Politics Thread!

[venusian]

BJ has the sort of intelligence that sets one bobbing atop the toxic swirl that emanates from a major public school and Oxbridge.

He is only troubled when the UK's political system is something other than a continuation of those two things. He has ben seldom troubled over the past couple of decades.

[Barney]

Sorry to ask but is it possible Boris and Liz planned it? I mean Boris resigns, Liz goes in makes an awful mess, and the party re-elects Boris, on the basis of 'he is not so bad'.

Not Boris and Liz, no, that's... highly unlikely.

The people who put them there though.. yeah, this was probably the plan all along.

[Harlequin]

Sorry to ask but is it possible Boris and Liz planned it? I mean Boris resigns, Liz goes in makes an awful mess, and the party re-elects Boris, on the basis of 'he is not so bad'.

Not Boris and Liz, no, that's... highly unlikely.

The people who put them there though.. yeah, this was probably the plan all along.

I was convinced that Liz, at least, was clueless, whatever aims she was placed to achieve. She still always struck me, though, as a used truss.

[merman]

Johnson hasn’t even officially joined the race yet.

The BBC’s count of publicly declared backers has Sunak in the lead with 146. He needs just 30 more to make it a two-person race on Monday.

Morduant could be a good compromise with Sunak back as Chancellor - but really, I don’t want any of them in the job and like 99.9% of the population I will have no direct say in the matter.

[tufty]

Mordaunt is an extreme neoliberal and has taken cash from various neoliberal lobbying groups and think tanks, including at least one known for climate change denial.

A pox on all their houses.

[KlaxonCow]

Breaking news on my phone is that Boris has pulled out of the race.

The claim that goes with that is that he had 102 nominations, so he could have challenged Rishi.

I guess Boris has insisted on that being reported alongside him pulling out, just to make clear that he is graciously falling on his sword, and not just giving up because he didn't reckon he could win.

(There was talk, in the papers, of Rishi and Boris potentially having a meeting to discuss this, so maybe that actually happened and they agreed it made sense not to, yet again, throw the cat amongst the pigeons. Mind you, shades of that similar meeting between Blair and Brown, eh?)

[Rhythm]

Boris has officially said he’s not running. Claims to have spoken to Mordaunt and Sunak to discuss some deal but it didn’t pay off and he’s not putting his name forward

[Barney]

Kuenssberg has tweeted that Boris didn't get anything like 102, and the official figure of a few hours ago was 53...

[KlaxonCow]

Kuenssberg has tweeted that Boris didn't get anything like 102, and the official figure of a few hours ago was 53...

I wouldn't be surprised if that's perfectly correct.

As I mentioned, I think it was Boris insisting that "102" was thrown about as he pulled out of the race, to soothe his ego and present a "I'm falling on my sword for the good of the country" narrative, so we'd all think well of him.

But, as we all know, Boris is a liar. So he probably gave up from knowing he can't get 100 by the deadline on Monday, but didn't want to look like a loser - shades of Trump - so tried to turn this into a "I'm falling on my sword and am letting Rishi do it to be noble, and it's not because I just failed miserably to get enough votes".

[Deckard]

For the good of the country he wouldn’t have even entered the race in the first place….total Bollox

[Harlequin]

Johnson honourably deciding to pull out before he has finished?

We, as many unfortunate women before us, should all doubt his capability to do that.

[VNVObit]

The last line of his withdrawal statement is a real "it's not me it's you"

Will probably be Sunak (who at least has some creditability with markets though not with the party)
Some Boris supporters have already threatened the party will be ungovernable
ERG can't make up their mind but they're transactional so will depend on NIP negotiations as to when they will rebel

Even some of their donors don't consider them fit to be in charge

[VNVObit]

The last line of his withdrawal statement is a real "it's not me it's you"

Will probably be Sunak (who at least has some creditability with markets though not with the party)
Some Boris supporters have already threatened the party will be ungovernable
ERG can't make up their mind but they're transactional so will depend on NIP negotiations as to when they will rebel

Even some of their donors don't consider them fit to be in charge

[Rhythm]

Sunak clinched it.

Mordaunt doesn't ever seem to have reached the 100 (96 was last count, albeit only a couple of dozen formally declared it)
1922 commission have confirmed Johnson would have been able to stand, as his count reached 102
ERG bravely stood forward and declared that they wouldn't be backing either candidate. Hopefully their sort is about to get slapped down a bit rather than being pandered to. Of course it does risk a (re)rise of a UKIP style party ready for the next GE, so who knows?

As much as he's still an evil wanker, I can't believe that Sunak would oversee quite as much down and out bedshitting that's gone on over the past few years. Surely we must be set for a slightly calmer bit of politics to come?

[Rhythm]

Oh, and Starmer needs to get in the fucking bin re not standing up for trans rights. He's a cunt anyway but his comments today are far more shameful than anything Corbyn (was) ever (claimed to have) pulled.