Rishi is about to officially launch his leadership campaign this morning.
The rumours are that he's dispensing with the slick videos that we saw yesterday and to try and identify with the 'red wall' seats is hosting it at a social club in Rotherham where he will do a Flipchart presentation, before pork pies and sausage rolls in the Arthur Scargill suite to finish
In other news the haunted pencil and Mad Nad have just given a press conference to say they are both backing Liz Truss, referring to her as 'a proper Eurosceptic'
Well... only when it suited her. Prior to that... not so much
Still... I'm sure she's a woman of firm principle
I think Penny B'stard has it nailed:
Who in this country was not moved when that great Englishman, Gazza, wept bitter tears at the World Cup last year? People thought that he was crying because he had been booked by the umpire and so would miss the final. But that was not the reason. He was crying at the thought that the Conservative government, the only government this young hero had ever known, was behind in the opinion polls. He was weeping at the threat of the return to power of a Labour rabble led by a bald Welsh windbag, dedicated to destroying Britain's prosperity, running down our currency, encouraging satanist abuse of our children, spreading AIDS through their sponsorship of homosexual behaviour, abolishing the House of Lords, and executing the royal family. Gazza didn't want that for his children, do you want it for yours? Or do you want a government that lets you share in Britain's prosperity by offering you the chance of five, yes five, free Sun jackpot bingo cards with every registered Tory membership application? Yes, apply now to join the Tory party at this week's once in a lifetime special offer price of only £9.99 and you will receive a free Tarzan Teenage Hero Turtle T-shirt, a Gazza car tidy, and the News of the World every Sunday for a year.
I remember seeing Patel at the very bottom of tory member popularity where Sunak was at the top. I always assumed the tory members would love Patel but maybe she is too much of a **** even for them?
I think Patel is in the awkward position of being too horrible for the moderates, but not horrible enough for the headbangers.
Shapps didn't last long, then. 🙂 Meanwhile, Dorries and Rees-Mogg are eulogising over the pro-Brexit credentials of Liz Truss, who campaigned for Remain in 2016.
Shapps didn’t last long, then.
He's got another 3 alter-egos he could use...
I really dont like this showboating thing and how the country is on tenterhooks awaiting the result of the tories in a hunt for a new leader.
Who honestly gives a f***. They arent celebrities or anything like that, but the media as a whole is treating them this way.
And given that many have failed in the tasks set of them(current state of the UK) it's really a case of scraping the barrel. Or whats left in the barrel as they've scraped most of it out.
The Tories are desperately short of quality candidates, the problem is that Labour is even more lacking.
Still no Patel announcement? When’s the deadline? If it stays that way… I’m predicting Sunak vs Truss going to the members.
Tom Tugnut's voting record back there -
1 - Voted against restrictions to personal freedoms.
2 - Voted 18 times for the UK to leave the EU
Those 2 votes are not compatible...
Deadline is 6pm today.
I doubt patel will stand; most of the cabinet 'big names' are either standing or have publicly declared their support for one of the aspirants.
Additionally, she may have recognised that she has few supporters.
1 – Voted against restrictions to personal freedoms.
How did he vote on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill? What has he said about The Human Rights Act?
Sunak vs Truss
That, or Sunak vs Mordaunt.
I think Patel is in the awkward position of being too horrible for the moderates, but not horrible enough for the headbangers.
Part of the problem for her is she simply doesnt seem very good at it. Comes out with lots of headlines to make the headbangers excited but then fails to do anything with them.
Result the headbangers are upset she failed to get beyond a headline and everyone else is upset she got to the headline stage.
So no Patel? That sinks Sunak’s chances with the members I reckon. MPs, at a later stage of voting when more people have dropped out, will get behind Truss as the second place stop Sunak candidate… she’ll then go onto mop up some “why did they get rid of Johnson” sympathy with members, which will go against Sunak. So… who put a bet on Truss becoming PM a while back… those odds must be narrowing fast…
Badenoch is a proper loon isn't she? I really do wonder about these people. Do they actually believe this small state nonsense or is it just a smokescreen for a cronyist agenda to line the pockets of their financial backers? It's not like there's a lack of evidence for the failure of market ideology, you can see it in front of your eyes every time you leave your house. Homeless people, urban decay, empty businesses, streets clogged with traffic, potholed roads, crumbling infrastracture. All a result of privatised dysfunctional services or lack of private sector investment. The whole point of the state is to provide a secure and stable environment for the private and public sector to operate. What she's proposing is darwinian anarchy.
Badenoch is a proper loon isn’t she?
Oh god yes.
Interestingly, her and Penny Mordaunt are polling the best amongst the party faithful, apparently because they have the least connection with Boris Johnson
Homeless people, urban decay, empty businesses, streets clogged with traffic, potholed roads, crumbling infrastracture.
Medical insurance, Range Rovers, gated communities, shops turned into buy to let properties… some people see different solutions to these problems. They don’t even see them as problems, just side effects of well working markets. Darwinism indeed.
I rarely see eye to eye with the Tory party membership but at least they've got that right
Badenoch is a proper loon isn’t she? I really do wonder about these people. Do they actually believe this small state nonsense or is it just a smokescreen for a cronyist agenda
She's gone 100% culture war , Spectator have been bigging her up a lot because of this
It may be a toxic, divisive & ultimately short term benefit with long term damage kinda stratagey-
but it engages a lot of the Tory faithful and they need something to latch on to atm
If she makes the final two, she'll be in with a good chance
You have to remember that the Tory party membership think the BBC is run by communists, all immigrants are rapists and murderers, all teachers are actively trying to make kids gay, universities are trying to erase Britains history and all important decisions (despite the Tory's having been in power for 12 years) are taken by some shady 'metropolitan liberal elite’ who are probably jewish and non-binary single parents with bad AIDS
Culture War and tax cuts are all they want to hear about.
Badenoch is a proper loon isn’t she? I really do wonder about these people. Do they actually believe this small state nonsense or is it just a smokescreen for a cronyist agenda to line the pockets of their financial backers?
And nowhere where they have a "small state" are poor-to-ordinary folk better off, but they don't realise this, until it happens...
Medical insurance, Range Rovers, gated communities, shops turned into buy to let properties… some people see different solutions to these problems. They don’t even see them as problems, just side effects of well working markets. Darwinism indeed.
Who schools the medics; provides the roads to drive on; and the conditions for employment to thrive? They can see things as 'different solutions' but without the state they wouldn't be able to enjoy their lives the way they do.
Not that they care or realise.
PriceJohn said
Tom Tugnut’s voting record back there –
1 – Voted against restrictions to personal freedoms.
2 – Voted 18 times for the UK to leave the EUThose 2 votes are not compatible…
re, the voting record for Brexit./ I read that he voted alongside Teresa May to get her original deal through when it was the votes from the other parties and the ERG headbangers that were against it. So you could argue that his voting on Brexit was from the right side of the party line. Knowing that his wife is French and his father in law was a high ranked EU official I am inclined to believe his personal thoughts on EU membership might be a little different.
Of all the candidates so far he comes across as the least unhinged, and potentially most competent!
They can see things as ‘different solutions’ but without the state they wouldn’t be able to enjoy their lives the way they do.
Oh... they're not "solutions" at all... but some see it that way... many have a vote to chose the next PM this summer... and most have a vote come the next election. Oh, and yes they can't really completely isolate themselves from how underfunding negatively effects their own lives... they just have a weird notion that the effects can be kept as much as possible as someone else's problem, if they keep in power people who keep the plight of others "in perspective", and focus doing less of the stuff that only indirectly effects them. Ideally while leaving them as much money as possible to look after themselves and insulate themselves from the decay all around them. Tax cuts for the well off. Nailed to the mast of every candidate.
That little Badenoch speech had a perfect example of how if you can look at the world from the wrong angle... the "solutions" are can be viewed as the problem, and the "problems" become the solutions.... she correctly identifies falling real incomes over the last ten years... but then attributes that to "net zero" commitments... and, yes, many of the people she needs the support of see things backwards like that as well. Blaming the "green agenda" will become part of this leadership battle, and a dividing force at future elections. You could see it coming over the hill a decade ago... here it comes...
Of all the candidates so far he comes across as the least unhinged, and potentially most competent!
He doesn't stand a chance.
Maybe next time.
Do they actually believe this small state nonsense or is it just a smokescreen for a cronyist agenda to line the pockets of their financial backers? It’s not like there’s a lack of evidence for the failure of market ideology, you can see it in front of your eyes every time you leave your house. Homeless people, urban decay, empty businesses, streets clogged with traffic, potholed roads, crumbling infrastracture.
Why on earth would the ruling elite see that as "market ideology" failure?
As long as they maintain their current wealth with the possibility of more ever increasing wealth they have every reason to be satisfied with market ideology.
Everyone knows 'the market' doesn't solve all of society's problems, which is why we have governments.
Of all the candidates so far he comes across as the least unhinged, and potentially most competent!
Hardly a high watermark in Brexit Britain, really, is it?
Hi... vote for me! I'm slightly less mental and possibly a tad more competent than Liz Truss
I think I want Johnson back.
Why on earth would the ruling elite see that as “market ideology” failure?
I agree, the question though is whether the likes of Badenoch and other junior tory travellers actually believe it, because that's exactly what it looks like. I mean they're not stupid people are they? The most generous interpretation is that they've been brainwashed by an academic, media and political establishment which has spent 40 years telling everyone that this is the only way the world can work. The more likely answer is that they're a bunch of self-interested sociopaths who don't give a shit about anyone but themselves.
the question though is whether the likes of Badenoch and other junior tory travellers actually believe it
Of course Tory politicians don't believe what they tell voters. The point is to make the voters believe it. That is what matters. Hence the multitude of Tory myths.
Of course Tory politicians don’t believe what they tell voters.
I think that there's a rump of them - all Brexiteers - who are so profoundly stupid that they believe every word of it, despite all evidence to the contrary. Actually... they're so breathtakingly thick they probably don't actually understand it in the first place, but believe it and believe in it they do. Like articles of faith.
Immediately, off the top of my head I can think of Mark Francois, John Redwood, Desmond Swayne, Peter Bone. There are many, many others
I think that there’s a rump of them – all Brexiteers – who are so profoundly stupid that they believe every word of it, despite all evidence to the contrary.
I'm not sure it's pure stupidity, more like they are so psychologically invested in the cult that no alternative view even gets processed. It would be such a devastating blow to their self image to understand the truth, that there can be no internal debate at all.
Do they actually believe this small state nonsense
Right wingers choose to believe it because it absolves them of the responsibility towards their fellow humans. If someone tells you 'hey don't worry about them, it's their own fault, you just look after yourself' that's mentally very easy. If you see someone homeless, you might feel bad for them but if you tell yourself that it's their own fault they're in that situation it means you don't have to feel bad. If you see migrants drowning in the Channel on telly, you'd be really upset if you thought they were innocent, but if you think they are scum it's easier. Bad feelings go away.
Tory politicians either believe this themselves, or know that they can get voters to believe it and vote for them. They don't think that these policies help anyone, because they literally don't care about the people who suffer. I mean they are human, they probably would care if they really understood what goes on, but they don't want to care because caring is hard.
The Tories have just denied Labour the right to have a vote of no confidence. Can they do that? Well, obviously they can, because they just did. But I've never heard of that happening before! Isn't that a bit dodgy?!?
It has happened before. Lots of little tricks the government can use to buy themselves some time and hold off a vote… it’s not conventional to do so for long, if at all, but Johnson is still PM… damn convention.
Something to think about… it took the FCO three weeks to get Johnson to move out after he resigned from that post, when the convention is you move within a day of no longer being Secretary of state. Expect lots of that kind of thing to come… what’s expected is irrelevant to Johnson, he’ll just bat things away with any cunning trick he can. He doesn’t even have to pretend to be reasonable now.
Right wingers choose to believe it because it absolves them of the responsibility towards their fellow humans. If someone tells you ‘hey don’t worry about them, it’s their own fault, you just look after yourself’ that’s mentally very easy.
Also, all those things that are wrong in your own life? That's someone else's fault as well. You're great, you've just been dealt a poor hand.
[ironyometer gif]
Javid withdraws.
Team sad
Never stood a chance. I thought he’d stay in for the first round though, to try and get himself the chancellor job with his “withdrawing to support” line before round two.
No Patel then?
Sunak vs Truss it is. The rest is all noise.
I had my money on Truss from months ago. A woman so dense she has her own gravity field
Dazh
Yes they are that dim different sorts of itelligence remember? Having degrees and being good at detail and memory recall does not equal intelligence
Kemi Badenoch
Suella Braverman
Jeremy Hunt
Penny Mordaunt
Rishi Sunak
Liz Truss
Tom Tugendhat
Nadhim Zahawi
The right wing MPs may well go Mordaunt when push comes to shove. They must realise that Truss will be a gift for Labourer