UK General Discussion:The Rt. Hon Alex Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, Populist Hero

[afleitch]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54158832

'Waspi' womern lose appeal. Which I agree with; there had to be a cut off point somewhere. And you can't bind policy to past decisions on pensions, tax and NI.

[CumbrianLefty]

lol 
https://twitter.com/ladyhaja/status/1305548261126795264

"Dear voters, here is what you could have won".

[Person Man]

Gonorrhoea cases in England hit record high

I'm sure this isn't a problem for any of our posters.

The UK is becoming Florida.

[CumbrianLefty]

But with significantly crappier weather.

[Person Man]

But with significantly crappier weather.

It was like 50 degrees when I was there in January.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-54161766

Ex-Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke has been jailed for two years for sexually assaulting two women.

Elphicke, 49, the former MP for Dover, was convicted of groping the women in similar situations, nine years apart.

He denied the charges, but was found guilty of one count of sexual assault in 2007 and two further counts in 2016, after a trial at Southwark Crown Court.

The judge told Elphicke he was a "sexual predator who used your success and respectability as a cover".

Within minutes of his jailing, Elphicke confirmed he would appeal against his conviction, arguing he had not had a "fair trial".

[Alcibiades]

But with significantly crappier weather.

It was like 50 degrees when I was there in January.

50 degrees? World-record breaking temperatures, let alone in Britain!

[Alcibiades]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54158832

'Waspi' womern lose appeal. Which I agree with; there had to be a cut off point somewhere. And you can't bind policy to past decisions on pensions, tax and NI.

In this day and age, it would be pretty bizarre for women, considering they live considerably longer on average than men, to be able to retire early.

[CumbrianLefty]

But with significantly crappier weather.

It was like 50 degrees when I was there in January.

50 degrees? World-record breaking temperatures, let alone in Britain!

Unless they mean Fahrenheit, of course

[LabourJersey]

Was just watching Angela Rayner's PMQs on the grouse shooting exceptions of the "Rule of Six" (is that really what they're calling the new rules?)

Thought Rayner did really well. I'm still so surprised when she didn't run for Leader.

[CumbrianLefty]

Ngl the sight of certain Corbynistas lauding her today when they slagged her off constantly in the last few years, does not fail to grimly amuse.

(the abuse she got from some for opposing buffoon Burgon in the deputy contest was hilarious)

[Zinneke]

Rayner 's back story is admirable but her performance today was hardly stellar from what I saw. She seemed to bounce from issue to issue.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

She was solid. That's good. Room for improvement, absolutely, but that's fine so early into a career. But once again the PM put in an absolutely catastrophic showing...

[Alcibiades]

But with significantly crappier weather.

It was like 50 degrees when I was there in January.

50 degrees? World-record breaking temperatures, let alone in Britain!

Unless they mean Fahrenheit, of course

Cross-cultural confusion is what my joke was getting at...

[Cassius]

Toby Young has withdrawn his support for Boris Johnson. This means that Johnson now has ‘longest serving PM since Walpole’ firmly in the bag.

[CumbrianLefty]

Rayner 's back story is admirable but her performance today was hardly stellar from what I saw. She seemed to bounce from issue to issue.

Her first time doing it and she was almost certainly pretty nervous.

Given that, she was perfectly adequate.

[DaWN]

She wasn't actively disastrous (like The Man From Islington Who Shall Not Be Named or his usual substitute Her Ladyship) but I don't think she was very good. Maybe she'll be better when she's a bit more confident, but it did have a bit of a 'suddenly promoted backbencher' vibe... which is unfortunate given that I don't doubt she is more capable than that. Style does count for a lot and I'm not sure she can manage it.

[EastAnglianLefty]

With PMQs there's always the question of who the audience is. If the audience is the lobby then I don't think Rayner's style is ever going to be appreciated, especially when she's facing Raab rather than Johnson. If the audience is Facebook via clips, then I think Rayner's bluntness could go down rather well with a lot of our target voter pool - similar to the way that Prescott was actually a much better deputy for Blair than the latter had first thought.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

On that point, it may be helpful that she has a fairly old-fashioned Manchester Region accent, and so sounds more generically Northern than North Western.

[CumbrianLefty]

Rayner certainly has a "style" of her own. Not everybody is a fan, but I am and happily admit it

Plus even her detractors will struggle not to admit she was one of the more effective front benchers for Labour throughout the Corbyn years.

[Indy Texas]

Wow, the UK has been destroying its international and regional reputation for the past four years and now it's going to blame a worse relationship with the US on us electing an uppity Fenian Papist.

https://twitter.com/TylerDinucci/status/1307010691774078977?s=20

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Rayner certainly has a "style" of her own. Not everybody is a fan, but I am and happily admit it

Plus even her detractors will struggle not to admit she was one of the more effective front benchers for Labour throughout the Corbyn years.

The thing I would note is that while she has been in politics for a while via her union activism, she is really very new to public life: she has only been an MP for five years and had no public facing role before then. It will be interesting to see how she develops, as she's a fast learner: she is already a very different politician to the one she was a year ago.

[CumbrianLefty]

YouGov (on balance one of the more pro-Tory pollsters) now have them on a 40-40 tie with Labour.

[Blair]

FWIW I thought Rayner did very well & it was always going to be a more Labour response rather than a leader of the opposition one. The remarkable thing is that the Tories had the chance to put Raab up; it would have taken the heat out (he's always remarkably deferential at the dispatch box & has gone a bit soft at the FCO) & would have made it a sideshow.

On the subject of Rayner she contrasts with Starmer extremely well & frankly as all the skills you want as deputy. There's been a bit of well briefed 'concern' about the lack of a team around Starmer; it would be very good for her to appear more. Although it was worth noting she was sent out rather than Kate Green (the shadow education sec) after the A-Levels fiasco to really the put the boot in.

She is extremely talented politically & should not be under estimated; she cleared the deputy leadership field of anyone serious, she did very well at having her own fiefdom during the Corbyn years & for the joy of parlour games she's the odds on favourite to be the next leader.

Rayner certainly has a "style" of her own. Not everybody is a fan, but I am and happily admit it

Plus even her detractors will struggle not to admit she was one of the more effective front benchers for Labour throughout the Corbyn years.

The thing I would note is that while she has been in politics for a while via her union activism, she is really very new to public life: she has only been an MP for five years and had no public facing role before then. It will be interesting to see how she develops, as she's a fast learner: she is already a very different politician to the one she was a year ago.

On this note I just realised that the three most well positioned corbynite MPs from the 2015 & 2017 intake are Rayner, Sam Tarry and Dan Carden who were all officials in trade unions. They know how to play the game & do the graft.

YouGov (on balance one of the more pro-Tory pollsters) now have them on a 40-40 tie with Labour.

Wonder when we'll finally get the first Labour lead in the polls which will cause the natural panic in the Tory Party.

[EastAnglianLefty]

On this note I just realised that the three most well positioned corbynite MPs from the 2015 & 2017 intake are Rayner, Sam Tarry and Dan Carden who were all officials in trade unions. They know how to play the game & do the graft.

Although unlike the other two, Rayner actually won a contested selection. Carden's shortlist was thoroughly stitched up, whilst Tarry's primary local challenger was suspended from the party on the morning of the initial selection. Which does give some clue as to how much better her retail political skills are than the other two.