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“ransacked” is the right word for what they’ve done.
Voting to leave us swimming in our own shit gives us the best metaphor for the past 10 years, but the trail of corruption and poverty behind that is the far more brutal Tory legacy.
And they will quickly regroup too, as the author says. There’s a lot of money and power behind “the historic vessel of Britain’s ruling class”.
A lot of that 20% that are still saying they will vote tory are not benefitting from having a tory government and it should probably be closer to 5%
Thats the bit I can't get my head around.
The Guardian are reporting that he’s bowing to pressure from the headbangers and talking about bringing the fly-tipped sofa back like he has done with ‘Dave’
Because elevating two former failed PM’s to the Lords so as to get them back in the cabinet is a great look. Give it a few weeks and no doubt Truss will be back too
Why would Boris want to do that?
a) He loathes Sunak
b) Why would he want to be in situ for an electoral massacre?
My only guess is that he'll turn up, knife Sunak for revenge, then stroll off whistling in Latin.
What motivates Boris Johnson?
colournoise - can you supply a link to the full NY Times article?
TBH I snagged that excerpt from Xwitter, but looks like the full thing is available here...
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/27/opinion/britain-conservative-party-coronation.html?smid=url-share
From last year, but no less relevant because of that. Overall tone of the full thing is slightly less withering than the excerpt but still a bleak outsider's view of the UK's political malaise.
EDIT. Looks like the NY Times does something funky to its links. Maybe you can get there from here...
I see we are firmly into the 'announce any old undeliverable shit to see if it moves the dial' spiral now.
https://twitter.com/eamonnbutler/status/1759498326209139121
One of the biggest problems facing teachers and pupils at school are mobile phones according to Sunak.
Well my old secondary school is basically falling down and is unsafe. Apparently around 2/3rds of it is closed.
****ing hate him.
Mobile phones can be an issue in schools. I've been at my school 7 years now, and for as long as I've been there students have been expected to hand them in as they come onto the site. We know a lot don't do this, but they also don't get them out and use them during the school day because they know they're banned.
Problem solved. No need for any pointless, shouty intervention from this failure of a government.
This is interesting
A major contender for the tory leadership has come out fighting on this
If shes wrong on this it could be the end of her reputation, if she is able to back this up & especially willing to say it outside of parliament & Staunton proved wrong, her position will be strengthened
https://twitter.com/SkyNewsAdele/status/1759655932315705675?t=nzssp_mMXxjEioO6WJf_zw&s=19
Always make sure they don't have receipts before you double down, minister.
Anyone else thinks that the way she came out punching had a certain Johnathon Aitkin about it? And we know how that ended
I expect Sunak won’t be commenting on it and he’ll be happy to keep reeling out the rope she needs to hang herself. I’m sure he’s more than happy to have all the press attention on his main leadership rival, rather than himself, after a pretty disastrous week
The Sunday Times will probably already be in possession of the incriminating emails etc needed to prove Badanoch is lying through her teeth and will have been before they published the original article on Sunday.
It’s just another Tory shitshow all over the front pages again
I'd like the former PO chairman to challenge her to sue him if he's wrong.
I’d like her to repeat her accusations outside parliament, so he can sue her.
If it falls to me to start a fight to cut out the cancer of bent and twisted journalism in our country with the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play, so be it. I am ready for the fight. The fight [is] against falsehood and those who peddle it. My fight begins today.
Hamlet came to mind...
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
the player queen indeed
I’d like her to repeat her accusations outside parliament, so he can sue her.
Do you mean the accusation of Staunton lying? I think you'll find she already has.
https://twitter.com/KemiBadenoch/status/1759214419022663747
Hamlet came to mind…
Well, it certainly smells to heaven.
Sword of Truth?
or
Dagger of deceit?
She says “My call with Staunton was with officials. They took a complete record” yet refuses to publish it
If that alleged record says what she claims it does, she’d have made it public on Sunday afternoon with the rest of her unhinged ramblings. I’d bet there is a record but it backs up his version of events, not hers.
John Craces assessment is bang on, as always…
On Horizon, the truth is an insult to the ever-outraged Kemi Badenoch
She has just published it. Some of it is redacted, and curiously, there is no mention of the 'serious allegations' about Staunton's conduct which she said were the basis for the sacking. Despite it being a 'complete record' of the conversation, as you say. Curious.
If that was said, as she claims, but not recorded, it's doesn't exactly refute Staunton's statement, does it?
She has zero political instinct. Anyone with a scintilla of intelligence could have killed this story by Monday lunchtime, but she went off on one on Twitter, and has now embroiled herself in the Post Office scandal. Good work Kemi!
Rishi might have other things on his mind this evening. Seeing as all the polls are only heading in one direction, everyone in Westminster is talking about a definite May election to try and save a few seats as things will look even worse by the Autumn.
Rishi and his minions are apparently selecting which seats are possibly saveable and which are already lost, going off presently polling and they’re the only ones that will be seriously contested. This is likely to bring on another slew of Tory MPs standing down before the inevitable electoral bloodbath
I think doubling down and lying out of your arse is just SOP for the Tories now.
Yet another legacy of Johnson's time in office.
She sure as hell will never, ever resign even if she is proven to be fibbing... again, straight from the Johnson playlist.
Nice choice there between someone you don't like or someone you really don't like.
Ho hum.
Another potential byelection coming up as Scott Benton has lost an appeal against being suspended for 35 days (for offering lobbying services to the gambling industry) so gives the chance for a recall election and given the constituency numbers doubt it is going to end well.
Whilst unlikely I dont think we can completely rule out it being Starmer being the one to decide when to call the GE after the tories burn through their majority in byelections.
He's speaking at the NFU conference this morning.
What could possibly go wrong?
By-election incoming.
Poor lil' Sunak.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-68348594
Apologies, bin dun I see but I'll leave it here for the Beeb link.
Genuine marginal seat that Blackpool South one.
Sitting MPs are going to do f all between now and the next election anyway… our government has given up. By-elections are pointless at this stage, just call a General Election now.
It's a general election by individual seat. By 2046, we'll have a full Labour government! 😉
Anyone know what the current majority is?
I can't keep up!
He’s speaking at the NFU conference this morning.
What could possibly go wrong?
Good luck on trying to convince them they've not been utterly ****ed by Brexit and that Kemi's fantastic trade deals, which undermine their livelihoods with cheap imports, are in fact an absolute triumph!
Rishi explaining the detail of the deal to them
Well.
Currently 349 Tory MPs, vs 301 Other. So 48. If Scott Benton loses the whip that's 46.
But there are 7 Sinn Fein MPs who don't attend the HoC, or vote IIRC.
No wonder the little fella is at the NFU conference trying to present himself as a saviour for farmers and farming - recent poll in Farmers Weekly asked about voting intentions...Lab 61%, tories 4%, others 35%.
The wider article/discussion provided little comfort for either labour or tories; will post a link to it later.
Was there a Q&A after his platitudes to the NFU delegates and, if so, was he asked about trade deals with Australia and NZ which, demonstrably, are disadvantageous to UK farmers?
What about the shortage of vets in the meat & poultry sector?
What about the mass closures of small local abattoirs?
What about increased phyto-sanitary checks and increased regulation on food exports as a direct result of brexit?
I would feel sorry for the farmers aside from how many were in favour of brexit.
Plenty of trailers round here during the referendum period voting for it.
Other groups who didnt vote for it deserve helping before those who did.
will they do the byelection to coincide with the locals inMay
Benton always did seem to be a cockwomble
They're one of the few groups who had a valid argument for Brexit due to the way the EU uses farmers as a bargaining chip between members.
The farmers were on the recieving end of some horrendous disinformation regarding Brexit, yet nothing that was promised to farmers has materialised. We're only just getting the new subsidy system now after 8 years to get it ready.
The farmers have been solidly Tory historically, even though some data shows labour governments actually being more pro-farmer, but to see such a swing to labour should be a damning indictment to the government, but isn't getting much traction in the media
Edit: just to be clear, I'm incredibly anti-brexit and pro-farmer
The farmers were on the recieving end of some horrendous disinformation regarding Brexit
They were not the only ones. Maybe they should have looked into it a bit more and also checked who the government was who was going to deliver the BS they were sold...
Just look up what farmers were promised before you tar and feather them
If I was in their position back in 2016 I'd probably have voted for Brexit.
They've been royally shafted
Just look up what farmers were promised before you tar and feather them
Everyone was promised everything. Which was a rather big hint most people were being lied to.
Sorry but the farmers (obviously not all but as a general group) dug the hole not just for themselves but for the rest of us as well.
bring back boris! the most popular leader!
Love that they've extended that graphic for Liz Truss - so low was her approval.
It's good that Starmer is sooo far ahead of sunak but it's worth noting that his net approval rating is still negative.
It’s good that Starmer is sooo far ahead of sunak but it’s worth noting that his net approval rating is still negative.
And still trending steadily downwards.