I'm coming to the belief that the rebels have the 180 magic total, and it won't be further cabinet resignations that do for Boris Johnson but Sir Graham Brady having a chat.
Sir Roger Gale who has been against the 1922 rule change is now backing it and is unequivocally Johnson goes or he will be forced out
Remember golden days of yore, when PBers fulminated at the indecency of referring to the PM as BoJo?
I remember the golden days when a goodly proportion of PB Tories thought Boris was their saviour.
They are pretending that nobody remembers.
But he was the saviour of the Tory party - and the country. He got Brexit done, by winning a large majority, and if that had not happened the Tories would have descended into terrible internal warfare - as the whole country went on to an absolutely catastrophic 2nd referendum. Just try and imagine how that would have gone, as it was boycotted by millions of Leavers (like me). There you go. What do you do after that? After a botched 2nd vote with half the voters not showing up? That’s the end of British democracy
So many 2nd voters - such as Keir Starmer - like to pretend this would not have happened. Those Remainers that do now belatedly realise this want us to conveniently forget all about their demands for a 2nd referendum. Utter Wankers
However, the good that Boris did then is now seriously outweighed by his many flaws and unforced errors. He has to go
"got Brexit done". Must tell my Belfast chum that.
He did get it done.
And, now, there's no use for him anymore.
This. 💯
I can never Understand the desperation of PBTories to claim that Brexit is done, with NI an unresolved running sore which is left both in and out of the UK/EU, a full *FIVE YEARS* AFTER THE VOTE, AND MORE YEARS SINCE IT WAS FLAGGED UP AS AN ISSUE.
Casting Mr Johnson out into the wilderness won't get rid of that original Brexiter sin.
NI has been a running sore my entire life, and for decades before I was born too.
Very true. It is an financial disaster and a constant political embarassment. I can't understand why so many are so attached to it, almost like a cancer patient being fond of his tumour.
Well then, get rid of NI. Cast it loose and see where GB's international credibility goes (hint: straight down past the 7th level of Hell)
So you oppose a United Ireland? Strange. I have long thought it a very good idea - for entirely positive rather than negative reasons.
I support a Federated Ireland because I believe it is more likely to succeed. Make Stormont sovereign and apply for EU membership. Unionists would be decimated by London's unilateral action and less of an obstacle. The south would not need to take on the north as an economic burden nor a political burden.
It would also allow Brexit to be completed and GB could stand alone in its glorious, self-imposed isolation.
So you are proposing a solution that satisfies neither side. Like I said, strange.
Oh and it is worth remembering that 'decimated' Unionists does not mean the population is any less unionist, just that they no longer have democratic organisations they can turn to. So where do you think they then turn?
The southern Irish attitude to NI is, in places, quite despicable
There’s an Irish MP, Neale Richmond, whose tweets are one long continuous screech of hatred aimed at the British, esp because Brexit, but lots of other stuff too. Stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with him. He wades into domestic UK disputes
At the same time he clamours for a Border poll to unite Ireland, but then he ALSO complains that the sneaky British might call one early “and this would be divisive and might even be defeated”. - ie his cause would lose
So we have to organize a Border poll at our expense to break up the UK at the timing desired by southern Irish nationalists so they will win. Or we are awful. OK, got that
It’s a weird kind of entitlement. So many decades of Anglophobia and self pity and they can’t see how it appears to others
To top it all off with a squirt of emerald green cherry foam, he congratulates himself when the UK parliament invites him to speak
Remember golden days of yore, when PBers fulminated at the indecency of referring to the PM as BoJo?
I remember the golden days when a goodly proportion of PB Tories thought Boris was their saviour.
They are pretending that nobody remembers.
But he was the saviour of the Tory party - and the country. He got Brexit done, by winning a large majority, and if that had not happened the Tories would have descended into terrible internal warfare - as the whole country went on to an absolutely catastrophic 2nd referendum. Just try and imagine how that would have gone, as it was boycotted by millions of Leavers (like me). There you go. What do you do after that? After a botched 2nd vote with half the voters not showing up? That’s the end of British democracy
So many 2nd voters - such as Keir Starmer - like to pretend this would not have happened. Those Remainers that do now belatedly realise this want us to conveniently forget all about their demands for a 2nd referendum. Utter Wankers
However, the good that Boris did then is now seriously outweighed by his many flaws and unforced errors. He has to go
"got Brexit done". Must tell my Belfast chum that.
He did get it done.
And, now, there's no use for him anymore.
This. 💯
I can never Understand the desperation of PBTories to claim that Brexit is done, with NI an unresolved running sore which is left both in and out of the UK/EU, a full *FIVE YEARS* AFTER THE VOTE, AND MORE YEARS SINCE IT WAS FLAGGED UP AS AN ISSUE.
Casting Mr Johnson out into the wilderness won't get rid of that original Brexiter sin.
NI has been a running sore my entire life, and for decades before I was born too.
Very true. It is an financial disaster and a constant political embarassment. I can't understand why so many are so attached to it, almost like a cancer patient being fond of his tumour.
Well then, get rid of NI. Cast it loose and see where GB's international credibility goes (hint: straight down past the 7th level of Hell)
So you oppose a United Ireland? Strange. I have long thought it a very good idea - for entirely positive rather than negative reasons.
I support a Federated Ireland because I believe it is more likely to succeed. Make Stormont sovereign and apply for EU membership. Unionists would be decimated by London's unilateral action and less of an obstacle. The south would not need to take on the north as an economic burden nor a political burden.
It would also allow Brexit to be completed and GB could stand alone in its glorious, self-imposed isolation.
So you are proposing a solution that satisfies neither side. Like I said, strange.
Oh and it is worth remembering that 'decimated' Unionists does not mean the population is any less unionist, just that they no longer have democratic organisations they can turn to. So where do you think they then turn?
On the contrary, the south is very wary of taking on the north and many in the north resent the idea of control from the south. A Federated Ireland where both Parliaments exist in their present forms eliminates many problems.
If GB dumped NI, Unionism would have to change and many of the younger generation are less Unionist than (say) my mother who, like Blackadder, sees cold weather as God's way of telling her to burn more catholics...
All a bit of an anti-climax now, this piece of theatre. I really enjoyed the first couple of hours, but the plot seems to have run out of steam quite quickly for today.
(Incidentally nobody, I think, has mentioned Alok Sharma, who is in the Cabinet. What's his view of his Leader?)
Zahawi's the one to watch. Perhaps he's already spoken but they don't come much more ambitious. Possibly he'll be offered CoE but I doubt he'll take it. There are only three Cabinet Ministers likely to get a job under a new leader and Zahawi's the only one who hasn't resigned.
All the real unemployables have already sworn loyalty
Hmm, it's been suggested to me that Boris got Truss on board so quickly by promising her No. 11 and now he's got Zahawi demanding the job as well and he won't take Foreign Sec. Fears that Truss may resign tomorrow morning just before PMQs if she doesn't get the job but Zahawi will resign tonight if he doesn't get it. Current thinking is that giving it to Zahawi kicks the can for another day so that's what will happen.
He could announce the first Chancellor job-share scheme. Truss gets Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Zahawi Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Both have Sunday off, and two budget statements a year so they both get a shot of holding a briefcase up to the press cameras.
Personally, I'd call Zahawi's bluff and give Truss No. 11. His blackmailing shenanigans are now public, so I really don't think he can resign tonight without looking severely opportunist. Stepping into Truss's furry hat would be a big step up for him and he would be wise to take it.
On topic, I recall a few days ago I went down the list of ways to get rid of Johnson, ranging from him resigning (not happening), GE defeats, various VONCs (internal or Parliamentary), criminal convictions or successful recall petitions, lengthy suspension from Parliament or death (options 1 to 8).
But is there another way, a nineth way, that could see him gone without a single vote anywhere?
What if the Conservative MP rebels (and I'll just call them that), left the party and formed their own. Call it the Bonservative Party (like Monty Python's National Bocialists).
If sufficient numbers left, formed their own party, took what local support they could with them. It could reduce the rump Conservative party to second. Even third if sufficient numbers left the Conservatives to join the Bonservatives.
Is this viable at all? Is it a way? Would the Bonservatives be able to avoid a GE in this situation (I think not)?
Hmm, it's been suggested to me that Boris got Truss on board so quickly by promising her No. 11 and now he's got Zahawi demanding the job as well and he won't take Foreign Sec. Fears that Truss may resign tomorrow morning just before PMQs if she doesn't get the job but Zahawi will resign tonight if he doesn't get it. Current thinking is that giving it to Zahawi kicks the can for another day so that's what will happen.
He could announce the first Chancellor job-share scheme. Truss gets Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Zahawi Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Both have Sunday off, and two budget statements a year so they both get a shot of holding a briefcase up to the press cameras.
Personally, I'd call Zahawi's bluff and give Truss No. 11. His blackmailing shenanigans are now public, so I really don't think he can resign tonight without looking severely opportunist. Stepping into Truss's furry hat would be a big step up for him and he would be wise to take it.
Nah, the Zahawi to No. 11 story is still in the Westminster bubble for everyone else it's the Chancellor, Health Secretary and Education Secretary resigning on the same day. Zahawi has got all the leverage here.
Remember golden days of yore, when PBers fulminated at the indecency of referring to the PM as BoJo?
I remember the golden days when a goodly proportion of PB Tories thought Boris was their saviour.
They are pretending that nobody remembers.
But he was the saviour of the Tory party - and the country. He got Brexit done, by winning a large majority, and if that had not happened the Tories would have descended into terrible internal warfare - as the whole country went on to an absolutely catastrophic 2nd referendum. Just try and imagine how that would have gone, as it was boycotted by millions of Leavers (like me). There you go. What do you do after that? After a botched 2nd vote with half the voters not showing up? That’s the end of British democracy
So many 2nd voters - such as Keir Starmer - like to pretend this would not have happened. Those Remainers that do now belatedly realise this want us to conveniently forget all about their demands for a 2nd referendum. Utter Wankers
However, the good that Boris did then is now seriously outweighed by his many flaws and unforced errors. He has to go
"got Brexit done". Must tell my Belfast chum that.
He did get it done.
And, now, there's no use for him anymore.
This. 💯
I can never Understand the desperation of PBTories to claim that Brexit is done, with NI an unresolved running sore which is left both in and out of the UK/EU, a full *FIVE YEARS* AFTER THE VOTE, AND MORE YEARS SINCE IT WAS FLAGGED UP AS AN ISSUE.
Casting Mr Johnson out into the wilderness won't get rid of that original Brexiter sin.
NI has been a running sore my entire life, and for decades before I was born too.
Very true. It is an financial disaster and a constant political embarassment. I can't understand why so many are so attached to it, almost like a cancer patient being fond of his tumour.
Well then, get rid of NI. Cast it loose and see where GB's international credibility goes (hint: straight down past the 7th level of Hell)
So you oppose a United Ireland? Strange. I have long thought it a very good idea - for entirely positive rather than negative reasons.
I support a Federated Ireland because I believe it is more likely to succeed. Make Stormont sovereign and apply for EU membership. Unionists would be decimated by London's unilateral action and less of an obstacle. The south would not need to take on the north as an economic burden nor a political burden.
It would also allow Brexit to be completed and GB could stand alone in its glorious, self-imposed isolation.
So you are proposing a solution that satisfies neither side. Like I said, strange.
Oh and it is worth remembering that 'decimated' Unionists does not mean the population is any less unionist, just that they no longer have democratic organisations they can turn to. So where do you think they then turn?
The southern Irish attitude to NI is, in places, quite despicable
There’s an Irish MP, Neale Richmond, whose tweets are one long continuous screech of hatred aimed at the British, esp because Brexit, but lots of other stuff too. Stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with him. He wades into domestic UK disputes
At the same time he clamours for a Border poll to unite Ireland, but then he ALSO complains that the sneaky British might call one early “and this would be divisive and might even be defeated”. - ie his cause would lose
So we have to organize a Border poll at our expense to break up the UK at the timing desired by southern Irish nationalists so they will win. Or we are awful. OK, got that
It’s a weird kind of entitlement. So many decades of Anglophobia and self pity and they can’t see how it appears to others
To top it all off with a squirt of emerald green cherry foam, he congratulates himself when the UK parliament invites him to speak
He sounds like a twat. We have the the ERG and Boris Johnson who are also twats. All countries have twats. It is not news.
Re cabinet not quitting. They may simply assume the game is up and they are best placed to fight for the leadership from cabinet. Patel, Raab, Truss probably all see themselves as potential 'cabinet agreed caretaker'
Patel won’t be re-appointed. She is unpopular, and only got the present job for culture-war style shits and giggles.
Raab is quite dim, and is likely caught in some headlights somewhere. He too will not survive Johnson.
Truss is a WTF. She had her chance and she’s blown it. She’ll be another casualty therefore.
We are going to see quite a lot of the fatberg dislodged, I think.
Patel will definitely make a comeback, probably in the same position. The next leader will need to get backing from the Tory right and keeping Patel in place deporting people to Rwanda guarantees that.
I'd honestly be shocked if whoever wins moves Patel out of post, only a promotion to Foreign Sec would be plausible IMO if they wanted a new Home Sec. No way she'll take a demotion and they will need her on side.
She's too much of a national security risk to be Foreign Secretary.
Maybe, but Patel is a survivor. I think her lack of leadership credentials is why it doesn't make a difference to her future if she resigned or not today.
I also don't buy letting Wallace off the hook, his resignation would precipitate a full on rebellion overnight and Boris will be removed by 9am. The Ukraine policy doesn't change either way. If Wallace wants the leadership he should resign tonight.
Assassins of PMs don't become Tory PMs as Heseltine discovered. It was the Thatcher loyalist Major who succeeded her
Comparing the penalty for stabbing Thatcher in the back (who it could be argued had served the party well, not by me, but clearly others will think so) with the penalty for helping dislodge the most unfit PM of my lifetime, is one of your more ludicrous claims. Those remaining with Johnson are letting him soil them.
Wise of Zahawi though. Nobody will want to be dealing with the situation in September. Between strikes, staffing shortages caused by unfilled vacancies, shortages caused by illness and the ongoing train crash over teacher training things are about to get really, really bad.
I got to the end of that before I worked out that you were somewhat parochially talking about the teaching profession rather than the whole economy! Chancellor right now makes Alastair Darling's timing look good.
There is not enough popcorn in the known universe.
We've always wondered what the dark matter was. This could be the moment to find out.
On topic, I recall a few days ago I went down the list of ways to get rid of Johnson, ranging from him resigning (not happening), GE defeats, various VONCs (internal or Parliamentary), criminal convictions or successful recall petitions, lengthy suspension from Parliament or death (options 1 to 8).
But is there another way, a nineth way, that could see him gone without a single vote anywhere?
What if the Conservative MP rebels (and I'll just call them that), left the party and formed their own. Call it the Bonservative Party (like Monty Python's National Bocialists).
If sufficient numbers left, formed their own party, took what local support they could with them. It could reduce the rump Conservative party to second. Even third if sufficient numbers left the Conservatives to join the Bonservatives.
Is this viable at all? Is it a way? Would the Bonservatives be able to avoid a GE in this situation (I think not)?
Lose all the financial assets of CCHQ, and probably the constituency parties?
A highly transmissible Omicron subvariant, which is already dominant in Britain and the US, has sent parts of the ancient Chinese city of Xi’an, home to 13 million, into a seven-day lockdown.
Johnson will survive this easily. He's going nowhere
Methinks it is what you hope CHB? Johnson remaining in office is the best hope for a Labour GE victory. Putting Party before country?
Nah I called for him to go weeks ago. He should go - but he won't.
I think you’re absolutely correct he won’t go. But I do believe it is a matter of time now. There will be a majority in the parliamentary party against him now so we are now just waiting for the rule change to go through and the new VONC.
A highly transmissible Omicron subvariant, which is already dominant in Britain and the US, has sent parts of the ancient Chinese city of Xi’an, home to 13 million, into a seven-day lockdown.
All a bit of an anti-climax now, this piece of theatre. I really enjoyed the first couple of hours, but the plot seems to have run out of steam quite quickly for today.
(Incidentally nobody, I think, has mentioned Alok Sharma, who is in the Cabinet. What's his view of his Leader?)
Zahawi's the one to watch. Perhaps he's already spoken but they don't come much more ambitious. Possibly he'll be offered CoE but I doubt he'll take it. There are only three Cabinet Ministers likely to get a job under a new leader and Zahawi's the only one who hasn't resigned.
All the real unemployables have already sworn loyalty
Interesting. Maybe he has agreed not to do the deed until tomorrow. I understand a couple of junior ministers have resigned. We need a multiple lance approach to finally skewering the greased pig.
A highly transmissible Omicron subvariant, which is already dominant in Britain and the US, has sent parts of the ancient Chinese city of Xi’an, home to 13 million, into a seven-day lockdown.
I'm coming to the belief that the rebels have the 180 magic total, and it won't be further cabinet resignations that do for Boris Johnson but Sir Graham Brady having a chat.
The problem is they proved themselves to be immensely stupid by not waiting an extra few weeks before sending the letters in.
Hmm, it's been suggested to me that Boris got Truss on board so quickly by promising her No. 11 and now he's got Zahawi demanding the job as well and he won't take Foreign Sec. Fears that Truss may resign tomorrow morning just before PMQs if she doesn't get the job but Zahawi will resign tonight if he doesn't get it. Current thinking is that giving it to Zahawi kicks the can for another day so that's what will happen.
He could announce the first Chancellor job-share scheme. Truss gets Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Zahawi Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Both have Sunday off, and two budget statements a year so they both get a shot of holding a briefcase up to the press cameras.
Personally, I'd call Zahawi's bluff and give Truss No. 11. His blackmailing shenanigans are now public, so I really don't think he can resign tonight without looking severely opportunist. Stepping into Truss's furry hat would be a big step up for him and he would be wise to take it.
Nah, the Zahawi to No. 11 story is still in the Westminster bubble for everyone else it's the Chancellor, Health Secretary and Education Secretary resigning on the same day. Zahawi has got all the leverage here.
Really? Boris's reply letter to his resignation could say 'I'm sorry that I couldn't give you the job of Chancellor on the basis of your threatened resignation - the job is far too important to be used as a bargaining chip' - that's Zahawi unlikely to every achieve the Chancellorship. So I still say, secure Truss, call Zahawi's bluff. It's not a great hand for Boris to play any way you look at it.
A highly transmissible Omicron subvariant, which is already dominant in Britain and the US, has sent parts of the ancient Chinese city of Xi’an, home to 13 million, into a seven-day lockdown.
Hmmmm....so far its better than the last season (which is a bit like saying somebody would make a better cabinet minster than Nadine)...its now just really just turned into "dumb" action series. If you like seeing lots of android on android beat-it-upty its watchable, but no thinking required, no real sign of any clever plot development.
"These attention seekers aren't helping anything other than their own selfish egos. Disrupting access to our fabulous cultural assets and putting them at risk of damage is unacceptable."
Genuinely Johnson will call an election to get rid of people plotting, his only way out. Nailed on IMHO
That would violate all three Lascelles principles.
Denying one could be Her Maj's finest hour.
She'll do whatever her PM tells her to do, just look at her granting the 2019 prorogation.
What's thew point of royalty (except to protect us from RCs, according to some on PB)? Will be very interesting to see what happens.
It's to be a figurehead. If people are arguing that they actually want the Queen to overrule the PM, I don't believe them unless they are an uber-monarchist. It makes zero sense otherwise.
I do view the Monarch as the last line of defence. Perhaps they shouldn't, but I hope they would.
The National Bocialist German Workers Party (NBGWP) somehow wins a GE in 326 seats, potentially with only limited support in the country (FPTP - ain't that a shocker). Their leader, Adenoid Hynkel, after duly kissing the Queen's hand puts his package together. They include the 'Lets round up all the Jews into Boncentration Bamps Act' and the 'We're going to invade Poland Act'.
He rocks up to Buckingham Palace to present the bills for signature, having passed Parliament with 326 votes (And maybe rammed through using the Parliament Act 1949).
Queen takes one look at them, dismisses him and orders the Army to detain him and calls a GE. Ideally banning him and his party.
You might say this isn't right, but as long as FPTP exists, there is the chance that a party barely needs 25% support to win a GE.
A highly transmissible Omicron subvariant, which is already dominant in Britain and the US, has sent parts of the ancient Chinese city of Xi’an, home to 13 million, into a seven-day lockdown.
Hmmmm....so far its better than the last season (which is a bit like saying somebody would make a better cabinet minster than Nadine)...its now just really just turned into "dumb" action series. If you like seeing lots of android on android beat-it-upty its watchable, but no thinking required.
I see people are saying that Truss has already pledged loyalty to Boris? When and where did she do that? Just checked her Twitter and there's nothing there.
Hmm, it's been suggested to me that Boris got Truss on board so quickly by promising her No. 11 and now he's got Zahawi demanding the job as well and he won't take Foreign Sec. Fears that Truss may resign tomorrow morning just before PMQs if she doesn't get the job but Zahawi will resign tonight if he doesn't get it. Current thinking is that giving it to Zahawi kicks the can for another day so that's what will happen.
He could announce the first Chancellor job-share scheme. Truss gets Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Zahawi Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Both have Sunday off, and two budget statements a year so they both get a shot of holding a briefcase up to the press cameras.
Personally, I'd call Zahawi's bluff and give Truss No. 11. His blackmailing shenanigans are now public, so I really don't think he can resign tonight without looking severely opportunist. Stepping into Truss's furry hat would be a big step up for him and he would be wise to take it.
Nah, the Zahawi to No. 11 story is still in the Westminster bubble for everyone else it's the Chancellor, Health Secretary and Education Secretary resigning on the same day. Zahawi has got all the leverage here.
Really? Boris's reply letter to his resignation could say 'I'm sorry that I couldn't give you the job of Chancellor on the basis of your threatened resignation - the job is far too important to be used as a bargaining chip' - that's Zahawi unlikely to every achieve the Chancellorship. So I still say, secure Truss, call Zahawi's bluff. It's not a great hand for Boris to play any way you look at it.
He did not. He kicked the can for the day as my Tory party friend predicted.
It’s OK to lie low with a toothache, but to take the main job vacated by the assassins means you are fucked when the assassins finally prevail, which they surely will
Harry Cole @MrHarryCole · 1m Britain has a new Chancellor ... its Zahawi
Probably a good move by Boris - Zahawi has an avuncular look about him, ideal for a government reset. Surely Rishi, politically, is completely undone. I suspect he'll step down as an MP soon enough.
Genuinely Johnson will call an election to get rid of people plotting, his only way out. Nailed on IMHO
That would violate all three Lascelles principles.
Denying one could be Her Maj's finest hour.
She'll do whatever her PM tells her to do, just look at her granting the 2019 prorogation.
Not when the politics are like this.
Politics were even more polarised than now.
He's also got a near 80 seat majority, she'll grant a dissolution.
That's why she won't.
The current parliament is capable of doing it's job, another leader can easily be found who will command confidence of the Commons and there's an economic crisis.
HMQ will get cover by the politicians laying out the alternative behind the scenes and liaising with her private secretary.
That's not the Queen's way. To contradict her Prime Minister would be to go against her entire method of Queenship. Doing exactly as her Prime Minister tells her to do allows her to hide behind the Constitution. Actually making a judgement runs the risk of people deciding her judgement was wrong and that she should be replaced by someone with better judgement.
The Lascelles principles only work if they deter a PM from contradicting them. The Queen will do everything to avoid being seen as a political actor.
They are there to protect the country against a rogue PM who's totally unprincipled and is trying to game the constitution.
Hmm, it's been suggested to me that Boris got Truss on board so quickly by promising her No. 11 and now he's got Zahawi demanding the job as well and he won't take Foreign Sec. Fears that Truss may resign tomorrow morning just before PMQs if she doesn't get the job but Zahawi will resign tonight if he doesn't get it. Current thinking is that giving it to Zahawi kicks the can for another day so that's what will happen.
He could announce the first Chancellor job-share scheme. Truss gets Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Zahawi Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Both have Sunday off, and two budget statements a year so they both get a shot of holding a briefcase up to the press cameras.
Personally, I'd call Zahawi's bluff and give Truss No. 11. His blackmailing shenanigans are now public, so I really don't think he can resign tonight without looking severely opportunist. Stepping into Truss's furry hat would be a big step up for him and he would be wise to take it.
Nah, the Zahawi to No. 11 story is still in the Westminster bubble for everyone else it's the Chancellor, Health Secretary and Education Secretary resigning on the same day. Zahawi has got all the leverage here.
Really? Boris's reply letter to his resignation could say 'I'm sorry that I couldn't give you the job of Chancellor on the basis of your threatened resignation - the job is far too important to be used as a bargaining chip' - that's Zahawi unlikely to every achieve the Chancellorship. So I still say, secure Truss, call Zahawi's bluff. It's not a great hand for Boris to play any way you look at it.
He did not. He kicked the can for the day as my Tory party friend predicted.
Yep, well predicted! Boris truly desperate to give in to that sort of blackmail.
I see people are saying that Truss has already pledged loyalty to Boris? When and where did she do that? Just checked her Twitter and there's nothing there.
Yes. She should resign tomorrow at about 11.30am. That could do it
Re cabinet not quitting. They may simply assume the game is up and they are best placed to fight for the leadership from cabinet. Patel, Raab, Truss probably all see themselves as potential 'cabinet agreed caretaker'
Patel won’t be re-appointed. She is unpopular, and only got the present job for culture-war style shits and giggles.
Raab is quite dim, and is likely caught in some headlights somewhere. He too will not survive Johnson.
Truss is a WTF. She had her chance and she’s blown it. She’ll be another casualty therefore.
We are going to see quite a lot of the fatberg dislodged, I think.
Patel will definitely make a comeback, probably in the same position. The next leader will need to get backing from the Tory right and keeping Patel in place deporting people to Rwanda guarantees that.
I'd honestly be shocked if whoever wins moves Patel out of post, only a promotion to Foreign Sec would be plausible IMO if they wanted a new Home Sec. No way she'll take a demotion and they will need her on side.
She's too much of a national security risk to be Foreign Secretary.
Maybe, but Patel is a survivor. I think her lack of leadership credentials is why it doesn't make a difference to her future if she resigned or not today.
I also don't buy letting Wallace off the hook, his resignation would precipitate a full on rebellion overnight and Boris will be removed by 9am. The Ukraine policy doesn't change either way. If Wallace wants the leadership he should resign tonight.
Assassins of PMs don't become Tory PMs as Heseltine discovered. It was the Thatcher loyalist Major who succeeded her
I'm coming to the belief that the rebels have the 180 magic total, and it won't be further cabinet resignations that do for Boris Johnson but Sir Graham Brady having a chat.
Boris ain't going to resign, he has the hide of a Rhinoceraus combined with the stubborn temperament of Trump and Corbyn. He is already completing the reshuffle of the Cabinet to replace those lost.
Brady's chats won't make any difference, he doesn't know that over 50% of Tory MPs would VONC Boris anymore than Boris does and Boris has already survived one VONC
It’s OK to lie low with a toothache, but to take the main job vacated by the assassins means you are fucked when the assassins finally prevail, which they surely will
For a few months as COTE? Why??
Perhaps he thinks Boris has the Tory party all sown up.
Public universities in Florida will be required to survey both faculty and students on their political beliefs and viewpoints, with the institutions at risk of losing their funding if the responses are not satisfactory to the state's Republican-led legislature.
The unprecedented project, which was tucked into a law signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, is part of a long-running, nationwide right-wing push to promote "intellectual diversity" on campuses — though worries over a lack of details on the survey's privacy protections, and questions over what the results may ultimately be used for, hover over the venture.
Based on the bill's language, survey responses will not necessarily be anonymous — sparking worries among many professors and other university staff that they may be targeted, held back in their careers or even fired for their beliefs.
According to the bill's sponsor, state Sen. Ray Rodrigues, faculty will not be promoted or fired based on their responses, but, as The Tampa Bay Times reported Tuesday, the bill itself does not back up those claims.
No. Completely justified. The horrendous onethink on American campuses has to be challenged. They are 99% Democrat and 98% Woke, yet the rest of America really is not, and this gulf is bad for any country
I've got little confidence the situation will improve because of 'government surveys'. Too blunt. A softer approach, linking state funding with commitments to viewpoint diversity and freedom of speech would probably be more effective.
But it is, at least, a start
Extirpating Extreme Wokeness from Academe is an urgent need. That’s where CRT came from: the universities
If only you knew as much about US universities and CRT as you do about AI.
I think you're so embedded into ground zero of liberal California you fail to recognise CRT for the cancer it is.
It’s OK to lie low with a toothache, but to take the main job vacated by the assassins means you are fucked when the assassins finally prevail, which they surely will
For a few months as COTE? Why??
Zahawi dotes on BoZo.
Remember BoZo's first press conference when Gove knifed him. Nads in tears, leaning on the shoulder of, Zahawi...
Is Mike still on a break? TSE still in charge of PB?
He's busy today, I'm in charge the rest of the evening.
Dominic Raab is wondering if he will be in the same position tomorrow.
Reminds me of the film “Inside Man”
(Denzel Washington) "Alright, I've got them right where I want 'em." (Chiwetel Ejiofor) "Where's that?" (Denzel Washington) "Right behind me with my pants around my ankles, but it's a start."
I see people are saying that Truss has already pledged loyalty to Boris? When and where did she do that? Just checked her Twitter and there's nothing there.
It was announced earlier that she "stands behind the PM". That maybe with a stiletto. We can but hope
Hmm, it's been suggested to me that Boris got Truss on board so quickly by promising her No. 11 and now he's got Zahawi demanding the job as well and he won't take Foreign Sec. Fears that Truss may resign tomorrow morning just before PMQs if she doesn't get the job but Zahawi will resign tonight if he doesn't get it. Current thinking is that giving it to Zahawi kicks the can for another day so that's what will happen.
He could announce the first Chancellor job-share scheme. Truss gets Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Zahawi Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Both have Sunday off, and two budget statements a year so they both get a shot of holding a briefcase up to the press cameras.
Personally, I'd call Zahawi's bluff and give Truss No. 11. His blackmailing shenanigans are now public, so I really don't think he can resign tonight without looking severely opportunist. Stepping into Truss's furry hat would be a big step up for him and he would be wise to take it.
Nah, the Zahawi to No. 11 story is still in the Westminster bubble for everyone else it's the Chancellor, Health Secretary and Education Secretary resigning on the same day. Zahawi has got all the leverage here.
Really? Boris's reply letter to his resignation could say 'I'm sorry that I couldn't give you the job of Chancellor on the basis of your threatened resignation - the job is far too important to be used as a bargaining chip' - that's Zahawi unlikely to every achieve the Chancellorship. So I still say, secure Truss, call Zahawi's bluff. It's not a great hand for Boris to play any way you look at it.
Re cabinet not quitting. They may simply assume the game is up and they are best placed to fight for the leadership from cabinet. Patel, Raab, Truss probably all see themselves as potential 'cabinet agreed caretaker'
Patel won’t be re-appointed. She is unpopular, and only got the present job for culture-war style shits and giggles.
Raab is quite dim, and is likely caught in some headlights somewhere. He too will not survive Johnson.
Truss is a WTF. She had her chance and she’s blown it. She’ll be another casualty therefore.
We are going to see quite a lot of the fatberg dislodged, I think.
Patel will definitely make a comeback, probably in the same position. The next leader will need to get backing from the Tory right and keeping Patel in place deporting people to Rwanda guarantees that.
I'd honestly be shocked if whoever wins moves Patel out of post, only a promotion to Foreign Sec would be plausible IMO if they wanted a new Home Sec. No way she'll take a demotion and they will need her on side.
She's too much of a national security risk to be Foreign Secretary.
Maybe, but Patel is a survivor. I think her lack of leadership credentials is why it doesn't make a difference to her future if she resigned or not today.
I also don't buy letting Wallace off the hook, his resignation would precipitate a full on rebellion overnight and Boris will be removed by 9am. The Ukraine policy doesn't change either way. If Wallace wants the leadership he should resign tonight.
Assassins of PMs don't become Tory PMs as Heseltine discovered. It was the Thatcher loyalist Major who succeeded her
It’s OK to lie low with a toothache, but to take the main job vacated by the assassins means you are fucked when the assassins finally prevail, which they surely will
For a few months as COTE? Why??
Being as bald as a coot, he just stepped into the most senior position he'll ever be able to hold in his chosen field. That's a hell of an achievement, however short-lived.
Hmm, it's been suggested to me that Boris got Truss on board so quickly by promising her No. 11 and now he's got Zahawi demanding the job as well and he won't take Foreign Sec. Fears that Truss may resign tomorrow morning just before PMQs if she doesn't get the job but Zahawi will resign tonight if he doesn't get it. Current thinking is that giving it to Zahawi kicks the can for another day so that's what will happen.
He could announce the first Chancellor job-share scheme. Truss gets Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Zahawi Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Both have Sunday off, and two budget statements a year so they both get a shot of holding a briefcase up to the press cameras.
Personally, I'd call Zahawi's bluff and give Truss No. 11. His blackmailing shenanigans are now public, so I really don't think he can resign tonight without looking severely opportunist. Stepping into Truss's furry hat would be a big step up for him and he would be wise to take it.
Nah, the Zahawi to No. 11 story is still in the Westminster bubble for everyone else it's the Chancellor, Health Secretary and Education Secretary resigning on the same day. Zahawi has got all the leverage here.
Really? Boris's reply letter to his resignation could say 'I'm sorry that I couldn't give you the job of Chancellor on the basis of your threatened resignation - the job is far too important to be used as a bargaining chip' - that's Zahawi unlikely to every achieve the Chancellorship. So I still say, secure Truss, call Zahawi's bluff. It's not a great hand for Boris to play any way you look at it.
He did not. He kicked the can for the day as my Tory party friend predicted.
I've been saying it for years. He has no leadership skills.
A highly transmissible Omicron subvariant, which is already dominant in Britain and the US, has sent parts of the ancient Chinese city of Xi’an, home to 13 million, into a seven-day lockdown.
Harry Cole @MrHarryCole · 1m Britain has a new Chancellor ... its Zahawi
One of our historians will correct me if I am wrong but the shortest time as Chancellor I can think of is that of the Saj: 24 July 2019 – 13 February 2020. So by my reckoning 204 days is the target. I think he has less chance than the England test team has had of late.
So quick question, PB Tories will still find a way to tell us KS would be worse!
We will never know. He should get his FPN tomorrow
Has there ever been a more lackadaisical force than Durham. Seven weeks to check out an early evening curry? They could have reenacted the evening several times over using actors.
Someone's taking the piss.
If you worked there, surely you would also drag your feet?
Announcing anything tomorrow would be a total fucking kaboom.
You think it's their fifteen minutes and they're holding back for the perfect moment? I wouldn't blame them. Getting yourself into the history books isn't bad for a policeman.
Might have been even more impressive if a civil servant hadn't just removed a Prime Minister
Hmm, it's been suggested to me that Boris got Truss on board so quickly by promising her No. 11 and now he's got Zahawi demanding the job as well and he won't take Foreign Sec. Fears that Truss may resign tomorrow morning just before PMQs if she doesn't get the job but Zahawi will resign tonight if he doesn't get it. Current thinking is that giving it to Zahawi kicks the can for another day so that's what will happen.
He could announce the first Chancellor job-share scheme. Truss gets Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Zahawi Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Both have Sunday off, and two budget statements a year so they both get a shot of holding a briefcase up to the press cameras.
Personally, I'd call Zahawi's bluff and give Truss No. 11. His blackmailing shenanigans are now public, so I really don't think he can resign tonight without looking severely opportunist. Stepping into Truss's furry hat would be a big step up for him and he would be wise to take it.
Nah, the Zahawi to No. 11 story is still in the Westminster bubble for everyone else it's the Chancellor, Health Secretary and Education Secretary resigning on the same day. Zahawi has got all the leverage here.
Really? Boris's reply letter to his resignation could say 'I'm sorry that I couldn't give you the job of Chancellor on the basis of your threatened resignation - the job is far too important to be used as a bargaining chip' - that's Zahawi unlikely to every achieve the Chancellorship. So I still say, secure Truss, call Zahawi's bluff. It's not a great hand for Boris to play any way you look at it.
Just back from a fun boozy night on the terrace pavilion - I passed JRM giving a talk to camera, Chris Bryant hanging around, Jess Philips walking past in a daze looking intently at her phone, and that boorish bearded Stoke MP - you know the one who laughs at Boris’s jokes at PMQs - who barged past me to another party. Everyone already talking about the coming leadership election.
And I see that he’s still not gone. What’s more he’s going full hitler bunker and appointing people to new positions Willy-nilly. Is the man mad?
I'm coming to the belief that the rebels have the 180 magic total, and it won't be further cabinet resignations that do for Boris Johnson but Sir Graham Brady having a chat.
Boris ain't going to resign, he has the hide of a Rhinoceraus combined with the stubborn temperament of Trump and Corbyn…
Public universities in Florida will be required to survey both faculty and students on their political beliefs and viewpoints, with the institutions at risk of losing their funding if the responses are not satisfactory to the state's Republican-led legislature.
The unprecedented project, which was tucked into a law signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, is part of a long-running, nationwide right-wing push to promote "intellectual diversity" on campuses — though worries over a lack of details on the survey's privacy protections, and questions over what the results may ultimately be used for, hover over the venture.
Based on the bill's language, survey responses will not necessarily be anonymous — sparking worries among many professors and other university staff that they may be targeted, held back in their careers or even fired for their beliefs.
According to the bill's sponsor, state Sen. Ray Rodrigues, faculty will not be promoted or fired based on their responses, but, as The Tampa Bay Times reported Tuesday, the bill itself does not back up those claims.
No. Completely justified. The horrendous onethink on American campuses has to be challenged. They are 99% Democrat and 98% Woke, yet the rest of America really is not, and this gulf is bad for any country
I've got little confidence the situation will improve because of 'government surveys'. Too blunt. A softer approach, linking state funding with commitments to viewpoint diversity and freedom of speech would probably be more effective.
But it is, at least, a start
Extirpating Extreme Wokeness from Academe is an urgent need. That’s where CRT came from: the universities
If only you knew as much about US universities and CRT as you do about AI.
I think you're so embedded into ground zero of liberal California you fail to recognise CRT for the cancer it is.
CRT is a bogeyman invented by the Right to dogwhistle racism. The people pushing CRT fears are the people who claim Trump won the election and that COVID vaccines are dangerous.
It’s OK to lie low with a toothache, but to take the main job vacated by the assassins means you are fucked when the assassins finally prevail, which they surely will
For a few months as COTE? Why??
I am very disappointed in him tonight. I don’t expect much from the current upper echelons of the Tory Party, but if what we are hearing is right and this is essentially his 30 pieces of silver to stay in cabinet it is an absolutely shocking state of affairs and shows him up as an opportunist who cannot be trusted to put the country first. Deeply disappointed.
I see people are saying that Truss has already pledged loyalty to Boris? When and where did she do that? Just checked her Twitter and there's nothing there.
It was announced earlier that she "stands behind the PM". That maybe with a stiletto. We can but hope
Or metaphorically behind him while an oncoming train approaches ...
Harry Cole @MrHarryCole · 1m Britain has a new Chancellor ... its Zahawi
One of our historians will correct me if I am wrong but the shortest time as Chancellor I can think of is that of the Saj: 24 July 2019 – 13 February 2020. So by my reckoning 204 days is the target. I think he has less chance than the England test team has had of late.
Iain Macleod was Chancellor for a month, from the 20th of June 1970 until the 20th of July 1970.
Comments
There’s an Irish MP, Neale Richmond, whose tweets are one long continuous screech of hatred aimed at the British, esp because Brexit, but lots of other stuff too. Stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with him. He wades into domestic UK disputes
At the same time he clamours for a Border poll to unite Ireland, but then he ALSO complains that the sneaky British might call one early “and this would be divisive and might even be defeated”. - ie his cause would lose
So we have to organize a Border poll at our expense to break up the UK at the timing desired by southern Irish nationalists so they will win. Or we are awful. OK, got that
It’s a weird kind of entitlement. So many decades of Anglophobia and self pity and they can’t see how it appears to others
To top it all off with a squirt of emerald green cherry foam, he congratulates himself when the UK parliament invites him to speak
All the real unemployables have already sworn loyalty
I’d even change my avatar.
But is there another way, a nineth way, that could see him gone without a single vote anywhere?
What if the Conservative MP rebels (and I'll just call them that), left the party and formed their own. Call it the Bonservative Party (like Monty Python's National Bocialists).
If sufficient numbers left, formed their own party, took what local support they could with them.
It could reduce the rump Conservative party to second. Even third if sufficient numbers left the Conservatives to join the Bonservatives.
Is this viable at all? Is it a way? Would the Bonservatives be able to avoid a GE in this situation (I think not)?
https://twitter.com/NadineDorries/status/1544419615891234817
A highly transmissible Omicron subvariant, which is already dominant in Britain and the US, has sent parts of the ancient Chinese city of Xi’an, home to 13 million, into a seven-day lockdown.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/05/china-imposes-covid-lockdown-in-xian-after-handful-of-cases
Iain Martin
@iainmartin1
·
1h
Who's mad enough to accept the post of Chancellor this evening?
Boris Johnson must go
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c00a963c-fc9f-11ec-88db-ae1b6b9bdd3e?shareToken=90f38ef616ad3fa4654f782a435f8ffa
Rest of papers: End of Johnson.
@MrHarryCole
·
1m
Britain has a new Chancellor ... its Zahawi
And then he will slip back into the pool of irrelevance that he almost crawled out of. Shame.
My money is now on Sunak and Javid. Clever blokes. They have read the room.
https://twitter.com/NadineDorries/status/1544334613786624001?cxt=HHwWgoC80cSJyu4qAAAA
"These attention seekers aren't helping anything other than their own selfish egos. Disrupting access to our fabulous cultural assets and putting them at risk of damage is unacceptable."
Rather ironic really given C4 ...
The National Bocialist German Workers Party (NBGWP) somehow wins a GE in 326 seats, potentially with only limited support in the country (FPTP - ain't that a shocker). Their leader, Adenoid Hynkel, after duly kissing the Queen's hand puts his package together. They include the 'Lets round up all the Jews into Boncentration Bamps Act' and the 'We're going to invade Poland Act'.
He rocks up to Buckingham Palace to present the bills for signature, having passed Parliament with 326 votes (And maybe rammed through using the Parliament Act 1949).
Queen takes one look at them, dismisses him and orders the Army to detain him and calls a GE. Ideally banning him and his party.
You might say this isn't right, but as long as FPTP exists, there is the chance that a party barely needs 25% support to win a GE.
It’s OK to lie low with a toothache, but to take the main job vacated by the assassins means you are fucked when the assassins finally prevail, which they surely will
For a few months as COTE? Why??
That's where we're at right now.
Brady's chats won't make any difference, he doesn't know that over 50% of Tory MPs would VONC Boris anymore than Boris does and Boris has already survived one VONC
Remember BoZo's first press conference when Gove knifed him. Nads in tears, leaning on the shoulder of, Zahawi...
(Denzel Washington) "Alright, I've got them right where I want 'em."
(Chiwetel Ejiofor) "Where's that?"
(Denzel Washington) "Right behind me with my pants around my ankles, but it's a start."
Might have been even more impressive if a civil servant hadn't just removed a Prime Minister
However. The post has been filled.
But consistent with my long-held "Boris = Samson; when the hair goes, he goes" theory.
Only question is will he bring the temple down with him?
And I see that he’s still not gone. What’s more he’s going full hitler bunker and appointing people to new positions Willy-nilly. Is the man mad?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpi9kFskZFk