do they finish the Friday before the election?
Mostly. Some a full week before the election, Wed 26th.
IIRC NI and Wales aren’t that different to England.
https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/articles/school-holidays
Summer holiday begins 1 July 2025
Not that NI will have played any part in Sunak’s decision making.
Just listened to the news agents podcast and they suggested that the only reason he would go for July is that he has finally realised there is no way back for the Tories and he wants it over and done with , if that's the case I can't imagine what energy he'll bring to the campaign.
The same horrible snarky energy he’s brought to all interviews in the last year… a complete turn off for voters, even those more inclined to vote Conservative in the past. His special take on self entitled fake upbeatness is painful to watch.
I’m sure he’s fundamentally a decent guy. But he really needs to experience a bit of failure in his life.
Just listened to the news agents podcast and they suggested that the only reason he would go for July is that he has finally realised there is no way back for the Tories and he wants it over and done with
He wants to be settled in his tech-bro job in California before another British winter
^^ His Mrs can stop paying her voluntary UK tax too.
The couple only made £108 million this year. Times are tough.
GE launch still going well
https://twitter.com/JackParkr/status/1793358332507418722?t=MZfzBVGOJaFRIpz91GXr0w&s=19
finbar
Free Member
All those poor MPs who thought they had another four months on the take 😀
Poor little luvs. No way even GB News can take them all in.
Well I was miles off, confidently predicting an October GE..
As was I although given that his own mps seem to be going nuts about it I think it is excusable.
Somewhat odd decision.
They think Sunak doesn't care about them with his millions and his US home. "Selfish" a word I've heard a lot
Libertarian right wing Tory’s, devoted as they are to the cult of the individual, accusing anyone of being ‘selfish’ is absolutely priceless! 😂
Caroline Nokes on Peston is so smug, smarmy and blithely assured that she won’t lose her seat that she’s just taken over as the prime candidate I’d like to see have her own personal ‘Portillo Moment’ on July 4th
I do hope the voters of Southampton North do the honours
D:Ream hits the top 10 of the iTunes UK chart
Another reason to hate the Tories, not an earworm I wanted this morning
His special take on self entitled fake upbeatness is painful to watch.
That encapsulates him for me. I don't think he's a decent bloke in the slightest.
Nick Robinson slowly and simply taking him completely apart on Radio4 right now. He’s utterly done for.
They're bonkers...some Tory MPs believe they can replace Sunak before Parliament is dissolved next Thursday, and then cancel the dissolution! 😂
Nick Robinson slowly and simply taking him completely apart on Radio4 right now
Sunak just sounds like a malfunctioning droid, ignoring every question and endlessly repeating the same pre-prepared soundbites
He makes Theresa May sound spontaneous and charismatic
Playing a blinder latest
To not have the election in May, and then pull this stunt? I'm not surprised the Tories are furious with him. The man has zero political nous.
Nick Robinson slowly and simply taking him completely apart on Radio4 right now
It's all good, NHS waiting lists have fallen by errrrr.... 0.8% from only 7.6 to 7.54 million. Noise.
To not have the election in May, and then pull this stunt? I’m not surprised the Tories are furious with him.
Depends if the story that he was told the votes of no confidence were mounting up and decided sod it lets go out with a bang is true or not. If so its more "you are furious now but just wait five minutes..."
That's quite a listen. Starts about 8:10, if anyone wants their gob to be smacked.
You can’t do that and be fundamentally decent.
I believe most of that was his wifes inherited wealth.
I’m sure he’s fundamentally a decent guy
Sunak? Fundamentally decent? Sorry but after watching the petulant, spoiled little shit excusing the devastation that his party has rained down on so many and then thoroughly believing that they should get another does not paint a picture of someone fundamentally decent.
I believe most of that was his wifes inherited wealth.
Apart from the vast piles he made working for Goldman Sachs, and the Hedge Fund he moved to in 2006 and the one he created in 2010. You don't get to marry into wealth unless you're wealthy yourself.
Oohh some shitstirring from Mrs Tice
https://twitter.com/IsabelOakeshott/status/1793553041620337123?t=xdF7-1PApQRiFZKCzbZ8Cw&s=19
She's just a grade A bullshitter. She'll know nothing.
When you launch Twitter with just a shell acct (like wot I have) and you click on an account like that, X will serve you up similar accts...The right-wing shill world is an awful awful place. Poor loves are literally terrified of everything.
OMG... heard a second Sunak interview this morning... when asked about planning for rain... the exact same words... the same scary fake laugh... chilling.
He just gets better and better. 🙂 https://twitter.com/TomLarkinSky/status/1793608546015490381
How do you post a link that shows a thumbnail, so people don't have to visit that horrible cesspit to see what I linked?
He just gets better and better. 🙂 https://twitter.com/TomLarkinSky/status/1793608546015490381
Talk to them about football Rishi, it'll mark you out as a Man of the People.
Football - what's that?
Oh it's a game that commoners play - don't worry about it.
/tries to talk about football, finds himself out of depth instantly.
Not sure who thought this photo was a good idea
GE launch still going well
Pretty extraordinary scenes live on @skynews – political correspondent @darrenmccaffrey forcibly kicked out of a big Conservatives launch event live on air pic.twitter.com/6MMs1gVfRh
— Jack Parker (@JackParkr) May 22, 2024
Can't be dealing with those horrible oiks in the Lefty Murdoch empire.
I’m sure he’s fundamentally a decent guy.
I think he's a product of his upbringing.
He might be "nice" on a fundamental level, if you were a multimillionaire having a party he'd probably be a great person to chat about common interests with. But his life experience is just so far divorced from the reality of everyday people that he just can't empathize or relate with them. Like the football thing. I couldn't give a crap about football, but I have a vague idea that England qualified and Wales didn't and that it's going to be something that will end up being discussed in conversation and I'll occasionally walk past someons desk with a half filled in Sun center spread knockout table pinned above it.
To him it's clearly been communicated to him that football is something that might give his polling a slight bounce if England do well, and he's never known anyone from Wales so it didn't occur to him that Welsh people aren't English. So he's gone in there for his man of the people photo-op confident that he's rehearsed his talking points and fallen flat on his face. Whenever he's forced to talk to the public it's like a GCSE oral exam "Ohh yes, I took my pet Iguana to the Football last weekend too", just shallow lies in an effort to sound like what he thinks is normal.
I think he’s a product of his upbringing.
He might be “nice” on a fundamental level, if you were a multimillionaire having a party he’d probably be a great person to chat about common interests with. But his life experience is just so far divorced from the reality of everyday people that he just can’t empathize or relate with them.
I completely agree.
This is the weird thing - isn't he just the son of a pair of immigrant doctors? Ok he went to a very good school but I can't imagine he was on a level playing field with most of his peers while there. He's certainly "made good" and wasn't born into the wealth that he currently enjoys. (Source Wiki - could all be BS)
just the son of a pair of immigrant doctors?
That's a pretty privileged starting position IMO as the son of a dentist.
https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1793642084840407072?t=8zRJf57mKgkAqQUW79qBTA&s=19
When you can't talk to the public, just pretend that a couple of your councillor mates are "public".
Did they learn nothing from the Lee Anderson incident where he was caught on open mic talking to his friend setting up the "I'm just the local candidate knocking on doors, pretend you know who I am but not that we're mates"?
FFS. Sooner this absolute shower of shysters can be voted into oblivion, the better.
I mean he went to Winchester.....hardly a self made bloke is he! I've got a few friends that are doctors, and they wouldn't be able to afford Winchester!
He really is just the most useless political campaigner imaginable. From not knowing how to use contactless, to asking a man in a homeless shelter if he works in finance through to his cringe attempts to appear normal. Seriously, it's like some bizarre performance art. I suppose that it is almost like some form of public service. I would consider myself very privileged and middle class these days.....yet I was essentially unaware that people like Sunak, without any semblance of ability to understand everyday life, actually existed.
Tom-B
I mean he went to Winchester…..hardly a self made bloke is he! I’ve got a few friends that are doctors, and they wouldn’t be able to afford Winchester!
That's what I mean by weird - Winchester is what, £50k/year? That's a lot of disposable, even for 2 doctors - something doesn't add up in his biog.
I've seen 4 tory (+1 Labour) MPs announcing they're standing down today
According to Osborne 40 people around Sunak knew this for about the last month
He also reckons a 60 seat majority for labour, which is not what the polls say now!
They want to appear competent and trustworthy, so needed a made-up backstory to compensate for the fact they’re just a bunch of pathological narcissists with a stench of desperation as they don’t want their gravy train to grind to a halt.
gotta call BS on this one, there’s no way 40 tories would have kept a secret for that long.
If it was MPs not a chance but 40 people mostly consisting of staff, who may or may not be tories, I think would be possible.
Yeah, I'd say 40 people would be necessary really - even a shit show as disasterous as yesterday's takes some serious planning.
Jesus wept, he's a rank amateur.
'Fundamentally decent' bloke who lies to the face of the relative of a Manchester bombing victim, promising that legislation will be presented to Parliament before recess, all the time knowing he's going to call an election that same day.
And I'm guessing he won't be presenting any legislation as promised for infected blood victims compensation.
He lies as easily as he breathes.
martinhutchFull Member
‘Fundamentally decent’ bloke who lies to the face of the relative of a Manchester bombing victim, promising that legislation will be presented to Parliament before recess, all the time knowing he’s going to call an election that same day.
I think you give him too much credit for knowing he was going to call an election - had the feel of a toddler throwing their toys out of the pram how hastily it was put together.
Jesus wept, he’s a rank amateur.
Now say that in a Jonathan Woss voice
I think you give him too much credit for knowing he was going to call an election – had the feel of a toddler throwing their toys out of the pram how hastily it was put together.
Sometimes as a Prime Minister you wake up not knowing whether the day will end with you stitching up most of your party colleagues, random bereaved people, or just some refugees. Toughest job in the world.
There's no really good options for Rishi now though, waiting till Autumn, and you're into conference season, and you need that to happen, because; Donors. Wait till Winter and the people you're relying on to come out and vote won't want to 'cause it's cold and dark, Past Xmas is looks like you're desperately hanging onto power, not even Rishi's that desperate
He bottled the May by-elections, so Summer it is. As George says; nothing's moving the dial; so here we are
There has also been the suggestion that uncertainty over the King's future health has introduced the possibility that any election campaign held after the summer might be disrupted.
But it seems more plausible that he did it as an 'f you' to the colleagues preparing to depose him. The last decade has been marked by some of the pettiest politics we've ever had.
uncertainty over the King’s future health has introduced the possibility that any election campaign held after the summer might be disrupted.
A new and young king ascending to the throne? What a great time for the Tories to hold a general election!
Or a sick and dying monarch? What a great distraction from the failures of the last 14 years.
More that an enforced period of mourning slap bang in the middle of an election campaign is inconvenient, and I'm sure those most likely to find it a bit of a downer are also most likely to be older, Tory, voters.
Got around to listening to Nick Robinson:
"There were three PMs in a year, four different chancellors, a home Home sec sacked for just six days, and re-hired, and then sacked a year later, a PM forced out of office because he's a lying piece of shit* and another who even you think crashed the economy, why should the public give the Conservatives another turn..?"
* not accurate transcription, but you get the drift
Think I might buy some beer from that Welsh brewery - that level of contempt should be rewarded 🤣
Remember that someone from the brewery will have agreed to host the bloke, even if the employees aren't too chuffed about it.
yeah, crossed my mind too but on balance I'm happy
This is the weird thing – isn’t he just the son of a pair of immigrant doctors? Ok he went to a very good school but I can’t imagine he was on a level playing field with most of his peers while there. He’s certainly “made good” and wasn’t born into the wealth that he currently enjoys. (Source Wiki – could all be BS)
Dad was a GP. Mum was a Pharmacist. She owned a pharmacy for about 20 years. They weren't immigrants scraping together money to pay a trafficker, they were affluent even before they arrived. My experience of ecconomic migrants is they often are more "ambitious" for their off-spring than bits of the native populations who have been downtrodden for generation after generation. Just having parents that care is a good start in the UK. Having ambitious parents is a shove up. Having ambitious parents with money is an extra boost. The tory trap is to believe that this means Rishi (or many others like him who have done even moderately well in life) have done so because of their own efforts and that those who don't match him must be lazy/stupid/inferior. They believe their luck is because of their upbringing and everyone else can be that lucky if they really want to be.
When parents' wealth (and to be fair sacrifices) mean a child can get a better education you would expect them to do better than their peers who don't get that boost. Winchester College is a big boost: not only is it presumably a very good education (he was a day pupil costing £36K this year!) but it establishes connections and relationships that almost certainly helped his next step to Oxford, his internship at Tory central office and his entry to finance at Goldman Sachs. That got him into has Stanford MBA where he met his wife and even more fortune! Don't get me wrong every step of the way there will have been other kids who got a similar step up and failed. Perhaps they were snorting too much cocaine, just not academically smart enough, had too much of a financial safety blanket so didn't need to succeed etc. But I think we can be pretty sure that had he been the son of immigrants working for TfL and a in a care home there would be zero prospect of him having ultimately ended up where he did.
It's easy to say his parents bought him success with the Winchester education (I'm not sure if he got any scholarships etc or his siblings got the same benefit?) but the reality is at least half the parents on this forum will have done something similar but on a smaller scale: private education, buy a house in a good catchment area, pay for a tutor, etc. And ofcourse Sir Keir has had a lot of lucky breaks too - his parents weren't doctors but they both has reasonable jobs which werent the victim of the thatcher reforms, he got into a selective school, which turned into a private school whilst he was there but he didn't have to pay fees, he got a tution fee-free degree and probably a grant, his law degree led him to become a barrister in the era when fees in human rights and criminal law were healthy.
Public School fees weren’t so expensive (relatively) 30 years ago.
Winchester College is a big boost: not only is it presumably a very good education (he was a day pupil costing £36K this year!) but it establishes connections and relationships that almost certainly helped his next step to Oxford, his internship at Tory central office and his entry to finance at Goldman Sachs. That got him into has Stanford MBA where he met his wife and even more fortune
Yep, it’s the usual you are who you hang around with scenario.
More opportunities if your besties parents work/own companies in the city.
It’s a mix of getting the opportunities and running with them thou but his rewards for working hard are unlikely to be reproduced by Joe Public.
My inner city school wasn’t exactly full of the children of merchant bankers although we did have someone who was a successful music producer who worked with Madonna.
Fundamentally decent’ bloke who lies to the face of the relative of a Manchester bombing victim, promising that legislation will be presented to Parliament before recess, all the time knowing he’s going to call an election that same day.
And I’m guessing he won’t be presenting any legislation as promised for infected blood victims compensation.
I think these points are the most poignant.