Tories Planning To Steal Power From A Hung Parliament

[Prophet 451]

I read this recently and didn't take it seriously but listening to the Tory spokesscum being interviewed on the Beeb, they are clearly laying the foundations for just such a power-grab.

From liberalconspiracy.org:

"Despite accusations of Conservative complacency in the run up to Thursday’s General Election, a great deal of effort has gone into what happens if the result is not a clear cut one but results in a Hung Parliament with the Tories some way short of an overall majority.

Here is what has now emerged as the Tory plan:

• Declare victory anyway.
• Have the party’s media allies strain every sinew to make that a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• Insist on being given the keys to number 10 without having to talk substantively to any other party first – to avoid a coalition or any substantive policy concessions.
• Make a partisan challenge to the civil service in seeking to overturn any existing constitutional convention or practice that might conceivably get in the way, or even slow this down a little.
• Threaten to drag the Monarchy into political controversy for partisan advantage, by challenging the conventions designed precisely to avoid this.
• Hold out against electoral reform, whatever the election result.
• Threaten apocalyptic political and financial meltdown if anybody disagrees.

The key objective of this strategy is to use the vociferous campaigning of the press – no doubt amplifying interventions from friends in the City – to argue that any negotiations between parties would be democratically illegitimate, without first putting the Conservatives into power, even (or especially) if Labour and the Liberal Democrats could between them muster a majority of both votes and Commons seats.

See David Cameron’s interview with Monday’s Independent – in which the Tory leader says “there is convention and there is practice and they are not always quite the same thing”.

The rest is here: http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/05/04/this-is-how-the-tories-plan-to-seize-power-in-a-hung-parliament/

I'm honestly not sure how such a power-grab could be prevented, given that HRH has virtually no power and our media is dominated by the right-wing.

[Dappleganger]

1. This is madness!

Just how disruptive would it be if events were to unfold as you've predicted?

[TheBigotBasher]

2. It is Neo Con Labour spin.

Brown and Mandlescum have lost.

[non sociopath skin]

3. In Mr Cameron's house are many mandlescums ...

... not just one.

The Skin

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. I suggest you read Liberal Conspiracy before calling them 'Neo Con Labour'

Since they are a combination of old-school Labour and Lib Dems, with the odd Green and others thrown in, you are mischaracterising them.

[TheBigotBasher]

5. I do read them

I also read the comments and there are more than enough suggesting it is spin.

[Prophet 451]

7. Two things

1) The Constitution says you have to win a majority of Parliament. If the Tories cannot do that, they have not won.
2) If the Tories get in, people like me (disabled, unemployed) will die.

[Prophet 451]

6. Open question

It would be a direct violation of the Constitution but our media is so to the right, that there would probably be a concerted media campaign.

[inna]

8. omg! What in the world is going on in the UK right now??

I'm watching BBC on C-span and I'm totally at a loss.

Some asshole (Cameron, I think, actually) just authoritatively said that Labour had suffered its worst loss in 80 years!!

But apparently that is not true!!

[TheBigotBasher]

11. If Labour falls below 28%

it is their worst share of the vote since 1918.

[Prophet 451]

12. That's projected

And the exit polling is all over the place tonight.

[inna]

9. K&R, BTW!! Mad props to DU's UK contingent!! nt

[Nye Bevan]

10. What would be the point of doing this?

They wouldn't be able to pass anything from their manifesto. They wouldn't have the votes in Parliament.

[Prophet 451]

13. Two reasons

1) Because they will create a public perception of themselves as the rightful winners, blocked by a swindle. They can then call a new election asap which only they (as the catamites of big business) have the money to fight.

2) They would gain access to the apparatus of government and our system is set-up in such a way that they could do quite a lot with that. Like enact crippling cuts to the social safety net or cripple the NHS (two of their most dearly held aims).