By the way, in other news, there are lots of indications that Russians are getting routed all over the place at the moment...
That would be most pleasant. Reports from weeks ago were that things would remain slow and grindy for many months, and that may well still be the case (we heard plenty about desertions early on in the way for instance, which did not seem to emerge), but Ukraine is due some positive news.
I suspect this is the most fiscally right wing cabinet Britain has ever seen.
On a technicality I’m going to say that’s late Gladstone. Fiscally dry as dust, in favour of free trade, and supportive of the most limited welfare possible.
I suspect this is the most fiscally right wing cabinet Britain has ever seen.
On a technicality I’m going to say that’s late Gladstone. Fiscally dry as dust, in favour of free trade, and supportive of the most limited welfare possible.
Gladstone of course a classical Liberal opposed by the more paternalist Tory Disraeli.
It seems Truss will truly be a Liberal PM after all, just a 19th century Manchester school Liberal, none of that wet former SDP stuff
By the way, in other news, there are lots of indications that Russians are getting routed all over the place at the moment...
That would be most pleasant. Reports from weeks ago were that things would remain slow and grindy for many months, and that may well still be the case (we heard plenty about desertions early on in the way for instance, which did not seem to emerge), but Ukraine is due some positive news.
And a 4-1 away win for Shakhter Donetsk in the Champions League.
@Mr_John_Oxley · 5h My only PM motorcade fact is that Macmillan's driver had to carry a special set of thrupenny bits, in case he needed to use a phonebox to order a nuclear strike as they didn't have a secure communications system in the car.
I suspect this is the most fiscally right wing cabinet Britain has ever seen.
On a technicality I’m going to say that’s late Gladstone. Fiscally dry as dust, in favour of free trade, and supportive of the most limited welfare possible.
Ok fair enough. Since 1945, then.
In relative terms (blah blah Overton window), this government is way to the right of where the mind of the country is, in a way that I'm not sure even Thatcher '79 was. After all, the 2019 win was about a Conservative Nanny State, as long as Nanny didn't give sweeties to children from down the street.
There's always a problem when a government regenerates mid-term. How do you stretch the old mandate to make new changes? But this could well be Taking The Piss, democratically.
I suspect this is the most fiscally right wing cabinet Britain has ever seen.
On a technicality I’m going to say that’s late Gladstone. Fiscally dry as dust, in favour of free trade, and supportive of the most limited welfare possible.
Gladstone of course a classical Liberal opposed by the more paternalist Tory Disraeli.
It seems Truss will truly be a Liberal PM after all, just a 19th century Manchester school Liberal, none of that wet former SDP stuff
Gladstone the Tory who left and formed the liberals with the Whigs. Truss the liberal who left the Whigs and joined the Tories.
"Kwasi Kwarteng: free marketeer and Truss’s ideological soulmate becomes chancellor
Former business secretary will be helped by close relationship with PM but takes role during historic economic storm...
As a loyal supporter of Truss – the pair entered parliament together in 2010 – Kwarteng is likely to have a much smoother relationship with his Downing Street colleague than Boris Johnson endured with Sunak..."
@Mr_John_Oxley · 5h My only PM motorcade fact is that Macmillan's driver had to carry a special set of thrupenny bits, in case he needed to use a phonebox to order a nuclear strike as they didn't have a secure communications system in the car.
Much PB Tory ambivalence towards Truss' appointments. Is this the state of things to come?
I am just mightily relieved Johnson has packed his trunk and said goodbye to the circus. He did so with his usual poor grace and self indulgence.
Now he's gone there seems less expectation amongst the scribblers that he will return. Good riddance.
Boris has gone yes but hold onto your seats because on this Cabinet Truss' government will be the most economically rightwing this country has had since Thatcher. Indeed more laissez-faire than even Thatcher's was until her last years in office
As I saw someone say earlier, this isn’t Thatcherite. This is Reaganite.
Yuck.
In the sense that she will end up spending more while saying the opposite, yes.
I suspect this is the most fiscally right wing cabinet Britain has ever seen.
On a technicality I’m going to say that’s late Gladstone. Fiscally dry as dust, in favour of free trade, and supportive of the most limited welfare possible.
Ok fair enough. Since 1945, then.
In relative terms (blah blah Overton window), this government is way to the right of where the mind of the country is, in a way that I'm not sure even Thatcher '79 was. After all, the 2019 win was about a Conservative Nanny State, as long as Nanny didn't give sweeties to children from down the street.
There's always a problem when a government regenerates mid-term. How do you stretch the old mandate to make new changes? But this could well be Taking The Piss, democratically.
“The mind of the country” sounds suspiciously like “the will of the people”. The country has 67 million minds.
By the way, in other news, there are lots of indications that Russians are getting routed all over the place at the moment...
That would be most pleasant. Reports from weeks ago were that things would remain slow and grindy for many months, and that may well still be the case (we heard plenty about desertions early on in the way for instance, which did not seem to emerge), but Ukraine is due some positive news.
The Ukrainians may have played a blinder in the media in downplaying expectations. They even had this media blackout when the counteroffensive started which allowed Russian propaganda to spread all over the place and which is making what may be happening (quite rapidly it appears) now the blackout is being lifted even more shocking and surprising to Russian supporters.
I suspect this is the most fiscally right wing cabinet Britain has ever seen.
On a technicality I’m going to say that’s late Gladstone. Fiscally dry as dust, in favour of free trade, and supportive of the most limited welfare possible.
Ok fair enough. Since 1945, then.
In relative terms (blah blah Overton window), this government is way to the right of where the mind of the country is, in a way that I'm not sure even Thatcher '79 was. After all, the 2019 win was about a Conservative Nanny State, as long as Nanny didn't give sweeties to children from down the street.
There's always a problem when a government regenerates mid-term. How do you stretch the old mandate to make new changes? But this could well be Taking The Piss, democratically.
I think that’s right.
Having said that; it is the bread and butter of Daily Telegraph editorials which are still lapped up by some.
I suspect this is the most fiscally right wing cabinet Britain has ever seen.
On a technicality I’m going to say that’s late Gladstone. Fiscally dry as dust, in favour of free trade, and supportive of the most limited welfare possible.
Ok fair enough. Since 1945, then.
In relative terms (blah blah Overton window), this government is way to the right of where the mind of the country is, in a way that I'm not sure even Thatcher '79 was. After all, the 2019 win was about a Conservative Nanny State, as long as Nanny didn't give sweeties to children from down the street.
There's always a problem when a government regenerates mid-term. How do you stretch the old mandate to make new changes? But this could well be Taking The Piss, democratically.
Thatcher '79 wasn't greatly radical. It had just won a majority of 43, and was therefore in tune with the mood of the nation. There weren't many "Thatcherites" in the incoming government.
Or is she not bothering on the basis that there is no point expecting any sort of ethical standards from this government?
I believe she’d said during the campaign that she didn’t think it necessary, as she had complete faith in her own ethical judgment….
Seems a fair point, you don't really need a third party to tell you that accepting 50k worth of wallpaper from a wide boy and failing to declare it is naughty do you? The only purpose of an ethics adviser, not an acceptable one, is to get away with borderline behaviour on the basis you had cleared it with him.
I suspect this is the most fiscally right wing cabinet Britain has ever seen.
On a technicality I’m going to say that’s late Gladstone. Fiscally dry as dust, in favour of free trade, and supportive of the most limited welfare possible.
Ok fair enough. Since 1945, then.
In relative terms (blah blah Overton window), this government is way to the right of where the mind of the country is, in a way that I'm not sure even Thatcher '79 was. After all, the 2019 win was about a Conservative Nanny State, as long as Nanny didn't give sweeties to children from down the street.
There's always a problem when a government regenerates mid-term. How do you stretch the old mandate to make new changes? But this could well be Taking The Piss, democratically.
I think that’s right.
Having said that; it is the bread and butter of Daily Telegraph editorials which are still lapped up by some.
I wonder what the Telegraph’s new star columnist (I assume a Mr B Johnson) will tell his readers to think?
I suspect this is the most fiscally right wing cabinet Britain has ever seen.
On a technicality I’m going to say that’s late Gladstone. Fiscally dry as dust, in favour of free trade, and supportive of the most limited welfare possible.
Ok fair enough. Since 1945, then.
In relative terms (blah blah Overton window), this government is way to the right of where the mind of the country is, in a way that I'm not sure even Thatcher '79 was. After all, the 2019 win was about a Conservative Nanny State, as long as Nanny didn't give sweeties to children from down the street.
There's always a problem when a government regenerates mid-term. How do you stretch the old mandate to make new changes? But this could well be Taking The Piss, democratically.
“The mind of the country” sounds suspiciously like “the will of the people”. The country has 67 million minds.
And 17m of them voted for Brexit, AND THEIR COLLECTIVE WILL MUST BE RESPECTED!
@Mr_John_Oxley · 5h My only PM motorcade fact is that Macmillan's driver had to carry a special set of thrupenny bits, in case he needed to use a phonebox to order a nuclear strike as they didn't have a secure communications system in the car.
No, by the time the policy was enacted 4 pennies were required minimum
"On 1st January, 1958, the area covered by the 3d. local call was greatly enlarged and some trunk charges were reduced. I now announce two further steps which will make many telephone calls cheaper." - Ernest Marples, from that source. Macmillan was pm from 1957 to 1963. The anecdote is entirely plausible. Also, I certainly recall having made 3d calls from public phone booths at that time.
Just come in from a book club in Soho so this may have been said down thread but making Jacob Reese Mogg the face of her government’s energy policy seems like one of the most suicidal things Liz Truss could have done.
I wouldn’t read too much into that appointment. Apparently Truss would have been happy to keep Dorries in post if she had wanted to stay . I find these attacks on the BBC bizarre given the Tory core vote watch more of it than anyone else and would riot if Strictly disappeared!
Still waiting for appointments to Scotland and Wales, but so far the average age of the Cabinet is 47.5. Liz Truss being 47.
Only 2 were in parliament prior to 2010 (one from 2009 - yet is one of the youngest there, Chloe Smith at 40).
Historically young? Who knows. It's not very old, but there are plenty of 50+, but in terms of years of experience at Cabinet level it has to be unusually low for a 12 year government.
Just come in from a book club in Soho so this may have been said down thread but making Jacob Reese Mogg the face of her government’s energy policy seems like one of the most suicidal things Liz Truss could have done.
Well watching the Truss coverage and the punditry I do get the impression of an almost completely new government staking out a pretty stupid and possibly ruinous new direction.
Yet with no general election, little support amongst MPs, no mandate at all really other than from the tiny demographic of members of the Conservative Party, and not even there since they'd still prefer Boris Johnson.
Feels wrong. Doesn't feel like a democracy in working order.
That I think nearly completes Truss' new Cabinet except for AG and Chief Sec to the Treasury, Jake Berry to be Party Chairman as well as Minister without Portfolio. Not a single declared Sunak supporter in it and no place for Tom Tugenhadt either in what is a Cabinet which has clearly swung to the right even in comparison to Boris' Cabinet. It is very much as said earlier a Thatcherite circa 1990 government
@Mr_John_Oxley · 5h My only PM motorcade fact is that Macmillan's driver had to carry a special set of thrupenny bits, in case he needed to use a phonebox to order a nuclear strike as they didn't have a secure communications system in the car.
No, by the time the policy was enacted 4 pennies were required minimum
"On 1st January, 1958, the area covered by the 3d. local call was greatly enlarged and some trunk charges were reduced. I now announce two further steps which will make many telephone calls cheaper." - Ernest Marples, from that source. Macmillan was pm from 1957 to 1963. The anecdote is entirely plausible. Also, I certainly recall having made 3d calls from public phone booths at that time.
Still waiting for appointments to Scotland and Wales, but so far the average age of the Cabinet is 47.5. Liz Truss being 47.
Only 2 were in parliament prior to 2010 (one from 2009 - yet is one of the youngest there, Chloe Smith at 40).
Historically young? Who knows. It's not very old, but there are plenty of 50+, but in terms of years of experience at Cabinet level it has to be unusually low for a 12 year government.
Crucially. Only two of them have been in Opposition. One of them for barely a year. It's when you take being in government for granted it can fall apart.
I suspect this is the most fiscally right wing cabinet Britain has ever seen.
It may want to be, but it cannot and won't act that way. State handouts from energy and protected spending for health and pensions are all required for any chance of avoiding electoral wipeout in two years time. Beyond that they can virtue signal by finding some civil service jobs to cut, but its not going to make a dent in state spending.
I suspect this is the most fiscally right wing cabinet Britain has ever seen.
On a technicality I’m going to say that’s late Gladstone. Fiscally dry as dust, in favour of free trade, and supportive of the most limited welfare possible.
Ok fair enough. Since 1945, then.
In relative terms (blah blah Overton window), this government is way to the right of where the mind of the country is, in a way that I'm not sure even Thatcher '79 was. After all, the 2019 win was about a Conservative Nanny State, as long as Nanny didn't give sweeties to children from down the street.
There's always a problem when a government regenerates mid-term. How do you stretch the old mandate to make new changes? But this could well be Taking The Piss, democratically.
“The mind of the country” sounds suspiciously like “the will of the people”. The country has 67 million minds.
And 17m of them voted for Brexit, AND THEIR COLLECTIVE WILL MUST BE RESPECTED!
Jacobin has a piece on this today, criticising Biden for this strategy of differentiation and I think they are absolutely right in terms of electoral messaging. It is confusing. Biden has left it open for Republicans running to claim they are not fans of MAGA and so therefore implicitly be recognised as moderate. Oz seems to be using this tactic in PA when he talked about ratifying the 2020 results.
Still waiting for appointments to Scotland and Wales, but so far the average age of the Cabinet is 47.5. Liz Truss being 47.
Only 2 were in parliament prior to 2010 (one from 2009 - yet is one of the youngest there, Chloe Smith at 40).
Historically young? Who knows. It's not very old, but there are plenty of 50+, but in terms of years of experience at Cabinet level it has to be unusually low for a 12 year government.
Okay now I am really depressed. I am older than every single member of the new Cabinet. How can I be older than Ben Wallace for Christ's sake? How can I be older than JRM?
Actually they must have got JRM wrong. I am sure that should have said 253 instead of 53.
Just come in from a book club in Soho so this may have been said down thread but making Jacob Reese Mogg the face of her government’s energy policy seems like one of the most suicidal things Liz Truss could have done.
It’s utter madness. This must be a wind up….
The thing about Mogg is that his public persona is actually the least problematic thing about him being given serious jobs.
@Mr_John_Oxley · 5h My only PM motorcade fact is that Macmillan's driver had to carry a special set of thrupenny bits, in case he needed to use a phonebox to order a nuclear strike as they didn't have a secure communications system in the car.
No, by the time the policy was enacted 4 pennies were required minimum
"On 1st January, 1958, the area covered by the 3d. local call was greatly enlarged and some trunk charges were reduced. I now announce two further steps which will make many telephone calls cheaper." - Ernest Marples, from that source. Macmillan was pm from 1957 to 1963. The anecdote is entirely plausible. Also, I certainly recall having made 3d calls from public phone booths at that time.
Bryan Saunders, private secretary to the Minister of Works, whose responsibilities included the government car pool, wrote to Sir Timothy Bligh, Macmillan's principal private secretary, saying: 'I understand that if an emergency arose while the Prime Minister was on the road, the proposal is to use the radio to get him to a telephone.
'Perhaps we should see that our drivers are provided with four pennies - I should hate to think of you trying to get change for sixpence from a bus conductor while those four minutes were ticking by.'
Still waiting for appointments to Scotland and Wales, but so far the average age of the Cabinet is 47.5. Liz Truss being 47.
Only 2 were in parliament prior to 2010 (one from 2009 - yet is one of the youngest there, Chloe Smith at 40).
Historically young? Who knows. It's not very old, but there are plenty of 50+, but in terms of years of experience at Cabinet level it has to be unusually low for a 12 year government.
Chloe Smith must be now on possible path to be future CoE? 2028? After four years of Lab minority admin?
By the way, in other news, there are lots of indications that Russians are getting routed all over the place at the moment...
The interesting stuff are the claims that Ukraine has made some major progress in the Donetsk region (unverified yet). No wonder Vlad looked so glum today.
Well watching the Truss coverage and the punditry I do get the impression of an almost completely new government staking out a pretty stupid and possibly ruinous new direction.
Yet with no general election, little support amongst MPs, no mandate at all really other than from the tiny demographic of members of the Conservative Party, and not even there since they'd still prefer Boris Johnson.
Feels wrong. Doesn't feel like a democracy in working order.
Quite useful for Brexiteers, actually. “Oh all that rubbish at the end? That was after that Remainer deposed Boris and those policies didn’t reflect the 2019 platform”.
Also useful for a post-24 Boris (or “Boris-ite”) leader.
@Mr_John_Oxley · 5h My only PM motorcade fact is that Macmillan's driver had to carry a special set of thrupenny bits, in case he needed to use a phonebox to order a nuclear strike as they didn't have a secure communications system in the car.
No, by the time the policy was enacted 4 pennies were required minimum
"On 1st January, 1958, the area covered by the 3d. local call was greatly enlarged and some trunk charges were reduced. I now announce two further steps which will make many telephone calls cheaper." - Ernest Marples, from that source. Macmillan was pm from 1957 to 1963. The anecdote is entirely plausible. Also, I certainly recall having made 3d calls from public phone booths at that time.
Bryan Saunders, private secretary to the Minister of Works, whose responsibilities included the government car pool, wrote to Sir Timothy Bligh, Macmillan's principal private secretary, saying: 'I understand that if an emergency arose while the Prime Minister was on the road, the proposal is to use the radio to get him to a telephone.
'Perhaps we should see that our drivers are provided with four pennies - I should hate to think of you trying to get change for sixpence from a bus conductor while those four minutes were ticking by.'
Jacobin has a piece on this today, criticising Biden for this strategy of differentiation and I think they are absolutely right in terms of electoral messaging. It is confusing. Biden has left it open for Republicans running to claim they are not fans of MAGA and so therefore implicitly be recognised as moderate. Oz seems to be using this tactic in PA when he talked about ratifying the 2020 results.
@Mr_John_Oxley · 5h My only PM motorcade fact is that Macmillan's driver had to carry a special set of thrupenny bits, in case he needed to use a phonebox to order a nuclear strike as they didn't have a secure communications system in the car.
No, by the time the policy was enacted 4 pennies were required minimum
"On 1st January, 1958, the area covered by the 3d. local call was greatly enlarged and some trunk charges were reduced. I now announce two further steps which will make many telephone calls cheaper." - Ernest Marples, from that source. Macmillan was pm from 1957 to 1963. The anecdote is entirely plausible. Also, I certainly recall having made 3d calls from public phone booths at that time.
This has all the makings of a classic PB ruck.
This is serious.
It was definitely four pennies. Phone boxes didn't take threepenny bits.
Well watching the Truss coverage and the punditry I do get the impression of an almost completely new government staking out a pretty stupid and possibly ruinous new direction.
Yet with no general election, little support amongst MPs, no mandate at all really other than from the tiny demographic of members of the Conservative Party, and not even there since they'd still prefer Boris Johnson.
Feels wrong. Doesn't feel like a democracy in working order.
Indeed. No mandate, already unpopular, perhaps ruinously so by Christmas, yet we're still probably going to have to endure it for the next two years.
Doesn't seem like a cabinet that's going to win the Red Wall somehow
Why? Braverman at Home office is full on red wall red meat I mean it may not but i see nothing in it that is antithetical to the red wall more than everywhere else
Truss has decided she doesn't want to abolish the BBC after all?
If she has been advised to focus on her three key goals and strip away all the other barnacles, then dropping the ludicrous 'close down the bbc' nonsense is a good start.
That I think nearly completes Truss' new Cabinet except for AG and Chief Sec to the Treasury, Jake Berry to be Party Chairman as well as Minister without Portfolio. Not a single declared Sunak supporter in it and no place for Tom Tugenhadt either in what is a Cabinet which has clearly swung to the right even in comparison to Boris' Cabinet. It is very much as said earlier a Thatcherite circa 1990 government
Far worse than that.
Can you imagine any of them saying to Liz's face "sorry luv, it's time for you to go"?
Wiki lists AG as not being full Cabinet, so I think the list is complete. Average age up to 48.
Mordaunt one of the earliest to first get into the Cabinet, which shows how her career has since stalled.
Truss is the only one with any extended experience (if you count Chief Secretary as Cabinet, as sometimes it is, she's had 8 years at the top) - nearly half have either never been in the Cabinet before, or have only been in it since earlier this year (some did attend Cabinet previously though). No others have even close to her.
Well watching the Truss coverage and the punditry I do get the impression of an almost completely new government staking out a pretty stupid and possibly ruinous new direction.
Yet with no general election, little support amongst MPs, no mandate at all really other than from the tiny demographic of members of the Conservative Party, and not even there since they'd still prefer Boris Johnson.
Feels wrong. Doesn't feel like a democracy in working order.
Indeed. No mandate, already unpopular, perhaps ruinously so by Christmas, yet we're still probably going to have to endure it for the next two years.
The Elizabethan age will be measured in decades, not years.
I became the 1st foreign leader to have a conversation with the newly elected 🇬🇧 PM @trussliz. Invited her to 🇺🇦. Thanked 🇬🇧 people for the major defense & economic aid for 🇺🇦. It's important that 🇬🇧 is ready to further strengthen it. Attention was paid to security guarantees 1/2
Well watching the Truss coverage and the punditry I do get the impression of an almost completely new government staking out a pretty stupid and possibly ruinous new direction.
Yet with no general election, little support amongst MPs, no mandate at all really other than from the tiny demographic of members of the Conservative Party, and not even there since they'd still prefer Boris Johnson.
Feels wrong. Doesn't feel like a democracy in working order.
If Parliament passes the laws and budgets the Government proposes then it is absolutely democracy as it has run for the last couple of centuries. I may not like Truss (I really don't) but that is the system.
Actually I do think we should return to an earlier Parliamentary system that existed prior to 1926 when an MP who was not already a minister had to stand for re-election if appointed to Government outside of the immediate aftermath of a GE. .
@Mr_John_Oxley · 5h My only PM motorcade fact is that Macmillan's driver had to carry a special set of thrupenny bits, in case he needed to use a phonebox to order a nuclear strike as they didn't have a secure communications system in the car.
No, by the time the policy was enacted 4 pennies were required minimum
"On 1st January, 1958, the area covered by the 3d. local call was greatly enlarged and some trunk charges were reduced. I now announce two further steps which will make many telephone calls cheaper." - Ernest Marples, from that source. Macmillan was pm from 1957 to 1963. The anecdote is entirely plausible. Also, I certainly recall having made 3d calls from public phone booths at that time.
Bryan Saunders, private secretary to the Minister of Works, whose responsibilities included the government car pool, wrote to Sir Timothy Bligh, Macmillan's principal private secretary, saying: 'I understand that if an emergency arose while the Prime Minister was on the road, the proposal is to use the radio to get him to a telephone.
'Perhaps we should see that our drivers are provided with four pennies - I should hate to think of you trying to get change for sixpence from a bus conductor while those four minutes were ticking by.'
Nice quote. Where does it come from?
The Mail, taken from the 2019 archive release that spawned the story
By the way, in other news, there are lots of indications that Russians are getting routed all over the place at the moment...
The interesting stuff are the claims that Ukraine has made some major progress in the Donetsk region (unverified yet). No wonder Vlad looked so glum today.
It appears that the Ukrainian army is increasingly a fully mobilised, highly motivated, highly trained (by NATO) army, with advanced modern weaponry and an enormous supply of reserves able to rotate troops on a regular basis.
The Russians are at the level of recruiting from prisons, with troops who have been in theatre for months and relying on Cold War era weaponry.
@Mr_John_Oxley · 5h My only PM motorcade fact is that Macmillan's driver had to carry a special set of thrupenny bits, in case he needed to use a phonebox to order a nuclear strike as they didn't have a secure communications system in the car.
No, by the time the policy was enacted 4 pennies were required minimum
"On 1st January, 1958, the area covered by the 3d. local call was greatly enlarged and some trunk charges were reduced. I now announce two further steps which will make many telephone calls cheaper." - Ernest Marples, from that source. Macmillan was pm from 1957 to 1963. The anecdote is entirely plausible. Also, I certainly recall having made 3d calls from public phone booths at that time.
This has all the makings of a classic PB ruck.
This is serious.
It was definitely four pennies. Phone boxes didn't take threepenny bits.
They were excellent coins. Had a gravitas far in excess of what you could buy with one.
This government was elected on the basis of the 2019 manifesto.
Leaving the ECHR was not in that manifesto and the Lords would be perfectly entitled to block such a measure.
The manifesto also contained this promise - "We will continue to grant asylum and support to refugees fleeing persecution, with the ultimate aim of helping them to return home if it is safe to do so."
Page 39 on workers rights: not just preserving existing rights but enhancing them is worth reading too.
If Truss wants to tear up the 2019 manifesto and govern according to a new one, she should call a GE. If not, she can do what the government which was elected promised to do in that manifesto.
Meet the new set of chancers. Not wildly different from the old set of chancers.
I think I've had it with politics really.
There has been an interesting recent case on whistleblowing in the Care Quality Commission. The NHS has quite an issue with whistleblowing and to see the same problems in the CQC is quite demoralising.
I may write about this for my work blog, whistleblowing being my specialism these days.
Some years ago I was put up to speak for a department that was failing very badly, when the CQC called. Obviously management were a bit worried, so I was well briefed, and had a file full of stuff to explain our excuses and mitigations. They knew I would be honest, and wanted me to be honest as we already were fixing stuff.
The 2 inspectors were a junior nurse and a junior doctor and hadn't spotted any of the issues, instead asked me about a lot of irrelevant trivia about protocols for this and that. I answered to their satisfaction and they went away without noticing the dead suppurating elephant in the room and wrote a positive write up
Well watching the Truss coverage and the punditry I do get the impression of an almost completely new government staking out a pretty stupid and possibly ruinous new direction.
Yet with no general election, little support amongst MPs, no mandate at all really other than from the tiny demographic of members of the Conservative Party, and not even there since they'd still prefer Boris Johnson.
Feels wrong. Doesn't feel like a democracy in working order.
If Parliament passes the laws and budgets the Government proposes then it is absolutely democracy as it has run for the last couple of centuries. I may not like Truss (I really don't) but that is the system.
Actually I do think we should return to an earlier Parliamentary system that existed prior to 1926 when an MP who was not already a minister had to stand for re-election if appointed to Government outside of the immediate aftermath of a GE. .
I agree. It's representational, and us to trust the judgement of those we elect to at least try to deliver on a promised platform, but they are not bound to it and never have been.
I think 'mandate' is a nonsense word anyway, the way politicians use it. People oppose a freshly elected government from day 1, and of course they do, regardless of mandate.
Doesn't seem like a cabinet that's going to win the Red Wall somehow
Depends. Truss could do something really stupid like capping all energy bills at pre-crisis levels, accepting that it will lead to a massive increase in borrowing but will make it seem like she has solved the problem for the next couple of winters. People might be daft enough to look upon that as strong action that saves them from disaster without worrying about the long term consequences and that might see her through the next election.
I hope I am wrong but I don't think it is impossible. Some creative maths saying this will be paid back by a future energy levy to kick in when real prices are back down to more normal levels and will be over such a long period that they will claim people won't notice.
I hope no one on the new Truss team reads PB and thinks this is a good idea. It isn't.
It's not the vote of the majority of PB posters that LT is after but voters like me - Boris fans - so further to the right she goes the better as far as I'm concerned - first impressions are good but will wait for more details especially with regard to illegal immigration
Wiki lists AG as not being full Cabinet, so I think the list is complete. Average age up to 48.
Mordaunt one of the earliest to first get into the Cabinet, which shows how her career has since stalled.
Truss is the only one with any extended experience (if you count Chief Secretary as Cabinet, as sometimes it is, she's had 8 years at the top) - nearly half have either never been in the Cabinet before, or have only been in it since earlier this year (some did attend Cabinet previously though). No others have even close to her.
Chris Philp is Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Michael Ellis QC is Attorney General and so and we have Truss' full Cabinet
@Mr_John_Oxley · 5h My only PM motorcade fact is that Macmillan's driver had to carry a special set of thrupenny bits, in case he needed to use a phonebox to order a nuclear strike as they didn't have a secure communications system in the car.
No, by the time the policy was enacted 4 pennies were required minimum
"On 1st January, 1958, the area covered by the 3d. local call was greatly enlarged and some trunk charges were reduced. I now announce two further steps which will make many telephone calls cheaper." - Ernest Marples, from that source. Macmillan was pm from 1957 to 1963. The anecdote is entirely plausible. Also, I certainly recall having made 3d calls from public phone booths at that time.
Bryan Saunders, private secretary to the Minister of Works, whose responsibilities included the government car pool, wrote to Sir Timothy Bligh, Macmillan's principal private secretary, saying: 'I understand that if an emergency arose while the Prime Minister was on the road, the proposal is to use the radio to get him to a telephone.
'Perhaps we should see that our drivers are provided with four pennies - I should hate to think of you trying to get change for sixpence from a bus conductor while those four minutes were ticking by.'
Nice quote. Where does it come from?
The Mail, taken from the 2019 archive release that spawned the story
Tx. I did find it. Doesn't detract from the amusing gist of the story. The 3d element was certainly plausible to me due to personal recollection.
Well watching the Truss coverage and the punditry I do get the impression of an almost completely new government staking out a pretty stupid and possibly ruinous new direction.
Yet with no general election, little support amongst MPs, no mandate at all really other than from the tiny demographic of members of the Conservative Party, and not even there since they'd still prefer Boris Johnson.
Feels wrong. Doesn't feel like a democracy in working order.
Indeed. No mandate, already unpopular, perhaps ruinously so by Christmas, yet we're still probably going to have to endure it for the next two years.
It does feel wrong, doesn't it? I know them's the rules but the spirit of them is being trashed here.
This government was elected on the basis of the 2019 manifesto.
Leaving the ECHR was not in that manifesto and the Lords would be perfectly entitled to block such a measure.
The manifesto also contained this promise - "We will continue to grant asylum and support to refugees fleeing persecution, with the ultimate aim of helping them to return home if it is safe to do so."
Page 39 on workers rights: not just preserving existing rights but enhancing them is worth reading too.
If Truss wants to tear up the 2019 manifesto and govern according to a new one, she should call a GE. If not, she can do what the government which was elected promised to do in that manifesto.
Meet the new set of chancers. Not wildly different from the old set of chancers.
I think I've had it with politics really.
There has been an interesting recent case on whistleblowing in the Care Quality Commission. The NHS has quite an issue with whistleblowing and to see the same problems in the CQC is quite demoralising.
I may write about this for my work blog, whistleblowing being my specialism these days.
Some years ago I was put up to speak for a department that was failing very badly, when the CQC called. Obviously management were a bit worried, so I was well briefed, and had a file full of stuff to explain our excuses and mitigations. They knew I would be honest, and wanted me to be honest as we already were fixing stuff.
The 2 inspectors were a junior nurse and a junior doctor and hadn't spotted any of the issues, instead asked me about a lot of irrelevant trivia about protocols for this and that. I answered to their satisfaction and they went away without noticing the dead suppurating elephant in the room and wrote a positive write up
I haven't had much faith in them since.
Sounds like my experiences with the Adult Learning Inspectorate.
Still waiting for appointments to Scotland and Wales, but so far the average age of the Cabinet is 47.5. Liz Truss being 47.
Only 2 were in parliament prior to 2010 (one from 2009 - yet is one of the youngest there, Chloe Smith at 40).
Historically young? Who knows. It's not very old, but there are plenty of 50+, but in terms of years of experience at Cabinet level it has to be unusually low for a 12 year government.
This is why talk of "twelve years of this Government" is false, the Government has rejuvenated over time. The composition of this Cabinet bears next to zero resemblance with Cameron's . . . is the PM the only survivor from Cameron's day herself?
By the way, in other news, there are lots of indications that Russians are getting routed all over the place at the moment...
That would be most pleasant. Reports from weeks ago were that things would remain slow and grindy for many months, and that may well still be the case (we heard plenty about desertions early on in the way for instance, which did not seem to emerge), but Ukraine is due some positive news.
The Ukrainians may have played a blinder in the media in downplaying expectations. They even had this media blackout when the counteroffensive started which allowed Russian propaganda to spread all over the place and which is making what may be happening (quite rapidly it appears) now the blackout is being lifted even more shocking and surprising to Russian supporters.
There's lots of potential good news following around on twitter for Ukraine today. Sometimes this has happened in the past and it's turned out to be exaggerated. But there's quite a bit of different news from different places.
One of the more notable bits I saw was the claim that a destroyed Russian pontoon bridge had been taken out by a Ukrainian air force jet. The ability of the Ukrainians to project air power seems to be increasing at the same time as the Russians are using S-300 air defence missiles to attack civilian ground targets.
Russian military action appears to be becoming even more inept. Ukrainians taking the piss out of retreating Russian soldiers for abandoning their looted washing machines too.
Still waiting for appointments to Scotland and Wales, but so far the average age of the Cabinet is 47.5. Liz Truss being 47.
Only 2 were in parliament prior to 2010 (one from 2009 - yet is one of the youngest there, Chloe Smith at 40).
Historically young? Who knows. It's not very old, but there are plenty of 50+, but in terms of years of experience at Cabinet level it has to be unusually low for a 12 year government.
This is why talk of "twelve years of this Government" is false, the Government has rejuvenated over time. The composition of this Cabinet bears next to zero resemblance with Cameron's . . . is the PM the only survivor from Cameron's day herself?
Yes.
It is a rather remarkable bit of refreshing, but having pulled that trick once they may find it harder to sell it this time.
Doesn't seem like a cabinet that's going to win the Red Wall somehow
Depends. Truss could do something really stupid like capping all energy bills at pre-crisis levels, accepting that it will lead to a massive increase in borrowing but will make it seem like she has solved the problem for the next couple of winters. People might be daft enough to look upon that as strong action that saves them from disaster without worrying about the long term consequences and that might see her through the next election.
I hope I am wrong but I don't think it is impossible. Some creative maths saying this will be paid back by a future energy levy to kick in when real prices are back down to more normal levels and will be over such a long period that they will claim people won't notice.
I hope no one on the new Truss team reads PB and thinks this is a good idea. It isn't.
Totally agree. I fear for where we have got to with public expectations now. There’s a sense “the Government” can always bail us out, and a lack of understanding that “the Government” is is collectively. What next? Price controls on flour?
Still waiting for appointments to Scotland and Wales, but so far the average age of the Cabinet is 47.5. Liz Truss being 47.
Only 2 were in parliament prior to 2010 (one from 2009 - yet is one of the youngest there, Chloe Smith at 40).
Historically young? Who knows. It's not very old, but there are plenty of 50+, but in terms of years of experience at Cabinet level it has to be unusually low for a 12 year government.
This is why talk of "twelve years of this Government" is false, the Government has rejuvenated over time. The composition of this Cabinet bears next to zero resemblance with Cameron's . . . is the PM the only survivor from Cameron's day herself?
Well watching the Truss coverage and the punditry I do get the impression of an almost completely new government staking out a pretty stupid and possibly ruinous new direction.
Yet with no general election, little support amongst MPs, no mandate at all really other than from the tiny demographic of members of the Conservative Party, and not even there since they'd still prefer Boris Johnson.
Feels wrong. Doesn't feel like a democracy in working order.
Indeed. No mandate, already unpopular, perhaps ruinously so by Christmas, yet we're still probably going to have to endure it for the next two years.
It does feel wrong, doesn't it? I know them's the rules but the spirit of them is being trashed here.
No more so than when Macmillan, Callaghan, Major, Brown, May or Johnson took office.
By the way, in other news, there are lots of indications that Russians are getting routed all over the place at the moment...
That would be most pleasant. Reports from weeks ago were that things would remain slow and grindy for many months, and that may well still be the case (we heard plenty about desertions early on in the way for instance, which did not seem to emerge), but Ukraine is due some positive news.
The Ukrainians may have played a blinder in the media in downplaying expectations. They even had this media blackout when the counteroffensive started which allowed Russian propaganda to spread all over the place and which is making what may be happening (quite rapidly it appears) now the blackout is being lifted even more shocking and surprising to Russian supporters.
There's lots of potential good news following around on twitter for Ukraine today. Sometimes this has happened in the past and it's turned out to be exaggerated. But there's quite a bit of different news from different places.
One of the more notable bits I saw was the claim that a destroyed Russian pontoon bridge had been taken out by a Ukrainian air force jet. The ability of the Ukrainians to project air power seems to be increasing at the same time as the Russians are using S-300 air defence missiles to attack civilian ground targets.
Russian military action appears to be becoming even more inept. Ukrainians taking the piss out of retreating Russian soldiers for abandoning their looted washing machines too.
They are using air defence missiles in a ground attack role? How?! I mean, in some ways that shows initiative if they are hitting anything they aim at…
Comments
https://twitter.com/tomhfh/status/1567256736381247494?s=20&t=NUQRUhQ02LVJDL06metRrA
It seems Truss will truly be a Liberal PM after all, just a 19th century Manchester school Liberal, none of that wet former SDP stuff
Getting dangerously close to having one be younger than me.
https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1958/may/21/telephone-calls-charges
https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1567258425754587136?s=20&t=NUQRUhQ02LVJDL06metRrA
There's always a problem when a government regenerates mid-term. How do you stretch the old mandate to make new changes? But this could well be Taking The Piss, democratically.
"Kwasi Kwarteng: free marketeer and Truss’s ideological soulmate becomes chancellor
Former business secretary will be helped by close relationship with PM but takes role during historic economic storm...
As a loyal supporter of Truss – the pair entered parliament together in 2010 – Kwarteng is likely to have a much smoother relationship with his Downing Street colleague than Boris Johnson endured with Sunak..."
Etc etc.
https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1567173279332319233
I want to be clear: Not every Congressional Republican is a MAGA Republican. I know because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans.
But an extreme set of MAGA Republicans in Congress have chosen to take us backwards.
Together, we can choose a different path.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-62811085
"Scotland's 'not proven' verdict set to be axed"
Having said that; it is the bread and butter of Daily Telegraph editorials which are still lapped up by some.
There weren't many "Thatcherites" in the incoming government.
https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1567261533360607235?s=20&t=Bgs1KNja50ihYA38KmKHoA
Also, I certainly recall having made 3d calls from public phone booths at that time.
Only 2 were in parliament prior to 2010 (one from 2009 - yet is one of the youngest there, Chloe Smith at 40).
Historically young? Who knows. It's not very old, but there are plenty of 50+, but in terms of years of experience at Cabinet level it has to be unusually low for a 12 year government.
Yet with no general election, little support amongst MPs, no mandate at all really other than from the tiny demographic of members of the Conservative Party, and not even there since they'd still prefer Boris Johnson.
Feels wrong. Doesn't feel like a democracy in working order.
https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1567262451246276608?s=20&t=4XQC_vPJGs0kCCoiaZx4PQ
That I think nearly completes Truss' new Cabinet except for AG and Chief Sec to the Treasury, Jake Berry to be Party Chairman as well as Minister without Portfolio. Not a single declared Sunak supporter in it and no place for Tom Tugenhadt either in what is a Cabinet which has clearly swung to the right even in comparison to Boris' Cabinet. It is very much as said earlier a Thatcherite circa 1990 government
Only two of them have been in Opposition. One of them for barely a year.
It's when you take being in government for granted it can fall apart.
Jacobin has a piece on this today, criticising Biden for this strategy of differentiation and I think they are absolutely right in terms of electoral messaging. It is confusing. Biden has left it open for Republicans running to claim they are not fans of MAGA and so therefore implicitly be recognised as moderate. Oz seems to be using this tactic in PA when he talked about ratifying the 2020 results.
Actually they must have got JRM wrong. I am sure that should have said 253 instead of 53.
'Perhaps we should see that our drivers are provided with four pennies - I should hate to think of you trying to get change for sixpence from a bus conductor while those four minutes were ticking by.'
Also useful for a post-24 Boris (or “Boris-ite”) leader.
Wouldn't be going to any hospital appointments in the near future, guys.....
https://twitter.com/carlbildt/status/1567091333986140161
It was definitely four pennies. Phone boxes didn't take threepenny bits.
I mean it may not but i see nothing in it that is antithetical to the red wall more than everywhere else
Can you imagine any of them saying to Liz's face "sorry luv, it's time for you to go"?
Mordaunt one of the earliest to first get into the Cabinet, which shows how her career has since stalled.
Truss is the only one with any extended experience (if you count Chief Secretary as Cabinet, as sometimes it is, she's had 8 years at the top) - nearly half have either never been in the Cabinet before, or have only been in it since earlier this year (some did attend Cabinet previously though). No others have even close to her.
Actually I do think we should return to an earlier Parliamentary system that existed prior to 1926 when an MP who was not already a minister had to stand for re-election if appointed to Government outside of the immediate aftermath of a GE. .
The Russians are at the level of recruiting from prisons, with troops who have been in theatre for months and relying on Cold War era weaponry.
It doesn't really look like a fair fight.
(according to old people)
The 2 inspectors were a junior nurse and a junior doctor and hadn't spotted any of the issues, instead asked me about a lot of irrelevant trivia about protocols for this and that. I answered to their satisfaction and they went away without noticing the dead suppurating elephant in the room and wrote a positive write up
I haven't had much faith in them since.
I think 'mandate' is a nonsense word anyway, the way politicians use it. People oppose a freshly elected government from day 1, and of course they do, regardless of mandate.
Johnson vs Sunak vs Kemi?
I hope I am wrong but I don't think it is impossible. Some creative maths saying this will be paid back by a future energy levy to kick in when real prices are back down to more normal levels and will be over such a long period that they will claim people won't notice.
I hope no one on the new Truss team reads PB and thinks this is a good idea. It isn't.
https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1567265420826099712?s=20&t=duPelsRvggRVsap3wFa_5A
https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1567266662801448961?s=20&t=duPelsRvggRVsap3wFa_5A
One of the more notable bits I saw was the claim that a destroyed Russian pontoon bridge had been taken out by a Ukrainian air force jet. The ability of the Ukrainians to project air power seems to be increasing at the same time as the Russians are using S-300 air defence missiles to attack civilian ground targets.
Russian military action appears to be becoming even more inept. Ukrainians taking the piss out of retreating Russian soldiers for abandoning their looted washing machines too.
Genuinely perplexed.
It is a rather remarkable bit of refreshing, but having pulled that trick once they may find it harder to sell it this time.
Are we going to get a London 2012 Secretary?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/09/06/boris-johnson-could-make-comeback-red-wall-mp/