well, two incorrect words

: >

Hunt is a bit of a tin eared psychopath. But he does appear right now to be the adult in the room simply because of the unbelievably low grade of finger painters that make up the Govt. It’s an illusion though.

Or perhaps the next after the next, but momentum is gaining for BoJo. It is almost as if the Conservatives want to see just how many seats they can lose in the next election.

it is brain scrambling for me that he is back in the running after the disgraces lying and general BS perpetrated on the public in his last months.

the Tories are *desperate*

Rishi, despite being a tax-avoidant weasel, is slightly more reassuring than the haystack haired weasel, who surely sees this as his Churchillian, phoenix-like redemption in the public eye

it would be comical if the heating bill weren't coming due, and my grocery bills haven't doubled over the past month.

And that Boris has been on holiday in the Caribbean through the events of the past few days is typical. He's still the MP for Uxbridge, getting paid to represent his constituents, but has buggered off somewhere hot on holiday rather than do his job.

Exactly! If it was a child in school their parent would have been fined so why not apply the same way to MPs.

Hunt has ruled himself out very early which is good. We need continuity in an economic crisis.

If they are stupid enough to vote Boris back in I really do think it is the start of the end for the Tory party. They are so divided it is embarrassing. About 40 MPs have said they will either defect or abstain in a no confidence vote forcing a general election if he is voted back in.

I think Rishi is the best of the rest but that is a Hobson’s choice. I cannot think of a single Tory MP worthy of being PM at the moment. It is a very long time since the word Honourable applied to any of them.

My dad was a Tory party member and I was fuming at him. He voted for Boris and would have voted for Truss if he was still alive. Both Hunt and Sunak would have done a better job but the problem is the party is predominantly made up of rich white old farts. My father would never have voted for someone like Sunak - and that is exactly what is wrong with the Tory party!

I'm an American who lived in England during the 1980's Thatcher years. The "rich white old farts" seemed an accurate description of the Tories back then.

I don't have first hand knowledge of what it's like now. However, last night on the PBS Newshour, they were discussing the situation with the Tories. They made a comment to the effect that now the Tory voters include a lot of working class conservatives who support things like Brexit and Boris Johnson. Among other things, that's why the Truss "trickle down" tax cuts didn't go over very well. It's no longer the Thatcher Tories, it's more like the Johnson Tories.

It was an interesting thought (although I don't know how accurate it may be). Sort of like the Republican Party in the US going from Regan in the 1980's to today's Trump.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

there is a difference between Tory party members (the 200K people who get to vote for leader) and Tory party voters.

i don't know the make up of the membership but i wouldn't expect them to be the centrist/independent voter types that voted for Boris in 2019; more the traditional low tax/cut spending folks. i expect a lot of the 200K send/or sent their kids to private schools (so don't use the state system) and have private health insurance so don't use the NHS.

As for the voters - i agree with you. There is a lot of overlap between the traditional old-industry labor voter and pro-Brexit Boris conservative voters.

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And the question remains. where were you.

But rumor he could be in the running to be next PM!

Someone needs to do a Boris meme video based on Eminem's .

Boris-backers have rolled up their sleeves for a mass exercise in gaslighting their way through a wall of incredulity

that alone should disqualify him

He actually does the right thing and bowed out.

Is that really the right thing though?

Personally doing the really fucking funny thing is always right in my book.

"Boris has pulled out. That may be a first."

--Gary Lineker on Twitter

He only had 56 public backers and was no where near the threshold of 100 plus a proposer and a seconder. Publicly he said he had the numbers but no one believes it.

Penny Mordant is short as well. Hopefully, it will just be Rishi with enough backers as the Tory membership will never vote for him and Mordant hasn’t got the experience to be PM.

What a sh1t show.

Rishi gets the job.

extremely wealthy couple (700+ million per the internet).

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And the question remains. where were you.

If I were British I wouldn't give a rats ass if he were wealthy or not. Nor would I care for the colour of his skin or religion.

I would quite happily settle for competency. Hopefully he has good advisors and listens to them

Labor has a huge lead in the polls but mainly I think due to Conservatives incompetency. I understand one of Labors planks is carbon free power by 2030 in a country were the sun rarely shines.

Rather sad that the country that had Disraeli, Palmerston, Peel Churchill etc have come to this.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

update: it shined so persistently this summer we're in a drought. it was a brown and pleasant land. all august/september

I think if you were British or spent some time in UK recently you would appreciate the frustration of the electorate facing an unseen cost of living crisis. Average electric bills have quadroupled in less than a year, food bills are doubling for some items (up 17% on average). Petrol prices have rocketed.

All working class families are facing a heat or eat dilemma this winter. Nearly all working class families are now reliant on Universal Credit (a government benefit). Everyone earning over £12,000 pays some form of tax and anyone earning over £67 a week pays National Insurance (a form of tax at 11%).

The government recently scrapped the 45% tax band for those earning more than £150,000 giving them thousands extra. Why? Are these people struggling? It is obscene.

As usual with Tory policies the working class are the hardest hit. All he needs to do is raise the tax threshold or raise the minimum wage. The big conglomerates are making billions and paying dividends of hundreds of millions. Make them pay their fair share of tax and ease the burden.

And just so you understand the arrogance of the rich white Conservative party. A spokesperson for Liz Truss 2 weeks ago responded to a question about helping the less well off with the winter crisis suggested they buy extra jumpers and stop moaning.

I'd like some transparency on where that wealth is so it is clear that policies aren't impacted by the need to protect his family's business interests.

But even if they went to the extreme measure of liquidating the business (selling the wife's share of father's company) and putting the money in a blind trust it still doesn't completely separate the family's finances from the PM's decisions; and there is always going to be a potential conflict of interest.

Very good point.

But at least his wife’s non dom status has been corrected.