This Wretched Hive Of Scum And Villainy

[CumbrianLefty]

I’m pretty sure if a newly elected Christian leader of SNP had started his career with inviting his extended family into the official residence the first evening in to for a joint prayer, there would have been some reactions.

The difference there was that unlike the Christian, the Muslim didn’t come from a fundamentalist sect and didn’t spend half the campaign talking about how he wants to impose his religious values on the country.

Yes, the religious extremist of the two was not Yousaf and it is sheer laziness to pretend otherwise.

[CumbrianLefty]

It is such an awful look though. No wonder non-Tory parties do their best to discourage it.

[CumbrianLefty]

Labour nearly won the old Billericay off veteran right winger Teresa Gorman back in 1997 - though they were helped then by a breakaway "moderate Tory" candidacy that took a few thousand votes.

As with similar places like Romford, however, this proved a one-off high point - they fought it pretty hard in 2001 as a result but Baron became its new MP quite comfortably, and then made it safe.

(btw the post 1983 Billericay seat is not to be confused with the post-war version - a much bigger affair that included the new town of Basildon and for a while Brentwood also)

[CumbrianLefty]

Yet another gay Tory MP turns out to be an absolute rotter and resigns.

Chris Pincher
Crispin Blunt
Boris Johnson
Imran Ahmed Khan
Andrew Rosindell (Coming soon?)
Scott Benton (Coming soon?)

I didn’t know Boris was gay!

Where's the "That's The Joke" gif

[CumbrianLefty]

There's hope for Seb yet - maybe

[CumbrianLefty]

Didn't he say Brandreth Jnr was a better candidate than anybody Labour has picked (or similar)?

[CumbrianLefty]

Not condoning it, but Labour selections have been frequently "fixed" since the year dot.

[CumbrianLefty]

Unlikely to lead to a custodial sentence, if so there will be no recall.

[CumbrianLefty]

I presume she has contacted the police about the laptop allegation at least?

[CumbrianLefty]

Latest briefing from Planet Zarg is that Sunak wants to stay on as Tory leader after losing a GE because he thinks Labour might "quickly implode". Yeah, good luck with that in all respects

[CumbrianLefty]

*Feb 2023 is notable, because that's when the Times, Independent and New Scientist launched their public awareness campaign about the sewage treatment problem. In less significant

Did you mean to add something to this?

[CumbrianLefty]

Andrew Mitchell is still in the cabinet???

Notable how hacked off he sounded with Braverman's latest nonsense yesterday.

[CumbrianLefty]

Would this have been briefed by Badenoch or her team in order to rule out Gove for the Home Secretary job and also boost her image as a family values Conservative?

Presumably. It's been briefed in a way that praises Badenoch, paints Gove as a homewrecker, and then treads over the (unrelated) breakdown of his marriage. The only territory it doesn't cover are the old innuendos about his orientation.

Does it mention, well you know, white powder??

[CumbrianLefty]

Couple of notable bits in the Sunday Times:

• There's another raft of Tory MPs who are planning to retire, but they've agreed to hold off until next year, to prevent "a stench of death" overwhelming the government during the King's Speech and Autumn Statement. Includes the likes of Kit Malthouse, Greg Clark, Robert Halfon.
• While Braverman's supporters estimate their strength is 40-60 strong, Sunak believes that (based on attendence at pro-Braverman social events) there are only 6-12 ride-or-die for Suella MPs - a hardcore that includes Cates, Kruger and Lee Anderson.
• MPs are taking some of the claims from Dorries' book seriously - and demands have been made to the Chief Whip to share whether his predecessors were aware of some of the grimmest allegations.

Her defeat at the next GE is more fervently desired than most - deeply sinister individual.

[CumbrianLefty]

Do these changes mean that LIam Byrne's wretched note can - finally - be laid to rest?

[CumbrianLefty]

Proper boomer Facebook post that

Which makes it even more tragic that she misses actually being a boomer by a decade.

[CumbrianLefty]

Proper boomer Facebook post that

Which makes it even more tragic that she misses actually being a boomer by a decade.

I remember Obama (born in 1961) being described as the first post-'Boomer' president when he was first elected. It's almost as if these categories are not immune to being tweaked in order to fit certain narratives and prejudices. Or, perhaps more to the point, in order to fill the pockets of marketing companies.

I am not a fan in general of drawing arbitary lines between "generations" and giving them silly names, but in particular I have no idea how anyone can think that someone born in 1961 can be seen as the same generation as someone born in the immediate post-war years, certainly in a UK context.

Its a fair point, but "generation" tends to work out at around 18 years in this case as it likely should.

[CumbrianLefty]

Of course he had a substantial pre-politics career, but I still didn't realise he was as old as 74. That of course means this might have happened anyway, and recent events just reaffirmed it.

[CumbrianLefty]

Of course, he needs something to take the focus off Stocktongate

[CumbrianLefty]

Labour's results in the Tees Valley this year were more of a mixture than the snap judgements implied - the Hartlepool showing was actually very strong and only obscured because it still elects by thirds. Taking back control of Middlesbrough was a good solid outcome for them as well. Redcar/Cleveland was a mixed bag (in some places Labour very likely still hasn't recovered from the nonsense that went on before the 2015 elections) and Stockton was one of their relatively few results then anywhere in the country that can be fairly described as disappointing.

(the latter not helped by incredibly cynical Tory opportunism in a couple of wards)

[CumbrianLefty]

Are party HQ *really* going to try and foist Seb Payne on the Bromsgrove party membership?

[CumbrianLefty]

Are party HQ *really* going to try and foist Seb Payne on the Bromsgrove party membership?

Guess all those editorials about private schools, Brexit and Labour ending the traditional family paid off...

Not to mention the deathless "most Britons do not share our values".

[CumbrianLefty]

Are party HQ *really* going to try and foist Seb Payne on the Bromsgrove party membership?

It gives us the chance of a banter outcome where he gets imposed, an independent runs and he ends up losing a very safe seat.

And of course the independent would turn out to be cartoonishly corrupt and would fall back on populist rhetoric before being inevitably jailed. Seb Payne wouldn't be selected for the subsequent by-election but by then would be the host of some unnecessary podcast.

Labour would be quite hopeful of coming through the middle in that scenario, I would have thought.

[CumbrianLefty]

I just recall his genuinely hilarious article from Gateshead during the 2017 GE campaign.

[CumbrianLefty]

I just don't see Sunak losing a VONC if it actually comes to that.

Surely even he isn't that inept, especially given the less than stellar internal opposition?