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Breaking news on BBC that he’s definitely scrapping HS2 tomorrow. Quelle surprise.
I am struggling to understand this mess.
Either they should have gone for a "it will be announced on Wednesday during the idiots speech" or "it will be announced once we have safely escaped this northern hellhole. Just before the christmas break maybe to avoid PM questions?".
Not the well yes but no but yes strategic briefings.
I am looking forward to finding out what exactly is woke science though.
I still can’t believe that’s real.
I can only repeat... the satirists are out of a job.
Have checked a few times to see of that's really from our party of government... and still part of me is expecting to find out it wasn't... some how.
The reality is that 99% of voters vote on the basis of party affiliation.
Well, that's a bit of a stupid thing to do, but it's also a different conversation.
Why should MPs be entitled to ignore that?
In exreme and unprecedented circumstances, like another world war 2, possibly not, but an MP supposedly represents their constituents, and should act in thier best interest.. it's the job and privilege of an MP to do the correct thing and not pander to simple populism.
They are supposedly public servants, but in the fog of easy money, illusion of power and the threat of that easy money being shut off...
If you say something philosophically malaligned with whims of the current grand supreme leader de jour, or some powerfull splinter faction within the party, it's easy to see how the corruption and blackmail creeps in.
Defy the whip and you’re out of a job
That only applies to ministers because of the collective responsibility idea. MPs can do what they want to some extent. Bad for promotion prospects though.
Are there really many votes in cancelling HS2
if the cost is really being spent* on other projects, then what's the benefit?, especially as a fair chunk of NPR relied on hs2 to Manchester anyway
and how will Sunak avoid putting it to a vote?
https://twitter.com/pkelso/status/1709299650241433734?t=fht3KTMPOZFv133Hl-1IBA&s=19
* yeah I know
Bad for promotion prospects though.
Its also rather bad if you want to stand again at the next GE and stand a chance of winning. A quick google indicates only a handful of MPs have managed it in the past 50 years or so.
Most recent the tory to UKIP ones who only managed the one reelection and Galloway who has bounced around seats for best advantage and even then with limited success.
Klunk
Free Member**** chaos ! Hunt “No “formal decision” has yet been taken on HS2” so if he’s announces it during his speech (which seems to be the expectation :/ ) tomorrow “It was an epiphany in the car on the way back to his hotel” ?
For a normal party, this'd be the big takeaway... Just days ago Sunak was talking about "not speculating".Yesterday he was "considering it thoughtfully" Today, he said he "wouldn't be forced into an early decision". Even leaving absolutely everything else apart, that's deranged. He's literally going into the day he cancels it telling everyone he's not decided. I mean, you can say "we're talking about that tomorrow" or "we'll make an announcement shortly" or something but this? Mental. It's not like he's deciding what to have for his tea. Of course everyone knows it's a lie, as if that weren't worse.
But of course it's not even the maddest thing they've done on this page.
You can just imagine him in Thatchers government. He'd be her footstool.
Im sure this level of indecision is how evident makes multi billion infrastructure decisions.
Call me a cynic, but once they binned off the Leeds-Manchester section, I kinda knew the Birmingham - Manchester one would be doomed.
To quote Agent Smith from the Matrix:
"You Hear That Mr. Anderson? That Is The Sound Of Inevitability. Goodbye, Mr. Anderson"
Them there in westminster can't be having people from both sides of the hill colluding against them, that would never do!
It ws always obvious that it was nwver gking north of Birmingham. I said this years ago
Anything else was wishful thinking
HS2 should’ve started in the North and finished in London, not the other way around. It should also have linked Manchester to Leeds before doing anything else.
Linking individual hubs to London brings more capability to London. Efficiently linking cities in the North to each other gives them the combined power to rival London.
News this morning is that Rishi will present himself as "The PM that will change the Country". Well good luck to him, I cant imagine how it could get much worse but I'm sure he's very capable of doing so.
In other news
a) Apparantly up to 50% of attendees went home last night to avoid todays rail strikes*. Watch out for strategic camera shots / a smaller venue to make Rishi's presentation look well attended - it wont be.
b) the COVID bit of a mess is all over the news again this time with the Whatsapp messages from across Gov, SAGE and Cummings. If it wasnt bad enough already, the level of incompetence from the government is absolutely astounding. Worth a google if you're a Monty Python fan.
*irony alert
The reality is that 99% of voters vote on the basis of party affiliation.
Clearly. Otherwise there would be a lot more independent MPs. If people really studied who the person standing was, what they stood for, how they would vote on a variety of topics (if allowed to) then great but the fact that a majority of candidates are aligned to a party tells you pretty much how they are going to vote and more importantly the high level things they stand for.
But of course it’s not even the maddest thing they’ve done on this page
And the unbelievable thing is that they're currently keeping themselves in check, as they're "in charge" of this mess. When they're in opposition all of this culture war shit, all this nonsense about Labour meat taxes, and cos-play conspiracy about 15 min cities will be turned up to 11. If you think they look batshit crazy now,..
If it wasnt bad enough already, the level of incompetence from the government is absolutely astounding.
I've said it before - they've not been incompetent.
They've successfully siphoned off hundreds of billions of £ public money to themselves and their mates. They've lined up lucrative jobs and connections for themselves once they're out of office. They've got nice little sideline jobs (earning £££) in the welcoming arms of GB News and the Telegraph which wilfully spread their lies and conspiracies.
Brexit, cost-of-living, inflation, public services, transport - none of that matters when there's millions in offshore accounts, private healthcare and education and a ministerial Jag/helicopter available 24/7.
No, they've not been incompetent at all.
Utterly criminal and corrupt, yes. Shameless, very much. Fraudulent, stupid, egotistical... All of those things. But when you consider that the Tories aren't here to run the country, they're here to enrich themselves, they've been competent (and very lucky with Covid which was like leaving the vault door open while the guards were on holiday) at doing what they do best. Ripping off everything and everyone.
Christ, it's enough to make you miss Johnson!
Why are most of the papers being broadly positive about yesterday? Saving things up for today's expected shit show?
now this is a terrible look
https://twitter.com/Zero_4/status/1709328375385387295?t=drUJjcQJX6JdNIDK255KhQ&s=19
BUT as with Cummings & the £350m for the NHS lie , even if people know its made up, the lie is out there & with the likes of GBNews these kind of conspiracy theories can run & run
They knew the second they announced these lies that they will be uncontrollable and will have done their job. Even the most ridiculous thing gains traction with the conspiracy loons and it's very hard to get the truth out there and debunk it.
Grant Schapps on R4 talking utter garbage about HS2 being cancelled because everyone is working from home. Really? That's the best he can do? I can't even begin to say just how stupid this is. What an utter disgrace the entire party has become.
Apparently now talking about inviting Farage back into the Conservative fold, obviously for electoral reasons (note here for anyone who actually believed Tice when he said Reform UK was going to put up candidates against Conservatives).
Like Trump and the GOP, he will consume what little remains of the Tories.
That plane crash really was a sliding doors moment for the UK.
Efficiently linking cities in the North to each other gives them the combined power to rival London.
Well, they wouldn't want that, would they?
Are there really many votes in cancelling HS2
I would guess it can return a blue wall right up the planned route between Brum and manc. There's strong feeling against it there. Obviously that can't win them an election if it pisses off the rest of the country that it would service
If more journalists took on board that example from Victoria Derbyshire. And had done for the last 10 years.
I think they have @MoreCashThanDash, the Tories and the folks who vote for them just aren't paying attention to it. They know full well that their own press will back them solidly. It doesn't matter if they get roasted in interviews the news cycle moves so quickly these days that in 24hours this will have been forgotten.
That plane crash really was a sliding doors moment for the UK.
Now you’ve said it, I can't stop thinking about it. Wow.
Apparently now talking about inviting Farage back into the Conservative fold, obviously for electoral reasons (note here for anyone who actually believed Tice when he said Reform UK was going to put up candidates against Conservatives).
It is not obvious to me. Nigel Farage has stood 7 times for a Westminster seat, including handpicked seats which he should have won, and he lost every single time. His good looks and winning personality doesn't seem to attract a great deal of personal votes.
And if Reform UK are not going stand candidates against the Tories then there is even less reason for them to attempt to entice him into rejoining them.
IMO it is simply a case of the right-wing of the Tory Party being very fond of Farage, which is why they want him to join them, it's not some clever electoral strategy.
Are there really many votes in cancelling HS2
The Tories are in retreat, more and more by the day, and are now just desperately trying to shore up their core vote... racist pensioners in the Home Counties who resent every penny of public money spent north of Watford.
The always hated the idea of levelling up and spending any taxpayers cash on horrible, uncouth northerners who will only spend it on pigeons, whippets and flat caps. Rishi has always been naturally one of their own, so he's just reminding them of that.
Remember that he openly bragged about doing this when he was chancellor
Nigel Farage has stood 7 times for a Westminster seat, including handpicked seats which he should have won, and he lost every single time.
He's always been a third party candidate, even in really Brexity seats. He came closest in South Thanet in 2015, but was still fighting a Tory candidate.
A blue rosette and a safe seat would be a strong temptation to him.
I just had a look at the newspaper front pages on the BBC news website and it turned my stomach. It has a real feel of the way the press fawned over the nazi party in 1938. We have a shitty year ahead of us
He came closest in South Thanet in 2015,
At a time when Thanet was a UKIP majority council, and he still lost!
"This is just bullshit. Not because it’s too cynical, but simply because US permanent residents (green card holders) are taxed on worldwide income, and because spouses of billionairesses never have difficulty immigrating anywhere."
Chancellor Rishi Sunak held US green card until last year - BBC News
What's "bullshit" - that I reckon he'll be back looking for a Green Card?
Did you not know that he had one, while Chancellor?
At a time when Thanet was a UKIP majority council, and he still lost!
Big difference between taking council seats and beating a main party candidate with the bigger turnouts in a GE.
The backlash today when this all becomes official is going to be something else and from every political direction.
Boris has been out of his box to condemn it, Andy Street is threatening to resign, I imagine that the "red Wall' tories are going to be up in arms, The ghost of George Osbourne is haunting him and thats just people nominally on 'his' side.
Business leaders are absolutely united in their opposition to this short sighted nonsense, when they've already made investment decisions on
It looks like Andy Burnham is going to be the main, most vocal critic... a man who's about a hundred times smarter and a far, far more able politician than little Rishi, and who was last returned to office with 70% of the vote, whereas Rishi couldn't even beat Liz Truss in a leadership election. He barrely made any attempt to disguise his anger on Newsnight last night and that reflects the feelings of a lot of people up here who feel completely betrayed, though totally unsurprised.
He was pointing out on Newsnight that this decision has been taken without consolation with anyone at all. That he has refused, point blank, to meet any politicians or business leaders. Rishi is holed up in a hotel room in Manchester with his spads and has taken a decision. The sheer arrogance of it!
I think he's so politically clueless that he's convinced himself this will all blow over in a day or two and everything will be fine. It won't. The signal this sends out is obvious and huge. Its a giant **** YOU!!! to everywhere outside the south east
Every single one of those new 'Red Wall' tories is finished today, if they weren't already. Which means so is Rishi. He's just too stupid to see it. Its political suicide.
He can promise whatever he likes today as an alternative. Nobody will believe a word of it
Big difference between taking council seats and beating a main party candidate with the bigger turnouts in a GE.
But fairly easy when you are personally highly popular. Winning a majority on the council should have laid the groundwork for UKIP's leader to win the Westminster seat.
I don't deny that Farage, as leader of a small party, had his work cut out in winning a Westminster seat, but I do believe that his personal electoral appeal is often highly overstated.
Rishi has always been naturally one of their own
I'm not sure that he is, They've (the party) never voted for him, they preferred both Truss and Johnson over him, and they somehow ended up with Rishi I agree that he shares their politics I think he's deeply reactionary, but I think the party right now think he's probably not the right man.
I agree completely Nick. He's trying desperately to remind them that he's one of them, but they're not buying it. They never voted for him and they never wanted him. But if Rishi is anything, he's needy.
Some lovely scenes from the Nigel Farage/Tory right-wing live-in.
Edit: That's a shame, the video of Priti Patel and Nigel Farage dancing together doesn't seem to be working. I found it quite touching.
Edit 2 : No it's working now, might have been my phone.
but I do believe that his personal electoral appeal is often highly overstated.
The UK electoral system has given us some truly unlikeable MPs who are only in post because of what party they represent, and which seat they are standing in. He would have won South Thanet by a mile if he was the Tory candidate. Farage knows that he can't get it done with a Reform UK rosette, which is why he might be tempted by a shoo-in seat for the Tories.
the video of Priti Patel and Nigel Farage dancing together doesn’t seem to be working. I found it quite touching.
You're a sick man. You know he just turned to her at the right moment of that song and yelled 'Oh Priti baby...!'. <retches>
The backlash today when this all becomes official is going to be something else and from every political direction.
It's already started here in Wales. The case for it being classified as an England and Wales Project collapses (of an already weak case) if the line doesn't go to Crewe. That has massive ramifications thanks to the Barnett Formula (from the link above):
There is already cross-party support in the Senedd to re-designate HS2 as England-only, and for Wales to get equivalent funding under the Barnett Formula - which could run into billions of pounds.
Sunak really hasn't contemplated all the fall-out from this decision.
As some-one who has done more than most politicians to kill the centre left of the Tory party, possibly forever. It's entirely reasonable for those on the far-right of that party who share Farage's beliefs to invite him to share their moment of triumph.
Given that I think in opposition, their use of populist touch stones; immigration, culture war, and unlimited unspecified anger at everything that isn't them, are going to ramp up to levels that make it seem like they're the voice of reason right now, and that Farage is the sine qua non of that space, it entirely makes sense to recruit him
Farage has virtually written the Tory Party manifesto's for them since about 2014 anyway, they're so scared of him.
It'd be totemic for him to join them seeing as he's been their defacto leader for the best part of a decade anyway. I doubt he'd be interested though. Why should he though? He's got all the power, without any of the responsibility
Andy Street threatening to resign if they scrap hs2 to Manchester. Let's see if he actually does resign.
Having listened to him on 'leading' he is one of the few tories I can actually tolerate so would be a shame, but at least he would show more moral fibre than the entire rest of the tory party