General British politics discussion thread

Timberrrrrrrr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122127343#Comment_122127343

I know which one I prefer

O'Neill

Actually I would argue Starmer is continuing the chaos on especially with this latest appoitment. I'm utterly baffled how people think he's playing a 'blinder.'

Timberrrrrrrr

We've had weeks of Tories calling for Rayners head (apparently she will now be questioned under caution by the police) but this may have massively backfired on the Tories.

https://twitter.com/carolvorders/status/1789801421426094570?t=AQIcdZxrlfrPFJv3H-FmlQ&s=19

ancapailldorcha

It's just the sheer stupidity of it all. Is there not some strategist who might have checked for vulnerabilities before going out with this sort of narrative? It's so exhausting…

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122131593#Comment_122131593

They probably don't care if they throw 4 backbenchers under the bus as long as they take Rayner with them.

They have an irrational hatred of her.

HalloweenJack

Very much a case of them not liking her purely because she doesn't "know her place" i.e., Northern, working class, trade unionist, female, teenage mother.

Its not unlike the Republicans obsession with AOC in the States.

And yet, both could be held up as examples of overcoming adversity in both societies. But they'd rather a useful idiot like Nadine Dorries.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122132000#Comment_122132000

Conservatism exists to entrench privilege and to keep the peasants in their place. The idea that anyone can "make it" is almost entirely nonsense. Someone like Rayner is living proof of the conservative lie so they go after her with everything they have.

PommieBast

When Sunak says country is at crossroads I have this mental image of someone who is about to run a red light..

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122131566#Comment_122131566

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68999222

But he insisted HMRC had found it was a non-deliberate, "careless" mistake.

This person was Chancellor of the Exchequer literally the person in charge of taxation.

blackwhite

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122135430#Comment_122135430

Because careless is what you want in charge of the national finances

PommieBast

Rees-Mogg calls on Sunak to make Farage a government minister

Being the FT its paywalled but it has gems like the following. Do wonder what planet he is on..

"..help of Nigel Farage in a Conservative government [..] with Boris Johnson probably returning as foreign secretary.."

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122141957#Comment_122141957

He went further, calling on the prime minister to enlist the “help of Nigel Farage in a Conservative government as a Conservative minister, with Boris Johnson probably returning as foreign secretary . . . as well as pursuing genuinely Conservative policies”. Such moves would put a Tory victory in the general election, expected later this year, “within reach”, Rees-Mogg said. https://www.ft.com/content/0f85a767-e007-449f-950f-9b61674ccf50

Ah yes, the hallmark of the shyster, we need only do "real conservatism" to win. Ironically, applying the base definition of conservatism from 2015 onwards (minimal change, that is) would have left us in the EU, saved many lives during the pandemic and spared all of us from the performative racism that is the closest thing the Tories have to an idea.

breezy1985

Its like a messed up version of an Oceans 11 type movie.

Johnson, Cameron, Farage all back together. Throw in Cummings as the cynical one and Liz Truss in the "Bernie Mac" comedy role.

Peregrinus

Farage's Reform took 2 council seats from Tories in the recent local elections, while Labour took 232, the Lib Dems 98 and the Greens 64.

Yes, clearly the key to a Tory resurgence is a sharp swing to the right. 🙄

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122143877#Comment_122143877

In the UK, you win by holding the centre ground. I think the Tories burned the bridge back there some time ago so this is the only way they can go. Farage would clearly like to destroy the party and harvest the more useful MPs for Reform UK. It's incredible that they don't see this.

Leroy42

No bridges have been burned. Sunak could had started the process but was too weak and immediately gave in by accepting support, and then supporting, the likes of Braverman.

Starmer has managed it for Labour.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122144973#Comment_122144973

They have. You can't put a sadistic piece of performative racism (Rwanda) front and centre and then pretend to be a pragmatic centrist. We knew what Sunak was when he reinstated Braverman at the beginning of his tenure.

Leroy42

They have moved to right for sure, just don't agree that there is no way back.

Sunak could have done it. His first speech signalled it but as you say bringing Braverman back in, just after she had resigned, showed that Sunak was going to be weak and tied to the right.

He had his chance. The party was so low at that point they would have probably accepted anything. Especially if the polls showed improvement.

Take just this week. JRM on TV saying the Tory party should unite with Reform to have any chance of winning. Sackable offence, IMO, to go out spouting that particularly in the week Sunak was attempting yet another reset.

But Sunak will do nothing.

The next leader will have the chance to shift back to the middle.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122145109#Comment_122145109

The next leader will be Braverman or someone cut from a similar cloth. They'll lurch further to the right as they'll think that ideological impurity will be why they lose this year. The leader after that may be a centrist after the 2029(?) election.

We have the 2000's as precedent.

Tom Mann Centuria

https://twitter.com/tomorrowsmps/status/1791383787906949306?t=2IZ7uDmXkV2IALRfeN5pqA&s=19

Starmer going against a pledge you say?

This just seems over management yet again by party HQ, parachuting candidates into what they consider unwinnable seats, irritating local party who are the ones who'll have to do the thankless task of door knocking and leafleting.

In other news:

Paul Mason (born again New new Labour supporting talking head) has put his name forward to be Labour candidate in Islington North :pac: Not sure if there's a constituency he hasn't tried for yet.

ArmaniJeanss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122149094#Comment_122149094

I don't know the exact details of what Starmer pledged but I doubt it was a hard and fast guarantee that all candidates would be selected solely by local party members. A silly pledge if it was because 80% of candidates would be the same - a 41-year-old white male called Nicky who's been a dedicated party worker since his teens, his Dad campaigned for Kinnock or Callaghan and his great-grandfather helped Atlee draft the first NHS bill.

Without delving any further into the St Neots and Mid-Cambs activists who are annoyed by the parachute candidate, I'd suspect that the annoyance is probably coming mainly from their such Nicky.

Tom Mann Centuria

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122149566#Comment_122149566

https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1224662165271056385?t=8OR6impRBRj1RT1hzCFIXw&s=19

Well he doesn't say the word guarantee. Maybe I'm misreading the "Local Party members should select their candidates for every election" part.

ArmaniJeanss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122149649#Comment_122149649

Fair enough, clearly he has u-turned on that then. I do think it was a silly thing to promise for the reasons in my earlier post.

PommieBast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122149566#Comment_122149566

Technically the NHS was Nye Bevan 😁

Not been following this one but Labour has got its fingers burnt multiple times in the past. Worst one was perhaps Alun Michael in the late 1990s.

Leroy42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122149670#Comment_122149670

But he didn't promise. And since he is leader, but not dictator, he cannot simply demand the party change to suit his wishes. It may well be that he tried but was outvoted. It is of course also likely that he never tried.

breezy1985

I am am pretty that Labour had changed the rules so that every constituency could vote on who could run for MP even if it was a sitting MP. But it wasn't mandatory but rather something that had to be triggered by local members.

It was under Corbyn though I am pretty sure and not Starmer because at the time I was a Labour member stuck under that fukwit Hoey and there was much rejoicing that we finally were granted a mechanism to unseat her.

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122132000#Comment_122132000

I remember some rag running a story about her going to an....Opera! The horror of it all!

aidanodr

Well then .. Somethin up in UK this avo .. calling an election perhaps? Sunak stepping down perhaps?

https://twitter.com/elenicourea/status/1793249144946950362

breezy1985

Sunak refusing to rule out an election in the summer when asked din PMQ's. Just said "second half of the year"

That could be July or August especially if Sunak is thinking they could win a bunch of Olympics medals and the Euros as a distraction from the avalanche of sht political stories.

Robert Peston of ITV tweeting just now

"For what it is worth, I think an earlier election is on. I can’t tell you why I now think that. This is not 100% certain but close enough for me to mention to you"

VinLieger

A lot of speculation about an election today based on people thinking todays economic news while being not great is better than anything the torys are likely to get in the next 9 months