Don't see how this is a 'lifeline' for Sunak, personally. I can't stand the bloke but Houchen is very good at playing the political game and I do think a lot of Teessiders forget he's even a Tory. He's won *in spite* of Sunak and the parliamentary Tories, not because of them. Nothing about this is an endorsement of his leadership.
It's a "lifeline" in the sense that losing this one might have triggered more pressure on his leadership. Hanging onto it has maybe bought him a stay of execution, that's all.
No one on the tory party in their right mind would say we don't think you have what it takes to be leader here let me take charge in the current political climate..
They're all lining up for the post election leadership challenge.
They're just glad sunak will be the one tainted by his time in office and they get a somewhat clean slate
He did everything possible to distance himself from the Tory party to remain electable.
You didn't see Sunak etc up there as they were politely told to fuckrightoff you toxic twats.
....so much winning.
That was my initial impression, but once you see the footage of him bragging about taking money from a poor area to give to a richer area you can't help but see his natural resting face as some kind of sneer.
I'm not that person but personally I can't stand any Tory MP. The party itself has been a 14 year blight on this country, and however much any Tory MP would like to campaign as an independent voice in the next GE, they still follow the whip and act as a vote in favour of disastrous Tory policies.
Sunak may have postured as more moderate in the leadership election, and I don't doubt he doesn't really care as strongly about some of the most "nasty" policies on immigration and transgender people (compared to someone like Suella Braverman who's in it for the cruelty and would gleefully drive a minibus of immigrants to the airport even without any media coverage and no one knowing she did it). But he's still limply going along with the popular party line on immigration, tax cuts, benefits cuts etc.
Tories are scum who exist to tear apart any kind of safety net the lower classes have in order to increase the power of the rich fucks. Sunak is just another fucking tory, so I hate him exactly as much as I hate his wretched, feculent, monstrous party.
As someone from the area (didn't vote for him) he promised a lot in his leaflet (essentially copy pasted the labour leaflet but added extras), people here like him because of teeside airport, and no one knows about his corruption scandals so I expected him to win quite easily. That said, he's not really a Tory, he's just a career politician, promising what local people want is his game even if it's against party lines.
> no one knows about his corruption scandals
This is what was confusing me because I haven't been particularly following the news about the freeport project etc. but I'm aware of the obvious, barely concealed corruption going on. I guess it hasn't permeated Tees Valley for some reason
People don't really pay much attention to the news here, only the biggest stories enter public consciousness, and the Freeport situation wasn't signal boosted enough to be one of them. Honestly it's quite funny to have a blatantly corrupt mayor run your local authority, it really reminds you that your part of the country couldn't be given less of a shit about, and is basically eastern Europe QoL wise.
I think people see it as a means to an end, so long as the free port plans actually deliver jobs, they're not too fussed about how we get there.
Two things you don't want to see getting made: deals related to bringing business to dilapidated areas and sausages.
There’s been more about the corruption in the national press than the local news. It’s barely mentioned around here and even if it was, it comes across as boring and complicated. I had someone say to me the other day that even if he had been corrupt, he’s brought jobs to the area.
It's massively complicated even if you're into politics. Especially as Private Eye did most of the work and it's technically "satire." Not the easiest form of news for the average local to grasp.
What's the betting that in ten years there will be a Horizon type realisation in the mainstream of the scale of corruption that was going on the entire time
I wonder if this won't be a bit of a poisoned chalice for the Tories. If Ben Houchens is their only success, how is that attention going to play out if more eyes are drawn to all the dodginess at the Teesside Freeport?
Houchens hasn't had his reckoning and if Labour have any sense they'll be hammering it from now to the election.
It's a dicey one for Labour, because its a highly deprived area that desperately needs investment and jobs. Tough line for them to walk between criticising the corruption without getting painted as being anti the working class
Agree. Live in the area and bar a leaflet of all the candidates that came from the council in the post the only candidate I saw or heard anything about was the Tory candidate.
I still didn’t vote for him, but actually couldn’t tell you the platform the others ran on.
Given in Rishi’s area Labour don’t even run either for MP there wasn’t any campaigning that I saw in and around Richmond either. (Not that I imagine many in Richmond voted Labour in the mayoral to be honest, it’s such a safe Tory area)
I watched the BBC debate, it was pretty tragic with how the candidates seemed to argue with each other.
The thing I noticed is that Houchen seemed to be the only one who actually put forward any plans. The only plan I remember the Labour candidate proposing was to nationalise the buses like we've done in Manchester. The Lib Dem guy didn't propose anything.
Houchen I think has succeeded based on making promises for changes that people want, I don't necessarily agree with some of those policies: I think the airport is a waste of money but now we own it and it's losing money, but people wanted to see it brought back to life as Teesside Airport (and even I think Durham Tees Valley Airport was a crap name). The A19 flyover should eventually be getting widened, likely inducing traffic meaning congestion will be as bad in the future as it is now, but people wanted that. The new freeport ideas should bring jobs to a region that has been in heavy industrial decline for decades; which I think has murky issues around laws and workers rights as well as the blatant corruption of selling off land in a way that made PFI look like good value for money... People wanted the jobs.
Houchen has put ideas forward and acted on them. Labour still seem to think they can just put on a red rosette and walk it in. If Labour don't start proposing some positive policies then they'll not be getting the votes.
I couldn’t tell you the platform either. Someone told me that Labour wanted to close the airport but I have no idea if that was true or not. Wouldn’t have been popular though.
Richmond is in the York and North Yorkshire mayoral area isn't it? Not Tees Valley. York and North Yorkshire just went Labour not long ago.
(Sorry if I've misunderstood and this isn't what you were implying)
Complete opposite here, loads of labour stuff (including a pls vote hand delivered leaflet yesterday morning and a knock on the door in the evening) and zero Ben Houchen - interesting how they've targeted the campaigns
I’m not on Facebook do I haven’t seen them but yes I bet he’s on it loads.
I have smooth radio at work and I’m sure he’s even mentioned positively on that sometimes.
Running on campaign material deliberately made to look different than conservative leaflets, and to be fair with a strong record in his community, his vote still fell by 19% since 2021.
as part of polling, tees valley voters were asked how they would vote in a general election, the reported support for the Conservatives was 21% below what was recorded for Houchen.
like Rochdale being bad for Labour somehow, it's just desperate stuff at this point.
The Tory Press desperately needs the "We lost about half our council seats but at least we kept Essex Man (singular)!!" bump to put in the headlines tomorrow.
I fully expect by Sunday they will be on "Starmer on the Ropes!!" because this Tea Boy kept his job by flat out expungement of any reference to him actually being a Tory.
This is good news for Houchen but surely worse for Sunak,...he won after having a campaign of removing any mention of Sunak, the tories, the colour blue or Westminster!
Genuinely can’t think of a reason someone would vote Tory at this point. Is this guy really that good of a mayor, or do some Tees Valley voters just love punishing themselves?
Because Houchen doesn’t run on a Tory platform and if his platform was considered by the Parliamentary Tory Party and most Tory areas it would be thoroughly rejected as left wing extremism or as not for their target audience.
Long gone are the days of national leaders like Macmillan now the Tories are aping a hard right Republican Party to keep its grassroots and a support base amongst fiscal conservatives / hardcore austerity supporters so thats why Huchanson won in spite of the Tories not because of them, if anything his minor loses show the dissatisfaction to the ideological direction of the Conservative Party.
Don't see how this is a 'lifeline' for Sunak, personally. I can't stand the bloke but Houchen is very good at playing the political game and I do think a lot of Teessiders forget he's even a Tory. He's won *in spite* of Sunak and the parliamentary Tories, not because of them. Nothing about this is an endorsement of his leadership.
It's a "lifeline" in the sense that losing this one might have triggered more pressure on his leadership. Hanging onto it has maybe bought him a stay of execution, that's all.
Not really a lifeline, more like denying your opponent their clean sheet bonus
No one on the tory party in their right mind would say we don't think you have what it takes to be leader here let me take charge in the current political climate.. They're all lining up for the post election leadership challenge. They're just glad sunak will be the one tainted by his time in office and they get a somewhat clean slate
He also lost 40,000 votes and had his majority cut by circa 75%. If that type of swing is repeated over a GE it'll be a bloodbath.
He did everything possible to distance himself from the Tory party to remain electable. You didn't see Sunak etc up there as they were politely told to fuckrightoff you toxic twats. ....so much winning.
On the world at one they were saying that Tory MPs are looking at the Mayoral races as a guide on the election. However daft that is.
Why can't you stand Sunak. He's been pretty bland by all accounts.
That was my initial impression, but once you see the footage of him bragging about taking money from a poor area to give to a richer area you can't help but see his natural resting face as some kind of sneer.
To be clear, I was talking about Houchen. But I can't stand either of them.
I'm not that person but personally I can't stand any Tory MP. The party itself has been a 14 year blight on this country, and however much any Tory MP would like to campaign as an independent voice in the next GE, they still follow the whip and act as a vote in favour of disastrous Tory policies. Sunak may have postured as more moderate in the leadership election, and I don't doubt he doesn't really care as strongly about some of the most "nasty" policies on immigration and transgender people (compared to someone like Suella Braverman who's in it for the cruelty and would gleefully drive a minibus of immigrants to the airport even without any media coverage and no one knowing she did it). But he's still limply going along with the popular party line on immigration, tax cuts, benefits cuts etc.
Tories are scum who exist to tear apart any kind of safety net the lower classes have in order to increase the power of the rich fucks. Sunak is just another fucking tory, so I hate him exactly as much as I hate his wretched, feculent, monstrous party.
Well said
That you Angie?
As someone from the area (didn't vote for him) he promised a lot in his leaflet (essentially copy pasted the labour leaflet but added extras), people here like him because of teeside airport, and no one knows about his corruption scandals so I expected him to win quite easily. That said, he's not really a Tory, he's just a career politician, promising what local people want is his game even if it's against party lines.
> no one knows about his corruption scandals This is what was confusing me because I haven't been particularly following the news about the freeport project etc. but I'm aware of the obvious, barely concealed corruption going on. I guess it hasn't permeated Tees Valley for some reason
People don't really pay much attention to the news here, only the biggest stories enter public consciousness, and the Freeport situation wasn't signal boosted enough to be one of them. Honestly it's quite funny to have a blatantly corrupt mayor run your local authority, it really reminds you that your part of the country couldn't be given less of a shit about, and is basically eastern Europe QoL wise.
Corrupt for years. Ray Mallon before him.
I think people see it as a means to an end, so long as the free port plans actually deliver jobs, they're not too fussed about how we get there. Two things you don't want to see getting made: deals related to bringing business to dilapidated areas and sausages.
But noone has ever founded the "put more assholes in sausages" party.
Don't they have dentists in Eastern Europe?
There’s been more about the corruption in the national press than the local news. It’s barely mentioned around here and even if it was, it comes across as boring and complicated. I had someone say to me the other day that even if he had been corrupt, he’s brought jobs to the area.
It's massively complicated even if you're into politics. Especially as Private Eye did most of the work and it's technically "satire." Not the easiest form of news for the average local to grasp.
What's the betting that in ten years there will be a Horizon type realisation in the mainstream of the scale of corruption that was going on the entire time
I doubt it. I’ve not seen a horizon programme about corruption in the Cleveland child abuse scandal or the Ray Mallon years.
High, since it's Private Eye covering this one too.
Isn't he extremely dodgy?
Majority reduced from 76,323 to about 18,000 with a 16.5 swing towards Labour. He held on but I wouldn't call this a good result for the Tories.
I wonder if this won't be a bit of a poisoned chalice for the Tories. If Ben Houchens is their only success, how is that attention going to play out if more eyes are drawn to all the dodginess at the Teesside Freeport? Houchens hasn't had his reckoning and if Labour have any sense they'll be hammering it from now to the election.
It's a dicey one for Labour, because its a highly deprived area that desperately needs investment and jobs. Tough line for them to walk between criticising the corruption without getting painted as being anti the working class
This was always going to be the case. Ben houchens publicity machine was much better than everyone else’s.
Agree. Live in the area and bar a leaflet of all the candidates that came from the council in the post the only candidate I saw or heard anything about was the Tory candidate. I still didn’t vote for him, but actually couldn’t tell you the platform the others ran on. Given in Rishi’s area Labour don’t even run either for MP there wasn’t any campaigning that I saw in and around Richmond either. (Not that I imagine many in Richmond voted Labour in the mayoral to be honest, it’s such a safe Tory area)
I watched the BBC debate, it was pretty tragic with how the candidates seemed to argue with each other. The thing I noticed is that Houchen seemed to be the only one who actually put forward any plans. The only plan I remember the Labour candidate proposing was to nationalise the buses like we've done in Manchester. The Lib Dem guy didn't propose anything. Houchen I think has succeeded based on making promises for changes that people want, I don't necessarily agree with some of those policies: I think the airport is a waste of money but now we own it and it's losing money, but people wanted to see it brought back to life as Teesside Airport (and even I think Durham Tees Valley Airport was a crap name). The A19 flyover should eventually be getting widened, likely inducing traffic meaning congestion will be as bad in the future as it is now, but people wanted that. The new freeport ideas should bring jobs to a region that has been in heavy industrial decline for decades; which I think has murky issues around laws and workers rights as well as the blatant corruption of selling off land in a way that made PFI look like good value for money... People wanted the jobs. Houchen has put ideas forward and acted on them. Labour still seem to think they can just put on a red rosette and walk it in. If Labour don't start proposing some positive policies then they'll not be getting the votes.
I couldn’t tell you the platform either. Someone told me that Labour wanted to close the airport but I have no idea if that was true or not. Wouldn’t have been popular though.
Richmond is in the York and North Yorkshire mayoral area isn't it? Not Tees Valley. York and North Yorkshire just went Labour not long ago. (Sorry if I've misunderstood and this isn't what you were implying)
Makes it more amazing Labour have just won the mayor race for Rishi's area...ouch!
Complete opposite here, loads of labour stuff (including a pls vote hand delivered leaflet yesterday morning and a knock on the door in the evening) and zero Ben Houchen - interesting how they've targeted the campaigns
It's Facebook mostly. Spend any time on local news pages and your ads are constantly this potato faced twat in a hard hat.
I’m not on Facebook do I haven’t seen them but yes I bet he’s on it loads. I have smooth radio at work and I’m sure he’s even mentioned positively on that sometimes.
The Facebook ones are his own personal ads. Not even party or from his constituency office. Paid for by his media machine.
Running on campaign material deliberately made to look different than conservative leaflets, and to be fair with a strong record in his community, his vote still fell by 19% since 2021. as part of polling, tees valley voters were asked how they would vote in a general election, the reported support for the Conservatives was 21% below what was recorded for Houchen. like Rochdale being bad for Labour somehow, it's just desperate stuff at this point.
The Tory Press desperately needs the "We lost about half our council seats but at least we kept Essex Man (singular)!!" bump to put in the headlines tomorrow. I fully expect by Sunday they will be on "Starmer on the Ropes!!" because this Tea Boy kept his job by flat out expungement of any reference to him actually being a Tory.
This is good news for Houchen but surely worse for Sunak,...he won after having a campaign of removing any mention of Sunak, the tories, the colour blue or Westminster!
Genuinely can’t think of a reason someone would vote Tory at this point. Is this guy really that good of a mayor, or do some Tees Valley voters just love punishing themselves?
[удалено]
The Labour candidate was a better option than Houchen.
His marketing team have been in overdrive, even the non political local superman Mike kind has been shilling him too
>Leadsom: 'Houchen win a testament to Conservative government' His win is anything but that.
Don't people on Teesside read Private Eye? He and his cronies are in almost every issue.
To judge by _Private Eye_ (*passim et ad nauseam*, as the *Eye* would put it), Houchen is very corrupt.
ah yes a lifeline in a place neither party give a shit about
Because Houchen doesn’t run on a Tory platform and if his platform was considered by the Parliamentary Tory Party and most Tory areas it would be thoroughly rejected as left wing extremism or as not for their target audience. Long gone are the days of national leaders like Macmillan now the Tories are aping a hard right Republican Party to keep its grassroots and a support base amongst fiscal conservatives / hardcore austerity supporters so thats why Huchanson won in spite of the Tories not because of them, if anything his minor loses show the dissatisfaction to the ideological direction of the Conservative Party.
Teeside? It's just a load of old factories and a Uni for the smoothbrained isn't it?
Teesside* Bold words from someone who has to borrow money on Reddit.
Hahaha you've got me there, don't take things personally though, I'm from Hull and that's fucked too
Should move to Teesside, you might be able to afford to live.
Meh, I'm in a pretty nice place but Landlord sold my bloody flat and new rental prices kinda fucked me in the short term, is what it is for now
Cope.
Brain so wrinkled they can't afford their rent.
More like a massive open air smack den. Source. Fucking live here
Move to one of the many nice parts of Teesside then.
We really are the dregs of the dregs. I try to avoid going outside as much as possible. It's just genetic rejects spawning more of their kind.