• frankPodmore@slrpnk.netM
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    6 months ago

    There is no indication that any of the politicians who bet against themselves intended to throw the election. Politics is not sport.

      • frankPodmore@slrpnk.netM
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        6 months ago

        Right, but they weren’t doing that. There’s no evidence they were and no motive for them to do so. The comparison with athletes is not apt. A pro footballer who bets on himself and manipulates the outcome is still a pro-footballer afterwards. A politician who bets on themselves and deliberately loses is not a politician afterwards. It does not make sense to do it.

          • frankPodmore@slrpnk.netM
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            6 months ago

            That’s about one tenth of the annual MP’s salary. So, he has a far greater financial motive to remain an MP than he does to lose and collect the bet.

            • xor@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              6 months ago

              Well except for the fact that the salary option is:

              • granted gradually over a year period
              • requires you to do a full-time job

              If they would be able to get even a slightly worse salaried job instead of being an MP, then the financial motive is - in contrast to your claim - actually in favour of him losing

            • polonius-rex@kbin.run
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              6 months ago

              yes because “remaining an elected mp for the tories” and “not doing that” represent equal propositions in terms of effort, time and resources

          • frankPodmore@slrpnk.netM
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            6 months ago

            “In the 2005 election, I busted a gut to win. I expected to lose. I had a bet on myself to lose in the 2005 election, and my bet went down the pan.”

            He didn’t throw the '05 election, even when he bet against himself.

            • polonius-rex@kbin.run
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              6 months ago

              so to check, you’re fine with a football player betting against themselves, so long as they then happen to win?

      • frankPodmore@slrpnk.netM
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        6 months ago

        The idea that anyone would put in all the work to get selected as a candidate, then decide it was a smart move to place a bet against themselves and throw the election to make a quick buck is ridiculous. There’s no way you could make enough money from the bet to make it worthwhile.

          • frankPodmore@slrpnk.netM
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            6 months ago

            It requires huge amounts of work to be a candidate. I know people who’ve run for parliament. One of them had previously run as a total no-hoper on multiple occasions, in order to prove he knew how to campaign well enough to get selected for a seat where he had a chance. He was so burned out by the selection process that having won the selection, he actually turned down the nomination, then quit politics altogether. The idea that he’d have deliberatey thrown any of those elections is ridiculous.

            • woop_woop@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              So we’re just ignoring this part then?

              In Britain, being nominated as a local election candidate simply involves signing some forms, with no deposit required. A paper candidate will often do no campaigning at all and so be able to submit a zero return of election expenses, simplifying the paperwork for the election agent. Paper candidates are commonly fielded in different locations by all the major parties in both local and national elections.

              • frankPodmore@slrpnk.netM
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                6 months ago

                In Britain, being nominated as a local election candidate simply involves signing some forms

                They’re not local election candidates.

                • polonius-rex@kbin.run
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                  6 months ago

                  This isn’t some no-name who’s scraped their way in after years of effort; he’s been the candidate since 2005.

                  Placing a bet against himself is absolutely the kind of thing that could jeopardize both his candidacy going forward, and his election chances. So “he wouldn’t do all that just to throw it away” is nonsense.

                  The man has literally given himself financial incentive not to win and you don’t see how that kind of conflict of interests is an issue? Are you real?

                  • frankPodmore@slrpnk.netM
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                    6 months ago

                    Even if his only incentives were financial, he will make more money by winning than by losing, because an MP’s salary and expenses are pretty good. So, even taking into account the innumeracy of your average MP, he does not have a financial incentive to lose.