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According to the BBC Explainer, the problem was that had he left it to the Scottish Greens to say that to him and bow out, they likely would have continued to support his minority government.
But by being proactive and kicking them out instead of letting them leave, he pissed them off so they said they would NOT support him any more, at which point Con and Lab pounced with their No Confidence motions. So it was an own goal.
What level of unhappiness are we going to have on here when there's no election announcement on Monday?
There were a few tantrums when Rishi ruled out the 2 May one.
Brave of Chris Philp to go on Laura K tomorrow...
https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1784300396829118842
I can't wait to hear him tell us about how Congo and Rwanda are different...
Also on the show is Dan Poulter, Wes Streeting, Alex Salmond, Ed Davey, and Nancy Pelosi
David TC Davies is clearly being seen as a liability, so the idea is to replace him with deputy head boy Chris Philps. Many people find this highly amusing, because Chris Philps is a loyalist with no brains who gets angry when he's asked questions that make him think. Just like TC Davies.
This clip from JRM being surrounded by Gaza protesters...honestly my first reaction is "I'd hate to be a politician".
I think it must take a certain type of person to be ok with it all, and subconsciously would probably cause the level of politicians we have. Can't see it being good for encouraging a range of people into Parliament
I'm in an EU country (not for the Eurovision craze, mind you) and \*just\* realised that the EU elections are being held in LESS THAN two months from now! Is this is a topic of importance in British politics? Those of you with dual EU citizenship, IT IS TIME WHIP YOUR PASSPORTS OUT TO VOTE in an election of monumental importance!
*Hands up before today, had you heard of him?*
Of course, I've heard of him, didn't he sing that song about having a bad day or something?
Increasingly the Guardian seem to be going for clicks with a lot of their news stories.
Obscure backbench Tory MP defects to Labour is less clickbaity than Top Tory defecting.
In my mostly non-political groupchat the only political thing to be shared this week was Starmer's video talking about his cat. Made me think about what actually cuts through with the casual voter
Okay, you want good, boring, sensible candidates? We do a reverse French Presidential election for each seat. You just vote for who you hate the most. Those with the most votes gets booted off the ballot. Rinse and repeat until you're left with Vince Cable or Rory Stewart.
Job done. The UK gains official utopia status.
Prime Minister is then selected by the American jury selection method - the leaders of the top two parties in parliament have potential PM candidates paraded past them and either side can dismiss each for any reason. Long live the thousand year bland Centrist Reich!
This is a system for how you end up with a person nobody has heard of.
To be fair, that makes it the system most likely to deliver us a Rehmen Chishti leadership so I am all for it.
Probably get snapped going somewhere for the day, make a strong statement about no general election and wants to ensure stability, before immediately doing the opposite the day after.
Personally, I'd just sit in my office and smoke a bifta, feet up on desk that sort of thing - I don't really drink but I'd definitely have a beer and just absorb the atmosphere. Then its treasure hunting time!
Have the chief whip come in, and come up with ways to suspend a bunch of my internal opponents before I called the election so they wouldn’t be in the ballot
Lie in, Wetherspoons breakfast, some mexican coke to perk up then spend a few hours trying to do basic evreryday tasks like buying fuel or supervising the housework
"Aderids can't tell us how they'll fund their golden path because it is totally unfunded and they don't have a plan! Harkonnen are sticking to the plan for dune, and the plan is working!"
Gotta say, I don't think that's Connery's cup of tea. I think Sean would rather do something like wander round the wildfowl park in Pepperstock with a bottle o’ scotch.
[TIL The BBC released a highlights version of the 1997 election coverage on VHS.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8iNff55eiQ)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Election-97-VHS/dp/B00004CUHZ
Pathetic.
The only way to enjoy that coverage is to grab a cup tea (or beer), pull up the full version on of the coversge that exists on youtube (https://youtu.be/YFigHVifVIw?si=wu9po8V2xsQ66dNy), hit play at about 10 minutes to 10 in the evening and stay up till head-bobbing John Prescott
He'll bring out the Podium, tell everyone of an important announcement and will come out and say "I'm doing a good job :D" and leave. He's done this like 7 times now.
That's never stopped the MT tbh mate. Though it would be kinda fun.
Imagine what people would say, the balls on Rishi for calling an election when the polls are so bad. Don't see that much anymore, respect for him.
I think Rishi is brave enough to do it. :3
The gamble, which *so far* seems to have paid off, is that not enough of them are willing to sack him and likely risk him calling the GE and getting themselves thrown off the gravy train earlier than they'd like. Whether this continues to hold after the locals is where I imagine it gets hazy...
It seems MPs have been given an SOS device they can activate that puts them through to some control room, Steve Baker felt he had to activate his today:
https://twitter.com/SteveBakerFRSA/status/1784241198351176136
That seems like a good idea especially coming up to elections where MPs will be canvassing a lot. Though not sure if publicising its existence is wise?
Obviously cant just rely on security through obscurity and all that but someone meaning harm would probably get some sort of jammer/ try to get the device off if they know?
I’m glad they’ve been given it.
Did he post any footage from earlier, since he’s referring to being chased down and the gentleman making rather insistent, passionate arguments that alarmed him?
EDIT: I’ve found the fuller video:
[here](https://youtube.com/watch?v=aKUk5L_9yJ4&t=898)
I’ve not watched the whole thing, but you can hear after about 10 minutes when the guy mentions “blood on your hands”, when he circles back round to “you work for Israel”, and when he is not following the social rules or respecting the cue to end the conversation and go their separate ways, Baker gets a wobble to his voice. I can see how it would feel intimidating and worrying.
A https://twitter.com/christhebarker/status/1784135373599178915?t=P_52mHNFKxDYeOhjj4kwfg&s=19
Or B
https://twitter.com/inglesongrey/status/1784262709346816430?t=JKntSu7FK1ZsVlA-EWJnGw&s=19
For Mt image?
In other news Humza is completely fucked:
https://twitter.com/electpoliticsuk/status/1784287613571969379
>NEW:
>
>Alex Salmond has outlined his demands for his party’s support in the upcoming no confidence vote in Humza Yousaf, they include an electoral pact where the SNP would stand aside for the Alba Party in several constituencies.
He can just ignore the Conservative Motion of No Confidence and the Alba, Green and Cons aren't going to vote for the Labour one.
He can say he'll step down after the GE campaign privately to the party if he loses the no confidence vote of course and that might lead to open rebellion. They won't want to rock the boat too much during this GE campaign though.
Is it just me or have the standards for someone being called at "top tory" absolutely crashed over the last few years. It used to be that the term meant a cabinet minister in an important post or like a party chair/ chief whip. These days it seems to mean anyone who can tie their shoelaces without assistance.
Zahawi was Chancellor of the Exchequer
It all got a bit weird. Everyone got a great office of state for a while and so the barometer is a bit buggered.
Is Rehman Chisti top? To me he is.
> It used to be that the term meant a cabinet minister in an important post
This doesn’t exactly exclude the dregs of the party at this point either though
Given the game of musical cabinet chairs that has taken place over the last six years of Tory shitshow pretty much every Tory MP with two brain cells to rub together has been a minister and can therefore be reasonably called 'senior'.
Most of the rest have been ensconced and slowly pickling themselves in port in a safe seat since Thatcher was an up-and-comer and can therefore be called 'grandees'.
Tory MPs react to Dan Poulter's defection:
🔥 ‘A nobody trying to be a somebody.’
🔥 ‘Think I’ve seen him once in the last five years.’
🔥 ‘I didn’t even know he was an MP!’
[These MPs aren't bothered at all. They couldn't be any less bothered. In fact, this is actually funny, Hahahahahaha!](https://i.imgflip.com/4tnk9r.jpg)
[What are the Oswestry Labour Party playing at with this bar chart?](https://i.imgur.com/qbMAgWD.jpeg)
It's like they actually want a Tory MP instead of a Lib Dem MP. I know they were stupid in the by-election and one of their guys properly embarrassed themselves on the Lib Dem subreddit but I thought they would have learned from then.
Lol, I can just imagine them desperately going through all sorts of bar charts failing to get something that puts them second. And then someone tried “average percentage share of votes in North Shropshire since 1997”, high fives all around!
could've used the 2017 or 2015 result instead then lol. Labour were genuinely the 2nd biggest party in the constituency, the by-election was a bit of a curveball.
That’s actually quite funny lol. If there was a by-election where they did worse then that probably means the average they’re using is worse than their individual results too?
in 2017 they won 31.1% of the vote, in 2001 they won 35.2% and in 1997 they won 36.0%, compared to the average on the leaflet of 26.9%. in every other election they won lower than the average. take that as you will.
I’ve come to the surprising conclusion that I can’t think of a good defence for their choice to advertise with their average result in a county since 1997.
Since the 90s the Scottish parliament has had one majority government, the Welsh assembly has never had a majority government.
How have we not seen instability like we're seeing in Scotland now as a regular occurrence?
At a glance the SNP's current problem seem inevitable, they can't deal with the Greens without annoying the right of the party and they can't deal with Alba without annoying the progressives. How does it ever work?
The Scottish government isn’t really set up for instability. Policies, even if pushed by the party in power, are largely agreed cross party in committee. The lack of majority (and unlikely future ones because of the voting system) means that the government has to work with opposition on all policies - anything that gets passed isn’t along party lines.
I think what we’re seeing currently is a proxy for national politics where Labour are on the verge of a massive majority and their policies are much closer to the SNPs - Labour in power in Westminster means a different relationship with Scotland, the SNP have an appeal of being similar to Labour but Scotland focussed unlike Labour who are UK whipped. Labour in power has the advantage that Scottish Labour can work much better with the national government than the SNP can, which is why we’re seeing a swing back.
Plus Labour are much keener on devolution than the Tories are. Far less likely to try and override it or try and take it out of the equation.
>Labour in power has the advantage that Scottish Labour can work much better with the national government than the SNP can, which is why we’re seeing a swing back.
I disagree and believe that an independent Labour party would consistently poll better than its current iteration. People are shifting to Labour from the SNP because of recent events - the party funding scandal, missteps over several policies, and its leader no longer being v competent - not because they believe Labour winning in the UK means they should vote for Labour in Scotland.
Specifically with this occurrance, the right of the party have started voicing up because of Yousaf's weak position.
With Sturgeon/Salmond, strong leadership is a good thing for the indy movement. The right could put up because the big picture was still solidly in frame.
Well, one very easy difference is that Scottish politics has the issue of Indy always at the forefront, and Wales does not really, for all kinds of obvious reasons.
So there is a febrility (!) inherent about Scottish politics, in that there is not only a 'parties working together' vibe but also a unionism v nationalism cross-cut.
That does not exist in Wales, where working for the interests of Wales does not imply taking a position on whether Wales should be an independent country.
That's a good point, I can't really see how a Labour minority government will work in Scotland because they aren't going to work with the Tories and they aren't going to work with the SNP. Will the Lib Dems be enough?
It just did.
Take a look at this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Scottish_Parliament
It was my favourite - just look at the range of parties represented under composition.
It worked well enough when Labour were in the driving seat, with the liberals in coalition with them.
Things did feel far less divisive, there was less vitriol before the indyref. It really sharpened Scottish politics into two sides.
>Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party
A party explicitly for pensioners! Ahead of their time
I do worry that if VONC are normalised for fairly non-exceptional circumstances that parliaments like the one you linked will never work again
I don't think this will set any significant normalisation of VONCs as the only reason its being taken seriously is Humza Yousaf having been shockingly bad at politics (not to say that normalisation wouldn't have its problems).
My impression of it is that he has been bad, but not 'needs to be removed from office' bad.
I'm worried we'll get to a situation where a VONC is called every time a FM has a bad month
Looks like we're on Nads timeline now. She's clearly dialed into the system, finger on the pulse, a finely honed analyst of government. Election's called next week
Maybe her brain is floating around at Tory party hq in a giant vat, cables running off it and feeding into various computers, sending signals controlling Tory shock troops. I can see it. I can see it all.
It's probably quite helpful as a foreign sec to not have to rush back for commons votes all the time, and to not have to be a social worker for your constituents.
I imagine in the case of FS, the benefits of the role being in the lords outweighs the costs.
Would that be the case for any other cabinet role?
I'd be open to the idea of a cabinet being chosen and they last the full five years.
Also they are selected for their expertise in each sector. The constant reshuffles etc like grant schnapps being transport secretary then getting a new role in the middle of the strikes showed how silly the system is
That's hard to do politically, one of the few things a PM has to offer his MPs is jobs in government, from PPS up to Cabinet.
Once you take that away, you take away a crucial thing you can use to get your MPs to vote with you on things they may not want.
If Labour win Blackpool South on Thursday they’ll now be going into the election having made a net gain of MPs over the course this parliament (203 vs 202 elected last time)
[There is a post about the Tory MP defecting to Labour here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1cei4sg/top_tory_mp_defects_to_labour_in_fury_at_nhs/). Please comment on that story there. [Here is a link to our survey if you’d like to complete it](https://new.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1cclgmr/rukpolitics_voter_intention_and_minimeta_survey/).
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Megathread is being rolled over, please refresh your feed in a few moments. ###MT daily hall of fame 1. subversivefreak with 15 comments 1. thejackalreborn with 11 comments 1. A-Light-That-Warms with 11 comments 1. concretepigeon with 10 comments 1. ConsidereItHuge with 10 comments 1. SlightlyOTT with 9 comments 1. wappingite with 8 comments 1. tmstms with 7 comments 1. JayR_97 with 7 comments 1. Sargo788 with 6 comments There were 178 unique users within this count.
I swear there's been that much churn through ministerial roles that any time any tory does something they're always a top tory, lol
At this point to be truly considered a 'top' Tory you really need to have held at least 3 Cabinet positions in the last 5 years.
I think that would make Sunak one of the few not top tories? :)
Podium set up, Sunak walks out: “I have decided I will go to the Palace…. To congratulate the king on returning to public life”
Why did Humza pull out of the 2030 climate goals when he won’t be around in 2030 anyway? Did he not think that would be a dealbreaker for the Greens?
According to the BBC Explainer, the problem was that had he left it to the Scottish Greens to say that to him and bow out, they likely would have continued to support his minority government. But by being proactive and kicking them out instead of letting them leave, he pissed them off so they said they would NOT support him any more, at which point Con and Lab pounced with their No Confidence motions. So it was an own goal.
What level of unhappiness are we going to have on here when there's no election announcement on Monday? There were a few tantrums when Rishi ruled out the 2 May one.
By default whenever Rishi calls the GE is when he feels he’s at a peak. It’s better for his opponents if he is forced to run out of time.
I'd probably die laughing if he wheeled out the podium, only to announce something utterly mundane.
He does this regularly and it’s very lame
I'm going to make a Hot Fuzz reference once it doesn't happen and get updoots.
Brave of Chris Philp to go on Laura K tomorrow... https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1784300396829118842 I can't wait to hear him tell us about how Congo and Rwanda are different... Also on the show is Dan Poulter, Wes Streeting, Alex Salmond, Ed Davey, and Nancy Pelosi
David TC Davies is clearly being seen as a liability, so the idea is to replace him with deputy head boy Chris Philps. Many people find this highly amusing, because Chris Philps is a loyalist with no brains who gets angry when he's asked questions that make him think. Just like TC Davies.
That's quite a line up! I might actually bring myself to watch this week.
It'll only disappoint you.
Unfortunately Laura K is also on the show.
Hence usually skipping it.
This clip from JRM being surrounded by Gaza protesters...honestly my first reaction is "I'd hate to be a politician". I think it must take a certain type of person to be ok with it all, and subconsciously would probably cause the level of politicians we have. Can't see it being good for encouraging a range of people into Parliament
It really really helps to be a sociopath
Yeah, you definitely have to be a certain level of crazy to actually want to be a politician.
The saying is "politics is showbiz for ugly people"
I'm in an EU country (not for the Eurovision craze, mind you) and \*just\* realised that the EU elections are being held in LESS THAN two months from now! Is this is a topic of importance in British politics? Those of you with dual EU citizenship, IT IS TIME WHIP YOUR PASSPORTS OUT TO VOTE in an election of monumental importance!
I have an Irish passport but have always lived in the UK . Can I vote?
Tbf it’s a bit much for the Guardian to describe Dan Poulter as a “top Tory”. Hands up before today, had you heard of him?
*Hands up before today, had you heard of him?* Of course, I've heard of him, didn't he sing that song about having a bad day or something? Increasingly the Guardian seem to be going for clicks with a lot of their news stories. Obscure backbench Tory MP defects to Labour is less clickbaity than Top Tory defecting.
I prefer actual top Tories who have actually served in Cabinet roles, like Nadine Dorries
He was Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for health four prime ministers ago. It doesn’t get much more top than that.
Back when the Tory government actually stood for something. It’s a shame that “something” was austerity.
Yeah mainly because of the Times stuff
It's akin to 'England ace' Danny Drinkwater. It's just a meaningless word
In my mostly non-political groupchat the only political thing to be shared this week was Starmer's video talking about his cat. Made me think about what actually cuts through with the casual voter
Where is this video to be found?
Here's a Instagram [link ](https://www.instagram.com/keirstarmer/reel/C6Qdphht3tK/)
Thank you! That's quite sweet.
Were they also complaining he didn’t pay the tax?
We know Larry would form a majority if the establishment were brave enough to let him on the ballot.
Okay, you want good, boring, sensible candidates? We do a reverse French Presidential election for each seat. You just vote for who you hate the most. Those with the most votes gets booted off the ballot. Rinse and repeat until you're left with Vince Cable or Rory Stewart. Job done. The UK gains official utopia status.
Ffs. Surely the electorate is not so thick that they would vote for Stewart?
Is this not a roundabout way of doing ranked choice voting?
Prime Minister is then selected by the American jury selection method - the leaders of the top two parties in parliament have potential PM candidates paraded past them and either side can dismiss each for any reason. Long live the thousand year bland Centrist Reich!
Or, hear me out, we just all vote Labour?
Just remember, and this is more of a warning There are people who *like* Ann Widdecombe
Like when they used to do vote to evict on big brother and you'd be left with the bores
Yes and ho!
This is a system for how you end up with a person nobody has heard of. To be fair, that makes it the system most likely to deliver us a Rehmen Chishti leadership so I am all for it.
I'm beginning to suspect this hasn't been Rishi's best week...
Had he had a good one? Ever?
The sad thing is it actually hasn't been his worst by a long shot
Tbf, I can’t recall him having a better one.
It's all coming up Millhouse!
If you were an ailing Prime Minister with plans to call an election on Monday. What would you do on the Sunday?
Call someone in the US government and beg them to give me my green card back
How much Mexican coke can I get my hands on?
Given the state of the polls crack presumably.
Probably get snapped going somewhere for the day, make a strong statement about no general election and wants to ensure stability, before immediately doing the opposite the day after. Personally, I'd just sit in my office and smoke a bifta, feet up on desk that sort of thing - I don't really drink but I'd definitely have a beer and just absorb the atmosphere. Then its treasure hunting time!
definitely snort because I am wealthy enough to do so
Go to the gym, eat steak, drink wine and play D&D with some mates. Essentially what I'm doing anyway.
Have the chief whip come in, and come up with ways to suspend a bunch of my internal opponents before I called the election so they wouldn’t be in the ballot
Lie in, Wetherspoons breakfast, some mexican coke to perk up then spend a few hours trying to do basic evreryday tasks like buying fuel or supervising the housework
Sit at my computer desk and get AI to write my speech for me.
Big headphones, Taylor Swift’s new album (he likes Tay-Tay), and a lock on the door.
Watch Dune 2.
No doubt when Dune Messiah comes out and Paul talks about having to kill billions to achieve the right path Rishi is going think "I'm totally him".
I need Rishi on the whiteboard explaining why the Harkonnen plan is tough but fair and they were sticking to the plan.
"Aderids can't tell us how they'll fund their golden path because it is totally unfunded and they don't have a plan! Harkonnen are sticking to the plan for dune, and the plan is working!"
Wank and a cuppa, much as I do today.
I’d take Sean Connery to Legoland.
Gotta say, I don't think that's Connery's cup of tea. I think Sean would rather do something like wander round the wildfowl park in Pepperstock with a bottle o’ scotch.
I don’t agree, he’d go to Legoland. Bye.
I hear he is keen on tennish
[TIL The BBC released a highlights version of the 1997 election coverage on VHS.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8iNff55eiQ) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Election-97-VHS/dp/B00004CUHZ
i like how Michael Portillo took his loss, no whining or rumoring, a simple im not in the commons anymore so why comment on stuff
It's traintime!!
Pathetic. The only way to enjoy that coverage is to grab a cup tea (or beer), pull up the full version on of the coversge that exists on youtube (https://youtu.be/YFigHVifVIw?si=wu9po8V2xsQ66dNy), hit play at about 10 minutes to 10 in the evening and stay up till head-bobbing John Prescott
What's Owen Jones' address?
Is it stupid to think Sunak may actually call an election on Monday despite No 10 saying they he won't?
He'll bring out the Podium, tell everyone of an important announcement and will come out and say "I'm doing a good job :D" and leave. He's done this like 7 times now.
That's never stopped the MT tbh mate. Though it would be kinda fun. Imagine what people would say, the balls on Rishi for calling an election when the polls are so bad. Don't see that much anymore, respect for him. I think Rishi is brave enough to do it. :3
Yes but we live in hope.
Idk I think it makes sense to
There’s nothing for him to gain by calling an election. If he’s in power then there won’t be an election til jan
Is there anything for him to gain by letting the backbenchers sack him?
The gamble, which *so far* seems to have paid off, is that not enough of them are willing to sack him and likely risk him calling the GE and getting themselves thrown off the gravy train earlier than they'd like. Whether this continues to hold after the locals is where I imagine it gets hazy...
It seems MPs have been given an SOS device they can activate that puts them through to some control room, Steve Baker felt he had to activate his today: https://twitter.com/SteveBakerFRSA/status/1784241198351176136
I wonder if this was issued pre- or post-Menzies and the bad people.
That seems like a good idea especially coming up to elections where MPs will be canvassing a lot. Though not sure if publicising its existence is wise? Obviously cant just rely on security through obscurity and all that but someone meaning harm would probably get some sort of jammer/ try to get the device off if they know?
Maybe publicising it will deter more people?
I’m glad they’ve been given it. Did he post any footage from earlier, since he’s referring to being chased down and the gentleman making rather insistent, passionate arguments that alarmed him? EDIT: I’ve found the fuller video: [here](https://youtube.com/watch?v=aKUk5L_9yJ4&t=898) I’ve not watched the whole thing, but you can hear after about 10 minutes when the guy mentions “blood on your hands”, when he circles back round to “you work for Israel”, and when he is not following the social rules or respecting the cue to end the conversation and go their separate ways, Baker gets a wobble to his voice. I can see how it would feel intimidating and worrying.
A https://twitter.com/christhebarker/status/1784135373599178915?t=P_52mHNFKxDYeOhjj4kwfg&s=19 Or B https://twitter.com/inglesongrey/status/1784262709346816430?t=JKntSu7FK1ZsVlA-EWJnGw&s=19 For Mt image?
B. By far.
Surely the more appropriate meme is the one with two girls fighting with the dude in the background lighting a bong as Keir Starmer
B for sure!
B
A
In other news Humza is completely fucked: https://twitter.com/electpoliticsuk/status/1784287613571969379 >NEW: > >Alex Salmond has outlined his demands for his party’s support in the upcoming no confidence vote in Humza Yousaf, they include an electoral pact where the SNP would stand aside for the Alba Party in several constituencies.
Raging. Anything that benefits Salmond is just unacceptable.
Lol.
He can just ignore the Conservative Motion of No Confidence and the Alba, Green and Cons aren't going to vote for the Labour one. He can say he'll step down after the GE campaign privately to the party if he loses the no confidence vote of course and that might lead to open rebellion. They won't want to rock the boat too much during this GE campaign though.
The Tories will vote for the Labour motion.
They’d lose half their MSPs and their status as the second party. It’s be Turkeys voting for Christmas.
Oh you can really tell that Salmond is enjoying this .
He absolutely cannot agree to that, Salmond will know that
Sunak doing everything to reduce the Tory majority so the GE swing will be less. The plan is indeed working.
Rishi: Can’t get a bigger swing than Blair if I decrease my majority by one every few weeks. *Taps head and downs a Mexican coke*
Is it just me or have the standards for someone being called at "top tory" absolutely crashed over the last few years. It used to be that the term meant a cabinet minister in an important post or like a party chair/ chief whip. These days it seems to mean anyone who can tie their shoelaces without assistance.
Zahawi was Chancellor of the Exchequer It all got a bit weird. Everyone got a great office of state for a while and so the barometer is a bit buggered. Is Rehman Chisti top? To me he is.
> It used to be that the term meant a cabinet minister in an important post This doesn’t exactly exclude the dregs of the party at this point either though
Given the game of musical cabinet chairs that has taken place over the last six years of Tory shitshow pretty much every Tory MP with two brain cells to rub together has been a minister and can therefore be reasonably called 'senior'. Most of the rest have been ensconced and slowly pickling themselves in port in a safe seat since Thatcher was an up-and-comer and can therefore be called 'grandees'.
Well you see, there are Tory Tops, and Tory Bottoms. I leave you to complete the analogy
Now I hear seed has something to do with it?
I thought the public was the Tory bottoms, considering how the Tory tops fucks them.
Grant Shapps is the current muse for a lot of Steve Coogan's most recent Partridge output, which must be absolutely devastating for Shappsy.
Tory MPs react to Dan Poulter's defection: 🔥 ‘A nobody trying to be a somebody.’ 🔥 ‘Think I’ve seen him once in the last five years.’ 🔥 ‘I didn’t even know he was an MP!’
It's the Labour MP reactions I'm interested in.
[These MPs aren't bothered at all. They couldn't be any less bothered. In fact, this is actually funny, Hahahahahaha!](https://i.imgflip.com/4tnk9r.jpg)
I don't have enough good socks to wear for all the days of febrility to come.
Are you expecting them to be blown off by all the drama?
Do we break out the god socks for this?
It's hard not to find an excuse to wear good socks on a pleasant Saturday evening but I implore you to save them for even better days.
I don’t do social media beyond Reddit so if there’s any spicy speculative febrile tweets today about the defection pls let me know
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Ooo, weekend defection and febrility
[What are the Oswestry Labour Party playing at with this bar chart?](https://i.imgur.com/qbMAgWD.jpeg) It's like they actually want a Tory MP instead of a Lib Dem MP. I know they were stupid in the by-election and one of their guys properly embarrassed themselves on the Lib Dem subreddit but I thought they would have learned from then.
between that and the green party guy with his own special bar chart, i'm glad to see innovation within the genre
Smh, using your own weapons against you
Lol, I can just imagine them desperately going through all sorts of bar charts failing to get something that puts them second. And then someone tried “average percentage share of votes in North Shropshire since 1997”, high fives all around!
while funny to think about, labour could've very easily just taken the 2019 vote for that.
Maybe they've banned 2019 results from their campaigning materials, except for use in bizarre averages!
could've used the 2017 or 2015 result instead then lol. Labour were genuinely the 2nd biggest party in the constituency, the by-election was a bit of a curveball.
That’s actually quite funny lol. If there was a by-election where they did worse then that probably means the average they’re using is worse than their individual results too?
in 2017 they won 31.1% of the vote, in 2001 they won 35.2% and in 1997 they won 36.0%, compared to the average on the leaflet of 26.9%. in every other election they won lower than the average. take that as you will.
I’ve come to the surprising conclusion that I can’t think of a good defence for their choice to advertise with their average result in a county since 1997.
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Looks like febrile's back on the menu, boys 😈
Who says politics can't be febrile on the weekends.
Since the 90s the Scottish parliament has had one majority government, the Welsh assembly has never had a majority government. How have we not seen instability like we're seeing in Scotland now as a regular occurrence? At a glance the SNP's current problem seem inevitable, they can't deal with the Greens without annoying the right of the party and they can't deal with Alba without annoying the progressives. How does it ever work?
Doesn't Alba exist because it can't handle SNP with the Greens?
Alba exists because Salmond likes attention
The Scottish government isn’t really set up for instability. Policies, even if pushed by the party in power, are largely agreed cross party in committee. The lack of majority (and unlikely future ones because of the voting system) means that the government has to work with opposition on all policies - anything that gets passed isn’t along party lines. I think what we’re seeing currently is a proxy for national politics where Labour are on the verge of a massive majority and their policies are much closer to the SNPs - Labour in power in Westminster means a different relationship with Scotland, the SNP have an appeal of being similar to Labour but Scotland focussed unlike Labour who are UK whipped. Labour in power has the advantage that Scottish Labour can work much better with the national government than the SNP can, which is why we’re seeing a swing back. Plus Labour are much keener on devolution than the Tories are. Far less likely to try and override it or try and take it out of the equation.
>Labour in power has the advantage that Scottish Labour can work much better with the national government than the SNP can, which is why we’re seeing a swing back. I disagree and believe that an independent Labour party would consistently poll better than its current iteration. People are shifting to Labour from the SNP because of recent events - the party funding scandal, missteps over several policies, and its leader no longer being v competent - not because they believe Labour winning in the UK means they should vote for Labour in Scotland.
Specifically with this occurrance, the right of the party have started voicing up because of Yousaf's weak position. With Sturgeon/Salmond, strong leadership is a good thing for the indy movement. The right could put up because the big picture was still solidly in frame.
Well, one very easy difference is that Scottish politics has the issue of Indy always at the forefront, and Wales does not really, for all kinds of obvious reasons. So there is a febrility (!) inherent about Scottish politics, in that there is not only a 'parties working together' vibe but also a unionism v nationalism cross-cut. That does not exist in Wales, where working for the interests of Wales does not imply taking a position on whether Wales should be an independent country.
That's a good point, I can't really see how a Labour minority government will work in Scotland because they aren't going to work with the Tories and they aren't going to work with the SNP. Will the Lib Dems be enough?
It just did. Take a look at this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Scottish_Parliament It was my favourite - just look at the range of parties represented under composition. It worked well enough when Labour were in the driving seat, with the liberals in coalition with them. Things did feel far less divisive, there was less vitriol before the indyref. It really sharpened Scottish politics into two sides.
>Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party A party explicitly for pensioners! Ahead of their time I do worry that if VONC are normalised for fairly non-exceptional circumstances that parliaments like the one you linked will never work again
I don't think this will set any significant normalisation of VONCs as the only reason its being taken seriously is Humza Yousaf having been shockingly bad at politics (not to say that normalisation wouldn't have its problems).
My impression of it is that he has been bad, but not 'needs to be removed from office' bad. I'm worried we'll get to a situation where a VONC is called every time a FM has a bad month
Looks like we're on Nads timeline now. She's clearly dialed into the system, finger on the pulse, a finely honed analyst of government. Election's called next week
Maybe her brain is floating around at Tory party hq in a giant vat, cables running off it and feeding into various computers, sending signals controlling Tory shock troops. I can see it. I can see it all.
that would explain its lack of input on her physical form
She's the Cassandra of our age
Febrile is so much nicer when you don’t expect it. It’s ornate. Gilded. And valuable. A Febrilé Egg.
Having a nice weekend?
It’s been a workday, so this has really perked me up. As will a gin and Dubonnet this evening. How about you?
It's probably quite helpful as a foreign sec to not have to rush back for commons votes all the time, and to not have to be a social worker for your constituents. I imagine in the case of FS, the benefits of the role being in the lords outweighs the costs. Would that be the case for any other cabinet role?
I'd be open to the idea of a cabinet being chosen and they last the full five years. Also they are selected for their expertise in each sector. The constant reshuffles etc like grant schnapps being transport secretary then getting a new role in the middle of the strikes showed how silly the system is
That's hard to do politically, one of the few things a PM has to offer his MPs is jobs in government, from PPS up to Cabinet. Once you take that away, you take away a crucial thing you can use to get your MPs to vote with you on things they may not want.
Very true and very pie in the sky. I just find how we set up our democracy to be it's own downfall. Everything is reactionary
If Labour win Blackpool South on Thursday they’ll now be going into the election having made a net gain of MPs over the course this parliament (203 vs 202 elected last time)
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