May has gone - ding dong the utter, utter, total failure of a prime minister is gone

First.Aspect

Robert88 wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

I can understand where May was coming from, she seemed to see herself as a kind of unifying leader in the middle of two extremes but it's been clear for a while she was unwilling or incapable of building a majority around any kind of way forward and she's really just been slowing down progress. Of course depending on our destination we may end up wishing progress had been slowed even more but she's overstayed her welcome and I doubt many from any political perspective will think she should stay.

Hard to really feel much about her going as there is so little certainty as to where we go now.

Yes, there's no question you knew where you stood when May was at the helm.

In no man's land surrounded by the dead and dying, with sounds of battle heard through the fog from all sides?

Yes. We knew where we stood.

It is still better than being strapped to a war head remotely controlled by bickering psychopathic children, which is what we will have next.

orraloon

Play time for all...

Dear redacted

Please see below a statement from the Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP, Chairman of the Conservative Party, and Dame Cheryl Gillan MP and Charles Walker OBE MP, Vice-Chairmen of the 1922 Committee:

“This morning the Prime Minister announced her intention to resign as Leader of the Conservative & Unionist Party on Friday 7 June. We are saddened by her decision but understand it, and thank her for her years of service to our Party and our nation, not just as Prime Minister but over many decades before that. As an activist, a councillor, a devoted constituency MP, a loyal member of the Shadow Cabinet in our long years of opposition, our first female Party Chairman, as a bold and reforming Home Secretary, and throughout her time as our nation’s second female Prime Minister, she has shown great dedication, courage and tenacity. She embodies the finest qualities of public service and, with this decision, has once again demonstrated her strong sense of duty and devotion to the national interest.

After the Prime Minister has resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party, we will begin the process to elect a new Leader. The timetable for this is set by the Executive of the 1922 Committee after consultation with the Party Board, which includes representatives of the voluntary, Parliamentary and professional party. We intend that the Parliamentary stages of the contest – which involves determining the final choice of candidates to put before all members of the party – should begin with the close of nominations in the week commencing 10 June.

Successive rounds of voting will take place until a final choice of candidates to put to a vote of all party members is determined. We expect that process to be concluded by the end of June, allowing for a series of hustings around the UK for members to meet and question the candidates, then cast their votes in time for the result to be announced before Parliament rises for the summer.

We are deeply conscious that the Conservatives are not just selecting the person best placed to become the new leader of our party, but also the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. That is a solemn responsibility, particularly at such an important time for our nation. We will therefore propose that the leadership election and hustings involve opportunities for non-members and people who may not yet vote Conservative to meet the candidates and put their questions to them too.

None of us will be candidates in the leadership election, nor will we support any candidate. Our focus will be on facilitating a full, fair and frank debate and contest. We have discussed this proposal with the Chairman of the Conservative National Convention, who is also content with it.”

The Conservative Party

robert88

First Aspect wrote:

Robert88 wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

I can understand where May was coming from, she seemed to see herself as a kind of unifying leader in the middle of two extremes but it's been clear for a while she was unwilling or incapable of building a majority around any kind of way forward and she's really just been slowing down progress. Of course depending on our destination we may end up wishing progress had been slowed even more but she's overstayed her welcome and I doubt many from any political perspective will think she should stay.

Hard to really feel much about her going as there is so little certainty as to where we go now.

Yes, there's no question you knew where you stood when May was at the helm.

In no man's land surrounded by the dead and dying, with sounds of battle heard through the fog from all sides?

Yes. We knew where we stood.

It is still better than being strapped to a war head remotely controlled by bickering psychopathic children, which is what we will have next.

Talking of which, can we cancel the Addams family state visit now?

Matthewfalle

rjsterry wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

thread title changed because Mamil felt OUTRAGE

#anger
#freespeech
#we'renotallTories

Having a Yaxley-Lennon moment there, MF?

oh God no!!!!!!!!! We're far too left wing for that. we're just concerned that someone will report a thread title that doesn't contain swearing/blasphemy/anfi-semitism/racism/sexism etc because he feels that goes against his personal political views and is therefore WRONG

#yaxley-lennonhideouscreature
#milkshake

Stevo_666

orraloon wrote:

Play time for all...

Dear redacted

Please see below a statement from the Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP, Chairman of the Conservative Party, and Dame Cheryl Gillan MP and Charles Walker OBE MP, Vice-Chairmen of the 1922 Committee:

“This morning the Prime Minister announced her intention to resign as Leader of the Conservative & Unionist Party on Friday 7 June. We are saddened by her decision but understand it, and thank her for her years of service to our Party and our nation, not just as Prime Minister but over many decades before that. As an activist, a councillor, a devoted constituency MP, a loyal member of the Shadow Cabinet in our long years of opposition, our first female Party Chairman, as a bold and reforming Home Secretary, and throughout her time as our nation’s second female Prime Minister, she has shown great dedication, courage and tenacity. She embodies the finest qualities of public service and, with this decision, has once again demonstrated her strong sense of duty and devotion to the national interest.

After the Prime Minister has resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party, we will begin the process to elect a new Leader. The timetable for this is set by the Executive of the 1922 Committee after consultation with the Party Board, which includes representatives of the voluntary, Parliamentary and professional party. We intend that the Parliamentary stages of the contest – which involves determining the final choice of candidates to put before all members of the party – should begin with the close of nominations in the week commencing 10 June.

Successive rounds of voting will take place until a final choice of candidates to put to a vote of all party members is determined. We expect that process to be concluded by the end of June, allowing for a series of hustings around the UK for members to meet and question the candidates, then cast their votes in time for the result to be announced before Parliament rises for the summer.

We are deeply conscious that the Conservatives are not just selecting the person best placed to become the new leader of our party, but also the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. That is a solemn responsibility, particularly at such an important time for our nation. We will therefore propose that the leadership election and hustings involve opportunities for non-members and people who may not yet vote Conservative to meet the candidates and put their questions to them too.

None of us will be candidates in the leadership election, nor will we support any candidate. Our focus will be on facilitating a full, fair and frank debate and contest. We have discussed this proposal with the Chairman of the Conservative National Convention, who is also content with it.”

The Conservative Party

Since you're kindly subbing the Tory party, who will you vote for Looney?

orraloon

Whichever is the bigger w@nker of the 2 finalists selected by 0.0007% of the electorate, obvs. de Pfeffel in an early lead.

"And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger"

rjsterry

Matthewfalle wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

thread title changed because Mamil felt OUTRAGE

#anger
#freespeech
#we'renotallTories

Having a Yaxley-Lennon moment there, MF?

oh God no!!!!!!!!! We're far too left wing for that. we're just concerned that someone will report a thread title that doesn't contain swearing/blasphemy/anfi-semitism/racism/sexism etc because he feels that goes against his personal political views and is therefore WRONG

#yaxley-lennonhideouscreature
#milkshake

Just teasing. Dunno about mamil's political views, but the 'witch' bit doesn't really have anything to do with May's politics. I think she was pretty terrible as a PM, but at least she gave a sh*t. The last PM to resign trotted back into no. 10, doo-de-dooing as though he had just put the recycling out rather than plunging the country into 3 years of ever increasingly bitter division.

rjsterry

orraloon wrote:

Whichever is the bigger w@nker of the 2 finalists selected by 0.0007% of the electorate, obvs. de Pfeffel in an early lead.

"And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger"

Digital Minister, Margot James is on to you, Looney.

Effectively, the prime minister is going to be chosen by roughly 100,000 people, assuming we go that far into the contest, who don’t ... some would argue they don’t really represent the majority of Conservative voters, let alone the country as a whole.

Matthewfalle

rjsterry wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

thread title changed because Mamil felt OUTRAGE

#anger
#freespeech
#we'renotallTories

Having a Yaxley-Lennon moment there, MF?

oh God no!!!!!!!!! We're far too left wing for that. we're just concerned that someone will report a thread title that doesn't contain swearing/blasphemy/anfi-semitism/racism/sexism etc because he feels that goes against his personal political views and is therefore WRONG

#yaxley-lennonhideouscreature
#milkshake

Just teasing. Dunno about mamil's political views, but the 'witch' bit doesn't really have anything to do with May's politics. I think she was pretty terrible as a PM, but at least she gave a sh*t. The last PM to resign trotted back into no. 10, doo-de-dooing as though he had just put the recycling out rather than plunging the country into 3 years of ever increasingly bitter division.

pm - usless

home secretary: awful creature, therefore "witch"

Grenfell: disgraceful

Tory

#hideous

Wayne Plunger

Should we not be pointing the finger at Dave as he "started the ball rolling" to further his own ends.

slowmart

The Tories are kicking the can down the road, who ever picks up the leadership will further polarise divisions within the Tory party and there isn’t a viable political alternative in the Labour Party as a counter point to apply the leverage of common sense to pick a party leader with broad appeal.

Looks like the future economic health of the UK will be shaped by a narrow ideology of a few thousand Tory members who get to elect our next PM.

Pross

The list of confirmed and likely candidates for leader really does show how bad things are. Ultimately though it might be good thing as whoever wins is unlikely to survive long and it will hopefully kill their career permanently. The few reasonably sane senior Tories look to be staying well away.

Matthewfalle

Pross wrote:

whoever wins is unlikely to survive long and it will hopefully kill their career permanently.

A last hoorah for a Henry?

#fascistTories

sam_anon

Pross wrote:

You have to be either mad or a narcissist (or both) to want to take on the leadership in the current situation so there won't be a shortage of applicants.

robert88

Wayne Plunger wrote:

Should we not be pointing the finger at Dave as he "started the ball rolling" to further his own ends.

Wayne Plunger wrote:

Should we not be pointing the finger at Dave as he "started the ball rolling" to further his own ends.

What not Dave 'chaos with Ed Milliband' Cameron?

Britain faces a simple and inescapable choice - stability and strong Government with me, or chaos with Ed Miliband: https://www.facebook.com/DavidCameronOf ... 2725449379 …

How can that be?

Matthewfalle

https://inktank.fi/10-epic-ways-twitter ... Qj3TDpprEs

#failed

morstar

Is this whole Brexit thing a conspiracy to bring the lib Dems back into mainstream politics?

Lib Dems were doomed to years of irrelevance in 2015 beyond the obvious limitations of being a 3rd party in a 2 party system.

Labour have spent the last few years abandoning moderate centre left policies and now the Tories are lurching further and further to the right leaving a gaping chasm in both the the centre left and centre right

If politics were business there is a whole gap in the market begging to be filled. Labour and Tory may find themselves the equivalent of a high street record shop if they're not careful. Largely a thing of the past with a few remnants catering to a niche market.

robert88

morstar wrote:

Is this whole Brexit thing a conspiracy to bring the lib Dems back into mainstream politics?

Lib Dems were doomed to years of irrelevance in 2015 beyond the obvious limitations of being a 3rd party in a 2 party system.

Labour have spent the last few years abandoning moderate centre left policies and now the Tories are lurching further and further to the right leaving a gaping chasm in both the the centre left and centre right

If politics were business there is a whole gap in the market begging to be filled. Labour and Tory may find themselves the equivalent of a high street record shop if they're not careful. Largely a thing of the past with a few remnants catering to a niche market.

you do realise that politics is a business in the USA. Trump realised exactly what you describe and he's certainly filling it.

He'll be over here in a week or so we need to make sure he doesn't leave one of his sprogs behind to fill our gap.

morstar

Robert88 wrote:

morstar wrote:

Is this whole Brexit thing a conspiracy to bring the lib Dems back into mainstream politics?

Lib Dems were doomed to years of irrelevance in 2015 beyond the obvious limitations of being a 3rd party in a 2 party system.

Labour have spent the last few years abandoning moderate centre left policies and now the Tories are lurching further and further to the right leaving a gaping chasm in both the the centre left and centre right

If politics were business there is a whole gap in the market begging to be filled. Labour and Tory may find themselves the equivalent of a high street record shop if they're not careful. Largely a thing of the past with a few remnants catering to a niche market.

you do realise that politics is a business in the USA. Trump realised exactly what you describe and he's certainly filling it.

He'll be over here in a week or so we need to make sure he doesn't leave one of his sprogs behind to fill our gap.

Fair point. Much as he is an absolute hateful human being, he does understand supply and demand.
Our lot don't seem to understand it as they're all chasing radical ideologies. Despite the polarising effect of brexit, I think most Brits are actually centrist.

Stevo_666

morstar wrote:

Is this whole Brexit thing a conspiracy to bring the lib Dems back into mainstream politics?

Lib Dems were doomed to years of irrelevance in 2015 beyond the obvious limitations of being a 3rd party in a 2 party system.

Labour have spent the last few years abandoning moderate centre left policies and now the Tories are lurching further and further to the right leaving a gaping chasm in both the the centre left and centre right

If politics were business there is a whole gap in the market begging to be filled. Labour and Tory may find themselves the equivalent of a high street record shop if they're not careful. Largely a thing of the past with a few remnants catering to a niche market.

Don't you think the Lib Dems would have filled the gap by now if they were capable of doing so?

morstar

Stevo 666 wrote:

morstar wrote:

Is this whole Brexit thing a conspiracy to bring the lib Dems back into mainstream politics?

Lib Dems were doomed to years of irrelevance in 2015 beyond the obvious limitations of being a 3rd party in a 2 party system.

Labour have spent the last few years abandoning moderate centre left policies and now the Tories are lurching further and further to the right leaving a gaping chasm in both the the centre left and centre right

If politics were business there is a whole gap in the market begging to be filled. Labour and Tory may find themselves the equivalent of a high street record shop if they're not careful. Largely a thing of the past with a few remnants catering to a niche market.

Don't you think the Lib Dems would have filled the gap by now if they were capable of doing so?

Market forces in 2019 are heavily driven by brands and the Lib dems were a toxic brand after the coalition.
So far they had been unable to reverse that perception. My supposition is that by both tory and labour turning themselves into toxic brands, they are doing the work of realigning the lib dem brand for the lib dems.
I guess we'll have a more informed view later today.

briantrumpet

Stevo 666 wrote:

morstar wrote:

Is this whole Brexit thing a conspiracy to bring the lib Dems back into mainstream politics?

Lib Dems were doomed to years of irrelevance in 2015 beyond the obvious limitations of being a 3rd party in a 2 party system.

Labour have spent the last few years abandoning moderate centre left policies and now the Tories are lurching further and further to the right leaving a gaping chasm in both the the centre left and centre right

If politics were business there is a whole gap in the market begging to be filled. Labour and Tory may find themselves the equivalent of a high street record shop if they're not careful. Largely a thing of the past with a few remnants catering to a niche market.

Don't you think the Lib Dems would have filled the gap by now if they were capable of doing so?

Still one of the utter mysteries for me is how they've managed to stay invisible during a period when they were the only 'mainstream' party advocating a point of view on the EU shared by a large chunk of the electorate, and the other two parties exhibiting utter incompetence.

rjsterry

briantrumpet wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

morstar wrote:

Is this whole Brexit thing a conspiracy to bring the lib Dems back into mainstream politics?

Lib Dems were doomed to years of irrelevance in 2015 beyond the obvious limitations of being a 3rd party in a 2 party system.

Labour have spent the last few years abandoning moderate centre left policies and now the Tories are lurching further and further to the right leaving a gaping chasm in both the the centre left and centre right

If politics were business there is a whole gap in the market begging to be filled. Labour and Tory may find themselves the equivalent of a high street record shop if they're not careful. Largely a thing of the past with a few remnants catering to a niche market.

Don't you think the Lib Dems would have filled the gap by now if they were capable of doing so?

Still one of the utter mysteries for me is how they've managed to stay invisible during a period when they were the only 'mainstream' party advocating a point of view on the EU shared by a large chunk of the electorate, and the other two parties exhibiting utter incompetence.

I'm sure Vince is a decent chap, but he was less visible than Farron and seemed to be waiting for something. The party seemed to need the local elections to remind itself what it was there for.

briantrumpet

rjsterry wrote:

briantrumpet wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

morstar wrote:

Is this whole Brexit thing a conspiracy to bring the lib Dems back into mainstream politics?

Lib Dems were doomed to years of irrelevance in 2015 beyond the obvious limitations of being a 3rd party in a 2 party system.

Labour have spent the last few years abandoning moderate centre left policies and now the Tories are lurching further and further to the right leaving a gaping chasm in both the the centre left and centre right

If politics were business there is a whole gap in the market begging to be filled. Labour and Tory may find themselves the equivalent of a high street record shop if they're not careful. Largely a thing of the past with a few remnants catering to a niche market.

Don't you think the Lib Dems would have filled the gap by now if they were capable of doing so?

Still one of the utter mysteries for me is how they've managed to stay invisible during a period when they were the only 'mainstream' party advocating a point of view on the EU shared by a large chunk of the electorate, and the other two parties exhibiting utter incompetence.

I'm sure Vince is a decent chap, but he was less visible than Farron and seemed to be waiting for something. The party seemed to need the local elections to remind itself what it was there for.

You'd get a lot of people appearing to have worrying signs of dementia if you asked them, following the "What day of the week is it today?" question, with "Who's the leader of the Liberal Democrats?". I think he's been waiting to retire, if the reports in Private Eye are accurate. He's made Douglas Hurd look dynamic.

Stevo_666

briantrumpet wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

morstar wrote:

Is this whole Brexit thing a conspiracy to bring the lib Dems back into mainstream politics?

Lib Dems were doomed to years of irrelevance in 2015 beyond the obvious limitations of being a 3rd party in a 2 party system.

Labour have spent the last few years abandoning moderate centre left policies and now the Tories are lurching further and further to the right leaving a gaping chasm in both the the centre left and centre right

If politics were business there is a whole gap in the market begging to be filled. Labour and Tory may find themselves the equivalent of a high street record shop if they're not careful. Largely a thing of the past with a few remnants catering to a niche market.

Don't you think the Lib Dems would have filled the gap by now if they were capable of doing so?

Still one of the utter mysteries for me is how they've managed to stay invisible during a period when they were the only 'mainstream' party advocating a point of view on the EU shared by a large chunk of the electorate, and the other two parties exhibiting utter incompetence.

Maybe it's down to utter incompetence?

Stevo_666

morstar wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

morstar wrote:

Is this whole Brexit thing a conspiracy to bring the lib Dems back into mainstream politics?

Lib Dems were doomed to years of irrelevance in 2015 beyond the obvious limitations of being a 3rd party in a 2 party system.

Labour have spent the last few years abandoning moderate centre left policies and now the Tories are lurching further and further to the right leaving a gaping chasm in both the the centre left and centre right

If politics were business there is a whole gap in the market begging to be filled. Labour and Tory may find themselves the equivalent of a high street record shop if they're not careful. Largely a thing of the past with a few remnants catering to a niche market.

Don't you think the Lib Dems would have filled the gap by now if they were capable of doing so?

Market forces in 2019 are heavily driven by brands and the Lib dems were a toxic brand after the coalition.
So far they had been unable to reverse that perception. My supposition is that by both tory and labour turning themselves into toxic brands, they are doing the work of realigning the lib dem brand for the lib dems.
I guess we'll have a more informed view later today.

3 toxic brands then (ignoring all the minor toxic brands like UKIP, SNP etc) - I suppose it's a level playing field of sorts.

robert88

briantrumpet wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

briantrumpet wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

morstar wrote:

Is this whole Brexit thing a conspiracy to bring the lib Dems back into mainstream politics?

Lib Dems were doomed to years of irrelevance in 2015 beyond the obvious limitations of being a 3rd party in a 2 party system.

Labour have spent the last few years abandoning moderate centre left policies and now the Tories are lurching further and further to the right leaving a gaping chasm in both the the centre left and centre right

If politics were business there is a whole gap in the market begging to be filled. Labour and Tory may find themselves the equivalent of a high street record shop if they're not careful. Largely a thing of the past with a few remnants catering to a niche market.

Don't you think the Lib Dems would have filled the gap by now if they were capable of doing so?

Still one of the utter mysteries for me is how they've managed to stay invisible during a period when they were the only 'mainstream' party advocating a point of view on the EU shared by a large chunk of the electorate, and the other two parties exhibiting utter incompetence.

I'm sure Vince is a decent chap, but he was less visible than Farron and seemed to be waiting for something. The party seemed to need the local elections to remind itself what it was there for.

You'd get a lot of people appearing to have worrying signs of dementia if you asked them, following the "What day of the week is it today?" question, with "Who's the leader of the Liberal Democrats?". I think he's been waiting to retire, if the reports in Private Eye are accurate. He's made Douglas Hurd look dynamic.

Indeed, Cable did state that he'd be gone by June and nowit's by August. Although to be fair the UK said it'd leave the EU by April, then May, then July and now it is November.

sungod

cable should've gone a long time ago, 2017-18 was their chance to rebuild some credibility for whatever they stand for, and more importantly to challenge some of the lies and idiocy that have become the norm

uk politics seems to be following the trend seen in some other countries where left/right but essentially centrist parties adopt ever more extreme positions to try and avoid losing voters to more extreme populist/fascist parties

easily recognisable, they all follow the pattern: foreigners/muslims/jews/christians/hindus/buddists/eu/southerners/northerners/elites/judges/whatever are the enemy of the people, the country is under attack, the media is biased, just elect the glorious leader and they'll exclude/deport/tax/fine/ban/jail/kill the enemies, all will be wonderful, all hail the leader

no constructive policies, just stoke the self-righteous anger against the 'other', large 'donations' welcome, they will of course be rewarded

institutions are debased, people suffer, but the glorious leader always has someone to blame for this, erdogan, modi, trump, orban, etc., have all followed the same script

inertia/laziness/idiocy means the people who for years/decades simply voted tory/labour every time carry on doing so anyway, the true nutters jump ship to the more extreme parties anyway

the centre is hollowed out, leaving increasingly polarised politics

rick_chasey

Difficult to have your top talent in the public eye when they don’t have a seat in Parliament.

Doesn’t stop Farage but as we know the he’s a ratings monster and the BBC love him.

briantrumpet

Stevo 666 wrote:

briantrumpet wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

morstar wrote:

Is this whole Brexit thing a conspiracy to bring the lib Dems back into mainstream politics?

Lib Dems were doomed to years of irrelevance in 2015 beyond the obvious limitations of being a 3rd party in a 2 party system.

Labour have spent the last few years abandoning moderate centre left policies and now the Tories are lurching further and further to the right leaving a gaping chasm in both the the centre left and centre right

If politics were business there is a whole gap in the market begging to be filled. Labour and Tory may find themselves the equivalent of a high street record shop if they're not careful. Largely a thing of the past with a few remnants catering to a niche market.

Don't you think the Lib Dems would have filled the gap by now if they were capable of doing so?

Still one of the utter mysteries for me is how they've managed to stay invisible during a period when they were the only 'mainstream' party advocating a point of view on the EU shared by a large chunk of the electorate, and the other two parties exhibiting utter incompetence.

Maybe it's down to utter incompetence?

A distinct possibility. It seems to be a feature of both Labour and the Conservatives too, to varying degrees.