UK General Discussion: Rishecession

[Blair]

Seb Payne, or the FT, is joining a Tory think tank as director.

No huge surprise he is a Tory ofc. Have never thought his journalism was as good as the whole of the lobby seems to think…

[Blair]

I’ve seen a bit about the voter iD requirements coming in for the locals and a map with where people are most likely not to have photo ID- it’s going to be a disaster (as it was during the pilot) but isn’t there a very big chance it hurts Conservative voters especially in where these local elections are being held?

I’m not sure how aware they are about their own voter base…

[Blair]

A good story that summed up the Conservative party’s political management skills since 2019 was when they tried to stitch up the selection of chair on an obscure cross party and relatively serious select committee.

They wanted Chris Grayling as chair (lol!), they spent ages trying to find new Tory MPs to nominate for the committee who would vote for him as chair, thought they had found some and then forgot to check with the most senior Tory on the committee who was then nominated to be chair and won because he and the opposition voted for him.

They then suspended the whip from him in a huff and gave it back some time later.

[Blair]

Raaaaaab now has more complaints being investigated.

[Blair]

The West Country (well specifically Cornwall) results are v interesting

[Blair]

A lot of Tories not only misremember Thatcher but have completely forgotten Ted Heath.

In fact the last year has been remarkably similar in some ways…

[Blair]

In the context of reform having a small bump in coverage I’ve seen a lot of Conservative MPs claim the issue of small boats is the ‘no.1’ issue on the doorstep especially in the future marginals in the Midlands, South coast and so forth.

The polling doesn’t reflect this and I assume it’s the usual tyranny of the doorstep- I obviously don’t spend my time talking to Tories on the doorstep so I remain sceptical of how much anger there actually is on this issue?

I am aware politicians frequently lie or distort what they hear- so I guess Occams Razor applies?

[Blair]

Dominic Raab is meanwhile posting about bins.

I love a cabinet minister fighting a marginal seat…

[Blair]

There’s a danger this descends into farce by the Government- the advice not to get drunk or go out on the ice unless you slip is pretty hilarious.

The ambulance strike also begs the question of will people notice a change; the service has largely been broken and crippled over the last year due to a range of reasons.

Other than the sector being ‘public sector’ they really don’t have any of their usual attack lines when it’s nurses and ambulance drivers striking.

[Blair]

https://conservativehome.com/2022/12/23/penny-mordaunt-britain-would-have-paid-a-high-price-for-choosing-chaos-with-ed-miliband/

Would they have initiated a 25-year environment plan focused on the restoration of wildlife rich habitats, planting forests and expanding marine protected areas? Would they be on course to halt species decline by 2030?

Are they still only monitoring five per cent of storm overflows, compared to the near 100 per cent monitored by this government? Did they increase investment in flood defences?

What a rallying cry for Conservatism!

What do we want?

Near to 100% monitoring of storm overflows

When do want it?

Now!

[Blair]

If you follow things closely enough you can always guess which MPs will jump up during parliamentary questions to defend certain countries.

[Blair]

We also can't pretend this is a new situation- the late Bob Wareing was nicknamed the honourable member for Belgrade & made such appalling and bigoted comments that he really should have been deselected before '97.

[Blair]

Sunaks grand new policy is to make everyone study maths until their 18.

This is one of those things which might be a good policy but as someone who despised maths and hated having to do it till I was 16 I can’t really be rationale…

[Blair]

Am I the only one who can’t understand the Tories weird ‘people’s priorities’ line?

It’s been used for a while and you assume they’ve tested it, but it just sounds vague. I say this as someone who hated labours ‘we’re the political wing of the British people’ line.

[Blair]

I still lol at ‘an NHS with time to care’- so vacuous but equally shows how far we’ve gone!

I was a bit surprised Mark Darcys speech this morning didn’t have more on the NHS- I feel Labour should really just been leaning into it all winter.

[Blair]

Very weird to see people reporting about the ‘Trussites’ plotting and trying to influence policy. In what other world would anyone remotely listen to what these people have to say?

It was the biggest calamity in over a century of British politics and these people should be ignored. It’s really as simple as that.

[Blair]

I did wonder how many other issues were like this- broadly iirc there’s support in polls for the policy, there was once a broad political consensus on it but a number of activists across party political lines (broadly!) managed to really whip up the opposition and would have support from the broadsheets and tabloids.

I know gay marriage was one where MPs had hundreds of letters against it which weren’t really representative of political opinion!

[Blair]

As is a certain ex-Labour MP not voting (yes I know about pairing, but still)

Pairing isn't possible as he's not a member of a parliamentary party. Not that it matters as it wasn't a meaningful vote.

Not a comment on any posters here but it’s remarkable how badly informed many politically engaged people are on Twitter when it comes to voting in the commons.

There’s been at least 100 occasions where a cancer ridden MP gets called a scab for missing a vote due to illness.

The solution is to have ‘abstain’ (the act of voting in both lobbies) and ‘not present’- with the chance to list a reason (trip abroad, illness etc)

It comes from the fact a lot of people think that MPs spend their entire day next to the commons- the debate and vote in this case was only known about about 4 hours before so if an MP was attending a local bridge opening they wouldn’t have been there. This isn’t D.C where votes are held open for hours or where there’s nothing else to do.

[Blair]

I’m old enough to remember when he was the thing of the future and being backed as the next leader just because he did a good media round once about the vaccine.

[Blair]

FPN issued lmao.

In the US it would have taken 9 months for a house investigation, a special counsel and then a Supreme Court case.

Have to love British politics- has been the most hilariously awful year for the Conservatives.

Fully deserved.

[Blair]

Christ that Sunday Times Story.

[Blair]

Don’t worry R***el J****n is on the Laura K show this morning.

Sums up British politics in a nutshell doesn’t it.

It’s quite fitting the only thing I can remember of any value from her show is Joe Lycett.

[Blair]

I’m starting to think Zahawi might be out- is now on the 4th day of leading the news.

[Blair]

V funny how many Tory backbench questions at PMQs are basically ‘prime minister the public realm is collapsing in my constituency’

[Blair]

When it rains, it pours - looks like Zahawi’s not the only one in the cabinet who underplayed their political vulnerability:
https://mobile.twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1618344250252627968

Part of me wondered whether Sunak would try and remove them both at the same time