Theresa May - should she resign?

[LNW-GW Joint]

You get the type of government you voted for, and it's up to Parliament to work things out with the numbers if they can.
It's been a complete disaster since Cameron called the EU referendum.
None of this angst would have been necessary, and we would have some confidence in the future with a slowly growing economy.
But his "put up or shut up" approach has led us down the garden path to the point where we have no idea how things will look in 2-5 years' time.
I just hope David Davis has enough intelligence and stamina to negotiate a better deal than seems likely from the advance posturing.

I think Theresa should stand down fairly quickly, without a DUP deal, and let better people run the show (though I don't know who they are).
The current cabinet big hitters are all dreadful really, they are just Brexit mad.
Sadly even Labour have to go along with the charade, having voted for Article 50.

The problem about another election is that Labour would win, and their current proposals, unlike Gordon Brown's, are fantasy economics.
They are simply undeliverable.
But independently of party preference, Brexit will cripple any government for years.
As Labour said on exit in 2010: "There is no money left".
We voted to go over the cliff.

 

[AlterEgo]

I'm privy to some Westminster tittle-tattle. This is very well-sourced information, but, I stress, unofficial.

May has been looking like an absolutely broken person today in the aftermath of the Finsbury Park attack.

There are some serious concerns about her state of mind and her fitness to do the job - note that these concerns do not extend to her having a mental illness.

Personally, I would not be surprised to see her stand down in the coming week or two.

 

[Busaholic]

I'm privy to some Westminster tittle-tattle. This is very well-sourced information, but, I stress, unofficial.

May has been looking like an absolutely broken person today in the aftermath of the Finsbury Park attack.

There are some serious concerns about her state of mind and her fitness to do the job - note that these concerns do not extend to her having a mental illness.

Personally, I would not be surprised to see her stand down in the coming week or two.

How convenient for a certain blond-haired non-gentleman, even if he is not the 'person' spreading the rumours.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I'm privy to some Westminster tittle-tattle. This is very well-sourced information, but, I stress, unofficial.

May has been looking like an absolutely broken person today in the aftermath of the Finsbury Park attack.

There are some serious concerns about her state of mind and her fitness to do the job - note that these concerns do not extend to her having a mental illness.

Personally, I would not be surprised to see her stand down in the coming week or two.

But there have been a number of postings on recent associated threads that imply she has a heart of stone and feels no empathy, so matters that call for those qualities surely cannot bother her, can they, based on how others view her.

Just a thought. She is as those people say she is or she is not.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I'm privy to some Westminster tittle-tattle. This is very well-sourced information, but, I stress, unofficial.

May has been looking like an absolutely broken person today in the aftermath of the Finsbury Park attack.

I thought she looked defeated with Grenfell Tower, which I think is why she didn't immediately go and visit the victims. She just looked like she didn't want to be there and didn't want to do it anymore.

she has a heart of stone and feels no empathy, so matters that call for those qualities surely cannot bother her

It's possible to both have a heart of stone towards other people and deeply care what other people think about you. I think her record as Home Secretary reveals a very callous and calculating side to her. It doesn't mean that her failure won't get to her.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I think her record as Home Secretary reveals a very callous and calculating side to her..

I suppose there are certain times such as dealing with wars when such qualities stand a Prime Minister in good stead, comparing them to a "bleeding-heart" empathetic Prime Minister.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I suppose there are certain times such as dealing with wars when such qualities stand a Prime Minister in good stead

Not really. It's possible to make the tough decisions without acting like a bar-steward about it.

I think the Home Office "racist van" said a lot about her willingness to target and victimise certain communities for political expediency.

I think she's just sad she's a failure.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I'm privy to some Westminster tittle-tattle. This is very well-sourced information, but, I stress, unofficial.

If you go back to the days of the Blair period of power, you would find they had a Zen Master in such rumour creation called Alastair Campbell...

 

[dcsprior]

I've not chosen an option in the poll, as none of the options reflect what I think is the best option - which'd be:

Try and build consensus with Lab/SNP/LD/PC so they all abstain on a queen's speech and then vote on specific bills according to whether they agree with them or not, rather than a formal coalition. In return offer a cross-party negotiating team for Brexit and bring the next GE forward to 6-12 months after Brexit​

In reality this would mean a Brexit aiming for the centre ground (respecting people's vote to leave the EU whilst remaining in the EEA/ECHR/etc, which no-one has yet had a chance to vote on exit/stay); and few or no outright Tory policies.

I'm quite far from being a Tory, but I think this would be the best of a bad set of options. It'd only be feasible if all 4 other parties agreed to it; otherwise those that didn't would use it as a stick to beat those that did.

 

[swt class 450]

Yes i think Theresa May should definitely resign. She should either let Jeremy Corbyn and Labour form a government or call for a new election. Jeremy Corbyn is what our country has needed for years. The conservatives are in a complete and utter mess. Theresa May has shown that the conservatives can not be trusted and are not the sort of people who are capable of running our country.

 

[AlterEgo]

Yes i think Theresa May should definitely resign. She should either let Jeremy Corbyn and Labour form a government or call for a new election. Jeremy Corbyn is what our country has needed for years. The conservatives are in a complete and utter mess. Theresa May has shown that the conservatives can not be trusted and are not the sort of people who are capable of running our country.

But Jeremy Corbyn hasn't shown that either. He doesn't even have the largest party in the Commons, by a distance.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

It's possible to both have a heart of stone towards other people and deeply care what other people think about you. I think her record as Home Secretary reveals a very callous and calculating side to her. It doesn't mean that her failure won't get to her.

I totally agree with the bolded bit.

I spent a lot of time between 2010 and 2013 dealing with immigration regulations. I saw how, when Theresa May was home secretary, regulations about family migration were introduced placed hugely onerous income requirements on people who wanted to be reunited with non-EU family members, and I directly saw the effect those regulations were having on many people.

And the thing was - not only were those income requirements onerous, but the new regulations then went on to specifically exclude many forms of income from consideration, so that large numbers of people who - by any reasonable standard - were earning more than enough to meet the requirements - would still fall foul of them on technicalities. There really was no conceivable purpose to these regulations other than to forcibly separate many British citizens from their foreign-born wives, husbands, children and parents. And there's also no plausible way that Theresa May could have been unaware of what was going on at the time.

Normally I'm very reluctant to ascribe bad motives to people - and in general, I think people on all sides of the political spectrum are far too quick to assume that 'the other side' are acting malignly rather than simply being constrained by the complexity of the problems they are trying to solve. But having seen what I have, I find it utterly implausible to believe anything other than that Theresa May has no moral compunctions about destroying other people's lives for political gain. And it's difficult not to see her actions (or lack of them) in the past month or so in that light.

 

[Kite159]

But Jeremy Corbyn hasn't shown that either. He doesn't even have the largest party in the Commons, by a distance.

But remember in the eyes of the average Labour supporter, 262 is greater than 318, using the theory that 2+2=5

 

[northwichcat]

But remember in the eyes of the average Labour supporter, 262 is greater than 318, using the theory that 2+2=5

No I think in the eyes of the average Labour supporter Thersea May's mission was to increase the Conservative majority but she lost her majority while Labour gained seats.

 

[theblackwatch]

No I think in the eyes of the average Labour supporter Thersea May's mission was to increase the Conservative majority but she lost her majority while Labour gained seats.

Forgetting that Labour still got less seats than the Tories...

 

[Darandio]

But remember in the eyes of the average Labour supporter, 262 is greater than 318, using the theory that 2+2=5

Couple that with the average Tory supporter that believes they won the election.

 

[northwichcat]

Any by-elections could be very interesting, especially considering it's been reported the DUP deal will only be a short term deal lasting a few months.

 

[Y961 XBU]

Any by-elections could be very interesting, especially considering it's been reported the DUP deal will only be a short term deal lasting a few months.

By elections will indeed be interesting as theres a number of ageing MPs on both sides of the house so majority of 2 can be lost very easy

 

[northwichcat]

By elections will indeed be interesting as theres a number of ageing MPs on both sides of the house so majority of 2 can be lost very easy

It's not just the old MPs who can trigger by-elections. There's been quite a few younger ones leaving their respective parties triggering by-elections in the last few years. Although, I doubt someone will do a Zac Goldsmith and resign from the Conservatives over a single issue.

 

[Barn]

Couple that with the average Tory supporter that believes they won the election.

The Tories won the election and that was a failure for them. Labour lost the election and that was a success for them.

 

[northwichcat]

The Tories won the election and that was a failure for them. Labour lost the election and that was a success for them.

To win you need 326 or more seats. The Conservatives are in government as the highest scoring loser.

 

[Barn]

To win you need 326 or more seats. The Conservatives are in government as the highest scoring loser.

More precisely, to win you need to be able to command the confidence of the Commons. We'll see if they've won in the days and weeks to come.