I think it's quite a good system initially - the MPs quickly get whittled down, so there's no time for bloody battles and muckraking - but then the final 2 have weeks of campaigning, which is way too long.
Interesting that 2 familiar names (Shapps & Javid) have already dropped out, yet there are several unknowns (to me) still in the running.
The 8 candidates in today's ballot, 1330-1530, with the result soon afterwards.
- Kemi Badenoch
- Suella Braverman
- Jeremy Hunt
- Penny Mordaunt
- Rishi Sunak
- Liz Truss
- Tom Tugendhat
- Nadhim Zahawi
3 MPs not standing (after struggling to get the support of 20 MPs):
- Rehman Chishti
- Grant Shapps
- Sajid Javid
So it looks like the top 2 will be down to Sunak, Truss and Mordaunt.
Interestingly of the 3, Truss was a Brexit remainer.
Post by Jez » 13 Jul 2022 13:28
Anyone apart from the one who doesn't know what a woman is. All the rest at least know that but will be equally as useless. If I had a choice it would be Badenoch. What we really need is a decent opposition, rather than a reactionary opposition.
Post by qpw3141 » 14 Jul 2022 02:03
Yes, Starmer needs to go. His record on justice for women is execrable, and he’s now committed to brexit, meaning he’s not providing an opposition.
Post by driver8 » 14 Jul 2022 14:42
Personally I think Starmer is fine, and that he'd do a decent job as PM, but he's just not entertaining enough these days to be elected (in a similar way to Gordon Brown).
As for Brexit, I though the latest was that he's accepted the inevitable? > How Keir Starmer hopes to ‘make Brexit work’
hehe ... Jez, you're a true 1-issue voter ! But these days, all MPs should have an answer ready any trans-related questions.
> The allegations regard trans rights after Penny Mordaunt said in 2018 that 'trans women are women and trans men are men'. In response to her critics, Mordaunt pointed to a track record defending women's rights: 'It was me that changed maternity legislation that was drafted in gender neutral language ( by another) to use female terms'.
> Penny Mordaunt's U-turn away from supporting trans rights is a sign of things to come in the Tory leadership challenge, activists say.
> Penny Mordaunt is accused of shifting her views on trans rights to appeal to Tory members as she attempted to reverse her reputation as a 'woke warrior'.
Now it's down to just Truss and Sunak (as the pundits predicted), they really should change the system to have the vote ASAP.
From the snippets I've seen of last night's BBC debate between the final 2, the Tory party came out the worse for it, and it's not good for democracy as a whole ... very divisive.
And what happened to Sunak - a deliberate tactic to be less 'nice' ? Although I'm not sure the snidey mansplaining was any improvement ...!
This is weird, and a bit scary to watch !
Apparently, the live debate on TalkTV just now, presenter Kate McCann collapsed...
What a horrible choice. Neither looks like a good choice for PM and what a sad indictment of the party that they are both keen to run negative campaigns.
Truss's views on the right to take industrial action are worrying.
It's sad that these two are only two candidates up for running the country. The very fact that she might end up at No 10 makes me think I'm in a parallel universe, and that somewhere out there there's a Truss with hotdog fingers playing a piano with her toes.*
* To save me explaining later, it's a reference to 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'.
As long as Liz Truss's memory holds up to level up - so everyone gets a chance to live in a nice suburb and attend a school that fails its kids so much they only get into Oxford. But more likely follow a thatcher playbook and pull the ladder further up
Good work from the Truss today. Apparently she could save £88 million of the £90 million Civil Service salary costs by paying less in the areas where the cost of living is lower. That would make the average Civil Servant earn £4 a year. A better idea might be to stop holding the Civil Service salaries back so that it's possible to employ people at a decent wage, thus reducing the reliance on very expensive contractors.
Good work from the Truss today. Apparently she could save £88 million of the £90 million Civil Service salary costs by paying less in the areas where the cost of living is lower. That would make the average Civil Servant earn £4 a year. A better idea might be to stop holding the Civil Service salaries back so that it's possible to employ people at a decent wage, thus reducing the reliance on very expensive contractors.
I know they have already binned the idea - but are MP's Civil Servants - maybe they figured out most of them would get a pay cut as they are based in their constitunency
No, MPs are not Civil Servants. Civil Servants are not part of Government, they serve the country rather than a political body. Generally, the right wing don't like them as they're independent, hence you seeing all the attempts to discredit wherever possible. They also like to pretend that salaries are huge, and this plays well with the older voter. In reality, the majority of Civil Servants earn less than £30k a year. There are also more Civil Servants working outside of London than in, though again, the focus is on cutting the Civil Service Whitehall waste.
One big problem for the Tories is the Truss v Sunak arguments undermine so many of their current policies ... it's like they've not been in power since 2010 !
https://twitter.com/PeterStefanovi2/status/1558115390672322563
What I find most disturbing is that whilst these two cretins have been battling it out with their absurd policies and rhetoric, the tories have gained five points over Labour.
