Next Prime Minister

[northwichcat]

Interesting that three of the five Tory Party Leadership Candidates are Scottish by Birth. Fox and Crabb were raised on Council Estates.
...
The posh boy jibes so loved of the media and opposition politicians are about to disintegrate

Although Crabb has said former banker Sajid Javid would be his Chancellor if he's elected.

I'm not sure what being Scottish has to do with it. I thought there were rich, posh people in Scotland as well as in England.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I thought there were rich, posh people in Scotland as well as in England.

Indeed this is so and has been so for centuries past. Who do you think was responsible for the "Highland Clearances"?

The TV series "Monarch of the Glen" pictured the Scottish hereditary lairds in quite a modern setting of the costs of running a great house and its estates.

 

[Senex]

I thought there were rich, posh people in Scotland as well as in England.

Was it a Duke of Hamilton who was once said to be able to get from one side of Scotland to the other without ever leaving his own lands?

 

[lejog]

It seems that there the FT has received some serious anti-Leadsom briefing (subscription). What was it May said about the nasty party?

[Leadsom’s] one-year stint from 2014-15 at the Treasury as City minister was seen inside 1 Horseguards Road as “a disaster” by one official. “She was the worst minister we’ve ever had.” Unlike Ms May, she has also not held down a cabinet job.

Ms Leadsom’s allies say that Mr Osborne blocked her promotion to the cabinet and after the last election the chancellor asked for her to be moved out of the Treasury. She was transferred by David Cameron to the energy department.

“She found it difficult to understand issues or take decisions,” said another Treasury official. “She was monomaniacal, seeing the EU as the source of every problem. She alienated officials by continually complaining about poor drafting.”

 

[ianhr]

Now Farage has gone they will all lurch to the Right to embrace UKIP. Maybe this was Farage's strategy all along.

These are utterly disgusting spineless political cowards, falling over each other to openly talk about deporting people today.

They are just making up policies on the back of a fag packet while events spin even further beyond their control and the economy slowly bleeds to death.

I hope everyone is writing to their MPs. (pm me if anyone wants any ideas).

 

[EM2]

Johnson throws his weight behind Leadsom.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Johnson throws his weight behind Leadsom.

Well, he would say that, wouldn't he...:roll:

 

[ianhr]

Has anyone done a survey of public trust in politicians SINCE the Referendum?

I think we are now in a very bad place.

 

[miami]

There are many in the tory party I admire. Just none in this race. Or anywhere near the front bench.

Same goes for Labour.

Trouble is, being a good constituency MP is not conducive to being in a position of power.

 

[ianhr]

There are many in the tory party I admire. Just none in this race. Or anywhere near the front bench.

Same goes for Labour.

Trouble is, being a good constituency MP is not conducive to being in a position of power.

I agree, and this is one of the many things that seems to have gone wrong with the 'mother of all democracies'.

 

[Bevan Price]

From what I have seen on TV, some of the leading Tory ladies have seem to have haircuts resembling those of M Thatcher - and the last thing UK needs is another Thatcher type as PM.

 

[Busaholic]

Once again Boris Johnson is too lazy to dig more than skin deep. Ledsom's delving into the EU led her to conclude a mere three years ago that it would be a 'disaster' for the UK to leave it, something I don't believe Theresa May has ever said. Ledsom's downfall will come if, as expected, she makes it to the final two with May and, as agreed, has to produce her tax return. Her enemies (the real ones, in the Tory party) will then have a field day poring over the entries or, quite possibly, non-entries. She strikes me as Nadine Dorries with a smidgeon more intelligence, but the latter would not be hard.

 

[bnm]

However bad the situation is, it would not have been the case had not the vast section of the "Leave" itinerant hordes of voters who decided in their utter lack of infinite wisdom to ignore the question asked on the ballot paper cast their personal vote as a protest against:-
Immigration
Cameron
Immigration
"Tories" in general
Immigration
etc etc etc

If you give the numbskulls (you must have all seen a wide cross-section of these being interviewed in the street by the television media after the referendum) the chance to indulge in fantasied axe-grinding by having this referendum and then do not complain if you suddenly find that the lunatics are running the asylum...

The two words "reap" and "sow" seem to be tending to sit side-by-side at present.

You really honestly believe there are 17 million numbskulls in the country?

Just one numbskull is responsible for this mess. David Cameron. He was supposed to be his party's leader. Instead of sorting out the internal Conservative party problems over the EU question, he ducked out, fearful of party disunity. So he put the thoughts of party cohesion ahead of what was best for the country. Reap and sow indeed. Cameron planted the seeds and is responsible for the poor harvest.

The UK is a representative democracy with parliamentary sovereignty, not a plebiscite democracy. David Cameron has singularly failed to grasp that, giving the UK two of only three nationwide referendums ever held. Referendums have no place in the UK political system.

We elect our politicians to lead. To make the tough decisions on our behalf. Not to avoid making decisions. This referendum was just policy avoidance by David Cameron because he knows his party is split on the issue. Labour were little better.

What point is there in having politicians if it isn’t to give clear answers to the great issues the country faces? What is the point in having politicians if they are unwilling to commit to a policy? If they aren't prepared to do so then there should be referendums on all manifesto pledges, on all great issues the country faces. Plebiscite for every major decision. Do we increase tax rates? Referendum. Do we go to war with Somewhereistan? Referendum. Do we cut the welfare budget? Referendum. Is David Cameron a dick? Referendum. Actually no. That last one is a given.

In or out of Europe should have been manifesto pledges. "Vote for us and we will - keep you in/take you out - of Europe."

Former Conservative Minister Chris Patten (speaking ahead of a possible Euro Currency referendum in 2003 (praise be that Tony and Gordon saw sense and rigged the 'five tests')), sums up my feelings on referendums perfectly:

"I think referendums are awful. The late and great Julian Critchley used to say that—not very surprisingly—they were the favourite form of plebiscitary democracy of Mussolini and Hitler. They undermine Westminster. What they ensure, as we saw in the last election, is that if you have a referendum on an issue, politicians during an election campaign say: "Oh, we're not going to talk about that, we don't need to talk about that, that's all for the referendum." So during the last election campaign, the euro was hardly debated. I think referendums are fundamentally anti-democratic in our system, and I wouldn't have anything to do with them. On the whole, governments only concede them when governments are weak."

Now, there was no, "None of the Above" on the voting sheet so I had to chose In or Out. I'd never not vote. I looked at all the arguments, waded through all the rhetoric, spin, bluster, lies, promises... and simply could not decide which outcome would be better for the UK. There were very complicated economic and socio-political outcomes to get a grasp of. I failed to do so. That does not however make me a numbskull.

So the only option I had left was vote such that it registered my discontent at there even being a referendum. That meant voting against the person who had called the referendum. Had David Cameron been a Brexiter I'd've probably voted remain.

 

[ianhr]

After the outpouring of racism, xenophobia, bigotry and downright rudeness during the campaign, plus the very negative signal sent by England and Wales to the rest of the World by the vote, it will take an enormous amount of tact and skilful diplomacy to restore the reputation and standing of the UK and salvage anything from the negotiations. No evidence that any of the candidates possess this or will make much effort to even try.

The UK is now seen as a toxic product even by the few friends that we had before, e.g. Poland and the Scandinavians.

 

[northwichcat]

There are many in the tory party I admire. Just none in this race. Or anywhere near the front bench.

Same goes for Labour.

Trouble is, being a good constituency MP is not conducive to being in a position of power.

The Conservatives should be brave and make Andrea Jenkyns leader. With her only having a majority of 600 votes at the last election she'd really need to make the party appeal to everyone to keep her seat at the next election.

 

[Groningen]

The next PM has not much political experience. But maybe you will be surprised.

 

[Domh245]

Fox received the fewest votes in the first round and was dumped out. May won, followed by Dolores Umbridge Leadsom, Gove and then Crabb. However Crabb has since announced that he is pulling out, so we have a 3 way show down between May, Gove, and Leadsom.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36718196

 

[richw]

May had 50% of the ballot. Leadsom 20% and Gove 15%.

For the negotiations to exit, I suspect Gove, as much as I dislike him and his policies, I think he would be the best option to get the best for the UK. He always seems to get what he wants into place through his existing and previous roles. Just what we need in the exit negotiations.

 

[miami]

May had 50% of the ballot. Leadsom 20% and Gove 15%.

For the negotiations to exit, I suspect Gove, as much as I dislike him and his policies, I think he would be the best option to get the best for the UK. He always seems to get what he wants into place through his existing and previous roles. Just what we need in the exit negotiations.

Perhaps Jeremy Hunt would be good at the negotiation table?

 

[me123]

That would be interesting. I'd love to see how far Hunty McHuntface gets when he tries to impose a deal on the EU.

 

[northwichcat]

Right wing group Britain First are backing Andrea Leadsom to be next PM, good reason for Theresa May to be next PM.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The next PM has not much political experience. But maybe you will be surprised.

Can you rephrase your posting as the word "has" signifies this person is already in post.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Right wing group Britain First are backing Andrea Leadsom to be next PM, good reason for Theresa May to be next PM.

We do not always agree on certain matters, but I think your summation is excellent here.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

That would be interesting. I'd love to see how far Hunty McHuntface gets when he tries to impose a deal on the EU.

That damn vessel naming competition has a lot to answer for...

Even though the "Watergate fiasco" happened many years ago, the media still like to add the "-gate" suffix to matters that they wish to sensationalise.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

The next PM has not much political experience. But maybe you will be surprised.

Can you rephrase your posting as the word "has" signifies this person is already in post.

Grammatical pedant alert... I don't think it implies that at all. What it implies is that either Groningen knows exactly who the next PM is going to be, and that person doesn't have much political experience, or that Groningen knows that the next PM will be one of a group of people, none of whom have much political experience. (Still probably needs rephrasing though, as I'm fairly sure Groningen doesn't know who it'll be )

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Or maybe we could just give a break to someone whose username and posting style both suggest that English is not their native language? So much for people wanting to nip the current wave of xenophobia in the bud.:roll:

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Or maybe we could just give a break to someone whose username and posting style both suggest that English is not their native language? So much for people wanting to nip the current wave of xenophobia in the bud.:roll:

I think you may have missed the intent of my post - which was intended as a humorous dig at Paul Sidorczuk's apparent mistake (which I thought was ironic given Paul's frequent tendency to question people's use of English). Obviously, I hope that anyone feels welcome to post, no matter which country they are from or whether or not English is their first language.

Even if their understanding of modern 21st century English grammar and nuances is as bad as Paul's :P

 

[Howardh]

Was unlucky enough to catch the whole of Ledstrom's speech this morning read wholly from a script. No questions from the press, or public.

She needs thorough scrutiny; and also whoever becomes our PM should call an immediate General Election - which is exactly what the Tories wanted when Brown succeeded Blair.

Hypocrites in politics? Perish the thought.

 

[phoenixcronin]

Just want to put this out there but I hate Leadsom. I can't quite put my finger on it but something about her seems very dodgy to me!

 

[Spamcan81]

Just want to put this out there but I hate Leadsom. I can't quite put my finger on it but something about her seems very dodgy to me!

Rumours circulating that she wasn't the financial high flyer her CV claims.
From the BBC :
"Devoid of top-level political experience, she's already having to overcome doubts about her claim to have been a financial high-flyer.
A former colleague at investment firm Invesco Perpetual, Robert Stephens, has said "she didn't manage any teams, large or small and certainly did not manage any funds."
That was after a friendly MP, Bernard Jenkin, spoke of her history managing "hundreds of people and billions of pounds".
A CV listing the post Financial Institutions Director at Barclays later added the word "deputy"."

 

[northwichcat]

Rumours circulating that she wasn't the financial high flyer her CV claims.
From the BBC :
"Devoid of top-level political experience, she's already having to overcome doubts about her claim to have been a financial high-flyer.
A former colleague at investment firm Invesco Perpetual, Robert Stephens, has said "she didn't manage any teams, large or small and certainly did not manage any funds."
That was after a friendly MP, Bernard Jenkin, spoke of her history managing "hundreds of people and billions of pounds".
A CV listing the post Financial Institutions Director at Barclays later added the word "deputy"."

Her CV has been leaked

 

[miami]

All of that matches up with what I'd heard - but which goal did she score - the third or the fourth?