[Closed] The nasty party conference...

Boris is still very much in the running, still polls well and has made a couple of interesting snide remarks over Coke and hookers recently

I think hes got a damn good chance

I could see the telegraph digging up the dirt on Osborne at just the wrong time, and the Hate Mail too, already turning on Cameron (and Osborne) for their pro EU/migrant stance

Borris would do well to not say too much about the EU as its a poisoned chalice for any wannabe party leader, especially a Torry one

I'm pretty sure that it's not the politicians being swayed by the yobs or the general disdain for Tory supporters but rather those who voted Tory or are more right-leaning (often because of the media scaremongering but that's a different topic...) but are potential labour voters who understandably don't like being called scum/nasty/etc.

To me it just switches them off and means that the better arguments aren't heard.

Of course, there's negative behaviour on both sides but it seems to me that the lefties tend to be called naive/stupid/soft/etc which are less harsh than the right wingers being called scum, selfish, etc.

I could see the telegraph digging up the dirt on Osborne at just the wrong time

You do get the feeling that there will be a pig ceremony or black bag and ropes buried in his past....

Boris is still very much in the running, still polls well and has made a couple of interesting snide remarks over Coke and hookers recently

I hope they do elect Boris. He'd be electoral kryptonite to everyone outside the Tory heartlands. The bumbling good egg shtick may play well to a receptive audience of Londoners, it looks very different from outside

Political fortunes change quickly, I think Theresa signed her own death warrant with that speech

I can't see that is necessarily true. May, or Theresa as you fondly like to call her, at this stage of the game needs to appeal to the party faithful - although only MPs will select the next leader. Did her speech really go down badly with her party?

I don't follow Tory Party conferences with any great enthusiasm but I would have thought that she told them exactly the sort of things they wanted to hear.

I can't imagine that despite the polite applause Tory delegates at the conference really wanted to hear Cameron waffling on about poor black people.

needs to appeal to the party faithful

I would have thought that she told them exactly the sort of things they wanted to hear.

You still don't get it do you?

Well I get that May is still in the running to be leader if she has appeal within the party.

I'm not convinced that she's "signed her own death warrant" because she's upset a few newspaper columnists.

You can't win elections by appealing to the party faithful!

You can win Tory Party leadership elections though.....

if she has appeal within the party.

You can't win elections by appealing to the party faithful - just what we have been saying all along about Corbyn.

You can win Tory Party leadership elections though.....

No, you can't - unlike Labour, you can't get to be party leader of the conservatives just by appealing to the party faithful, you need to appeal to the 1922 committee first.

You can't win elections by appealing to the party faithful

You said that she had "signed her own death warrant". I can't see the evidence for that is overwhelming. I'm not convinced that she is now less likely to become the next leader of the Tory Party than before. I always thought her chances weren't particularly good anyhow.

And if she does become leader she clearly wouldn't have "signed her own death warrant" with her speech this week as you claim, whether or not she wins the next general election as leader is a separate issue.

Anyway, I don't know why I'm arguing with you.

May's speech on immigration was met with polite applause. Gove's speech on liberal prison reform got a standing ovation.

Perhaps the Tory faithful are pretty liberal minded people.

outofbreath - Member
May's speech on immigration was met with polite applause. Gove's speech on liberal prison reform got a standing ovation.

Perhaps the Tory faithful are pretty liberal minded people.

or just assuaging their guilt at the cuts to the already struggling prison service, still I imagine that signed copy of the King James Bible for every prison library will fix things

Gove's speech on liberal prison reform got a standing ovation.

Maybe he should send a copy to Dave's pals in Saudi? Perhaps they'd appreciate the alternatives to crucifixion.

still I imagine that signed copy of the King James Bible for every prison library will fix things

Books were banned in prison, weren't they? ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30344867)

There really is no overlap between what Tories say and what they actually do.

I would have thought that she told them exactly the sort of things they wanted to hear.

Books were banned in prison, weren't they?

No.

To be fair, DrJ, they didn't so really there's no overlap between what you say and what the Tories actually do 🙂

Indeed. Prisoners were only banned from receiving books in parcels. So that's ok then. Phew!

As long as their hearing aids were turned up so what happens if the Tory Think Tank is right and all those Tory voting pensioners aren't around come the next election?

Yep, the Tax Payer's Alliance have a very short sighted strategy, kill off all the people who vote for you, to save money...

nemesis AND DrJ +1 😉

Double-edged one that!!!

Austerity anyone?

Well, FWIW, it sounds bloody stupid and it's a good thing that they were told it wasn't lawful but they still didn't 'ban books in prison'...

There seems to be a misunderstanding of how a Tory leadership election works. The Blonde Bombshell has a mountain to climb as today he wouldn't get on the membership ballot. The Tory MPs elect two candidates to be put before the membership, so you first have to win over that constituency. Boris is weak here, he has not been in parliament to cultivate a following among MPs. Meanwhile Osborne has been using his extensive powers of patronage to create a large number of MPs who owe him a favour, likewise Tory MPs love Theresa May because she puts the hours in for MPs by speaking at their associations, Boris has only a few years to catch up and I can't see it happening as he doesn't have a reputation for being clubable.

Well, FWIW, it sounds bloody stupid

Thing is, it's not just "bloody stupid", it's something that you absolutely could never consider doing if you actually believe what Gove and CMD say they believe. The act of banning books in prisons exposes the hollowness and cynicism of their words.

[Boris] doesn't have a reputation for being clubable

Oh, I don't know ...

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Love him or hate him, Osborne is also the brains that delivered the first Tory majority since 1992. And Tory MP's love that! And they'll be the ones voting. What have Gove, the bumbling one, and the low rent Thatcher wanabee done to compare to that? Unless he ****s up big time, he's a shoe in

Well, FWIW, it sounds bloody stupid and it's a good thing that they were told it wasn't lawful but they still didn't 'ban books in prison'...

I think they banned parcels because stuff was getting sneaking in in parcels.

If people want to describe banning one method of book delivery as "banning books" they could equally say "books are banned" because prisoners can't download books from the internet in their cells or walk down to Waterstones to buy then.

The Prisons Minister at the time specifically reversed the ban on Fifty Shades in Prison Libraries because he wanted to encourage reading.

Unless he ****s up big time, he's a shoe in

If the World Economy blows up, entirely possible, and completely outside his control, he will be in difficulties too.

Oh, I don't know ...

Good to see existing levels of "deep thought" maintained.

I personally think that Osborne is the shrewdest political operator we've had since Blair. Even if that happens I can see him somehow turning it to his advantage.

He has certainly become quite a substantial politician, despite the diet.

The bumbling good egg shtick may play well to a receptive audience of Londoners, it looks very different from outside

true dat , last time, borris only just scraped past geriatric, lame duck Livingston, that even the guardian had turned against, despite bozza having all the London papers and most of the national ones behind him.
Binners is forgetting that heir to the third baronecy of whatever Gideon is was elected as an MP just down the road from Manchester

This is Binners's traditional parochial talking point where he implies all Londoners are Chateauneuf-swilling Drones Club members

You mean you're not? How awful for you.....

and you are forgetting that they have not parachuted Boris into a safe Northern powerhouse seat

.....and by 'just down the road from Manchester' you mean rural Cheshire.....a Tory stronghold forever!!! I teach in Gideons constituency, and used to teach in Manchester.....worlds apart/20 miles apart at the same time.

Chateauneuf? Dear, dear, wrong part of the river.

Chateauneuf? Dear, dear, wrong part of the river.

...and the Drones are frightful bores, what?

[quote=binners ]Love him or hate him, Osborne is also the brains that delivered the first Tory majority since 1992. And Tory MP's love that! And they'll be the ones voting. What have Gove, the bumbling one, and the low rent Thatcher wanabee done to compare to that? Unless he ****s up big time, he's a shoe in

In the same way that JC didn't have a hope? I agree with your suggestion about him having the brains, but a lot can happen in the next 3 years. Nobody had even heard of JC 3 years ago.

Nobody had even heard of JC 3 years ago.

Speak for yourself I have been aware of him for 30 years.

Well I was speaking for the general public, or even the majority of people who ended up voting for him. What % of the general public had heard of him 3 years ago?

Looks like Ashcroft's book might not be the best book on DC. Perhaps the best selling one though. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/call-me-dave-the-unauthorised-biography-of-david-cameron-by-michael-ashcroft-and-isabel-oakeshott-a6686371.html

Thank goodness for the media, aracer!!

They create then destroy....

aracer - Member

Well I was speaking for the general public

Who elected you then ?

Who elected you then ?

Its amazing what £3 gets you these days...