The deets in the migration stats are bleak as fuck
“The number of non-EU nationals arriving as dependants of those on long-term work visas has overtaken the number of main applicants, increasing from 125,000 to 219,000 for dependant applicants and from 152,000 to 204,000 for main applicants, in the YE December 2023. “
220,000 dependants. People with no jobs that now require schools, health, welfare, housing, pensions, childcare
It’s a national policy of self destruction via immigration. And we wonder why our public services are under pressure, our rivers full of shit, house ownership a dream for many, and hospitals packed to bursting, with queues snaking round the food banks
Yes it is all because of immigration and has nothing to do with the fact we have an incompetent government in hoc to special interests whose signature policy has made us poorer.
Whose wife makes a lot of money from outsourcing / inshoring expensive IT projects
HOW have the Tories so COMPLETELY lost control of immigration???
Its something which all relatively desirable countries are experiencing.
But there's certainly an establishment mentality that an ever expanding population is a good thing to keep wages down and property values rising.
Possibly linked to drivel about world influence and colonialism.
And whenever a route to immigration is opened the numbers always exceed those predicted.
From 2020:
Our short-term migration assumptions are effective for the first six years of the projections period up to the year starting mid-2026; over this timeframe, UK net migration averages 232,000 each year.
Long-term net migration (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) was provisionally estimated to be 685,000 in the year ending (YE) December 2023, compared with our updated estimate of 764,000 for the YE December 2022; while it is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend, emigration increased in 2023, while new Home Office data show visa applications have fallen in recent months....
Literally 1% of the population of the UK, arriving in a single year. This is the overwhelming Tory failure and this is why they need to DIE
I recall the heady days when people used to say that our population would now fall due to leaving the EU as nobody would want to come to Brexit Britain.
And the heady days when Brexiteers said time to take in the talent of the world instead of being restricted by the racist EU.
Some folk seem to want to leave Brexit Britain, whether they're indigenes or not is unclear.
'emigration increased in 2023'
Well I’ve just applied for my Spanish digital nomad visa. Whether I ever use it I dunno. But good to have the option - emigration
Thank you for your assistance cutting off that option for those whose jobs require a physical presence in the UK.
HOW have the Tories so COMPLETELY lost control of immigration???
Almost all of this is due to visas issued by the Home Office. It's under control. It's a choice.
I didn't realise that the number of study visas had tripled. In the news it always seems to be about work visas being tightened and the salary threshold increased, but the number of visas issued has soared.
Net migration of EU nationals is now negative, so Brexit certainly having an impact.
Corbyn is announcing he will stand today apparently, we will see what happens with Diane
Jeremy sitting with the Conservatives, where he belongs.
Is there a source for this? All I've seen were some vague comments from John McDonnell on Peston yesterday that Jez would have "lots of personal support" if he were to stand...
(I'd be surprised but not shocked if he did - I suspect that he's under a lot of pressure from others who want him to go for it, but the man himself is likely more ambivalent)
Remember those record net migration figures for 2022, the ones we reported back in Nov?👇 Turns out they were an underestimate. This morning @ONS says net migration in 2022 was actually 764k, not 745k. It also raised its estimate for the 12 months to June 2023 from 672k to 740k
As I reported this morning - there were 2 camps of thinking in Tory HQ re election dates.
One, led by Isaac Levido, wanted to go long to let economic good news sink in & get those interest rate cuts in
One, led by James Forsyth, called for a snap
Forsyth (Rishi’s bestie) won
I was going to ask why the PM was reliant on two faceless unelected no-marks rather than his cabinet, but then I thought of Shapps, Badenoch, McVey and Dowden. Fair enough.
HOW have the Tories so COMPLETELY lost control of immigration???
Almost all of this is due to visas issued by the Home Office. It's under control. It's a choice.
I didn't realise that the number of study visas had tripled. In the news it always seems to be about work visas being tightened and the salary threshold increased, but the number of visas issued has soared.
Net migration of EU nationals is now negative, so Brexit certainly having an impact.
Study visas have tripled because the economics of the University sector fell apart 2 years ago and the only thing keeping it going was overseas students paying £20,000+ a year.
Funny that two leaders on opposite sides of the Brexit referendum, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage, have both effectively declared in the years since that Britain is a bit of a provincial backwater and America is where it's really at.
2016: I AM INCREDIBLY PATRIOTIC AND HOPEFUL ABOUT THE GLOBAL FUTURE OF THIS INCREDIBLE COUNTRY THAT I LOVE 2024: pls forward my mail to this zipcode
Long-term net migration (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) was provisionally estimated to be 685,000 in the year ending (YE) December 2023, compared with our updated estimate of 764,000 for the YE December 2022; while it is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend, emigration increased in 2023, while new Home Office data show visa applications have fallen in recent months....
Literally 1% of the population of the UK, arriving in a single year. This is the overwhelming Tory failure and this is why they need to DIE
I recall the heady days when people used to say that our population would now fall due to leaving the EU as nobody would want to come to Brexit Britain.
And the heady days when Brexiteers said time to take in the talent of the world instead of being restricted by the racist EU.
Some folk seem to want to leave Brexit Britain, whether they're indigenes or not is unclear.
'emigration increased in 2023'
Well I’ve just applied for my Spanish digital nomad visa. Whether I ever use it I dunno. But good to have the option - emigration
Thank you for your assistance cutting off that option for those whose jobs require a physical presence in the UK.
You’re welcome. I’ll post one photo a day from my hacienda to keep you cheerful
https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/derek-guy-rishi-sunak-keir-starmer-getting-wrong-menswear ...The leader of the Conservative Party has been spotted wearing £95 sliders from the high-fashion streetwear label Palm Angels, £335 all-white minimalist trainers from the quiet luxury brand Common Projects, and £450 suede loafers from Italian fashion house Prada. So, the theories that his tailor, Henry Herbert in London, intentionally cuts his suits to be unusually trim – with cropped jackets, high buttoning points, razor-thin lapels, and often floodwater pants – in order to make him look taller are hard to swallow.
In most areas of dress, the Prime Minister dresses like a newly minted man who started shopping lavishly 20 years ago. It’s more likely that he has stuck with that silhouette because it’s the fashionable Thom Browne-led style he wore when he first started building a better wardrobe. Strangely, his sense of dress is more fashion-conscious than the average man but also two decades out of date, as the bleeding edge of fashion has long swung towards fuller silhouettes.
Sunak’s success in getting to No 10 proves that his expensive, high-fashion taste is not career-ending. But in a tough election year, one wonders why he doesn’t just opt for more traditional attire by visiting one of the many bespoke tailors on Savile Row, such as Henry Poole...
..If it weren’t for the fact that Starmer needs to shorten the sleeves on some of his suit jackets – so they show that requisite half inch of shirt cuff and stop swamping his hand – one might think his suits are custom-tailored. For a man who has tried to present his party as a government-in-waiting, his suits telegraph a time-tested dependability.
Where he stumbles is when he fastens the bottommost button on his suit jackets – a surprising faux pas for a man who has spent most of his life in tailored clothing. He also often wears dark worsted suits without a tie, presumably to seem more casual and relatable to voters. While that has increasingly become the norm in professional environments, Starmer would look much better in a navy blazer and wool trousers when going open collar.
Finally, he should re-evaluate his penchant for navy dress shirts, which are so dark and inky that they can pass for black. Black dress shirts – a favourite among divorced men trying to rebrand themselves as young when hitting nightclubs – rarely communicate what the wearer wishes. ..
Labour might easily be in a pickle over immigration. Will it prevent them forming the next government? Hell no.
But they need to formulate a response and policy to the current immigration situation.
Does he stop Rwanda instantly? Yes, says SKS as he wants to introduce "specialist investigators to tackle small boats" (ie presumably to stop them); yes, say all members of the metropolitan elite in unison. But what do Unison members say.
Will SKS' proposal for a highly trained team of "special investigators" convince people that he wants to do anything about illegal immigration and is not simply going to throw the doors wide open.
That is what he has to convince the red wall. All of us on here might throw our hands up as it's bleedin' obvious, but SKS has to show that he wants to Stop the Boats every bit as much as Rishi. Interested to see what Scott's new avatar will be in this light.
HOW have the Tories so COMPLETELY lost control of immigration???
Almost all of this is due to visas issued by the Home Office. It's under control. It's a choice.
I didn't realise that the number of study visas had tripled. In the news it always seems to be about work visas being tightened and the salary threshold increased, but the number of visas issued has soared.
Net migration of EU nationals is now negative, so Brexit certainly having an impact.
The policy of this government, in 2019, not a legacy from Blair or Cameron, but a new one to improve our balance of payments, was to attract an extra 500k international students per year, mostly postgraduate, and to do so from countries where people marry and start families at a much younger age than in Europe.
👀 Hard to overstate how dramatic the shift in UK immigration has been since the post-Brexit rules came into force. Non-EU immigration is now higher than ever before, running at well over a million a year. EU immigration lower than it’s been for decades. Figs just in from @ONS 👇
As I reported this morning - there were 2 camps of thinking in Tory HQ re election dates.
One, led by Isaac Levido, wanted to go long to let economic good news sink in & get those interest rate cuts in
One, led by James Forsyth, called for a snap
Forsyth (Rishi’s bestie) won
But what was the logic of a snap. I have only seen two reasons put forward:
a) Internal conflict in the Tory party that had to be stopped before everything collapsed.
b) To snooker Reform selecting candidates by a surprise election
I have only seen b) from @Casino_Royale. The argument is logical, but still seems unlikely. a) seems more likely or it is just a complete misjudgement. If going early 2 May seemed more sensible.
As I reported this morning - there were 2 camps of thinking in Tory HQ re election dates.
One, led by Isaac Levido, wanted to go long to let economic good news sink in & get those interest rate cuts in
One, led by James Forsyth, called for a snap
Forsyth (Rishi’s bestie) won
But what was the logic of a snap. I have only seen two reasons put forward:
a) Internal conflict in the Tory party that had to be stopped before everything collapsed.
b) To snooker Reform selecting candidates by a surprise election
I have only seen b) from @Casino_Royale. The argument is logical, but still seems unlikely. a) seems more likely or it is just a complete misjudgement. If going early 2 May seemed more sensible.
C) they have just had enough, more shit is coming down the pipe, leave it to somebody else to sort out.
https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/derek-guy-rishi-sunak-keir-starmer-getting-wrong-menswear ...The leader of the Conservative Party has been spotted wearing £95 sliders from the high-fashion streetwear label Palm Angels, £335 all-white minimalist trainers from the quiet luxury brand Common Projects, and £450 suede loafers from Italian fashion house Prada. So, the theories that his tailor, Henry Herbert in London, intentionally cuts his suits to be unusually trim – with cropped jackets, high buttoning points, razor-thin lapels, and often floodwater pants – in order to make him look taller are hard to swallow.
In most areas of dress, the Prime Minister dresses like a newly minted man who started shopping lavishly 20 years ago. It’s more likely that he has stuck with that silhouette because it’s the fashionable Thom Browne-led style he wore when he first started building a better wardrobe. Strangely, his sense of dress is more fashion-conscious than the average man but also two decades out of date, as the bleeding edge of fashion has long swung towards fuller silhouettes.
Sunak’s success in getting to No 10 proves that his expensive, high-fashion taste is not career-ending. But in a tough election year, one wonders why he doesn’t just opt for more traditional attire by visiting one of the many bespoke tailors on Savile Row, such as Henry Poole...
..If it weren’t for the fact that Starmer needs to shorten the sleeves on some of his suit jackets – so they show that requisite half inch of shirt cuff and stop swamping his hand – one might think his suits are custom-tailored. For a man who has tried to present his party as a government-in-waiting, his suits telegraph a time-tested dependability.
Where he stumbles is when he fastens the bottommost button on his suit jackets – a surprising faux pas for a man who has spent most of his life in tailored clothing. He also often wears dark worsted suits without a tie, presumably to seem more casual and relatable to voters. While that has increasingly become the norm in professional environments, Starmer would look much better in a navy blazer and wool trousers when going open collar.
Finally, he should re-evaluate his penchant for navy dress shirts, which are so dark and inky that they can pass for black. Black dress shirts – a favourite among divorced men trying to rebrand themselves as young when hitting nightclubs – rarely communicate what the wearer wishes. ..
Labour might easily be in a pickle over immigration. Will it prevent them forming the next government? Hell no.
But they need to formulate a response and policy to the current immigration situation.
Does he stop Rwanda instantly? Yes, says SKS as he wants to introduce "specialist investigators to tackle small boats" (ie presumably to stop them); yes, say all members of the metropolitan elite in unison. But what do Unison members say.
Will SKS' proposal for a highly trained team of "special investigators" convince people that he wants to do anything about illegal immigration and is not simply going to throw the doors wide open.
That is what he has to convince the red wall. All of us on here might throw our hands up as it's bleedin' obvious, but SKS has to show that he wants to Stop the Boats every bit as much as Rishi. Interested to see what Scott's new avatar will be in this light.
Indeed. And his dilemma will only become more acute as EU countries adopt Rwanda-like policies
My bet is that he will reluctantly be forced to copy this, but he will desperately rebrand it as something entirely new
re post office, I'm not as big a fan of Paula's outfit today as yesterday, but she has come in with a second wind and is calmer than before. You could see her yesterday by the end, when she realised she wasn't going to get any sympathy or quarter from JB that she had to regulate her emotions and compose herself and no one was going to help her do this. Some deep breaths, calming herself down, and onwards. And it seems that she is approaching today with that in mind.
Oh and 22,000 watching vs the odd hundred yesterday.
The "wally with no brolly" motif is, I think, instructive. Obviously referencing Steve McClaren's ill-fated time as England manager, if he'd stood there holding a brolly, it would have been "the wally with the brolly mk II". If he'd had someone hold one for him, he'd have looked like some imperial figure with a lackey. If he'd delayed to wait for the rain to stop, he'd have been "afraid of a bit of weather". A gazebo flapping around him would have been criticised (and probably noisy with the rain). And so on.
When you've lost the public, you can't win no matter what you do. That's where we're at with Sunak and the Conservatives in general.
Maybe something radical, like find a room ?
It’s always better to get a room than to be outside!
As I reported this morning - there were 2 camps of thinking in Tory HQ re election dates.
One, led by Isaac Levido, wanted to go long to let economic good news sink in & get those interest rate cuts in
One, led by James Forsyth, called for a snap
Forsyth (Rishi’s bestie) won
But what was the logic of a snap. I have only seen two reasons put forward:
a) Internal conflict in the Tory party that had to be stopped before everything collapsed.
b) To snooker Reform selecting candidates by a surprise election
I have only seen b) from @Casino_Royale. The argument is logical, but still seems unlikely. a) seems more likely or it is just a complete misjudgement. If going early 2 May seemed more sensible.
C) they have just had enough, more shit is coming down the pipe, leave it to somebody else to sort out.
C part ii, the person making the decision is a dollar billionaire and doesn't care about those of his colleagues who could have done with another £50-60k for mostly being on holiday for whitsun, summer, conferences and then the election.
As I reported this morning - there were 2 camps of thinking in Tory HQ re election dates.
One, led by Isaac Levido, wanted to go long to let economic good news sink in & get those interest rate cuts in
One, led by James Forsyth, called for a snap
Forsyth (Rishi’s bestie) won
But what was the logic of a snap. I have only seen two reasons put forward:
a) Internal conflict in the Tory party that had to be stopped before everything collapsed.
b) To snooker Reform selecting candidates by a surprise election
I have only seen b) from @Casino_Royale. The argument is logical, but still seems unlikely. a) seems more likely or it is just a complete misjudgement. If going early 2 May seemed more sensible.
C) they have just had enough, more shit is coming down the pipe, leave it to somebody else to sort out.
As I reported this morning - there were 2 camps of thinking in Tory HQ re election dates.
One, led by Isaac Levido, wanted to go long to let economic good news sink in & get those interest rate cuts in
One, led by James Forsyth, called for a snap
Forsyth (Rishi’s bestie) won
But what was the logic of a snap. I have only seen two reasons put forward:
a) Internal conflict in the Tory party that had to be stopped before everything collapsed.
b) To snooker Reform selecting candidates by a surprise election
I have only seen b) from @Casino_Royale. The argument is logical, but still seems unlikely. a) seems more likely or it is just a complete misjudgement. If going early 2 May seemed more sensible.
As Dan Hodges put it, things were only going to get worse. There is no economic good news on the horizon. The 'best' date was always yesterday.
The other point made emphatically this morning is Richi can now claim Rwanda would have worked before the proof that it doesn't became unavoidable
HOW have the Tories so COMPLETELY lost control of immigration???
Almost all of this is due to visas issued by the Home Office. It's under control. It's a choice.
I didn't realise that the number of study visas had tripled. In the news it always seems to be about work visas being tightened and the salary threshold increased, but the number of visas issued has soared.
Net migration of EU nationals is now negative, so Brexit certainly having an impact.
Study visas have tripled because the economics of the University sector fell apart 2 years ago and the only thing keeping it going was overseas students paying £20,000+ a year.
Ah, of course. There's been 25% inflation and domestic fees were frozen.
The deets in the migration stats are bleak as fuck
“The number of non-EU nationals arriving as dependants of those on long-term work visas has overtaken the number of main applicants, increasing from 125,000 to 219,000 for dependant applicants and from 152,000 to 204,000 for main applicants, in the YE December 2023. “
220,000 dependants. People with no jobs that now require schools, health, welfare, housing, pensions, childcare
It’s a national policy of self destruction via immigration. And we wonder why our public services are under pressure, our rivers full of shit, house ownership a dream for many, and hospitals packed to bursting, with queues snaking round the food banks
Yes it is all because of immigration and has nothing to do with the fact we have an incompetent government in hoc to special interests whose signature policy has made us poorer.
those special interest being universities, multi nationals and the Bank of England ?
Tories' inability to own their party's failures is a sight to behold.
Right, so you dont know who these vested interest are ?
The elderly (shovel money to pensions instead of investment, don't build new houses), SE England NIMBYs (don't build new houses or infrastructure, gold plate HS2 to the extent that it's unaffordable), the construction industry (don't address land banking), the ultra-wealthy (no focus on policies that help the majority of the population, Brexit in pursuit of Singapore on Thames fantasies, no taxes on wealth), Tory donors (special channel to give them Covid contracts at the public expense). Off the top of my head.
https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/derek-guy-rishi-sunak-keir-starmer-getting-wrong-menswear ...The leader of the Conservative Party has been spotted wearing £95 sliders from the high-fashion streetwear label Palm Angels, £335 all-white minimalist trainers from the quiet luxury brand Common Projects, and £450 suede loafers from Italian fashion house Prada. So, the theories that his tailor, Henry Herbert in London, intentionally cuts his suits to be unusually trim – with cropped jackets, high buttoning points, razor-thin lapels, and often floodwater pants – in order to make him look taller are hard to swallow.
In most areas of dress, the Prime Minister dresses like a newly minted man who started shopping lavishly 20 years ago. It’s more likely that he has stuck with that silhouette because it’s the fashionable Thom Browne-led style he wore when he first started building a better wardrobe. Strangely, his sense of dress is more fashion-conscious than the average man but also two decades out of date, as the bleeding edge of fashion has long swung towards fuller silhouettes.
Sunak’s success in getting to No 10 proves that his expensive, high-fashion taste is not career-ending. But in a tough election year, one wonders why he doesn’t just opt for more traditional attire by visiting one of the many bespoke tailors on Savile Row, such as Henry Poole...
..If it weren’t for the fact that Starmer needs to shorten the sleeves on some of his suit jackets – so they show that requisite half inch of shirt cuff and stop swamping his hand – one might think his suits are custom-tailored. For a man who has tried to present his party as a government-in-waiting, his suits telegraph a time-tested dependability.
Where he stumbles is when he fastens the bottommost button on his suit jackets – a surprising faux pas for a man who has spent most of his life in tailored clothing. He also often wears dark worsted suits without a tie, presumably to seem more casual and relatable to voters. While that has increasingly become the norm in professional environments, Starmer would look much better in a navy blazer and wool trousers when going open collar.
Finally, he should re-evaluate his penchant for navy dress shirts, which are so dark and inky that they can pass for black. Black dress shirts – a favourite among divorced men trying to rebrand themselves as young when hitting nightclubs – rarely communicate what the wearer wishes. ..
Sunak looks the sort of guy whose mum dresses him till his wife takes over the mum role. His wife is a "fashion designer." It's possible she uses him to try out ideas.
Labour might easily be in a pickle over immigration. Will it prevent them forming the next government? Hell no.
But they need to formulate a response and policy to the current immigration situation.
Does he stop Rwanda instantly? Yes, says SKS as he wants to introduce "specialist investigators to tackle small boats" (ie presumably to stop them); yes, say all members of the metropolitan elite in unison. But what do Unison members say.
Will SKS' proposal for a highly trained team of "special investigators" convince people that he wants to do anything about illegal immigration and is not simply going to throw the doors wide open.
That is what he has to convince the red wall. All of us on here might throw our hands up as it's bleedin' obvious, but SKS has to show that he wants to Stop the Boats every bit as much as Rishi. Interested to see what Scott's new avatar will be in this light.
Labour are, in principle, open door, free movement. So they will do what other governments have done. Say they are appalled at the high level of migration and they will do something about it.
Nothing will happen apart from migration stays high.
The deets in the migration stats are bleak as fuck
“The number of non-EU nationals arriving as dependants of those on long-term work visas has overtaken the number of main applicants, increasing from 125,000 to 219,000 for dependant applicants and from 152,000 to 204,000 for main applicants, in the YE December 2023. “
220,000 dependants. People with no jobs that now require schools, health, welfare, housing, pensions, childcare
It’s a national policy of self destruction via immigration. And we wonder why our public services are under pressure, our rivers full of shit, house ownership a dream for many, and hospitals packed to bursting, with queues snaking round the food banks
Yes it is all because of immigration and has nothing to do with the fact we have an incompetent government in hoc to special interests whose signature policy has made us poorer.
those special interest being universities, multi nationals and the Bank of England ?
Tories' inability to own their party's failures is a sight to behold.
Right, so you dont know who these vested interest are ?
You're fighting a fine rearguard action Alanbrooke.....
But I thought the usual procedure was to send the cannon fodder out first?
Labour might easily be in a pickle over immigration. Will it prevent them forming the next government? Hell no.
But they need to formulate a response and policy to the current immigration situation.
Does he stop Rwanda instantly? Yes, says SKS as he wants to introduce "specialist investigators to tackle small boats" (ie presumably to stop them); yes, say all members of the metropolitan elite in unison. But what do Unison members say.
Will SKS' proposal for a highly trained team of "special investigators" convince people that he wants to do anything about illegal immigration and is not simply going to throw the doors wide open.
That is what he has to convince the red wall. All of us on here might throw our hands up as it's bleedin' obvious, but SKS has to show that he wants to Stop the Boats every bit as much as Rishi. Interested to see what Scott's new avatar will be in this light.
Indeed. And his dilemma will only become more acute as EU countries adopt Rwanda-like policies
My bet is that he will reluctantly be forced to copy this, but he will desperately rebrand it as something entirely new
He needs a hardcore deterrent. All immigrants to be compelled to have afternoon tea with Wes Streeting, something like that
As I reported this morning - there were 2 camps of thinking in Tory HQ re election dates.
One, led by Isaac Levido, wanted to go long to let economic good news sink in & get those interest rate cuts in
One, led by James Forsyth, called for a snap
Forsyth (Rishi’s bestie) won
But what was the logic of a snap. I have only seen two reasons put forward:
a) Internal conflict in the Tory party that had to be stopped before everything collapsed.
b) To snooker Reform selecting candidates by a surprise election
I have only seen b) from @Casino_Royale. The argument is logical, but still seems unlikely. a) seems more likely or it is just a complete misjudgement. If going early 2 May seemed more sensible.
c) things are going to get worse (e.g. poor economic and migration figures) between now and the end of the year.
d) Labour and the other parties may not be quite ready (but then, neither are the Tories...)
The SNP have continually shouted for a General Election. Now they have one, they are still not happy about it…
It is in the Scottish school holidays. It’s being held on a day, ending in Y. It’s bin day. It might be raining. It’s the Euros. It’s the day Krankie comes out.
The "wally with no brolly" motif is, I think, instructive. Obviously referencing Steve McClaren's ill-fated time as England manager, if he'd stood there holding a brolly, it would have been "the wally with the brolly mk II". If he'd had someone hold one for him, he'd have looked like some imperial figure with a lackey. If he'd delayed to wait for the rain to stop, he'd have been "afraid of a bit of weather". A gazebo flapping around him would have been criticised (and probably noisy with the rain). And so on.
When you've lost the public, you can't win no matter what you do. That's where we're at with Sunak and the Conservatives in general.
Maybe something radical, like find a room ?
Thereby losing the optics of talking in front of the glossy black door. Anyway, I'm not saying that some options were better or worse, I'm just pointing out that when you get to a particular space you get hammered no matter what you do.
https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/derek-guy-rishi-sunak-keir-starmer-getting-wrong-menswear ...The leader of the Conservative Party has been spotted wearing £95 sliders from the high-fashion streetwear label Palm Angels, £335 all-white minimalist trainers from the quiet luxury brand Common Projects, and £450 suede loafers from Italian fashion house Prada. So, the theories that his tailor, Henry Herbert in London, intentionally cuts his suits to be unusually trim – with cropped jackets, high buttoning points, razor-thin lapels, and often floodwater pants – in order to make him look taller are hard to swallow.
In most areas of dress, the Prime Minister dresses like a newly minted man who started shopping lavishly 20 years ago. It’s more likely that he has stuck with that silhouette because it’s the fashionable Thom Browne-led style he wore when he first started building a better wardrobe. Strangely, his sense of dress is more fashion-conscious than the average man but also two decades out of date, as the bleeding edge of fashion has long swung towards fuller silhouettes.
Sunak’s success in getting to No 10 proves that his expensive, high-fashion taste is not career-ending. But in a tough election year, one wonders why he doesn’t just opt for more traditional attire by visiting one of the many bespoke tailors on Savile Row, such as Henry Poole...
..If it weren’t for the fact that Starmer needs to shorten the sleeves on some of his suit jackets – so they show that requisite half inch of shirt cuff and stop swamping his hand – one might think his suits are custom-tailored. For a man who has tried to present his party as a government-in-waiting, his suits telegraph a time-tested dependability.
Where he stumbles is when he fastens the bottommost button on his suit jackets – a surprising faux pas for a man who has spent most of his life in tailored clothing. He also often wears dark worsted suits without a tie, presumably to seem more casual and relatable to voters. While that has increasingly become the norm in professional environments, Starmer would look much better in a navy blazer and wool trousers when going open collar.
Finally, he should re-evaluate his penchant for navy dress shirts, which are so dark and inky that they can pass for black. Black dress shirts – a favourite among divorced men trying to rebrand themselves as young when hitting nightclubs – rarely communicate what the wearer wishes. ..
https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/derek-guy-rishi-sunak-keir-starmer-getting-wrong-menswear ...The leader of the Conservative Party has been spotted wearing £95 sliders from the high-fashion streetwear label Palm Angels, £335 all-white minimalist trainers from the quiet luxury brand Common Projects, and £450 suede loafers from Italian fashion house Prada. So, the theories that his tailor, Henry Herbert in London, intentionally cuts his suits to be unusually trim – with cropped jackets, high buttoning points, razor-thin lapels, and often floodwater pants – in order to make him look taller are hard to swallow.
In most areas of dress, the Prime Minister dresses like a newly minted man who started shopping lavishly 20 years ago. It’s more likely that he has stuck with that silhouette because it’s the fashionable Thom Browne-led style he wore when he first started building a better wardrobe. Strangely, his sense of dress is more fashion-conscious than the average man but also two decades out of date, as the bleeding edge of fashion has long swung towards fuller silhouettes.
Sunak’s success in getting to No 10 proves that his expensive, high-fashion taste is not career-ending. But in a tough election year, one wonders why he doesn’t just opt for more traditional attire by visiting one of the many bespoke tailors on Savile Row, such as Henry Poole...
..If it weren’t for the fact that Starmer needs to shorten the sleeves on some of his suit jackets – so they show that requisite half inch of shirt cuff and stop swamping his hand – one might think his suits are custom-tailored. For a man who has tried to present his party as a government-in-waiting, his suits telegraph a time-tested dependability.
Where he stumbles is when he fastens the bottommost button on his suit jackets – a surprising faux pas for a man who has spent most of his life in tailored clothing. He also often wears dark worsted suits without a tie, presumably to seem more casual and relatable to voters. While that has increasingly become the norm in professional environments, Starmer would look much better in a navy blazer and wool trousers when going open collar.
Finally, he should re-evaluate his penchant for navy dress shirts, which are so dark and inky that they can pass for black. Black dress shirts – a favourite among divorced men trying to rebrand themselves as young when hitting nightclubs – rarely communicate what the wearer wishes. ..
Sunak looks the sort of guy whose mum dresses him till his wife takes over the mum role. His wife is a "fashion designer." It's possible she uses him to try out ideas.
The SNP have continually shouted for a General Election. Now they have one, they are still not happy about it…
It is in the Scottish school holidays. It’s being held on a day, ending in Y. It’s bin day. It might be raining. It’s the Euros. It’s the day Krankie comes out.
Do the SNP voters disproportionately go on holiday or something? Is it all caravanning?
Long-term net migration (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) was provisionally estimated to be 685,000 in the year ending (YE) December 2023, compared with our updated estimate of 764,000 for the YE December 2022; while it is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend, emigration increased in 2023, while new Home Office data show visa applications have fallen in recent months....
Literally 1% of the population of the UK, arriving in a single year. This is the overwhelming Tory failure and this is why they need to DIE
I recall the heady days when people used to say that our population would now fall due to leaving the EU as nobody would want to come to Brexit Britain.
And the heady days when Brexiteers said time to take in the talent of the world instead of being restricted by the racist EU.
Some folk seem to want to leave Brexit Britain, whether they're indigenes or not is unclear.
'emigration increased in 2023'
Well I’ve just applied for my Spanish digital nomad visa. Whether I ever use it I dunno. But good to have the option - emigration
Thank you for your assistance cutting off that option for those whose jobs require a physical presence in the UK.
Does yours? I Bateman cartooned myself the other day by turning up to hear a judgement being given and the court contained the usher, me, and a judge with a very grumpy What is this physical person doing in my court? stare for me. This was 6 months back, not peak COVID.
The SNP have continually shouted for a General Election. Now they have one, they are still not happy about it…
It is in the Scottish school holidays. It’s being held on a day, ending in Y. It’s bin day. It might be raining. It’s the Euros. It’s the day Krankie comes out.
Now what's that quote from PG Wodehouse that always makes Scots smile?
The deets in the migration stats are bleak as fuck
“The number of non-EU nationals arriving as dependants of those on long-term work visas has overtaken the number of main applicants, increasing from 125,000 to 219,000 for dependant applicants and from 152,000 to 204,000 for main applicants, in the YE December 2023. “
220,000 dependants. People with no jobs that now require schools, health, welfare, housing, pensions, childcare
It’s a national policy of self destruction via immigration. And we wonder why our public services are under pressure, our rivers full of shit, house ownership a dream for many, and hospitals packed to bursting, with queues snaking round the food banks
Yes it is all because of immigration and has nothing to do with the fact we have an incompetent government in hoc to special interests whose signature policy has made us poorer.
those special interest being universities, multi nationals and the Bank of England ?
Tories' inability to own their party's failures is a sight to behold.
Right, so you dont know who these vested interest are ?
The elderly (shovel money to pensions instead of investment, don't build new houses), SE England NIMBYs (don't build new houses or infrastructure, gold plate HS2 to the extent that it's unaffordable), the construction industry (don't address land banking), the ultra-wealthy (no focus on policies that help the majority of the population, Brexit in pursuit of Singapore on Thames fantasies, no taxes on wealth), Tory donors (special channel to give them Covid contracts at the public expense). Off the top of my head.
Starmer will do little to address this and simply swap out one set of special interest for another - civil servants, trade unions, NHS. Likewise the simplistic notion that people with money vote conservative means nothing. There will be as many high earners bribing Labour as there are high earners bribing the Conservatives.
Labour might easily be in a pickle over immigration. Will it prevent them forming the next government? Hell no.
But they need to formulate a response and policy to the current immigration situation.
Does he stop Rwanda instantly? Yes, says SKS as he wants to introduce "specialist investigators to tackle small boats" (ie presumably to stop them); yes, say all members of the metropolitan elite in unison. But what do Unison members say.
Will SKS' proposal for a highly trained team of "special investigators" convince people that he wants to do anything about illegal immigration and is not simply going to throw the doors wide open.
That is what he has to convince the red wall. All of us on here might throw our hands up as it's bleedin' obvious, but SKS has to show that he wants to Stop the Boats every bit as much as Rishi. Interested to see what Scott's new avatar will be in this light.
Indeed. And his dilemma will only become more acute as EU countries adopt Rwanda-like policies
My bet is that he will reluctantly be forced to copy this, but he will desperately rebrand it as something entirely new
He needs a hardcore deterrent. All immigrants to be compelled to have afternoon tea with Wes Streeting, something like that
Unfortunately Wes Streeting is extremely entertaining company.
https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/derek-guy-rishi-sunak-keir-starmer-getting-wrong-menswear ...The leader of the Conservative Party has been spotted wearing £95 sliders from the high-fashion streetwear label Palm Angels, £335 all-white minimalist trainers from the quiet luxury brand Common Projects, and £450 suede loafers from Italian fashion house Prada. So, the theories that his tailor, Henry Herbert in London, intentionally cuts his suits to be unusually trim – with cropped jackets, high buttoning points, razor-thin lapels, and often floodwater pants – in order to make him look taller are hard to swallow.
In most areas of dress, the Prime Minister dresses like a newly minted man who started shopping lavishly 20 years ago. It’s more likely that he has stuck with that silhouette because it’s the fashionable Thom Browne-led style he wore when he first started building a better wardrobe. Strangely, his sense of dress is more fashion-conscious than the average man but also two decades out of date, as the bleeding edge of fashion has long swung towards fuller silhouettes.
Sunak’s success in getting to No 10 proves that his expensive, high-fashion taste is not career-ending. But in a tough election year, one wonders why he doesn’t just opt for more traditional attire by visiting one of the many bespoke tailors on Savile Row, such as Henry Poole...
..If it weren’t for the fact that Starmer needs to shorten the sleeves on some of his suit jackets – so they show that requisite half inch of shirt cuff and stop swamping his hand – one might think his suits are custom-tailored. For a man who has tried to present his party as a government-in-waiting, his suits telegraph a time-tested dependability.
Where he stumbles is when he fastens the bottommost button on his suit jackets – a surprising faux pas for a man who has spent most of his life in tailored clothing. He also often wears dark worsted suits without a tie, presumably to seem more casual and relatable to voters. While that has increasingly become the norm in professional environments, Starmer would look much better in a navy blazer and wool trousers when going open collar.
Finally, he should re-evaluate his penchant for navy dress shirts, which are so dark and inky that they can pass for black. Black dress shirts – a favourite among divorced men trying to rebrand themselves as young when hitting nightclubs – rarely communicate what the wearer wishes. ..
Sunak looks the sort of guy whose mum dresses him till his wife takes over the mum role. His wife is a "fashion designer." It's possible she uses him to try out ideas.
Both leaders look fine in terms of presentation .
Usually yes, but Sunak did look a bit sunken yesterday.
As I reported this morning - there were 2 camps of thinking in Tory HQ re election dates.
One, led by Isaac Levido, wanted to go long to let economic good news sink in & get those interest rate cuts in
One, led by James Forsyth, called for a snap
Forsyth (Rishi’s bestie) won
But what was the logic of a snap. I have only seen two reasons put forward:
a) Internal conflict in the Tory party that had to be stopped before everything collapsed.
b) To snooker Reform selecting candidates by a surprise election
I have only seen b) from @Casino_Royale. The argument is logical, but still seems unlikely. a) seems more likely or it is just a complete misjudgement. If going early 2 May seemed more sensible.
C) they have just had enough, more shit is coming down the pipe, leave it to somebody else to sort out.
C part ii, the person making the decision is a dollar billionaire and doesn't care about those of his colleagues who could have done with another £50-60k for mostly being on holiday for whitsun, summer, conferences and then the election.
TBH, if your motivation for being an MP is the salary and you don't have a back-up plan, I struggle to have a lot of sympathy. An MPs salary isn't exactly massive in this day and ago. Most MPs find it fairly easy to spin their time as a politician into a much better paid job, so you could argue that it isn't £50k lost, they might actually be gaining by getting back into the workforce earlier.
https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/derek-guy-rishi-sunak-keir-starmer-getting-wrong-menswear ...The leader of the Conservative Party has been spotted wearing £95 sliders from the high-fashion streetwear label Palm Angels, £335 all-white minimalist trainers from the quiet luxury brand Common Projects, and £450 suede loafers from Italian fashion house Prada. So, the theories that his tailor, Henry Herbert in London, intentionally cuts his suits to be unusually trim – with cropped jackets, high buttoning points, razor-thin lapels, and often floodwater pants – in order to make him look taller are hard to swallow.
In most areas of dress, the Prime Minister dresses like a newly minted man who started shopping lavishly 20 years ago. It’s more likely that he has stuck with that silhouette because it’s the fashionable Thom Browne-led style he wore when he first started building a better wardrobe. Strangely, his sense of dress is more fashion-conscious than the average man but also two decades out of date, as the bleeding edge of fashion has long swung towards fuller silhouettes.
Sunak’s success in getting to No 10 proves that his expensive, high-fashion taste is not career-ending. But in a tough election year, one wonders why he doesn’t just opt for more traditional attire by visiting one of the many bespoke tailors on Savile Row, such as Henry Poole...
..If it weren’t for the fact that Starmer needs to shorten the sleeves on some of his suit jackets – so they show that requisite half inch of shirt cuff and stop swamping his hand – one might think his suits are custom-tailored. For a man who has tried to present his party as a government-in-waiting, his suits telegraph a time-tested dependability.
Where he stumbles is when he fastens the bottommost button on his suit jackets – a surprising faux pas for a man who has spent most of his life in tailored clothing. He also often wears dark worsted suits without a tie, presumably to seem more casual and relatable to voters. While that has increasingly become the norm in professional environments, Starmer would look much better in a navy blazer and wool trousers when going open collar.
Finally, he should re-evaluate his penchant for navy dress shirts, which are so dark and inky that they can pass for black. Black dress shirts – a favourite among divorced men trying to rebrand themselves as young when hitting nightclubs – rarely communicate what the wearer wishes. ..
Sunak looks the sort of guy whose mum dresses him till his wife takes over the mum role. His wife is a "fashion designer." It's possible she uses him to try out ideas.
The deets in the migration stats are bleak as fuck
“The number of non-EU nationals arriving as dependants of those on long-term work visas has overtaken the number of main applicants, increasing from 125,000 to 219,000 for dependant applicants and from 152,000 to 204,000 for main applicants, in the YE December 2023. “
220,000 dependants. People with no jobs that now require schools, health, welfare, housing, pensions, childcare
It’s a national policy of self destruction via immigration. And we wonder why our public services are under pressure, our rivers full of shit, house ownership a dream for many, and hospitals packed to bursting, with queues snaking round the food banks
Yes it is all because of immigration and has nothing to do with the fact we have an incompetent government in hoc to special interests whose signature policy has made us poorer.
those special interest being universities, multi nationals and the Bank of England ?
Tories' inability to own their party's failures is a sight to behold.
Right, so you dont know who these vested interest are ?
The elderly (shovel money to pensions instead of investment, don't build new houses), SE England NIMBYs (don't build new houses or infrastructure, gold plate HS2 to the extent that it's unaffordable), the construction industry (don't address land banking), the ultra-wealthy (no focus on policies that help the majority of the population, Brexit in pursuit of Singapore on Thames fantasies, no taxes on wealth), Tory donors (special channel to give them Covid contracts at the public expense). Off the top of my head.
Starmer will do little to address this and simply swap out one set of special interest for another - civil servants, trade unions, NHS. Likewise the simplistic notion that people with money vote conservative means nothing. There will be as many high earners bribing Labour as there are high earners bribing the Conservatives.
Maybe, but even the replacement of one set of special interests with another would be a positive development.
The "wally with no brolly" motif is, I think, instructive. Obviously referencing Steve McClaren's ill-fated time as England manager, if he'd stood there holding a brolly, it would have been "the wally with the brolly mk II". If he'd had someone hold one for him, he'd have looked like some imperial figure with a lackey. If he'd delayed to wait for the rain to stop, he'd have been "afraid of a bit of weather". A gazebo flapping around him would have been criticised (and probably noisy with the rain). And so on.
When you've lost the public, you can't win no matter what you do. That's where we're at with Sunak and the Conservatives in general.
Maybe something radical, like find a room ?
Thereby losing the optics of talking in front of the glossy black door. Anyway, I'm not saying that some options were better or worse, I'm just pointing out that when you get to a particular space you get hammered no matter what you do.
Long-term net migration (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) was provisionally estimated to be 685,000 in the year ending (YE) December 2023, compared with our updated estimate of 764,000 for the YE December 2022; while it is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend, emigration increased in 2023, while new Home Office data show visa applications have fallen in recent months....
Literally 1% of the population of the UK, arriving in a single year. This is the overwhelming Tory failure and this is why they need to DIE
I recall the heady days when people used to say that our population would now fall due to leaving the EU as nobody would want to come to Brexit Britain.
And the heady days when Brexiteers said time to take in the talent of the world instead of being restricted by the racist EU.
Some folk seem to want to leave Brexit Britain, whether they're indigenes or not is unclear.
'emigration increased in 2023'
Well I’ve just applied for my Spanish digital nomad visa. Whether I ever use it I dunno. But good to have the option - emigration
Thank you for your assistance cutting off that option for those whose jobs require a physical presence in the UK.
If their jobs require a physical presence in the UK then how can they emigrate ?
If - and it’s a big if - Sunak loses, surely that’s the end of Isaac Levido being perceived as some strategic genius. He got lucky in 2019 and nothing since has made me believe he actually knows what he’s doing.
Lynton Crosby (who gave us Levido) was widely hailed as an electoral savant after such failures as Michael Howard's Are you thinking what we're thinking? and Theresa May's strong and stable not to mention turning Cameron's 2010 poll lead into a hung parliament.
As I reported this morning - there were 2 camps of thinking in Tory HQ re election dates.
One, led by Isaac Levido, wanted to go long to let economic good news sink in & get those interest rate cuts in
One, led by James Forsyth, called for a snap
Forsyth (Rishi’s bestie) won
But what was the logic of a snap. I have only seen two reasons put forward:
a) Internal conflict in the Tory party that had to be stopped before everything collapsed.
b) To snooker Reform selecting candidates by a surprise election
I have only seen b) from @Casino_Royale. The argument is logical, but still seems unlikely. a) seems more likely or it is just a complete misjudgement. If going early 2 May seemed more sensible.
The thinking behind waiting was, I believe, that something would turn up to make things better. Looks like nothing is going to come along to make things better, indeed things look like they're going to get worse, so there was no logic behind waiting any longer.
HOW have the Tories so COMPLETELY lost control of immigration???
Almost all of this is due to visas issued by the Home Office. It's under control. It's a choice.
I didn't realise that the number of study visas had tripled. In the news it always seems to be about work visas being tightened and the salary threshold increased, but the number of visas issued has soared.
Net migration of EU nationals is now negative, so Brexit certainly having an impact.
Which is why pay and opportunities in many trades has improved.
Nigerian nurses and Chinese students affect different people to Polish plumbers.
re post office, I'm not as big a fan of Paula's outfit today as yesterday, but she has come in with a second wind and is calmer than before. You could see her yesterday by the end, when she realised she wasn't going to get any sympathy or quarter from JB that she had to regulate her emotions and compose herself and no one was going to help her do this. Some deep breaths, calming herself down, and onwards. And it seems that she is approaching today with that in mind.
Oh and 22,000 watching vs the odd hundred yesterday.
To be honest, I’ve a little sympathy for her. She’s watched the Inquiry develop, knowing she was going to have to give evidence, and seen her subordinates twisting in the wind. She didn’t, though, do a runner or “fall sick”; she turned up and faced the music. I suspect the grilling she’s getting from Beer isn’t as tough as that which she’s going to get from one of the sub-postmasters representatives. And she must know there’s an outside (at least) chance of a prosecution after this.
Long-term net migration (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) was provisionally estimated to be 685,000 in the year ending (YE) December 2023, compared with our updated estimate of 764,000 for the YE December 2022; while it is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend, emigration increased in 2023, while new Home Office data show visa applications have fallen in recent months....
Literally 1% of the population of the UK, arriving in a single year. This is the overwhelming Tory failure and this is why they need to DIE
I recall the heady days when people used to say that our population would now fall due to leaving the EU as nobody would want to come to Brexit Britain.
And the heady days when Brexiteers said time to take in the talent of the world instead of being restricted by the racist EU.
Some folk seem to want to leave Brexit Britain, whether they're indigenes or not is unclear.
'emigration increased in 2023'
Well I’ve just applied for my Spanish digital nomad visa. Whether I ever use it I dunno. But good to have the option - emigration
Thank you for your assistance cutting off that option for those whose jobs require a physical presence in the UK.
You’re welcome. I’ll post one photo a day from my hacienda to keep you cheerful
I might see you there. I am not one of them. But I tend to think about my fellow countrymen and women when making electoral choices - at least sometimes anyway. I'm not pretending I'm a complete saint.
The "wally with no brolly" motif is, I think, instructive. Obviously referencing Steve McClaren's ill-fated time as England manager, if he'd stood there holding a brolly, it would have been "the wally with the brolly mk II". If he'd had someone hold one for him, he'd have looked like some imperial figure with a lackey. If he'd delayed to wait for the rain to stop, he'd have been "afraid of a bit of weather". A gazebo flapping around him would have been criticised (and probably noisy with the rain). And so on.
When you've lost the public, you can't win no matter what you do. That's where we're at with Sunak and the Conservatives in general.
Maybe something radical, like find a room ?
Thereby losing the optics of talking in front of the glossy black door. Anyway, I'm not saying that some options were better or worse, I'm just pointing out that when you get to a particular space you get hammered no matter what you do.
The deets in the migration stats are bleak as fuck
“The number of non-EU nationals arriving as dependants of those on long-term work visas has overtaken the number of main applicants, increasing from 125,000 to 219,000 for dependant applicants and from 152,000 to 204,000 for main applicants, in the YE December 2023. “
220,000 dependants. People with no jobs that now require schools, health, welfare, housing, pensions, childcare
It’s a national policy of self destruction via immigration. And we wonder why our public services are under pressure, our rivers full of shit, house ownership a dream for many, and hospitals packed to bursting, with queues snaking round the food banks
Yes it is all because of immigration and has nothing to do with the fact we have an incompetent government in hoc to special interests whose signature policy has made us poorer.
those special interest being universities, multi nationals and the Bank of England ?
Tories' inability to own their party's failures is a sight to behold.
Right, so you dont know who these vested interest are ?
You're fighting a fine rearguard action Alanbrooke.....
But I thought the usual procedure was to send the cannon fodder out first?
Roger, there are weeks of guff ahead this is top trolling season are you trying to deny me some sport ?
James O'Malley @Psythor · 3m Good luck to the broadcasters trying to schedule any election debates as there are 8pm Euro matches on…
June 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, and 30,
And July 1 and 2.
(So I predict there will be a debate on Thursday 27th)
I think debates will be 13th June and 27th on that basis
Note to broadcasters: not everyone cares about The Football.
But a huge number of people do and its June, if the weather is good, people will be out and about, and during Euros / World Cup a lot of people like to go to the pub with outside seating, watch the match. I imagine the viewing figures for any debate will be through the floor.
As I reported this morning - there were 2 camps of thinking in Tory HQ re election dates.
One, led by Isaac Levido, wanted to go long to let economic good news sink in & get those interest rate cuts in
One, led by James Forsyth, called for a snap
Forsyth (Rishi’s bestie) won
But what was the logic of a snap. I have only seen two reasons put forward:
a) Internal conflict in the Tory party that had to be stopped before everything collapsed.
b) To snooker Reform selecting candidates by a surprise election
I have only seen b) from @Casino_Royale. The argument is logical, but still seems unlikely. a) seems more likely or it is just a complete misjudgement. If going early 2 May seemed more sensible.
I suspect there might have been quite a bit of option b) in their thinking - it's the sort of "clever" move that Rishi enjoys. Perhaps not the main driver for the decision, but one that would have made him feel pleased with himself once he'd made up his mind.
The stats and numbers Closely allied to the above - the betting The geography of Britain comes out - always learn something about British geography I did not know before The old fashioned way of counting and declaring
Things i dont like about a general election-
The politics in general ! The leader debates The sanctimonious preaching about the need to vote the juvenile name calling of politicians or voters of other parties (PB take note!)
re post office, I'm not as big a fan of Paula's outfit today as yesterday, but she has come in with a second wind and is calmer than before. You could see her yesterday by the end, when she realised she wasn't going to get any sympathy or quarter from JB that she had to regulate her emotions and compose herself and no one was going to help her do this. Some deep breaths, calming herself down, and onwards. And it seems that she is approaching today with that in mind.
Oh and 22,000 watching vs the odd hundred yesterday.
I'm pretty sure there was an error with the numbers yesterday when it said 125 people watching compared to a few thousand for even the least interesting of witnesses.
As I reported this morning - there were 2 camps of thinking in Tory HQ re election dates.
One, led by Isaac Levido, wanted to go long to let economic good news sink in & get those interest rate cuts in
One, led by James Forsyth, called for a snap
Forsyth (Rishi’s bestie) won
But what was the logic of a snap. I have only seen two reasons put forward:
a) Internal conflict in the Tory party that had to be stopped before everything collapsed.
b) To snooker Reform selecting candidates by a surprise election
I have only seen b) from @Casino_Royale. The argument is logical, but still seems unlikely. a) seems more likely or it is just a complete misjudgement. If going early 2 May seemed more sensible.
I suspect there might have been quite a bit of option b) in their thinking - it's the sort of "clever" move that Rishi enjoys. Perhaps not the main driver for the decision, but one that would have made him feel pleased with himself once he'd made up his mind.
Sunak giving his speech didn't look like a man who thought he was pulling a genius tactical move. He looked and sounded like a man who was f##k this shit, I can't be bothered anymore, taxi to Heathrow please, California here I come.
Labour might easily be in a pickle over immigration. Will it prevent them forming the next government? Hell no.
But they need to formulate a response and policy to the current immigration situation.
Does he stop Rwanda instantly? Yes, says SKS as he wants to introduce "specialist investigators to tackle small boats" (ie presumably to stop them); yes, say all members of the metropolitan elite in unison. But what do Unison members say.
Will SKS' proposal for a highly trained team of "special investigators" convince people that he wants to do anything about illegal immigration and is not simply going to throw the doors wide open.
That is what he has to convince the red wall. All of us on here might throw our hands up as it's bleedin' obvious, but SKS has to show that he wants to Stop the Boats every bit as much as Rishi. Interested to see what Scott's new avatar will be in this light.
Indeed. And his dilemma will only become more acute as EU countries adopt Rwanda-like policies
My bet is that he will reluctantly be forced to copy this, but he will desperately rebrand it as something entirely new
Isn't Rwanda a complete sideshow? It's basically displacement activity to avoid talking about the substance of the issue.
Immigration due to asylum is still under 100,000 a year, and small boat arrivals only part of that. It's 400,000 a year each on work and study visas.
Britain could deport every asylum seeker and it would reduce net migration by less than 1-in-6.
Morning. On topic, there was a small window in which Tory MPs could have committed a particularly public mutual seppuku but that window has now closed.
Had they got the numbers to trigger a vote last night, it's plausible that the election could have been called off / postponed on the basis that the PM didn't have the authority to request it. It'd have ended in acrimony and there's no guarantee that it'd have been successful even in its initial objective but it might. Some would claim that Charles could reasonably say that when he agreed to the dissolution, he was unaware that Sunak was doing so to forestall a party confidence vote. Personally, I don't think the argument holds water: it's not as if such a vote was already underway.
But either way, not now. The campaign has begun in earnest. Whatever the technicalities, the Palace would be right to say that MPs had acted in the knowledge that the campaign was already underway and that if they wanted to remove their leader then that was their right but they'd have to live with doing so under a live election. Public and media expectations are set and preparations in local councils will already be being made. The die is cast.
re post office, I'm not as big a fan of Paula's outfit today as yesterday, but she has come in with a second wind and is calmer than before. You could see her yesterday by the end, when she realised she wasn't going to get any sympathy or quarter from JB that she had to regulate her emotions and compose herself and no one was going to help her do this. Some deep breaths, calming herself down, and onwards. And it seems that she is approaching today with that in mind.
Oh and 22,000 watching vs the odd hundred yesterday.
To be honest, I’ve a little sympathy for her. She’s watched the Inquiry develop, knowing she was going to have to give evidence, and seen her subordinates twisting in the wind. She didn’t, though, do a runner or “fall sick”; she turned up and faced the music. I suspect the grilling she’s getting from Beer isn’t as tough as that which she’s going to get from one of the sub-postmasters representatives. And she must know there’s an outside (at least) chance of a prosecution after this.
Yep agree on all counts and as Beer alluded to yday, there is def a chance of perjury as she was shown to have been told about remote access and then stated to the SC that there was none. Is that perjury lying to parliament?
I mean she seems to be a super decent woman and, apparently, a woman of god. I find it difficult to believe that underneath or once appointed she came over all Pope Innocent III and maliciously pursued the course of action that we have seen but as head, she is responsible and accountable. And she should take her medicine.
The deets in the migration stats are bleak as fuck
“The number of non-EU nationals arriving as dependants of those on long-term work visas has overtaken the number of main applicants, increasing from 125,000 to 219,000 for dependant applicants and from 152,000 to 204,000 for main applicants, in the YE December 2023. “
220,000 dependants. People with no jobs that now require schools, health, welfare, housing, pensions, childcare
It’s a national policy of self destruction via immigration. And we wonder why our public services are under pressure, our rivers full of shit, house ownership a dream for many, and hospitals packed to bursting, with queues snaking round the food banks
Don't you miss the days when you couldn't move for French Italian and Spanish young people filling our streets with life and laughter before Farage and his chums decided they looked too much like good fun and we were better off without them
Labour might easily be in a pickle over immigration. Will it prevent them forming the next government? Hell no.
But they need to formulate a response and policy to the current immigration situation.
Does he stop Rwanda instantly? Yes, says SKS as he wants to introduce "specialist investigators to tackle small boats" (ie presumably to stop them); yes, say all members of the metropolitan elite in unison. But what do Unison members say.
Will SKS' proposal for a highly trained team of "special investigators" convince people that he wants to do anything about illegal immigration and is not simply going to throw the doors wide open.
That is what he has to convince the red wall. All of us on here might throw our hands up as it's bleedin' obvious, but SKS has to show that he wants to Stop the Boats every bit as much as Rishi. Interested to see what Scott's new avatar will be in this light.
Indeed. And his dilemma will only become more acute as EU countries adopt Rwanda-like policies
My bet is that he will reluctantly be forced to copy this, but he will desperately rebrand it as something entirely new
Isn't Rwanda a complete sideshow? It's basically displacement activity to avoid talking about the substance of the issue.
Immigration due to asylum is still under 100,000 a year, and small boat arrivals only part of that. It's 400,000 a year each on work and study visas.
Britain could deport every asylum seeker and it would reduce net migration by less than 1-in-6.
And yet I bet that is the only aspect of immigration that will be talked about the whole campaign, both by politicians and also the media.
https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/derek-guy-rishi-sunak-keir-starmer-getting-wrong-menswear ...The leader of the Conservative Party has been spotted wearing £95 sliders from the high-fashion streetwear label Palm Angels, £335 all-white minimalist trainers from the quiet luxury brand Common Projects, and £450 suede loafers from Italian fashion house Prada. So, the theories that his tailor, Henry Herbert in London, intentionally cuts his suits to be unusually trim – with cropped jackets, high buttoning points, razor-thin lapels, and often floodwater pants – in order to make him look taller are hard to swallow.
In most areas of dress, the Prime Minister dresses like a newly minted man who started shopping lavishly 20 years ago. It’s more likely that he has stuck with that silhouette because it’s the fashionable Thom Browne-led style he wore when he first started building a better wardrobe. Strangely, his sense of dress is more fashion-conscious than the average man but also two decades out of date, as the bleeding edge of fashion has long swung towards fuller silhouettes.
Sunak’s success in getting to No 10 proves that his expensive, high-fashion taste is not career-ending. But in a tough election year, one wonders why he doesn’t just opt for more traditional attire by visiting one of the many bespoke tailors on Savile Row, such as Henry Poole...
..If it weren’t for the fact that Starmer needs to shorten the sleeves on some of his suit jackets – so they show that requisite half inch of shirt cuff and stop swamping his hand – one might think his suits are custom-tailored. For a man who has tried to present his party as a government-in-waiting, his suits telegraph a time-tested dependability.
Where he stumbles is when he fastens the bottommost button on his suit jackets – a surprising faux pas for a man who has spent most of his life in tailored clothing. He also often wears dark worsted suits without a tie, presumably to seem more casual and relatable to voters. While that has increasingly become the norm in professional environments, Starmer would look much better in a navy blazer and wool trousers when going open collar.
Finally, he should re-evaluate his penchant for navy dress shirts, which are so dark and inky that they can pass for black. Black dress shirts – a favourite among divorced men trying to rebrand themselves as young when hitting nightclubs – rarely communicate what the wearer wishes. ..
"floodwater pants"
A summer election campaign ought to give plenty of seaside paddling opportunities. Rishi already has the perfect trousers for it, so now he just needs to invested in a knotted handkerchief to put on his head...
Something you’re going to have to become familiar with over the next six weeks, if you want to follow the election - boundary changes, and the “notional” results for those new constituencies which this campaign will be based on. A thread...
Long-term net migration (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) was provisionally estimated to be 685,000 in the year ending (YE) December 2023, compared with our updated estimate of 764,000 for the YE December 2022; while it is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend, emigration increased in 2023, while new Home Office data show visa applications have fallen in recent months....
Literally 1% of the population of the UK, arriving in a single year. This is the overwhelming Tory failure and this is why they need to DIE
I recall the heady days when people used to say that our population would now fall due to leaving the EU as nobody would want to come to Brexit Britain.
And the heady days when Brexiteers said time to take in the talent of the world instead of being restricted by the racist EU.
Some folk seem to want to leave Brexit Britain, whether they're indigenes or not is unclear.
'emigration increased in 2023'
Well I’ve just applied for my Spanish digital nomad visa. Whether I ever use it I dunno. But good to have the option - emigration
Thank you for your assistance cutting off that option for those whose jobs require a physical presence in the UK.
You’re welcome. I’ll post one photo a day from my hacienda to keep you cheerful
I might see you there. I am not one of them. But I tend to think about my fellow countrymen and women when making electoral choices - at least sometimes anyway. I'm not pretending I'm a complete saint.
When I voted for Brexit I voted for democracy and sovereignty - but I also hoped we would stay in rhe EEA or something like it, at least for ten years as a minimum pain holding position. I had no problem with freedom of movement. Polish plumbers are quite unlikely to blow me up or establish massive racist grooming gangs etc etc etc
But T May in her infinitely zero wisdom went for Hard Brexit and here we are
Anyway you will now get your Labour govt with a massive majority and they can reverse all this or not, as they please. So you can finally blame someone else, and I’ll be cheering you on from my balcony in Ibiza
The immigration disconnect is fascinating. I have already written about the control element but all politicians say they want to bring it under control and none do, while I would say a large minority if not majority of the country wants it to be reined in. And nothing happens. Or rather, immigration increases.
I'm also sure that many people voted for Brexit thinking finally we're going to sort immigration and here we are. If Nige isn't running then presumably he doesn't think immigration is at the point whereby he needs to get back on the horse to campaign for it to be lowered.
It's all so terribly British. (Note to @Heathener)
And yet I bet that is the only aspect of immigration that will be talked about the whole campaign, both by politicians and also the media.
Which is how we know that no party is serious about the issue. Same as house building. Same as transport. Same as health. We always talk about the marginal and relatively rare, not the bloody great herd of elephants in the room.
Sunak's admission that no Rwanda flights will take off before the GE will, I think, pretty much kill the issue. Imagine the leaders' debate:
Sunak: Voters need to know that if Labour are elected, they will cancel the Rwanda flights. Starmer: What Rwanda flights? I can't cancel something that hasn't happened. Sunak: Um, the ones that are going to happen any time soon as part of my plan to have a long-term plan to stop the boats.
As I reported this morning - there were 2 camps of thinking in Tory HQ re election dates.
One, led by Isaac Levido, wanted to go long to let economic good news sink in & get those interest rate cuts in
One, led by James Forsyth, called for a snap
Forsyth (Rishi’s bestie) won
But what was the logic of a snap. I have only seen two reasons put forward:
a) Internal conflict in the Tory party that had to be stopped before everything collapsed.
b) To snooker Reform selecting candidates by a surprise election
I have only seen b) from @Casino_Royale. The argument is logical, but still seems unlikely. a) seems more likely or it is just a complete misjudgement. If going early 2 May seemed more sensible.
The thinking behind waiting was, I believe, that something would turn up to make things better. Looks like nothing is going to come along to make things better, indeed things look like they're going to get worse, so there was no logic behind waiting any longer.
Six months is 10% of a full Parliamentary term. Why throw away a tenth of your term if you don't have to?
The main argument for waiting is that, whenever the election is held, the government loses. Since being the government is what matters, then it makes sense to maximise that.
Will be interesting to find out the insider accounts of why Sunak choose differently.
re post office, I'm not as big a fan of Paula's outfit today as yesterday, but she has come in with a second wind and is calmer than before. You could see her yesterday by the end, when she realised she wasn't going to get any sympathy or quarter from JB that she had to regulate her emotions and compose herself and no one was going to help her do this. Some deep breaths, calming herself down, and onwards. And it seems that she is approaching today with that in mind.
Oh and 22,000 watching vs the odd hundred yesterday.
To be honest, I’ve a little sympathy for her. She’s watched the Inquiry develop, knowing she was going to have to give evidence, and seen her subordinates twisting in the wind. She didn’t, though, do a runner or “fall sick”; she turned up and faced the music. I suspect the grilling she’s getting from Beer isn’t as tough as that which she’s going to get from one of the sub-postmasters representatives. And she must know there’s an outside (at least) chance of a prosecution after this.
I would have thought there is more than an outside chance.
As I posted yesterday there is a simple argument that she hid the issue for her own financial gain (because she received bonuses she would otherwise have not received).
re post office, I'm not as big a fan of Paula's outfit today as yesterday, but she has come in with a second wind and is calmer than before. You could see her yesterday by the end, when she realised she wasn't going to get any sympathy or quarter from JB that she had to regulate her emotions and compose herself and no one was going to help her do this. Some deep breaths, calming herself down, and onwards. And it seems that she is approaching today with that in mind.
Oh and 22,000 watching vs the odd hundred yesterday.
I'm pretty sure there was an error with the numbers yesterday when it said 125 people watching compared to a few thousand for even the least interesting of witnesses.
When I voted for Brexit I voted for democracy and sovereignty
...and having got them they are so shit I am moving to Spain...
Not definitely. I can see you’re worried and you’ll miss me - so I haven’t yet made a final decision. But I definitely want the option. Also I get to roam around Schengen with my digital nomad visa so I can send you exciting updates about the beauties of free movement. As a tragic Remoaner that should make you happy?
And yet I bet that is the only aspect of immigration that will be talked about the whole campaign, both by politicians and also the media.
Which is how we know that no party is serious about the issue. Same as house building. Same as transport. Same as health. We always talk about the marginal and relatively rare, not the bloody great herd of elephants in the room.
Again, its because these require strong, brave and short term unpopular choices. It also requires absolute focus to drive these things through against vested interests and legal challenges. Its much easier just to listen to Sir Humphrey that minister this is a challenging decision and instead kick it into the long grass.
https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/derek-guy-rishi-sunak-keir-starmer-getting-wrong-menswear ...The leader of the Conservative Party has been spotted wearing £95 sliders from the high-fashion streetwear label Palm Angels, £335 all-white minimalist trainers from the quiet luxury brand Common Projects, and £450 suede loafers from Italian fashion house Prada. So, the theories that his tailor, Henry Herbert in London, intentionally cuts his suits to be unusually trim – with cropped jackets, high buttoning points, razor-thin lapels, and often floodwater pants – in order to make him look taller are hard to swallow.
In most areas of dress, the Prime Minister dresses like a newly minted man who started shopping lavishly 20 years ago. It’s more likely that he has stuck with that silhouette because it’s the fashionable Thom Browne-led style he wore when he first started building a better wardrobe. Strangely, his sense of dress is more fashion-conscious than the average man but also two decades out of date, as the bleeding edge of fashion has long swung towards fuller silhouettes.
Sunak’s success in getting to No 10 proves that his expensive, high-fashion taste is not career-ending. But in a tough election year, one wonders why he doesn’t just opt for more traditional attire by visiting one of the many bespoke tailors on Savile Row, such as Henry Poole...
..If it weren’t for the fact that Starmer needs to shorten the sleeves on some of his suit jackets – so they show that requisite half inch of shirt cuff and stop swamping his hand – one might think his suits are custom-tailored. For a man who has tried to present his party as a government-in-waiting, his suits telegraph a time-tested dependability.
Where he stumbles is when he fastens the bottommost button on his suit jackets – a surprising faux pas for a man who has spent most of his life in tailored clothing. He also often wears dark worsted suits without a tie, presumably to seem more casual and relatable to voters. While that has increasingly become the norm in professional environments, Starmer would look much better in a navy blazer and wool trousers when going open collar.
Finally, he should re-evaluate his penchant for navy dress shirts, which are so dark and inky that they can pass for black. Black dress shirts – a favourite among divorced men trying to rebrand themselves as young when hitting nightclubs – rarely communicate what the wearer wishes. ..
"floodwater pants"
Yeah... Don't recall having seen Sunak in waders, but I guess that's what he must mean
Jacob Rees-Mogg compared Rishi Sunak to Gene Kelly in Singin’ in the Rain as he described the election launch speech as “magnificent”.
The Conservative MP told Times Radio: “I thought it was absolutely magnificent. I thought it was just the best British stoicism, the stiff upper lip. We carry on regardless. The British are drip dry.
It'll be interesting to see how many seats the Tories would win in Scotland if there's a 10% swing from SNP to Labour in each seat.
What vote share are you anticipating for the Tories? There comes a point where Labour just come through the middle in most, but as a rough guide on a 17-18 % Tory vote and a 10% swing SNP to Lab then Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, Angus and the Glens, Argyll and Bute, East Renfrewshire would be the targets (not predicting this WILL happen)
The "wally with no brolly" motif is, I think, instructive. Obviously referencing Steve McClaren's ill-fated time as England manager, if he'd stood there holding a brolly, it would have been "the wally with the brolly mk II". If he'd had someone hold one for him, he'd have looked like some imperial figure with a lackey. If he'd delayed to wait for the rain to stop, he'd have been "afraid of a bit of weather". A gazebo flapping around him would have been criticised (and probably noisy with the rain). And so on.
When you've lost the public, you can't win no matter what you do. That's where we're at with Sunak and the Conservatives in general.
Maybe something radical, like find a room ?
Thereby losing the optics of talking in front of the glossy black door. Anyway, I'm not saying that some options were better or worse, I'm just pointing out that when you get to a particular space you get hammered no matter what you do.
Thinking on it, Sunak should have had a huge union fleg brolly. Harder to criticise him showing his patriotism etc etc.
The problem with the umbrella is that it blocks the view of the Number 10 door - which is the whole point of doing an announcement in Downing Street.
I think it was @SirNorfolkPassmore who pointed out earlier the problem was not being rained on, but completely ignoring being rained on. One self-deprecatory remark, one quip at Labour's expense, and it could have been made to work in Sunak's favour.
Long-term net migration (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) was provisionally estimated to be 685,000 in the year ending (YE) December 2023, compared with our updated estimate of 764,000 for the YE December 2022; while it is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend, emigration increased in 2023, while new Home Office data show visa applications have fallen in recent months....
Literally 1% of the population of the UK, arriving in a single year. This is the overwhelming Tory failure and this is why they need to DIE
I recall the heady days when people used to say that our population would now fall due to leaving the EU as nobody would want to come to Brexit Britain.
And the heady days when Brexiteers said time to take in the talent of the world instead of being restricted by the racist EU.
Some folk seem to want to leave Brexit Britain, whether they're indigenes or not is unclear.
'emigration increased in 2023'
Well I’ve just applied for my Spanish digital nomad visa. Whether I ever use it I dunno. But good to have the option - emigration
Thank you for your assistance cutting off that option for those whose jobs require a physical presence in the UK.
You’re welcome. I’ll post one photo a day from my hacienda to keep you cheerful
I might see you there. I am not one of them. But I tend to think about my fellow countrymen and women when making electoral choices - at least sometimes anyway. I'm not pretending I'm a complete saint.
When I voted for Brexit I voted for democracy and sovereignty - but I also hoped we would stay in rhe EEA or something like it, at least for ten years as a minimum pain holding position. I had no problem with freedom of movement. Polish plumbers are quite unlikely to blow me up or establish massive racist grooming gangs etc etc etc
But T May in her infinitely zero wisdom went for Hard Brexit and here we are
Anyway you will now get your Labour govt with a massive majority and they can reverse all this or not, as they please. So you can finally blame someone else, and I’ll be cheering you on from my balcony in Ibiza
As long as you don't stay for longer than 90 days. The South of france and Ibiza seem so much more cosmopolitan than any place in England outside parts of central Londion which is not how it used to be. PS How do you get this visa? Working out ways to screw Brexit is one of the main topics of conversation with people who have homes in France and Italy
When I voted for Brexit I voted for democracy and sovereignty
...and having got them they are so shit I am moving to Spain...
Not definitely. I can see you’re worried and you’ll miss me - so I haven’t yet made a final decision. But I definitely want the option. Also I get to roam around Schengen with my digital nomad visa so I can send you exciting updates about the beauties of free movement. As a tragic Remoaner that should make you happy?
As a third country national you can roam but not automatically settle in the other Schengen states. Your visa will only allow you to live in Spain.
James O'Malley @Psythor · 3m Good luck to the broadcasters trying to schedule any election debates as there are 8pm Euro matches on…
June 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, and 30,
And July 1 and 2.
(So I predict there will be a debate on Thursday 27th)
I think debates will be 13th June and 27th on that basis
Note to broadcasters: not everyone cares about The Football.
But a huge number of people do and its June, if the weather is good, people will be out and about, and during Euros / World Cup a lot of people like to go to the pub with outside seating, watch the match. I imagine the viewing figures for any debate will be through the floor.
Tbf, though, the Venn diagram of those who are massively into the football and those who like election debates is somewhat limited.
It's not as if all the Everton and Gunner fans would have been flocking to see a SKS v Sunak boxing match were it not for a scheduled kickabout of the leather ball.
Comments
It's not that they don't want to talk about it, or do anything about it, it's that the "solution" is expensive, and shit, and won't actually work.
Rwanda was a shit answer to the wrong question.
Like Brexit.
He might be nasty, grasping opportunistic narcissist, but he’s not daft.
Pretty much confirms they'd have been punished for delaying
But there's certainly an establishment mentality that an ever expanding population is a good thing to keep wages down and property values rising.
Possibly linked to drivel about world influence and colonialism.
And whenever a route to immigration is opened the numbers always exceed those predicted.
From 2020:
Our short-term migration assumptions are effective for the first six years of the projections period up to the year starting mid-2026; over this timeframe, UK net migration averages 232,000 each year.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationprojections/methodologies/nationalpopulationprojectionsmigrationassumptions2020basedinterim#:~:text=Figure 1 shows that the,-2020 to mid-2026.
I didn't realise that the number of study visas had tripled. In the news it always seems to be about work visas being tightened and the salary threshold increased, but the number of visas issued has soared.
Net migration of EU nationals is now negative, so Brexit certainly having an impact.
(I'd be surprised but not shocked if he did - I suspect that he's under a lot of pressure from others who want him to go for it, but the man himself is likely more ambivalent)
Remember those record net migration figures for 2022, the ones we reported back in Nov?👇
Turns out they were an underestimate.
This morning @ONS says net migration in 2022 was actually 764k, not 745k.
It also raised its estimate for the 12 months to June 2023 from 672k to 740k
Funny that two leaders on opposite sides of the Brexit referendum, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage, have both effectively declared in the years since that Britain is a bit of a provincial backwater and America is where it's really at.
2016: I AM INCREDIBLY PATRIOTIC AND HOPEFUL ABOUT THE GLOBAL FUTURE OF THIS INCREDIBLE COUNTRY THAT I LOVE
2024: pls forward my mail to this zipcode
https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/derek-guy-rishi-sunak-keir-starmer-getting-wrong-menswear
...The leader of the Conservative Party has been spotted wearing £95 sliders from the high-fashion streetwear label Palm Angels, £335 all-white minimalist trainers from the quiet luxury brand Common Projects, and £450 suede loafers from Italian fashion house Prada. So, the theories that his tailor, Henry Herbert in London, intentionally cuts his suits to be unusually trim – with cropped jackets, high buttoning points, razor-thin lapels, and often floodwater pants – in order to make him look taller are hard to swallow.
In most areas of dress, the Prime Minister dresses like a newly minted man who started shopping lavishly 20 years ago. It’s more likely that he has stuck with that silhouette because it’s the fashionable Thom Browne-led style he wore when he first started building a better wardrobe. Strangely, his sense of dress is more fashion-conscious than the average man but also two decades out of date, as the bleeding edge of fashion has long swung towards fuller silhouettes.
Sunak’s success in getting to No 10 proves that his expensive, high-fashion taste is not career-ending. But in a tough election year, one wonders why he doesn’t just opt for more traditional attire by visiting one of the many bespoke tailors on Savile Row, such as Henry Poole...
..If it weren’t for the fact that Starmer needs to shorten the sleeves on some of his suit jackets – so they show that requisite half inch of shirt cuff and stop swamping his hand – one might think his suits are custom-tailored. For a man who has tried to present his party as a government-in-waiting, his suits telegraph a time-tested dependability.
Where he stumbles is when he fastens the bottommost button on his suit jackets – a surprising faux pas for a man who has spent most of his life in tailored clothing. He also often wears dark worsted suits without a tie, presumably to seem more casual and relatable to voters. While that has increasingly become the norm in professional environments, Starmer would look much better in a navy blazer and wool trousers when going open collar.
Finally, he should re-evaluate his penchant for navy dress shirts, which are so dark and inky that they can pass for black. Black dress shirts – a favourite among divorced men trying to rebrand themselves as young when hitting nightclubs – rarely communicate what the wearer wishes. ..
But they need to formulate a response and policy to the current immigration situation.
Does he stop Rwanda instantly? Yes, says SKS as he wants to introduce "specialist investigators to tackle small boats" (ie presumably to stop them); yes, say all members of the metropolitan elite in unison. But what do Unison members say.
Will SKS' proposal for a highly trained team of "special investigators" convince people that he wants to do anything about illegal immigration and is not simply going to throw the doors wide open.
That is what he has to convince the red wall. All of us on here might throw our hands up as it's bleedin' obvious, but SKS has to show that he wants to Stop the Boats every bit as much as Rishi. Interested to see what Scott's new avatar will be in this light.
What on earth did they expect?
@EdConwaySky
👀 Hard to overstate how dramatic the shift in UK immigration has been since the post-Brexit rules came into force.
Non-EU immigration is now higher than ever before, running at well over a million a year.
EU immigration lower than it’s been for decades.
Figs just in from
@ONS
👇
a) Internal conflict in the Tory party that had to be stopped before everything collapsed.
b) To snooker Reform selecting candidates by a surprise election
I have only seen b) from @Casino_Royale. The argument is logical, but still seems unlikely. a) seems more likely or it is just a complete misjudgement. If going early 2 May seemed more sensible.
My bet is that he will reluctantly be forced to copy this, but he will desperately rebrand it as something entirely new
Oh and 22,000 watching vs the odd hundred yesterday.
And good morning everyone.
The other point made emphatically this morning is Richi can now claim Rwanda would have worked before the proof that it doesn't became unavoidable
Nothing will happen apart from migration stays high.
But I thought the usual procedure was to send the cannon fodder out first?
Could the Labour Party blow its big opportunity?
By calling an election Rishi Sunak has opened the door to Number 10"
https://www.economist.com/britain/2024/05/23/could-the-labour-party-blow-its-big-opportunity
d) Labour and the other parties may not be quite ready (but then, neither are the Tories...)
The SNP have continually shouted for a General Election. Now they have one, they are still not happy about it…
It is in the Scottish school holidays.
It’s being held on a day, ending in Y.
It’s bin day.
It might be raining.
It’s the Euros.
It’s the day Krankie comes out.
Anyway, I'm not saying that some options were better or worse, I'm just pointing out that when you get to a particular space you get hammered no matter what you do.
Jeeves: Doubtless in order to avoid him, sir
it *is* possible to look cool in the pouring rain
@NadineDorries
You have to question the patriotism in a man who has always claimed above all else to be a patriot when he puts another country before his own.
Nigel Farage not standing in the general election because he thinks the elections in the US are more relevant."
https://x.com/NadineDorries/status/1793569514283782622
McVey 10/11
Badenoch 6/4
Shapps 4/1
7/1 Bar
Nigerian nurses and Chinese students affect different people to Polish plumbers.
I suspect the grilling she’s getting from Beer isn’t as tough as that which she’s going to get from one of the sub-postmasters representatives.
And she must know there’s an outside (at least) chance of a prosecution after this.
Thinking on it, Sunak should have had a huge union fleg brolly. Harder to criticise him showing his patriotism etc etc.
The stats and numbers
Closely allied to the above - the betting
The geography of Britain comes out - always learn something about British geography I did not know before
The old fashioned way of counting and declaring
Things i dont like about a general election-
The politics in general !
The leader debates
The sanctimonious preaching about the need to vote
the juvenile name calling of politicians or voters of other parties (PB take note!)
Immigration due to asylum is still under 100,000 a year, and small boat arrivals only part of that. It's 400,000 a year each on work and study visas.
Britain could deport every asylum seeker and it would reduce net migration by less than 1-in-6.
Had they got the numbers to trigger a vote last night, it's plausible that the election could have been called off / postponed on the basis that the PM didn't have the authority to request it. It'd have ended in acrimony and there's no guarantee that it'd have been successful even in its initial objective but it might. Some would claim that Charles could reasonably say that when he agreed to the dissolution, he was unaware that Sunak was doing so to forestall a party confidence vote. Personally, I don't think the argument holds water: it's not as if such a vote was already underway.
But either way, not now. The campaign has begun in earnest. Whatever the technicalities, the Palace would be right to say that MPs had acted in the knowledge that the campaign was already underway and that if they wanted to remove their leader then that was their right but they'd have to live with doing so under a live election. Public and media expectations are set and preparations in local councils will already be being made. The die is cast.
I mean she seems to be a super decent woman and, apparently, a woman of god. I find it difficult to believe that underneath or once appointed she came over all Pope Innocent III and maliciously pursued the course of action that we have seen but as head, she is responsible and accountable. And she should take her medicine.
Something you’re going to have to become familiar with over the next six weeks, if you want to follow the election - boundary changes, and the “notional” results for those new constituencies which this campaign will be based on. A thread...
https://x.com/BBCPhilipSim/status/1793572458315894821
But T May in her infinitely zero wisdom went for Hard Brexit and here we are
Anyway you will now get your Labour govt with a massive majority and they can reverse all this or not, as they please. So you can finally blame someone else, and I’ll be cheering you on from my balcony in Ibiza
The wimp.
Still, that part of Sunak's plan, if that was what it was, seems to have worked.
I'm also sure that many people voted for Brexit thinking finally we're going to sort immigration and here we are. If Nige isn't running then presumably he doesn't think immigration is at the point whereby he needs to get back on the horse to campaign for it to be lowered.
It's all so terribly British. (Note to @Heathener)
Sunak: Voters need to know that if Labour are elected, they will cancel the Rwanda flights.
Starmer: What Rwanda flights? I can't cancel something that hasn't happened.
Sunak: Um, the ones that are going to happen any time soon as part of my plan to have a long-term plan to stop the boats.
The main argument for waiting is that, whenever the election is held, the government loses. Since being the government is what matters, then it makes sense to maximise that.
Will be interesting to find out the insider accounts of why Sunak choose differently.
As I posted yesterday there is a simple argument that she hid the issue for her own financial gain (because she received bonuses she would otherwise have not received).
The Conservative MP told Times Radio: “I thought it was absolutely magnificent. I thought it was just the best British stoicism, the stiff upper lip. We carry on regardless. The British are drip dry.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-general-election-live-latest-news-rishi-sunak-3wgrf5nl2
There comes a point where Labour just come through the middle in most, but as a rough guide on a 17-18 % Tory vote and a 10% swing SNP to Lab then Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, Angus and the Glens, Argyll and Bute, East Renfrewshire would be the targets (not predicting this WILL happen)
I think it was @SirNorfolkPassmore who pointed out earlier the problem was not being rained on, but completely ignoring being rained on. One self-deprecatory remark, one quip at Labour's expense, and it could have been made to work in Sunak's favour.
It's not as if all the Everton and Gunner fans would have been flocking to see a SKS v Sunak boxing match were it not for a scheduled kickabout of the leather ball.