Professor Tim Wilson: Kwasi Is Hurrying Back and Liz Is Trying to Save Her Sinking Ship

Oh dear oh dear

Brilliant, Prof! This cloud does have a silver lining though: This catastrophe has exposed the erroneous notion that only the Conservatives know how to handle the economy, only the Conservatives can be trusted with the running of the economy for the BIG lie that it is. – © Mark Alexander

Can Liz Truss Survive as PM - Expert Explains

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‘Pig’s Ear’: Tory Press Raises Doubts about Liz Truss’s Future

THE GUARDIAN: Once-loyal papers such as the Sun and Daily Mail start to turn on PM amid financial turmoil

‘In her abject powerlessness she is like a leader who has been in office for years and has run out of options and support,’ says the Daily Mail. Photograph: Jessica Taylor/UK parliament/AFP/Getty
Conservative commentators are beginning to turn against Liz Truss, with rightwing newspapers such as the Sun and Daily Mail rounding on her for making a “pig’s ear” of the mini-budget, while other observers suggest her premiership could be extremely short-lived.

Though she was initially heralded by some as a prime minister to drive through true-blue policies with the most radical reforms in decades, unease is growing in Tory circles about her leadership.

Recent market turmoil, a series of screeching U-turns and the expectation more will follow are compounding jitters about Truss’s future.

The Daily Mail, in its editorial on Thursday, reserved the top slot in its three-pronged editorial column to savage the Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, but used the second to raise concerns about Truss. It said her “dash for growth is already limping badly after she made a pig’s ear of presenting her ambitious mini-budget and was forced into humiliating U-turns”. » | Aubrey Allegretti, Political correspondent | Thursday, October 13, 2022

How Long Can Liz Truss Stay in Power?

Professor Tim Wilson: Kwarteng and Truss Have Cheated the Nation

If thee are plans we can see them now- we don’t need to wait till the end of the month! Personally I do not think these plans exist.

Professor Tim Wilson: Nicola Sturgeon and Liz Truss

Doesn’t matter how much she says it, there is no evidence that Liz truss is listening to anyone.

Liz Truss on Verge of Major U-turn on Real-terms Benefits Cut

THE GUARDIAN: Exclusive: Tory MPs warn PM she would lose vote on increasing benefits only in line with earnings rather than inflation

Liz Truss is teetering on the edge of performing another big U-turn as Tory MPs warned she would lose a vote on delivering a real-terms cut to benefits while new research showed the move could push an extra 450,000 people into poverty.

Despite desperate pleas for party unity from senior ministers after weeks of bitter infighting, the row over welfare threatened to overshadow the prime minister’s attempt to reassert her authority when the Commons returns from recess on Tuesday.

Fresh threats of moves to oust Truss if she digs in were also being discussed by MPs over the weekend, while senior Tories, including former chancellor George Osborne, warned the Conservatives ran the risk of a wipeout at the next election for embarking on a “political experiment”. » | Patrick Butler, Social policy editor | Sunday, October 9, 2022

Wirtschaftspolitik wie von gestern schadet nur

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Mehrere europäische Länder orientieren sich im 21. Jahrhundert an historischen Ideen, die aus der Zeit gefallen sind. Das verursacht schwere Schäden – auch in Deutschland.

Vor zwei Wochen geriet Großbritannien unversehens in eine schwere Währungskrise. Nach der Ankündigung des größten Entlastungspakets seit fünf Jahrzehnten fiel der Wechselkurs des Pfunds gegenüber dem Dollar auf seinen niedrigsten Stand in der Geschichte. Die Nachricht, die Steuersenkungen sollten überwiegend mit Staatsschulden finanziert werden, ließ die Renditen britischer Staatsanleihen kräftig steigen. Der Internationale Währungsfonds warnte vor verheerenden Folgen. „Solche Dinge geschehen normalerweise in einem Entwicklungsland, aber nicht in einem Mitglied der G-7-Gruppe“, sagte Mohamed El-Erian, ein erfahrener Berater des Versicherungskonzerns Allianz, gegenüber der BBC. Der neuen Premierministerin Liz Truss drohte eine Revolte aus den eigenen Reihen.

London bekam die Krise mühsam in den Griff. Zuerst kündigte die Bank of England Stützungskäufe für den Anleihemarkt an, obgleich sie nicht zu einer Politik der Inflationsbekämpfung passen. Dann nahm die Regierung in einer peinlichen Kehrtwende einen Teil der angekündigten Steuersenkungen zurück. Das Pfund erholte sich, und die Renditen der Anleihen fielen wieder ein Stück. Ob die Krise damit dauerhaft überwunden ist, lässt sich noch nicht beurteilen. » | Von Gerald Braunberger | Sonntag, 9. Oktober 2022

Johnson Was Slow-poisoning Arsenic for the Conservatives. Liz Truss Is Instant Cyanide

THE OBSERVER: One month into this PM’s reign and already the chatter is about how to remove her

Liz Truss at the Conservative party conference last week: ‘Never in the field of British politics has a leader become so staggeringly unpopular in such a spectacularly short time.’ Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images
In the wake of the self-devouring carnival of cannibals, the most disastrous Conservative conference anyone can remember, parliament will reconvene this week. Then the dark fun and gory games will really begin.

On paper, Liz Truss commands a hefty Commons majority of 71. In practice, she is a prime minister with a majority of less than zero. We have what is effectively a hung parliament in which the Truss faction is not even the largest party. The good news is that she simply does not have the numbers to implement her crazier notions. The bad news is that we will endure a period of numerous emergencies with a dysfunctional government struggling to do much at all.

She and her chancellor did not abandon their attempt to abolish the top rate of tax because there was some kind of “coup”, the ridiculous assertion of Suella Braverman. They were forced into that tyre-smoking U-turn because giving more to those who already have much in the middle of a cost of living crisis was hated by the public and was not going to get through parliament.

That reverse soothed financial markets a little and headed off a revolt by Tory MPs, but it has also made the position of the prime minister and her chancellor even feebler. … » | Andrew Rawnsley | Sunday, October 9, 2022

Truth To Power: Truss and Kwarteng Are Merely Useful Idiots.

Now that the ringmaster, Boris Johnson, has gone - in the Tory circus, the lions are eating the clowns.

As the UK economy faces economic collapse, and the devaluation of the British pound exacerbates the cost-of-living crisis, Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng are being chewed up and will soon be spat out. They have no mandate from the parliamentary Conservative Party, let alone from the electorate at large. They are merely useful idiots, funded and instructed by libertarian organisations with opaque funding, generally headquartered in Tufton Street, conveniently situated near the Houses of parliament. These are the same dark money lobby groups that brought you Brexit, the ERG, Boris Johnson and now the Truss - Kwarteng tragi-comedy.

Liz Truss Shows Off Her Incompetence with a Pathetic Speech to Conference

In her speech to a room full of the party faithful at the Conservative Party Conference, Liz Truss talked nonsense for 25 minutes about how she will resolve all problems by pursuing growth in the economy without giving any idea how that might be achieved in a fast-declining and severely-damaged economy.

She talked of how the new Health Secretary, Theresa Coffey, will solve all problems in the NHS and about how Suella Braverman , the new Home Secretary, will pursue her cruel 'dream and obsession' by sending asylum seekers to Rwanda where they will be abandoned.

She also introduced a new slogan, ‘the anti-growth coalition' which appears to include just about everyone who is not a Tory supporter


You can support Michael Lambert by buying his recently-published book, A Satirical History of Brexit here.

Boris Johnson Took Accommodation Worth £10,000 from Tory Donor’s Wife

THE GUARDIAN: Register of MPs’ interests shows ex-PM accepted gift from Lady Carole Bamford, wife of JCB chairman, Lord Anthony Bamford

Lady Carole Bamford and Lord Bamford at an event in 2020. Boris and Carrie Johnson’s wedding reception in the grounds of the Bamfords’ 18th-century mansion, Daylesford House in the Cotswolds, in July, is said to have included a steel band, rum punch, Abba songs and a conga.Photograph: David M Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Positive Luxury
Boris Johnson accepted free accommodation worth £10,000 from the wife of the leading Tory donor who hosted his wedding party this summer, it has emerged.

The updated register of MPs’ interests shows that the former prime minister accepted a £10,000 gift from Lady Carole Bamford, for “concessionary use of accommodation for me and my family in September”.

Lord Anthony Bamford, a pro-Brexit Conservative peer who is chairman of construction equipment manufacturer JCB, has been a major Tory donor for decades. The billionaire entrepreneur, who supported Johnson’s successful leadership bid in 2019, has given more than £10m in donations and gifts to the party since 2001.

The latest register of MPs’ interests data published this week shows Liz Truss also accepted an £8,000 donation from Bamford, to cover “transport” during her leadership campaign.

It comes after the register showed that the prime minister was given more than £500,000 for her leadership campaign. Around half of that came from donors linked to hedge fund bosses, venture capitalists and other City financiers. » | Alexandra Topping | Friday, October 7, 2022

It just goes to show what the Tories are about! Greasing palms and corruption comes as standard to these people. Little wonder that we, the ordinary citizens of the UK–sorry! subjects of His Majesty–lost all our European citizens' rights during that farcical, but extremely sad, Brexit referendum. – © Mark Alexander

Nicola Sturgeon Says Decisions Taken by PM on UK Economy Have Been "Catastrophic"

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says the decisions taken by Liz Truss since she became Prime Minister have been "catastrophic" for the UK economy.

Professor Tim Wilson: There Is Only One Option for Liz Truss Now

And that is resignation. I am grateful to those who tell me I should give her a break and be nicer to her- She is the supply teacher who has lost control and there is no time to claw back authority. The nicest thing we can all do now is to persuade her to go.

Liz Truss Has Found Her Feet – as a Leading UK Conspiracist and No 10 Whiner-in-Chief

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: Who can blame the prime minister for grumbling? Her party has only had 12 years to set Britain right

‘Liz Truss is like that relative who no longer trusts what the government says about anything, and prefers to ‘do her own research’.’ Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
The rapturous standing ovation at the end of Liz Truss’s conference speech looked straight out of a future Netflix documentary from the cults strand. Outside the sect’s meeting hall, the party is polling an average of 25 (TWENTY-FIVE) points behind Labour. Inside, the people were clapping like they’d just heard a really charismatic argument about why it’s important to marry teenage girls, shun dissenting family members, and build gun turrets round their compound.

Truss’s government is now too weak to implement its maddest plans and too ideological to implement its most sensible. Last night it emerged that the government has blocked a public information campaign to help people save money on energy – and, by extension, to conserve usage in the face of suggestions that rolling blackouts could be in the post for this winter.

Apparently Truss regarded it as too nannying, despite it having been drawn up by her own business secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg (a 53-year-old who admittedly still has a nanny). One cabinet minister reportedly said “the public is smarter than you think”. Unfortunately, Liz Truss isn’t. If we do reach the blackout scenario, the failure to plan or use foresight will be blamed on Vladimir Putin. » | Marina Hyde | Friday, Ocober 7, 2022

It's the "Beginning of the End" for Liz Truss | Andrew Marr | The New Statesman

Conservatives are "sure they're going into opposition" - Andrew Marr

After a "grim" Conservative Party Conference, Andrew Marr and Freddie Hayward join Anoosh Chakelian to dissect what Marr calls "the worst [conference] I have seen, of any party".

Following Kwasi Kwarteng's U-turn over the failed 45p tax cut, the Conservatives under Liz Truss are facing opinion polls showing Labour over 30 points ahead.

In this video, Andrew Marr, Freddie Hayward and Anoosh Chakelian explore why the Conservative Party appears to be imploding, and whether there is anything that can reverse their decline.

Liz Truss ist zum Handeln verdammt und schickt die Tory-Partei auf Identitätssuche – doch die Kritiker wetzen die Messer

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Der Kurs der neuen britischen Premierministerin sorgt nicht nur an den Märkten, sondern auch innerhalb der Tory-Partei für Turbulenzen. Am Parteitag in Birmingham gelobte Liz Truss, ihren Wachstumskurs fortzuführen.

Mit einer entschlossenen Rede trotzte sie den Turbulenzen: die britische Premierministerin Liz Truss am Tory-Parteitag in Birmingham. | Hannah Mckay / Reuters
Als die britischen Tories 2021 zum Parteitag in Manchester zusammenkamen, waren die Mitglieder in Hochstimmung. Die Covid-Restriktionen waren gefallen, und Boris Johnson sorgte nach seinem überwältigenden Wahlsieg im Dezember 2019 für anhaltend hohe Umfragewerte. Die seit 2010 regierende Partei hoffte auf ein weiteres Jahrzehnt an der Macht.

Ein Jahr später nun wirkte dieselbe Partei an ihrer Konferenz in Birmingham wie ein Schatten ihrer selbst. Kabinettsmitglieder widersprachen sich und trugen ihre Meinungsverschiedenheiten an die Öffentlichkeit. Die scharfzüngige Innenministerin Suella Braverman warf den Tory-Hinterbänklern offen vor, gegen die neue Premierministerin Liz Truss einen Putsch zu forcieren. » | Niklaus Nuspliger, Birmingham | Mittwoch, 5. Oktober 2022

'Truss Doesn't Understand What I Wrote about Economics' | Rick Perlstein

When the Times interviewed Liz Truss at the end of last year, she told us she "read anything" by the American historian Rick Perlstein He chronicles the rise of the new US right between 1960 and 1980, in the Nixon and Reagan eras. Perlstein is confused by her endorsement.

I have stated many times already that Liz Truss and her neoliberal, so-called trickle-down economic fantasy is going to be a disaster for this country. I stand by my words. Neoliberal economics, aka Reaganomics, aka Thatcherism is the last thing we need in the present economic circumstances. Furthermore, had such economic theory been truly effective, this country would have growth in the stratosphere by now! Thatcher came to power in 1979. She was ousted in 1990 in an ignominious coup reminiscent of a banana republic.

I was one of Thatcher’s biggest fans back in the day. But economic circumstances were totally different in those years. The UK had also been in the grip of socialism for many years prior to Thatcher’s ‘Revolution’; so, nothing in the coutry worked. Arguably, Thatcherism was the very medicine the country needed at that time.

However, no prime minister since Thatcher, be he/she a Conservative PM or a Labour PM, has ever had the courage to truly abandon Thatcherism. Now, Liz Truss is going to double down on Thatcher’s neoliberal ideas; and arguably in an even more extreme way!

Thatcherite policies are NOT what this country needs at this time. The economic problems which this country is facing and which this country needs to solve now are totally different from those that Thatcher faced. Doubling down on Thatcherism at this time is madness. Moreover, the only thing that can be said about Arthur Laffer’s ‘laffer curve’ is that it is ‘laffable’! Such an absurdidy! – © Mark Alexander

Former Tory Minister Rory Stewart Says Liz Truss Is Not Conservative | LBC

Former Development Secretary, Rory Stewart, tells Andrew Marr Liz Truss’ ‘ideological’ talk about growth may work but ’it’s not very conservative’.

The Guardian View on Liz Truss’s Speech: Stoking Conflict in Place of Argument

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: The prime minister’s mask has slipped. Her naked case for greed and selfishness will make enemies inside as well as outside her party

Political speeches can influence voters or MPs; they can honour ideals and celebrate membership of a party. Liz Truss chose none of these in her address to activists at the Conservative party’s annual conference. She preferred instead to defend her unpopular policies that promote growth at any cost, and blame a decade of anaemic economic expansion on those who – rightly – counsel caution about the trade-offs involved. The prime minister’s speech shows the extent to which she sees politics as civil war, where everything boils down to loyalty. The new “enemies of enterprise” is just a Trussian rebranding of the toxic “enemies of the people” rhetoric.

Ms Truss wanted to battle opponents outside the Tory party, not those within it. She has been on the losing side of that fight all week. Instead she chose to define her enemies in the country and seek conflict with them. But Britain’s poor economic performance is not down to an “nti-growth coalition” of podcasters, trade unions and thinktanks. Surely if one wants to view success through the lens of growth then those guilty of failing to produce it were sitting in front of the prime minister in the conference hall. With video » | Editorial | Wednesday, October 5, 2022

This woman is a disaster! – © Mark Alexander