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I’m just watching that. Even the occupants of the UKs boardrooms want this lot gone
Proof, if ever it were needed, that this is no longer the Tory party in anything but name. It’s a UKIP/BNP nationalist rabble
The Tory minions Rishi sent on to Peston tonight are doing well, aren’t they?
Dear god, it’s an absolute car crash!
They don’t even seem to be bright enough to understand they’ve been sent out to defend the indefensible or realise that Rishi will probably have rowed back from what they’re defending by tomorrow morning anyway, leaving them looking like total ****s
This government is just an absolute joke that isn’t remotely funny any more
You need a good heart....
Sorry- bit late, but re checking if the pool table in the Hull JCR is free, fraid not. Sarah Greene is on it with her drama tutor.
I’m just watching that. Even the occupants of the UKs boardrooms want this lot gone
That is because they now have nothing to fear from Labour as they won't be doing anything to upset them (see upcoming u turn on increased workers rights) while also not being so morally deficient which even those capitalist are finding hard to swallow these days.
The i leading on the donation scandal today with some interesting facts.
"21% of Conservative Party's election war chest comes from Frank Hester"
You could arguably say, he has bought and paid for the Tory party. The Tories are also refusing to say if he has made other donations to them... Which obviously means, yes, he has.
"You could arguably say, he has bought and paid for the Tory party. The Tories are also refusing to say if he has made other donations to them… Which obviously means, yes, he has."
Sunak's helicopter ride the other week, he paid £15k for that.
^^ Yep, there is bound to be more donations and freebies we dont know about yet, too.
I'm quite surprised Rishi had to borrow a helicopter.
Does he not have his own?
How frightful!
I'm surprised he's not shut a few hospitals to pay for a helipad on the roof of #10
I’m quite surprised Rishi had to borrow a helicopter.
Does he not have his own?
How frightful!
Why chip the edge of your own personal mountain of gold for personal helicopter use when racist misogynists will lend you theirs?
So going by the new guidelines on combating extremism... at least a few of them probably apply to individuals in the Tory party or the party itself.
How long till a leftie lawyer makes a statement by forcing the government through the courts to sanction, oh say,... an ex home secretary for promoting Islamophobia?
Some interesting numbers in the FT today showing how this is a zombie parliament, sitting for fewer hours, passing less legislation, the Tories not putting forward their MPs to debate issues etc.
Quotes from conservatives backing this up, including from ministers.
If you think to yourself about what they've actually done over the last 4 years - not just made anouncements about, but actually DONE - other than Mad Lizzie's mini-budget and cancelling HS2, can you think of anything?
They don't even pretend that whatever they anounce will ever happen any more. They just have a press conference and then its all just quietly dropped. To all intents and purposes we don't really have a government at the moment.
What is the point of Rishi Sunak? It seems even his own party is struggling to answer that.
Apparently the Tories have another 5 Million reasons to love Hester.
Those government contracts really are quite profitable!
If you think to yourself about what they’ve actually done over the last 4 years
They have continued to stir up hatred between groups and put racism and sexism back a few years. It is not about actual policies or changing anything in people lives - other than their mates such as Hester of course.
If you think to yourself about what they’ve actually done over the last 4 years
Everything has been kicked into the long grass. Legislation looking at legalising e-scooters was supposed to be done by now, that's now "an extension of the existing trial".
There was a heat pump policy supposed to be starting next month, that's now been put back a year.
All sorts of stuff that, if it had actually been done, would have given confidence to the markets. As it is, costs have increased, projects put on hold, uncertainty rules.
And the policies that they are trying to push like Rwanda are expensive and unworkable. 🤷🏻♂️
predictably
https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1768345435721134342?t=fo63jHXfO5yIcCTdcS8cog&s=19
Shit summer ahead then. Best just to switch off and ignore everything UK party political ‘till autumn. We’re like a ship adrift.
Ok. So going to hold on till the bitter end then.
I hope they get bloody annilated at the GE.
Already ignoring my own comment… I hope they get a drubbing so big in all the May elections that the feeling that they are squatters in government just grows and grows to the point where even “balanced” media interviewers start challenging Sunak about his legitimacy to remain PM… when no one wants him there, including those who voted for his party under Johnson during the old days of Brexit fever.
kelvin
Full Member
Shit summer ahead then. Best just to switch off and ignore everything UK party political ‘till autumn. We’re like a ship adrift.
Going to be a truly nasty campaign. The Tories will use every dirty trick they can muster. I wouldn't be at all surprised if an MP on either side is met by violence of some sort.
There is a lot of anger out there and the Tories have no qualms about stiring it up further.
Any chance of a coup?
predictably
Yep. Never made any sense to me either.
Sunak alluded to Autumn ages ago.
Just in time for lower interest rates. Although things will be pretty bad by then irrespective.
Poopscoop
Full MemberSo going by the new guidelines on combating extremism… at least a few of them probably apply to individuals in the Tory party or the party itself.
How long till a leftie lawyer makes a statement by forcing the government through the courts to sanction, oh say,… an ex home secretary for promoting Islamophobia?
It'll be like Prevent. First time I ever heard of anyone actually doing a Prevent report, it was for a scary incelly white supremacist kid. File was closed almost immediately, no explanation. They raised it again, file closed, no explanation. Raised it again, got a tetchy phone call from a senior manager complaining that this was deliberate wasting of his time and that Prevent was "not for cases like this" Oh so what is it for? "Um, er, different things".
MrsMC was in a meeting today and due to budget cuts the threshold to take kids into care has been raised.
Bear that in mind when the next Baby P scandal is all over the front pages.
Bastards
^^ Christ, the human cost of the policies these bastards are responsible for.
MrsMC was in a meeting today and due to budget cuts the threshold to take kids into care has been raised.
This could also be linked to the new statutory guidance released in December / Macalister report which aims to prevent children from going into care through more early help work upfront.
However, Tories are ****s.
If he doesn’t call a May election then he certainly won’t be Tory leader when we do have one
God knows what planet they’re living on if they think yet another leadership scrap will enhance they’re electoral chances
Maybe that's it, he does not want to fight an election campaign, with all the helicoptering around, horrible handshaking and kissing those common babies. Gets ousted, stands down as MP, California here he comes.
It is probably good news for Labour. It is at odds with public opinion and after 14 years there is clearly Tory government fatigue among voters, that fatigue won't have lessened after another six months of more of the same.
I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel for the Tories. Interest rates aren't predicted to start falling until next year and even if they do towards the end of summer I can't see that changing the fortunes of the Tory government.
The one stated aim that Rishi Sunak has managed to achieve, although it had little to do with him personally, is to half inflation, an achievement that did not give the Tories any sort of boost.
Taking it to the wire and hanging on for as long as possible is not a good look - it suggests a complete lack of confidence and snacks of desperation, which is hardly likely to endear them to voters.
It just looks like another Tory blunder to me and more likely to ensure a larger Labour majority.
This could also be linked to the new statutory guidance released in December / Macalister report which aims to prevent children from going into care through more early help work upfront.
They've cut the teams that would do that early intervention already.
Like they cut Surestart at the beginning.
theres still a 20-25% core Tory vote out there
whether the economy picks up or not they won't abandon them, some sort of economic recovery would help their numbers
& a scandal that hits labour between now & November , could see Sunak's miracle save
at the very least they get another 6 months in power & to line their pockets
^^ Now, it's obviously infantile but...
Given the toxicity of politics these days I am all for a bit of humour. In fact I think it needs to be made a mandatory requirement. The opposite way just leads to pessimism and despair at the whole damned mess.
So...
I can honestly say I'll be glad to see Sunak cluck off. Well and truly cluck off to California.😁
The one stated aim that Rishi Sunak has managed to achieve, although it had little to do with him personally, is to half inflation, an achievement that did not give the Tories any sort of boost.
I think they assumed people were thick and wouldn't understand that unless you create deflation (even worse) then the inflation is baked in and only ever gets compounded.
And maybe a lot of people are under skilled with maths and money and believed that halving inflation was a "good" thing. But they're living though the reality that prices rose to 'crisis' levels, and aren't going to be falling. So even if he wins the argument on paper it won't win him those votes except maybe people for who the cost of food was only an academic rather than practical issue anyway.
So not a spring election, but June or July still a possibility, especially if the tories implode and try to put another leader in place following the locals. Sunak would much rather be kicked out by the electorate than the nutcases in his own party.
he could change his mind (not that he has one) on a may GE yet, he really not leadership material he's a pound shop David Brent.
Like everything else he does it'll be a reaction to something that happens. Rishi likes to see himself as some Master of the Universe but everything he does is because he's forced into it by circumstances he can't (or won't) control.
My guess is that he'll call an election because of an imminent leadership challenge, which given the Tory party is now effectively feral, will probably happen sooner rather than later. No way are the headbangers going to just sit there and stew on how useless their leader (who they never wanted in the first place) is until November.
I think a total humiliation in the by-elections will force Sunak's hand.
I think that's when he will face an open rebellion from a large section of the party and he'll call a GE.
I think that’s when he will face an open rebellion from a large section of the party and he’ll call a GE.
I think that's the threat he's holding over them now isn't it? Don't do anything [even more] stupid otherwise I'll call an early election.
they're an unruly bunch at the best of times.....
and another
lazy ****ers
Don’t do anything [even more] stupid otherwise I’ll call an early election.
Yeah. Interesting how his meeting with Graham Brady was publicised recently. No doubt he'll have told Brady to tell the nutters to stand down or he'll go early.
I heard that No10 are asking Tory MPs that are standing down to space out their resignation announcements to avoid the all too obvious 'sinking ship' comments. I think we're long past that point
Sad to see Governor-General Alistair Jack stepping down instead of getting voted out. Not that there'd be much chance of that, right enough. Douglas Ross stepping down from his MP role? Wonder if he's read the runes and fancies his chances as First Minister in some horrendous Faustian horse-trading stitch-up between Scottish Labour, Tories and Lib-Dems?
it's interesting that May went to the country on june 8th when ruling out the 4th may in march 😕
Yeah. Interesting how his meeting with Graham Brady was publicised recently. No doubt he’ll have told Brady to tell the nutters to stand down or he’ll go early.
Double edged sword though.
The nuters believe they're right, which means they believe they'll get a bounce in the polls with a new leader, which means Rishi's only nuclear option is to threaten a general election mid way through the leadership election (i.e. quit and force them to go through an election campaign with no leader, or a hastily selected one). If they were sane they might select Cameron or Hunt who might be credible enough to generate a bounce or at least enthusiasm to vote among their core-ish voters, or they might select a Patel*/Badenoch to shut out Reform but further alienate the center.
n.b. I don't believe Reform's vote is actually that right wing, I think it's voting in it's own self interest, it's just that the information being disseminated is that the right wing is their best interest. If their media told them that capitalism was the issue and not immigration they'd be using their protest vote on Galloway**. They're floating voters, if you wood them back to the mainstream they'd be as likely to vote Labour as Conservative.
*not heard from her in a while?
**not a real socialist
lazy ****
they mentioned this on Newsnight the other night, which just confirms that we don't actually really have a government at the moment and the country is just drifting aimlessly. Victoria Derbyshire pointed out to whichever Tory gimp had drawn the short straw that night that none of them are ever in the house of commons because there's nothing for them to do. Rishi is just flying around the couuntry in his borrowed helicopter doing photoshoots and then pops in once a week for PMQ's
Meanwhile, back in the real world....
Only 10% of flagship levelling up funds spent, say MPs
Only 10% of funding promised to reduce inequality as part of the levelling up agenda has been spent, MPs have said.
The Public Accounts Committee found ministers were "unable to provide any compelling examples of what levelling up funding has delivered so far".
It also criticised a "worrying lack of transparency" in how cash was allotted.
Lack of transparency? Hmmmmm... I wonder if that pitiful amount of money that has actually been spent has found its way into the pockets of any Tory Party donors?
Sad to see Governor-General Alistair Jack stepping down instead of getting voted out. Not that there’d be much chance of that, right enough
His seat has been projected to go to snp in the next election so jumping before he gets kicked out. He’s been utterly ****ing useless anyway, he got chased out of kirkcudbright harbour by the fishermen throwing stuff at him and threatening to do his head in when he tried to do a puff piece to camera after the Brexit vote.
Wonder if he’s read the runes and fancies his chances as First Minister in some horrendous Faustian horse-trading stitch-up between Scottish Labour, Tories and Lib-Dems?
I belive its highly likely wecwill have a labour / tory administration at holyrood due to how the numbers stack up and tbe tribal hatred of the snp.
D.Ross will fancy a role for sure
Only 10% of funding promised to reduce inequality as part of the levelling up agenda has been spent, MPs have said.
Cash strapped councils, stripped to the bone over the last 10 years don't have the resources to spend the money.
All the back room functions - Legal, Finance, HR, Planning - are near non-existent. They've been given a windfall of cash but have nothing in the pipeline, little resource to generate schemes, prioritise them, carry out the cost:benefit analysis, procure the contractors and deliver it.
Imagine giving a housebound elderly relative a cash windfall in their bank. But they can't spend it online, they can only go to the bank and withdraw the cash.
But they're housebound, the bank is only open for half a day every other Tuesday and they've not thought of anything to buy.
It's like that. All well and good announcing millions of pounds of funding. Quite another thing making use of it.
Reform vote. I believe its right wing socially but not financially. So racist anti immigrant and scoungers.
But not low tax and spend
klunk - do you have a link to the chart you posted ^^^ showing average daily sitting times in the HoC?
Reform vote. I believe its right wing socially but not financially.
What are you talking about - Reform UK or their voters?
I would have thought both support right-wing economic policies but Reform UK definitely does, I can't imagine why their voters wouldn't. Reform UK is Nigel Farage's baby, it has right-wing stamped all over it.
Mordaunt should lead party into election not Sunak, Right-wing Tories believe
A group of Right-wing Conservative MPs believe Penny Mordaunt should lead the Tories into the next election, The Telegraph understands, as they consider a plot to oust Rishi Sunak.
A source on the Tory Right said: “Some Right-wing MPs met with Team Penny this week where they expressed the view they were prepared to back her. They take the view that Penny is preferable to Rishi Sunak right now.”
The source added: “Penny Mordaunt is now seen as the most likely person to stem the losses.”
I suggested a couple of days ago that due to her voter appeal the Tories best strategy would probably be to replace Sunak with Mordaunt and call a snap election during her honeymoon period and before voters realised that she wouldn't be offering change.
But I specifically thought that the Tory right-wing wouldn't allowed it, looks like I might have miscalculated that. They are clearly extremely desperate and maybe not deluding themselves as much as I thought.
I still don't doubt that the Tories wouldn't win the general election even with Mordaunt as leader, but it might not be quite as catastrophic.
Savage appraisal of the last 24 hrs on the news agents.
How long do we think he’s going to be around?
Didn’t think he’d last this long. Still don’t think he’ll be leader when the next general election comes around. The party don’t like him (members or MPs) and it’s not as if the voters want him either.
I'm not convinced morduant would make that much difference
She might be more 'electable' , but not all Tories will agree, the membership with Thatcher tinted glasses will waive ger through, but the electorate dont want to see more tory self indulgence
I saw an episode of 'the news agent's the other day and wasn't impressed. Just another Oxbridge get together like all the other political programmes, recycling tittle tattle that they've heard in the corridors of Westminster.
I thought they were wrong about almost everything. 'savaging' is about the only thing they can do. We need journalists who know how to do journalism and aren't consumed by their own self regard.
Kimbers:
"Ms Mordaunt emerges as the most favoured among all voters to be leader, beating all her rivals in a head-to-head.
Among Labour voters, 63 per cent said they preferred Ms Mordaunt to Mr Sunak, while 65 per cent preferred her to Ms Badenoch.”
Interesting that its only the day after Sunak decides not to go for a May election that the Tory right have decided that Mourdant would be a better choice.
It's not that you're wrong ernie, your projection was entirely sensible, it's just that the Tories haven't got a clue what they are doing and are at this point begging for the electorate to put them out of their misery.
At this point, Mourdant may be more popular with the electorate at large but give her a few weeks at the helm and she'll be exposed as Theresa May 2., other than sword carrying she has no discernable skills. There's every chance that she'll fare no better than Sunak would come an Autumn election.
As the tune goes....Things can only get worse.
As the tune goes….Things can only get worse.
Except for MPs. Why bother holding an election where you're going to lose your seat if you can hang on for 6 more months on an increased salary?!
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/mar/15/rishi-sunak-inflation-busting-pay-rise-mp
Except for MPs. Why bother holding an election where you’re going to lose your seat if you can hang on for 6 more months on an increased salary?!
Exactly. Do you want to get made redundant in May or in October. Think I will take October thanks while I sit around doing as little as possible in the meantime knowing what is happening in October and preparing what I am doing next and maybe even start doing it at the same time.
The only person to get to decide the date of the general election is Rishi Sunak, he most definitely will not be losing his seat at the general election - it is one of the safest seats in the country and has been Tory without a break for over a hundred years.
And even if he did lose it the last thing Sunak needs to worry about is the personal financial consequences that it might cause him.
Moreover I very much doubt that whilst contemplating the date of the next general election Sunak is motivated by altruistic concerns for his fellow Tory MPs.
Sunak's greatest concern will be how history judges him. Being responsible for the greatest Tory defeat in a couple of hundred years, an actual possibility, won't be what will satisfy his ego.
he most definitely will not be losing his seat at the general election – it is one of the safest seats in the country and has been Tory without a break for over a hundred years.
Unfortunately, I think you are correct. But I live in his constituency and talking to people locally who I had never thought would vote any other way, many are saying they will vote lib dem as a protest vote. I hope they do and I will probably too for the first time ever not voting labour.
Useful to point out that it isn't really the newsagents podcast that is savaging them. It is mainly Baroness Warsi who is giving them a kicking, and she isn't wrong
@jordan Will make it easier for him to go off to some tech (finance) bro job in California?
They’re at it again…
https://twitter.com/kitty_donaldson/status/1768916057324933383?t=-D5EC09WflxUbZpyQQpEqA&s=19
Going full scorched earth with unfunded tax cuts. Do that in September, go for an October election, hoping for a bit of a bounce off the back of tax cuts and if it doesn't work, Labour are faced with putting taxes back up immediately and can be portrayed as the Big Bad Nasty Party.
Until now, MPs on the Right of the party have opposed her because of her 'woke' views on gender issues.
But a source involved with the rebels said a deal was emerging in which they could support her provided she sub-contracts the issue to them.
Because of course the issue is so important to voters.
They can sub-contract out whatever they like to whichever faction of nutjobs wants them. They’re hardly going to be enacting any new legislation, are they?
This is all just posturing for the almighty bun fight that’s going to break out from the various wings of what remains of the party after they lose the election.
If there’s some marriage of convenience with the sword-carrier and the headbangers, it won’t last 5 minutes before they’re all plotting to overthrow her too and install Badanoch or Cruella instead.
The Tory party is now just a feral rabble and we just need shut of them ASAP
Again, I would say that the only conceivable reason Mordaunt would want it is simply to pad out the CV and get a lifetime income for a few month's 'work'. Having said that, she probably won't even keep her seat, which would add a bit of fizz to election night, so bring it on!
Conservatives slam ‘bonkers’ plot to topple Rishi Sunak before election
What I think is really "bonkers" is any political party going into a general election expecting the electorate to vote for them when their leader does not enjoy the full and unequivocal support of his/her MPs.
Just look at what happened to Labour in 2019. Why would anyone expect people to vote for a party whose leader is being relentlessly criticised their own MPs?
Just when you thought things could not possibly get any worse for the Tories they now look set to fight the next general election campaign with a leader that a fair chunk of Tory MPs don't want to be their leader.
I found this quite interesting and possibly plausible:
"Mordaunt made no public comment about the claims but her supporters said she was not party to, or aware of, any such plot, and that she believed the stories were an attempt by her detractors on the right to damage any potential challenge she may make in future, after a Tory election defeat."
I think they are like fish landed on a trawler flapping around as they face inevitable asphyxiation.
They can stick with Rishi, parachute Boris or even Farage in but they are basically buggered. Any move they make, or dont make, looks incompetent and directionless. They are in their death throws and I can't see anything other than an absolutely catastrophic Labour own goal saving them now.
As a lot of you guys have said lately, the more cunning sods amongst them are now just concentrating on sabotaging the country in order to cripple Labours first term and hope for a chance of return to government in '29.
Christ, aren't politicians supposed to serve the country or something rather than bugger it up for their own ambitions?
Rhetorical question.
I agree with all of that but...
I can’t see anything other than an absolutely catastrophic Labour own goal saving them now.
Never underestimate Labours ability to take themselves down from the inside! they are masters at it!
That's not strictly true, but the UK press has a tendency to go crazy about any Labour shortcomings, and play down the, let's face it, the weekly tsunami of Conservative insanity/idiocy.
I'm really looking forward to the local elections...I know they are not technically representative of a GE, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest the voting public will mostly give a good indication of the direction of travel.