Topic: Never mind 'Stop the Boats' - STOP THE TORIES

[Red Beret]

Johnson is the very definition of bullshitting your way to the top and into a job completely beyond your ability.

[Red Beret]

Been idly browsing some train vids and stumbled across some videos about failed rail franchises. So I did a quick google and turned up this on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_of_last_resort

Some might already be aware of this, but currently the government is, in one form or another, operating six rail franchises that were terminated due to poor services by the franchise holders (or an inability of the franchise operators to continue). These including Northern, TpE and TfW (the latter seemingly being handled by the Welsh Assembly).

As I see it, this means that rail privatisation has been so bad, that the government has effectively renationalised a huge chunk of the service on the quiet. Under such circumstances, Labour should be looking to take the next logical step and reclaim the whole network, permanently.

[Fromola]

Johnson is the very definition of bullshitting your way to the top and into a job completely beyond your ability.

Thing is, everyone in politics and the Tory party knew Johnson wasn't up to it and had stopped him being leader before. He was already out of his depth as foreign sec and sacked for lying in a previous role.

They put him in as a means to an end in 2019 to get Brexit over the line and make sure Corbyn wouldn't be PM. He then comes in and sacks anyone with any kind of ability and we were left with dregs like Hancock running the health service during a global pandemic and a no mark like Sunak running the economy during a pandemic. He was then replaced by a complete idiot in Truss because, again, who else was there? He sacked anyone with a clue.

[west_london_red]

Thing is, everyone in politics and the Tory party knew Johnson wasn't up to it and had stopped him being leader before. He was already out of his depth as foreign sec and sacked for lying in a previous role.

They put him in as a means to an end in 2019 to get Brexit over the line and make sure Corbyn wouldn't be PM. He then comes in and sacks anyone with any kind of ability and we were left with dregs like Hancock running the health service during a global pandemic and a no mark like Sunak running the economy during a pandemic. He was then replaced by a complete idiot in Truss because, again, who else was there? He sacked anyone with a clue.

Half the problem is the Tories, other problem is the dim wittedness of the British electorate who seem to put him on some kind of weird pedestal despite everyone knowing exactly what he’s like, and having then seen what he’s like first hand still think the sun shines out of arse and he’s the answer to the country’s problems.

[RedDeadRejection]

Been idly browsing some train vids and stumbled across some videos about failed rail franchises. So I did a quick google and turned up this on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_of_last_resort

Some might already be aware of this, but currently the government is, in one form or another, operating six rail franchises that were terminated due to poor services by the franchise holders (or an inability of the franchise operators to continue). These including Northern, TpE and TfW (the latter seemingly being handled by the Welsh Assembly).

As I see it, this means that rail privatisation has been so bad, that the government has effectively renationalised a huge chunk of the service on the quiet. Under such circumstances, Labour should be looking to take the next logical step and reclaim the whole network, permanently.

Aye. Wouldn't be surprised with Avanti being next too. Some big hitting Train Operating Companies under government ownership then. Yet shareholders still getting huge payouts. But yeah, train drivers are the problem apparently...

[PaulF]

Thing is, everyone in politics and the Tory party knew Johnson wasn't up to it and had stopped him being leader before. He was already out of his depth as foreign sec and sacked for lying in a previous role.

They put him in as a means to an end in 2019 to get Brexit over the line and make sure Corbyn wouldn't be PM. He then comes in and sacks anyone with any kind of ability and we were left with dregs like Hancock running the health service during a global pandemic and a no mark like Sunak running the economy during a pandemic. He was then replaced by a complete idiot in Truss because, again, who else was there? He sacked anyone with a clue.

I've seen this said about Johnson a few times. Just out of curiosity as I don't really follow it that closely, who do you think he should have kept. Who would the decent tories be. Ps this isn't a trap, not going to turn round and proclaim you (or anyone else that replies) as a tory lover!

[TSC]

I've seen this said about Johnson a few times. Just out of curiosity as I don't really follow it that closely, who do you think he should have kept. Who would the decent tories be. Ps this isn't a trap, not going to turn round and proclaim you (or anyone else that replies) as a tory lover!

He binned the majority of the ‘old guard’ type, ie those with actual experience of governing (as much as most here would disagree with their politics), but who failed to show sufficient sycophantic traits.  To be fair to Johnson I think Cummings was behind the cull, but ultimately responsibility and accountability sits with the PM at the time.

[Sangria]

Thing is, everyone in politics and the Tory party knew Johnson wasn't up to it and had stopped him being leader before. He was already out of his depth as foreign sec and sacked for lying in a previous role.

They put him in as a means to an end in 2019 to get Brexit over the line and make sure Corbyn wouldn't be PM. He then comes in and sacks anyone with any kind of ability and we were left with dregs like Hancock running the health service during a global pandemic and a no mark like Sunak running the economy during a pandemic. He was then replaced by a complete idiot in Truss because, again, who else was there? He sacked anyone with a clue.

Johnson is the ultimate proof that democracy is all about getting votes, and that the real world is disconnected from this ultimate aim. Governance, principles, logic, and anything else that might be raised is as nothing when put against that decisive argument.

[9 kemlyn road]

Half the problem is the Tories, other problem is the dim wittedness of the British electorate who seem to put him on some kind of weird pedestal despite everyone knowing exactly what he’s like, and having then seen what he’s like first hand still think the sun shines out of arse and he’s the answer to the country’s problems.

Very true.
The British electorate are like some brainwashed cult when it came to Johnson .it was clear as day that he was hopelessly out his depth and every time he spoke the lies poured out his mouth as easy as breathing .but the great British public just seemed to lap it up like he was some Saturday night light entertainment tv star .” Oh boris ,isn’t he funny , look at his hair ,what a character,what a larf he is” .
Any one else who was as hopeless as he was in their particular field would have been sacked and hounded out the job but all through his life he’s been given a free pass ,get out of jail cards by the dozen ,pass go and collect as much money as possible for being crap at everything he did and always with the minimum of effort.
And all the while being cheered on by his psychofantical mates and electorate .even now he’s up to something in South America trying to trouser himself some more money no doubt by breaking the government’s rules .
But hey ,it’s boris ,oh isn’t he funny ,look at his hair ,what a larf he is …and so on and on etc etc

[Statto Red]

A lot got taken in by Johnsons media appearances particularly on likes of Have I Got News For You, it's why he gets a free pass now even after all the lying, moral bankruptcy, & general corruption.

[9 kemlyn road]

A lot got taken in by Johnsons media appearances particularly on likes of Have I Got News For You, it's why he gets a free pass now even after all the lying, moral bankruptcy, & general corruption.

But at least on shows like that hislop and Merton would rip into him and show up his hypocrisy and lies where he would just shrink into his seat and mumble and waffle much like he did in the commons house when starmer would tear him a new one .
But it all just washed over the public culminating in the brexit vote like some leader of the cult telling his followers to kill themselves and their families…and they did ..vote for brexit that is ,not kill themselves .

[Fromola]

I've seen this said about Johnson a few times. Just out of curiosity as I don't really follow it that closely, who do you think he should have kept. Who would the decent tories be. Ps this isn't a trap, not going to turn round and proclaim you (or anyone else that replies) as a tory lover!

It's more the fact that anyone who was considered a remainer, or not enough of a Brexit believer, was out. That's how we ended up with the likes of Hancock, Grayling and Sunak in such prominent positions and chancers like Anderson and Gullis. They're not people i'd agree with politically but the likes of Rory Stewart, Dominic Grieve,  Phil Hammond, Ken Clarke - there was a brain drain of any political talent within the party. Sunak had only even been an MP a few years before becoming Chancellor and then PM - replacing Hague's seat. He only got the chancellor job as Johnson deemed him more malleable than Javid.

[Fromola]

Johnson is the ultimate proof that democracy is all about getting votes, and that the real world is disconnected from this ultimate aim. Governance, principles, logic, and anything else that might be raised is as nothing when put against that decisive argument.

The thing about Johnson was how brazen he was. That's always been the way but Johnson didn't care about customs or even being a slippery operator and PR focused (Cameron for example or Blair at times). Johnson just didn't give a fuck and thought nothing of lying through his teeth in any situation or being corrupt in plain sight. Prime Ministers at least cover their tracks a bit usually.

I could never abide Johnson but people like him as some kind of anti-politician maverick. But he's the worst aspect of every politician. He stands for nothing, has no principles, lies compulsively, a serial philanderer, jobs for the boys and openly corrupt (the tens of millions on that garden bridge as London Mayor that never got built, the whole Olympic Stadium farce with hundreds of millions of taxpayers money untraced). Everyone within the party knew exactly what he was like but appointed him leader anyway out of a desperation to beat Corbyn and get Brexit over the line. They'd have been better off losing that election though. They'll find it hard to recover from Johnson - he's the kind of person who will destroy everything he touches. He's a narcissist if not a sociopath.

[PaulF]

The thing about Johnson was how brazen he was. That's always been the way but Johnson didn't care about customs or even being a slippery operator and PR focused (Cameron for example or Blair at times). Johnson just didn't give a fuck and thought nothing of lying through his teeth in any situation or being corrupt in plain sight. Prime Ministers at least cover their tracks a bit usually.

I could never abide Johnson but people like him as some kind of anti-politician maverick. But he's the worst aspect of every politician. He stands for nothing, has no principles, lies compulsively, a serial philanderer, jobs for the boys and openly corrupt (the tens of millions on that garden bridge as London Mayor that never got built, the whole Olympic Stadium farce with hundreds of millions of taxpayers money untraced). Everyone within the party knew exactly what he was like but appointed him leader anyway out of a desperation to beat Corbyn and get Brexit over the line. They'd have been better off losing that election though. They'll find it hard to recover from Johnson - he's the kind of person who will destroy everything he touches. He's a narcissist if not a sociopath.

Thanks (and TSC). Always a positive of this forum that we can see beyond what we disagree with. Yet to see anyone acknowledge pickford as a good goalie mind. 😁

[oldfordie]

The thing about Johnson was how brazen he was. That's always been the way but Johnson didn't care about customs or even being a slippery operator and PR focused (Cameron for example or Blair at times). Johnson just didn't give a fuck and thought nothing of lying through his teeth in any situation or being corrupt in plain sight. Prime Ministers at least cover their tracks a bit usually.

I could never abide Johnson but people like him as some kind of anti-politician maverick. But he's the worst aspect of every politician. He stands for nothing, has no principles, lies compulsively, a serial philanderer, jobs for the boys and openly corrupt (the tens of millions on that garden bridge as London Mayor that never got built, the whole Olympic Stadium farce with hundreds of millions of taxpayers money untraced). Everyone within the party knew exactly what he was like but appointed him leader anyway out of a desperation to beat Corbyn and get Brexit over the line. They'd have been better off losing that election though. They'll find it hard to recover from Johnson - he's the kind of person who will destroy everything he touches. He's a narcissist if not a sociopath.

Yeah, I think Johnson and Trump feel the same way about government and the public. they both have no respect for either.
What annoys me the most is we have all these laws to protect us from being conned by lying sales pitches but nothing to protect us from outrageous blatant lies from politicians. it's all been covered but forget all the bullshit about grey areas, am talking about deliberately lying to con the public.
Johnsons Oven ready deal won him the election with a 80 seat majority, we are now suffering badly because of it yet it was based on a pack of lies to con the public. there is something seriously wrong  with the political system when the Prime Minister can give a press conference for Millions so he can deliberately lie to them.
I remember Johnson answer questions on his Oven Ready deal before the election at a Press conference. he had agreed to customs checks at the NI sea border, he had agreed to more custom posts and more customs officers to make these checks but he told the country there will be no customs checks between GB and NI and no customs checks between NI and GB, he was challenged by reporters, told this can't be true but he looked the cameras in the eye and said there will be no customs checks. that was a deliberate blatant lie to overcome the biggest NI problem. checks at borders. I can also bring up a few other deliberate lies from Johnson and hundreds of other lies that his supporters will call a grey area but this for me was his biggest lie as it won him a Election.

[9 kemlyn road]

The thing about Johnson was how brazen he was. That's always been the way but Johnson didn't care about customs or even being a slippery operator and PR focused (Cameron for example or Blair at times). Johnson just didn't give a fuck and thought nothing of lying through his teeth in any situation or being corrupt in plain sight. Prime Ministers at least cover their tracks a bit usually.

I could never abide Johnson but people like him as some kind of anti-politician maverick. But he's the worst aspect of every politician. He stands for nothing, has no principles, lies compulsively, a serial philanderer, jobs for the boys and openly corrupt (the tens of millions on that garden bridge as London Mayor that never got built, the whole Olympic Stadium farce with hundreds of millions of taxpayers money untraced). Everyone within the party knew exactly what he was like but appointed him leader anyway out of a desperation to beat Corbyn and get Brexit over the line. They'd have been better off losing that election though. They'll find it hard to recover from Johnson - he's the kind of person who will destroy everything he touches. He's a narcissist if not a sociopath.

Whatever class he had been born into he still would have behaved the same .lying ,cheating,corrupt.if he’d been working class you bet he would have done a prison stretch or two and be involved in all sorts criminal activities that would bring in all his unearned income as he certainly wouldn’t have got off his fat arse and done an honest days graft.
But he learned from the master ,his dad who at the moment is busy still cultivating that “ old charming gent “persona he keeps using when popping up on shit reality tv shows,usually accompanied by that irritating posh lass ,Georgia toffee nose or what ever her stupid name is .but the reality is he used to knock seven bells of shit out of boris’s mam ,putting her in hospital with a broken nose and other injuries,and this in front of boris and his equally useless family,all standing idly by watching.if my dad had done the same to my mother me and my siblings would’ve been on him in a flash ,but we didn’t have to because my dad was a good man and never did that ever .but Boris saw this as a lesson in how to treat women .not long before he married that Carrie ,the police were called to their flat  by the neighbours as he’d had her by the throat ,so the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
The great British public knew all this but still continued to think what a character he was ..ho, ho ho ,
He’s been like this his whole life ,a chancer ,brazen,given chance after chance ,falling from grace but always falling upwards despite fucking up every job he gets because he’s useless ,but knowing he can never fail .
I despise thatcher with every fibre of my being but this piece of shit runs her a close second .

[TheShanklyGates]

Oxford Boat Race crew reveal sickness problems after Cambridge double up

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/mar/30/boat-race-report-cambridge-oxford

Looks like the Tories finally managed to stop a boat.

[Fromola]

Yeah, I think Johnson and Trump feel the same way about government and the public. they both have no respect for either.
What annoys me the most is we have all these laws to protect us from being conned by lying sales pitches but nothing to protect us from outrageous blatant lies from politicians. it's all been covered but forget all the bullshit about grey areas, am talking about deliberately lying to con the public.
Johnsons Oven ready deal won him the election with a 80 seat majority, we are now suffering badly because of it yet it was based on a pack of lies to con the public. there is something seriously wrong  with the political system when the Prime Minister can give a press conference for Millions so he can deliberately lie to them.
I remember Johnson answer questions on his Oven Ready deal before the election at a Press conference. he had agreed to customs checks at the NI sea border, he had agreed to more custom posts and more customs officers to make these checks but he told the country there will be no customs checks between GB and NI and no customs checks between NI and GB, he was challenged by reporters, told this can't be true but he looked the cameras in the eye and said there will be no customs checks. that was a deliberate blatant lie to overcome the biggest NI problem. checks at borders. I can also bring up a few other deliberate lies from Johnson and hundreds of other lies that his supporters will call a grey area but this for me was his biggest lie as it won him a Election.

The problem as well was the lack of accountability from him BEFORE the election. He wouldn't do any interviews. He backed out of an interview with Andrew Neil who had already interviewed Corbyn. He hid from GMB by hiding in a fridge. He basically siad nothing and stuck to the three word slogan of get  Brexit done.

This is also an issue with our pathetic media. The right wing media make all the noise and they wanted Brexit and didn't want Corbyn so were happy with this.

[9 kemlyn road]

The problem as well was the lack of accountability from him BEFORE the election. He wouldn't do any interviews. He backed out of an interview with Andrew Neil who had already interviewed Corbyn. He hid from GMB by hiding in a fridge. He basically siad nothing and stuck to the three word slogan of get  Brexit done.

This is also an issue with our pathetic media. The right wing media make all the noise and they wanted Brexit and didn't want Corbyn so were happy with this.

He’s never been held to any accountability in his whole life so he genuinely believes it’s his right to do as he pleases even if it’s breaking the law .it’s astounding how he’s done it ,anyone else would never get employment again given the amount of times he’s been caught out in his various jobs but he goes on to bigger and better paid jobs time and again.
What ever happened to the situation when he was foreign secretary and he went to the Russian oligarchs castle out in the Italian countryside,without informing anyone about it as he was ,I suppose,legally bound ,in capacity as foreign secretary,later photographed hungover and dishevelled in an airport waiting area .he must have broken every law and official protocol in the book but absolutely nothing was said ,swept under the carpet..why ,how ..it’s astonishing but of course he ends up with being prime minister,upwards he fell again.
The right wing media,murdoch in particular,have been picking who wins the election since they got thatcher in forty five years ago,murdoch has bragged about this many times .a foreign national deciding who wins our democratic election process ,we deserve all we get really .

[rob1966]

Oxford Boat Race crew reveal sickness problems after Cambridge double up

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/mar/30/boat-race-report-cambridge-oxford

Looks like the Tories finally managed to stop a boat.

[PaulF]

The problem as well was the lack of accountability from him BEFORE the election. He wouldn't do any interviews. He backed out of an interview with Andrew Neil who had already interviewed Corbyn. He hid from GMB by hiding in a fridge. He basically siad nothing and stuck to the three word slogan of get  Brexit done.

This is also an issue with our pathetic media. The right wing media make all the noise and they wanted Brexit and didn't want Corbyn so were happy with this.

Filing under,  you couldn't make this shit up.

[spen71]

Just switched on BBC News.    Another car crash of an interview with Gillian Keegan.

[Red Beret]

They really can't wrap their head around their situation, can they? I mean, they know they're screwed, but the nuance of why they're screwed continues to elude them.

I realise they're not completely dumb - they're holding on for very specific reasons: partly out of sheer spite, partly out of grift, and partly to just deny Labour power. But they don't seem to realise the long term damage they're doing to their party by hanging on.

Political parties aren't football clubs. You don't just join another one after your party gets relegated. Maybe most of their MPs know they won't be back in Parliament again and don't give a crap about that, but you would think those leading the party would. There's a slim, but very real chance that they could be the third party in 10 years if they carry on as they are.

[west_london_red]

Grassroots Tory group urges members to deselect centrist MPs

https://apple.news/AoAvpXVi9SWSu2ViBzJiJbA

They are absolutely going to rip each other to pieces once they are out of government like rats in a sack, it’s going to be very entertaining to watch.

[killer-heels]

Grassroots Tory group urges members to deselect centrist MPs

https://apple.news/AoAvpXVi9SWSu2ViBzJiJbA

They are absolutely going to rip each other to pieces once they are out of government like rats in a sack, it’s going to be very entertaining to watch.

Some obvious names on there. Noakes has been hammering the party for a long time and Ellwood is as anti Boris as they come. I would like Ellwood out of parliament though, that fucker would have us in World War 3 in no time if he had a choice.

Got to spare a moment for Laura Trott though. Shares a (former) name with a legend, hated by the opposition for being a Tory and from the looks of it, hated by her own side as well. That means her only natural move after the election will have to be a career in consultancy.
 

[west_london_red]

Some obvious names on there. Noakes has been hammering the party for a long time and Ellwood is as anti Boris as they come. I would like Ellwood out of parliament though, that fucker would have us in World War 3 in no time if he had a choice.

Got to spare a moment for Laura Trott though. Shares a (former) name with a legend, hated by the opposition for being a Tory and from the looks of it, hated by her own side as well. That means her only natural move after the election will have to be a career in consultancy.
 

I don’t think the politics actually comes into it with the CDO lot, it’s just a Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson fan club, they can say it’s about free market libertarianism but Johnson was none of that.

[killer-heels]

I don’t think the politics actually comes into it with the CDO lot, it’s just a Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson fan club, they can say it’s about free market libertarianism but Johnson was none of that.

Nope hence why Ellwood and Noakes are on it. They absolutely hate Johnson.

[TepidT2O]

Grassroots Tory group urges members to deselect centrist MPs

https://apple.news/AoAvpXVi9SWSu2ViBzJiJbA

They are absolutely going to rip each other to pieces once they are out of government like rats in a sack, it’s going to be very entertaining to watch.

When a party starts trying to deselect centrists, they’re in real trouble

[west_london_red]

When a party starts trying to deselect centrists, they’re in real trouble

I suspect a lot of the centrists will be the ones heading to the exit door anyway, either voluntarily or forced by the Tory members or the electorate. That hundred or so MPs they will have left seems to be too heavy with head bangers, they’ll talk themselves into going even further to the right and there will be no one either willing to able to try and pull them the other way. Will be great to watch at least, and when we’re older there will be documentaries about it… whatever happened to the Conservative Party?

[Jiminy Cricket]

Grassroots Tory group urges members to deselect centrist MPs

https://apple.news/AoAvpXVi9SWSu2ViBzJiJbA

They are absolutely going to rip each other to pieces once they are out of government like rats in a sack, it’s going to be very entertaining to watch.

Do it! 

[Red Beret]

Decent read, this. Although it's a bit long.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/04/rishi-sunak-conservatives-tory-defeat

Incredible though it may seem, it is increasingly likely that Rishi Sunak’s Conservative leadership will be challenged in June. To many, the idea that choosing a fifth Tory prime minister in as many years might be the solution to internal party turmoil, or that ditching Sunak a few months before a general election would reanimate the electorate, will feel utterly delusional. To a significant group of Conservative MPs and activists, however, it is a primrose path that beckons irresistibly.

These critics never supported Sunak in the first place. They can’t forgive him for not having Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson’s post-Brexit appeal. They despise his caution about their obsessions. They treat his failure to dent Labour’s poll lead with contempt. They believe, probably rightly, that in the 2 May local elections Sunak may lead the Tories to a humiliating defeat. But they hope this will panic the party into yet another change of leader and a lurch to their land of lost content on the populist right.

These local elections would matter a lot in any circumstances. They are not midterms, from which a defeated governing party can always hope to recover. Instead these are nearly end-of-terms. And they tell a fateful story. The Tories are staring at the loss of more than half of their councillors in May, with possible defeats for prominent mayors, including Andy Street in the West Midlands and Ben Houchen in Tees Valley, and the rise of Richard Tice’s Reform party slicing into the 2019 Tory electorate.

Put that together with last weekend’s well-publicised 15,000-person general election survey by Survation, and you have a party on death row. Survation’s poll forecasts for Labour a vast 286-seat general election majority, with Keir Starmer leading 468 MPs into the next parliament and the Conservatives reduced to a mere 98, easily their worst result of the democratic era. A new YouGov poll puts the figure at 403 seats, with a Labour majority of 154. The combination of the dire polls and the likely local election losses is a Conservative leadership tinderbox, ready to ignite after the local election weekend.

Sunak knows this only too well. It is why, by his own rather modest standards as a stump politician, he is putting unusual effort into local campaigning. It is also why his threat to call a June general election rather than submit to a challenge from his MPs should be taken more seriously than it is. The rebels certainly take it seriously, because it would kill their desperate strategy. Their hope that they can persuade King Charles to block a request from Sunak for a dissolution, however, is for the birds.

Such is the party’s volatility that the leadership hopefuls know the game is already afoot. The likelihood is nevertheless that Sunak will cling on to the loyalty of the majority, as John Major did in similar circumstances in 1995. But that is not a certainty. In the end, his MPs and their press backers are an unbiddable crew. If 53 of his 348 MPs ask for a confidence vote, many others will cast restraint aside.

From the grandstand, this all appears like a collective suicide strategy. For many on the pitch, though, it is clearly different. Priti Patel and Suella Braverman are weighing early challenges after the local elections. Penny Mordaunt and Kemi Badenoch do not want to be left behind if others have momentum. Nor do James Cleverly or Grant Shapps. Liz Truss, the most discredited Tory of the modern era, is eyeing the scrum. Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and Nigel Frottage, though not MPs, will be drawn into the intrigue. Even Dominic Cummings is taking fresh interest.

What all of this misses, though, is something much larger. Neither the current, blundering Conservative party nor the super-successful ideological one about which the rebels fantasise is a viable and stable centre-right party of government. A change of leader does not change that. To recreate an electorally viable party is not the work of weeks, but of years. That’s especially the case when, as the Tory journalist Danny Finkelstein pointed out this week, young Tory voters are almost extinct.

Rather than pretend that ousting Sunak will solve or even do anything to mitigate the Tory party’s plight, the Conservatives need a dose of historical humility and to play a longer game. After a terrible Tory performance in the local elections of 1995, the historians Stuart Ball and Anthony Seldon argued in this paper that, although party leaders insisted that the next general election was still winnable, the Conservatives were locked into a cycle that pointed to a devastating defeat. That analysis seems as fresh, relevant and, above all, as accurate today as it did then.

Ball and Seldon argued that nine conditions defined the likelihood of Conservative defeat. These were: a negative image of the leader, confusion over policy direction, internal disunity, organisational disarray, weakened party finances, a hostile media and intellectual climate, public dissatisfaction with the economy, a “time for a change” mood and a credible opposition party.

All were present in 1995, six of them in an acute form. Much the same is true today. Sunak’s ratings are poor. Policy confusion – think net zero or levelling up – is common. Party divisions are deep. The intellectual climate is increasingly negative. Economic satisfaction is very low. There is a mood for change. And Labour is a credible alternative government. As the Liberal Democrat polling specialist Mark Pack observed last week, this puts the Conservatives today in at least as difficult a situation as in 1945, 1964 and 1997 – all of them elections lost by the Tories.

The real question facing the Conservatives today is not whether they can extricate themselves from this predicament and win an election while still in government. All the evidence says they cannot. The real question is whether the Conservatives can use the now almost inevitable period out of government to learn and recover to win an election from opposition. They have done this in the past, but the process has sometimes been divisive and difficult, as it was after 1997. There is no guarantee here either.

Ten years after their 1995 Guardian article, Ball and Seldon published a book, Recovering Power, about precisely this aspect of Tory history. It argued that in opposition the Tories too often lost sight of the need for adaptability to new ideas and a credible alternative platform, underpinned by hunger for office. But it stressed that any opposition recovery also depended on the failures, shortcomings and economic record of the government in power.

It is hard not to agree. The Conservative party has lost its way in government. Yet it shows few signs of grasping the scale of the tasks that would await it in opposition either. The truth is that the future of the Tory party does not rest in the personalities of those who are squabbling for Sunak’s job. It lies in the hands of Keir Starmer’s Labour party and its future record in government.

We're at a point now where a Labour majority of around 100, +/- 20, would be an excellent result for the Tories. Nobody expected Blair to get a 179 majority in 1997; I think most would have been more than happy with 100-120. It's an example of the hype train Labour face, and the warning of complacency, that many would consider a majority less than 150 to be some kind of failure. But I think this stems more from a desire to see the Tories utterly destroyed, rather than a realistic expectation from Labour.

Interesting to see that some Tories would like to see Charles actually refuse a request to dissolve Parliament. You don't need to be an expert to know that's pie in the sky. Charlie boy probably hates this Tory government as much as we do. I imagine mummy did as well, and that they talked together about it often.

[Millie]

Just show Charlie boy the picture of his Mum at Prince Philip's funeral alongside one of the numerous Downing Street parties.

[west_london_red]

Liz wasn’t a fan of Thatcher either apparently

[Statto Red]

This is the real reason the Tories want to leave the ECHR, the Rwanda issue is a smokescreen

arrukh
@implausibleblog
Special Economic Zones 🤯

@EuropeanPowell
 talks to
@carolvorders
 about something most of us aren't even aware of, SEZs

➡️ SEZs are small individual states within a state
➡️ 74 spread across England, Scotland and Wales
➡️ 12 freeports
➡️ Biggest one is 75 km in diameter
➡️ They create their own employment law
➡️ They have their own tax system
➡️ Each SEZ has private laws run by corporations

➡️ The EU has these but these are regulated to stop corporations from making profits and sending that money offshore, without contributing any of the profit to the running/infrastructure of the SEZ

This is bonkers! I trust
@UKLabour
  will reverse/cancel this madness?

https://twitter.com/implausibleblog/status/1769424651929677878

[lobsterboy]

Just show Charlie boy the picture of his Mum at Prince Philip's funeral alongside one of the numerous Downing Street parties.

Or Kwasi Kwarteng, the bog-eyed Truss fucker off his tits and laughing at his mum's funeral.

[TSC]

This is the real reason the Tories want to leave the ECHR, the Rwanda issue is a smokescreen

arrukh
@implausibleblog
Special Economic Zones 🤯

@EuropeanPowell
 talks to
@carolvorders
 about something most of us aren't even aware of, SEZs

➡️ SEZs are small individual states within a state
➡️ 74 spread across England, Scotland and Wales
➡️ 12 freeports
➡️ Biggest one is 75 km in diameter
➡️ They create their own employment law
➡️ They have their own tax system
➡️ Each SEZ has private laws run by corporations

➡️ The EU has these but these are regulated to stop corporations from making profits and sending that money offshore, without contributing any of the profit to the running/infrastructure of the SEZ

This is bonkers! I trust
@UKLabour
  will reverse/cancel this madness?

https://twitter.com/implausibleblog/status/1769424651929677878

https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/news/home-affairs/special-economic-zones-in-the-uk-ideology-over-public-interest/

[reddebs]

Residents here think it's a belting idea for Holyhead. 

All been brainwashed into believing the splurge of loads of jobs for the locals, loads more trade, loads more visitors spending money.  Basically loads more everything for everyone.

Stenna have been buying up vast swathes of land around the docks so they can cream off most of it 🤷

[Jiminy Cricket]

This is the real reason the Tories want to leave the ECHR, the Rwanda issue is a smokescreen

arrukh
@implausibleblog
Special Economic Zones 🤯

@EuropeanPowell
 talks to
@carolvorders
 about something most of us aren't even aware of, SEZs

➡️ SEZs are small individual states within a state
➡️ 74 spread across England, Scotland and Wales
➡️ 12 freeports
➡️ Biggest one is 75 km in diameter
➡️ They create their own employment law
➡️ They have their own tax system
➡️ Each SEZ has private laws run by corporations

➡️ The EU has these but these are regulated to stop corporations from making profits and sending that money offshore, without contributing any of the profit to the running/infrastructure of the SEZ

This is bonkers! I trust
@UKLabour
  will reverse/cancel this madness?

https://twitter.com/implausibleblog/status/1769424651929677878

Just fuck off the corporations and entities. Just take everything off any corporation involved in this stuff without any compensation. Take the homes of the owners/directors, their investments, belongings, etc., the whole fucking lot. Take the whole fucking lot into public ownership.

Then, a Commission to investigate what this Government has done, the backhanders, etc. This is not normal Party politics, differing economic theories and the like. I believe there has been something deeply sinister happening in the heart of the British Government.

[Dr. Beaker]

The head of the civil service should run a review of every department. Follow the money, we have ample evidence of their respect for the law. Probably best to get back all the old sacked civil service heads and get them to do it after the election. Never happen though, noone will ever face the music - tradition old boy.

[thaddeus]

Residents here think it's a belting idea for Holyhead. 

All been brainwashed into believing the splurge of loads of jobs for the locals, loads more trade, loads more visitors spending money.  Basically loads more everything for everyone.

Stenna have been buying up vast swathes of land around the docks so they can cream off most of it 🤷

We've got one here as well and the PR for it in the local media is off the scale.  It's based around an airport where there had recently been the idea of a small tax on every passenger (a few % - apparently common in Spain) that would have funded the near-bankrupt council.  Instead it's becoming an SEZ...