The right-wing corporate media are labelling the already infamous ‘call a general election petition’ as Britain’s ‘fastest-ever growing petition’. That is, of course, debatable:
🧵Call a General Election?
A 2016 petition calling on the Govt to have a threshold on the EU referendum got more than FOUR MILLION signatures. A 2019 petition calling on the Govt to revoke Article 50 & remain in the EU got more than SIX MILLION signatories.
Both were ignored. pic.twitter.com/CG5rMIIdH7
— GET A GRIP (@docrussjackson) November 24, 2024
Call a general election petition. Sorry – a what?
The petition states:
I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election.
It was started by Michael Westwood, a pub owner from Oldbury. He appeared on TalkTV on Monday 25 November, saying:
I just wanted to give people a voice… Starmer is stubborn and won’t give the people an election!
Now, don’t get the Canary wrong.
We’ve reported consistently on Starmer and his cabinet’s routine U-turns on multiple promises they’ve made since Keir became leader, and since the general election. However, the corporate media has repeatedly made the erroneous statement that it’s the fastest growing petition. Unsurprisingly, it’s just not true.
As one X user pointed out, a previous petition calling on the government to have a threshold on the EU referendum amassed more than 4m signatures. Additionally, a petition calling on the government to revoke article 50 and remain in the European Union had more than 6m. Two-thirds of these signatures were within 48 hours.
The Express says the petition, pushed by some of the UK’s worst people, “is now being branded Britain’s fastest-ever growing petition!”
WHO BY?
Started on 20/11, by 11am 4 DAYS later, it had 509,095. The 2019 Revoke Article 50 petition got FOUR MILLION signatures in 48 hours! pic.twitter.com/SRE1FHSI3x
— GET A GRIP (@docrussjackson) November 24, 2024
Suspicious?
As GET A GRIP also pointed out, the petition is being pushed alongside false claims from a relatively new, and highly suspicious X account. Unsurprisingly, that account has also been amplified by Elon Musk:
The relatively new, highly suspicious, divisive anonymous right-wing #disinformation @X account, @InevitableWest, amplified by Musk & which falsely claims Tommy Robinson was jailed “for journalism”, is pushing the petition, & making false claims about it.https://t.co/6gdocwOyvE pic.twitter.com/KoumcF7Ukl
— GET A GRIP (@docrussjackson) November 24, 2024
Hilariously, right-wingers are crying because they don’t like the result of an official voting process:
Right wingers stamping their feet saying
Call A General Election
Tell you what….
Let’s have a Rejoin the EU referendum at the same time?
Six million people signed that petition https://t.co/mwU2I82K4z
— Carol Vorderman (@carolvorders) November 25, 2024
Call a General Election? From the same people who said we shouldn’t have a 2nd EU Referendum because we need to respect ‘the will of the people’ and the ‘electoral mandate’? Hahahaha couldn’t write this shit
— Paradox (@ParadoxThePoett) November 23, 2024
Maybe if they just cry a little harder?
Fuckwits calling for a general election are the same fuckwits who told us we’d lost the Brexit referendum and to cry harder.
Crying harder might help fuckwits?
— Andrew Parnall (@dontbrexitfixit) November 24, 2024
Even more hilariously, the nearly 2m signatures are from 141 different countries. How many are actually from the UK? If Space Karen had his way, not many:
The call a general election petition has gained nearly 2 million signatures (from 141 countries) in five days.
The pre-Musk 2019 Revoke Article 50 petition got FOUR MILLION signatures in 48 hours.#justsaying https://t.co/yfoV6id8B0
— GET A GRIP (@docrussjackson) November 25, 2024
.@thismorning no reflection on how the “petition” is fake foreign bot signatures trying to cause mischief in UK system but instead you amplify it ?! #GeneralElectionPetitionFarce https://t.co/iI9XSpkdgB
— Ritt Ster 💙 (@rittster) November 25, 2024
Never have I ever… seen a foreign bot try to interfere in a country’s democratic electoral process:
Right-wing politicians & grifters are apoplectic because lots of foreign bots have ‘signed’ their petition.
Meanwhile, the same right-wing reality deniers were apoplectic in their indignant denial of a proEU petition they didn’t like which gained genuinely huge public support. https://t.co/z4wMYUrXe8
— knowgum #FBPA #NHSLove | (@UKnoGum) November 25, 2024
Of course, the rightwing gammonbots would crawl out of the woodwork NOW to make a racket – after Starmer and company have made the minutest tweaks to curb inheritance tax rules benefiting millionaires. Fourteen years of Tory austerity and callousness? Tumbleweed:
Anyone saying call a general election after 14 years of the most punitive, incompetent, inhumane, destructive, uncaring Tory bastards, needs serious medical intervention.
— The Rt Hon Lady Matildamog (@Jc62Matildamog) November 23, 2024
How ironic that all those saying Call a General Election are the same people that said “leave means leave”, “51% is a majority”, and calling people ‘remoaners’ for not wanting to accept the result.
— Bruno Saurus (@BrunosaurusP) November 23, 2024
Where has fawning Trump fanboy Farage been over the last few years?
Take a wild guess.
It’s not Clacton:
How about calling for these petitions to be recognised? Both got more than the current anti- government one has so far.
It’s odd that you’ve “never seen anything like it” really, or is it just because it didn’t suit your narrative? https://t.co/jRvDEXn7rX
— Market Square Hero (@square_her36337) November 25, 2024
Look up and the definition of ‘hypocrite’ in the dictionary, and you’ll see the smarmy, Farage wing-man, Reform deputy leader and all-round Brexit-mongering muppet Richard Tice:
Richard Tice criticised foreign billionaire Soros for interfering with UK politics & said those wanting a second vote “only accept democracy when it votes their way”.
He now wants a second vote & is praising foreign billionaire Musk for interfering in UK politics.#TwoTierTice https://t.co/yfoV6id8B0 pic.twitter.com/OWD7659o2A
— GET A GRIP (@docrussjackson) November 25, 2024
Call a general election petition. Brought to you by the people who lost the election.
Ultimately, though – all the petition really is is right-and far-right voters moaning about the outcome of an election they didn’t like.
A cursory glance at the map data for the petition shows that the constituencies with both the highest number of signatures, and the highest percentage of constituents who have signed, are nearly all either Tory or Reform-held seats. Those are the darkest colours on the map below:
The whole corporate media fanfare over the petition and the pathetic right-wing foghorns amplifying it on X are extremely rich.
However, it does underscore a crucial point. The fact is that for all this saga’s faults, it is a problem that the only way people have to hold politicians to account is to boot them out after five years at the next general election.
The way the current political process disenfranchises and fails to represent the most marginalised people is the real problem. Not some right-wing cry-babies still throwing their toys out of the pram over losing the last election.
Of course, not that the corporate media wants you to see that
Feature image via the Canary
