UK General Discussion:The Rt. Hon Alex Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, Populist Hero

[Geoffrey Howe]

As for Batley, there is a much smaller Brexit Party vote for the Tories to gain, but it still seems quite possible to me.

[Geoffrey Howe]

On a separate note, there’s an interesting article in The Spectator about what is likely to become an important political issue (and divide Northern and Southern Tories?) - selling homes for social care.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/selling-the-family-home-to-pay-for-care-is-not-an-injustice

It reminded of the farrago in 2017 when Mrs May unveiled her policy to make some pay by selling their homes only to U-turn a few days later. Ken Clarke said it was the only sensible policy proposed in the entire campaign.

[Conservatopia]

As for Batley, there is a much smaller Brexit Party vote for the Tories to gain, but it still seems quite possible to me.

The Heavy Woollen crowd are pro-Brexit and ex-UKIP so if they don't run a candidate Tories might have a chance.

[CumbrianLefty]

They have hinted that they will run, pending an "official" announcement soon.

[Silent Hunter]

Heavy Woollen crowd?

[YL]

Heavy Woollen crowd?

Heavy Woollen District Independents, a decidedly right wing Local Party For Local People who did rather well in the 2019 election there and arguably took enough votes from the Tories to stop them winning.

[Lord Halifax]

They have hinted that they will run, pending an "official" announcement soon.

If the Heavy Woollen crowd run and Labour nominates Jo Cox' sister Kim Leadbeater (and the leader of Batley council Shabir Pandor has just endorsed her, which probably signals that she's the favourite now) Labour should be able to win this.

[CumbrianLefty]

Its also not a very volatile seat, going back to when it was created in 1983.

(Labour's swing when they won it in 1997 was a well below average 7%)

[S019]

New poll has Tories+13 and says they would expand their majority.

https://mobile.twitter.com/ElectCalculus/status/1393606260822585351

[Geoffrey Howe]

New poll has Tories+13 and says they would expand their majority.

https://mobile.twitter.com/ElectCalculus/status/1393606260822585351

If we don't have many problems caused by the 'Indian variant,' I can imagine this being the case for much of the summer as we open up. Frankly, however, I do not think it worth much time predicting beyond that; after all, we do not know what Mr Sunak will do in the aftermath of COVID, and it must be remembered what we were thinking in December. Things are changing rather quickly.

[Conservatopia]

The government will have to deal with real issues that aren't pandemic related and they will inevitably screw up.  Failing upwards is how it's done here.

Furthermore there is growing frustration within the party at Johnson's embrace of all the green crap that the left normally promotes.  This could become a problem too.

[Geoffrey Howe]

Furthermore there is growing frustration within the party at Johnson's embrace of all the green crap that the left normally promotes.  This could become a problem too.

Eh? What has he done?

[YL]

Its also not a very volatile seat, going back to when it was created in 1983.

(Labour's swing when they won it in 1997 was a well below average 7%)

I think that had a fair amount to do with the popularity of Elizabeth Peacock.

[CumbrianLefty]

Well yes, but that result fits a longer term pattern is my point.

[Geoffrey Howe]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57176858

Rail to come under unified state control. There will be private contracting though.

When will the Tory right get fed up?

[Cassius]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57176858

Rail to come under unified state control. There will be private contracting though.

When will the Tory right get fed up?

Probably never. There are very few MP’s from the pre-Cameron intakes, who tended to be more doctrinaire when it came to shrinking the state, left over. Whilst there are some fairly old-school economic liberals from the 2010 intake in particular (including in the present cabinet), I think most Conservative MP’s are primarily concerned with winning elections these days and this sort of thing is fairly popular with the public so they’ll let it slide.

The primary ‘economic’ issues that will cause problems for the government from the right are likely to be taxation and the various aspects of the government’s ‘green agenda’, both things over which Johnson should be very careful indeed.

[Blair]

The striking thing about the railways was that it's been the Conservative MPs who were making the most noise against the rip off charges, poor service and absolute sh**t show that is Southern Rail, South-Western Rail etc.

The previous franchising system was a house of cards & a racket, and this system still gives people who actually oppose nationalisation a way of saying it's still run by the private sector.

[TheTide]

Bad sandwiches etc.

[CumbrianLefty]

The "classic" was the British Rail pork pie.

[Conservatopia]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57176858

Rail to come under unified state control. There will be private contracting though.

When will the Tory right get fed up?

I personally don't care but I'm sure somebody somewhere will.

A little bit sad to see the GWR name will be dropped but hopefully they will keep the branding despite the actual organisation disappearing.

I think Great British Railways is a good name.

[Geoffrey Howe]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57176858

Rail to come under unified state control. There will be private contracting though.

When will the Tory right get fed up?

I personally don't care but I'm sure somebody somewhere will.

A little bit sad to see the GWR name will be dropped but hopefully they will keep the branding despite the actual organisation disappearing.

I think Great British Railways is a good name.

In honour of Michael 'choo-choo' Portillo?

The Adam Smith Institute seem to care about it...

In all seriousness, their articles on it are quite interesting.

[Geoffrey Howe]

Here are two interesting articles. I'm sure it's more complicated than they make out, but the figures are striking.

First of all, much of the reason ticket prices are higher than in Europe is that less of it is subsidised; i.e. we expect commuters to pay a greater share of the ticket.

In 1995, when privatisation came in, rail usage was half of what it was in 1913. In twenty years that gap was made up, with rising customer satisfaction (around 85% in 2013). This has coincided with, well, little rise in motoring costs, lower GDP growth than before, much greater comparative growth in rail usage than other European countries, lower government funding, some of the lowest accident rates in Europe (lower than France, Denmark, Germany etc.), no decline in freight along the lines, and much of the rise not driven by London.

https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/planning-transport/nationalising-the-trains-wont-solve-this-problem/
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/regulation-industry/what-would-we-consider-a-successful-railway-system/

[Silent Hunter]

The "classic" was the British Rail pork pie.

Prue Leith was actually on the BR board and got rid of those classics.

[NewYorkExpress]

Boris Johnson skipped key meetings early in pandemic to pen book on Shakespeare.

Aides to Boris Johnson fear that former advisor Dominic Cummings could claim that the UK prime minister skipped crucial coronavirus meetings to write a book on Shakespeare to fund his divorce, The Sunday Times reported.

Cabinet Office officials reportedly fear that Cummings will use his appearance before a committee of MPs investigating the government's early response to the pandemic to make damaging revelations about his former boss.

Johnson skipped five meetings of the COBRA emergency committee in the initial weeks of the pandemic in 2020.

The officials reportedly believe that Cummings will claim that Johnson needed the money from the book to fund his divorce from his second wife, Maria Wheeler.

The five meetings Johnson skipped were in late January and early February 2020, as the virus began to spread in the UK. It is customary for the prime minister to chair COBRA meetings during national crises.

[Geoffrey Howe]

David Cameron claims he earnt more money as a lobbyist than as PM. A lot of these problems might be solved if we paid PMs anything near what they might earn if they weren't in politics.