UK General Discussion: Rishecession

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

It always confuses me that political parties are allowed to play songs when they obviously haven't cleared it with the artists first. I know in some cases the artists no longer have the rights, but when they do, and the conferences function as a massive fundraising opportunity (which they inevitably do), does that not violate copyright?

In the USA, this story is written several times every four years, and every single time, what happened is that the party/campaign/venue had a license to use the music through whatever organization the artist(s) use. (It sounds like that's what happened here since they said they "checked with legal" and couldn't do anything.)

[Torrain]

Redfield and Wilton have published fresh polling this evening. Their general election tracker largely remains where it was last time they polled, with Labour on 52%, Tories on 24%, Lib Dems on 10%, SNP down by 1 point to 4%, and ReformUK stuck on 3%:

Amongst the general public, Truss’ approval rating falls to 15%, the lowest R&W have ever recorded for an incumbent PM. 49% disapprove of the PM’s performance.

Amongst 2019 Conservative voters, Truss records a 25% approval rating. Notably, Johnson never received a net negative approval rating from this group (when polled by R&W), while Truss has fallen to a net -24%.

The full release can be found here: https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/magnified-email/issue-52/

[NewYorkExpress]

Almost half the money raised in Truss's leadership campaign came from donors who directly benefited from her tax cuts.

Almost half of the money raised by British Prime Minister Liz Truss to fund her Conservative Party leadership campaign came from wealthy donors, according to official donation records published by Parliament on Wednesday.

Truss raised nearly £432,549 ($489,472) thanks to donations largely from the business community. More than £230,000 (roughly $290,000) came from owners of hedge funds and bankers – people who stood to benefit the most from a controversial budget Truss and Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng had proposed.


Among those who had donated large sums were Natasha Barnaba, a hedge fund founder who gave the Truss campaign £100,000 ($112,000). Investment banker Howard Shore gave £50,000 ($56,000).

The donations to Truss’s campaign raise questions about the new government’s close relationship to niche business interests. UK media reports suggested Kwarteng had enjoyed multiple meetings with financiers – including a hedge fund boss he once worked for – before and after he unveiled his mini-budget last month.

[Silent Hunter]

The tax cuts not actually implemented yet.

[Torrain]

How is Truss acting more ideologically, and less responsibly than Rees-Mogg? Refusing to approve a simple, comparatively cheap campaign to educate the public about saving energy, in the midst of a cost of living crisis, with looming gas shortages, just feels like ethical and political malpractice.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1578135758040403971

[Filuwaúrdjan]

What you need to remember is point no. 1 from the Oxford Uni LibDem thing from many decades ago: 'Liz is mad'.

[Lief 🗽]

Redfield and Wilton have published fresh polling this evening. Their general election tracker largely remains where it was last time they polled, with Labour on 52%, Tories on 24%, Lib Dems on 10%, SNP down by 1 point to 4%, and ReformUK stuck on 3%:

Isn't it strange that the swing away from the Tories is 100% to Labour? You'd think there'd be some significant share of disaffected Tories choosing Lib Dem or Reform first, but they're totally flat.

[Joe Republic]

I'm sensing that perhaps the reason why Dorries has turned on Truss so quickly is because they've backed out of shipping her to the Lords, now that there is a possibility of the Tories losing a by-election in (checks notes) Mid Bedfordshire?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

How is Truss acting more ideologically, and less responsibly than Rees-Mogg? Refusing to approve a simple, comparatively cheap campaign to educate the public about saving energy, in the midst of a cost of living crisis, with looming gas shortages, just feels like ethical and political malpractice.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1578135758040403971

...what is she ideologically opposed to, PSAs?

[Torrain]

How is Truss acting more ideologically, and less responsibly than Rees-Mogg? Refusing to approve a simple, comparatively cheap campaign to educate the public about saving energy, in the midst of a cost of living crisis, with looming gas shortages, just feels like ethical and political malpractice.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1578135758040403971

...what is she ideologically opposed to, PSAs?

The way it’s being described, Truss has engaged fully with the GOP-style “It’s not the governments job to tell you what to do” talking point, and is refusing to fund the campaign on that basis. The government source quoted in most articles about it explicitly say she thinks the campaign is too “interventionist”.

Johnson was said to have similar laissez faire instincts (there were apparently some fierce discussions about whether to lock-down over COVID, especially the first time), but could be won over if the argument was made well enough.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

How is Truss acting more ideologically, and less responsibly than Rees-Mogg? Refusing to approve a simple, comparatively cheap campaign to educate the public about saving energy, in the midst of a cost of living crisis, with looming gas shortages, just feels like ethical and political malpractice.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1578135758040403971

...what is she ideologically opposed to, PSAs?

The way it’s being described, Truss has engaged fully with the GOP-style “It’s not the governments job to tell you what to do” talking point, and is refusing to fund the campaign on that basis. The government source quoted in most articles about it explicitly say she thinks the campaign is too “interventionist”.

Johnson was said to have similar laissez faire instincts (there were apparently some fierce discussions about whether to lock-down over COVID, especially the first time), but could be won over if the argument was made well enough.

I see.

Perhaps Truss is just committing to the bit. This could be her big break in the improv comedy world.

[Pericles]

How is Truss acting more ideologically, and less responsibly than Rees-Mogg? Refusing to approve a simple, comparatively cheap campaign to educate the public about saving energy, in the midst of a cost of living crisis, with looming gas shortages, just feels like ethical and political malpractice.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1578135758040403971

...what is she ideologically opposed to, PSAs?

The way it’s being described, Truss has engaged fully with the GOP-style “It’s not the governments job to tell you what to do” talking point, and is refusing to fund the campaign on that basis. The government source quoted in most articles about it explicitly say she thinks the campaign is too “interventionist”.

Johnson was said to have similar laissez faire instincts (there were apparently some fierce discussions about whether to lock-down over COVID, especially the first time), but could be won over if the argument was made well enough.

I see.

Perhaps Truss is just committing to the bit. This could be her big break in the improv comedy world.

She wasn't known as a Covid objector at the time, right? If anything it was Sunak who was described as the 'most dangerous man in Britain'. The idea of the UK having a worse pandemic doesn't bear thinking about tbh.

[TheTide]

Truss, or anyone who was a leading minister in March 2020, talking about how libertarian they are or wish to be is quite something to behold. It's also quite something because, unlike Covid, not having heating during cold periods is a health risk to everyone. Proportion over ideology would be welcome.

[CumbrianLefty]

I'm sensing that perhaps the reason why Dorries has turned on Truss so quickly is because they've backed out of shipping her to the Lords, now that there is a possibility of the Tories losing a by-election in (checks notes) Mid Bedfordshire?

The *resignation* honours list hasn't materialised yet.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Not all Prime Ministers have actually had them, of course: Churchill didn't the second time around, neither did Eden, Callaghan, Blair or Brown.

[Torrain]

I feel like this is becoming less newsworthy, now that it seems to be the default position (for this moment of crisis, at least), but new polling from PeoplePolling (who were, ironically, paid to conduct the study by GBNews), shows a 32% lead for Labour.
https://mobile.twitter.com/PeoplePolling/status/1578338358732140545
The fact they’re still bleeding support is really quite something.

Things got bad for them under Johnson, but they had a solid floor of 30% - in line with their electoral results in the late 1990s. Breaching 30% to reach 25%, let alone 20% in the polls is quite spectacular. It’s the percentage of the vote they typically get in Holyrood elections, or in the averaged vote across the Scottish constituencies in a Westminster election.

I’m starting to wonder how long the Conservatives can remain this unpopular before the backbenchers run out of patience and do something radical.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Redfield and Wilton have published fresh polling this evening. Their general election tracker largely remains where it was last time they polled, with Labour on 52%, Tories on 24%, Lib Dems on 10%, SNP down by 1 point to 4%, and ReformUK stuck on 3%:

Isn't it strange that the swing away from the Tories is 100% to Labour? You'd think there'd be some significant share of disaffected Tories choosing Lib Dem or Reform first, but they're totally flat.

It would be consistent with people wanting the government out and everything else being secondary to that. In practice behaviour in individual constituencies would probably differ, but in most of the country if your priority is not having a Tory MP, voting Labour is the best way to do something about that.

[CumbrianLefty]

Not all Prime Ministers have actually had them, of course: Churchill didn't the second time around, neither did Eden, Callaghan, Blair or Brown.

Blair was warned off it after getting entangled in a "cash for peerages" controversy IIRC.

Don't think our most recently departed PM would be that fastidious.

[JimJamUK]

Isn't it strange that the swing away from the Tories is 100% to Labour? You'd think there'd be some significant share of disaffected Tories choosing Lib Dem or Reform first, but they're totally flat.

It would be consistent with people wanting the government out and everything else being secondary to that. In practice behaviour in individual constituencies would probably differ, but in most of the country if your priority is not having a Tory MP, voting Labour is the best way to do something about that.

And always worth remembering that many people don’t understand the intricacies of their own constituency so automatically default to Labour when wanting the Conservatives out, and even people who do (and will) know better don’t think about LD tactical voting right now when answering a poll.

[Blair]

I'm sensing that perhaps the reason why Dorries has turned on Truss so quickly is because they've backed out of shipping her to the Lords, now that there is a possibility of the Tories losing a by-election in (checks notes) Mid Bedfordshire?

She’s been very upset that a lot of work she did in DCMS is being scrapped- some of this work was awful reactionary stuff like selling off Channel 4, but other stuff was rather sensible and needed e.g the Online Harms Bill.

For her faults she was rather committed to the department and the brief- you could tell she enjoyed the job and is angry that legacy is getting scrapped.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It was noted that she would defend civil servants in her department from sillier attacks launched by certain other government ministers.

[Torrain]

Conor Burns, who is (was?) a minister in the Dept. of International Trade has had the whip suspended over allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” at social events at party conference.

This will surprise some less than others - Burns was accused of inappropriate activity with staffers in the infamous dossier that also implicated MPs like Chris Pincher, and started a long-running salacious rumour about the PM and one of her key ministers.

Edit: Burns now sacked as Trade Minister, as expected.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Maybe he's going to claim that he was ambushed by [REDACTED ON LEGAL ADVICE].

[If my soul was made of stone]

How is Truss acting more ideologically, and less responsibly than Rees-Mogg? Refusing to approve a simple, comparatively cheap campaign to educate the public about saving energy, in the midst of a cost of living crisis, with looming gas shortages, just feels like ethical and political malpractice.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1578135758040403971

...what is she ideologically opposed to, PSAs?

The way it’s being described, Truss has engaged fully with the GOP-style “It’s not the governments job to tell you what to do” talking point, and is refusing to fund the campaign on that basis. The government source quoted in most articles about it explicitly say she thinks the campaign is too “interventionist”.

Johnson was said to have similar laissez faire instincts (there were apparently some fierce discussions about whether to lock-down over COVID, especially the first time), but could be won over if the argument was made well enough.

I see.

Perhaps Truss is just committing to the bit. This could be her big break in the improv comedy world.

[Torrain]

Maybe he's going to claim that he was ambushed by [REDACTED ON LEGAL ADVICE].

Oh yeah - Burns was the “ambushed by a cake” guy - there’s been so much chaos since then that I’d completely forgotten about that.