This Wretched Hive Of Scum And Villainy

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Can’t be long till some backbencher tweets a rant about woke Richard Brandon denying the democratic will of the people.

[YL]

Having said that, Beckenham has significant boundary changes that favour Labour.

It's actually notionally Labour according to some calculations (e.g. Ben Walker's) and even according to those where it isn't the Tory position looks hopeless, even taking into account the feeling that some have that the Tories are holding up better in outer London than almost anywhere else.  Being the Tory candidate there isn't an attractive prospect at all.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

https://twitter.com/MichelleMone/status/1736348422460825821?t=ZX_dFBGW6Am6LKXxAH...

Things you say when you know an interview has gone well.

Also Miriam Cates MP (Penistone) is apparently being investigated for "significant damage to the house's reputation" whatever that means.

[Wiswylfen]

Anyone who doesn't know what party they should stand for--being generous enough to accept her explanation of what occurred--should refrain from standing at all. Hilarious person.

It's almost as bad as (and related to) the Cameroon obsession with getting token 'outsiders' and 'ordinary people' as candidates. The sort of nonsense that led to idiots like Sarah Wollaston getting elected, not to forget all the backbench (and overpromoted) waste who were estate agents until succeeding a retiring Labour MP whose boots they wouldn't be fit to lick the bottom of in 2010.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

https://twitter.com/MichelleMone/status/1736348422460825821?t=ZX_dFBGW6Am6LKXxAH...
Things you say when you know an interview has gone well.

Also Miriam Cates MP (Penistone) is apparently being investigated for "significant damage to the house's reputation" whatever that means.

[CumbrianLefty]

Can’t be long till some backbencher tweets a rant about woke Richard Brandon denying the democratic will of the people.

This is a reference to the executioner of Charles I?

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Can’t be long till some backbencher tweets a rant about woke Richard Brandon denying the democratic will of the people.

This is a reference to the executioner of Charles I?

Quite surprise the s autocorrected to a d given how much I’ve complained about Branson over the years!

[Torrain]

Also Miriam Cates MP (Penistone) is apparently being investigated for "significant damage to the house's reputation" whatever that means.

Such a catch-all charge that one - has covered everything from Covid rule-breaches to lobbying scandals, to misleading the House, in the past year alone.

The only speculation I’ve seen so far is that she’s been linked to the birthday drinks event during lockdown that Bernard Jenkins, Virginia Crosbie, and Eleanor Laing are being investigated for, under the same charge.

[EastAnglianLefty]

The fact that her allies are running with "She's not even allowed to talk about why she's being investigated" rather than just leaking the details would tend to suggest that it's not something that's easy to spin in her favour.

[Torrain]

The fact that her allies are running with "She's not even allowed to talk about why she's being investigated" rather than just leaking the details would tend to suggest that it's not something that's easy to spin in her favour.

Ah… yeah, when you put it like that - it sounds a tad worse than birthday drinks with the deputy speaker.

[Torrain]

As Michelle Mone furiously defends herself on social media, a former minister, Lord Bethell, weighed in, sharing screenshots of a WhatsApp message from Mone. Alas, Bethell has previously told the COVID Inquiry that his pandemic-era messages were irretrievably lost and could not be handed over:
https://twitter.com/JimBethell/status/1736772936097202293

[CumbrianLefty]

Oh what a tangled web we weave, indeed.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Everyone involved gleefully incriminating themselves lol

[CumbrianLefty]

The fact that her allies are running with "She's not even allowed to talk about why she's being investigated" rather than just leaking the details would tend to suggest that it's not something that's easy to spin in her favour.

Rumours that it is about Covid parties (again)

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Not confirmed by media, but there seems to he a hot mic scandal brewing: the Labour MP for Stockton North asked the House about why child poverty is so high in his constituency, and a senior Tory MP (possibly Cleverly) said "because it's a sh**thole".

Cleverly is in another similar scandal at the moment, joking while signing an anti-spiking law about roofieing his wife. Starting to think rishi 's designated successor isn't the smartest guy.

[Torrain]

To paraphrase something I heard earlier - was he always this gaffe-prone, or has the Home Office broken him in record time?

Either way, I’m sure that wtf moment has been preserved in the oppo dossier of each of his rivals for next year’s LOTO race.

[Pres Mike]

What’s the most likely month for a general election?

[CumbrianLefty]

Despite some excited speculation otherwise, May 2024 is the earliest realistic date - and even though it is not the *legal* maximum, December 2024 is the latest practical one. It could be either of those or anything in between, though if May is skipped its *probably* not happening before October.

[Torrain]

An odd feature of the Skidmore byelection has been Conservatives, from MPs to friendly journalists like the Spectator's Fraser Nelson, whine about having to hold a by-election at all. Lots of griping about how much money it will cost.

Not long ago that those same figures would demand that a defecting MP, or one who resigned the whip, should stand down entirely and face the judgement of the electorate. From Christian Wakeford to even Nadine Dorries - it's been pretty consistent up until now.

Particularly odd to see Anna Firth (who entered parliament via a byelection only two years ago) leading the charge. Circumstances are of course different, but still on very shaky ground as an argument...

[Cassius]

People in politics (and journalists obviously are people in politics) behave hypocritically. Water is wet.

Personally, I do think it is bad form for MPs to resign and go waddling off to the trough in the manner that Skidmore has, especially given that this parliament only has (at most) twelve months left to run.

[Torrain]

Sure, the hypocrisy is hardly unprecedented - but I do cringe a little when it's this blatant.

I have no issue with criticising Skidmore's approach - subsequent interviews make it clear that he decided to resign, and then worked back from there to construct a rationale. Hhis "it doesn't matter who replaces me" rant on Peston was a tad galling - man just doesn't care.

It's more the antipathy towards the byelection process itself that grinds my gears. After all, if Sunak just went with a May election, we wouldn't need to hold *any* of the upcoming byelections his MPs and allies are moaning about...

***

In other news, the amendments for the Rwanda bill look like they'll come up next Tues/Wed. Braverman has broken cover to confirm she'll vote down an unamended version of the bill, and rebels are claiming they have fifty votes in favour of the Right's amendments of choice.

But the One Nation lot are exuding confidence right now, and whips are certain they've quelled the rebellion, so could end up being another damp squib.

[CumbrianLefty]

Just on the election timing point above, these byelections going ahead does not in itself rule out going to the polls in May - indeed, Sunak may be using them to "test the water" as to that being feasible.

[Torrain]

The Conservative selection in Chris Grayling's safe seat of Epson and Ewell is taking place this weekend. Several chicken-run MPs applied for the selection, including Andy Carter and Jamie Wallis, but the association hasn't put any of them on the three-man shortlist for this evening's vote.

There are a few big prizes left - Solihull, Basildon and Billericay, Henley, Beckenham, Bognor Regis. But it does feel like that rumoured wave of retirements will have to materialise in order for the chicken-runners to survive, particularly given how localised selections have become.

[CumbrianLefty]

I wonder if a certain former FT journalist goes for any of those "plum" seats?

[YL]

The Conservative selection in Chris Grayling's safe seat of Epson and Ewell is taking place this weekend. Several chicken-run MPs applied for the selection, including Andy Carter and Jamie Wallis, but the association hasn't put any of them on the three-man shortlist for this evening's vote.

There are a few big prizes left - Solihull, Basildon and Billericay, Henley, Beckenham, Bognor Regis. But it does feel like that rumoured wave of retirements will have to materialise in order for the chicken-runners to survive, particularly given how localised selections have become.

Beckenham isn't a big prize: the boundary changes which transform it into Beckenham & Penge more or less wipe out Stewart's majority even in 2019. Henley & Thame might be a bit dodgy as well, though I don't think it's the Lib Dems' top target in Oxfordshire.

Do any of the chicken runners still have the option of going back to their previous seats? Stuart Andrew doesn't: the Tories have a new candidate in the new Leeds North West, which would have been the obvious option for him. They also have a new candidate in Bridgend.