# Rishi Sunak tries to lead the UK **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 24, 2022, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706 "2022-10-24T13:07:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 31
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/602 "2024-01-18T17:04:10Z")
ISTM they’ve been studying the example from our side of the pond … “The cruelty is the point.” Seems they’re quick learners. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/603 "2024-01-18T18:38:09Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > They want to be seen to fail to blame it on their enemies. This, dammit. Tories in UK, Republicans in US, let the problem fester and blame the other side because your doomed unworkable idea doesn’t fix it. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/604 "2024-01-18T21:23:46Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > Some Tories have money in there. This is often the driving force of most tory policies. There is no doubt the substandard accomodation and dodgy boat companies are throwing money at the tories to get more cream. I’m not sure about the dodgy boat companies, though the Tories definitely have a history with that, like Chris Failing…uh, Grayling…giving a ferry contract to a company with no actual boats and a website that copied the code from a Chinese takeaway. There’s been so much talk about the planes taking off loaded with migrants (Suella Braverman: “I have a dream!”) that I think that’s where their photo op aspirations lie. As you point out, Rwandans make asylum claims to the U.K. already. I think the annual immigration from that country actualy exceeds the number of planned expulsions. The Tories really couldn’t organize a two-car funeral, could they? ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/605 "2024-01-18T22:15:42Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > I’m not sure about the dodgy boat companies, though the Tories definitely have a history with that, like Chris Failing…uh, Grayling…giving a ferry contract to a company with no actual boats and a website that copied the code from a Chinese takeaway. I was referring to Bibby Stockholm, who I read had costs which meant they could have sent each resident on a year long all expenses paid cruise instead of paying the Tory donor to put them up. I know from [this article that the costs would be £2.K PER NIGHT at the moment](https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/news/home-affairs/the-savoy-would-be-cheaper-than-bibby-stockholm/), so you can see there the REAL motive behind such genius solutions… ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/606 "2024-01-19T11:44:46Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > I was referring to Bibby Stockholm, who I read had costs which meant they could have sent each resident on a year long all expenses paid cruise instead of paying the Tory donor to put them up. I know from [this article that the costs would be £2.K PER NIGHT at the moment](https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/news/home-affairs/the-savoy-would-be-cheaper-than-bibby-stockholm/), so you can see there the REAL motive behind such genius solutions… Right, I forgot about the Bibby Stockholm. That’s such a tragic tale, I think I prefer to remember the purely comedic incompetence of the Tory years rather than the painful stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/607 "2024-01-19T12:01:01Z")
I’ve seen it pointed out that housing asylum seekers (or group of people) on a boat has all the costs of a hotel plus all the costs of keeping a vessel seaworthy which anyone who’s owned so much as a dinghy will tell you are inconceivably vast. As in, every time you hear the number, it gets bigger. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2024, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/608 "2024-01-20T13:29:26Z")
Seems as if [The flatulent hate gonk (Boris Johnson)](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/19/boris-johnson-says-trump-back-in-white-house-is-what-the-world-needs)'s support for Ukraine was all just a load of guff in the end, with him wanting Trump back. It’s not as if Trump did anything much to support Johnson when he was in anyway. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2024, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/609 "2024-01-20T14:47:40Z")
For more on Johnson’s latest idiocy, look at the end of Marina Hyde’s latest (the rest is as trenchant as ever): > **[It’s the latest episode of The Tories – and it makes Squid Game look like the...](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/19/tories-squid-game-rwanda-policy)** > > Watch as they stab themselves in the back and shoot themselves in the foot over the Rwanda policy, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2024, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/610 "2024-01-20T19:10:02Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > It’s not as if Trump did anything much to support Johnson when he was in anyway. Well, johnson was pretty uncomplimentary about trump … [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/p4EAc0QFubs/maxresdefault.jpg "Boris Johnson: Donald Trump 'out of his mind' over radicalised London comments") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4EAc0QFubs&t=17) ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/611 "2024-01-20T20:13:43Z")
It’s so sad to watch clones fight. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/612 "2024-01-21T11:38:46Z")
Ah yeah, that will probably be back when he was mayor and would be to blame if there were parts of london which were no-go areas. There wasn’t. There still isn’t. And Trump wasn’t running for president at that time either. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/613 "2024-01-30T19:03:16Z")
You can’t make this stuff up. > **[Kemi Badenoch is member of ‘Evil Plotters’ Tory WhatsApp group](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/29/kemi-badenoch-member-evil-plotters-tory-whatsapp-group)** > > Exclusive: Business secretary who has told party rebels to stop ‘stirring’ and back PM is in group along with Michael Gove > Kemi Badenoch is a member of a Conservative WhatsApp group called “Evil Plotters” despite telling party rebels to “stop messing around” and get behind Rishi Sunak, the Guardian can reveal… > > … the Guardian has been told that Badenoch and Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, who is regarded as a key backer, are members of a WhatsApp group of similarly minded Tory MPs who are rallying round the business secretary’s longer-term ambitions. While we’re at it: > **[Only 10% of voters under 50 intend to support Conservatives at next election...](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/yougov-poll-sunak-tories-election-b2480784.html)** > > Support for Rishi Sunak’s party is at its lowest level since Liz Truss’s final days as prime minister > The poll lays bare just how unpopular the party is with young people, with just 4 per cent of those aged between 18 and 24 saying they intend to vote Conservative, and only 12 per cent of 25- to 49-year-olds. j ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/614 "2024-01-30T19:09:10Z")
How many young people vote though? Hopefully a larger percentage than in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/615 "2024-01-30T19:21:34Z")
Fair question. I guess we’ll see. But I don’t think any political party wants to see young voters making their first determination of who they support, and 96% of them saying: _Not you!_ j ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/616 "2024-01-30T19:22:47Z")
With those numbers, I guess it doesn’t matter as much how many vote! ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/617 "2024-01-30T20:03:06Z")
As long as there aren’t too many thinking it’s all a done deal and there’s no need to bother to turn out (it’s not as if it’s that difficult to get to your polling station, after all). But to get this shower out means overturning lots of massive majorities from 2019. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/618 "2024-01-30T20:11:58Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > …Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary,… TIL that the UK government has used gamer lingo since 1868, but it took Boris Johnson to make it part of a full department. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/619 "2024-01-30T20:51:04Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > TIL that the UK government has used gamer lingo since 1868, but it took Boris Johnson to make it part of a full department. Maybe they should have a ministry to calculate how many hit points the PM has lost. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/620 "2024-01-30T21:50:21Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Maybe they should have a ministry to calculate how many hit points the PM has lost. Maybe mod some games to show, instead of a hit points bar, a head of lettuce in various stages of wilting. Probably inferior in terms of easy recognition, but much greater comedic value. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/621 "2024-01-30T22:44:38Z")
So, is it time to break out those Larry for Prime Minister signs again? > [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706.md?page=30) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706.md?page=32)