- “… what does it say about the Tory Party that the top four in the next leadership contest could be Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Kemi Badenoch, and Simon Clarke?”
That the organisation is heading for the dustbin of history. Good riddance.
A LucidTalk poll for the Belfast Telegraph said that only one in three unionists now endorses the agreement as the 25th anniversary of the historic peace deal nears.
The poll said that 64% of people in Northern Ireland would back the deal if another poll was held now.
The results showed that while 95% of nationalists and 96% of Green Party and Alliance voters would vote yes, only 35% of unionists said they would do the same.
So, if the Unionists no longer want peace, are they about to take up arms again? UK Government to face international sanctions for sponsoring terrorism?
A LucidTalk poll for the Belfast Telegraph said that only one in three unionists now endorses the agreement as the 25th anniversary of the historic peace deal nears.
The poll said that 64% of people in Northern Ireland would back the deal if another poll was held now.
The results showed that while 95% of nationalists and 96% of Green Party and Alliance voters would vote yes, only 35% of unionists said they would do the same.
So, if the Unionists no longer want peace, are they about to take up arms again? UK Government to face international sanctions for sponsoring terrorism?
Or maybe they want a peace deal that isn't stacked in favour of IRA/Sinn Fein.
Personally I think a pox on both their houses. Let the Irish deal with Ireland's problems. I am fed up of subsidizing the religious nationalist bigots on both sides.
As a leftie my biggest worry is that there are actually still some sensible, kind, balanced people left in the tory party like @TSE
Why don't you run to be MP and leader? You'd be far better than the 4 you have mentioned combined.
That aside, the future of the Conservative Party HAS to be where the future of the country lies and that is NOT in yet more extremist, reactionary, right-wing politics.
They will only come back to power when they rediscover the centre.
As a leftie my biggest worry is that there are actually still some sensible, kind, balanced people left in the tory party like @TSE
Why don't you run to be MP and leader? You'd be far better than the 4 you have mentioned combined.
That aside, the future of the Conservative Party HAS to be where the future of the country lies and that is NOT in yet more extremist, reactionary, right-wing politics.
They will only come back to power when they rediscover the centre.
A LucidTalk poll for the Belfast Telegraph said that only one in three unionists now endorses the agreement as the 25th anniversary of the historic peace deal nears.
The poll said that 64% of people in Northern Ireland would back the deal if another poll was held now.
The results showed that while 95% of nationalists and 96% of Green Party and Alliance voters would vote yes, only 35% of unionists said they would do the same.
So, if the Unionists no longer want peace, are they about to take up arms again? UK Government to face international sanctions for sponsoring terrorism?
It’s a complete leap in logic to assert that if the unionists are unhappy with the Belfast Agreement, the UK government is sponsoring terrorism.
Hi CHB, thanks for the welcome much appreciated. I hope you are okay?
I'm alright. I do check the main thread headers here everyday but there's not a huge amount to say at the moment: it feels like UK politics is treading water. I'm pretty confident Labour will win, and win outright. I think tory MPs know it too. So the country is spinning ever downwards whilst we wait for a change of Government.
- “… what does it say about the Tory Party that the top four in the next leadership contest could be Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Kemi Badenoch, and Simon Clarke?”
That the organisation is heading for the dustbin of history. Good riddance.
If you hate the Tory Party and want to see it destroyed then you want Jacob Rees-Mogg to succeed Sunak.
Even if you hate the Tory party, if you love democracy and sanity there is no way you want Mogg to replace Sunak.
I hope @Taz is right about his seat because the man is a blight on parliament.
Couple of others who will go for it - Grant Shapps. Repellent and dishonest, but might actually be an effective leader of the opposition. Fluent and urbane, his ability to tell the stiffest of lies with the straightest of faces would stand him in good stead.
Ben Bradley might fancy a go as well. I know he’s a backbencher and spends more time running Nottinghamshire than in London but for that reason he could present himself as a break with the past. Sure, he’s as mad as a box of frogs but so are the four on TSE’s list.
- “… what does it say about the Tory Party that the top four in the next leadership contest could be Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Kemi Badenoch, and Simon Clarke?”
That the organisation is heading for the dustbin of history. Good riddance.
And Sturgeon’s successor is……..
Probably not born yet given she seems more like a limpet than a Sturgeon.
Johnson, Rees-Mogg and Clarke will probably lose their seats next time out.
Not convinced that Johnson will be standing for Uxbridge next time, given his new bolthole in Oxfordshire where the Boundary Commission is creating an extra seat...
Records from Surrey County Council state that it agreed to pay for pupils’ fees up to the age of 16, if they had enrolled in the school before September 1975.
If these students wished to remain at the school in its sixth-form – and their families were unable to afford the fees – they were offered a range of bursaries and scholarships by the school itself, The Telegraph understands.
A spokesman for Sir Keir said he “definitely wasn’t self-funded” during sixth-form, but did not deny that he received a bursary from the school, adding that he “doesn’t recall” who exactly footed the bill.
The idea that a would-be male rapist is going to dress as a woman for 3 months to get a GRC is laughable. That's why Rape Crisis Scotland, Women’s AID Scotland & Zero Tolerance Scotland support the gender reform bill. They reject fiction & scaremongering!
Records from Surrey County Council state that it agreed to pay for pupils’ fees up to the age of 16, if they had enrolled in the school before September 1975.
If these students wished to remain at the school in its sixth-form – and their families were unable to afford the fees – they were offered a range of bursaries and scholarships by the school itself, The Telegraph understands.
A spokesman for Sir Keir said he “definitely wasn’t self-funded” during sixth-form, but did not deny that he received a bursary from the school, adding that he “doesn’t recall” who exactly footed the bill.
Oh look. I come back on here and, yep, you're still droning on and on and on about trans wars.
How about lifting your eyes to the hills and discussing some topics that matter to 99.99% of the rest of the population? Or are you so far down that rabbit hole that you just don't realise?
Records from Surrey County Council state that it agreed to pay for pupils’ fees up to the age of 16, if they had enrolled in the school before September 1975.
If these students wished to remain at the school in its sixth-form – and their families were unable to afford the fees – they were offered a range of bursaries and scholarships by the school itself, The Telegraph understands.
A spokesman for Sir Keir said he “definitely wasn’t self-funded” during sixth-form, but did not deny that he received a bursary from the school, adding that he “doesn’t recall” who exactly footed the bill.
I think we'd already kind of covered this, hadn't we?
In fact. arguably this is better news for Starmer than what I and probably many others had assumed - that he had a bursary from the school. He can say, quite honestly, that he was state educated until 16 on this basis, and I don't think anyone's going to be too exercised about how his A-levels were paid for.
What a bleak future for the Tory party. What about Penny?
I lost all respect for her when she a) changed her views to suit the nutters on the far right of the party and b) was at best ineffective in the debates.
I used to think she might be the future of the party but I suspect that will only now come from the next generation after her.
It's going to be a long time in the wilderness for the tory party. When they're thinking about returning to power the country will be a very different place. Will the party have sufficiently learned its lessons by then?
Records from Surrey County Council state that it agreed to pay for pupils’ fees up to the age of 16, if they had enrolled in the school before September 1975.
If these students wished to remain at the school in its sixth-form – and their families were unable to afford the fees – they were offered a range of bursaries and scholarships by the school itself, The Telegraph understands.
A spokesman for Sir Keir said he “definitely wasn’t self-funded” during sixth-form, but did not deny that he received a bursary from the school, adding that he “doesn’t recall” who exactly footed the bill.
I think we'd already kind of covered this, hadn't we?
In fact. arguably this is better news for Starmer than what I and probably many others had assumed - that he had a bursary from the school. He can say, quite honestly, that he was state educated until 16 on this basis, and I don't think anyone's going to be too exercised about how his A-levels were paid for.
The Telegraph clearly is, but the Telegraph is clearly losing its grip on reality.
Records from Surrey County Council state that it agreed to pay for pupils’ fees up to the age of 16, if they had enrolled in the school before September 1975.
If these students wished to remain at the school in its sixth-form – and their families were unable to afford the fees – they were offered a range of bursaries and scholarships by the school itself, The Telegraph understands.
A spokesman for Sir Keir said he “definitely wasn’t self-funded” during sixth-form, but did not deny that he received a bursary from the school, adding that he “doesn’t recall” who exactly footed the bill.
I think we'd already kind of covered this, hadn't we?
In fact. arguably this is better news for Starmer than what I and probably many others had assumed - that he had a bursary from the school. He can say, quite honestly, that he was state educated until 16 on this basis, and I don't think anyone's going to be too exercised about how his A-levels were paid for.
The Telegraph clearly are, but the Telegraph is clearly losing its grip on reality.
After the bath story, I think you've got your tenses wrong there...
The Culture Wars on the Far Right, such as @CarlottaVance parrots on here, are of course straight out of the Trump manual. This is what Donald Trump just said in launching is bid for the 2024 Presidency:
"We're going to stop the left-wing radical racists and perverts who are trying to indoctrinate our youth, and we're going to get their Marxist hands off our children. We're going to defeat the cult of gender ideology and reaffirm that God created two genders: men and women. We're not going to allow men to play women's sports."
Penny Mordaunt I think is the only one of these who can reach certain groups who haven't voted Tory in a long time - particularly large numbers of women, of a certain kind of profile who would never consider voting for figures like Liz Truss or May.
She's also the only one of them capable of carrying across both empathy and authority. She has a lot in common with Angela Rayner and Lisa Nandy in his respect, I think, and so I wouldn't write her off just yet, speaking personally.
When the Labour party choose Corbyn as its leader it was in a leadership contest where he outshone a crowd of dull centrists - Cooper, Burnham, Kendall.
Are there any dull centrists who could put together enough support to survive the first round of the next Tory leadership crisis/contest?
This creates an opportunity for the Liberal Democrats to position themselves as a dull centrist party on the centre-right, and then we'll see whether the British public prefer dull centrism to the ideological right.
What a bleak future for the Tory party. What about Penny?
She’s *really* going to struggle to hold her seat.
Which is a shame as I think she would actually be quite a good Leader of the Opposition.
On paper it looks safe enough, and it isn't affected by boundary changes. Unusually for a city there's a decent Tory vote, because of the navy connections into which Penny's background taps very well, and she has the advantage that both Labour and LibDems are quite active at local level.
What a bleak future for the Tory party. What about Penny?
She’s *really* going to struggle to hold her seat.
Which is a shame as I think she would actually be quite a good Leader of the Opposition.
On paper it looks safe enough, and it isn't affected by boundary changes. Unusually for a city there's a decent Tory vote, because of the navy connections into which Penny's background taps very well, and she has the advantage that both Labour and LibDems are quite active at local level.
So did Portsmouth South. Until it didn't. A big majority, based on uncommitted voters, is unusual but it could be a thing here.
I think this is one seat where we might see a radical shift.
I would like to think she can hang on, because I think she would be a good choice as LOTO (which means she has no chance, given the electorate) but I think it's going to be very tough for her.
Edit - Cannock Chase is another such, although the last time I confidently predicted a Labour win it didn't work out quite as I expected. I still think the incredible ineptitude of Labour's local campaign had something to do with that though. What twat campaigns on 'protect our local NHS trust' when the Trust in question was Mid Staffordshire?
What a bleak future for the Tory party. What about Penny?
I lost all respect for her when she a) changed her views to suit the nutters on the far right of the party and b) was at best ineffective in the debates.
I used to think she might be the future of the party but I suspect that will only now come from the next generation after her.
It's going to be a long time in the wilderness for the tory party. When they're thinking about returning to power the country will be a very different place. Will the party have sufficiently learned its lessons by then?
Assuming they lose in 2024, the Conservatives aren't going to win again until they have made some sort of peace with the world as experienced by those born after about 1970. That's going to be tricky.
The short term response to defeat is always to go for a better singer of the same old song, or a self indulgent revival of the imagined good old days. It doesn't work- if fact it often makes things worse. But the repeated palace coups since 2016 have burnt thorough so many careers that there isn't really anyone obvious to start the long trek back to pleasing the public not the activists.
My guess is that the next Conservative PM is someone on the candidates list who is currently barely a household name in their own household. They need to want to be a Conservative MP who wants to change what that means and find a constituency prepared to take them on. That's also going to be tricky.
We're not going to allow men to play women's sports."
You think men should compete in women’s sports?
The Isla Bryson affair is a watershed moment. The “Trans women are women” position has collapsed like a pack of cards. Those who still defend it are exposed as being totally dismissive of women’s safety. Those who have conveniently backed away from it are exposed as hypocrites.
What a bleak future for the Tory party. What about Penny?
She’s *really* going to struggle to hold her seat.
Which is a shame as I think she would actually be quite a good Leader of the Opposition.
On paper it looks safe enough, and it isn't affected by boundary changes. Unusually for a city there's a decent Tory vote, because of the navy connections into which Penny's background taps very well, and she has the advantage that both Labour and LibDems are quite active at local level.
So did Portsmouth South. Until it didn't. A big majority, based on uncommitted voters, is unusual but it could be a thing here.
I think this is one seat where we might see a radical shift.
I would like to think she can hang on, because I think she would be a good choice as LOTO (which means she has no chance, given the electorate) but I think it's going to be very tough for her.
Edit - Cannock Chase is another such, although the last time I confidently predicted a Labour win it didn't work out quite as I expected. I still think the incredible ineptitude of Labour's local campaign had something to do with that though. What twat campaigns on 'protect our local NHS trust' when the Trust in question was Mid Staffordshire?
The south of Portsmouth is the more middle class bit, and the LibDems targeted it ruthlessly with local campaigning, having picked up the MP there originally through defection back in Alliance days. Then the seat was lost to Labour when the anti-Tory vote switched significantly after the coalition. Whereas the north is still a Labour-Tory marginal; an unusual one in an urban, significantly working-class spot. The LibDems haven't established that much of a presence there in most of its wards.
Records from Surrey County Council state that it agreed to pay for pupils’ fees up to the age of 16, if they had enrolled in the school before September 1975.
If these students wished to remain at the school in its sixth-form – and their families were unable to afford the fees – they were offered a range of bursaries and scholarships by the school itself, The Telegraph understands.
A spokesman for Sir Keir said he “definitely wasn’t self-funded” during sixth-form, but did not deny that he received a bursary from the school, adding that he “doesn’t recall” who exactly footed the bill.
I think we'd already kind of covered this, hadn't we?
In fact. arguably this is better news for Starmer than what I and probably many others had assumed - that he had a bursary from the school. He can say, quite honestly, that he was state educated until 16 on this basis, and I don't think anyone's going to be too exercised about how his A-levels were paid for.
I hadn’t appreciated the distinction of who paid for the sixth form.
It’s interesting, though, that you say no one cares about who paid for his a levels. I thought the angst over oxbridge was to do with the proportion who get in who did their a levels at private schools. I’ve mentioned this many times, but a lot of the kids at godalming sixth form college went to RGS Guildford to 16. Parents save two years’ of school fees and their kids get to apply from a state school.
But yes, none of this matters for Starmer. Personally, I think the bigger issue is that he benefited from passing the eleven plus.
The Tory party has gone mad if it thinks Rees-Mogg is the answer to anything.
It will lose the next GE because it is time for a change, quite apart from any other factor. The only question is how badly it loses. If it tries a modicum of competence and behaving with some sense of ethics and propriety in the nest 2 years, it will likely salvage something. But it seems determined to behave as incompetently and dishonourably as possible. This will only make the defeat worse, of course.
It has been the great survivor of British politics thus far. But if it carries on like this I wouldn't be surprised to see it largely wiped out. A century or so ago that is what happened to the Liberals. In France the Socialists have largely disappeared. The Christian Democrats vanished from Italy. There is no rule saying the Tories should exist.
I think Michael Gove has just changed the narrative and made Rishi's life difficult.
Michael Gove: We are to blame on Grenfell
Housing secretary says ‘faulty and ambiguous’ government guidance allowed the scandal to happen
Michael Gove raised his son and daughter minutes from Grenfell Tower. Five days after the fire that destroyed the west London high rise, he returned, walking around its blackened husk. The remains of some of the 72 people who were killed, 18 of them children, were still inside. “It did have a profound impact on me,” the housing secretary says.
More than five years on, with more than four million people affected by the fallout and almost 700,000 residents still living in fire-risk flats all over Britain, he feels that weight. On the window sill in his Westminster office stands a framed photo of a Grenfell billboard: “Never forget.” After years of dithering, buck-passing and government delays, Gove is clamping down on the companies that profited from unsafe homes.
Sitting in front of that photo, he makes a remarkable admission: “faulty and ambiguous” government guidance allowed the scandal to happen. Never before has a minister acknowledged this.
Evidence to the Grenfell inquiry has shown that official guidance was widely seen to allow highly flammable cladding on tall buildings. Does Gove now accept that the rules were wrong? “Yes,” he answers. “There was a system of regulation that was faulty. The government did not think hard enough, or police effectively enough, the whole system of building safety. Undoubtedly.”
Five minders sit around the table. One shoots him a look, but he ploughs on: “I believe that [the guidance] was so faulty and ambiguous that it allowed unscrupulous people to exploit a broken system in a way that led to tragedy.”
Records from Surrey County Council state that it agreed to pay for pupils’ fees up to the age of 16, if they had enrolled in the school before September 1975.
If these students wished to remain at the school in its sixth-form – and their families were unable to afford the fees – they were offered a range of bursaries and scholarships by the school itself, The Telegraph understands.
A spokesman for Sir Keir said he “definitely wasn’t self-funded” during sixth-form, but did not deny that he received a bursary from the school, adding that he “doesn’t recall” who exactly footed the bill.
I think we'd already kind of covered this, hadn't we?
In fact. arguably this is better news for Starmer than what I and probably many others had assumed - that he had a bursary from the school. He can say, quite honestly, that he was state educated until 16 on this basis, and I don't think anyone's going to be too exercised about how his A-levels were paid for.
I hadn’t appreciated the distinction of who paid for the sixth form.
It’s interesting, though, that you say no one cares about who paid for his a levels. I thought the angst over oxbridge was to do with the proportion who get in who did their a levels at private schools. I’ve mentioned this many times, but a lot of the kids at godalming sixth form college went to RGS Guildford to 16. Parents save two years’ of school fees and their kids get to apply from a state school.
But yes, none of this matters for Starmer. Personally, I think the bigger issue is that he benefited from passing the eleven plus.
Again, at the time it was hardly unusual. I don't recall it being an issue for May (for example) at least until she started blathering on about more grammar schools. Or indeed Brown being in the fast academic stream in Scotland.
Put it this way, I think his knighthood and his sometimes odd decisions as DPP (assisted dying?) are much more fertile ground to attack him on.
More than anything else, this obsession with his education underlines the Tory obsession with school systems they don't really understand and yet worship uncritically, and to any thinking person makes them look somewhat ridiculous.
It seems my charms didn't work on Roy for long, alas.
I think Michael Gove has just changed the narrative and made Rishi's life difficult.
Michael Gove: We are to blame on Grenfell
Housing secretary says ‘faulty and ambiguous’ government guidance allowed the scandal to happen
Michael Gove raised his son and daughter minutes from Grenfell Tower. Five days after the fire that destroyed the west London high rise, he returned, walking around its blackened husk. The remains of some of the 72 people who were killed, 18 of them children, were still inside. “It did have a profound impact on me,” the housing secretary says.
More than five years on, with more than four million people affected by the fallout and almost 700,000 residents still living in fire-risk flats all over Britain, he feels that weight. On the window sill in his Westminster office stands a framed photo of a Grenfell billboard: “Never forget.” After years of dithering, buck-passing and government delays, Gove is clamping down on the companies that profited from unsafe homes.
Sitting in front of that photo, he makes a remarkable admission: “faulty and ambiguous” government guidance allowed the scandal to happen. Never before has a minister acknowledged this.
Evidence to the Grenfell inquiry has shown that official guidance was widely seen to allow highly flammable cladding on tall buildings. Does Gove now accept that the rules were wrong? “Yes,” he answers. “There was a system of regulation that was faulty. The government did not think hard enough, or police effectively enough, the whole system of building safety. Undoubtedly.”
Five minders sit around the table. One shoots him a look, but he ploughs on: “I believe that [the guidance] was so faulty and ambiguous that it allowed unscrupulous people to exploit a broken system in a way that led to tragedy.”
I reckon a 25% chance of Sunak going before a GE. That would need to be a coronation or coup to avoid a member vote. Johnson most likely, but an outside chance of Mordaunt or similar.
In the 75% chance of Sunak fighting the GE, he has perhaps a 15% chance of holding on. In the other 65% of circumstances he is toast.
So we are looking for a LOTO with a safe seat, popular with the membership. How safe is safe in this context? Saffron Walden must be up there.
So Badenoch may well be value in the next leader market. She speaks articulately so could be an effective LOTO, but makes Sunak look politically experienced. Not exactly a lot to show as actual achievement in her Cabinet roles either.
I think Michael Gove has just changed the narrative and made Rishi's life difficult.
Michael Gove: We are to blame on Grenfell
Housing secretary says ‘faulty and ambiguous’ government guidance allowed the scandal to happen
Michael Gove raised his son and daughter minutes from Grenfell Tower. Five days after the fire that destroyed the west London high rise, he returned, walking around its blackened husk. The remains of some of the 72 people who were killed, 18 of them children, were still inside. “It did have a profound impact on me,” the housing secretary says.
More than five years on, with more than four million people affected by the fallout and almost 700,000 residents still living in fire-risk flats all over Britain, he feels that weight. On the window sill in his Westminster office stands a framed photo of a Grenfell billboard: “Never forget.” After years of dithering, buck-passing and government delays, Gove is clamping down on the companies that profited from unsafe homes.
Sitting in front of that photo, he makes a remarkable admission: “faulty and ambiguous” government guidance allowed the scandal to happen. Never before has a minister acknowledged this.
Evidence to the Grenfell inquiry has shown that official guidance was widely seen to allow highly flammable cladding on tall buildings. Does Gove now accept that the rules were wrong? “Yes,” he answers. “There was a system of regulation that was faulty. The government did not think hard enough, or police effectively enough, the whole system of building safety. Undoubtedly.”
Five minders sit around the table. One shoots him a look, but he ploughs on: “I believe that [the guidance] was so faulty and ambiguous that it allowed unscrupulous people to exploit a broken system in a way that led to tragedy.”
To be fair to Gove, that's a statement of the bleeding obvious. I can't see why that changes anything.
But then the issue with him has never been identifying the problems. He's actually quite good at that. The snag is he keeps cocking up with his solutions.
I think Michael Gove has just changed the narrative and made Rishi's life difficult.
Michael Gove: We are to blame on Grenfell
Housing secretary says ‘faulty and ambiguous’ government guidance allowed the scandal to happen
Michael Gove raised his son and daughter minutes from Grenfell Tower. Five days after the fire that destroyed the west London high rise, he returned, walking around its blackened husk. The remains of some of the 72 people who were killed, 18 of them children, were still inside. “It did have a profound impact on me,” the housing secretary says.
More than five years on, with more than four million people affected by the fallout and almost 700,000 residents still living in fire-risk flats all over Britain, he feels that weight. On the window sill in his Westminster office stands a framed photo of a Grenfell billboard: “Never forget.” After years of dithering, buck-passing and government delays, Gove is clamping down on the companies that profited from unsafe homes.
Sitting in front of that photo, he makes a remarkable admission: “faulty and ambiguous” government guidance allowed the scandal to happen. Never before has a minister acknowledged this.
Evidence to the Grenfell inquiry has shown that official guidance was widely seen to allow highly flammable cladding on tall buildings. Does Gove now accept that the rules were wrong? “Yes,” he answers. “There was a system of regulation that was faulty. The government did not think hard enough, or police effectively enough, the whole system of building safety. Undoubtedly.”
Five minders sit around the table. One shoots him a look, but he ploughs on: “I believe that [the guidance] was so faulty and ambiguous that it allowed unscrupulous people to exploit a broken system in a way that led to tragedy.”
Baroness Hayter said it was easier for Labour peers to speak out because they do not have a constituency party to answer to. She said Labour MPs were often worried about the abuse they and, particularly, their staff, would be subjected to.
“I’m afraid I see this as being a bit like antisemitism when it was first called out in the party and people were saying it was all being exaggerated and overblown and with this issue it is the same thing,” she said. “They are trying to squash us and stop us from raising it. Jewish groups were told to be quiet about antisemitism and now women are being told to shut up too. But this is misogyny. This is men telling women to get back in their box.”
A LucidTalk poll for the Belfast Telegraph said that only one in three unionists now endorses the agreement as the 25th anniversary of the historic peace deal nears.
The poll said that 64% of people in Northern Ireland would back the deal if another poll was held now.
The results showed that while 95% of nationalists and 96% of Green Party and Alliance voters would vote yes, only 35% of unionists said they would do the same.
So, if the Unionists no longer want peace, are they about to take up arms again? UK Government to face international sanctions for sponsoring terrorism?
It’s worth remembering there are far fewer self-identifying Unionists in NI (as opposed to unionists) than there were in 1998. I think a majority of Alliance supporters still back staying in the UK, don’t they?
Based on her words and deeds, Suella Braverman clearly fancies her chances. She is in perpetual leadership campaign mode at the Home Office - which tells you a lot about what she thinks tickles Tory members.
This is the second UN Rapporteur to intervene in the Scottish gender debate - the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture follows the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls. It’s getting embarrassing for Sturgeon.
The Tory party has gone mad if it thinks Rees-Mogg is the answer to anything.
It will lose the next GE because it is time for a change, quite apart from any other factor. The only question is how badly it loses. If it tries a modicum of competence and behaving with some sense of ethics and propriety in the nest 2 years, it will likely salvage something. But it seems determined to behave as incompetently and dishonourably as possible. This will only make the defeat worse, of course.
It has been the great survivor of British politics thus far. But if it carries on like this I wouldn't be surprised to see it largely wiped out. A century or so ago that is what happened to the Liberals. In France the Socialists have largely disappeared. The Christian Democrats vanished from Italy. There is no rule saying the Tories should exist.
The Tory party has gone mad, and doesn't have the answer to anything, so Mogg would be a wholly fitting leader.
A LucidTalk poll for the Belfast Telegraph said that only one in three unionists now endorses the agreement as the 25th anniversary of the historic peace deal nears.
The poll said that 64% of people in Northern Ireland would back the deal if another poll was held now.
The results showed that while 95% of nationalists and 96% of Green Party and Alliance voters would vote yes, only 35% of unionists said they would do the same.
So, if the Unionists no longer want peace, are they about to take up arms again? UK Government to face international sanctions for sponsoring terrorism?
It’s worth remembering there are far fewer self-identifying Unionists in NI (as opposed to unionists) than there were in 1998. I think a majority of Alliance supporters still back staying in the UK, don’t they?
Mostly yes. Overall though, the poll show support for the GFA has fallen, compared to 1998.
As a leftie my biggest worry is that there are actually still some sensible, kind, balanced people left in the tory party like @TSE
Why don't you run to be MP and leader? You'd be far better than the 4 you have mentioned combined.
That aside, the future of the Conservative Party HAS to be where the future of the country lies and that is NOT in yet more extremist, reactionary, right-wing politics.
They will only come back to power when they rediscover the centre.
I would be a terrible MP.
My sense of humour and sarcasm would perpetually get me into trouble.
I also don't have the mentality to sit on the backbenches for a few years.
This is the second UN Rapporteur to intervene in the Scottish gender debate - the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture follows the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls. It’s getting embarrassing for Sturgeon.
I expect you’d be equally dismissive if the comments were about a Tory policy…
It's not that, it's just that I know you come on here to have these debates to score political points when the Tories are doing badly, it's not about any kind of conviction.
As I said to you many times, if you want to go down this road you will lose. We saw this in Oz.
Baroness Hayter said it was easier for Labour peers to speak out because they do not have a constituency party to answer to. She said Labour MPs were often worried about the abuse they and, particularly, their staff, would be subjected to.
“I’m afraid I see this as being a bit like antisemitism when it was first called out in the party and people were saying it was all being exaggerated and overblown and with this issue it is the same thing,” she said. “They are trying to squash us and stop us from raising it. Jewish groups were told to be quiet about antisemitism and now women are being told to shut up too. But this is misogyny. This is men telling women to get back in their box.”
Based on her words and deeds, Suella Braverman clearly fancies her chances. She is in perpetual leadership campaign mode at the Home Office - which tells you a lot about what she thinks tickles Tory members.
In opposition the tories will go for whichever potential leader serves up the most nationalist-populist claptrap. That is clearly the rancid meat upon which they yearn to gorge and inevitably choke. So it's Leaky Sue, Bespectacled BIPOC She-Corbyn or JRM.
I think Michael Gove has just changed the narrative and made Rishi's life difficult.
Michael Gove: We are to blame on Grenfell
Housing secretary says ‘faulty and ambiguous’ government guidance allowed the scandal to happen
Michael Gove raised his son and daughter minutes from Grenfell Tower. Five days after the fire that destroyed the west London high rise, he returned, walking around its blackened husk. The remains of some of the 72 people who were killed, 18 of them children, were still inside. “It did have a profound impact on me,” the housing secretary says.
More than five years on, with more than four million people affected by the fallout and almost 700,000 residents still living in fire-risk flats all over Britain, he feels that weight. On the window sill in his Westminster office stands a framed photo of a Grenfell billboard: “Never forget.” After years of dithering, buck-passing and government delays, Gove is clamping down on the companies that profited from unsafe homes.
Sitting in front of that photo, he makes a remarkable admission: “faulty and ambiguous” government guidance allowed the scandal to happen. Never before has a minister acknowledged this.
Evidence to the Grenfell inquiry has shown that official guidance was widely seen to allow highly flammable cladding on tall buildings. Does Gove now accept that the rules were wrong? “Yes,” he answers. “There was a system of regulation that was faulty. The government did not think hard enough, or police effectively enough, the whole system of building safety. Undoubtedly.”
Five minders sit around the table. One shoots him a look, but he ploughs on: “I believe that [the guidance] was so faulty and ambiguous that it allowed unscrupulous people to exploit a broken system in a way that led to tragedy.”
To be fair to Gove, that's a statement of the bleeding obvious. I can't see why that changes anything.
But then the issue with him has never been identifying the problems. He's actually quite good at that. The snag is he keeps cocking up with his solutions.
Funny how he only admitted the government was to blame after extorting hundreds of millions from the construction industry and forcing flat owners to pay thousands each.
Aaron Bell is very definitely on the Tory right but is also smart, sane, grounded, presentable and capable. That combination is incredibly rare. He needs a higher profile. But could be worth watching as the possible next Tory PM should they lose office in 2024.
Baroness Hayter said it was easier for Labour peers to speak out because they do not have a constituency party to answer to. She said Labour MPs were often worried about the abuse they and, particularly, their staff, would be subjected to.
“I’m afraid I see this as being a bit like antisemitism when it was first called out in the party and people were saying it was all being exaggerated and overblown and with this issue it is the same thing,” she said. “They are trying to squash us and stop us from raising it. Jewish groups were told to be quiet about antisemitism and now women are being told to shut up too. But this is misogyny. This is men telling women to get back in their box.”
It will be interesting to see whether Yvette Cooper or David Blunkett face the same abuse. Her sensible comments this week are in direct contradiction of what some of her Shadow Cabinet colleagues have been saying. As for Starmer he is behaving like Corbyn on this in his refusal to stand up for women MPs bullied for speaking up about women's rights or to criticise or discipline those doing the bullying. Weak and disgraceful. But being so will not stop him becoming PM. It will just mean we get another variety of poor leadership.
This is the second UN Rapporteur to intervene in the Scottish gender debate - the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture follows the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls. It’s getting embarrassing for Sturgeon.
I expect you’d be equally dismissive if the comments were about a Tory policy…
It's not that, it's just that I know you come on here to have these debates to score political points when the Tories are doing badly, it's not about any kind of conviction.
As I said to you many times, if you want to go down this road you will lose. We saw this in Oz.
Dismissing legitimate concerns as “culture war” is what got Sturgeon into the mess she’s in. Or do you support men competing in women’s sports and sending male rapists with prison onset gender dysphoria to women’s prisons?
I think Michael Gove has just changed the narrative and made Rishi's life difficult.
Michael Gove: We are to blame on Grenfell
Housing secretary says ‘faulty and ambiguous’ government guidance allowed the scandal to happen
Michael Gove raised his son and daughter minutes from Grenfell Tower. Five days after the fire that destroyed the west London high rise, he returned, walking around its blackened husk. The remains of some of the 72 people who were killed, 18 of them children, were still inside. “It did have a profound impact on me,” the housing secretary says.
More than five years on, with more than four million people affected by the fallout and almost 700,000 residents still living in fire-risk flats all over Britain, he feels that weight. On the window sill in his Westminster office stands a framed photo of a Grenfell billboard: “Never forget.” After years of dithering, buck-passing and government delays, Gove is clamping down on the companies that profited from unsafe homes.
Sitting in front of that photo, he makes a remarkable admission: “faulty and ambiguous” government guidance allowed the scandal to happen. Never before has a minister acknowledged this.
Evidence to the Grenfell inquiry has shown that official guidance was widely seen to allow highly flammable cladding on tall buildings. Does Gove now accept that the rules were wrong? “Yes,” he answers. “There was a system of regulation that was faulty. The government did not think hard enough, or police effectively enough, the whole system of building safety. Undoubtedly.”
Five minders sit around the table. One shoots him a look, but he ploughs on: “I believe that [the guidance] was so faulty and ambiguous that it allowed unscrupulous people to exploit a broken system in a way that led to tragedy.”
To be fair to Gove, that's a statement of the bleeding obvious. I can't see why that changes anything.
But then the issue with him has never been identifying the problems. He's actually quite good at that. The snag is he keeps cocking up with his solutions.
Funny how he only admitted the government was to blame after extorting hundreds of millions from the construction industry and forcing flat owners to pay thousands each.
No, read the article. He places much of the blame on the industry.
This is the second UN Rapporteur to intervene in the Scottish gender debate - the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture follows the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls. It’s getting embarrassing for Sturgeon.
I expect you’d be equally dismissive if the comments were about a Tory policy…
It's not that, it's just that I know you come on here to have these debates to score political points when the Tories are doing badly, it's not about any kind of conviction.
As I said to you many times, if you want to go down this road you will lose. We saw this in Oz.
Dismissing legitimate concerns as “culture war” is what got Sturgeon into the mess she’s in. Or do you support men competing in women’s sports and sending male rapists with prison onset gender dysphoria to women’s prisons?
"Mess", I am sorry but deep down you know this will change absolutely nothing for her. I know you are desperate for her to do badly but let's be honest, she's going to win a majority of Scottish seats next time around and you know it
Aaron Bell is very definitely on the Tory right but is also smart, sane, grounded, presentable and capable. That combination is incredibly rare. He needs a higher profile. But could be worth watching as the possible next Tory PM should they lose office in 2024.
Baroness Hayter said it was easier for Labour peers to speak out because they do not have a constituency party to answer to. She said Labour MPs were often worried about the abuse they and, particularly, their staff, would be subjected to.
“I’m afraid I see this as being a bit like antisemitism when it was first called out in the party and people were saying it was all being exaggerated and overblown and with this issue it is the same thing,” she said. “They are trying to squash us and stop us from raising it. Jewish groups were told to be quiet about antisemitism and now women are being told to shut up too. But this is misogyny. This is men telling women to get back in their box.”
It will be interesting to see whether Yvette Cooper or David Blunkett face the same abuse. Her sensible comments this week are in direct contradiction of what some of her Shadow Cabinet colleagues have been saying. As for Starmer he is behaving like Corbyn on this in his refusal to stand up for women MPs bullied for speaking up about women's rights or to criticise or discipline those doing the bullying. Weak and disgraceful. But being so will not stop him becoming PM. It will just mean we get another variety of poor leadership.
I think the SNP have done Labour a huge political favour on this. Cooper got it right … and she is still in a job. Draw your own conclusions. Totally agree on Starmer’s weakness. It’s very disappointing.
Aaron Bell is very definitely on the Tory right but is also smart, sane, grounded, presentable and capable. That combination is incredibly rare. He needs a higher profile. But could be worth watching as the possible next Tory PM should they lose office in 2024.
Aaron Bell is very definitely on the Tory right but is also smart, sane, grounded, presentable and capable. That combination is incredibly rare. He needs a higher profile. But could be worth watching as the possible next Tory PM should they lose office in 2024.
With a majority of under 7500, and current projected swings, he is likely to be back at his old job.
The Tory party has gone mad if it thinks Rees-Mogg is the answer to anything.
It will lose the next GE because it is time for a change, quite apart from any other factor. The only question is how badly it loses. If it tries a modicum of competence and behaving with some sense of ethics and propriety in the nest 2 years, it will likely salvage something. But it seems determined to behave as incompetently and dishonourably as possible. This will only make the defeat worse, of course.
It has been the great survivor of British politics thus far. But if it carries on like this I wouldn't be surprised to see it largely wiped out. A century or so ago that is what happened to the Liberals. In France the Socialists have largely disappeared. The Christian Democrats vanished from Italy. There is no rule saying the Tories should exist.
The Tory party has gone mad, and doesn't have the answer to anything, so Mogg would be a wholly fitting leader.
I think that even a Mogg-led Tory party can count on a minimum of at least 25% in the polls, and so thanks to FPTP will remain the leading party of the right.
Other voting systems in France and Italy made it possible for alternative parties to grow to supplant established parties, and in the UK a major split within the Liberals was necessary to lead to their eclipse.
If Labour were to introduce some form of PR or STV then you'd more likely see a Mogg-led party sink into obscurity.
I think Michael Gove has just changed the narrative and made Rishi's life difficult.
Michael Gove: We are to blame on Grenfell
Housing secretary says ‘faulty and ambiguous’ government guidance allowed the scandal to happen
Michael Gove raised his son and daughter minutes from Grenfell Tower. Five days after the fire that destroyed the west London high rise, he returned, walking around its blackened husk. The remains of some of the 72 people who were killed, 18 of them children, were still inside. “It did have a profound impact on me,” the housing secretary says.
More than five years on, with more than four million people affected by the fallout and almost 700,000 residents still living in fire-risk flats all over Britain, he feels that weight. On the window sill in his Westminster office stands a framed photo of a Grenfell billboard: “Never forget.” After years of dithering, buck-passing and government delays, Gove is clamping down on the companies that profited from unsafe homes.
Sitting in front of that photo, he makes a remarkable admission: “faulty and ambiguous” government guidance allowed the scandal to happen. Never before has a minister acknowledged this.
Evidence to the Grenfell inquiry has shown that official guidance was widely seen to allow highly flammable cladding on tall buildings. Does Gove now accept that the rules were wrong? “Yes,” he answers. “There was a system of regulation that was faulty. The government did not think hard enough, or police effectively enough, the whole system of building safety. Undoubtedly.”
Five minders sit around the table. One shoots him a look, but he ploughs on: “I believe that [the guidance] was so faulty and ambiguous that it allowed unscrupulous people to exploit a broken system in a way that led to tragedy.”
To be fair to Gove, that's a statement of the bleeding obvious. I can't see why that changes anything.
But then the issue with him has never been identifying the problems. He's actually quite good at that. The snag is he keeps cocking up with his solutions.
Funny how he only admitted the government was to blame after extorting hundreds of millions from the construction industry and forcing flat owners to pay thousands each.
Government bring to blame doesn't absolve the construction industry from responsibility for creating foreseeable problems - though affected flat dweller do have further reason to feel aggrieved.
His comments are at least a change from the previous nothing to do with us attitude of government. It might be bleeding obvious, as ydoethur says, but it's also fairly remarkable.
I think Michael Gove has just changed the narrative and made Rishi's life difficult.
Michael Gove: We are to blame on Grenfell
Housing secretary says ‘faulty and ambiguous’ government guidance allowed the scandal to happen
Michael Gove raised his son and daughter minutes from Grenfell Tower. Five days after the fire that destroyed the west London high rise, he returned, walking around its blackened husk. The remains of some of the 72 people who were killed, 18 of them children, were still inside. “It did have a profound impact on me,” the housing secretary says.
More than five years on, with more than four million people affected by the fallout and almost 700,000 residents still living in fire-risk flats all over Britain, he feels that weight. On the window sill in his Westminster office stands a framed photo of a Grenfell billboard: “Never forget.” After years of dithering, buck-passing and government delays, Gove is clamping down on the companies that profited from unsafe homes.
Sitting in front of that photo, he makes a remarkable admission: “faulty and ambiguous” government guidance allowed the scandal to happen. Never before has a minister acknowledged this.
Evidence to the Grenfell inquiry has shown that official guidance was widely seen to allow highly flammable cladding on tall buildings. Does Gove now accept that the rules were wrong? “Yes,” he answers. “There was a system of regulation that was faulty. The government did not think hard enough, or police effectively enough, the whole system of building safety. Undoubtedly.”
Five minders sit around the table. One shoots him a look, but he ploughs on: “I believe that [the guidance] was so faulty and ambiguous that it allowed unscrupulous people to exploit a broken system in a way that led to tragedy.”
Aaron Bell is very definitely on the Tory right but is also smart, sane, grounded, presentable and capable. That combination is incredibly rare. He needs a higher profile. But could be worth watching as the possible next Tory PM should they lose office in 2024.
With a majority of under 7500, and current projected swings, he is likely to be back at his old job.
He’ll be re-elected. The East Midlands is different. You know that!
Baroness Hayter said it was easier for Labour peers to speak out because they do not have a constituency party to answer to. She said Labour MPs were often worried about the abuse they and, particularly, their staff, would be subjected to.
“I’m afraid I see this as being a bit like antisemitism when it was first called out in the party and people were saying it was all being exaggerated and overblown and with this issue it is the same thing,” she said. “They are trying to squash us and stop us from raising it. Jewish groups were told to be quiet about antisemitism and now women are being told to shut up too. But this is misogyny. This is men telling women to get back in their box.”
It will be interesting to see whether Yvette Cooper or David Blunkett face the same abuse. Her sensible comments this week are in direct contradiction of what some of her Shadow Cabinet colleagues have been saying. As for Starmer he is behaving like Corbyn on this in his refusal to stand up for women MPs bullied for speaking up about women's rights or to criticise or discipline those doing the bullying. Weak and disgraceful. But being so will not stop him becoming PM. It will just mean we get another variety of poor leadership.
I think the SNP have done Labour a huge political favour on this. Cooper got it right … and she is still in a job. Draw your own conclusions. Totally agree on Starmer’s weakness. It’s very disappointing.
Yes, I think Labour will do rather well in Scotland. Sturgeon misread the national mood on this issue.
Aaron Bell is very definitely on the Tory right but is also smart, sane, grounded, presentable and capable. That combination is incredibly rare. He needs a higher profile. But could be worth watching as the possible next Tory PM should they lose office in 2024.
With a majority of under 7500, and current projected swings, he is likely to be back at his old job.
and also there's this demonstration of outstanding judgement:
I think Michael Gove has just changed the narrative and made Rishi's life difficult.
Michael Gove: We are to blame on Grenfell
Housing secretary says ‘faulty and ambiguous’ government guidance allowed the scandal to happen
Michael Gove raised his son and daughter minutes from Grenfell Tower. Five days after the fire that destroyed the west London high rise, he returned, walking around its blackened husk. The remains of some of the 72 people who were killed, 18 of them children, were still inside. “It did have a profound impact on me,” the housing secretary says.
More than five years on, with more than four million people affected by the fallout and almost 700,000 residents still living in fire-risk flats all over Britain, he feels that weight. On the window sill in his Westminster office stands a framed photo of a Grenfell billboard: “Never forget.” After years of dithering, buck-passing and government delays, Gove is clamping down on the companies that profited from unsafe homes.
Sitting in front of that photo, he makes a remarkable admission: “faulty and ambiguous” government guidance allowed the scandal to happen. Never before has a minister acknowledged this.
Evidence to the Grenfell inquiry has shown that official guidance was widely seen to allow highly flammable cladding on tall buildings. Does Gove now accept that the rules were wrong? “Yes,” he answers. “There was a system of regulation that was faulty. The government did not think hard enough, or police effectively enough, the whole system of building safety. Undoubtedly.”
Five minders sit around the table. One shoots him a look, but he ploughs on: “I believe that [the guidance] was so faulty and ambiguous that it allowed unscrupulous people to exploit a broken system in a way that led to tragedy.”
To be fair to Gove, that's a statement of the bleeding obvious. I can't see why that changes anything.
But then the issue with him has never been identifying the problems. He's actually quite good at that. The snag is he keeps cocking up with his solutions.
Funny how he only admitted the government was to blame after extorting hundreds of millions from the construction industry and forcing flat owners to pay thousands each.
Government bring to blame doesn't absolve the construction industry from responsibility for creating foreseeable problems - though affected flat dweller do have further reason to feel aggrieved.
His comments are at least a change from the previous nothing to do with us attitude of government. It might be bleeding obvious, as ydoethur says, but it's also fairly remarkable.
It’s a refreshing change from “lessons have been learned, but no one’s to blame.”
A good friend of mine is a trans woman finally now getting hormone therapy after saving enough cash to go private and thus bypass the NHS endless wait list. My eldest is non-binary, dated several trans men and is currently in a thouple. And I'm married to a wife who was sexually assaulted by a former boyfriend, with an 11 year old daughter.
So I have a direct personal interest in trans rights, gender rights, women's rights. But the idea that I am going to get het up by either of the extremes, then gaslit by the Tories is laughable. Its a non-issue politically. The more they try and make it an issue, the stupider they look.
This is the second UN Rapporteur to intervene in the Scottish gender debate - the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture follows the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls. It’s getting embarrassing for Sturgeon.
I expect you’d be equally dismissive if the comments were about a Tory policy…
It's not that, it's just that I know you come on here to have these debates to score political points when the Tories are doing badly, it's not about any kind of conviction.
As I said to you many times, if you want to go down this road you will lose. We saw this in Oz.
Dismissing legitimate concerns as “culture war” is what got Sturgeon into the mess she’s in. Or do you support men competing in women’s sports and sending male rapists with prison onset gender dysphoria to women’s prisons?
"Mess", I am sorry but deep down you know this will change absolutely nothing for her. I know you are desperate for her to do badly but let's be honest, she's going to win a majority of Scottish seats next time around and you know it
Dodging the question - do you support men competing in women’s sports and sending male rapists with prison onset gender dysphoria to women’s prisons?
This was obvious over a week ago, why did he sit on it?
I don't know. Maybe he feels the need to string each scandal out for as long as possible to slow the press pack down and reduce the total number of scandals?
This is the second UN Rapporteur to intervene in the Scottish gender debate - the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture follows the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls. It’s getting embarrassing for Sturgeon.
I expect you’d be equally dismissive if the comments were about a Tory policy…
It's not that, it's just that I know you come on here to have these debates to score political points when the Tories are doing badly, it's not about any kind of conviction.
As I said to you many times, if you want to go down this road you will lose. We saw this in Oz.
Dismissing legitimate concerns as “culture war” is what got Sturgeon into the mess she’s in. Or do you support men competing in women’s sports and sending male rapists with prison onset gender dysphoria to women’s prisons?
"Mess", I am sorry but deep down you know this will change absolutely nothing for her. I know you are desperate for her to do badly but let's be honest, she's going to win a majority of Scottish seats next time around and you know it
Dodging the question - do you support men competing in women’s sports and sending male rapists with prison onset gender dysphoria to women’s prisons?
If a trans person wants to compete in men's chess then I don't see the problem no
Comments
Correction: JRM on the PAST of the Right.
That the organisation is heading for the dustbin of history. Good riddance.
The poll said that 64% of people in Northern Ireland would back the deal if another poll was held now.
The results showed that while 95% of nationalists and 96% of Green Party and Alliance voters would vote yes, only 35% of unionists said they would do the same.
https://www.rte.ie/news/2023/0128/1352375-northern-ireland-good-friday-agreement-poll/
So, if the Unionists no longer want peace, are they about to take up arms again? UK Government to face international sanctions for sponsoring terrorism?
Personally I think a pox on both their houses. Let the Irish deal with Ireland's problems. I am fed up of subsidizing the religious nationalist bigots on both sides.
Why don't you run to be MP and leader? You'd be far better than the 4 you have mentioned combined.
That aside, the future of the Conservative Party HAS to be where the future of the country lies and that is NOT in yet more extremist, reactionary, right-wing politics.
They will only come back to power when they rediscover the centre.
I'm alright. I do check the main thread headers here everyday but there's not a huge amount to say at the moment: it feels like UK politics is treading water. I'm pretty confident Labour will win, and win outright. I think tory MPs know it too. So the country is spinning ever downwards whilst we wait for a change of Government.
And Rod says so, so it it must be true
The only consolation is that they appear to be sealing such a negative image of themselves into the public’s mind
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/27/hs2-north-andy-burnham-greater-manchester-london
Even if you hate the Tory party, if you love democracy and sanity there is no way you want Mogg to replace Sunak.
I hope @Taz is right about his seat because the man is a blight on parliament.
Couple of others who will go for it - Grant Shapps. Repellent and dishonest, but might actually be an effective leader of the opposition. Fluent and urbane, his ability to tell the stiffest of lies with the straightest of faces would stand him in good stead.
Ben Bradley might fancy a go as well. I know he’s a backbencher and spends more time running Nottinghamshire than in London but for that reason he could present himself as a break with the past. Sure, he’s as mad as a box of frogs but so are the four on TSE’s list.
Which is a shame as I think she would actually be quite a good Leader of the Opposition.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/01/28/exclusive-hypocrite-keir-starmer-benefited-private-school-charity/
Records from Surrey County Council state that it agreed to pay for pupils’ fees up to the age of 16, if they had enrolled in the school before September 1975.
If these students wished to remain at the school in its sixth-form – and their families were unable to afford the fees – they were offered a range of bursaries and scholarships by the school itself, The Telegraph understands.
A spokesman for Sir Keir said he “definitely wasn’t self-funded” during sixth-form, but did not deny that he received a bursary from the school, adding that he “doesn’t recall” who exactly footed the bill.
The idea that a would-be male rapist is going to dress as a woman for 3 months to get a GRC is laughable. That's why Rape Crisis Scotland, Women’s AID Scotland & Zero Tolerance Scotland support the gender reform bill. They reject fiction & scaremongering!
https://twitter.com/petertatchell/status/1617484888067772418
New trans prisoner storm looms for Nicola Sturgeon over transfer of violent stalker Tiffany Scott
Troubled Scott - formerly Andrew Burns - has been repeatedly refused a switch to women's jail until now.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/new-trans-prisoner-storm-looms-29069314
How about lifting your eyes to the hills and discussing some topics that matter to 99.99% of the rest of the population? Or are you so far down that rabbit hole that you just don't realise?
In fact. arguably this is better news for Starmer than what I and probably many others had assumed - that he had a bursary from the school. He can say, quite honestly, that he was state educated until 16 on this basis, and I don't think anyone's going to be too exercised about how his A-levels were paid for.
I used to think she might be the future of the party but I suspect that will only now come from the next generation after her.
It's going to be a long time in the wilderness for the tory party. When they're thinking about returning to power the country will be a very different place. Will the party have sufficiently learned its lessons by then?
"We're going to stop the left-wing radical racists and perverts who are trying to indoctrinate our youth, and we're going to get their Marxist hands off our children. We're going to defeat the cult of gender ideology and reaffirm that God created two genders: men and women. We're not going to allow men to play women's sports."
Lovely bedfellow to have.
https://news.sky.com/story/donald-trump-kicks-off-his-2024-white-house-bid-and-says-hes-more-committed-than-ever-12798089
Penny Mordaunt I think is the only one of these who can reach certain groups who haven't voted Tory in a long time - particularly large numbers of women, of a certain kind of profile who would never consider voting for figures like Liz Truss or May.
She's also the only one of them capable of carrying across both empathy and authority. She has a lot in common with Angela Rayner and Lisa Nandy in his respect, I think, and so I wouldn't write her off just yet, speaking personally.
Are there any dull centrists who could put together enough support to survive the first round of the next Tory leadership crisis/contest?
This creates an opportunity for the Liberal Democrats to position themselves as a dull centrist party on the centre-right, and then we'll see whether the British public prefer dull centrism to the ideological right.
I think this is one seat where we might see a radical shift.
I would like to think she can hang on, because I think she would be a good choice as LOTO (which means she has no chance, given the electorate) but I think it's going to be very tough for her.
Edit - Cannock Chase is another such, although the last time I confidently predicted a Labour win it didn't work out quite as I expected. I still think the incredible ineptitude of Labour's local campaign had something to do with that though. What twat campaigns on 'protect our local NHS trust' when the Trust in question was Mid Staffordshire?
The short term response to defeat is always to go for a better singer of the same old song, or a self indulgent revival of the imagined good old days. It doesn't work- if fact it often makes things worse. But the repeated palace coups since 2016 have burnt thorough so many careers that there isn't really anyone obvious to start the long trek back to pleasing the public not the activists.
My guess is that the next Conservative PM is someone on the candidates list who is currently barely a household name in their own household. They need to want to be a Conservative MP who wants to change what that means and find a constituency prepared to take them on. That's also going to be tricky.
The Isla Bryson affair is a watershed moment. The “Trans women are women” position has collapsed like a pack of cards. Those who still defend it are exposed as being totally dismissive of women’s safety. Those who have conveniently backed away from it are exposed as hypocrites.
https://twitter.com/PaulEmbery/status/1619453884208156673
More TERFs:
Team GB Olympic runners join revolt over plans that could mean competing against transgender women
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11678871/Team-GB-Olympic-runners-join-revolt-plans-mean-competing-against-transgender-women.html
Time for a new opener?
Edit - I am a genius!
It’s interesting, though, that you say no one cares about who paid for his a levels. I thought the angst over oxbridge was to do with the proportion who get in who did their a levels at private schools. I’ve mentioned this many times, but a lot of the kids at godalming sixth form college went to RGS Guildford to 16. Parents save two years’ of school fees and their kids get to apply from a state school.
But yes, none of this matters for Starmer. Personally, I think the bigger issue is that he benefited from passing the eleven plus.
It will lose the next GE because it is time for a change, quite apart from any other factor. The only question is how badly it loses. If it tries a modicum of competence and behaving with some sense of ethics and propriety in the nest 2 years, it will likely salvage something. But it seems determined to behave as incompetently and dishonourably as possible. This will only make the defeat worse, of course.
It has been the great survivor of British politics thus far. But if it carries on like this I wouldn't be surprised to see it largely wiped out. A century or so ago that is what happened to the Liberals. In France the Socialists have largely disappeared. The Christian Democrats vanished from Italy. There is no rule saying the Tories should exist.
Michael Gove: We are to blame on Grenfell
Housing secretary says ‘faulty and ambiguous’ government guidance allowed the scandal to happen
Michael Gove raised his son and daughter minutes from Grenfell Tower. Five days after the fire that destroyed the west London high rise, he returned, walking around its blackened husk. The remains of some of the 72 people who were killed, 18 of them children, were still inside. “It did have a profound impact on me,” the housing secretary says.
More than five years on, with more than four million people affected by the fallout and almost 700,000 residents still living in fire-risk flats all over Britain, he feels that weight. On the window sill in his Westminster office stands a framed photo of a Grenfell billboard: “Never forget.” After years of dithering, buck-passing and government delays, Gove is clamping down on the companies that profited from unsafe homes.
Sitting in front of that photo, he makes a remarkable admission: “faulty and ambiguous” government guidance allowed the scandal to happen. Never before has a minister acknowledged this.
Evidence to the Grenfell inquiry has shown that official guidance was widely seen to allow highly flammable cladding on tall buildings. Does Gove now accept that the rules were wrong? “Yes,” he answers. “There was a system of regulation that was faulty. The government did not think hard enough, or police effectively enough, the whole system of building safety. Undoubtedly.”
Five minders sit around the table. One shoots him a look, but he ploughs on: “I believe that [the guidance] was so faulty and ambiguous that it allowed unscrupulous people to exploit a broken system in a way that led to tragedy.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/michael-gove-we-are-to-blame-on-grenfell-5khwd60wk
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/27/politics/supreme-court-chertoff-leak-investigation/index.html
Put it this way, I think his knighthood and his sometimes odd decisions as DPP (assisted dying?) are much more fertile ground to attack him on.
More than anything else, this obsession with his education underlines the Tory obsession with school systems they don't really understand and yet worship uncritically, and to any thinking person makes them look somewhat ridiculous.
It seems my charms didn't work on Roy for long, alas.
Plus which one of Stokes, Root, or Brook are you going to drop instead of Foakes to make way for Bairstow?
Brendon McCullum has already said Bairstow gets back into the team when he's fit.
In the 75% chance of Sunak fighting the GE, he has perhaps a 15% chance of holding on. In the other 65% of circumstances he is toast.
So we are looking for a LOTO with a safe seat, popular with the membership. How safe is safe in this context? Saffron Walden must be up there.
So Badenoch may well be value in the next leader market. She speaks articulately so could be an effective LOTO, but makes Sunak look politically experienced. Not exactly a lot to show as actual achievement in her Cabinet roles either.
But then the issue with him has never been identifying the problems. He's actually quite good at that. The snag is he keeps cocking up with his solutions.
Baroness Hayter said it was easier for Labour peers to speak out because they do not have a constituency party to answer to. She said Labour MPs were often worried about the abuse they and, particularly, their staff, would be subjected to.
“I’m afraid I see this as being a bit like antisemitism when it was first called out in the party and people were saying it was all being exaggerated and overblown and with this issue it is the same thing,” she said. “They are trying to squash us and stop us from raising it. Jewish groups were told to be quiet about antisemitism and now women are being told to shut up too. But this is misogyny. This is men telling women to get back in their box.”
https://archive.ph/jqXaR
The writing is on the wall for Foakes when they kept Pope behind the stumps in Pakistan when Foakes was fit.
Slovakia’s @ZuzanaCaputova
has arrived on stage to congratulate @general_pavel on his convincing victory over @AndrejBabis
Both the 🇨🇿 and 🇸🇰 presidents will now be unabashed liberals who value their countries’ membership in NATO and the EU.
https://mobile.twitter.com/BBCRobC/status/1619361923430060032
Let's have another trans debate
This is the second UN Rapporteur to intervene in the Scottish gender debate - the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture follows the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls. It’s getting embarrassing for Sturgeon.
https://twitter.com/soniasodha/status/1619618101464797189
I expect you’d be equally dismissive if the comments were about a Tory policy…
This should not be a controversial position . Regardless of how much hormone suppression they will always have a physical advantage .
And funnily no one seems to ask why we never see trans men competing in male categories. This goes to the heart of the question .
Perhaps there could be some events for trans women and trans men.
My sense of humour and sarcasm would perpetually get me into trouble.
I also don't have the mentality to sit on the backbenches for a few years.
As I said to you many times, if you want to go down this road you will lose. We saw this in Oz.
It will be interesting to see whether Yvette Cooper or David Blunkett face the same abuse. Her sensible comments this week are in direct contradiction of what some of her Shadow Cabinet colleagues have been saying. As for Starmer he is behaving like Corbyn on this in his refusal to stand up for women MPs bullied for speaking up about women's rights or to criticise or discipline those doing the bullying. Weak and disgraceful. But being so will not stop him becoming PM. It will just mean we get another variety of poor leadership.
Rishi Sunak has sacked Nadhim Zahawi for breaching the ministerial code
Rishi Sunak has sacked Nadhim Zahawi for breaching the ministerial code
Rishi Sunak in letter to Nadhim Zahawi:
'It is clear that there has been a serious breach of the Ministerial Code
'As a result, I have informed you of my decision to remove you from your position in HM Government'
https://twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1619621274644267011
This was obvious over a week ago, why did he sit on it?
Other voting systems in France and Italy made it possible for alternative parties to grow to supplant established parties, and in the UK a major split within the Liberals was necessary to lead to their eclipse.
If Labour were to introduce some form of PR or STV then you'd more likely see a Mogg-led party sink into obscurity.
His comments are at least a change from the previous nothing to do with us attitude of government. It might be bleeding obvious, as ydoethur says, but it's also fairly remarkable.
Guaranteeing another 2 days of bad headlines. Genius
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/usercode.py?scotcontrol=Y&CON=21&LAB=50&LIB=9&Reform=5&Green=3&UKIP=&TVCON=&TVLAB=&TVLIB=&TVReform=&TVGreen=&TVUKIP=&SCOTCON=15.3&SCOTLAB=28&SCOTLIB=6&SCOTReform=1&SCOTGreen=2.4&SCOTUKIP=&SCOTNAT=45.6&display=AllChanged&regorseat=(none)&boundary=2019nbbase
Sturgeon misread the national mood on this issue.
https://www.aaronbell.org.uk/news/im-backing-liz
Letter of sacking. for the MwP post anyway.
So I have a direct personal interest in trans rights, gender rights, women's rights. But the idea that I am going to get het up by either of the extremes, then gaslit by the Tories is laughable. Its a non-issue politically. The more they try and make it an issue, the stupider they look.