1. Mrs May is no ‘Iron Lady’, nor is she another Margaret Thatcher.
2. The Conservative Manifesto rivals Labour’s in 1983 as ‘the longest suicide note in history’
3. Having praised Mrs May to the skies, the scribes in the Tory press now have egg on their faces.
4. Mrs May has poor communication skills, bad judgement and can’t work with others.
5. Her flaws would have been revealed much earlier if she had faced a proper leadership contest.
6. The Conservatives failed to gain a majority against perhaps the most divided, discreditable opposition in recent times.
7. Even with UKIP lending Mrs May a significant chunk of its 3,900,000 votes from May 15, the Conservatives still couldn’t get over the line.
8. The Conservatives went out of their way to produce policies to alienate their core supporters. Was it by accident, incompetence, or design ?
9. UKIP’s decision not to stand in certain key marginals probably saved the Conservatives from losing at least another 10 – 12 seats.
10. In which case, Mrs May wouldn’t even be talking about forming a government.
11. Nonetheless, the Conservatives won more votes and a higher % than David Cameron in May 2015, by campaigning on a platform for Full Brexit.
12. The electoral mandate for Full Brexit remains intact.
13. The Conservatives are poor at grassroots campaigns because their branches have been sidelined and demoralised by ‘command and control’ centralism from party head office.
14. In contrast, Jeremy Corbyn is good at grassroots campaigns because he engages with and enthuses grassroots Labour activists.
15. You wouldn’t know from the tone of the BBC coverage but Labour have just lost their third General Election in a row, by over 50 seats.
16. Labour failed to win against probably the most inept, self-destructive election campaign run by any modern government.
17. By not losing as badly as expected, Corbyn has quashed the Blair/Mandelson project for a new pro-EU ’SDP’ type party, formed from Blairite Labour MP’s and remnants of the LD’s.
18. The two ‘Remain’ parties who are denial about the recent referenda (the LD’s and SNP), were both defeated decisively.
19. This time it’s not going to be Vikki !!!!!!!
20. Across England and Wales there was a consistent swing against the LD’s.
21. Voters may trust the LD’s to look after their kiddies play area, empty their bins etc. but they don’t want to see them anywhere near running the country.
22. The House of Commons is now the most euro-sceptic ever. 90% of MP’s at Westminster support some form of ‘Brexit’.
23. Britain will be leaving the EU in two years time. Whether it will be a full or a partial Brexit will be the defining debate at Westminster over the next two years.
24. Thanks to UKIP, the truth is now out there. Any attempts by Mrs May to water down ‘Brexit’ will be exposed ruthlessly by the national press (Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, The Sun).
25. Teresa May’s very small majority (with the DUP) means that during the EU negotiations she will not be able to ignore her backbench MPs, who are overwhelmingly anti-EU.
26. Corbyn supporters are beginning to realise their plans to nationalise public services and give state support to industry will be illegal if we remain in the EU’s customs union (’single market‘).
27. Many students now appear to believe that money grows on trees. They will learn their lesson the hard way.
28. The vigorous performance by Ruth Davidson’s Scottish Conservatives has saved the United Kingdom for the time being.
29. The SNP’s defeat means there will no second Scottish independence referendum in the foreseeable future.
30. Relationships between the DUP and Scottish Conservatives will be strained because of differences over abortion and gay issues.
31. The BBC stands accused of left wing bias; in its audience selection, its campaign reporting and its complete failure to subject Labour’s policies to any sort of scrutiny.
32. 2017 was a highly tactical election. Many UKIP supporters voted tactically for Conservative or Labour candidates to ensure the referendum result is implemented.
33. UKIP’s 2017 vote is not an accurate reflection of the true extent of support for the party.
34. Should Britain not fully leave the EU in the next two years, many voters will return to UKIP.
35. Faced with the most unfavourable of circumstances, UKIP managed to field 376 candidates polling 589,000 votes, an average of 1,635 per candidate (3.25 % average).
36. UKIP’s vote was about one quarter of its 2015 GE result, but roughly the same as the 2010 GE, before the pre-referendum ‘surge’.
37. UKIP was the third party in 124 of the 376 seats it contested.
38. There remains a solid nucleus of support on which the party can build.
39. Many voters were disappointed there was no UKIP candidate to vote for in areas where the party tactically stood down, revealed by a high % of spoilt ballots.
40. UKIP’s task now is to keep calm, keep the party stable and await events at Westminster.
UKIP doesn’t have to do anything dramatic other than stay afloat, rally around a new leader and avoid personal bickering and infighting at the top.
