UK General Discussion: Rishecession

[Conservatopia]

Under the circumstances, 'descendants of John Gladstone' would be more accurate.

William Ewart Gladstone did nothing wrong.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Under the circumstances, 'descendants of John Gladstone' would be more accurate.

William Ewart Gladstone did nothing wrong.

I wouldn't go quite that far, but the wrong he did was lesser, was motivated purely by filial piety and he recanted and repented once he became the man we know him for being. He actually broke with his father over the issue when he was still alive, and there was a very public quarrel between the two over it.

[Torrain]

The Lib Dems are calling for Parliament to be recalled from recess, so the Mid Beds by-election can happen sooner.

Impressed with the intern who managed to combine two of the party's favourite things into one press release. All that's left is an endorsement  of proportional representation, and we'd have a hat-trick.

[Zinneke]

The Telegraph which is essentially now the country gent equivalent of "Radio Milles Collines" is calling for open vandalism over ULEZ.

[CumbrianLefty]

The Lib Dems are calling for Parliament to be recalled from recess, so the Mid Beds by-election can happen sooner.

Are they really that worried about Labour's surging campaign there

[Torrain]

Apparently, what this government really needs is the wise council of Adam Werrity.

Edit: author of the piece suggests the field has moved on, after vetting concerns, with Grant Shapps and Jeremy Quinn (former Defence Procurement Minister) as the frontrunners of the hour.

Would be kinda odd to see Shapps come into the job with no prior defence or MOD experience given the international situation. Especially when the field of potential candidates includes a fair few who’ve already had a ministerial stint there (Trevelyan, Heappey, Quinn, Mordaunt).

[Torrain]

Wallace is gone:
https://twitter.com/hzeffman/status/1697147420969255124

[afleitch]

The Telegraph which is essentially now the country gent equivalent of "Radio Milles Collines" is calling for open vandalism over ULEZ.

ULEZ is the trans panic in a microcosm. An issue that riles up a certain, usually old and predominantly white demographic who have both free time and a penchant for being online which overlaps with most British establishment journalists, elevated into an issue of concern with column inches in every paper every day, but in reality isn't an issue of concern and doesn't poll in line with it's inflated importance.

And like the trans panic is given a veneer of respectability as it's not really red top fodder either.

That eventually becomes a monomania that collapses into adjacent conspiratorial thinking.

[TheTide]

The Telegraph which is essentially now the country gent equivalent of "Radio Milles Collines" is calling for open vandalism over ULEZ.

ULEZ is the trans panic in a microcosm. An issue that riles up a certain, usually old and predominantly white demographic who have both free time and a penchant for being online which overlaps with most British establishment journalists, elevated into an issue of concern with column inches in every paper every day, but in reality isn't an issue of concern and doesn't poll in line with it's inflated importance.

And like the trans panic is given a veneer of respectability as it's not really red top fodder either.

That eventually becomes a monomania that collapses into adjacent conspiratorial thinking.

I'm pretty sure those who are 'riled up' with the opposing view/s on these kinds of matters are also predominantly white, mostly because this is an 80%+ white country.

This reminds me of a post I saw recently about the Tory Party being racist because the overwhelming majority of its MPs are white. Well, it could be argued that the Tory Party may be racist, but not because of that.

[Torrain]

It’s Shapps.

His fifth cabinet role in the past 12 months (Transport, Home Office, Business, Energy, Defence). All feels a bit end-stage John Major.

[Torrain]

Claire Coutinho replacing Shapps at Dept. of Energy and Net Zero.

She was previously a junior minister in Education - joined Parliament in 2019. Was previously an investment banker and SPAD, who entered politics around the time of the 2016 referendum on the pro-leave side.

Was one of the names floated around the Westminster press as likely to be promoted earlier in the year. No apparent history in the energy or green sector, but has ties to the PM - was his special advisor when he was No.2 at the Treasury.

[Cassius]

Claire Coutinho replacing Shapps at Dept. of Energy and Net Zero.

She was previously a junior minister in Education - joined Parliament in 2019. Was previously an investment banker and SPAD, who entered politics around the time of the 2016 referendum on the pro-leave side.

Was one of the names floated around the Westminster press as likely to be promoted earlier in the year. No apparent history in the energy or green sector, but has ties to the PM - was his special advisor when he was No.2 at the Treasury.

Also of Goan descent, meaning we now have two in the cabinet (Braverman is also of Goan descent, albeit only on the father’s side via Kenya).

[Coldstream]

Claire Coutinho replacing Shapps at Dept. of Energy and Net Zero.

She was previously a junior minister in Education - joined Parliament in 2019. Was previously an investment banker and SPAD, who entered politics around the time of the 2016 referendum on the pro-leave side.

Was one of the names floated around the Westminster press as likely to be promoted earlier in the year. No apparent history in the energy or green sector, but has ties to the PM - was his special advisor when he was No.2 at the Treasury.

Also of Goan descent, meaning we now have two in the cabinet (Braverman is also of Goan descent, albeit only on the father’s side via Kenya).

It’s amazing that people from one small area like Goa, that was never part of the British empire, have had such an outsized role in British politics. Keith & Valerie Vaz are also both Goan.

[CumbrianLefty]

It’s Shapps.

His fifth cabinet role in the past 12 months (Transport, Home Office, Business, Energy, Defence). All feels a bit end-stage John Major.

Or just a bit John Reid.

[Torrain]

It’s Shapps.

His fifth cabinet role in the past 12 months (Transport, Home Office, Business, Energy, Defence). All feels a bit end-stage John Major.

Or just a bit John Reid.

I stand corrected - that's a far better analogy.

While we're here - would I be right in thinking that Reid was basically sent in to plug the gap whenever someone resigned from a key post? Certainly, his replacing of Mandelson at NI, Cook as Leader of the Commons, and Cooke as Home Sec, all seem, (from a cursory glance) to be clean-up operations after the loss of a high-proflie minister in a way that embarassed Downing Street.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

A fairly important difference is that Reid was a competent and capable administrator (whatever else people might think of him), whereas this is not something that Shapps can be plausibly described as being, except in comparison to certain of his Cabinet colleagues.

[Blair]

A fairly important difference is that Reid was a competent and capable administrator (whatever else people might think of him), whereas this is not something that Shapps can be plausibly described as being, except in comparison to certain of his Cabinet colleagues.

Yes Shapps is in that sense much like Hancock- a former member of the Osborne/Cameron set who was used for rather vapid political attacks in the 2010-15 era, but has enough PR skill to know how to vaguely look like a well performing minister.

Iirc he was rated because he had a spreadsheet and tracked MPs on it! This was seen as a very competent skill among Boris’s allies which tbf it was considering it was one of Johnson’s own Praetorian who managed to end his premiership.

[Silent Hunter]

There's a ULEZ camera near where I live. Someone's already vandalised it.

[Blair]

Another fun Shapps fact is that he was once unpopular enough that the May era whips briefed he was the ringleader behind a coup- this was iirc an old Brownite trick where you pick someone colleagues dislike and go ‘they’re the one behind this’.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

This was seen as a very competent skill among Boris’s allies which tbf it was considering it was one of Johnson’s own Praetorian who managed to end his premiership.

Much like the actual Praetorian Guard. If Johnson were as good a Classicist as he has always liked to imply, he'd have known that.

[Pericles]

Having a spreadsheet is a skill in Westminster? Even in Atlasia lots of people had spreadsheets, you'd think that with their jobs and the future of the nation on the line these factional operations would be way more sophisticated at keeping track of MPs.

[Chickpeas]

This was just a teaser reshuffle wasn't it? I thought Sunak was planning a more extensive one.

[CumbrianLefty]

Maybe a tentative sign that an election is still some way off?

(Wallace has wanted out for a while now, so a minor change like this was coming sooner or later)

[Joe Republic]

Mohamed Al Fayed has died, aged 94.

Reports indicate that he has already punched Prince Philip immediately upon entering the afterlife.

[MayorCarcetti]

Mohamed Al Fayed has died, aged 94.

Reports indicate that he has already punched Prince Philip immediately upon entering the afterlife.

Almost 26 years to the day that his son was killed which is bound to get conspiracy theorists talking.

Also never knew until now that Dodi's mother was a Khashoggi