UK General Discussion: Rishecession

[Blair]

I don’t understand why the Chancellor isn’t resigning?

His entire budget and more so the economic policy of the Government has collapsed. This is very close to being an issue that makes Governments fall.

[Blair]

Oh my this is too funny.

It also shows she is aware of just how in the sh**t she is- this isn’t a u-turn on economic policy alone but rather her entire political project. Her Government is dead if she is forced to appoint some form of ‘Dr No’ as Chancellor.

This for the record is why you shouldn’t do policy commitments in leadership bids when you’re in Government- on reflection its clear why Gove and others were so explicit about it being mad.

[Blair]

Remember when they briefed that everyone had to wear a tie in Downing Street now and it was all very serious.

Madness.

[Blair]

She’s done.

It was awful

[Blair]

Something that I think speaks to the utter lack of gravitas in Parliament these days compared to in temps jadis is that Hunt is thought of as a party grandee, a greybeard, etc. despite being fifty-five years old and in Parliament since 2005. I've posted in the past about the much shorter Commons tenures of recent PMs, but the fact that he's also younger than Kamala Harris, Mads Mikkelsen, Enrico Letta, and at least a few bikini models really drives the point home.

Yes very much this!

Hunt really should have been sacked for his role in BskyB and his record as health secretary was pretty bad despite a weird revisionist view in Westminster that claimed he was actually a good cabinet minister.

He only really became a thing when he was the last Cameronite standing in 2019 and became the ‘one-nation’ candidate- his flop this summer shows how much MPs think of him.

Its a holding pattern appointment rather than one that would radically reshape the political outlook.

[Blair]

It’s rather like when someone completely unsuited for a senior position in a school gets in and is an obvious disaster to parents, children and teachers- the school generally want to wait a year to remove them so they can claim ‘well it wasn’t really working’, but if they remove them within weeks it’s clear something very bad was going wrong- but equally if they don’t they risk a much worse outcome.

[Blair]

Curious what others think but my hunch is that no-matter who is the new leader you are not going to remove this poison from the blood- whether it’s the legacy of the current economic crash, the tension between fiscal discipline and spending, the weird 2019 coalition or just the insane collection of characters the same cards are still going to be there for PM Sunak.

[Blair]

There's an obvious flaw with that plan, and that's the need to ensure an unopposed return.

It is very weird how commentators seem to think that the ‘right’ makes up only 20-30 or MPs in the parliamentary party- when the reality is that the number is easily over 100, and a large chunk of that won’t accept a coronation.

[Blair]

I see we’re entering the Australia pol tradition of having several parliamentarians whose only function is to tell journalists how important and good they are at deposing leaders…

[Blair]

Still remarkable that in a line up of ex PMs Boris Johnson will not be the most disgraced and mocked out  of all of them.

[Blair]

Hitler levels of delusion.

The by-election quote was telling; not only do they have no legal way of forcing a by-election by Mel Stride but it’s very likely they would lose- especially if they were trying to parachute visions for Gideon into the seat!

[Blair]

Andrew Bridgen has no confidence in Liz Truss - MP no.2 to go public. No real surprise though - he put in a letter against David Cameron, Theresa May, and two in against Boris Johnson. He's almost cartoonishly antagonistic at this point.

Didn’t he also withdraw one of his letters and make a big song and dance?

I much prefer the Labour method where you need to sign nomination papers; this secret ballot really lets Tory MPs enjoy themselves far too much. You can see the table rising by 6 inches every time these sort of plots happen.

[Blair]

But you can’t remove a leader when there’s a ground war in Europe!

[Blair]

It’s funnily enough actually too early for Boris to return- has only been over a month since he actually lost office and he needs a bit more time to launder his reputation.

The weird thing will be watching Mordaunt or Sunak becoming PM- there will be a lot of write ups about how professional they and how good they are (Mordaunt is for some reason beloved by some Tories for rather indignant commons performances that are a tad self righteous) but equally they’ll be facing the same economic headwinds, the same rebellious party and the same declining state of the public realm.

[Blair]

The fact that they’re scaling the energy price support really shows how deep the hole must be.

[Blair]

The Prime Minister is not under a desk.

Words just uttered by Penny Mordaunt in the House of Commons.

[Blair]

https://twitter.com/PARLYapp/status/1582016962410209282

Detained is a very funny phrase.

[Blair]

Worth noting too with her ratings that both Johnson and Blair, even while hated, had a very vocal minority of support among their fans along with a chunk of people who didn’t like them personally but liked what their Governments had done- Truss has none of that.

The only people defending her last week where the 4 ‘socially liberal, fiscally conservative’ IEA types who’ve now changed their mind…

[Blair]

Mad this thread has 56 pages already. British politics needs a break.

[Blair]

For the Government to declare something a confidence issue and then lose said vote is the type of thing where the monarch would actually have a right to take an interest…

[Blair]

Chief whip and deputy resigned…apparently

[Blair]

Ironic that this is all based on pointless lobby games as fracking isn’t going to happen for years and won’t do anything to help with energy prices and is deeply unpopular.

[Blair]

A news presenter has called Steve Baker a C*** live on TV.

[Blair]

https://twitter.com/timfarron/status/1582691423463165952

Maybe this is Americabrained of me, but I always had a soft spot for Farron, even though I absolutely get why people had serious issues with him.

He was very unsuited for that role but is still a very interesting parliamentarian and unique- which is increasingly rare.

He is also quite funny!

[Blair]

u-turn alert.

Looks like chief whip isn’t quitting…