This Wretched Hive Of Scum And Villainy

[Coldstream]

Would reform even want truss?

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

I think this is the point, she’s got enough appeal / access to money that they wouldn’t turn her down. It’s not like they are expecting to win an election anytime soon, the money she could attract might be enough.

Also if their goal is to kill off the Tories (which I think for the more politically minded amongst them it is) they do need people of note to jump ship.

[afleitch]

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.

We used to be quite good at keeping these people out of office shove parish council level too.

[TheTide]

would reform even want truss?

A few years ago, UKIP (when Farage et al were still in it) went through a contentious leadership election in which the far-right (as opposed to the standard 'populist' hard right) gained traction and almost won with its candidate Anne Marie Waters. Then the successful candidate Henry Bolton hilariously imploded within months and Gerard Batten (pretty much far-right and apparently a long-time enemy of Farage) became leader. It was around this time that the Brexit Party was formed and of course became the main player in to-the-right-of-the-Tories politics. UKIP itself was left to the likes of Waters, Batten and Hamilton.

I can see a scenario in which Truss is a Waters, Batten or Hamilton. BoJo or Farage might be a Preston Manning.

[CumbrianLefty]

If you think that Sunak is weak as p***, then Oliver Dowden's performance this morning took that to positively homeopathic levels. "Lee Anderson didn't mean anything bad and didn't do anything wrong, and we didn't want to suspend him" was basically his "argument". Could they look any more craven?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

If you think that Sunak is weak as p***, then Oliver Dowden's performance this morning took that to positively homeopathic levels. "Lee Anderson didn't mean anything bad and didn't do anything wrong, and we didn't want to suspend him" was basically his "argument". Could they look any more craven?

Paranoia about losses on the Reform Front again. Just pathetic.

[CumbrianLefty]

If you think that Sunak is weak as p***, then Oliver Dowden's performance this morning took that to positively homeopathic levels. "Lee Anderson didn't mean anything bad and didn't do anything wrong, and we didn't want to suspend him" was basically his "argument". Could they look any more craven?

Paranoia about losses on the Reform Front again. Just pathetic.

But it probably won't work even on that level.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Paranoia about losses on the Reform Front again. Just pathetic.

But it probably won't work even on that level.

Which is why it is pathetic. If it were effective then it would be cynical.

[TheTide]

Anderson appears to be doubling down. Defection imminent?

[Torrain]

https://twitter.com/SkyPoliticsHub/status/1762197003235143923?s=20
I know I've ribbed Chishti for his one-man attempt at the leadership in the past, but he is actually fairly good on religious freedom/tolerance - as shown here. His campaign to protect a Pakistani Christian constituent convicted of blasphemy back home was pretty admirable, and he uses his limited time in the Commons to raise similar issues when he can.

He also apparently likes to be sworn into the Commons on a Torah, a Qu'ran and a KJV Bible, similtaneously, holding the three texts in one stack, like some sort of Abrahamic sandwich.

All that to say, I'm still #Ready4Rehman.

[Torrain]

Also, Cabinet was held on a factory floor in Yorkshire today, to symbolise the levelling up agenda or something. Vibes are very 'early Cameron' - all it's missing is the PM awkwardly trying to hug a hoodie or huskie - and ironically Cameron himself, who was busy elsewhere.

Grant Shapps took a RAF helicoptor to the meeting, which was supposed to focus on the future of public transport, which is its own metaphor entirely.

[ingemann]

Also, Cabinet was held on a factory floor in Yorkshire today, to symbolise the levelling up agenda or something. Vibes are very 'early Cameron' - all it's missing is the PM awkwardly trying to hug a hoodie or huskie - and ironically Cameron himself, who was busy elsewhere.

Grant Shapps took a RAF helicoptor to the meeting, which was supposed to focus on the future of public transport, which is its own metaphor entirely.

I’m sorry that picture is hilarious and it gets increasingly more hilarious the more you look at it. Also couldn’t they at least have found a factory from a British company to hold the meeting in.

[Cassius]

Also, Cabinet was held on a factory floor in Yorkshire today, to symbolise the levelling up agenda or something. Vibes are very 'early Cameron' - all it's missing is the PM awkwardly trying to hug a hoodie or huskie - and ironically Cameron himself, who was busy elsewhere.

Grant Shapps took a RAF helicoptor to the meeting, which was supposed to focus on the future of public transport, which is its own metaphor entirely.

I’m sorry that picture is hilarious and it gets increasingly more hilarious the more you look at it. Also couldn’t they at least have found a factory from a British company to hold the meeting in.

Thinner on the ground these days than the hair on Matt Hancock’s head…

[Blair]

Looks like something from the apprentice

[CumbrianLefty]

You know that some SpAd advised Rishi that it was a brilliant idea, don't you.

[Torrain]

Im just hoping they keep the bit up, and meet in increasingly on-the-nose places, until they end up crammed around a table in one of their homes, holding a “kitchen cabinet”, and accidentally trigger a new variation on the “Ed Miliband has two kitchens” news cycle from 2015.

In other news, Anderson is still suggesting that dogwhistling Khan is the hill he’s prepared to die (politically) on:
https://twitter.com/ITVNewsPolitics/status/1762520725347242340

[YL]

GB News (yes, I know) is reporting that Lee Anderson met Richard Tice (Reform UK leader) for talks at a Holiday Inn on Sunday.

[Zinneke]

Ed Miliband has 2 kitchens?!

[AustralianSwingVoter]

James Brokenshire's four ovens (I'm sorry, “two, normal, double ovens”) was another embarrassing kitchen faux pas.

[Zinneke]

James Brokenshire's four ovens (I'm sorry, “two, normal, double ovens”) was another embarrassing kitchen faux pas.

These days having four ovens is actually achievable in a low income household given the advent of air fryer and all-in-one cookers.

[TheTide]

James Brokenshire's four ovens (I'm sorry, “two, normal, double ovens”) was another embarrassing kitchen faux pas.

These days having four ovens is actually achievable in a low income household given the advent of air fryer and all-in-one cookers.

Microwaves are also ovens, of course.

[CumbrianLefty]

James Brokenshire's four ovens (I'm sorry, “two, normal, double ovens”) was another embarrassing kitchen faux pas.

Have to say that I completely missed that one at the time.

[Torrain]

Per the Guardian, the Chancellor has donated over £100,000 to his local Conservative Association over the course of this Parliament, a stark contrast to the £4,400 he contributed over the Cameron and May years.

[Torrain]

In other news, Paul Scully is retiring. Been a rough year for Scully - lost the nomination for London Mayor to a Trump-supporting conspiracy theorist, fired from his job as Minister for London to provide a vacancy for failed party chairman Greg Hands, and then, when trying to criticise Lee Anderson from the left, tripped into a racial gaffe on live TV.

His seat of Sutton and Cheam does look fairly vulnerable. Tory from creation in 1945-1997, other than 18 months with the Liberals after a 1972 by-election win, it flipped Lib Dem in 1997, and stayed orange until Scully won it back for the Tories in 2015. He held it with an 8k majority over them in 2019. The seat remains virtually unchanged after the boundary review (it’s comprised of 99.6% of the same territory), and is predicted to return to the Lib Dems in the upcoming election.

I guess you could say that, after the next election, the House of Commons will be a no-go area for him…

[Torrain]

On that note about Paul Scully, here’s how he signed off his resignation announcement:
https://twitter.com/scullyp/status/1764618324476846373

[Pericles]

He's right, but perceptions of competence and credibility are also extremely important. The public just don't trust the Tories anymore, it almost doesn't matter what they say their policies are.