This Wretched Hive Of Scum And Villainy

[EastAnglianLefty]

Particularly when you consider that the likely winner of the next Conservative leadership election is Badenoch, who is quite possibly the most bad-tempered person in British politics.

[Blair]

Particularly when you consider that the likely winner of the next Conservative leadership election is Badenoch, who is quite possibly the most bad-tempered person in British politics.

Jenrick is busy re-inventing himself- not only went to the Texas border last week but had a weird article in the Torygraph about Europe needing to do more for NATO.

Just hilariously shameless.

Generally think if I was a Tory MP with that final two I would really struggle to pick.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Are there any good modern books about the collapse of the British Liberal Party?(to go slightly off-topic)

[CumbrianLefty]

Particularly when you consider that the likely winner of the next Conservative leadership election is Badenoch, who is quite possibly the most bad-tempered person in British politics.

More weeks like this one, and she may no longer be before too long.

[Torrain]

She seems to be trying to speed that process up:
https://twitter.com/PickardJE/status/1760047209251291405

Badenoch told MPs "explicitly" on January 29 that talks with Canada were "ongoing" to avoid a March 31 tariff cliff-edge for UK carmakers, even though she had earlier unilaterally paused wider trade talks with the Ottawa government.

But the Canadian high commissioner to the UK, Ralph Goodale, has written to the House of Commons business select committee to insist Badenoch's claimed talks, which also cover cheesemakers, have not happened.

[afleitch]

She doesn't seem to do very much

https://twitter.com/alicemydaughter/status/1760258880330686681

[Torrain]

Ben Bradshaw brought exactly that up in PMQs - Sunak evasive. Felt like open season on Badenoch today.

Starmer spent most of his questions digging into her lines on the Post Office, which have been undermined by the publication of a contemperaneous memo from Staunton, showing he recorded officials making comments about delaying the payments until after the election. Which rather undermines Badenoch's claims that he lied, and casts her comments to the Commons into question...

Certainly, the PM wasn't confident enough to repeat her claim that Staunton lied.

Sunak seemed genuinely deflated - very few attack lines, very low energy. Not sure if he's been told to be on his best behaviour after the Ghey incident at the last PMQs, or there's something going on behind the scenes that's sapped his enthusiasm.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Are there any good modern books about the collapse of the British Liberal Party?(to go slightly off-topic)

It is one of those subjects where debate has largely been dominated by journal articles, conference papers and just plain yelling at other historians. The text that sparked all of this off (the big debate lasted for decades!) was Peter Clarke's Lancashire and the New Liberalism, published as long ago as 1971, which is very readable though, again, it is very much the opening of a debate rather than the conclusion to one. The work that eventually settled much of the controversy was Duncan Tanner's Political Change and the Labour Party 1900-1918 (1990), a brilliant feat of scholarship that is sometimes regarded as a bit intimidatingly technical, but given that this is largely because it is full of psephological detail, perhaps not so intimidating to the average poster here. But a big, appropriately vast study of The Great Liberal Party Civil War does not exist, which is a major pity. The problem is that not many historians specialize in the Liberal Party: most of the historians who have written about the subject have been Labour Party historians (Tanner was, for instance) and those that have not have invariably more general historians of British Politics, as Clarke is. So much of what you'll find will be in e.g. biographies of David Lloyd George or H.H. Asquith, or in small articles written in obscure journals about Liberal Party history and so on.

[CumbrianLefty]

Sunak seemed genuinely deflated - very few attack lines, very low energy. Not sure if he's been told to be on his best behaviour after the Ghey incident at the last PMQs, or there's something going on behind the scenes that's sapped his enthusiasm.

Not even one mention of Rochdale? A few bets may have been lost if so.

[Torrain]

Sunak seemed genuinely deflated - very few attack lines, very low energy. Not sure if he's been told to be on his best behaviour after the Ghey incident at the last PMQs, or there's something going on behind the scenes that's sapped his enthusiasm.

Not even one mention of Rochdale? A few bets may have been lost if so.

Not one. Starmer kept all focus on the Post Office. Tory backbenchers were preoccupied with NIMBY requests, and SNP took a bunch of questions - all trying to ominously foreshadow the Gaza vote.

Sunak was quite nervy, and improvised even less than usual - had the look of a man trying to follow legal advice, and refused to back up Badenoch’s claims that Staunton lied, or that he bullied staff.

[CumbrianLefty]

Scott Benton's neighbouring MP Paul Maynard is now under formal investigation by the Commons.

Even if he is found guilty of the charges, it is now surely too late for the recall/byelection process to happen - but if the GE is late this year, this could result in him being barred from standing in it.

[Torrain]

Kind of surprised he’s held onto his ministerial brief through all of this.

Elsewhere, Miriam Cates has graced us with another hot-take:
https://twitter.com/miriam_cates/status/1760592852994732036

[CumbrianLefty]

Just like Liz Truss, started as Labour and then a LibDem.

[JimJamUK]

Just like Liz Truss, started as Labour and then a LibDem.

Has a touch of Lee Anderson about her as well, claiming to be an ex-lefty/Labour Party member while inferring she didn’t pay much attention to politics before being elected an MP. Doesn’t quite add up (or is at least missing the bit in the middle).

[YL]

Just like Liz Truss, started as Labour and then a LibDem.

Has a touch of Lee Anderson about her as well, claiming to be an ex-lefty/Labour Party member while inferring she didn’t pay much attention to politics before being elected an MP. Doesn’t quite add up (or is at least missing the bit in the middle).

Speaking of whom, some charming comments today…

[CumbrianLefty]

So that is Braverman, Truss and him going full fash in just 24 hours.

No doubt Rishi will show STRONG LEADERSHIP in response to this, as usual.

[Torrain]

Grim comments from Anderson, and Truss' vacantly smiling while Steve Bannon sits next to her praising Tommy Robinson and spouting election denialism is a national embarassment. At least some government MPs are still capable of feeling shame:
https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1761376093771112952

Just hope this doesn't end up falling into the classic Sunak cycle, where he dithers, tacitly defends the beleaguered MP(s) for a week - while briefing that he's having "serious discussions", and then still ends up having to fire them anyway, inflicting far more damage than if he'd made a snap judgement.He's a leadership vacuum in moments like this.

The comparisons with Rochdale aren't going to be pretty. It's all a gift for Starmer, who, in the face of what could be a very awkward evening on Thursday, will now be able to assert the moral highground, and spend PMQs asserting that he, at least, suspends bad apples, while Sunak does nothing.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Speaking of whom, some charming comments today…

I'm finding it rather difficult to work out if his conflation of 'Muslim' and 'Islamist' is an example of him being especially thick or especially malign. A hard one with him.

[Torrain]

https://twitter.com/adampayne26/status/1761405345056878913

[AustralianSwingVoter]

From Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party to losing the whip in 5 weeks without a tabloid sex scandal would have been unthinkable, now it's somehow unsurprising.

[Coldstream]

Be interesting to see if he chooses to join Reform, particularly if Truss & Braverman are also suspended. They may all think it’s worth a shot.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

 would reform even want truss?

[MaxQue]

would reform even want truss?

WE HAVE THE SUPPORT OF A FORMER PRIME MINISTER.

The leaflet may not say which one, through.

[JimJamUK]

Would reform even want truss?

‘Want’ is a strong word. Not actively refuse may be more appropriate.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

would reform even want truss?

WE HAVE THE SUPPORT OF A FORMER PRIME MINISTER.

The leaflet may not say which one, through.

Honestly they'd have better luck getting boris on board, who at least has a remaining fan club (even if his wider appeal is gone) and is still stewing in resentments.