This Once Great Movement Of Ours

[Conservatopia]

I believe someone wrote an entire book on why this is, "why the UK gets the wrong politicians"

I think it was Isabel Hardman but don't let that put anybody off reading it - it's a good book.

[Conservatopia]

Funnily enough allowing MPs to have second jobs was actually a progressive reform because it meant that people without a wealthy background could be MP without being impoverished.  That was back before MPs were paid 80k though of course.

[Conservatopia]

And yes the Conservative Party have a relative iron fist in that all candidates have to be approved by the central party; you're placed on a list & are required to do x number of campaign days or visits.

All true - but as with anything in the Conservative Party there are no hard-and-fast ways of doing things and there can be tremendous differences from seat-to-seat and leader-to-leader. Remember when open primaries were all the rage in the Tories? Whatever

[Conservatopia]

Flaming hot take: I think Reeves is more likely to become PM than Starmer.

[Conservatopia]

I think Duffield is a fantastic, brave MP but this interview is a giant miscalculation.

[Conservatopia]

Lest we forget, Khan backed Bloomberg for President in 2020.

[Conservatopia]

What do you lefties think of the ScotsLab rebrand? I think it looks rather good.



Whether it works or not is another matter.

[Conservatopia]

Honestly I don't think the public cares about whether Bercow is a member of Labour or not.

[Conservatopia]

I just realised that I've never knowingly kissed a Tory either. Corbynites on the other hand...

Funny how things work out.

[Conservatopia]

What is it with the Lib Dems and attracting cranks ?

Ancient tradition. After all, they once had Gladstone as their leader.

How dare you.

[Conservatopia]

Labour try not to blow golden opportunities by infighting challenge (Impossible, Screaming, Vomiting)

[Conservatopia]

Just stirring the nest here:

How would you chaps react to a hypothetical story in the Times or the Tel saying that Chuka wants to make a comeback as a Labour MP?

[Conservatopia]

Serious allegations made against a shadow minister of sexual harrassment and/or assault. As long as it is all rumour, though, hard to say what is the best course for the leadership.

If no formal complaint is made it's difficult to know exactly what can be done in a situation like that. Bolsters the case for stronger oversight from Commons officials over things like this, I think.

It's actually a real problem to know what to do in all these situations. The Tory MP we're not allowed to name cannot be suspended because then his victim would be revealed. This means that in order to protect the victims the MP can technically still attend Parliament.

We also can't start suspending at the slightest allegation because that would open it up to abuse.

We can't just wait for the wheels of justice because it would mean predators are allowed onto the estate.

I say arrest all the MPs and then sift out the MPs who are clean. Both of them.

[Conservatopia]

Hopefully she's PM one day.

[Conservatopia]

Labour's PPC for my seat is a bit like that. She wasn't old enough to ever vote for Blair, has never done a day's honest work in her life (according to her LinkedIn), is hyper-online, works at Blair's Institute/cult and avoids Labour branding.

But she's good looking so she's got my vote next year.

[Conservatopia]

By far the worst FM Wales ever had. Deliberately stymied investment into infrastructure and passed the utterly absurd 20mph law just so he could worship his climate fantasy.

I always imagined Gething would be a frontrunner, he has good name recognition in Wales and seems switched on. Has a few issues perhaps but probably a safe choice overall.

[Conservatopia]

I could see myself voting Labour after the u-turn.

I guess that should make real Labour supporters worried.

[Conservatopia]

Guys I know internecine fighting is a Labour rite of passage but this has to stop.

[Conservatopia]

Question is: which prime minister would it be most shocking if it was revealed they had an affair? We know Truss, Boris, Blair, Major, Wilson, Eden, Churchill, Asquith and Lloyd George all at least have rumours of it. Macmillan stayed faithful but his wife had an affair.

If it turned out Theresa May had an affair I would get whiplash from the surprise.

Then again people probably thought that about Major too.

[Conservatopia]

I bizarrely had an email chat with him a few years back. He had no idea I was a Tory but probably wouldn't have cared.