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

[TSC]

With the tax burden so high, it's important that Labour find out where the money is going and plug those leaks. Then they can redirect money into restoring public services.

They may be all over the covid corruption to start

https://news.sky.com/story/labour-tries-to-force-release-of-details-behind-200m-ppe-contracts-linked-to-tory-peer-michelle-mone-12762258

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68087776

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/music/michelle-mone-ppe-company-at-risk-of-being-shut-down-by-her-former-lawyers/ar-BB1klOly

[thaddeus]

Another by-election incoming:

Former Tory MP resigns leaving PM to face new by-election

Former Conservative MP Scott Benton has resigned, setting up a by-election to replace him in his Blackpool South constituency.

He was already the subject of a recall petition due to improper lobbying but he's jumped before he was pushed.

[oldfordie]

@PolitlcsUK
🚨BREAKING: Ex-Tory MP Scott Benton has resigned as an MP with immediate effect

Another by-election for Rishi Sunak

[Only Me]

@PolitlcsUK
🚨BREAKING: Ex-Tory MP Scott Benton has resigned as an MP with immediate effect

Another by-election for Rishi Sunak

No idea how that prick got elected in that constituency in the first place. Large parts of it are run down to fuck - how anyone there though a Tory would be a good idea is beyond me.

[thaddeus]

No idea how that prick got elected in that constituency in the first place. Large parts of it are run down to fuck - how anyone there though a Tory would be a good idea is beyond me.

Bozo and his "Oven ready Brexit" flipped it from being Labour since 1997 - losing themselves a well respected and long-serving MP in the process.  That said, it was Tory for the 50-odd years before Blair.

[oldfordie]

No idea how that prick got elected in that constituency in the first place. Large parts of it are run down to fuck - how anyone there though a Tory would be a good idea is beyond me.

Beyond me as well, Just when you think they couldn't f.. up anymore, they fill the sea and Beach full of shit. the Top seaside resort in the country and you can't even take the kids on the Beach. absolute Nob heads voting for the Torys.

[PaulF]

Labour , I think , still have the ghosts of the note left by the out going chancellor saying the country is broke. And the total fuck up that is PFI.  Both quite easily defended when you look at the bigger picture, but how often do electorates do that in large numbers. Pfi is a particularly damaging one, as it's essentially Tory policy, not a terrible idea, but implemented poorly and in a costly way.   Not saying Tories would have done better (lets be honest the contracts would go to their mates ) , but the evidence of Labour doing badly is there.

[killer-heels]

What Tory policys have Labour said they agree with.
One things certain to happen when Labour come to power, they will be criticised for what they don't do rather than praised for what they do.
We also know Labour have made no secret of what they will be able to do when they come to power, they will not be able to reverse many of the Tory policys in the first few yrs due to the country being in sh,, street economically.
Now this can be twisted to mean if Labour don't reverse these policys then they must agree with them, that's absolute bullshit.  they have many things to repair and change, anyone who wants them to repair everything in their first term isn't being realistic. we expect lies/promises like this from the Populist Reform party not the Labour party.

Take immigration. Discussion today on Politics live about how high legal migration numbers were with a lot to do with students, care workers and dependents. Tories mention they want to reduce dependents coming into the country, Chris Bryant says its silly but then says thats what Labour want to do as well.

Asked what Labour would do if foreign students reduce as a result of this and Bryant says thats for the Universities to worry about. Same with care workers, asked whether they should allow dependents to come and he says yes in some cases and no in others, whatever the fuck that means.

Thats just one issue, there are things like tax policy as well.

[Schmarn]

@PolitlcsUK
🚨BREAKING: Ex-Tory MP Scott Benton has resigned as an MP with immediate effect

Another by-election for Rishi Sunak

This actually helps the government as they can now schedule it for the same day as the local elections (i.e. burying bad news). Had Benton waited for the petition to be signed, the by election would likely have been late May.

Still there are some  benefits to getting rid of the c*nt sooner.

[rob1966]

No idea how that prick got elected in that constituency in the first place. Large parts of it are run down to fuck - how anyone there though a Tory would be a good idea is beyond me.

Never underestimate the stupidity of the British voter.

[PaulF]

This actually helps the government as they can now schedule it for the same day as the local elections (i.e. burying bad news). Had Benton waited for the petition to be signed, the by election would likely have been late May.

Still there are some  benefits to getting rid of the c*nt sooner.

I'm not sure losing by-elections is any longer bad news for them. Unless maybe it's some kind of record swing it's not going to register.  All they have to do is drip feed something about the royal family and that will take over the front pages.

[oldfordie]

Take immigration. Discussion today on Politics live about how high legal migration numbers were with a lot to do with students, care workers and dependents. Tories mention they want to reduce dependents coming into the country, Chris Bryant says its silly but then says thats what Labour want to do as well.

Asked what Labour would do if foreign students reduce as a result of this and Bryant says thats for the Universities to worry about. Same with care workers, asked whether they should allow dependents to come and he says yes in some cases and no in others, whatever the fuck that means.

Thats just one issue, there are things like tax policy as well.

Immigration issue is complicated, should Labour walk into the trap of going into details now, it's a no win situation whatever they say. should a care worker be allowed to bring in all dependents, where do you draw the line, this might not be a big deal to us but we know what the headlines will be so why give them ammo now.
What has dependents got to do with Foreign students and University places.
We all know the biggest problem that hit Students and Universities. Brexit.
Maybe Bryant can't go into details on this now either. can you blame them. people are waiting to pick out anything to attack them.

[thaddeus]

I'm not sure losing by-elections is any longer bad news for them. Unless maybe it's some kind of record swing it's not going to register.  All they have to do is drip feed something about the royal family and that will take over the front pages.

It's only news within Westminster and for the Tory MPs that haven't yet announced they're leaving politics.  I'm sure every time there's a by-election they are doing the maths to see how a similar swing would impact on themselves.

For the general population it's non-news.  Ruling government has one less MP but still an overwhelming majority.  A steady drip feed of confirmation that the Tories are losers is welcome though as nobody likes to back a loser.

[killer-heels]

Immigration issue is complicated, should Labour walk into the trap of going into details now, it's a no win situation whatever they say. should a care worker be allowed to bring in all dependents, where do you draw the line, this might not be a big deal to us but we know what the headlines will be so why give them ammo now.
What has dependents got to do with Foreign students and University places.
We all know the biggest problem that hit Students and Universities. Brexit.
Maybe Bryant can't go into details on this now either. can you blame them. people are waiting to pick out anything to attack them.

They have gone into detail because they have said they agree with the Tory policy to reduce dependents and to restrict them. We need care workers, that was one of the highest cohorts of successful visa applications, but we limit their dependents?

[oldfordie]

They have gone into detail because they have said they agree with the Tory policy to reduce dependents and to restrict them. We need care workers, that was one of the highest cohorts of successful visa applications, but we limit their dependents?

It's a minefield Labour doesn't need to walk into, obviously everyone thinks of Wife/Husband and kids so why are they calling them dependents, I would call them immediate Family.
Am sure Labour are well aware of the problem, you cant expect someone to move here permanently unless they can bring their wife and Kids with them but even that question brings problems.  am not that bothered to be honest as am sure they will work it out when they come to power.

[TepidT2O]

Quite funny this morning.
I had the chance to talk to the guy was head of one of the big teaching unions for about 10 years.  He explained how when labour were in power, they could discuss ideas and suggest “might work better if you did it like this”.  And sometimes they’d modify what they did and sometimes they wouldn’t, but they’d always listen at least (was particularly positive about Ed Balls)
And then he described how it changed when the tories came into power, wouldn’t even listen to anything they had to say.  Described meetings where Cummings were present and he belittled them
He was very positive about Philipson and that she Manc real purpose and flexibility

[Red Beret]

They may be all over the covid corruption to start

https://news.sky.com/story/labour-tries-to-force-release-of-details-behind-200m-ppe-contracts-linked-to-tory-peer-michelle-mone-12762258

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68087776

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/music/michelle-mone-ppe-company-at-risk-of-being-shut-down-by-her-former-lawyers/ar-BB1klOly

I'd say the odds of Labour recovering any of that money is really low right now. It would take years, if at all.

Labour , I think , still have the ghosts of the note left by the out going chancellor saying the country is broke. And the total fuck up that is PFI.  Both quite easily defended when you look at the bigger picture, but how often do electorates do that in large numbers. Pfi is a particularly damaging one, as it's essentially Tory policy, not a terrible idea, but implemented poorly and in a costly way.   Not saying Tories would have done better (lets be honest the contracts would go to their mates ) , but the evidence of Labour doing badly is there.

PFI was deliberately engineered by the Tories to cost a fortune, so their wealthy mates could cream off taxpayer money for changing a sodding lightbulb. I've got no idea if Labour tightened them up, but they always ended up not being value for money.

[TSC]

I'd say the odds of Labour recovering any of that money is really low right now. It would take years, if at all.

Probably not.  But it will do damage to the Tories by having any sort of ongoing review, although their rep is prob rock bottom anyway.

[bigbonedrawky]

Out of courtesy I googled the guy you referred to.  Google returned 2 results as follows.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Abrahams_(computer_programmer)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Abrahams_(businessman)

I assume it’s the second one you refer to.  Only content there re race is when he accused the Labour Party of antisemitism back in the day.

I'm guessing your google search has been tailored / censored to your account.  Did it not include anything from even British based newspapers like FT Gaurdian etc ?

Anyway I see riquende has found a guardian link... I dont know if it mentioned the guys thoughts on S Africa like how they cant rule themselves and they were better off under aparthied etc.

All that aside prior to 2016 he was hiding his donations via his secretary and other employees. Question is what is he paying for? Why did he feel the need to hide it ? Another corruptor of democracy ?
I know he once stood as a Labour councillor but his opinions are more in alignment with those of the far right.
 
I don't need to guess why Starmer held off declaring his donation during the leadership election though...Because  It's obvious. 

Btw
Thanks for your courtesy I do stuff like that out of curiosity... It's ok I'm not a cat.

[Riquende]

Anyway I see riquende has found a guardian link... I dont know if it mentioned the guys thoughts on S Africa like how they cant rule themselves and they were better off under aparthied etc.

No, and when I tried searching a variety of terms based on this just now I couldn't find a source either, just other people on forums mentioning it as fact without posting a source.

I will say though that there is a South African former political activist in the 80s turned lecturer of law called David Abrahams which makes navigating search results a bit harder!

[Red Beret]

Tories in being cnuts shocker.

Full article: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/25/tories-sadiq-khan-attack-ad-new-york-london

Tories delete Sadiq Khan attack ad showing New York instead of London

Footage of people panicking, designed to attack the London mayor’s record on crime, was filmed in a New York subway station

The Conservatives have deleted an online video that used scenes of a panicked crowd at a New York subway station to criticise Sadiq Khan’s record on crime in London.

The attack ad, posted on X in support of Susan Hall – Khan’s rival for the London mayoralty, showed people panicking and rushing through New York’s Penn station after false reports of gunfire in 2017.

The caption on the video claimed “London under Labour has become a crime capital of the world”, and showed an emoji of a red rose – the symbol of the Labour party – wilting and shedding its petals.

After commentators such as the political journalist Paul Waugh spotted that the video about London showed scenes from New York, it was withdrawn and replaced with a video where the Penn station clips had been cut.

Originally, the scenes from Penn station had been shown in black and white, and overlaid with an ominous US-accented narrator saying: “A 54% increase in knife crime since the Labour mayor seized power has the metropolis teetering on the brink of chaos.

“And in the chaos, people seek a desperate reprieve.”

As the Guardian reported last month, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, people are less likely to be victims of crime in London than across the country as a whole. In the capital, 14.9% of people experienced a crime either to their person or their household in the year ending September 2023, compared with 15.7% nationally.

[thaddeus]

15.7% of people in England and Wales experienced being the victim of a crime in one year?!  I appreciate some of that will be very low level stuff but it's still a really high figure.  That can't be far off 10mn people - maybe a bit lower assuming young children aren't included.

Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime

[PaulF]

15.7% of people in England and Wales experienced being the victim of a crime in one year?!  I appreciate some of that will be very low level stuff but it's still a really high figure.  That can't be far off 10mn people - maybe a bit lower assuming young children aren't included.

Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime

A hell of a lot of us were robbed at White Hart Lane earlier this season. Or the cheese factory or whatever it is called these days.

[west_london_red]

“ A 54% increase in knife crime since the Labour mayor seized power has the metropolis teetering on the brink of chaos.”

Seized power? He won two elections, it wasn’t a military coup FFS

[oldfordie]

15.7% of people in England and Wales experienced being the victim of a crime in one year?!  I appreciate some of that will be very low level stuff but it's still a really high figure.  That can't be far off 10mn people - maybe a bit lower assuming young children aren't included.

Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime

"Tough on the causes of crime" 
Honestly. have the Torys even given this 5 sec thought. idiots who just spout off sound bites.
I remember having a conversation about this years ago during the Thatcher period, people were pissed off, angry and short tempered, no help. skint, unemployed. that's without getting into the effect of drugs, what do they expect to happen. crime will rise.

[spen71]

"Tough on the causes of crime" 
Honestly. have the Torys even given this 5 sec thought. idiots who just spout off sound bites.
I remember having a conversation about this years ago during the Thatcher period, people were pissed off, angry and short tempered, no help. skint, unemployed. that's without getting into the effect of drugs, what do they expect to happen. crime will rise.

It starts at the bottom.   No Sure Start,  cuts to extra curriculum activities at school,  hardly any Youth Clubs etc,  onto lack of career options, zero hour contracts.    Teens must think what’s the point!!

[oldfordie]

It starts at the bottom.   No Sure Start,  cuts to extra curriculum activities at school,  hardly any Youth Clubs etc,  onto lack of career options, zero hour contracts.    Teens must think what’s the point!!

Yep. You left school and went straight into a job mixing with adults, you were told to grow up when you acted like kids. you soon grew up.

[9 kemlyn road]

Yep. You left school and went straight into a job mixing with adults, you were told to grow up when you acted like kids. you soon grew up.

Absolutely true.first job I had when I left school was in a factory full of women .my god a baptism of fire that was and not for the reasons you might be thinking .some of them were terrifying, I was dreading Christmas that year ..lol

[oldfordie]

Absolutely true.first job I had when I left school was in a factory full of women .my god a baptism of fire that was and not for the reasons you might be thinking .some of them were terrifying, I was dreading Christmas that year ..lol

Trust me, I know exactly what you mean.

[Millie]

15th April? Laughable.

Not the best choice of words.

[9 kemlyn road]

Trust me, I know exactly what you mean.

I still get flashbacks …lol

[Red Beret]

They just can't fucking help themselves, can they?

Sunak dismisses claims local authorities are facing funding crisis

Clive Betts (Lab), chair of the levelling up committee, goes next.

Q: Since you were local government minister, things have got worse. Isn’t there a fundamental crisis in local government finance?

Sunak says councils are the backbone of local communities. He says as local government minister he saw the value of what they did.

They have had “significant” extra funding, he says.

Q: But that came after a 30% cut in spending power over the past 14 years. A council leader said to us, with adult social care costs going up 90%, costs of children with complex needs up 23%, and income up just 5%, you don’t need to be a genius to see there’s a gap.

Sunak does not accept that.

The grant in cash terms for councils has more than doubled in this parliament, he says.

Q: 20% of councils face the threat of bankruptcy in the next few years?

Sunak repeats the point about the grant being doubled in cash terms.

Q: DLUHC [the Department for Levelling UP, Housing and Communities] is not a protected government. Is it really sustainable that councils could get no extra money for four years, without having to cut services?

Sunak says he won’t write the next spending review now.

Overall public spending is forecast to grow over the next spending review period, he says.

It has not been divided up yet. But that is what spending reviews are for.

And overall spending is rising, not just in cash terms, but in real terms too, he says.

He says MPs asking for more spending for one department should say which other budgets should be cut, or what taxes might go up to pay for it.

He repeats the point about councils getting more funding, and says social care is being prioritised.

Spouts nothing but bollocks this one (well they all do). Opens his mouth and piles of sweaty, hairy scrotums just tumble out onto the floor, like some collection of hideous tribbles.

Don't admit anything. Just continue with the gaslighting soundbites and tell people not to believe what they see with their own eyes. There is no iceberg ahead, and any icebergs that might be around are small and easy to manage.

[thaddeus]

They just can't fucking help themselves, can they?

Spouts nothing but bollocks this one (well they all do). Opens his mouth and piles of sweaty, hairy scrotums just tumble out onto the floor, like some collection of hideous tribbles.

Don't admit anything. Just continue with the gaslighting soundbites and tell people not to believe what they see with their own eyes. There is no iceberg ahead, and any icebergs that might be around are small and easy to manage.

He knows some people will believe it.  "Greedy councils" putting their council tax up when they're getting record funding, that Sunak fellow said so.  20% of councils heading towards bankruptcy is one for the next government to sort out as the current incumbents could not give a monkeys.

In general the Tories hide behind the record funding comment as a catch all for all failing services.  There's never any context given about higher population, increasing demand, increasing costs, a legacy of underfunding coming to fruition etc.

[PaulF]

And mostly he seems to refer to extra cash. Even though his goverent have taken away piles of cash through rampant inflation.

[Red Beret]

More rats jumping ship.

Robert Halfon resigns as education minister, and announces he's standing down at election

The Conservative MP Robert Halfon has announced that he is standing down at the next election. More surprisingly, he has revealed that he has resigned as an education minister too. He has posted his resignation letter on X.

    A personal statement from the Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP, Member of Parliament for Harlow and the villages and the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education. 👇https://t.co/SIj1aYNhlm pic.twitter.com/MGadHQWuLV
    — Robert Halfon MP ➡️Working Hard for Harlow⬅️ (@halfon4harlowMP) March 26, 2024

Ministers who declare they will stand down at the election do not have to leave government immediately, but prime ministers normally want to have people in their team who are looking forward, and geared up to fighting the election, not counting the days until retirement.

With James Heappey also resigning from government (see 4.01pm), Rishi Sunak will need to conduct a mini reshuffle. As yet, we don’t know whether or not this will turn into a bigger one.

James Heappey resigns as defence minister

Armed forces minister James Heappey has resigned, according to sources, paving the way for Rishi Sunak to carry out a mini-reshuffle of his team, PA Media reports. Heappey, the Conservative MP for Wells, Somerset, earlier this month announced his intention to quit as an MP and to stand down as a minister before then.

Two ministers stand down, with one saying they won't contest the next election. How many Tory MPs is that now who are "retiring"? 65?

[Riquende]

Prize dunce Jonathan Gullis taking over the Anderson gig as deputy chairman. Something to pad the CV with before he gets landslid out of the House.

I know a lot of the current lot are off, but are there odds currently on who'll be the highest profile electoral scalp? The Portillo-du-jour, so to speak?

[Red Beret]

Prize dunce Jonathan Gullis taking over the Anderson gig as deputy chairman. Something to pad the CV with before he gets landslid out of the House.

I know a lot of the current lot are off, but are there odds currently on who'll be the highest profile electoral scalp? The Portillo-du-jour, so to speak?

Hard to tell, as it depends on the polls; and as we've seen there's some variation on them. Portillo was totally unexpected - the swing that unseated him was way over the average. According to Wiki, the average swing was 8.8%, I thought it was closer to 12%.

Most polling puts the Tories most likely result at around 120-150 seats. I'm sure there are plenty of high profile MPs who might be vulnerable when you're looking at potentially 200 losses, but it's just impossible to tell.

if the calculator I looked like is anything to go by, Labour will need a lot more than 9% just to win office. The parties were a lot closer together in terms of seats back in 1997.   

https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/swingometer/uk-parliament

[Lusty]

Prize dunce Jonathan Gullis taking over the Anderson gig as deputy chairman. Something to pad the CV with before he gets landslid out of the House.

I know a lot of the current lot are off, but are there odds currently on who'll be the highest profile electoral scalp? The Portillo-du-jour, so to speak?

This is absolutely wonderful reading on that topic:

https://archive.ph/XULLu

Best case scenario is they replace Sunak with Morduant and then both the Prime Minister and Chancellor lose their seats at the same time

[Red Beret]

This is absolutely wonderful reading on that topic:

https://archive.ph/XULLu

Best case scenario is they replace Sunak with Morduant and then both the Prime Minister and Chancellor lose their seats at the same time

I would very much enjoy watching that scumbag IDS loose his seat. And Redwood as well. And of course, Anderson has already gone, technically.

Mind you, that article is from late January. Hopefully the situation has improved since then, although I'd be happy to see Labour romp home with a 120 seat majority.

[filopastry]

I would very much enjoy watching that scumbag IDS loose his seat. And Redwood as well. And of course, Anderson has already gone, technically.

Mind you, that article is from late January. Hopefully the situation has improved since then, although I'd be happy to see Labour romp home with a 120 seat majority.

IDS is a nailed on goner, barely needs any swing and even ignoring their desperate national polling, demographics here drift against the Tories all the time.

Good to see the Tories learning from past mistakes and making Jonathan Gullis Deputy Chair, oh hold on a minute that is the exact opposite of learning from past mistakes.