If he is exonerated or Sunak does nothing the civil servants are going to create one heck of a fuss / resign to force Sunaks hand.
If he is exonerated or Sunak does nothing the civil servants are going to create one heck of a fuss / resign to force Sunaks hand.
Yeah, like that'll work - not sure you missed him facing up to half the NHS on strike and calling their bluff...
So Sunak moves further to the right.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65331272
The home secretary is expected to be given the ability to ignore attempts by European judges to halt migrant deportations from the UK.
Is this just the prep for leaving ECHR?
So Sunak moves further to the right.
Only if you believe he wasn't there already.
All of this is posturing before the local elections
I expect similar publicity stunts on trans rights, lefty lawyers, the BBC etc etc in the run up to May the 4th.
After that they'll go very quiet as all their proposed schemes fall apart under the weight of reality
Im starting to wonder if the new voter ID laws will have a far bigger impact than any of these announcements though, could well be enough to save sunaks skin if the cons do better than predicted
Interestingly, Danny Kruger MP (BBC story above) is yet another 2nd generation immigrant with, what I would suggest are, quite extreme views.
Is this what they mean when folk talk about immigrants not following 'British Values'?
https://www.****/news/article-6231055/Immigrants-Britain-follow-UKs-values-Sajid-Javid-demands.html
"Mr Javid told Tory activists in Birmingham new arrivals needed to understand Britain was a 'liberal, democratic' country. "
All of this is posturing before the local elections
You are convinced that Rishi Sunak doesn't personally agree with any of these policies and that it is simply "posturing"?
Why? Based on your posting record it is unusual for you to be generous towards the character of Tory politicians, what makes Rishi Sunak different?
Is it the slick presentation?
A reminder that Labour need a big lead to gain a majority of seats at the national level, the Tories only a tiny one…
https://twitter.com/getprdone/status/1648018606393794632?s=21
…and voterID is likely to make any Labour lead in the polls a lower margin come voting day… the pollsters don’t know how to factor that in yet.
Maybe next time Starmer takes his gloves off in a campaign he can come up with something that might actually be of value to the voters.
The magnets of voting are pulling right-wingers back to their safe space.
Go even more right-wing Starmer? I mean short of doing an NHS fire-sale ...
I'd say he's is boxed in whilst the Tories appear to the electorate as restoring their version of normality. Clearly inflation is being let off the hook by Tory pockets who are happy to shop around.
I mean short of doing an NHS fire-sale …
Streeting - who take money from private health companies has said the solution tot he NHS woes is more privitisation
Yep.
I wonder whether there will be a move on the NHS at some point in the race to the bottom?
Fix or dismantle - it's got to happen at some point.
A reminder that Labour need a big lead to gain a majority of seats at the national level, the Tories only a tiny one…
Someone should definitely mention that to Labour. They seem to be doing their best to shed as many voters as possible.
If only there was some policy they could adopt that would mean an end to the FPTP democratic deficit...
You are convinced that Rishi Sunak doesn’t personally agree with any of these policies and that it is simply “posturing”?
Nope I think he's definitely right wing
Im just hugely sceptical that his plan for ignoring ECHR rulings will work! if it even gets past the Lord's.
I think he's well aware of this but knows he needs to bang that culture war drum pre-local elections.
The entire Rwanda scheme looks ridiculously hairbrained, I can't believe even braverman is dim enough to think it will work, but theyll happily see it fail if they can blame lefty lawyers etc , that might just be enough.
I can’t believe even braverman is dim enough to think it will work, but theyll happily see it fail if they can blame lefty lawyers etc , that might just be enough.
Yup its definitely preferable for it be blocked by those nasty leftie woke lawyers than have it fail because its a crap idea which wont succeed.
The best things in life are free…
https://twitter.com/oxygentrancecb/status/1648758313801199618?s=21
…if you’re a Tory.
Streeting – who take money from private health companies
he hasn't registered it as an interest then, last time I checked his donations page, there was nothing obvious. Not saying he doesn't but isn't that illegal?
…if you’re a Tory.
PE have been reporting on that for quite some time. Be nice it if got more headlines in the wider press.
Some pals seem to be doing very well out of the "free port" idea.
Maybe thats why they claimed the free ports werent possible in the EU. What they meant was giving them away from free wasnt.
The impetus for Labour’s ban on accepting donations from private companies interested in outsourcing NHS functions was a report that, in 2022, Wes Streeting accepted a £15,000 donation from hedge fund manager John Armitage. Mr Armitage’s fund owns shares worth more than half a billion dollars in UnitedHealth. UnitedHealth is America’s largest health insurer. It has spent millions of dollars lobbying US politicians against healthcare reform through seven different lobbying forms. This includes lobbying against the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would guarantee supplies to insulin to diabetics who depend on it to survive. It is one of the largest profiteers from NHS outsourcing and one of the biggest potential beneficiaries of future privatisation.
Its not as obvious in the register of interests as it was - perhaps he dropped some under pressure or perhaps there are more disguised ones like this.
Disguised, I recognise the name of the individual donor, I was looking for companies. The sneaky bastid.
in 2022, Wes Streeting accepted a £15,000 donation from hedge fund manager John Armitage.
Always amazes me just how cheap these politicians are to buy!
There were others last time I looked as well
Always amazes me just how cheap these politicians are to buy!
What do you expect from someone who was the president of NUS and worked for PWC.
In fact it's probably what I would expect.
The private eye article about teeside Freeport is bonkers
Houchen on a smash & grab in case he gets voted out
On the news now that Sunak is "carefully considering" the Raab bullying report.
Is that news speak for "oh shit, how do we get out of this one?!" ??
I'm amazed the report hasn't been leaked yet
In fact it’s probably what I would expect.
For someone who worked for PWC I would expect a rather higher bill. Maybe that per hour.
It is the depressing thing how cheap they are. At least in most countries the owners have to pay enough that sometimes its actually worth not bribing someone.
Houchen on a smash & grab in case he gets voted out
That does him a discredit. PE has been covering it for a while now and its anything but a smash and grab.
More a slow careful boiling of a frog to get the maximum returns without being noticed.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65336405
Dither and delay?!
How unlike the Tories to prevaricate...
It's got to be a pretty damning report for a delay like this; yet more barrel scraping for yet another cabinet reshuffle looming...
Well it looks like the penny is dropping with the Tories - despite all the posturing by the likes of Braverman as she preaches to the already converted whose only other option is to vote BNP. I.e. the less Brexity nutters in prominence, the better their chances of nicking a GE result next year. As those distribution-points-seats point above make clear, the Tories don't actually have to make up as much ground as you'd think.
+1 for dissonance.
No smash'n'grab; the Eye have been onto Houchen, his dodgy deals and grasping mates from the start.
How long before the kickbacks are exposed?
Reminds me of John Poulson and T Dan Smith - but on steroids.
as she preaches to the already converted whose only other option is to vote BNP.
That's a strange comment to make Danny, why the BNP?
The BNP only stood one solitary candidate in the whole of the UK last general election, it is far from certain that they will stand any more than that next general election.
I don't think Sunak/Braverman need worry about the BNP.
The Tories know that if they wobble from the nationalist path they have taken then a far right party could emerge in an instant. The Conservatives bleeding voters to UKIP was the reason they staged the credit referendum in the first place.
Post referendum, the Brexit party was established in a couple of days, forcing the government to go for a hard Brexit.
If the Tories are seen to soften then a new far right party could emerge in an instant, only this time it wouldn't be hiding behind great, it would be something more like the Front Nationale in France.
So ypire right when you say that the Tories have nothing to fear from the BNP, there will be a new party on the block, jist as nasty but with millions mpre supporters. They'll probably call themselves 'The New National Front"
Do you think they will have as many MPs as the NF, BNP, and UKIP, had?
When was the last time that a Tory parliamentary candidate was defeated by a far-right candidate?
I'm thinking Douglas Carswell in 2015, other than that I can't think of any.
The fear for the tories is not the far right taking seats, its that they could split the right wing vote letting labour in.
Edit - Farage threatening to do this caused the Tories to shift a long way to a hardest of hard brexit to stop him from standing candidates against the tories.
It's not a case of winning seats is it? Farage never won a seat despite trying 4 times, though UKIP achieved exactly what they intended, forcing the Tories to call a referendum.
Having won that referendum, Farage doubled down by creating the Brexit party to make sure that Brexit would be as sh*t as possible and once again he succeeded. Hever won a seat but the most successful and consequential politician of the decade.
Do you think all those voters (up to 4 million of them) are satisfied now that Brexit has happened? Or do you see a rump of electorate who could be lured to vote for a party selling an even harder form of nationalism?
Reform UK have stated that they will fight every parliamentary seat at the next general election. I am sure that they will not change their minds. Rishi Sunak cannot do anything to stop them.
Nigel Farage's priority in 2019 was to stop Jeremy Corbyn becoming PM, which is why his party didn't stand candidates in seats which were winnable for the Tories. I am sure that SKS becoming PM doesn't fill Farage with the same dread as JC did.
Farage never won a seat despite trying 4 times
I think you will find that Nigel Farage made 7 attempts to win a Westminster seat. And also that the Liberal Democrats called for an EU in-out referendum before UKIP did.
So it's the Liberal democrats who were to blame for Brexit!
Though I accept that the fact that Farage lost 7 times rather than 4 completely invalidates my point.
You win again Ernie..
Though I accept that the fact that Farage lost 7 times rather than 4 completely invalidates my point.
I reckon the fact that Farage failed 7 times to win a parliamentary seat somewhat undermines the narrative espoused by some with regards to his alleged huge personal electoral appeal.
It should be remembered that as UKIP Party leader Farage was in the position to choose to stand in whatever consistency anywhere in the UK that he fancied.
Yet the man portrayed by some as having massive voter appeal never managed to win a single seat. And certainly not through lack of trying.
I haven't read the report, obviously, but the report of Rishi reading the report is quite a good one
Would a red waller vote reform over labour?
Surely starmer has proved himself enough of a **** that his beloved Tory voters would vote for him.
I reckon the fact that Farage failed 7 times to win a parliamentary seat somewhat undermines the narrative espoused by some with regards to his alleged huge personal electoral appeal.
7 parliamentary losses vs 1 referendum.
Not quite sure how you do the maths in these things but the UK appears to be out of the EU so I think Farage won in the end. It was never about winning seats, it was about siphoning off votes that would otherwise go to the Tories.
I can't remember which thread it was on but I honestly think the only way to make your vote count in UK elections is to vote for single issue parties. Mainstream parties don't give a shit about you when you vote for them. Why would they? They've already got everything they need from you.
The only way to get mainstream parties to do what you want is to not vote for them. UKIP knew this which is why they won.
The problem is, sensible people don't vote for single issue parties. Sensible people vote for mainstream parties because they don't want to 'waste' their vote. Hence why there are no parties running on a ticket of solely electoral reform or getting back in the EU/CU/SM or any other sensible policy.
Sensible policies are for mainstream parties. Trouble is, sensible people are already voting for them so there are no votes in actually pursuing sensible policies so instead the mainstream parties chase the non-sensible voters by pursuing stupid policies.
So yay, Vote Labour!
mainstream parties chase the non-sensible voters by pursuing stupid policies
Something Starmer is doing by stating that there is no economic case to rejoin the EU, despite the massive elephant just behind him stating the opposite.
But hey, it seems my contributions are not wanted somehow, so I'm out. I don't know what axes are being ground but I know when I'm not welcome.
Suffice to say that, whatever attempted re-branding people try, the phrase 'A bit Brexity' will always mean the same thing in general parlance. In spite of whatever sophistry the apologists try to come up with.
Au revoir.
Not quite sure how you do the maths in these things but the UK appears to be out of the EU so I think Farage won in the end.
It is strange the conclusions that people can come to when events don't suit their narrative.
The idea that voters voted to leave the EU because of the personal persuasive power and appeal of Farage is obviously nonsense.
For an extremely high profile politician to make 7 attempts to win a parliamentary seat and fail every single time is staggering, in fact I reckon it is probably safe to say unprecedented.
Farage stood for election in seats where UKIP enjoyed the highest possible level of support and yet still failed to win.
The obvious question is why? The obvious answer is because he didn't appeal to voters.
moimoifan Free Member
Au revoir.
You'll be missed Danny, don't leave it too long 😢