Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party.

[Thirteen]

Am I the only one who thinks Shapps has been moved to Energy because he's upset too many people as Business Secretary.

 

[MikeWM]

Minor reshuffle:

• Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport

Oh great. Now my constituency MP will be responsible for pushing through the mass censorship bill otherwise known as the Online 'Safety' Bill. She's pretty much the perfect example of a politician who does exactly what she is told to do, I've never seen her push back on anything whatever.

 

[Typhoon]

It gets worse 30p Lee is now Deputy Chair of the party.

Lee Anderson: Tory MP who said no ‘massive need’ for food banks named deputy chair​

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/ukne...sedgntp&cvid=87dc924b48bf447584bbc6ce3cf4f147

I read somewhere that he has one of the highest turn overs of office staff. Some people may need to get their CVs up to date!

 

[Gloster]

I read somewhere that he has one of the highest turn overs of office staff. Some people may need to get their CVs up to date!

He has the seventh-highest staff turnover among MPs, according to the New Statesman.

Source: The London Economic on 19th of last month.

 

[nw1]

Oh great. Now my constituency MP will be responsible for pushing through the mass censorship bill otherwise known as the Online 'Safety' Bill. She's pretty much the perfect example of a politician who does exactly what she is told to do, I've never seen her push back on anything whatever.

Never even heard of her.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Feb 2023 ==

It gets worse 30p Lee is now Deputy Chair of the party.


https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/ukne...sedgntp&cvid=87dc924b48bf447584bbc6ce3cf4f147

I read somewhere that he has one of the highest turn overs of office staff. Some people may need to get their CVs up to date!

If this isn't proof that Sunak is pathetically weak and in thrall to the hard right of the party, I don't know what is.

 

[SuspectUsual]

I thought I’d gone through anger, bewilderment and despair at Tory appointments over the last few years and settled on a sort of resigned indifference, but promoting 30p Lee seems to have reignited the anger

 

[nw1]

I thought I’d gone through anger, bewilderment and despair at Tory appointments over the last few years and settled on a sort of resigned indifference, but promoting 30p Lee seems to have reignited the anger

It's hard to understand how someone who was a Labour party member until he was about 50 has suddenly become so right-wing. Based on the evidence I have (this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50474572 for example), not only is Anderson far to the right of the Labour party, but well to the right of many Tories too!

 

[SuspectUsual]

It's hard to understand how someone who was a Labour party member until he was about 50 has suddenly become so right-wing. Based on the evidence I have (this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50474572 for example), not only is Anderson far to the right of the Labour party, but well to the right of many Tories too!

He’s a thoroughly nasty piece of work and no mistake

 

[Typhoon]

It's hard to understand how someone who was a Labour party member until he was about 50 has suddenly become so right-wing. Based on the evidence I have (this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50474572 for example), not only is Anderson far to the right of the Labour party, but well to the right of many Tories too!

I suspect he will go down well with a certain part of the Conservative Party. Equally there are members who will find his 'blaming' approach abhorrent. Sunak is presumably banking on there being more of the former and the latter being appeased by Hands. Its a gamble.

 

[Darandio]

The party is now no longer anything more than a parody account.

 

[edwin_m]

I suspect he will go down well with a certain part of the Conservative Party. Equally there are members who will find his 'blaming' approach abhorrent. Sunak is presumably banking on there being more of the former and the latter being appeased by Hands. Its a gamble.

Trying to straddle an increasingly unbridgeable gap between the right (who will defect to Reform UK if they feel the Tories are getting too "pinko") and the centre-right (most of whom have probably already defected to Labour or LibDems).

 

[MikeWM]

Never even heard of her.

- yes, exactly.

 

[Typhoon]

Never even heard of her.

This applies to about 45% of Sunak's appointments since he has been in office. (For another 45% it is 'Never heard of him.')

Almost all the Conservatives anyone has heard of are those who you wouldn't trust with a government job, those who have been kicked out of one or who wouldn't take one just now - Rees Mogg, Dorries, Truss, Zahawi, Kwateng (even Fabricant) - many would name Hancock. (There is more chance of Anderson than the majority of the cabinet.)

The only minor news of interest from the reshuffle is that Michael Gove was asked to move to Science, and he refused, preferring to stay put at "Levelling Up". So Michelle Donelan got the job instead.
Frankly, he's one of the few competent ministers, like him or not, and he seems capable of actually getting some things done, so moving him out of the job half way through didn't appeal to him.

He's also one of the few that people actually recognise - moving him to a job where he would be out of the headlines certainly wouldn't appeal to him, nor would it benefit the party. I suspect he hasn't given up on a more significant post, even the most significant one.


Before Labour get complacent, voters might list Starmer, Rayner, Corbyn. .... (possibly Milliband but only because of the sandwich).

 

[KashmireHawker]

In a MRP poll of over 28k people done before yesterday’s Cabinet and Departmental Reshuffles, Labour are 25% ahead and would currently put the SNP as His Majesty’s Official Opposition:

Labour: 48% - 509 Seats
SNP: %TBC - 50 Seats
Conservative: 23% - 45 Seats
Lib Dem’s: %TBC - 23 Seats
Plaid: %TBC - 4 Seats
Greens: %TBC - 1 Seat
Reform UK: 6% - 0 Seats

15 Cabinet Minister’s including the PM, Home and Foreign Secretary’s would lose and so would Boris, Truss and Kwarting.

On a seat-by-seat estimate, 15 Cabinet ministers would lose their seats including Mr Sunak, James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, and Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary. Ex-prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, and Kwasi Kwarteng, the former chancellor, would also be ejected from the Commons.

SNP 'would overtake Tories in snap Westminster election'

Exclusive poll of 28,000 people for The Telegraph finds Conservatives would slump to 23 per cent of the vote

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[duncanp]

The next election will be bad for the Conservatives, but I don't think it will be as bad as predicted by Electoral Calculus who, it must be remembered, predicted that Theresa May would win an overall majority in 2017.

For one thing, the anti-Conservative is split amongst Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and Reform UK.

A lot depends on whether there is tactical voting in Conservative held constituencies in order to get someone from another party elected.

Also, whilst there may be a swing to Labour, it won't get them any extra seats in constituencies that they already hold.

I also note that in the Electoral Calculus survey, the vote percentages for the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Greens are listed as "%TBC".

The Liberal Democrat vote will be critical in determining the outcome in many English seats, and if you can't work out their vote percentage accurately, then the results of this survey must have a wide margin of error.

 

[Magdalia]

Oh great. Now my constituency MP will be responsible for pushing through the mass censorship bill otherwise known as the Online 'Safety' Bill. She's pretty much the perfect example of a politician who does exactly what she is told to do, I've never seen her push back on anything whatever.

That's not correct. Although Lucy Fraser is now culture, media and sport responsibility for the online safety bill moves with Michelle Donelan to science, innovation and technology.

 

[Typhoon]

In a MRP poll of over 28k people done before yesterday’s Cabinet and Departmental Reshuffles, Labour are 25% ahead and would currently put the SNP as His Majesty’s Official Opposition:

Labour: 48% - 509 Seats
SNP: %TBC - 50 Seats
Conservative: 23% - 45 Seats
Lib Dem’s: %TBC - 23 Seats
Plaid: %TBC - 4 Seats
Greens: %TBC - 1 Seat
Reform UK: 6% - 0 Seats

15 Cabinet Minister’s including the PM, Home and Foreign Secretary’s would lose and so would Boris, Truss and Kwarting.

If it is seat by seat, does it give the result for Henley? I gather someone has been househunting there thanks to discovering the Magic Money Tree (almost £5 million I gather).

 

[MikeWM]

That's not correct. Although Lucy Fraser is now culture, media and sport responsibility for the online safety bill moves with Michelle Donelan to science, innovation and technology.

Yes, it appears you're right, and the ever-reliable rag the Cambridge News is unsurprisingly wrong when it says

https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/cambridgeshire-mp-delighted-become-culture-26185426

One of Frazer's key questions will be about potential reforms to the broadcaster Channel 4, and what position the government should take on the contentious Online Safety Bill.

 

[Magdalia]

Yes, it appears you're right, and the ever-reliable rag the Cambridge News is unsurprisingly wrong

I learned a long time ago never to rely on anything in the Cambridge News!

 

[DarloRich]

The Lee Anderson appointment as deputy chairman is clearly to tell Kippery/Johnsonian/EDL/ALM types that the "Conservative" party is still for them and stop them defecting to reform or one of the other crank right parties.

the man is a balloon best ignored by anyone sensible.

 

[nw1]

The Lee Anderson appointment as deputy chairman is clearly to tell Kippery/Johnsonian/EDL/ALM types that the "Conservative" party is still for them and stop them defecting to reform or one of the other crank right parties.

the man is a balloon best ignored by anyone sensible.

Maybe it would be better if the Conservative Party split. The foaming-at-the-mouth types could then join up with Reform and the moderates (if there are any left) could then form a new centre-right party, untied to the nonsense that the Tory party have been responsible for since 2019.

 

[DarloRich]

Maybe it would be better if the Conservative Party split. The foaming-at-the-mouth types could then join up with Reform and the moderates (if there are any left) could then form a new centre-right party, untied to the nonsense that the Tory party have been responsible for since 2019.

perhaps - but that wont happen short of a cataclysmic electoral result. BTW there are plenty of Tories ( including many that you might not think of as moderate!) unhappy with the direction of the party under Johnson and his followers. The conservative party that they knew and joined no longer exists.

 

[Purple Train]

The Lee Anderson appointment as deputy chairman is clearly to tell Kippery/Johnsonian/EDL/ALM types that the "Conservative" party is still for them and stop them defecting to reform or one of the other crank right parties.

the man is a balloon best ignored by anyone sensible.

Thoroughly nasty man. His local radio interview now doing the rounds among the major news outlets is appalling.

 

[jon0844]

Thoroughly nasty man. His local radio interview now doing the rounds among the major news outlets is appalling.

I wonder what he'd think of George Santos, who also lied to get into power. Lee appears to think lying was fine as it served its purpose.

If this is tolerated (and clearly it is, and not only tolerated but defended and justified) then I fear for politics in the next decade.

I mean it's terrible now, but it isn't going to get better.

 

[nw1]

I wonder what he'd think of George Santos, who also lied to get into power. Lee appears to think lying was fine as it served its purpose.

What was the lying in question here? I've heard some appalling right-wing stuff come out of the mouth of Anderson, but not sure of this specific incident.

EDIT: found it: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-64573457 and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50558306.

I know it's politically incorrect on here (in the eyes of some) to call people "a nasty piece of work" but I'm going to say it anyway about Anderson. Sorry.

Anderson is utterly unfit to be an MP. And Sunak is unfit to be PM for appointing him.

 

[jfollows]

Lee Anderson was caught out by Michael Crick in 2019 when he set up a doorstep encounter when campaigning in which the person called on was a friend but was told to pretend that he wasn't. He was asked about this today on BBC Radio Nottingham and his response was to the effect that "everyone tells lies" and that he got a huge majority in the end so it's OK. I paraphrase.

 

[nw1]

Lee Anderson was caught out by Michael Crick in 2019 when he set up a doorstep encounter when campaigning in which the person called on was a friend but was told to pretend that he wasn't. He was asked about this today on BBC Radio Nottingham and his response was to the effect that "everyone tells lies" and that he got a huge majority in the end so it's OK. I paraphrase.

Thanks (though I found the article, see above). And also his claim that he got a huge majority... 39.3% is scarcely a mandate. More than 6 out of 10 Ashfield residents didn't vote for him.

I suspect he will lose his seat next time and good riddance.

 

[jfollows]

Rishi Sunak:
Wednesday 8 February Dorset, photo-opportunity with Volodymyr Zelenski
helicopter to London
Thursday 9 February
aircraft to Cornwall

Would anyone else's employer approve expenses in such a way?

 

[nw1]

Rishi Sunak:

Thursday 9 February
aircraft to Cornwall

Would anyone else's employer approve expenses in such a way?

Given how rich he is, he should certainly be able to afford paying for it out of his own pocket, if a limousine or a first-class train ticket is not good enough for him.

This article makes Sunak look a bit better, but again shows the (in my view) hard-right politics of Anderson:

MSN

I'm beginning to wonder whether Anderson is even, literally, the most right-wing MP in the entire Houses of Parliament. Quite an achievement for a recent Labour Party member, if so.

And what if someone is executed by the State for the crime they did not commit? Collateral damage, no doubt.

 

[Thirteen]

Rishi Sunak:
Wednesday 8 February Dorset, photo-opportunity with Volodymyr Zelenski
helicopter to London
Thursday 9 February
aircraft to Cornwall

Would anyone else's employer approve expenses in such a way?

I assume quicker to fly than to take trains or road, no different to other world leaders really.