Jamie Devonald

‘oright son?!

[Ashley Truluck CB CBE @Truluck_Wilts]

Here she is again - no notes, no sitting on the fence - just wow!

[Jamie Devonald @Devs355E]

@LeeHarris It’s like watching a bad episode of Bullseye!! Laughing stock!!

[Jamie Devonald @Devs355E]

@epicredcards Possibly the most disappointing reel I’ve ever seen!

[Jamie Devonald @Devs355E]

@SBarrettBar @AllisonPearson @marksandspencer 💯

[Jim Chimirie 🇬🇧 @JChimirie66677]

There's a line in a democracy that, once crossed, changes everything: when elections cease to be an obligation and become a variable. That line has now been crossed in Britain, and it's the state's own elections watchdog saying so.

The Electoral Commission has been explicit: Labour's justification for delaying local elections is not legitimate. Not unwise. Not clumsy. Illegitimate. Extending mandates damages public confidence, undermines local legitimacy, and creates a clear conflict of interest by letting councils decide how long they can avoid voters. In any functioning democracy, that would end the matter. Here, the government presses on regardless.

That's the scandal. This is no longer a party political dispute or a row between Reform and Labour. The referee has intervened and said the game is being rigged, and the players have decided to ignore the whistle. When a government continues with election delays after being told by the independent authority charged with protecting electoral integrity that its reasoning does not hold, the issue stops being reform and becomes power protecting itself.

The language Labour uses is revealing. Elections are framed as an inconvenience. Voters are framed as an administrative burden. Democracy is reduced to a cost-saving exercise, something to be postponed if the spreadsheets look untidy or the reorganisation plans are mid-flow. Ministers speak of "capacity constraints" as if the right to vote is a luxury item that must wait until the filing cabinets are rearranged. In a democracy, administration exists to serve elections. Elections do not exist to suit administration.

The conflict of interest identified by the Electoral Commission should alarm anyone who still believes in democratic norms. Councils are being asked whether they would like to delay the moment they must answer to voters. That's not consultation. It's self-dealing. No serious system allows those in power to decide how long they may remain there without consent. Yet this is now presented as a "locally led approach," as though outsourcing democratic suspension makes it virtuous.

Worse still is the uncertainty. Candidates have been selected. Campaigns have begun. Money has been spent. And with months to go before polling day, the government is still dangling the possibility of cancellation. The watchdog describes this uncertainty as unprecedented. That word matters. Democracies rely on predictability. Once elections become provisional, subject to last-minute ministerial approval, the entire process is degraded.

When challenged, ministers retreat into condescension. Chris Bryant waves away concerns as conspiracy and insists that "ordinary people" would think elections are "a bit daft." This is a familiar trick: speak for the public while denying them a voice. Redefine democratic rights as common-sense nuisances that sensible adults should stop fussing over. It's the rhetoric of managed democracy, where participation is tolerated only when it produces the correct outcome.

None of this is happening in isolation. Mayoral elections have already been postponed. Now council elections are being pushed back again. The pattern is clear. When the polls turn hostile, the timetable moves. When voters become unpredictable, the vote is delayed. Governments confident in their mandate do not need to buy time. They face the electorate and take their chances. Labour is not doing that because it knows what the numbers say.

The danger is not just that millions of people may be denied a vote next year. It's the precedent now being set. Once a government learns it can delay elections after the watchdog objects, after campaigns have begun and candidates are in place, the principle is broken. Elections become conditional. Democracy becomes something you are granted when those in power feel safe enough to allow it.

"Chris Bryant waves away concerns as conspiracy and insists that "ordinary people" would think elections are "a bit daft.""

[Jamie Devonald @Devs355E]

John Lewis Xmas ad 💪🙌
Waitrose Xmas ad 👌👏
M&S Xmas ad 💩 👎

[Jamie Devonald @Devs355E]

Good luck to everyone in London today for Unite The Kingdom! Gutted I’m unable to attend to do my bit against this kakistocratic government! 👊

[Jamie Devonald @Devs355E]

A year in….what an absolute disaster!

[Patrick Christys @PatrickChristys]

Vance confronts Starmer over free speech. Starmer says we’ve had free speech in Britain for a very long time…tell that to the people locked up for Facebook posts

[Inevitable West @Inevitablewest]

🚨BREAKING: J.D Vance just confronted Keir Starmer to his face over free speech in a meeting:

“There has been multiple infringements of free speech in the UK!”

[GB News @GBNEWS]

'Keir Starmer has gone cap in hand to this cabal of weirdos apologising for Britain. Speaking from a position of weakness, when the reality is the UK is better than every single one of those EU countries, and now he’s let them mug him off. It’s humiliating!' – @PatrickChristys

[Robert Jenrick @RobertJenrick]

Why would any investor trust this bunch of hypocritical clowns to deliver Heathrow expansion?

[Matt Goodwin @GoodwinMJ]

Labour in Oct 2024 when Labour activists found to be campaigning in America for Kamala Harris while pledging to “kill” @elonmusk X platform:

“People in their own time often go & campaign … It happens in all parties, people go and campaign and they do what they want to do with their own time, with their own money”

Labour in Dec 2024, after @elonmusk suggests he might donate to Nigel Farage & Reform:

“We are considering changes that will help protect our system from foreign interference, such as tighter controls on donations.”

[Jamie Devonald @Devs355E]

@JiffyRugby Superb!! Well done Steff! Congratulations! Great effort the Badgers were out there too 🙏👊

[Jamie Devonald @Devs355E]

@LeeJarvis10 💯 agree

[Jamie Devonald @Devs355E]

Starmer’s in bed, but he isn’t sleeping! #wrestlingcrocodiles

[Jamie Devonald @Devs355E]

@Aled_Huw Keep your finger in the pulse! It must be electric ⚡️ 🇺🇸💥

[Jamie Devonald @Devs355E]

@Aled_Huw Very, very good question Aled!! 🇺🇸💥

[TimForAlI 🇬🇧🇺🇦🇮🇱🇬🇪 @timmyvoe]

Keir Starmer on tuition fees

How it started Vs how it's going

You were warned he was a liar and gaslighter along with the rest of Labour

[Jamie Devonald @Devs355E]

PMQ’s were an absolute pile of shite!