UK General Discussion: Rishecession

[Middle-aged Europe]

[Middle-aged Europe]

This feels like a more sensible policy, but makes Truss look ridiculous, again. She and her surrogates have been attacking Labour for supporting a six-month (rather than two year) cap for the past fortnight, and it was her go-to attack line at the last PMQs. Now she’s adopted their position.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1581945801479446528

She merely followed her beliefs. It's just that her beliefs turned out to be wrong.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Labour lead is holding/building:
https://mobile.twitter.com/DeltapollUK/status/1582012756974182400
Word on the street is that R&W have a similarly lopsided set of figures in the poll they’re releasing at 17.00.

[Middle-aged Europe]

40+% Labour lead incoming?

How would that look in a seat projection??

[Middle-aged Europe]

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

Maybe that "urgent business" is writing her resignation statement tbf.

"Well, I gave it a try. It didn't work. Bye then."

[Middle-aged Europe]

The Prime Minister is not under a desk.

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

The Prime Minister is very definitely under a desk.

Yes, but it is a metaphorical desk or a real desk? Both is possible at this point, IMO.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Ok - there's something weird happening. Truss left Downing Street 30 minutes ago, and it's been confirmed that she's been in the Palace of Westminster, but hasn't been seen since. Mordaunt has suggested that something regrettable has happened, and that she asked to disclose the reason, but was denied.

Mordaunt has also said Truss may not come to the Commons at all today, pitching up tomorrow instead. Several times, Mordaunt has said that she "hopes" Truss will be in the Commons later, but can't guarantee it.

When asked if Truss had gone to the Palace, she deflected, rather than denying it.

Truss has killed a second monarch.

Maybe Charles has gone full House of Cards, Series 2 and has decided to fire Truss against constitutional convention.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Another wild hypothetical - Ed Davey, Leader of the Opposition?
https://twitter.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1582039734846574592

Why not?

[Middle-aged Europe]

This happens with people at the helm who are graduates of Krusty's Klown Kollege.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Nothing is more representative of Liz Truss' current situation than the lyrics of Olivia Rodrigo's Brutal.

[Middle-aged Europe]

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

And it has been one hell of a ride, with lots of ups and downs. Well, downs mostly.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Tbh rooting for Sunak purely because it would be pretty cool to have someone of Indian descent becoming pm of the uk. Otherwise I can’t speak for him whatsoever lol.

He presumably, hopefully would also be more competent.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Oh dear, oh dear. So, now it's pensions. Seriously, doesn't she have advisers or spin doctors in her office? Liz, take a cue from Portugal's Costa: Sell pensions cuts by spinning them as "pension rises", it's not that difficult.

Would Britain survive another month of Trussonomics?

[Middle-aged Europe]

Jesus Christ, call a f****ng general election already.

[Middle-aged Europe]

None of the tabloids led with "FRACKING HELL"??!  I thought Brits were meant to be the pun masters.

 I suppose the Battlestar Galactica reference would escape a lot of people.

[Middle-aged Europe]

I get the feeling that we're approaching the...

[Middle-aged Europe]

44 days

This will be one hell of a movie too.

[Middle-aged Europe]

So weak. They need to take a page from Republicans. Trump and co. would have fought till' the bitter end.

[Middle-aged Europe]

For all the Italy comparisons, note that Truss’ tenure was considerably shorter than that of the average Italian PM.

Actually, for the entire history of the Italian public, only one PM lasted less than 100 days in office: Amintore Fanfani, during his very first tenure in 1954. He lasted only 22 days in office, so he still beats Truss, but that was very much the exception rather than the rule.

Truss' tenure is more in line with the Fourth French Republic, which was far more unstable than Italy ever was. Even then, it had 21 PMs in 12 years, so an average tenure of about 7 months.

Truss also had a shorter tenure than any of the Chancellors of the Weimar Republic, barely getting beaten by Kurt von Schleicher (1932-33) at 56 days.

Her term as PM was a bit longer though than the ones of Max von Baden, the final Chancellor of the German Empire (1918), as well as Joseph Goebbels and Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, the final two Chancellors of the Third Reich (1945).

[Middle-aged Europe]

It's also worth pointing out that Truss managed to beat William Henry Harrison!

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://twitter.com/jessicaelgot/status/1583092314846941184
One day, I will be a calm and rational poster, who doesn't fall for defection rumours. But today is not that day.

And by "national interest" he means of course himself.

[Middle-aged Europe]

From the BBC liveblog:

Remarks made by 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady - that under current rules, the last two candidates from the leadership contest go to the membership unless there's only one left - suggest there is still a bit of wiggle room.

One of the wheezes that's been discussed in Parliament in the last few days is that MPs could set such a high threshold that only an MP with a lot of support would get there.

It's not certain what's going to happen, to be frank. This is an unprecedented situation.

We should have more details by the end of the day. Brady will be conscious of spelling out how the next leader will be chosen.

There are a lot of MPs who don't want this to go to the Conservative Party membership - they think a new leader needs to be chosen as quickly as possible.

The logistics of trying to consult the membership in only a week are hard to figure out - unless it was a quick online ballot. But even that would be a hard task.

As for MPs, if they're to end up choosing the next leader themselves, how can they coalesce around one person? It seems unlikely, impossible even.

So, we wait for more details on what exactly will happen.

[Middle-aged Europe]

It's easy to get rid of the PM, because this is a parliamentary and not a presidential system, where the PM is essentially selected by the party and not by the populace.

On the other hand, it is harder to call a general election because this system rarely has coalition governments that can fall apart.

[Middle-aged Europe]

A - by now deleted - tweet of the German Ministry of Economy:

[Middle-aged Europe]

William Henry Harrison resigned?