Politics Today

[Suzi & The Banned Cheese]

Cheers.
I’ve not heard about that issue in particular, a lot of folks are perturbed about the gathering pictured yesterday where despite some attendees getting pinged with FPN’s, the PM wasn’t. As I referenced earlier it looks like BJ was spared because the Met accepted that his attendance was brief and then he went back to work, ie the Starmer defence. This hasn’t stopped the Met being pressured again to explain itself of course, the usual suspects of Sadiq Khan et al.

Whatever your position of the political spectrum, you have to say that Starmer has come of this infinitely better than Johnson. Starmer has stated that he will resign if fined. Whereas Boris has ignored his fine and repeatedly lied to parliament and the country.
He is not doing himself , the Country or the Conservatives any favours ...

 

[arthur]

This hasn’t stopped the Met being pressured again to explain itself of course, the usual suspects of Sadiq Khan et al.

Sadiq Khan is the PCC for London, but don't let that worry you

 

[arthur]

Cheers.
I’ve not heard about that issue in particular, a lot of folks are perturbed about the gathering pictured yesterday where despite some attendees getting pinged with FPN’s, the PM wasn’t. As I referenced earlier it looks like BJ was spared because the Met accepted that his attendance was brief and then he went back to work, ie the Starmer defence. This hasn’t stopped the Met being pressured again to explain itself of course, the usual suspects of Sadiq Khan et al.

Well, you can hear this now

But all three point to the culture set by the prime minister himself, suggesting he "wanted to be liked" and for staff to be able to "let their hair down".
One suggests they felt like they had the prime minister's permission to socialise even it meant breaking the rules because "He was there."
"He may have just been popping through on the way to his flat because that's what would happen," they add. "You know, he wasn't there saying this shouldn't be happening.
"He wasn't saying, 'Can everyone break up and go home? Can everyone socially distance? Can everyone put masks on?'
"No, he wasn't telling anybody that. He was grabbing a glass for himself."

One staffer describes what happened when they watched the prime minister denying, in the House of Commons, that anything had gone wrong.
"We were watching it all live and we just sort of looked at each other in disbelief like - why?" they say.
"Why is he denying this when we've been with him this entire time, we knew that the rules had been broken, we knew these parties happened?"


..and much more at 7pm on BBC2 (warning - hopelessly woke)

 

[Suzi & The Banned Cheese]

Well, you can hear this now

But all three point to the culture set by the prime minister himself, suggesting he "wanted to be liked" and for staff to be able to "let their hair down".
One suggests they felt like they had the prime minister's permission to socialise even it meant breaking the rules because "He was there."
"He may have just been popping through on the way to his flat because that's what would happen," they add. "You know, he wasn't there saying this shouldn't be happening.
"He wasn't saying, 'Can everyone break up and go home? Can everyone socially distance? Can everyone put masks on?'
"No, he wasn't telling anybody that. He was grabbing a glass for himself."

One staffer describes what happened when they watched the prime minister denying, in the House of Commons, that anything had gone wrong.
"We were watching it all live and we just sort of looked at each other in disbelief like - why?" they say.
"Why is he denying this when we've been with him this entire time, we knew that the rules had been broken, we knew these parties happened?"


..and much more at 7pm on BBC2 (warning - hopelessly woke)

What does "woke" mean in this context?

 

[arthur]

What does "woke" mean in this context?

It means that Jinx and Tavy will dismiss the programme as hopelessly biased and so not worth watching

 

[tavyred]

Whatever your position of the political spectrum, you have to say that Starmer has come of this infinitely better than Johnson. Starmer has stated that he will resign if fined. Whereas Boris has ignored his fine and repeatedly lied to parliament and the country.
He is not doing himself , the Country or the Conservatives any favours ...

I’m repeating myself but Starmer backed himself into a corner where to have any credibility he needed to say he would resign in the event of a a FPN. I’m personally still waiting for him to resign on the strength of him being subject of police investigation alone. It’s what he wanted BJ and Sunak to do back in January.
BJ has been damaged greatly by this, maybe even irrevocably.

 

[Mr Jinx]

It means that Jinx and Tavy will dismiss the programme as hopelessly biased and so not worth watching

Not wrong there.

But it does look like the BBC did actually go against its grain yesterday and actually came up with some news that wasn't fake:

BBC blames trainee as news ticker says 'Manchester United are rubbish'

People watching the BBC News channel at around 9.35am could be forgiven for thinking they were misreading the scrolling news banner at the bottom of the screen when the words appeared.

www.dailymail.co.uk

lolz

 

[Egg]

Partygate: Insiders tell of packed No 10 lockdown parties

Staff describe bins overflowing with bottles, people sitting on each other's laps and colleagues sleeping in the office.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[arthur]

No matter what happens with Gray, Parties, Johnson et al, the outlook for the Conservative Party is not good.

An interesting article in The Times by Allegra Stratton's old man - "Tories may never recover if they lose in 2024". Written in response to Tories saying that losing the next election would be a good thing to do (echoes of 1992 when they failed to lose) - an incoming weak Starmer government would soon fall apart and the Tories would have time to refresh and regroup - Forsyth points out that "if the Tories lose the next election, changes to the voting system (always demanded by the Lib Dems) may see them locked out of office for a generation. And what happens if the Tories discover, in opposition, that its new coalition of voters doesn’t have much in common post-Brexit? The party could, literally, fall apart."

In one sense, the Tories have more to fear from a Starmer-led coalition than an outright Labour victory. (because an outright victory would lessen the chance of Labour committing to electoral reform- c1997) If the Lib Dems’ preferred system of the single transferable vote (STV) were introduced, it would be devastating for the Tories. The Electoral Reform Society calculates that STV would have meant the Tories winning a majority only twice in the postwar era. Margaret Thatcher would never have been able to govern on her own and the last election would have seen the Tories 18 shy of a majority. Tactical voting, which works against the Tories, would be hardwired into the system. It is an existential threat.

Then there's the lesson from Australia
All that said, what should send a shiver down Tory spines is that Morrison’s aggressively divisive approach to issues such as immigration and his pursuit of socially conservative Labor voters seemingly cost his party dear in its wealthier, more metropolitan former heartlands. The nagging fear some Conservatives have that a diet of sleaze, culture wars and threats to tear up the Brexit deal will only lose them Tory votes in Worthing or Surrey has just played out on a big screen Down Under, producing roughly the kind of electoral realignment they fear.

What makes this otherwise faraway election feel closer to home is that the Australian right’s thinking remains core to Boris Johnson’s project. Priti Patel’s plan to export asylum seekers to Rwanda mirrors an Australian scheme to send refugees to Papua New Guinea, and she recently hired the man who negotiated that deal to lead a review of Britain’s Border Force. Lynton Crosby, the 65-year-old Australian campaigns guru who enjoys near-legendary status in the Conservative party, doesn’t personally run campaigns any more but he still takes the odd phone call; his protege Isaac Levido ran Johnson’s successful 2019 campaign

Morrison was found wanting in thoroughly practical ways Simple answers to complex problems appeal, but they don’t actually work, and when that becomes painfully obvious – whether because wildfire smoke is choking your Melbourne suburb, or because your export business is collapsing thanks to Brexit – then populists become vulnerable. Perhaps the most useful lesson to take from Australia is that bad politics can still melt on contact with inconvenient truths. That feeling you vaguely recognise, but can’t quite put a finger on? That would be hope.

 

[Alistair20000]

Well, you can hear this now

But all three point to the culture set by the prime minister himself, suggesting he "wanted to be liked" and for staff to be able to "let their hair down".
One suggests they felt like they had the prime minister's permission to socialise even it meant breaking the rules because "He was there."
"He may have just been popping through on the way to his flat because that's what would happen," they add. "You know, he wasn't there saying this shouldn't be happening.
"He wasn't saying, 'Can everyone break up and go home? Can everyone socially distance? Can everyone put masks on?'
"No, he wasn't telling anybody that. He was grabbing a glass for himself."

One staffer describes what happened when they watched the prime minister denying, in the House of Commons, that anything had gone wrong.
"We were watching it all live and we just sort of looked at each other in disbelief like - why?" they say.
"Why is he denying this when we've been with him this entire time, we knew that the rules had been broken, we knew these parties happened?"


..and much more at 7pm on BBC2 (warning - hopelessly woke)

Maybe Bunter's defence was that the quick glass was medicinal ?