Reposting from previous thread as it's pertinent to this one ...
My immediate reaction to the result yesterday was that it made it more likely Cleverly would lead the Tories into the next election. But then I had another think about it. In contriving to lose from a winning position of such strength he exhibited a level of political skill so low that he has surely disqualified himself from ever competing for the top job again. I always thought he was the best of the bad bunch. But maybe there really wasn't ever a best choice at all.
Reposting from previous thread as it's pertinent to this one ...
My immediate reaction to the result yesterday was that it made it more likely Cleverly would lead the Tories into the next election. But then I had another think about it. In contriving to lose from a winning position of such strength he exhibited a level of political skill so low that he has surely disqualified himself from ever competing for the top job again. I always thought he was the best of the bad bunch. But maybe there really wasn't ever a best choice at all.
There are few second chances in politics nowadays, so I think he will fade away. I don't think Big Dog has much chance either.
Key will be who Kemi/Bobby J puts in their Shadow Cabinet and who gets excluded. It's hard to mount a 1922 committee challenge without at least some front bench experience.
On topic, it does suggest that there's something wrong with the Conservative leadership process. Either it's too easy to dump a leader (fifteen percent Mean Girl notes is too low a bar), or the electoral system isn't delivering quality leaders with a decent mandate.
The next leader will last longer unless they are obviously terrible, which is eminently possible.
Hypothetical question, thinking, in particular, about Badenoch. If Liz Truss were the winning candidate to become Tory leader for the first time in this current election, how long would she serve as LOTO?
On topic, it does suggest that there's something wrong with the Conservative leadership process. Either it's too easy to dump a leader (fifteen percent Mean Girl notes is too low a bar), or the electoral system isn't delivering quality leaders with a decent mandate.
Or a bit of both.
The problem is it is possible to become leader when two thirds of your parliamentary party voted for somebody else.
It becomes a real issue when only 15% is needed to trigger a vote of confidence.
Is it too early to off topic from the Tory psycho-drama?
We get lots and lots of Trump positive polls on here from a particular poster so I thought is there an alternative view to a comfortable Trump College win?
Is it too early to off topic from the Tory psycho-drama?
We get lots and lots of Trump positive polls on here from a particular poster so I thought is there an alternative view to a comfortable Trump College win?
One other thought - Farage is not going to do a deal with the Tories that does not have him in charge.
Were the Tories foolish enough to let him back into their party at all, let alone as leader, then a good third to a half of the membership and possibly more MPs would be immediately politically homeless and the party would split. "Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad" really applies here.
The Tories are not just exhausted, they are bereft of leadership: a choice of a loose cannon or a sleaze merchant. They are bereft of policies: still failing to understand the need for massive upgrades of UK infrastructure and a major change in economic direction. They are bereft of principles: still believing that withdrawal from the ECHR solves "immigration".
Many previously Conservative supporters, the "normal" wing, must be in confusion and even despair this morning.
On topic, it does suggest that there's something wrong with the Conservative leadership process. Either it's too easy to dump a leader (fifteen percent Mean Girl notes is too low a bar), or the electoral system isn't delivering quality leaders with a decent mandate.
Or a bit of both.
It's a tough job, and there's no way of knowing if someone can do it and resonate with electorate beforehand. I think it makes sense for parties to ditch leaders more often. Labour probably should have done so more often in past thirty years.
How well the next leader does in opposition will likely be determined by how poorly (or not) Labour governs, and how effective Reform are as the alternative in the right.
It could be an easy gig or an extremely tough one. In the latter case, I doubt either of the two are really up to the challenge.
Is it too early to off topic from the Tory psycho-drama?
We get lots and lots of Trump positive polls on here from a particular poster so I thought is there an alternative view to a comfortable Trump College win?
The next leader will last longer unless they are obviously terrible, which is eminently possible.
Hypothetical question, thinking, in particular, about Badenoch. If Liz Truss were the winning candidate to become Tory leader for the first time in this current election, how long would she serve as LOTO?
If Truss hadn't won in 2022 she probably would have survived the GE and be in pole position now. Being LOTO gives few opportunities to crash the economy so she would probably have had a decent term.
Badenoch will be quite a good LOTO. It's all about mouthing off and getting attention.
It suits her skills far better than being a government minister.
I can think of a recent Tory leader this applies to...
And whilst KB is good at mouthing off, there are other aspects to getting attention. Some of it is the kind of naff stunts that Ed Davey did during the campaign. Or think of Hague and his baseball cap. Some of it is buttering up journalists so that they call you up when they have five minutes of off-peak time to fill.
Is Badenoch, are any of them, ready to grovel for attention? I'm not entirely convinced.
I think whoever wins will make it to the election.
I’m minded to agree, it feels to me overpriced due to the musical chairs we all endured from them in the last 8 years. If they’re polling within a few points of Labour either way, I’m not convinced there’ll be any desire to change.
The one caveat I’d make to that is how well they work with others. Badenoch for instance has often been accused of being able to start a fight in an empty room, if she p*sses enough people off that could see her go.
Just extraordinary stupidity from the GOP. Not least because the measure would have benefitted their voters equally, perhaps even more than Democrats.
@CalebRudow, Democratic Rep. from Buncombe County, filed a bill to extend the voter registration deadline to 10/16 & allow absentee ballots 3 more days to arrive to accommodate the survivors of #Helene & protect their right to vote.
Is it too early to off topic from the Tory psycho-drama?
We get lots and lots of Trump positive polls on here from a particular poster so I thought is there an alternative view to a comfortable Trump College win?
I expect Harris to win comfortably, but I'm not convinced that his predictable opinion holds any significant weight.
He predicts Harris wins 270 to 268.
If Trump loses - and loses narrowly - then its a severe risk of major political agitation at best, violence as the mid case scenario, and another attempted coup at worse.
Trump voters - fed by the sycophants inside the GOP -and client media - are being told this could be the last election. We saw what happened last time, and that was just a warm-up for what they can unleash this time.
The major difference? Trump isn't president, and the sitting president is on his way out. Which means a likely strong reaction from the federal authorities to Trump shenanigans. Which makes it even more likely that it kicks off.
On topic, it does suggest that there's something wrong with the Conservative leadership process. Either it's too easy to dump a leader (fifteen percent Mean Girl notes is too low a bar), or the electoral system isn't delivering quality leaders with a decent mandate.
Or a bit of both.
I think the key problem is a hang over from the Brexit Wars, when internal Tory party conflict was substituted for politics across the country as a whole.
Even though Labour has just won a huge landslide, the Tories don't take them seriously as a competitor in British politics. Nor do they take Reform seriously, except as a repository for protest votes, and as an argument in the political struggle that really matters - the one inside the Conservative party.
This is why they now remind me of Trotskyists. The internal factional struggle is the most important. If the Tories do badly at the locals next year, this is going to come as a bit if a shock given the dismissive attitude towards non-Tories (it shouldn't, because 2021 was a Tory high point). It could easily set off another period of internal struggle within the Tories.
And all the while there's Farage and the refrain: Don't cha wish your leader was fun like me? Don't cha?
I must say this contest has made for some entertaining betting, I have backed Badenoch, Jenrick and Cleverly at different times, though not always with perfect timing.
I have now traded to a position that leaves me pretty much where I started.
I shall ask my mum who she is voting for and lump on that. She has picked the winner in all the previous contests that went to the members.
Badenoch will be quite a good LOTO. It's all about mouthing off and getting attention.
It suits her skills far better than being a government minister.
I can think of a recent Tory leader this applies to...
And whilst KB is good at mouthing off, there are other aspects to getting attention. Some of it is the kind of naff stunts that Ed Davey did during the campaign. Or think of Hague and his baseball cap. Some of it is buttering up journalists so that they call you up when they have five minutes of off-peak time to fill.
Is Badenoch, are any of them, ready to grovel for attention? I'm not entirely convinced.
The problem is, it's literally an unknowable until they actually get the job.
Which is one reason why it's so hilarious when Labour (in the current case) supporting posters say after (but never before) a candidate is eliminated "he's the one I was scared of".
On topic, it does suggest that there's something wrong with the Conservative leadership process. Either it's too easy to dump a leader (fifteen percent Mean Girl notes is too low a bar), or the electoral system isn't delivering quality leaders with a decent mandate.
Or a bit of both.
I think the key problem is a hang over from the Brexit Wars, when internal Tory party conflict was substituted for politics across the country as a whole.
Even though Labour has just won a huge landslide, the Tories don't take them seriously as a competitor in British politics. Nor do they take Reform seriously, except as a repository for protest votes, and as an argument in the political struggle that really matters - the one inside the Conservative party.
This is why they now remind me of Trotskyists. The internal factional struggle is the most important. If the Tories do badly at the locals next year, this is going to come as a bit if a shock given the dismissive attitude towards non-Tories (it shouldn't, because 2021 was a Tory high point). It could easily set off another period of internal struggle within the Tories.
And all the while there's Farage and the refrain: Don't cha wish your leader was fun like me? Don't cha?
Agree verymuch, LP.
There seems to be no recognition by the Party that they threw away an 80 seat majority and are now down to 121 MPs.
Badenoch will be quite a good LOTO. It's all about mouthing off and getting attention.
It suits her skills far better than being a government minister.
I can think of a recent Tory leader this applies to...
And whilst KB is good at mouthing off, there are other aspects to getting attention. Some of it is the kind of naff stunts that Ed Davey did during the campaign. Or think of Hague and his baseball cap. Some of it is buttering up journalists so that they call you up when they have five minutes of off-peak time to fill.
Is Badenoch, are any of them, ready to grovel for attention? I'm not entirely convinced.
Pretty sure Jenrick would do grovel, if it furthered his aims
At least the sun will be shining tomorrow as you deal with the wreckage.
Ultra-hurricane force winds tomorrow as well. We'll have to wait until the weekend to sort out the flattened wreckage of England.
But oh no! Edinburgh is getting 17247 MPH winds!
In fact, it's worse than I thought. The figure's so large that it won't fit on their icons. If I inspect the html, I see my little town's getting 13508 MPH winds! Ten times Concorde's speed!
I think whoever wins will make it to the election.
I’m minded to agree, it feels to me overpriced due to the musical chairs we all endured from them in the last 8 years. If they’re polling within a few points of Labour either way, I’m not convinced there’ll be any desire to change.
The one caveat I’d make to that is how well they work with others. Badenoch for instance has often been accused of being able to start a fight in an empty room, if she p*sses enough people off that could see her go.
The challenge for the Tories is simple - who are they?
If it was clear what modern Toryism was, we could find a way for a leader to lead it. But they seem to have long abandoned things like capitalism and conservatism, and instead march to the tune of Farage's pipe. That Farage is an agitator with zero policies or a plan to govern and yet they still want him demonstrates how far from safety they are.
The final 2 both represent the bonkers wing of the party, and with so few MPs the new leader will be sat on a hair-trigger before the letters trip the 22 into another entertaining blue on blue festival. If LOTO tries to keep MPs on board they lose the membership and get ousted by another further out in bonkers space. If they try to outmanoeuvre other insaniacs they get ousted by the Hunt caucus of MPs.
In short, the party looks unleadable. Hence the likelihood of another contest(s) before the election.
At least the sun will be shining tomorrow as you deal with the wreckage.
Ultra-hurricane force winds tomorrow as well. We'll have to wait until the weekend to sort out the flattened wreckage of England.
But oh no! Edinburgh is getting 17247 MPH winds!
In fact, it's worse than I thought. The figure's so large that it won't fit on their icons. If I inspect the html, I see my little town's getting 13508 MPH winds! Ten times Concorde's speed!
On topic, it does suggest that there's something wrong with the Conservative leadership process. Either it's too easy to dump a leader (fifteen percent Mean Girl notes is too low a bar), or the electoral system isn't delivering quality leaders with a decent mandate.
Or a bit of both.
I think the key problem is a hang over from the Brexit Wars, when internal Tory party conflict was substituted for politics across the country as a whole.
Even though Labour has just won a huge landslide, the Tories don't take them seriously as a competitor in British politics. Nor do they take Reform seriously, except as a repository for protest votes, and as an argument in the political struggle that really matters - the one inside the Conservative party.
This is why they now remind me of Trotskyists. The internal factional struggle is the most important. If the Tories do badly at the locals next year, this is going to come as a bit if a shock given the dismissive attitude towards non-Tories (it shouldn't, because 2021 was a Tory high point). It could easily set off another period of internal struggle within the Tories.
And all the while there's Farage and the refrain: Don't cha wish your leader was fun like me? Don't cha?
Agree verymuch, LP.
There seems to be no recognition by the Party that they threw away an 80 seat majority and are now down to 121 MPs.
Another manifestation of the lack of normal parliamentary time since the election. It may take a fair bit of trooping through the lobbies and losing by 150 votes every time before the diminished status of the Conservatives sinks in.
Do either of the Magnificent Two have the gumption to keep going when it's so obviously futile?
In the if-it's-true-I'm-dead-anyway-and-if-not-it's-hilarious way.
I'd think 13,000 MPH winds would demolish pretty much anything above ground level; and might well suffocate those underground not in specialist bunkers.
On topic, it does suggest that there's something wrong with the Conservative leadership process. Either it's too easy to dump a leader (fifteen percent Mean Girl notes is too low a bar), or the electoral system isn't delivering quality leaders with a decent mandate.
Or a bit of both.
Not a bad visual representation of not just Cleverly’s air shot but the whole Tory leadership process.
At least the sun will be shining tomorrow as you deal with the wreckage.
Ultra-hurricane force winds tomorrow as well. We'll have to wait until the weekend to sort out the flattened wreckage of England.
But oh no! Edinburgh is getting 17247 MPH winds!
In fact, it's worse than I thought. The figure's so large that it won't fit on their icons. If I inspect the html, I see my little town's getting 13508 MPH winds! Ten times Concorde's speed!
Best bring in the washing.
Ballard's 'The Wind from Nowhere' really rattled me when I read it as a spotty teenager. Been finding myself remembering it all of a sudden this last day or two.
In the if-it's-true-I'm-dead-anyway-and-if-not-it's-hilarious way.
I'd think 13,000 MPH winds would demolish pretty much anything above ground level; and might well suffocate those underground not in specialist bunkers.
In the if-it's-true-I'm-dead-anyway-and-if-not-it's-hilarious way.
I'd think 13,000 MPH winds would demolish pretty much anything above ground level; and might well suffocate those underground not in specialist bunkers.
"Some sort of hat would be in order"
Might be prudent to take a spare, just in case the first gets blown off.
I’m in East London, and as I look out of the window I can see the leaves rustling a little: gentle breeze, I’d say. So, it looks like West Silvertown has been very fortunate indeed.
On topic, it does suggest that there's something wrong with the Conservative leadership process. Either it's too easy to dump a leader (fifteen percent Mean Girl notes is too low a bar), or the electoral system isn't delivering quality leaders with a decent mandate.
Or a bit of both.
They’ve been undone by the voting system. None of this would have happened if they had AV. Cleverly would then have come through on second preferences.
But they have, from a politics watcher’s perspective, delivered the tantalising prospect of a Kemi leadership which should be anything but dull.
I've seen faster, though grid point storms are unusual over Europe.
Faster than 13508 MPH?
Yes. It's a numerical instability in the model, which is normally caught when the model crashes after a negative number and/or a divide by zero.
If it becomes quasi-stable they can persist for a while, though normally that only happens somewhere like the edge of Antarctica. Meteogroup really should have had a filter in their downscaling for something like this though.
Reposting from previous thread as it's pertinent to this one ...
My immediate reaction to the result yesterday was that it made it more likely Cleverly would lead the Tories into the next election. But then I had another think about it. In contriving to lose from a winning position of such strength he exhibited a level of political skill so low that he has surely disqualified himself from ever competing for the top job again. I always thought he was the best of the bad bunch. But maybe there really wasn't ever a best choice at all.
You have to be pretty demonstrably incapable - think IDS - not to get a go at a general election as opposition leader.
Pity me! - I’m landing at Gatwick later today and the forecast winds are 13,322mph
That’s going to be BUMPY
That'll be the least of your worries flying into Gatwick . The flight is the easy bit. The longest part of the journey is the service bus from the terminal to the long stay car park.
On the upside with the prevailing wind behind you your flight will only take a couple of minutes.
Is it too early to off topic from the Tory psycho-drama?
We get lots and lots of Trump positive polls on here from a particular poster so I thought is there an alternative view to a comfortable Trump College win?
I expect Harris to win comfortably, but I'm not convinced that his predictable opinion holds any significant weight.
That’s my feeling, too, based on little more than political instinct having experienced a fair few elections in all capacities during my lifetime.
The many Americans on the ship are much more willing to discuss the election now they are free of home soil. There aren’t any Trump supporters on board that I have encountered - indeed I remember Jon Sopel asking a packed theatre on the ship whether anyone supported Trump some years ago, and found one couple.
But despite all having early-voted for Harris, they all expect Trump to win, unlike me. One said that Americans would never elect a black woman. They mostly expect the resolution of the election to drag out over days afterwards with lots of legal shenanigans, and many expect some serious urban disorder in the aftermath. For a perennially optimistic people, there’s a deep gloom about their political future. The best you get is the thought that the US has been through violence and disruption before but always pulled through. In the end.
Reposting from previous thread as it's pertinent to this one ...
My immediate reaction to the result yesterday was that it made it more likely Cleverly would lead the Tories into the next election. But then I had another think about it. In contriving to lose from a winning position of such strength he exhibited a level of political skill so low that he has surely disqualified himself from ever competing for the top job again. I always thought he was the best of the bad bunch. But maybe there really wasn't ever a best choice at all.
You have to be pretty demonstrably incapable - think IDS - not to get a go at a general election as opposition leader.
I've seen faster, though grid point storms are unusual over Europe.
Faster than 13508 MPH?
Yes. It's a numerical instability in the model, which is normally caught when the model crashes after a negative number and/or a divide by zero.
If it becomes quasi-stable they can persist for a while, though normally that only happens somewhere like the edge of Antarctica. Meteogroup really should have had a filter in their downscaling for something like this though.
Interesting (certainly more interesting than random data corruption/mishandling between the model and the website). I feel like there's an opening here for somebody to explain to a wider audience what actually happened since it's caught the public eye in this case (though perhaps the audience for it would only be me ;-))
On topic, it does suggest that there's something wrong with the Conservative leadership process. Either it's too easy to dump a leader (fifteen percent Mean Girl notes is too low a bar), or the electoral system isn't delivering quality leaders with a decent mandate.
Or a bit of both.
Not a bad visual representation of not just Cleverly’s air shot but the whole Tory leadership process.
One other thought - Farage is not going to do a deal with the Tories that does not have him in charge.
Were the Tories foolish enough to let him back into their party at all, let alone as leader, then a good third to a half of the membership and possibly more MPs would be immediately politically homeless and the party would split. "Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad" really applies here.
The Tories are not just exhausted, they are bereft of leadership: a choice of a loose cannon or a sleaze merchant. They are bereft of policies: still failing to understand the need for massive upgrades of UK infrastructure and a major change in economic direction. They are bereft of principles: still believing that withdrawal from the ECHR solves "immigration".
Many previously Conservative supporters, the "normal" wing, must be in confusion and even despair this morning.
If the Tories have Farage back as leader, it may splinter off some of the left of the party - but at the same time, it heals the huge chasm that's been opened up by Reform. A lot of the BigG types will huff and puff, but still vote for them at the next election anyway - that's party loyalists for you. (I'm not tribal - I would vote for anyone with what I consider are the right policies, but for a surprising number of activists it's just about getting their team to win!).
There is no point in the Tories trying to out LibDem the LibDems. They won't be any good at it, and the LibDem voters will still vote LibDem. There's much more hope of recovering votes which went to Reform, and making Nigel leader would be the easiest way to do that.
If they can manage to put together a plausible anti-immigration, socially conservative, pro-business, low tax coalition, they almost certainly have the next election in the bag, especially given how venal and incompetent Labour is turning out to be.
I've seen faster, though grid point storms are unusual over Europe.
Faster than 13508 MPH?
Yes. It's a numerical instability in the model, which is normally caught when the model crashes after a negative number and/or a divide by zero.
If it becomes quasi-stable they can persist for a while, though normally that only happens somewhere like the edge of Antarctica. Meteogroup really should have had a filter in their downscaling for something like this though.
Interesting (certainly more interesting than random data corruption/mishandling between the model and the website). I feel like there's an opening here for somebody to explain to a wider audience what actually happened since it's caught the public eye in this case (though perhaps the audience for it would only be me ;-))
Mrs J and I have been discussing what the error might have been. The numbers are too variable for it to be a simple unsigned int overflow; a WAG would be something weird occurring in the conversion from pressures to speed.
On topic, it does suggest that there's something wrong with the Conservative leadership process. Either it's too easy to dump a leader (fifteen percent Mean Girl notes is too low a bar), or the electoral system isn't delivering quality leaders with a decent mandate.
Or a bit of both.
Not a bad visual representation of not just Cleverly’s air shot but the whole Tory leadership process.
Reposting from previous thread as it's pertinent to this one ...
My immediate reaction to the result yesterday was that it made it more likely Cleverly would lead the Tories into the next election. But then I had another think about it. In contriving to lose from a winning position of such strength he exhibited a level of political skill so low that he has surely disqualified himself from ever competing for the top job again. I always thought he was the best of the bad bunch. But maybe there really wasn't ever a best choice at all.
You have to be pretty demonstrably incapable - think IDS - not to get a go at a general election as opposition leader.
Harsh on John Smith.
Are you saying being dead doesn't make you demonstrably incapable of being PM?
I suppose we've had one or two who are brain dead, but a pulse does appear to be a minimum qualification, even in these woke times.
On topic, it does suggest that there's something wrong with the Conservative leadership process. Either it's too easy to dump a leader (fifteen percent Mean Girl notes is too low a bar), or the electoral system isn't delivering quality leaders with a decent mandate.
Or a bit of both.
I think the key problem is a hang over from the Brexit Wars, when internal Tory party conflict was substituted for politics across the country as a whole.
Even though Labour has just won a huge landslide, the Tories don't take them seriously as a competitor in British politics. Nor do they take Reform seriously, except as a repository for protest votes, and as an argument in the political struggle that really matters - the one inside the Conservative party.
This is why they now remind me of Trotskyists. The internal factional struggle is the most important. If the Tories do badly at the locals next year, this is going to come as a bit if a shock given the dismissive attitude towards non-Tories (it shouldn't, because 2021 was a Tory high point). It could easily set off another period of internal struggle within the Tories.
And all the while there's Farage and the refrain: Don't cha wish your leader was fun like me? Don't cha?
The generally accepted view of leadership elections is that you should present yourself as quite militant to attract the people who can be bothered to join a party, then tack to the centre to get floating voters. It's how every Labour and Tory leader in recent memory has won. I think Jenrick would fit the pattern, though he doesn't seem likeable enough to appeal to many centrists. Badenoch would be different and I don't think we can predict exactly how it would work out.
I think whoever wins will make it to the election.
I’m minded to agree, it feels to me overpriced due to the musical chairs we all endured from them in the last 8 years. If they’re polling within a few points of Labour either way, I’m not convinced there’ll be any desire to change.
The one caveat I’d make to that is how well they work with others. Badenoch for instance has often been accused of being able to start a fight in an empty room, if she p*sses enough people off that could see her go.
The challenge for the Tories is simple - who are they?
If it was clear what modern Toryism was, we could find a way for a leader to lead it. But they seem to have long abandoned things like capitalism and conservatism, and instead march to the tune of Farage's pipe. That Farage is an agitator with zero policies or a plan to govern and yet they still want him demonstrates how far from safety they are.
The final 2 both represent the bonkers wing of the party, and with so few MPs the new leader will be sat on a hair-trigger before the letters trip the 22 into another entertaining blue on blue festival. If LOTO tries to keep MPs on board they lose the membership and get ousted by another further out in bonkers space. If they try to outmanoeuvre other insaniacs they get ousted by the Hunt caucus of MPs.
In short, the party looks unleadable. Hence the likelihood of another contest(s) before the election.
I don't agree Rochdale. Kemi's views aren't extreme. She just makes little attempt to sugar coat them. I don't really know what Jenrick thinks.
I think Kemi at least has a good opportunity to define what modern Conservatism does mean. Well, both of them do - but Kemi seems more of the thinker. Have you seen the TED talk she did that WilliamGlenn posted the link to last night?
She is, though, going to get painted as a mad extremist, because that's what happens to unapologetic Tories. It will be interesting to see how she responds.
One other thought - Farage is not going to do a deal with the Tories that does not have him in charge.
Were the Tories foolish enough to let him back into their party at all, let alone as leader, then a good third to a half of the membership and possibly more MPs would be immediately politically homeless and the party would split. "Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad" really applies here.
The Tories are not just exhausted, they are bereft of leadership: a choice of a loose cannon or a sleaze merchant. They are bereft of policies: still failing to understand the need for massive upgrades of UK infrastructure and a major change in economic direction. They are bereft of principles: still believing that withdrawal from the ECHR solves "immigration".
Many previously Conservative supporters, the "normal" wing, must be in confusion and even despair this morning.
On topic, it does suggest that there's something wrong with the Conservative leadership process. Either it's too easy to dump a leader (fifteen percent Mean Girl notes is too low a bar), or the electoral system isn't delivering quality leaders with a decent mandate.
Or a bit of both.
Not a bad visual representation of not just Cleverly’s air shot but the whole Tory leadership process.
After a restless night thinking of the people in Florida, I needed a good laugh to start the day. Thank you, PB, and thanks to the providers of the amusement.
I use the Met Office website which boringly matches the calm sea visible from here, so I'd have known nothing of the hurricane engulfing the UK.
I think whoever wins will make it to the election.
I’m minded to agree, it feels to me overpriced due to the musical chairs we all endured from them in the last 8 years. If they’re polling within a few points of Labour either way, I’m not convinced there’ll be any desire to change.
The one caveat I’d make to that is how well they work with others. Badenoch for instance has often been accused of being able to start a fight in an empty room, if she p*sses enough people off that could see her go.
The challenge for the Tories is simple - who are they?
If it was clear what modern Toryism was, we could find a way for a leader to lead it. But they seem to have long abandoned things like capitalism and conservatism, and instead march to the tune of Farage's pipe. That Farage is an agitator with zero policies or a plan to govern and yet they still want him demonstrates how far from safety they are.
The final 2 both represent the bonkers wing of the party, and with so few MPs the new leader will be sat on a hair-trigger before the letters trip the 22 into another entertaining blue on blue festival. If LOTO tries to keep MPs on board they lose the membership and get ousted by another further out in bonkers space. If they try to outmanoeuvre other insaniacs they get ousted by the Hunt caucus of MPs.
In short, the party looks unleadable. Hence the likelihood of another contest(s) before the election.
I don't agree Rochdale. Kemi's views aren't extreme. She just makes little attempt to sugar coat them. I don't really know what Jenrick thinks.
I think Kemi at least has a good opportunity to define what modern Conservatism does mean. Well, both of them do - but Kemi seems more of the thinker. Have you seen the TED talk she did that WilliamGlenn posted the link to last night?
She is, though, going to get painted as a mad extremist, because that's what happens to unapologetic Tories. It will be interesting to see how she responds.
Ed Davey in particular will be delighted. I can’t see how either of these two help bring back the blue wall - and given the number of seats, reversing their losses there is the only road back to power for the Tories.
I think whoever wins will make it to the election.
I’m minded to agree, it feels to me overpriced due to the musical chairs we all endured from them in the last 8 years. If they’re polling within a few points of Labour either way, I’m not convinced there’ll be any desire to change.
The one caveat I’d make to that is how well they work with others. Badenoch for instance has often been accused of being able to start a fight in an empty room, if she p*sses enough people off that could see her go.
The challenge for the Tories is simple - who are they?
If it was clear what modern Toryism was, we could find a way for a leader to lead it. But they seem to have long abandoned things like capitalism and conservatism, and instead march to the tune of Farage's pipe. That Farage is an agitator with zero policies or a plan to govern and yet they still want him demonstrates how far from safety they are.
The final 2 both represent the bonkers wing of the party, and with so few MPs the new leader will be sat on a hair-trigger before the letters trip the 22 into another entertaining blue on blue festival. If LOTO tries to keep MPs on board they lose the membership and get ousted by another further out in bonkers space. If they try to outmanoeuvre other insaniacs they get ousted by the Hunt caucus of MPs.
In short, the party looks unleadable. Hence the likelihood of another contest(s) before the election.
It's not my politics, but I still think putting together a coherent and detailed programme from a quite hard right position with all the necessary compromises and accepted consequences laid bare could work acceptably well for the Tories. Be hardcore but also be grown up about that.
Then get in Reform's face on detail and take them on head on as the bunch of chancers they are.
It is clear from Europe that hard right politics gets you somewhere, and if the Tories need to occupy that position, Reform must be squashed.
I think whoever wins will make it to the election.
I’m minded to agree, it feels to me overpriced due to the musical chairs we all endured from them in the last 8 years. If they’re polling within a few points of Labour either way, I’m not convinced there’ll be any desire to change.
The one caveat I’d make to that is how well they work with others. Badenoch for instance has often been accused of being able to start a fight in an empty room, if she p*sses enough people off that could see her go.
The challenge for the Tories is simple - who are they?
If it was clear what modern Toryism was, we could find a way for a leader to lead it. But they seem to have long abandoned things like capitalism and conservatism, and instead march to the tune of Farage's pipe. That Farage is an agitator with zero policies or a plan to govern and yet they still want him demonstrates how far from safety they are.
The final 2 both represent the bonkers wing of the party, and with so few MPs the new leader will be sat on a hair-trigger before the letters trip the 22 into another entertaining blue on blue festival. If LOTO tries to keep MPs on board they lose the membership and get ousted by another further out in bonkers space. If they try to outmanoeuvre other insaniacs they get ousted by the Hunt caucus of MPs.
In short, the party looks unleadable. Hence the likelihood of another contest(s) before the election.
It's not my politics, but I still think putting together a coherent and detailed programme from a quite hard right position with all the necessary compromises and accepted consequences laid bare could work acceptably well for the Tories. Be hardcore but also be grown up about that.
Then get in Reform's face on detail and take them on head on as the bunch of chancers they are.
It is clear from Europe that hard right politics gets you somewhere, and if the Tories need to occupy that position, Reform must be squashed.
That would have been Priti Patel, eliminated in the first round of this selection.
I think whoever wins will make it to the election.
I’m minded to agree, it feels to me overpriced due to the musical chairs we all endured from them in the last 8 years. If they’re polling within a few points of Labour either way, I’m not convinced there’ll be any desire to change.
The one caveat I’d make to that is how well they work with others. Badenoch for instance has often been accused of being able to start a fight in an empty room, if she p*sses enough people off that could see her go.
The challenge for the Tories is simple - who are they?
If it was clear what modern Toryism was, we could find a way for a leader to lead it. But they seem to have long abandoned things like capitalism and conservatism, and instead march to the tune of Farage's pipe. That Farage is an agitator with zero policies or a plan to govern and yet they still want him demonstrates how far from safety they are.
The final 2 both represent the bonkers wing of the party, and with so few MPs the new leader will be sat on a hair-trigger before the letters trip the 22 into another entertaining blue on blue festival. If LOTO tries to keep MPs on board they lose the membership and get ousted by another further out in bonkers space. If they try to outmanoeuvre other insaniacs they get ousted by the Hunt caucus of MPs.
In short, the party looks unleadable. Hence the likelihood of another contest(s) before the election.
It's not my politics, but I still think putting together a coherent and detailed programme from a quite hard right position with all the necessary compromises and accepted consequences laid bare could work acceptably well for the Tories. Be hardcore but also be grown up about that.
Then get in Reform's face on detail and take them on head on as the bunch of chancers they are.
It is clear from Europe that hard right politics gets you somewhere, and if the Tories need to occupy that position, Reform must be squashed.
That would have been Priti Patel, eliminated in the first round of this selection.
The real danger for this country is that Starmer’s Labour might be beatable with a score below 35 in the polls, and well beatable too. Cue the equivalent of the Tories accidentally winning in 2005 and having to implement that programme. Or Starmer accidentally winning in 2024….
Pity me! - I’m landing at Gatwick later today and the forecast winds are 13,322mph
That’s going to be BUMPY
That'll be the least of your worries flying into Gatwick . The flight is the easy bit. The longest part of the journey is the service bus from the terminal to the long stay car park.
On the upside with the prevailing wind behind you your flight will only take a couple of minutes.
Serious question. This is @Leon - why would he drive from Camden to Gatwick and leave the vehicle for a week?
To do it by rail the journey is approx 1hr vs 2hrs, and the cost ~£30 vs ~£200 once the car has been in the long-stay car park for a week.
The difference would get him a Thai massage in Geneva.
A banner has appeared saying they are having some data problems
Meanwhile, the October ‘74 election - the first I remember, and the start of my interest and involvement in politics - was fifty years ago today. And it’s Thursday again.
Comments
My immediate reaction to the result yesterday was that it made it more likely Cleverly would lead the Tories into the next election. But then I had another think about it. In contriving to lose from a winning position of such strength he exhibited a level of political skill so low that he has surely disqualified himself from ever competing for the top job again. I always thought he was the best of the bad bunch. But maybe there really wasn't ever a best choice at all.
The Tories are clearly exhausted. I doubt they have the energy or the cohesion to go through yet another leadership selection.
Hope you get better soon.
Key will be who Kemi/Bobby J puts in their Shadow Cabinet and who gets excluded. It's hard to mount a 1922 committee challenge without at least some front bench experience.
Or a bit of both.
Hypothetical question, thinking, in particular, about Badenoch. If Liz Truss were the winning candidate to become Tory leader for the first time in this current election, how long would she serve as LOTO?
It becomes a real issue when only 15% is needed to trigger a vote of confidence.
We get lots and lots of Trump positive polls on here from a particular poster so I thought is there an alternative view to a comfortable Trump College win?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/michael-moore-prediction-president-trump-2024-b2625420.html
The Tories are not just exhausted, they are bereft of leadership: a choice of a loose cannon or a sleaze merchant. They are bereft of policies: still failing to understand the need for massive upgrades of UK infrastructure and a major change in economic direction. They are bereft of principles: still believing that withdrawal from the ECHR solves "immigration".
Many previously Conservative supporters, the "normal" wing, must be in confusion and even despair this morning.
It could be an easy gig or an extremely tough one. In the latter case, I doubt either of the two are really up to the challenge.
Is Badenoch, are any of them, ready to grovel for attention? I'm not entirely convinced.
IDS lasted 2 years
Michael Howard 2 years
David Cameron 11 years
Theresa May 3 years
Boris Johnson 3 years
Liz Truss 7 weeks
Rishi Sunak 2 years
The one caveat I’d make to that is how well they work with others. Badenoch for instance has often been accused of being able to start a fight in an empty room, if she p*sses enough people off that could see her go.
Not least because the measure would have benefitted their voters equally, perhaps even more than Democrats.
@CalebRudow, Democratic Rep. from Buncombe County, filed a bill to extend the voter registration deadline to 10/16 & allow absentee ballots 3 more days to arrive to accommodate the survivors of #Helene & protect their right to vote.
The entire House Republican Caucus voted no.
https://x.com/juliefornc/status/1844086227592675637
5465 MPH winds!
But only 3508 MPH in London:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2643743
F1: not a surprise, but some info on Alpine being dysfunctional with half the team it seems not reporting to the team principal.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/former-alpine-chief-szafnauer-claims-he-had-absolutely-nothing-to-do-with.7ahHe9BAUOS8IyMBMCbwgh
On-topic: I was astonished by the Cleverly result.
If Trump loses - and loses narrowly - then its a severe risk of major political agitation at best, violence as the mid case scenario, and another attempted coup at worse.
Trump voters - fed by the sycophants inside the GOP -and client media - are being told this could be the last election. We saw what happened last time, and that was just a warm-up for what they can unleash this time.
The major difference? Trump isn't president, and the sitting president is on his way out. Which means a likely strong reaction from the federal authorities to Trump shenanigans. Which makes it even more likely that it kicks off.
We need Harris to win big.
Even though Labour has just won a huge landslide, the Tories don't take them seriously as a competitor in British politics. Nor do they take Reform seriously, except as a repository for protest votes, and as an argument in the political struggle that really matters - the one inside the Conservative party.
This is why they now remind me of Trotskyists. The internal factional struggle is the most important. If the Tories do badly at the locals next year, this is going to come as a bit if a shock given the dismissive attitude towards non-Tories (it shouldn't, because 2021 was a Tory high point). It could easily set off another period of internal struggle within the Tories.
And all the while there's Farage and the refrain:
Don't cha wish your leader was fun like me?
Don't cha?
I have now traded to a position that leaves me pretty much where I started.
I shall ask my mum who she is voting for and lump on that. She has picked the winner in all the previous contests that went to the members.
Which is one reason why it's so hilarious when Labour (in the current case) supporting posters say after (but never before) a candidate is eliminated "he's the one I was scared of".
There seems to be no recognition by the Party that they threw away an 80 seat majority and are now down to 121 MPs.
But oh no! Edinburgh is getting 17247 MPH winds!
In fact, it's worse than I thought. The figure's so large that it won't fit on their icons. If I inspect the html, I see my little town's getting 13508 MPH winds! Ten times Concorde's speed!
And this in a week when both the Chemistry and Physics Nobel prizes have been dished out to AI computer geeks.
If it was clear what modern Toryism was, we could find a way for a leader to lead it. But they seem to have long abandoned things like capitalism and conservatism, and instead march to the tune of Farage's pipe. That Farage is an agitator with zero policies or a plan to govern and yet they still want him demonstrates how far from safety they are.
The final 2 both represent the bonkers wing of the party, and with so few MPs the new leader will be sat on a hair-trigger before the letters trip the 22 into another entertaining blue on blue festival. If LOTO tries to keep MPs on board they lose the membership and get ousted by another further out in bonkers space. If they try to outmanoeuvre other insaniacs they get ousted by the Hunt caucus of MPs.
In short, the party looks unleadable. Hence the likelihood of another contest(s) before the election.
Marist have Trump ahead by only 4 points 51 to 47 .
Do either of the Magnificent Two have the gumption to keep going when it's so obviously futile?
In the if-it's-true-I'm-dead-anyway-and-if-not-it's-hilarious way.
I'd think 13,000 MPH winds would demolish pretty much anything above ground level; and might well suffocate those underground not in specialist bunkers.
https://x.com/dachshundcolin/status/1844038584694935937?s=61&t=LYVEHh2mqFy1oUJAdCfe-Q
Well it didn't take long for all of us to lose interest in the Conservative leadership bunfight.
But they have, from a politics watcher’s perspective, delivered the tantalising prospect of a Kemi leadership which should be anything but dull.
If it becomes quasi-stable they can persist for a while, though normally that only happens somewhere like the edge of Antarctica. Meteogroup really should have had a filter in their downscaling for something like this though.
That’s going to be BUMPY
On the upside with the prevailing wind behind you your flight will only take a couple of minutes.
The many Americans on the ship are much more willing to discuss the election now they are free of home soil. There aren’t any Trump supporters on board that I have encountered - indeed I remember Jon Sopel asking a packed theatre on the ship whether anyone supported Trump some years ago, and found one couple.
But despite all having early-voted for Harris, they all expect Trump to win, unlike me. One said that Americans would never elect a black woman. They mostly expect the resolution of the election to drag out over days afterwards with lots of legal shenanigans, and many expect some serious urban disorder in the aftermath. For a perennially optimistic people, there’s a deep gloom about their political future. The best you get is the thought that the US has been through violence and disruption before but always pulled through. In the end.
Who wins the resulting by-elections?
There is no point in the Tories trying to out LibDem the LibDems. They won't be any good at it, and the LibDem voters will still vote LibDem. There's much more hope of recovering votes which went to Reform, and making Nigel leader would be the easiest way to do that.
If they can manage to put together a plausible anti-immigration, socially conservative, pro-business, low tax coalition, they almost certainly have the next election in the bag, especially given how venal and incompetent Labour is turning out to be.
I suppose we've had one or two who are brain dead, but a pulse does appear to be a minimum qualification, even in these woke times.
Kemi's views aren't extreme. She just makes little attempt to sugar coat them.
I don't really know what Jenrick thinks.
I think Kemi at least has a good opportunity to define what modern Conservatism does mean. Well, both of them do - but Kemi seems more of the thinker. Have you seen the TED talk she did that WilliamGlenn posted the link to last night?
She is, though, going to get painted as a mad extremist, because that's what happens to unapologetic Tories. It will be interesting to see how she responds.
I use the Met Office website which boringly matches the calm sea visible from here, so I'd have known nothing of the hurricane engulfing the UK.
Good morning, everyone.
Then get in Reform's face on detail and take them on head on as the bunch of chancers they are.
It is clear from Europe that hard right politics gets you somewhere, and if the Tories need to occupy that position, Reform must be squashed.
Lovely to see it and well done Joe
703 - 4
To do it by rail the journey is approx 1hr vs 2hrs, and the cost ~£30 vs ~£200 once the car has been in the long-stay car park for a week.
The difference would get him a Thai massage in Geneva.
Meanwhile, the October ‘74 election - the first I remember, and the start of my interest and involvement in politics - was fifty years ago today. And it’s Thursday again.