I was wrong to suggest, only yesterday morning, that James Cleverly would be in the final two of the Tory leadership campaign.
It turned out that, like almost every other commentator, my assumption that there were still some sane people in the Tory party proved to be wrong. If sane Tories exist, there are not enough of them to save that organisation from self-destructing by choosing another leader as bad as Truss was only two years after they proved just how unwise it might be to elect someone so wholly inappropriate to fill that post.
Badenoch spouts economic and social nonsense on demand without, apparently, having the slightest comprehension of the drivel that falls out of her mouth.
She makes claims about herself - including that she is working class because she spent a few days working at McDonalds when she was 16 - that are obviously absurd.
And like Suella Braverman before her, the attitude that she displays towards migration appears to me to be based on deep prejudices.
Jenrick is no better. His judgement is questionable. His English exceptionalism appears to know no bounds. He will happily remove our human rights to prove that we are different from Europe. His policy on migration appears to me to be callous and is indicative of a lack of empathy of any sort for those in need. His intense Zionism is dangerous when political leaders are going to require judgement to navigate the political difficulties in the Middle East.
These people are hardly fit to lead a Tufton Street think tank given their limited ability, and yet one of them is about to become Leader of the Opposition in this country.
We have many - even massive - issues of concern in this country, all of which must be faced if we are to see the human race survive on this planet. The challenge of achieving that goal in a fair and equitable way is bigger still, but these two fall firmly into the camp that even denies that such problems exist, so removed are they from reality.
When we are heading for an era where one, at least, of our leading political parties is refusing to address any of the issues that really afflict this country because it wishes to engage in xenophobic hatred of those fleeing conflict, war and climate change what chance do we have unless the political system changes? Almost none is the answer.
And the trouble is, these idiots - counting now the Labour Party to be amongst that number - have control of that political system.
The question is, for how long can this last? This situation is very obviously unsustainable. The questions that have to be asked are: what replaces it, when, and what precipitates the change?
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I think Labour, the ‘liberal’ media, etc, are getting this Tory leadership election badly wrong. They’re stuck in the ‘elections are won on the centre ground’ ideology – which was true 20 years ago, but not now.
First, it was always going to be a right-wing winner. Even if Cleverly had got through this round, the membership would have gone for the extreme right. That’s who they are.
But Labour etc are silly to think this will make the Tories less electable. The centre-right (and centre-left) are shrinking all over the developed world, as voters and activists move to the extremes. The Republicains in France have all but been absorbed by the RN, the Republicans in America by MAGA. There are countless other examples – including the UK.
We’re living through a political earthquake, and the centre-ground is disappearing under our feet – but neither centrist politicians nor mainstream media seem to be able to feel it.
You may be right
Mr Cox,
There you go, talking Left and Right. Only the elderly find that language helpful, or meaningful. The Conservative Party membership do not represent British opinion; I suspect they are a very bad measuring stick, in detail demographically and politically, of the British public at large.
Politicians generally rely on members of the Party to do the on-the-ground electioneering; to provide constituency presence. Not the Conservatives, outside their constituency strongholds. In few cases do the mainly elderly Conservative members do much hands-on election door knocking, or leafleting; actively, they are an aged spent force. The Conservative Party relies on money to oil the machinery, more than people on the ground. They mostly live in constituencies even the Conservatives can’t lose, and need do little to win. Elsewhere, Conservatives are rarely seen outside a TV studio.
Even the Conservative politicians do not know who they represent anymore; and many do not find the membership to be a political asset, beyond the money they provide. The Conservatives are in a worse place than you think; save for the fact that Labour is doing the best it can to revive Conservative hopes; however badly the Conservative Party is currently trying to screw itself up with a selection of truly daft leadership contenders. Labour needs the Conservatives as a viable threat to keep the Single Transferable Party (the two-Party-one-Party) Cartel on the road. And it is a Cartel, not a competition*. Together they can exclude any substantive change from the current neoliberal political hegemony happening, and protect its monopoly of power in Parliament (under FPTP, which defeats any third force emerging in sufficient strength).
* Nothing in Britain that looks like a competition or a free market, is a free market or a real competition. You can bank on that (it is all you can bank on safely, without a Government guarantee to back it).
What did Brecht say something like The People are not in favour of The Party so must be changed.
Or as soomeone I once knew described herself, she was perfectly sane just not in the way everyone else was
It is not what I expected either, but perhaps the MPs see Reform as a greater threat to their hegemony on the right and they are happy to abandon the middle ground (and the government) to Labour. And haemorrhage support to the LibDems too.
I expect they will fail. Leaving the ground open someone else. Perhaps a certain former prime minister will zip-wire to the rescue. If the lying philanderer can fool them into trusting him again.
It is a very dangerous situation. The UK is moving into dangerous waters and there will be trouble ahead. Disenchantment will grow as the current government pursues policies which are unnecessary, unwise and will lead to further social and economic disorder. Very scary.
I have heard it suggested that whoever is elected Tory leader, that it’s likely that they will move the party even farther to more extreme right wing views, and that will counteract the perceived threat from Reform, enabling people who would have voted for that party, to return to the Try fold. Likely?
That may be true
But they are squabbling over 20% of the UK vote in that case
I never vote Tory and on hearing the result of the ballot I despaired. Tory MPs have been deeply irresponsible. The Tories are obviously settled on a strategy of trying to outdo Farage and it is going to backfire. I can foresee Reform becoming the 2nd largest party in vote share because of this, with all the consequences that has. With Starmer discredited, these are dangerous times.
The Cunning of Unreason……………….
As our planet begins to punish us for treating it so badly and attempts to shrug us off into history, the more fear and resentments will grow, and the more the natural Fascism that we have tolerated in our society will seize the opportunity to provide the answers.
It will not be pretty.
And these Tory goons will be there waiting for their moment and the British public will provide it. Like they always do.
Maybe we deserve each other. Maybe that is the harsh reality.
‘We’ don’t deserve anything like that. Please don’t give in.
Now, no one says that anyone has ‘given in’.
And just maybe, we have not got started yet?
But it is getting rather late in the day and we have been had big time.
@PilgrimSlightReturn : Thank you. I understand. It’s incredible how quickly humans turn on eachother, with unadulterated malice and ill intent, for reasons we will never know, as if millions of years of evolution counts for precisely nothing.
Members of the Tory cabinet were reported as ‘whooping with joy’ at this result. I wasn’t. If Cleverly had managed to move the Tories back towards being ‘more normal’, then Labour would have had to start doing something to at least appear to be somewhere to the left of Cameron and Osborne. But now I expect Labour to see this as an opportunity to move even further to the right in the belief that this will somehow cement their dominant position, to the cost of most of us and the planet. How anyone other than a fascist can respond with joy to any far-right victory is beyond me. Pathetic.
Reminds me of the punk classic from 1977, Fascist Dictator by the Cortinsa. Great band, great song and very apt.
I saw them….takes me back
A Ford Cortina? Rubbish cars as I recall.
I can recall a time, not that long ago, when now Tory party leadership candidate Robert Jenrick was routinely referred to as “disgraced former minister Robert Jenrick” after he had to step down from his cabinet position having been very publicly exposed as having abused his position to deprive London taxpayers of £52 MILLION pounds due to be paid by a Billionaire property developer and Tory party donor and political ‘friend’ and benefactor of Jenrick.
Oh what short memories the London Bubble media have. 🙁
I shall continue to refer to him as “the formerly disgraced former minister”.
We likely will see the provenly dishonest (I would say,correctly, “corrupt”) and thus unsuitable candidate ‘win’ over the ‘gaffe prone’ plainly unsuitable rival candidate.
Both candidates ought to be unelectable.
Yet here we are.
We see such unpalateable choices again and again in the ‘modern’ managed ‘western’ ‘democracies’
Trump or Clinton ?
Trump or Biden ?
Johnston or Truss?
The whole systems are demonstrably unfit for the purpose of governing well for the mass of their people.
🙁
Thank you.
Said donor / developer is decamping to Dubai. He’s a zionist, which also explains Jenrick’s stance, but decided occupied Palestine was too hot.
Somewhat belatedly, I see that Byline Times did an article on Jenrick:
“Robert Jenrick Accepts Donations from ‘Family Friend’ Who Ships Arms to Israel”
https://bylinetimes.com/2024/10/10/robert-jenrick-donations-arms-to-israel/
If you think this means Reform will become the second largest party, think again. Massive amounts of US (as well as other foreign actors) money is being pumped into seducing the younger people to the dark side via social media, and Bylines is carrying a report (can’t link, am at school) about training of young far right wingers to appear on TV, to appeal to those of their age.
We may wake up to find Reform the largest party in vote share.
The suggestion I heard was that Cleverly was assumed to be in the final 2, and either he encouraged or some of his supporters on their own decided to try and eliminate Badenoch from the final 2 as they felt that the party members would chose her over him, but chose him over Jenrick. They miscalculated and ended up knocking their guy out instead.
Sounds like some were too clever for their own good.
Still, the main opposition is going to be the other parties, and those few left in the Labour Party who understand what the Labour Party was formed for, not what it is now. Just a shame that under the rules, it will have to be a Tory who faces Starmer for PM Questions.
In the early 80s the Labour party veered leftward under Michael Foot and became, at the time, unelectable. It also resulted in a split and the formation of the SDP with the gang of four. The Tories are now doing the same thing only in the other direction.
While Labour sorted itself out through the 80s, could the Tory party do the same in the 20s.
Neil Kinnock and John Smith got Labour back on track. Are there any MPs in the Tory party that could do the same? I don’t know.
I am not sure your perspective on history is reliable.
It is consistent with the 80s view.
But was ‘Labour back on track’ really? Or simply newly neoliberal?
Back on track as in electable [and mildly neoliberal], rather than left wing.
That said, my memory is skewed by the fact I got my information at the time from the right wing media, so I could be very wrong.
You refer to Kemi Badenoch’s deep prejudice. That is already being seized upon in some quarters and used against you. To be fair you can see why: an affluent, 60-something white man refers to a black woman’s prejudices.
Perhaps you could explain in more detail.
Politely, your comment is misogynistic and racist.
Do I need to say more to you?
Yes actually! Whatever her politics, Iit is quite an accusation to accuse someone of their views on immigration being informed by “deep prejudice”, tantamount to calling them a racist. It may be something you wrote out quickly and perhaps he perhaps aren’t comfortable with on reflection. If not though, you will know better then anyone, the onus is on the accuser to support the accusation.
Or maybe just build your hand up and say “You know what, a bad choice of words”.
I was describing her prejudice against refugees, as I see it.
I am not sure what is racist about that. It is a status that might apply to literally anyone.
Why do you think it a racist term? Aren’t you revealing the prejudice is all yours?
My conscience is very clear. I sod nothing that was inappropriate.
You did and you have just wasted my time.
@David Giles. “To be fair you can see why: an affluent, 60-something white man refers to a black woman’s prejudices.” What’s the significance here then? You are assuming a 60 something white British man cannot comment on a British conservative black woman MP? Oh dear, are you feeling well? Apart from bringing Richard’s age into the equation, which is very rude and means nothing with regard to his comment, which wasn’t racist or sexist, are you special and a standard bearer for women’s and ethnic peoples rights of equality? Does that mean Badenoch isn’t one of the Tory bigoted racists then, because she is black? Is that your argument here? Pull the other one, because we weren’t born yesterday.
Editor note:
This comment was deleted for being offensive, repeating points already made and time wasting.
Having been there in Labour 1970 onwards, Foot tried to pull Labour back to its broad church of the late 60s and early 70s, when much of modern equality legislation (divorce reform, gay lib, wages etc) and action (comprehensives, Open Uni) occurred. Kinnock was the avatar of New Labour, and he and his entourage had many of the besuited, clean shaven attributes of the Blair mob. The ‘Skinners’ of this era thought them pink Tories. Foot was ‘unelectable’ for the same reason that did for Corbyn – the establishment, business and media created a hate figure (examine the similarities at the Cenotaph ceremonies). Not all was wonderful, Labour harboured racism and misogyny (though antisemitism was strictly for Tories and far right) BUT it was socialist and democratic. Kinnock took it off in a less democratic direction, completed by Blair in response to the members revulsion with Iraq. The pendulum swung back with Corbyn, and once again the hammer dropped with Starmer’s accension.
Surly what’s happening is the complete eradication of any left leaning party look at Trump calling Harris a communist, sunak tried the same with starmer
Political parties dont win elections . The last lot get booted out for incompetence.
All the conservatives need to do is stay in the game, which thanks to their ownership of the media they will.
But opinion is switching to the liberals round here. Only problem with that is they are no different in their adherence to neoliberalism .
All we can do is keep attacking neoliberalism.
Eventually it will get through and then all parties will change together.