The State of Play.
As day three of the UK General-Election campaign dawns over the hallowed spires of the Great-Hall of Westminister; it is not particularly surprising what 48 hours bring to the fore. Whether unpredicted or not, Theresa May's snap decision will clear the political decks in the run up to Brexit and cause considerable political turmoil for all during the coming weeks.
No Surprises There Then?
On Wednesday afternoon, The commons, as expected voted overwhelmingly in favour of an early election, passing the motion by some 522 to 14. Easily surpassing the 434 votes needed to overturn the statute dictating that the next election need not be held until 2020.
At least ex-Chancellor, now confirmed backbencher George Osbourne is gone, not defending his Tatton Cheshire seat. No, as one might expect to stick adhesive on the thousands of tax-free rolls of wallpaper his father's company produces every day, but to edit - apart from his lucrative speaking engagements and lucrative consultancies - that great bastion of London News; the Evening Standard. Douglas Carswell has also decided not to stand again; which is frankly no great loss to any party he stood for. On the other hand, Jeremy Corbyn is facing a growing problem, 13 of his MP's have said they will not stand for re-election, almost all stating 'utter-confusion,' within Labour's ranks, amongst them such stalwarts as ex-minister Alan Johnson and Andy Burnham; leaving so he can concentrate on his bid to become Mayor of Manchester.
The Labour Position.
Mr Corbyn is muddying the waters further by contemplating a 'Coalition Government'? A joining of Labour/Liberal-Democrats/SNP/Welsh Nats and the Greens; as if none of them had learned any lessons from the Conservative/Lib-Dem pact of the early Cameron years. Even finding common ground would be a logistical nightmare.
Although it is pretty doubtful that combined with any other rogue MP's they may find floating around the House, they could muster up enough seats between them to form any sort of credible government. Behind it all is the intrusive hand of Nicola - Independence at any cost - Sturgeon, a woman who appears would sell Scotland down the river in order to get what SHE wants.
Although, as stated by her on Wednesday, the PM has turned, hands down the prospect of appearing in any televised, head-to-head debates with other party leaders preferring to hit the campaign trail instead. However, she is not adverse to a Question Time-style confrontation with the UK at large, as long as it does not include politicians? Her main means of communication a face-to-face, on the hustings, approach.
As we head for the weekend draught Manifesto pledges are being sought and witty slogans thought up for posters that will glower down at us all, from Exeter to Edinburgh. The real hard work will only begin when school, sorry I meant Parliament is let out, on May 2nd and the PM has her fateful final meeting with the Queen.
