The Conservative Party leadership vote…

I always assumed she’d given him the questions and probably some suggested answers in advance anyway. She’s basically the Tory MP for the BBC.

Totally, but AFAIK she's never been caught red-handed* before.

*Brown-nosed

Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaa ha ha

And breath....

...then there were three.

I'm still laughing. Cleverly, oh what a guy!

He's gonna choose his opponent and his team lend votes, it's gonna be jenrick, badenoch will go nuclear.

Oh the humanity

…then there were three.

Sort of a shame, he was/is the least ****ing mental out of all of them, not bad for a posho.

Probably why he's out.

He got kudos from me when he, in very polite terms said the Jenrick was chatting shit about the ECHR.

I'm hoping Badenoch and Cleverly in the final, both effing useless in their own ways. Jenrick could be dangerous and I want to see his face if he gets knocked out. Question is where where will Tuggys votes go?

I want Cleverly to win... just for Honest Bob's face and Badenoughs flouce

However getting the Party Members to vote for you is like raising the dead.

So a persistent Tagnut has been disposed of.

Now it's a contest between:

Robert 'Honest Bob' Jenrick - a man so crooked and of so few actual principles (good or bad) that he probably gets out of both sides of the bed simultaneously each morning.

James 'Jimmy Dimly' Cleverly - the embodiment of reverse nominative determination. Slow-witted, doughy and a proven misogynist who is a sitting duck for any Labour politician with an ounce of political nous.

Kemi 'Bad Enoch' Badenoch - at least twice as tetchy as Sunak, utterly crackers, and with all the charisma of an insufferable 6th former who has just been made a prefect to stop her whingeing about not being one.

It's magnificent. It is the inevitable outcome of courting Brexity populism. Utterly fantastic. 100% deserved.

It'll be Generic. And as he messes up Al J will have another go.

La crème de la crème du merde.  In the way that people get the governments they deserve, the Conservative Party also appear to be electing the leadership they deserve. Bravo.

I’m in the unfortunate position of knowing one of bad Enoch’s advisors. They’re a truly awful person as well: full on legatum volunteer and latterly employee, vote leave minion and fawning Bojo groupie.  The rot is not merely a show. You wouldn’t have them over to dinner. Or if you did, you’d be awfully tempted to be careless when serving their dessert.

Headbangers be headbanging!!!

Badenoch or Jenrick.

Jesus wept.

Hopefully whichever of them wins will manage to keep the Tories far from power for a good time yet.

Sweet Christmas! Never expected that!

Well if who ever is chosen stays the course then the conservatives wont get back into power at the next election. Both are as mad as a bag of badgers. They are about to be lead by another Liz Truss

fenderextender

Free Member

So a persistent Tagnut has been disposed of.

Kemi ‘Bad Enoch’ Badenoch – at least twice as tetchy as Sunak, utterly crackers, and with all the charisma of an insufferable 6th former who has just been made a prefect to stop her whingeing about not being one.

They are about to be lead by another Liz Truss

Was Truss ever politically conservative rather than just economically?

So as the Tories inevitably lurch further right what odds Farage in the party by the next election & leading it the one after? In their attempts to spike the guns of Reform the Tories seem doomed to become them...

Cleverly done.

And yes, you can read that in a couple of ways....

Labour’s fortunes to revive from here if that is the choice to be offered to the electorate

Phew, nearly done - at least we are closer to knowing who to get behind.

Tories and Reform will now most likely merge. Will it be after another wipeout in 2029 as the arsehole vote is split again?

Looked at like that, it might as well be Badenoch now, merge in 2027-28 and Farage takes over if it looks like Badenoch can't win at the head of a combined party.

Shit the bed. We could end up with a fully fascist party as one of the two main ones.

Was Truss ever politically conservative rather than just economically?

Do you mean "socially conservative"? Even that's a polite euphemism, isn't it.

Check her USA appearances since losing the PM position to see where she is on "social" issues.

This is hilarious

https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1844024791759749594

Starmer, Reeves & Co will be ecstatic

The result nobody in the Tory parliamentry party wanted apart from badenoch

It's calamitous for them. But great for the lib Dems.

And of course starmer

I don't think its as clearly good news as you make thing. Conservative + Reform share of vote is more than labour in this election, and it'll likely swing further from labour (as the party in power often suffers some). If the right manages to unite, things could prove interesting come the next election

The reason they've kept Farage at arm's length is that they know that whilst approx 20% of the electorate love him and 10% could be won over the other 70% despise him with a passion. Having him join would drive away the last remnants of the socially liberal  pro-business support that they've already hemorrhaged chunks of to the Lib Dems and hugely drive voter turn-out against him.

Especially now Brexit is widely regarded to be the disaster it was always going to be and he remains the enduring face of it.

Any party with him at it's head will have a certain floor in their support and almost guaranteed to be in the mix but hugely unlikely to ever have enough support to contest for No.10.

That's the electoral calculation, there's also the personal factor being that he's a weapons-grade arsehole who's spent the last 3 years lagging them all off and who will expect to run the party as his own petty fiefdom with zero bandwidth for anyone else.

I don’t think its as clearly good news as you make thing. Conservative + Reform share of vote is more than labour in this election, and it’ll likely swing further from labour (as the party in power often suffers some). If the right manages to unite, things could prove interesting come the next election

I agree somewhat, however the unknown is how many current Tory voters would stay if it lurched (further!) to the right - many have already defected to the Libs, and equally how many Reform could vote Tory, since many are disaffected Labour voters. Hard to see how they can square that circle.

It's terrible news. Anyone who thinks this will guarantee that Labour will win the 2029 general election is deluding themselves.

Support for Labour is currently very low, it might well significantly increase by 2029 but it won't simply be because of who is leader of Tory Party.

We will see if after the Tory leadership ballot and the new leader is appointed whether there is a sudden surge to Labour, I somehow doubt it.

It’s terrible news. Anyone who thinks this will guarantee that Labour will win the 2029 general election is deluding themselves.

Says the worlds' worse sleeper...

IMO it doesn't matter who the leader is until the year or so before the next election (but of course the Tories won't know when this will be), until then they're just 'wallpaper'.

however the unknown is how many current Tory voters would stay if it lurched (further!) to the right – many have already defected to the Libs, and equally how many Reform could vote Tory,

The Tories lost way more seats to the lib dems than to Reform, that belies the numbers obvs, but reform overperformed in specific seats.

Conservative + Reform share of vote is more than labour in this election

Polling showed that at least 1/3rd of Reform votes were never winnable by the Tories

Trying to out-farage Farage has been a disaster for the Tories and assuming that Farage will align with Badenoch or Jenrick is entirely missing the point of farage.

Cleverly was by far the best shot for the Tories, they've just blown that, Labour now have to deliver, that will determine the next GE, but this has certainly given Starmer breathing room

IMO it doesn’t matter who the leader is until the year or so before the next election

An interesting assumption that it possibly might not be the same person who leads the Tory Party for the next 5 years.

In opposition the Tories are less likely to face the same level of crises which they faced whilst in government. That unfortunate predicament now seems to be the one which Labour are facing. As we have amply seen in the first 100 days of the current Labour government.

I don't think we have to worry about the direct impact of the tories for a while, but the indirect consequences. Unfortunately as reform drag the tories further right, labour have been following.

The Tories lost way more seats to the lib dems than to Reform, that belies the numbers obvs, but reform overperformed in specific seats.

Seats not votes.

The last GE is a prime example of why PR should never be allowed.

I am reasonably sure but not 100% that the tories need to win back the lib Dem seats they lost. Having jenrick or badenoch isn't going to achieve that. In fact I'd say it would more likely have the reverse effect.

I don't think Farage will join the tories. Yes there may be some alignment but the Tory party as we have known it will I would think split further if he did. There is a lot of loathing for nige, both in parliament and across the country. But of course he doesn't need to be a Tory to manipulate politics as we know.

unfortunately as reform drag the tories further right, labour have been too

This is my concern

The last GE is a prime example of why PR should never be allowed.

Reform need to be defeated by a legislative agenda that gives working people and those in poverty real hope and belief that the government is working for them, not by a restrictive voting system that distorts democracy.

No agenda can "defeat" Reform, or whatever they'll be called next. The way that the media in the UK, and Social Media worldwide, currently operates will keep feeding their story, their agenda. The only hope is to keep them contained. As you say, hope and belief are what is needed... and those backing the likes of Reform can always offer that with the promise of quick fixes... the battle against that, with real genuine and long term improvement in people's lives is always a difficult one. See right now... "They've had a 100 days, why is my foreign looking neighbour still driving a better car than me?!? I was right to vote Reform for real change".

Do you mean “socially conservative”? Even that’s a polite euphemism, isn’t it.

Yes

Check her USA appearances since losing the PM position to see where she is on “social” issues.

I'll grant her the benefit of the doubt and allow for a difference between what she may have perhaps honestly believed pre-brexit and what she'll say for her employer as a freelance rent-a-gob.

We will see if after the Tory leadership ballot and the new leader is appointed whether there is a sudden surge to Labour, I somehow doubt it.

I doubt it too, in the wilderness years of polling between elections there's going to be a huge number of "they're all *" responses, which then crystalize into "Well they're not as * as ......." on election day.  Starmer might have abysmal approval ratings now, but I'd bet he could still win an election Tomorrow (just maybe not so decisively).

I agree somewhat, however the unknown is how many current Tory voters would stay if it lurched (further!) to the right – many have already defected to the Libs, and equally how many Reform could vote Tory, since many are disaffected Labour voters. Hard to see how they can square that circle.

And add to that a bit of lib/lab tactical voting, our constituency was won by a minuscule margin despite a 3-way campaign.  It was a new constituency, mostly from splitting up a former Tory stronghold. One side went Lib the other Labour.  Next time round I'd hope Labour and the Lib Dems might come to a quiet deal where one doesn't seriously contest the other and comes 3rd to keep the Tories out.

Reform need to be defeated by a legislative agenda that gives working people and those in poverty real hope and belief that the government is working for them, not by a restrictive voting system that distorts democracy.

The irony of this is that if Labour does a good job of delivering what they're supposed to ...........

Can't see Nige wanting to be PM, 60% pay cut, scrutiny and having to do a minimum of work. He makes look like has a work ethic.

Can’t see Nige wanting to be PM, 60% pay cut, scrutiny and having to do a minimum of work.

Boris managed it just fine.*

*I realise that "just fine" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there in as much as he was a ****ing disaster for the country but he himself did "just fine" out of it.

Yeah, Nige toadface would see the potential grift of being prime minister, he would make 10's of millions from it and maybe even add an extra zero to that. His Coutes account would be very safe.

Every time you think the conservatives can't inflict any more damage on the country they somehow manage it. There is nothing good here at all.

Firstly the obvious, a victory for hard right nutters is never a good thing in any setting.

Secondly we now have the unenviable proposition of either happy fascist or grumpy fascist yelling populist rhetoric at the PM for (and Ernie is correct*) probably the next 5 years with the same sort of biased media coverage we are all used to.

*my caveat here is I reckon that if Kemi wins she is so unsuited to the job and so good at making enemies in her own party and pretty much anywhere she goes that she may well not last the distance to the next election. Jenrick on the other hand is a politician so will probably last out.

It's a sobering reminder that Cleverly wasn't up to the job of LOTO, let alone PM

It’s a sobering reminder that Cleverly wasn’t up to the job of LOTO, let alone PM

Never was a name more wrongly allocated.

EDIT Shamelessly stolen from BlueSky

I'm hearing that Spurs were very impressed by Cleverly's form in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

I think the fault there was his campaign team that monumentally stuffed up by trying to rig the vote in order to get him against Jenrick in the last two rather than Kemi. Whilst this is proof that you would never employ a Tory to organise anything important (like the country for instance) it........well yes he probably would have been useless but.......versus who else?

I reckon my bet on Honest Bob is definitely going to pay out. The chinless, corrupt, morality-free, right wing, privately educated, Oxbridge, middle-aged white guy was always a shoe in

I might stick my winnings on him not leading the Tories into the next election. I give him 18 months, tops, before they’re at it again. They can’t help themselves

Not sure why people think this is a good result for Labour, Badenoch who is now the firm favourite, will cause Labour the biggest headaches of any of the candidates.

C4 news interviewed a a few conservative members who seemed very happy with the result, shame they'll most likely be 6ft under by the time the next election will be held.

I reckon my bet on Honest Bob is definitely going to pay out

Generic is likewise my prediction as above with fly tipped sofa knocking on the door in due course.

I now need to work on my explanation of how I really actually got it right when Bad Enoch walks it. Agree she's more of a threat given creating your own reality seem to be what works for the right these days.

Badenoch who is now the firm favourite, will cause Labour the biggest headaches of any of the candidates.

I think she'll cause the biggest headaches for the conservatives, she could start a brawl in a nunnery, she has an impressive ability to wind up both friends and enemies, Cleverly was a far bigger threat

Not sure why people think this is a good result for Labour, Badenoch who is now the firm favourite, will cause Labour the biggest headaches of any of the candidates

Why? She’s rat poison to most people with no redeeming qualities.