The campaign gathers steam. Just received a begging letter from Boris / Conservative party (presumably aimed at my son). If you donate £50 or more you can ask for a copy of the first official cabinet photo of them all sat around the table. Anybody want me to forward the donation form to them?

Despite the fixed term parliament bill, nothing much seems to have changed and the ruling party will always find a way to "need" a general election.
The Tories, without a parliamentary majority have been getting ready for a GE ever since Boris got the gig and this is regardless of just how often they tell us anything to the contrary

Can I have a copy photo for my dartboard though

Election campaign has moved ahead today with decision to suspend parliament.

It's going to be an interesting few days in Parliament.
The Election doesn't seem like it will take place as swiftly as Boris wanted, leaving him in charge of a minority government.
Having prorogued Parliament and threatened to sack his own MP's for not towing the line, it now appears that he could actually fail in his "do or die" bid to get Brexit done by Halloween.
The arrogant T*** believed that he could roll into town and suddenly prosper, without dealing with THE main issue (The Irish Backstop) but, alas, it all looks like it's starting to unravel.
I really dont know how this one will end but, it's certainly become intriguing.

I'm not sure if Johnson cannot lose here. He is after a GE; he can call one now or wait until he loses a key vote & then does the honourable thing & calls a GE. Which terrifyingly he could win at a canter if he promises to leave EU, thus stealing Farage's only policy & their votes. The Remain vote is split between Libs/Greens (clear policy) & an unclear Labour. Or am I (hopefully) missing something & the lying, cheating, sociopath gets what he deserves?

As I understand it there can only be a GE if either the HoC votes with a 2/3rd majority for it (and Labour are now saying they won't vote for it unless No Deal legislation is passed first) or Boris loses a no confidence vote and a new govt doesn't receive a confidence vote within 14 days? I guess the second scenario is the most likely but it may depend on the timing of any successful no confidence vote against Boris. If they go for it now, I can't see a Corbyn lead coalition being able to form a stable govt so a GE may well happen.

If Johnson decides to do a deal with Farage and go all out for no deal in an election manifesto (as he must if Farage isn’t going to split the leave vote) then he will have officially turned the tories into the UKIP/Brexit Party. If they win an election it will undoubtedly mean Farage in the cabinet too (if he wins a seat).

That is enough to stop quite a few non-hard right tories voting tory. They will either vote Lib Dem or stay at home. I know a few tories who certainly don’t back Johnson and his f*** business approach, that’s done him a lot of harm. Advocating no deal will reinforce that with them. They’ll never vote for Corbyn but they’ll certainly vote Lib Dem or not bother at all. I’m not sure there are enough Labour leavers who would vote for Johnson to cancel that out.

It’s also enough to make remainers and “leave with a deal” non tory voters in marginals hold their nose and vote tactically to keep a tory out.

The result will probably be a hung parliament again and more uncertainty. The whole idea of Brexit is so divisive that there will never be a clear way out that has majority backing.

I'm not sure it's as clear cut as that - Johnson's whole schtick is to leave with no deal, and of the c30% of the whole electorate who voted to leave, I'd say that a significant proportion of those people absolutely did not vote for no deal; so it's by no means certain that they'd all vote for Johnson's extreme version of Brexit.

I do agree though that the votes against are likely to be split - lots of centrists seem to have fallen for Austerity Jo's Tory-lite politics - and I can absolutely guarantee you that she would go into coalition with Boris Johnson in a heartbeat; so we could end up back in the situation of a Tory government, propped up by FidDems, with the ministerial car being sufficient downpayment for their principles and values.

Do you really think that with Brexit yet to be resolved, that the Libdems would jump into bed with Boris ??
I know that Clegg, so desperate to sit in the big chair, utterly sold his soul and almost destroyed the Libdems.

Do you seriously believe that they would follow that same path again. It's quite likely that with Corbyn, STILL undecided on the whole Brexit issue, that, The Lib dems will eat into Labours vote and equally possible that there will be an arrangement between the Lib dems and Labour, not to go head to head in certain seats, to ensure that we dont get Boris returned to power, which would be THE worst outcome.

I think your "guarantee" is way, way off the mark

I could see LibDems doing a deal with a tory party with a different leader post Brexit. Johnson I think is too toxic as is his sidekick Cummings.

For Labour I don’t think their position of getting power and trying to do their own Brexit deal and having a referendum on it (and then possibly campaigning to remain) is good enough to stop the hard remain from going to the Libdems or keep Labour leavers on board. At some point they are going to have to choose who they need most.

Nightmare scenario, another election returns a hung parliament ,which at the moment looks highly likely.

There are already strong rumours that she's had a series of 1:1 telephone meetings with Johnson - and I don't think her desire to be back in the big time should be underestimated; as a Minister in the coalition govt, she voted for Tory austerity policies more times than a significant number of actual Tories did - over 800 times in fact. She is a yellow Tory, who represents the maintenance of the status quo, but with 5p carrier bags to ameliorate the conscience.

As for Corbyn being unclear - you trot this out repeatedly, so I can only assume you're listening to the media rather than him; take no deal off the table, extend the deadline, hold a GE, negotiate a softer exit with the EU, put it to the people - including an option to Remain. It couldn't be simpler.

Indedd, he is basically saying "ignore the democratic will of the people", no doubt he wants a hard border in Irelamd so his chums in the IRA get their mandate back...

Yes I'm certain that's true - it makes perfect sense, and does not in any way defy all logic and reason.

Following the referendum many of the leave voters then became aware of the hard Brexit possibility that gobsmacked them.

At the following general election these same voters effectively returned a tranche of remain mp’s to indicate their revised views.

Parliament is now acting in accordance with the voters wishes.

Totally democratic

So easy to grasp.

nope,we had a referendum, we voted leave.

A referendum isn’t legally binding.

The Supreme Court ordered that Parliament and not the Tory government had authority on Brexit.

The voters understood this.

So why did the voters not return a leave parliament when given the chance in the general election.?

because the intelligent voters know a General Election isn't a single issue democracy. I assume you are a remoaner.

They returned MPs who said they'd respect and implement the referendum result.

Cameron categorically declared it would be implemented (thereby removing the 'advisory' tag).

Voters did return a leave parliament - Labour and Tories picked up the overwhelming majority of votes on leave manifestos.

The referendum's 'project fear campaign' made it clear that any Brexit would be what was subsequently called a 'hard' Brexit.

Sorry Bren but, although nobody would wish to see it, I'll show my booty in Wakefield precinct if The Lib dems go into coalition with the Tories.
The previous coalition was long before Brexit and whatever similarities the 2 parties may have had in 2010 have long since disappeared, not to mention the utter damage that jumping into bed with Cameron actually did for their Party.
As for Corbyn. He and the Labour party have spent so long on the fence, that the undergrowth will now prevent them moving at all.
Even with the sequence of events that you describe and assuming that Labour can win an election, which I very much doubt (and certainly not with an overall majority), just how long do you think that the process would take and do you think that the electorate would be happy with soft (remain) Brexit.
Personally, I would have been very happy with that option from the outset but, there was a vote to leave and why should anyone be happy with a second "referendum". If the result were "remain" Farage & Co would no doubt insist on another vote.
You say that Labours stance is "clear" but, what happens if the Tories or worse still, The Brexit party gain power (or a share of it).
Remember, Labour are 12/13 points behind the broken shambles of the Conservatives.
I've said for years that Labour wont win an election with Corbyn at the helm and just like my views on Brexit, nobody has changed my mind on this one.
He is loved by his closest allies but, despised by the majority of the rest.
The best that Labour could hope for is a coalition with the SNP and / or the Libdems and even that is not a certainty

I can't see the circumstances in which we ever leave.

The EU has us over a barrel, and will "stick" to the deal already negotiated. Why wouldn't they? They don't want us to leave, and must be laughing their male hens off at the ensuing shambles.

I can't see ANY way in which any Parliament would be elected that would have a majority for either a hard Brexit, or for accepting this deal.

I can't see any way in which a second referendum would vote leave, but if I am wrong about that, then I certainly can't see a majority for "leave regardless" - any majority would IMHO certainly only ever be to leave with a deal.

And so to keep us in the EU, all Eu needs to do is refuse to negotiate any further. Leaving us nowhere to go.

What a mess.

Labours stance is very clear.

Lib Dem’s would only join a coalition with Tory’s, the amount of people who thing lab/lib would ever join in a coalition is laughable.

The sun/mail control the narrative and are superb at it, I agree with you about Labour with Corbyn at the helm. If I was a Brexiteer he’s the only person I’d trust to do it.

You say that Labours stance is very clear, which I believe is Leave with a deal, including "A customs union".
Much as this seems to be the middle ground, do you believe this would make it through Parliament and would it actually be "leaving" (as we would still be tied to the EU and making contributions, albeit at a lower level than we currently do).
Corbyn, although happy to bang the Euro drum about workers rights ets, is a lifelong Eurosceptic and ironically, their own policy doesnt pass it's own 6 tests for leaving the EU ??

The big problem is that neither can put one upmanship and politics aside and make a decision that is actually good for THE COUNTRY, it looks increasingly like we will end up with a GE, another coalition that can't really do much and the same ineffective politics we have had for 20 years.