UK Politics - Closing Down Sale

[Derfel Cadarn]

I read somewhere earlier there’s debate among the Tories that if Truss goes, whether to do a ‘coronation’ or another contest. Meanwhile:

 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Bozo's comeback sooner than expected?

[Spockydog]

20 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Bozo's comeback sooner than expected?

He is still being investigated by the Privileges Committee, which will likely not end well for him. Nor will it end well for the Tories if they attempt Paterson the Sequel.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Spockydog

[Zorral]

Yet -- the tory lorry water carriers are insisting this isn't Their fault, not really -- just an unfortunate confluence of elements.  It really began long long long ago in a galaxy far away where They weren't doing anything, honest Mom!  It wasn't us, it was somebody else!  Though how that can possibly explain the trussed bird & co and those obscene tax cuts etc., 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Zorral

[BigFatCoward]

If this wasn't screwing over pretty much the whole country, it would be hilarious how bad they have misjudged it all. 

[Heartofice]

2 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Yet -- the tory lorry water carriers are insisting this isn't Their fault, not really -- just an unfortunate confluence of elements.  It really began long long long ago in a galaxy far away where They weren't doing anything, honest Mom!  It wasn't us, it was somebody else!  Though how that can possibly explain the trussed bird & co and those obscene tax cuts etc., 

Actually everyone is being pretty quiet about the whole thing. 
 

Tory party conference will certainly be interesting 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

26 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

He is still being investigated by the Privileges Committee, which will likely not end well for him. Nor will it end well for the Tories if they attempt Paterson the Sequel.

But technically, he could stand in the next leadership contest, no?

[A Horse Named Stranger]

C'mon Liz, call a snap election. You will come out of it with a super healthy majority and it will shut up those nagging inner party critics. 

[Pebble thats Stubby]

so how long before Liz tries to take away the independence of the Bank of England?

[Raja]

Who knows where Truss is. We haven't heard anything from her, have we? 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

2 minutes ago, Raja said:

Who knows where Truss is. We haven't heard anything from her, have we? 

Arkham Asylum would be my guess.

[Tywin et al.]

It's crazy to think the knives are already out for Truss. She's got plenty of time to be known as the PM with the shortest tenure and the guy who holds the record at least had the decency to die in office.

I'm officially on team Truss killed the Queen now. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Truss the legit tripple threat: to the crown (dead Queen), the Pound (remember this was just a mini budget, wait until she gets really started) and the Tory Party.

[Raja]

Apparently Truss is going 8 5 minute interviews tomorrow on the radio. I sense everyone is going to be reassured. 

[DaveSumm]

I’m not an expert on the mechanisms of how party leaders get elected, I think the Tory vote has involved party members since 1998 and I recall Ed Milliband changed the rules which lead to Corbyn’s election. Are there any parallels to be drawn between Truss and Corbyn, in so much as it seems like they were both elected by members with immediate vibes of ‘oh shit they’ve elected the wrong person’ by MPs? There’s a weird tension there, if members ultimately decide but then it’s back to MPs and their letters once that’s over. Feels like there’s a flaw in this system.

Edited September 28, 2022 by DaveSumm

[Varysblackfyre321]

15 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Truss the legit tripple threat: to the crown (dead Queen), the Pound (remember this was just a mini budget, wait until she gets really started) and the Tory Party.

She’s the most deadly Republican in the history of the UK.

[Werthead]

1 hour ago, Pebble thats Stubby said:

so how long before Liz tries to take away the independence of the Bank of England?

I'd say pretty quickly, but it's very hard to do. Apparently her and Kwarteng's circles have reported that the economic shenanigans have been a plot "by the left" to do her and Britain down, which I suspect is news to the Bank of England, hedge fund managers, business leaders and the few remaining competent Tory economists, none of whom you could ever call "on the left."

I believe that under current Tory rules you can't challenge a new sitter in the role of party leader for a year after their installation, so the only choice might be to change that via the 1922 committee or simply collapse the government through a House of Commons vote of no confidence and force a general election, but that would mean many, many Tory MPs voting for their own dismissal.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Werthead

[mormont]

1 hour ago, DaveSumm said:

I’m not an expert on the mechanisms of how party leaders get elected, I think the Tory vote has involved party members since 1998 and I recall Ed Milliband changed the rules which lead to Corbyn’s election. Are there any parallels to be drawn between Truss and Corbyn, in so much as it seems like they were both elected by members with immediate vibes of ‘oh shit they’ve elected the wrong person’ by MPs? There’s a weird tension there, if members ultimately decide but then it’s back to MPs and their letters once that’s over. Feels like there’s a flaw in this system.

The issue is that you're really standing for two jobs: leader of the Parliamentary group and leader of the national party. It makes sense for the person who holds the one job to hold the other, but as you note, sometimes the two groups don't agree on what kind of leader they want. So you need a system that can produce a compromise candidate, if required.

The irony is, as we've noted before, Labour MPs essentially gamed their own system in an attempt to be fair to members when some of them agreed to nominate Corbyn first time out despite not actually wanting him to be leader. Truss, on the other hand, got to the party vote in a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy: Tory MPs knew she was popular with the membership and wanted to hitch themselves to her wagon as they expected her to win. If they'd been more ruthless and less personally ambitious, she'd have crashed out early.

So Labour messed up the compromise system by trying too hard to be fair and the Tories messed it up by being greedy. Seems about right.

[Spockydog]

2 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

But technically, he could stand in the next leadership contest, no?

I think he probably will. And I think he'll win. And then he'll call a general election and probably win that too.

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Spockydog

[Heartofice]

Odd that Tories would consider ditching Truss after she did exactly what she said she was going to do during her campaign. I know we are used to politicians never following through on promises but what were they expecting.