The problem we have in the UK is that despite First Past The Post giving the government a strong majority, politics is still dominated by feuding and coalition forming. The Tories have an 80 seat majority and so should be able to drive through a programme of government, but they are constantly fighting amongst themselves, split between Spartan Brexiteers, Red Wallers, low-taxers etc.
Hence the recent programme for government (aka Queen’s Speech). Despite us facing an enormous cost of living crisis, a likely recession, an ongoing health provision crisis, plummeting trade plus minor things like climate change, the best the government could come up with to deal with these issues was a plan to let people change street names more easily plus some culture ear bullshit. Because the feuding between different factions doesn’t allow any actual action to be taken.
If that’s achieved through retirement and not replacing people when they leave - rather redeploying to fill gaps - then it’s just a bit of an ambitious timescale. You’re right, though, in that it’ll have zero effect on global energy prices.
It’s historical and Mark Francois had a historical allegation against him which was apparently reopened recently. However it is all still just rumour, nothing concrete. But that’s what Twitter is saying - though there’s plenty of hate for MF so all the chat may be wishful thinking.
I’ve seen a few names bandied about including MF, but I’ll wait for confirmation on that. It’ll have to come out soon, if only because his constituents have a right to know if their MP has been banned from the Commons.
Saw an wry comment along the lines of “If you hear a Tory MP has been accused of sexual assault and you find yourself asking ‘Is this the same one or a new one?’, maybe this party shouldn’t be in government.”
Meanwhile, in among all the other rakes the Tories are treading on, here is Johnson’s personal insight on the working from home issue (third para down, if you were in any doubt as to why the govt is in the state it’s in):
Surprised by how badly Boris did at PMQs.
Faced with questions about the cost of living crisis and the possibility of a windfall tax of the energy companies, his answer was essentially “well, Labour always want to increase taxes” – which you might notice is not a defence of the policy at all, nor a plan for doing anything.
I mean, even if you don’t think a windfall tax is the right approach, it was just a horrible answer.
Although, there are many rumors that the windfall tax will ultimately be implemented, so I guess he didn’t want to waste his breath defending the status quo?
BTW, how come this thread is not in the Politics forum?
Johnson and his team will have carefully planned a response to this. Maybe lots of contrition, given the facts are damning.
But remember it is not the public that decides his fate, it is his party and there are few credible contenders to replace Boris. He is all they have and so may be inclined to stick with him, hoping that he can pull a rabbit out of the hat before the next General Election on
Thursday, 2nd May 2024. The rank and file of the Conservative party will be very unimpressed. Lying to Parliament is a big no-no in British Politics and Boris Johnson often skates on thin ice with respect to truth and honesty.
He has a meeting with the 1922 committee later, whose confidence he needs to remain in power. There is also a standard committee meeting in two weeks that will examine whether he has broken the ministerial code of conduct in public office. He will have a team of lawyers trying to dodge and explain the accusations.
It will be interesting to see if there any resignations following the report, if the criticism gets too intense, someone lower down will be sacrificed and forced to resign. Sue Gray is a civil servant and she will be keen to protect the Civil Service from accusations that they colluded with the party loving antics of the politicians: Johnson and his chums at 10 Downing St. The news commentaries are full of stories about how the public suffered the separation from their loved ones in their last hours. while Johnson partied as if the rules did not apply his privileged elite, at the same time giving stern lectures about the importance of following the Covid guidelines and laws his government passed. The public will not forget such outrageous hypocrisy.
Prime Minsters Question time should be quite hysterical.
Naah. A vague apology followed by the usual equivocating over whether it was really a party or a work-related event and anyway the Prime Minister is too busy steering the country through these difficult times to be focused on these minor incidents that everyone has moved on from, and also Sir Keir Starmer is really “Sir Beer Korma”.
If the 55 letter threshold has been met Graham Brady would certainly wait until after the Jubilee weekend to announce it - so as not to overshadow her Maj’s big weekend.
The number of known letters to the committee is almost at the same number that were publicly known when the threshold was reached against Theresa May at the end of 2018.
Aha! The word on the street is that a confidence vote is soon to be announced, now that the Jubilee celebrations are over.
Will Johnson be able to muster enough support in the Conservative party to stay in power?
Who in the lacklustre range of other candidates has enough support to win the leadership? The dynamics at play in the tea rooms of Westminster are not transparent. But there is no clear challenger.
Johnson could survive this and would be safe for another year.
