He could well cling on, like shitty limpet, but the Tories aren't doing themselves any favours by keeping him. The word liar is hanging around his neck every time he makes an appearance, and he doesn't have the strength of character to overcome it via penance or good behaviour.
Still, better this than chaos with Ed Miliband, I guess.
He could well cling on, like shitty limpet, but the Tories aren't doing themselves any favours by keeping him. The word liar is hanging around his neck every time he makes an appearance, and he doesn't have the strength of character to overcome it via penance or good behaviour.
Still, better this than chaos with Ed Miliband, I guess.
He could well cling on, like shitty limpet, but the Tories aren't doing themselves any favours by keeping him. The word liar is hanging around his neck every time he makes an appearance, and he doesn't have the strength of character to overcome it via penance or good behaviour.
Still, better this than chaos with Ed Miliband, I guess.
Have you seen the way he eats sandwiches? Glad that future was avoided.
He could well cling on, like shitty limpet, but the Tories aren't doing themselves any favours by keeping him. The word liar is hanging around his neck every time he makes an appearance, and he doesn't have the strength of character to overcome it via penance or good behaviour.
Still, better this than chaos with Ed Miliband, I guess.
On the other hand, if Johnson survives this truckload of shit dumped on him then the Tories have proved that there are no consequences to anything they want to do. That's got to be some incentive to some of the weaselly shits
If Johnson survives he's proved there's no accountability outside of an election, which, assuming he doesn't discover the cure for cancer or a Brexit dividend pulled from Rees-Mogg's arse in the next two years, will on present evidence result in a right royal kicking.
On the other hand, if Johnson survives this truckload of shit dumped on him then the Tories have proved that there are no consequences to anything they want to do. That's got to be some incentive to some of the weaselly shits
That's not how it works. Boris staying or going is a purely cost benefit analysis by the PCP. As soon as enough of them agree he isn't in their best interests, he's gone. Theres no grand plan or 4D chess going on here. Just a group of self-serving people all finding their spines to act in self interest at different times according to their circumstance.
There's no honour among thieves or Tories.
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BlackDragon480Bluster KerfuffleMaster of Windy ImportRegistered Userregular
There is a screenshot doing the rounds, supposedly of a now-deleted social media post in which the Manchester young conservatives group posted a picture of Chris Wakeford at one of their parties during lockdown, apparently to show him up as a hypocrite
In it, they make a point of the fact that he's wearing black tie, having just come from another conservative party event
Presumably they deleted it because, if it's true, Manchester young conservatives have admitted to not one, but two, Tory drinks events in contravention of lockdown rules.
Speaking of Wakeford, Alibhe Rea (in Bogart's post above) was posting about how his crossing the chamber may have delayed Tory action a bit because of the image of Labour directly benefiting from it.
Presumably they deleted it because, if it's true, Manchester young conservatives have admitted to not one, but two, Tory drinks events in contravention of lockdown rules.
I don't know if the Twitter account Conservative Self-Owns (@ConSelfOwns) accepts UK submissions but that's gotta count.
Reports are that the challenge to his leadership has lost momentum.
The longer Boris stays leader the more damage it'll do to the party as a whole. So whilst I'd like to see him given the boot I'd rather him drag the party right down in to the gutter.
The Express has been a terrible, moronic paper for years, but it genuinely seems to have had a lobotomy since Johnson took over. Strong cult-like energy every day.
So did Labour have to accept Wakeford or can he just defect? Because even without the party stuff, accepting him seems to be a negative.
They don't have to accept him, but in the immediate short term it made sense to do so - it was a very effective way to hammer home the point about how Johnson's own party has so little faith in him that they're willing to defect to the actual opposition (not just the Lib Dems or Reform or whatever).
I guess they could have said "we don't want his cast-offs", but then he might have decided not to move at all, and that loses Labour an attack line. It's a tricky balance. I suspect the local CLP will refuse to work with him, and someone else will end up standing in that seat at the next election anyway.
There are reasonable arguments for not letting him into the party. He's a Tory who's been happy to vote for any number of bad things in line with his party whip. There are no doubt a ton of embarrassing things he's said about Labour that will now come out. It's unpopular with the left wing of the party. There are arguments to be made (indeed, he made them) that Labour should have insisted on a by-election instead.
And there are reasonable arguments to be made for accepting him. It shows the Tories as chaotic. It tells the voters of Bury that the guy they elected has no faith in the Tory leadership. It tells voters that switching allegiance doesn't necessarily mean voting for whatever stereotype of a Labour MP they might hold, that if this guy can switch they can too. It increases the number of Labour MPs and reduces the government majority, albeit in such a small way it won't change very much.
I dunno. Maybe telling him no just leave the Tories and maybe we'll take you in later would have been a smarter move, but he probably wouldn't have jumped ship if he didn't have somewhere safe to land. Every Tory without the whip who stood as an independent lost their seat at the last election. It seems to have becalmed the Tory rebellion, for now, but it's certainly not clear it's going to win back any affection from the public.
Reports are that the challenge to his leadership has lost momentum.
The longer Boris stays leader the more damage it'll do to the party as a whole. So whilst I'd like to see him given the boot I'd rather him drag the party right down in to the gutter.
While I'm happy to see bojo continue to be an anchor around the neck of the Tory party, I'm really struggling to understand the calculus of keeping Boris around if you're a Tory.
Reports are that the challenge to his leadership has lost momentum.
The longer Boris stays leader the more damage it'll do to the party as a whole. So whilst I'd like to see him given the boot I'd rather him drag the party right down in to the gutter.
Possibly less momentum, but it could also be that there's been an argument going around that since you only get to do this once a year - if you want to get Boris out, you have to do the challenge after the report comes out otherwise too many neutral MPs will side with the government as "this is premature, we need all the facts".
It sounds like the report was due this friday, but has been delayed due to more evidence arising, so is now expected next week. I don't think that's a long enough time to really give Boris that much of an out with his MPs.
Government is definitely making friends in order to shore up Boris...here's a quote from Tory MP William Wragg via the Guardian.
In recent days a number of members of parliament have faced pressures and intimidation from members of the government because of their declared or assumed desire for a vote of confidence in the party leadership of the prime minister.
It is of course the duty of the government whip’s office to secure the government’s business in the House of Commons.
However it is not their function to breach the ministerial code in threatening to withdraw investments from members of parliament’s constituencies which are funded from the public purse.
Additionally, reports to me and others of members of staff at No 10 Downing Street, special advisers, government ministers and others encouraging the publication of stories in the press seeking to embarrass those who they suspect of lacking confidence in the prime minister is simply unacceptable.
The intimidation of a member of parliament is a serious matter. Moreover, the reports of which I’m aware would seem to constitute blackmail. As such, it would be my general advice to colleagues report these matters to the Speaker of the House of Commons and the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and they’re also welcome to contact me at any time.
lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
With that many lines, don't you run the risk of ripping the page to shreds?
(I'm guessing that in remembering the origin of "3line whip" correctly as being a symbol of how many underlines a policy theoretically had to show the importance to the party. If not, ignore my ramblings)
Meanwhile, The Sun appears to be having a full on mental breakdown.
Is it a pun? Is it a play on words? What the fuck is this?
It's basically a Sun political cartoon, but done with a (stock, I presume) photo and the tiniest dash of digital editing. Did you expect it to not be a confusing visual nightmare?
With that many lines, don't you run the risk of ripping the page to shreds?
(I'm guessing that in remembering the origin of "3line whip" correctly as being a symbol of how many underlines a policy theoretically had to show the importance to the party. If not, ignore my ramblings)
Specifically, the Parliament agenda has the items for which there are votes underlined by the Government whip, and the number of times it's underlined indicating how strongly the government would like you to vote their way. An item underlined three times is "vote our way or there will be consequences", considered a heavy handed tactic and humiliating if the government still loses the vote in question. It comes from the parliamentary privilege that an MP cannot be ordered to vote any which way, so they get around it with indirect implication.
Not in it, at least not usually. It's a horrendously bad photoshop job as well, which suggests the Sun staff couldn't find pickle, a pork pie and some mustard at the same time to take a picture of. It's mad, and not even a good pun.
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A noble goal.
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To give you a sense of just how far along we are in this
Still, better this than chaos with Ed Miliband, I guess.
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Strong and Stable
Have you seen the way he eats sandwiches? Glad that future was avoided.
Leveling up.
Yes, let the hate flow through your veins. Destroy each other, Tories, tear each other limb from limb (metaphorically).
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That's not how it works. Boris staying or going is a purely cost benefit analysis by the PCP. As soon as enough of them agree he isn't in their best interests, he's gone. Theres no grand plan or 4D chess going on here. Just a group of self-serving people all finding their spines to act in self interest at different times according to their circumstance.
There's no honour among thieves or Tories.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
In it, they make a point of the fact that he's wearing black tie, having just come from another conservative party event
Hilarious if true but no solid confirmation yet
(Tweeter is some guy, in reply to a post by Jen Williams of the Manchester Evening News)
I don't know if the Twitter account Conservative Self-Owns (@ConSelfOwns) accepts UK submissions but that's gotta count.
Steam | XBL
LAB: 55% (+4)
CON: 23% (-10)
LDM: 9% (+2)
GRN: 7% (=)
RFM: 3% (+2)
Via @YouGov, 13-17 Jan.
Changes w/ 2-4 May 2021.
Polling mapper & collater.
Erm...
Steam | XBL
Holy Ed Balls.
Steam | XBL
The longer Boris stays leader the more damage it'll do to the party as a whole. So whilst I'd like to see him given the boot I'd rather him drag the party right down in to the gutter.
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They don't have to accept him, but in the immediate short term it made sense to do so - it was a very effective way to hammer home the point about how Johnson's own party has so little faith in him that they're willing to defect to the actual opposition (not just the Lib Dems or Reform or whatever).
I guess they could have said "we don't want his cast-offs", but then he might have decided not to move at all, and that loses Labour an attack line. It's a tricky balance. I suspect the local CLP will refuse to work with him, and someone else will end up standing in that seat at the next election anyway.
And there are reasonable arguments to be made for accepting him. It shows the Tories as chaotic. It tells the voters of Bury that the guy they elected has no faith in the Tory leadership. It tells voters that switching allegiance doesn't necessarily mean voting for whatever stereotype of a Labour MP they might hold, that if this guy can switch they can too. It increases the number of Labour MPs and reduces the government majority, albeit in such a small way it won't change very much.
I dunno. Maybe telling him no just leave the Tories and maybe we'll take you in later would have been a smarter move, but he probably wouldn't have jumped ship if he didn't have somewhere safe to land. Every Tory without the whip who stood as an independent lost their seat at the last election. It seems to have becalmed the Tory rebellion, for now, but it's certainly not clear it's going to win back any affection from the public.
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I think that's the saying
While I'm happy to see bojo continue to be an anchor around the neck of the Tory party, I'm really struggling to understand the calculus of keeping Boris around if you're a Tory.
Possibly less momentum, but it could also be that there's been an argument going around that since you only get to do this once a year - if you want to get Boris out, you have to do the challenge after the report comes out otherwise too many neutral MPs will side with the government as "this is premature, we need all the facts".
It sounds like the report was due this friday, but has been delayed due to more evidence arising, so is now expected next week. I don't think that's a long enough time to really give Boris that much of an out with his MPs.
Rollin' rollin' rollin', keep those scandals rollin'.
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(I'm guessing that in remembering the origin of "3line whip" correctly as being a symbol of how many underlines a policy theoretically had to show the importance to the party. If not, ignore my ramblings)
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Meanwhile, The Sun appears to be having a full on mental breakdown.
Is it a pun? Is it a play on words? What the fuck is this?
EVERYBODY WANTS TO SIT IN THE BIG CHAIR, MEG!
It's basically a Sun political cartoon, but done with a (stock, I presume) photo and the tiniest dash of digital editing. Did you expect it to not be a confusing visual nightmare?
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Specifically, the Parliament agenda has the items for which there are votes underlined by the Government whip, and the number of times it's underlined indicating how strongly the government would like you to vote their way. An item underlined three times is "vote our way or there will be consequences", considered a heavy handed tactic and humiliating if the government still loses the vote in question. It comes from the parliamentary privilege that an MP cannot be ordered to vote any which way, so they get around it with indirect implication.
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