British government’s eyes.


Lastly, amid all the general-election buzz it has been easy for many to forget that power-sharing had collapsed in Northern Ireland. Stormont fell in January when Sinn Féin pulled out of government with the DUP. Fresh elections were called in March in a bid to elect a new government willing to share power, but the same parties were returned and they have continued to refuse to come back to power-sharing. The latest deadline for an agreement is the end of this month.

Under a DUP-Conservative coalition, any chance of resolve is reduced even further. The DUP has little incentive to return to Stormont if it has far more power and influence than it could have ever dreamed of across the Irish Sea at Westminster. Similarly, Sinn Féin (which is vehemently anti-Conservative) is likely to feel alienated and mistrustful of the Conservatives and may boycott talks.

When she called the general election, it was clear that Theresa May had little idea of the damage such a poll could cause Northern Ireland at a crucial time for power-sharing. By entering into a coalition with the DUP, it is even more apparent that she does not consider peace or stability in Northern Ireland a priority. Instead, she is sacrificing years of work on the peace process in order to get the keys to No 10

The Tories are forming a coalition with a party backed by terrorists | The Independent