Showing posts with label Tories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tories. Show all posts
Monday, October 24, 2022
Just Tories Slating Rishi Sunak
Sunday, October 23, 2022
Keir Starmer Hits Out at ‘Ridiculous, Chaotic Circus’ of Tory Contest
THE GUARDIAN: Country ‘fed up’ with leadership turmoil, says Starmer as he pitches Labour as party of ‘sound money’
Keir Starmer has hit out at the “ridiculous, chaotic circus” of the Conservative leadership contest, as he pitched Labour in contrast as the party of sound money.
The Labour leader, who is pushing for a general election, said the Tory party was failing Britain with its contest while the country was struggling to cope with the financial situation.
Starmer told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show that people were “fed up to the back teeth” with the leadership turmoil.
“My focus is on the millions of people who are struggling to pay their bills, have now got additional anxieties about their mortgage. I know what it feels like not to be able to pay your bills, that happened to me and my family when I was growing up,” he said. With video » | Rowena Mason, Whitehall editor | Sunday, October 23, 2022
The Tory Party, the Party of wealth redistribution, the redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top, needs to die a natural death: it is a Party of fossils. People who are backward-looking, regressive and, despite their protestations, unpatriotic. They need to follow the Whigs into extinction. That will be better for the country; it will be better for us all: the Scots, the Welsh, the Irish and the English themselves.
For certain, this country needs a business-friendly party, but a business-friendly party which is progressive and forward-looking, a party which is EU-friendly and one which doesn’t constantly look back on the UK’s glorious imperial past. Get with the story: The Empire is dead, and it will forever remain so. Realistically, the UK is now a middle-ranking country, no better or worse that France, Germany, Spain, etc. Let us, please, as a nation refrain from delusion. Let us also be mature enough as a people to realise that we have made a huge mistake in plumping for Brexit. Because of the dire economic outcome of Brexit, we shall never be able to forget the calamitous mistake voting to exit the European Union has been. It was an act of self-harm. Suicide, if you will. It will ensure that this country will become ever poorer. Our GDP will shrink year-on-year until many Eastern European countries which have managed to slough off the shackles of communism will overtake our GDP and economic growth in just a few years.
There is only ONE remedy for this: we need to eat humble pie and ask our European friends, neighbours, brothers and sisters for forgiveness for the trouble and expense we have created for them by erroneously, and in a delusional way, believed that we could actually go it alone. We cannot without great economic pain and impoverishment.
Keir Starmer should disabuse himself of the notion that we can “make Brexit work”. We cannot. At least not if we wish to remain a successful and prosperous nation. Therefore, I repeat: We need to eat humble pie and rejoin the European Union as soon as possible, thereby re-entering the Single Market, a market of more than five hundred million consumers – the biggest single market in the world. This, if we truly want economic growth, is our only realistic political and economic solution. Moreover, if the powers-that-be in this country truly wish to keep the UK whole, that means to say with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all one integrated whole with England, then Brexit needs to be reversed pronto. Remaining outside of the European Union is one sure-fire way of seeing the breakup of this, our, Union. – © Mark Alexander
Keir Starmer has hit out at the “ridiculous, chaotic circus” of the Conservative leadership contest, as he pitched Labour in contrast as the party of sound money.
The Labour leader, who is pushing for a general election, said the Tory party was failing Britain with its contest while the country was struggling to cope with the financial situation.
Starmer told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show that people were “fed up to the back teeth” with the leadership turmoil.
“My focus is on the millions of people who are struggling to pay their bills, have now got additional anxieties about their mortgage. I know what it feels like not to be able to pay your bills, that happened to me and my family when I was growing up,” he said. With video » | Rowena Mason, Whitehall editor | Sunday, October 23, 2022
The Tory Party, the Party of wealth redistribution, the redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top, needs to die a natural death: it is a Party of fossils. People who are backward-looking, regressive and, despite their protestations, unpatriotic. They need to follow the Whigs into extinction. That will be better for the country; it will be better for us all: the Scots, the Welsh, the Irish and the English themselves.
For certain, this country needs a business-friendly party, but a business-friendly party which is progressive and forward-looking, a party which is EU-friendly and one which doesn’t constantly look back on the UK’s glorious imperial past. Get with the story: The Empire is dead, and it will forever remain so. Realistically, the UK is now a middle-ranking country, no better or worse that France, Germany, Spain, etc. Let us, please, as a nation refrain from delusion. Let us also be mature enough as a people to realise that we have made a huge mistake in plumping for Brexit. Because of the dire economic outcome of Brexit, we shall never be able to forget the calamitous mistake voting to exit the European Union has been. It was an act of self-harm. Suicide, if you will. It will ensure that this country will become ever poorer. Our GDP will shrink year-on-year until many Eastern European countries which have managed to slough off the shackles of communism will overtake our GDP and economic growth in just a few years.
There is only ONE remedy for this: we need to eat humble pie and ask our European friends, neighbours, brothers and sisters for forgiveness for the trouble and expense we have created for them by erroneously, and in a delusional way, believed that we could actually go it alone. We cannot without great economic pain and impoverishment.
Keir Starmer should disabuse himself of the notion that we can “make Brexit work”. We cannot. At least not if we wish to remain a successful and prosperous nation. Therefore, I repeat: We need to eat humble pie and rejoin the European Union as soon as possible, thereby re-entering the Single Market, a market of more than five hundred million consumers – the biggest single market in the world. This, if we truly want economic growth, is our only realistic political and economic solution. Moreover, if the powers-that-be in this country truly wish to keep the UK whole, that means to say with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all one integrated whole with England, then Brexit needs to be reversed pronto. Remaining outside of the European Union is one sure-fire way of seeing the breakup of this, our, Union. – © Mark Alexander
George Monbiot: No One Voted for This
Full 29min Interview with George Monbiot here [Patrons only.]
Saturday, October 22, 2022
The Ruination of Britain
THE NEW YORK TIMES: LONDON — Until very recently the British Conservative Party was able to claim, with a great deal of credibility, that it was the most successful political party in the Western world.
The party of Benjamin Disraeli, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher has governed Britain for most of the last 200 years. Through much of that time the Conservatives have been synonymous with good sense, financial sobriety and cautious pragmatism. Despised by progressive elites, allergic to ideology, provincial rather than metropolitan, the Conservative Party rejoiced in being the stolid party of the boring middle ground.
Not anymore. Today, the Conservatives are synonymous with chaos.
Liz Truss, the latest Tory prime minister to crash and burn, must bear her share of the blame. There are sound reasons for why she was forced to resign after just 44 days, the shortest term in history. It was a foolish notion to suppose that she could sack the most senior Treasury official, reinvent the laws of economic management and defy the collective wisdom of the financial markets. There was going to be only one result.
But the bigger truth is that the hapless Ms. Truss is a symptom rather than the cause of Britain’s chronic crisis of governance, which has reduced the country — once respected around the world — to a global laughingstock. The Conservative Party chose her, remember, even though she was obviously not up to the job. You didn’t need the foresight of Nostradamus to know she would fail. For the fiasco of her premiership and the disastrous state of the country, the Conservative Party must collectively take responsibility. » | Peter Oborne * | Friday, October 21, 3022
Mr. Oborne is a British journalist, broadcaster and former political commentator for The Spectator, The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail.
Friday, October 21, 2022
"We Are a Democracy in Name Only": George Monbiot on Truss Resignation & Who Will Be Next British PM
Sir Ed Davey: Johnson Return Would Be 'Disaster'
Leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Ed Davey MP says that allowing Boris Johnson to stand for the Conservative party leadership would create "more political instability".
Sir Ed said that Johnson had "lied on an industrial scale, he broke the law, he failed to handle a sex abuse case within his own ranks" and was "an absolute disaster".
In my humble opinion, Sir Ed Davey is the man who should be prime minister. He is a very sensible, thoroughly decent politician – a rarity in political life these days. The LibDems are also pro-EU, so that's a huge plus. – © Mark Alexander
Sir Ed said that Johnson had "lied on an industrial scale, he broke the law, he failed to handle a sex abuse case within his own ranks" and was "an absolute disaster".
In my humble opinion, Sir Ed Davey is the man who should be prime minister. He is a very sensible, thoroughly decent politician – a rarity in political life these days. The LibDems are also pro-EU, so that's a huge plus. – © Mark Alexander
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Woran Truss scheiterte: Die Tories wissen nicht, was aus Brexit-Britannien werden soll
NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Immerhin: Die Konservative Partei kann in der Not rasch und unsentimental handeln. Nach dem Debakel mit den Premierministern Johnson und Truss bietet sich nun ein erfahrener, pragmatischer Nachfolger an. Das Grundproblem der Partei dürfte aber bleiben.
Liz Truss anerkennt die Realitäten und tritt nach 45 irrwitzigen Tagen an der Spitze der britischen Regierung ab. Der Rücktritt ist spektakulär, aber unvermeidlich. Truss hatte Grossbritannien ein gut gemeintes, radikales Reformprogramm zum falschen Zeitpunkt mit den falschen Mitteln aufzuzwingen versucht. Dafür hatte sie weder im Parlament noch in der Bevölkerung oder in der Wirtschaft den nötigen Rückhalt. Die konservative Fraktion im Unterhaus hat sie brüsk gestoppt und den Fehler ihrer Wahl zur Parteivorsitzenden in Rekordzeit korrigiert. So viel Handlungsfähigkeit wünscht man sich von einer Volksvertretung.
Der erste Schritt ist damit geschafft. Der schwierigere zweite soll in den nächsten sieben Tagen folgen: Wer kann die zerstrittene Partei hinter sich vereinen und das Land rasch wieder auf sicheren wirtschaftspolitischen Grund führen? Rishi Sunak ist Favorit – aber keiner der Kandidaten ist ideal » | Peter Rásonyi | Donnerstag, 10. Oktober 2022
Mark Drakeford: 'The Conservative Party Is Ungovernable'
First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford has said the Conservative Party is "ungovernable" and has called for a general election.
He also spoke about Boris Johnson's chances of a comeback and said "anyone who thinks Boris Johnson returning is a get out of jail card must have some of the shortest memories in political history."
FFS! Keep BoJo the Clown well away from the levers of power! We’ve only just managed to get rid of that idiot. – © Mark Alexander
Britain hangs by a thread. Give the end to Boris Johnson and we’ll unravel: This must be the moment to root out the C-listers and crackpots who have dominated the Tory party ever since Brexit »
He also spoke about Boris Johnson's chances of a comeback and said "anyone who thinks Boris Johnson returning is a get out of jail card must have some of the shortest memories in political history."
FFS! Keep BoJo the Clown well away from the levers of power! We’ve only just managed to get rid of that idiot. – © Mark Alexander
Britain hangs by a thread. Give the end to Boris Johnson and we’ll unravel: This must be the moment to root out the C-listers and crackpots who have dominated the Tory party ever since Brexit »
European Press Blames Brexit for UK Political ‘Insanity’
THE GUARDIAN: Columnists suggest Liz Truss’s failure could spell end of ‘wishful thinking’ of a sovereign UK going its own way
Liz Truss’s situation is ‘totally unsustainable’, one Spanish newspaper reported. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images
ANALYSIS
Six years on from the Brexit referendum, continental commentators have become used to Westminster meltdowns, but many see in the latest cataclysm the finale of a project that was always divorced from reality.
For the French newspaper Libération, there is “decidedly something rancid in the Tories’ tea”. The paper’s former London correspondent Sonia Delesalle-Stolper said Westminster, a “temple of democracy and ancient traditions”, had witnessed “bewildering” scenes.
“Blows, shoves, insults, resignations, tears … After some implausible incidents in both the Commons and Downing Street, the British government and the Conservative party seem to be on a path to total self-destruction,” she said.
Like most European papers, Libération looked past the spectacle to what it saw as the root cause of the chaos. “In four months, the country will have had four chancellors, two interior ministers, and no doubt soon two prime ministers,” it said.
“Who will be Liz Truss’s successor, since her imminent departure is no longer in doubt? That’s the question. For Brexit – and its chief artisan, Boris Johnson – has successfully drained the Conservative party of all substance and competence.” » | Jon Henley, Europe correspondent | Thursday, October 20, 2022
Six years on from the Brexit referendum, continental commentators have become used to Westminster meltdowns, but many see in the latest cataclysm the finale of a project that was always divorced from reality.
For the French newspaper Libération, there is “decidedly something rancid in the Tories’ tea”. The paper’s former London correspondent Sonia Delesalle-Stolper said Westminster, a “temple of democracy and ancient traditions”, had witnessed “bewildering” scenes.
“Blows, shoves, insults, resignations, tears … After some implausible incidents in both the Commons and Downing Street, the British government and the Conservative party seem to be on a path to total self-destruction,” she said.
Like most European papers, Libération looked past the spectacle to what it saw as the root cause of the chaos. “In four months, the country will have had four chancellors, two interior ministers, and no doubt soon two prime ministers,” it said.
“Who will be Liz Truss’s successor, since her imminent departure is no longer in doubt? That’s the question. For Brexit – and its chief artisan, Boris Johnson – has successfully drained the Conservative party of all substance and competence.” » | Jon Henley, Europe correspondent | Thursday, October 20, 2022
Tuesday, October 18, 2022
Liz Truss May Abandon Pension Triple Lock and Says ‘Difficult Decisions’ Ahead
THE GUARDIAN: Spokesperson says it is ‘right to consider all options’ as PM is pushed to reaffirm defence spending plan
Liz Truss could abandon the state pension triple lock to help plug the fiscal black hole after her disastrous mini-budget, leaving more than 12 million pensioners facing a real-terms cut in their incomes in April.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson refused four times to commit to keeping the pensions guarantee despite it being a key 2019 manifesto commitment that Truss confirmed she would stick with it just two weeks ago.
In contrast, Truss backed off a plan to scrap the government’s commitment to raise defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030 after the defence ministers Ben Wallace and James Heappey threatened to quit.
The prime minister told her cabinet on Tuesday there were “difficult decisions” ahead over where the spending cuts would fall in a 90-minute meeting from which ministers emerged grim-faced. » | Pippa Crerar, Political editor | Tuesday, October 18, 2022
It is the country that should abandon this airhead, rather than the Tories abandoning the Triple Lock. What a disgrace the Tories have become. They are a shadow of their former selves.
If the country cannot afford to inflation-proof pensioners’ state pensions in these highly inflationary times, then it begs one very simple question: Can this country afford a monarchy, with all the attendant costs that maintaining a monarchy entails?
Maybe it would be a better idea to keep our pensioners warm and fed during winter and afford them a decent standard of living rather than p*** money against the wall maintaining multiple castles and palaces that are lived in for a very short time during the year anyway.
I write this not as a committed republican but as a person committed to seeing some equity and justice in society. – © Mark Alexander
Liz Truss could abandon the state pension triple lock to help plug the fiscal black hole after her disastrous mini-budget, leaving more than 12 million pensioners facing a real-terms cut in their incomes in April.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson refused four times to commit to keeping the pensions guarantee despite it being a key 2019 manifesto commitment that Truss confirmed she would stick with it just two weeks ago.
In contrast, Truss backed off a plan to scrap the government’s commitment to raise defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030 after the defence ministers Ben Wallace and James Heappey threatened to quit.
The prime minister told her cabinet on Tuesday there were “difficult decisions” ahead over where the spending cuts would fall in a 90-minute meeting from which ministers emerged grim-faced. » | Pippa Crerar, Political editor | Tuesday, October 18, 2022
It is the country that should abandon this airhead, rather than the Tories abandoning the Triple Lock. What a disgrace the Tories have become. They are a shadow of their former selves.
If the country cannot afford to inflation-proof pensioners’ state pensions in these highly inflationary times, then it begs one very simple question: Can this country afford a monarchy, with all the attendant costs that maintaining a monarchy entails?
Maybe it would be a better idea to keep our pensioners warm and fed during winter and afford them a decent standard of living rather than p*** money against the wall maintaining multiple castles and palaces that are lived in for a very short time during the year anyway.
I write this not as a committed republican but as a person committed to seeing some equity and justice in society. – © Mark Alexander
Saturday, October 15, 2022
Health and Teaching Unions Aghast at Jeremy Hunt’s New Era of Tory Austerity
THE OBSERVER: The chancellor sparked alarm among trade union leaders by promising ‘very difficult decisions’ for government budgets
Jeremy Hunt outside BBC Broadcasting House in central London on Saturday. Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images
Health chiefs, public sector unions and teaching leaders expressed horror on Saturday after the new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, appeared to usher in a fresh era of austerity, and the threat of more misery for cash-strapped hospitals and schools.
In his first interviews since dramatically replacing Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday, Hunt provoked widespread alarm by promising “very difficult decisions” for government budgets.
The NHS Confederation, which represents the healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, warned the prospect of further cuts was “incredibly grim”.
The head of the largest teaching union for England and Wales denounced Hunt’s attempt to placate the financial markets as “disastrous” and “scary” for schools, while another teaching union, NASUWT, said deeper cuts would cause “immeasurable damage to children’s learning”. » | Mark Townsend, Home Affairs Editor, and Michael Savage, Policy Editor | Saturday, October 15, 2022
Jeremy Hunt is another Tory w*****r who is destined to fail! He has neither the strength nor the experience for this job. I am going to stick my neck out and state that he will fail.
The Tories have themselves created the hell that we are now living through. Why? Because of the fantasy of the benefits of Brexit. Brexit was, is and will always remain the stupidest of ideas. Anyone who truly thought that leaving the biggest and greatest single market this world has ever known—The Single Market—would bring benefits and prosperity to this weakened, isolated middle-ranking nation was either deluded, lied to or had sawdust for brains! Because of Brexit, we actually deserve all the pain we will have to live through!
Brexit will almost inevitably lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom. It is to be hoped that Scotland under Nicola Sturgeon’s superior leadership will be able to bring Scotland’s independence about. Scottish independence will/would be a role model for the rest of the Celtic fringe. Westminster is clearly no longer working for Scotland, Ireland or Wales.
As for England, Liz Truss needs to retire to her kitchen and start baking cookies. She has made a dog’s dinner of the UK economy. She and that Kwasi Kwarteng. Both of them deserve to be consigned to the dustbin of history!
If the government is strapped for cash, which it so clearly is, start taxing the superrich, the billionaire class, and bring in a windfall tax on the energy companies. For Christ’s sake, don’t expect the people, das Volk, to live through even more pain than they have already been forced to live through by successive incompetent Tory governments!
As I have said many times before on this blog, the Tories need to be consigned to the dustbin of history—and with dispatch!—just as the Whigs were consigned to the dustbin of history before them. The Party is made up of backward-thinking people, old fogeys, and fossils. This country needs a business-friendly party, for sure; but a forward-thinking one. A party which believes in equity and is Europe-friendly. This country needs to be placed in the heart of European politics. We, as a nation, have so much to offer Europeans; and Europeans have so much to offer us.
Outside of the European Union, this country will become poorer, its economy will go on shrinking, and it will become ever-more disunited. Of these things, I will assure you right here and now! — © Mark Alexander
Health chiefs, public sector unions and teaching leaders expressed horror on Saturday after the new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, appeared to usher in a fresh era of austerity, and the threat of more misery for cash-strapped hospitals and schools.
In his first interviews since dramatically replacing Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday, Hunt provoked widespread alarm by promising “very difficult decisions” for government budgets.
The NHS Confederation, which represents the healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, warned the prospect of further cuts was “incredibly grim”.
The head of the largest teaching union for England and Wales denounced Hunt’s attempt to placate the financial markets as “disastrous” and “scary” for schools, while another teaching union, NASUWT, said deeper cuts would cause “immeasurable damage to children’s learning”. » | Mark Townsend, Home Affairs Editor, and Michael Savage, Policy Editor | Saturday, October 15, 2022
Jeremy Hunt is another Tory w*****r who is destined to fail! He has neither the strength nor the experience for this job. I am going to stick my neck out and state that he will fail.
The Tories have themselves created the hell that we are now living through. Why? Because of the fantasy of the benefits of Brexit. Brexit was, is and will always remain the stupidest of ideas. Anyone who truly thought that leaving the biggest and greatest single market this world has ever known—The Single Market—would bring benefits and prosperity to this weakened, isolated middle-ranking nation was either deluded, lied to or had sawdust for brains! Because of Brexit, we actually deserve all the pain we will have to live through!
Brexit will almost inevitably lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom. It is to be hoped that Scotland under Nicola Sturgeon’s superior leadership will be able to bring Scotland’s independence about. Scottish independence will/would be a role model for the rest of the Celtic fringe. Westminster is clearly no longer working for Scotland, Ireland or Wales.
As for England, Liz Truss needs to retire to her kitchen and start baking cookies. She has made a dog’s dinner of the UK economy. She and that Kwasi Kwarteng. Both of them deserve to be consigned to the dustbin of history!
If the government is strapped for cash, which it so clearly is, start taxing the superrich, the billionaire class, and bring in a windfall tax on the energy companies. For Christ’s sake, don’t expect the people, das Volk, to live through even more pain than they have already been forced to live through by successive incompetent Tory governments!
As I have said many times before on this blog, the Tories need to be consigned to the dustbin of history—and with dispatch!—just as the Whigs were consigned to the dustbin of history before them. The Party is made up of backward-thinking people, old fogeys, and fossils. This country needs a business-friendly party, for sure; but a forward-thinking one. A party which believes in equity and is Europe-friendly. This country needs to be placed in the heart of European politics. We, as a nation, have so much to offer Europeans; and Europeans have so much to offer us.
Outside of the European Union, this country will become poorer, its economy will go on shrinking, and it will become ever-more disunited. Of these things, I will assure you right here and now! — © Mark Alexander
Friday, October 07, 2022
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
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
Tuesday, October 04, 2022
Liz Truss Refuses to Rule Out Real-terms Benefits Cuts
THE GUARDIAN: PM facing fresh battle with MPs as she declines to commit to raising benefits in line with inflation
Liz Truss said ministers were ‘going to have to make decisions about how we bring down debt as a proportion of GDP in the medium term’. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters
Liz Truss has refused to commit to raising benefits in line with inflation, amid a fresh battle with MPs over cuts to spending including concern from among her cabinet.
The prime minister said pensions would rise in line with inflation, having committed to the pensions “triple lock” during the leadership campaign. But she said people on welfare benefits were in a “different situation” and said they were more able to look for more work.
“When people are on a fixed income, when they are pensioners, it is quite hard to adjust. I think it’s a different situation for people who are in the position to be able to work,” she told LBC. “What I want to do is make sure that we are helping more people into work.” » | Jessica Elgot, Deputy political editor | Tuesday, October 4, 2022
Please remind me: Did the Devil ever have a daughter? If he did, this must be she! God is replete with compassion; the Devil, by contrast, has none. Just like Lizzie! She has absolutely no compassion for the less fortunate and worries about the pennies they might be costing the country; by contrast, she is generosity itself when it comes to the superrich and doesn't give a damn that many are not paying any taxes at all and are hiding their great fortunes from the taxman by stashing the dosh away offshore. – © Mark Alexander
Liz Truss has refused to commit to raising benefits in line with inflation, amid a fresh battle with MPs over cuts to spending including concern from among her cabinet.
The prime minister said pensions would rise in line with inflation, having committed to the pensions “triple lock” during the leadership campaign. But she said people on welfare benefits were in a “different situation” and said they were more able to look for more work.
“When people are on a fixed income, when they are pensioners, it is quite hard to adjust. I think it’s a different situation for people who are in the position to be able to work,” she told LBC. “What I want to do is make sure that we are helping more people into work.” » | Jessica Elgot, Deputy political editor | Tuesday, October 4, 2022
Please remind me: Did the Devil ever have a daughter? If he did, this must be she! God is replete with compassion; the Devil, by contrast, has none. Just like Lizzie! She has absolutely no compassion for the less fortunate and worries about the pennies they might be costing the country; by contrast, she is generosity itself when it comes to the superrich and doesn't give a damn that many are not paying any taxes at all and are hiding their great fortunes from the taxman by stashing the dosh away offshore. – © Mark Alexander
Monday, October 03, 2022
Die Tories lassen ihre Chefin im Regen stehen – das ist die gerechte Strafe für den Hochmut einer Politikerin
NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Die konservativen Spitzenpolitiker haben ihrer Vorsitzenden Liz Truss brutal die Grenzen ihrer Macht aufgezeigt. Passt sie sich nicht schnell den Realitäten an, wird sie es schwer haben.
Die selbstbewusste britische Premierministerin Liz Truss wurde von ihrer Partei auf den Boden der Realität zurückgeholt. | Hannah Mckay / Reuters
KOMMENTAR
Es gibt vieles, was die derzeit am Parteitag in Birmingham versammelten konservativen Abgeordneten Grossbritanniens ihrer Chefin übelnehmen: die mit ihnen nicht abgesprochene Radikalität ihrer finanzpolitischen Ansätze, der dadurch ausgelöste Vertrauensverlust an den Finanzmärkten oder der Absturz der Partei in den Wählerumfragen. Besonders sauer stiess vielen Tories die Aussage von Liz Truss im grossen TV-Interview vom Sonntagmorgen auf, nicht sie, sondern ihr Schatzkanzler Kwasi Kwarteng habe den am meisten kritisierten – und am Montag zurückgenommenen – Entscheid getroffen, den Spitzensteuersatz für sehr hohe Einkommen zu senken.
Eine Politikerin, die derart forsch und überheblich auftritt wie die neue Premierministerin, muss für ihre Entscheidungen einstehen, auch wenn sie das Glück verlässt. Doch Truss hat mit der schnellen Distanzierung von ihrem wichtigsten Minister und Mitstreiter nebst ihren verblüffenden politischen und finanzwirtschaftlichen Fehleinschätzungen auch eine persönliche Schwäche erkennen lassen. Das wird man ihr nicht vergessen in Westminster. » | Peter Rásonyi | Montag, 3. Oktober 2022
Es gibt vieles, was die derzeit am Parteitag in Birmingham versammelten konservativen Abgeordneten Grossbritanniens ihrer Chefin übelnehmen: die mit ihnen nicht abgesprochene Radikalität ihrer finanzpolitischen Ansätze, der dadurch ausgelöste Vertrauensverlust an den Finanzmärkten oder der Absturz der Partei in den Wählerumfragen. Besonders sauer stiess vielen Tories die Aussage von Liz Truss im grossen TV-Interview vom Sonntagmorgen auf, nicht sie, sondern ihr Schatzkanzler Kwasi Kwarteng habe den am meisten kritisierten – und am Montag zurückgenommenen – Entscheid getroffen, den Spitzensteuersatz für sehr hohe Einkommen zu senken.
Eine Politikerin, die derart forsch und überheblich auftritt wie die neue Premierministerin, muss für ihre Entscheidungen einstehen, auch wenn sie das Glück verlässt. Doch Truss hat mit der schnellen Distanzierung von ihrem wichtigsten Minister und Mitstreiter nebst ihren verblüffenden politischen und finanzwirtschaftlichen Fehleinschätzungen auch eine persönliche Schwäche erkennen lassen. Das wird man ihr nicht vergessen in Westminster. » | Peter Rásonyi | Montag, 3. Oktober 2022
Sunday, October 02, 2022
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Business Partner Given Senior Minister Role
THE GUARDIAN: City financier who co-founded investment firm with business secretary is made trade minister
Jacob Rees-Mogg and other senior cabinet members face questions about being too close to the City. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images
The City business partner of Jacob Rees-Mogg has been handed a peerage and job as a senior minister by Liz Truss’s government in a move likely to trigger accusations of cronyism.
Dominic Johnson, a financier who co-founded Somerset Capital Management with Rees-Mogg, was appointed as a minister in the Cabinet Office and the Department for International Trade.
The announcement was slipped out on the government’s website, which said he had been appointed as of Sunday.
…
The appointment is likely to be controversial at a time when Truss, her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, and Rees-Mogg face questions about being too close to the City, after the mini-budget handed substantial tax cuts to financiers and the wealthy. » | Rowena Mason, Whitehall editor | Sunday, October 2, 2022
WTF! This administration is as corrupt as corrupt can be! Talk about jobs for the boys … this is it! This country’s government behaves in a way one would expect a banana republic’s government to behave. Kick these corrupt Tories out of office forthwith!
It would appear that they have already lost the next election. Now, Parliament has to find a way of bringing the date of the election forward. – © Mark Alexander
The City business partner of Jacob Rees-Mogg has been handed a peerage and job as a senior minister by Liz Truss’s government in a move likely to trigger accusations of cronyism.
Dominic Johnson, a financier who co-founded Somerset Capital Management with Rees-Mogg, was appointed as a minister in the Cabinet Office and the Department for International Trade.
The announcement was slipped out on the government’s website, which said he had been appointed as of Sunday.
…
The appointment is likely to be controversial at a time when Truss, her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, and Rees-Mogg face questions about being too close to the City, after the mini-budget handed substantial tax cuts to financiers and the wealthy. » | Rowena Mason, Whitehall editor | Sunday, October 2, 2022
WTF! This administration is as corrupt as corrupt can be! Talk about jobs for the boys … this is it! This country’s government behaves in a way one would expect a banana republic’s government to behave. Kick these corrupt Tories out of office forthwith!
It would appear that they have already lost the next election. Now, Parliament has to find a way of bringing the date of the election forward. – © Mark Alexander
Saturday, October 01, 2022
Voters Abandon Tories as Faith in Economic Competence Dives
THE OBSERVER: Conservative MPs urge Liz Truss’s removal from No 10 after poll reveals British public’s fury over tax plans
Liz Truss on Saturday: she showed no sign of backing down over £45bn in unfunded tax cuts.Photograph: Alberto Pezzali/AP
Three-quarters of UK voters, including a staggering 71% of those who backed the Conservatives at the last general election, believe the prime minister, Liz Truss, and the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, have “lost control” of the economy, according to a devastating poll for the Observer on the eve of the Tory conference.
The survey by Opinium – which also reveals that Labour has extended its lead by a massive 14 percentage points in the last week alone, from 5 points to 19 points, and that Truss’s ratings are now lower than Boris Johnson’s at the height of the Partygate scandal – comes as some Tory MPs are beginning to demand the new prime minister’s removal from No 10 after less than a month in office.
Other senior party figures are warning that the damage to the party’s reputation for economic management resulting from Kwarteng’s tax-cutting budget, is so serious that it will take many years to repair. » | Toby Helm & Michael Savage | Saturday, October 1, 2022
Three-quarters of UK voters, including a staggering 71% of those who backed the Conservatives at the last general election, believe the prime minister, Liz Truss, and the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, have “lost control” of the economy, according to a devastating poll for the Observer on the eve of the Tory conference.
The survey by Opinium – which also reveals that Labour has extended its lead by a massive 14 percentage points in the last week alone, from 5 points to 19 points, and that Truss’s ratings are now lower than Boris Johnson’s at the height of the Partygate scandal – comes as some Tory MPs are beginning to demand the new prime minister’s removal from No 10 after less than a month in office.
Other senior party figures are warning that the damage to the party’s reputation for economic management resulting from Kwarteng’s tax-cutting budget, is so serious that it will take many years to repair. » | Toby Helm & Michael Savage | Saturday, October 1, 2022
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Liz Truss' Ex-colleague Says She's Been Humiliated, and Labour Could Let Him Back into Politics
Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng are not up to their jobs. The Conservatives are no longer up to the job of governing this country, either. They have been in power for far too long. They are stale. We need change in this country.
Brexit was a very stupid idea. We should never have left the EU. It was national suicide. We shot ourselves in the foot. We are Europeans. Our destiny is in Europe. We need to return to the European Union asap. The adolescents have had their time in the spotlight; now it is time for the grown-ups to take control again. – © Mark Alexander
Monday, September 26, 2022
Britain Is Watching a Party Render Itself Unelectable for a Generation. Good Riddance
THE GUARDIAN: As Truss and Kwarteng unleash economic chaos, Labour conference all feels a bit pre-1997 – though no one in the party will say that out loud
“The markets will react as they will,” said the chancellor in the House of Commons, as he launched the tax cuts that sank the pound and sent borrowing costs soaring. And so they did. As sterling plunged again, the Treasury reported he was “sanguine”, promising yet more tax cuts for the rich, this time to let them accumulate fatter, tax-free pensions. Liz Truss has arrived in office without any significant poll bounce – which makes her unique in polling history. YouGov’s associate director, Patrick English, tells me to expect further plunging numbers. A panicky Treasury promise of a “new fiscal event” in November sounds more of a threat than a promise.
Here ends the arrogance, the self-regard, the cultish obsession with economic fantasies that failed and failed again. Here dies the nonsensical Laffer curve, the theory that tax cuts for the rich yield more than they cost. This should render the Tories unelectable for a generation, because this crash is all their own. » | Polly Toynbee | Monday, Sptember 26, 2022
We are being led by clowns, fools and jesters! I was raised in a Conservative-voting household; indeed, I was myself a Conservative-voter almost all my adult life. Until Cameron came along. I took one look at him and smelt the rat! A decent man to enjoy a drink with, but not one to entrust the governing of the country to. And so it proved to be!
His decision to call the Brexit referendum was nothing short of disastrous. History will not be kind to him for his folly. This country will pay a heavy price for many years to come for his lack of sound political judgment.
Meanwhile, I, and I feel sure many others like me, will never vote Tory again. The party is more corrupt than I could ever have imagined. Moreover, entrusting the country to those incompetent fools is nothing short of foolhardy. The party, whilst once enjoying a reputation for sound economic management, has so obviously lost its touch.
Get them out of office! I, for one, will never be able to vote for them again after the fiasco of Brexit. They are so clearly incapable of sound economic management these days. They don't understand even basic commerce! Nobody in his right mind wouuld walk away from the largest single market in the world–a market of over 500m consumers: The Single Market! The single market of which Margaret Thatcher was so proud and of which she was one of the main architects. – © Mark Alexander
“The markets will react as they will,” said the chancellor in the House of Commons, as he launched the tax cuts that sank the pound and sent borrowing costs soaring. And so they did. As sterling plunged again, the Treasury reported he was “sanguine”, promising yet more tax cuts for the rich, this time to let them accumulate fatter, tax-free pensions. Liz Truss has arrived in office without any significant poll bounce – which makes her unique in polling history. YouGov’s associate director, Patrick English, tells me to expect further plunging numbers. A panicky Treasury promise of a “new fiscal event” in November sounds more of a threat than a promise.
Here ends the arrogance, the self-regard, the cultish obsession with economic fantasies that failed and failed again. Here dies the nonsensical Laffer curve, the theory that tax cuts for the rich yield more than they cost. This should render the Tories unelectable for a generation, because this crash is all their own. » | Polly Toynbee | Monday, Sptember 26, 2022
We are being led by clowns, fools and jesters! I was raised in a Conservative-voting household; indeed, I was myself a Conservative-voter almost all my adult life. Until Cameron came along. I took one look at him and smelt the rat! A decent man to enjoy a drink with, but not one to entrust the governing of the country to. And so it proved to be!
His decision to call the Brexit referendum was nothing short of disastrous. History will not be kind to him for his folly. This country will pay a heavy price for many years to come for his lack of sound political judgment.
Meanwhile, I, and I feel sure many others like me, will never vote Tory again. The party is more corrupt than I could ever have imagined. Moreover, entrusting the country to those incompetent fools is nothing short of foolhardy. The party, whilst once enjoying a reputation for sound economic management, has so obviously lost its touch.
Get them out of office! I, for one, will never be able to vote for them again after the fiasco of Brexit. They are so clearly incapable of sound economic management these days. They don't understand even basic commerce! Nobody in his right mind wouuld walk away from the largest single market in the world–a market of over 500m consumers: The Single Market! The single market of which Margaret Thatcher was so proud and of which she was one of the main architects. – © Mark Alexander
Sunday, September 25, 2022
Liz Truss Plans More Immigration in Effort to Fill Vacancies and Drive Growth
THE GUARDIAN: Government likely to lift cap on agricultural and broadband workers, and alter shortage occupations list
The prime minister, Liz Truss, may also ease the English-language requirement in some sectors. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
Liz Truss is preparing to increase immigration to fill job vacancies and boost economic growth in a move that will anger some of her ministers and MPs.
The prime minister plans to raise the number of workers allowed to enter the UK, government sources have confirmed.
Reports claim the government will lift the cap on seasonal agricultural workers and broadband engineers, and make other changes to the shortage occupations list, which will allow key sectors to recruit more overseas staff.
Truss is said to be keen to recruit broadband engineers to complete a pledge to make full-fibre broadband available to 85% of UK homes by 2025. It has also been suggested that she could ease the English-language requirement in some sectors to enable more foreign workers to qualify for visas.
The proposals faces resistance from cabinet Brexiters including the home secretary, Suella Braverman, and the trade secretary, Kemi Badenoch, according to the Sunday Times.
One Conservative MP said that many new Conservative voters in “red wall” seats will be baffled by any softening of immigration rules.
“The government is going to have to explain to those people who thought we were a pro-Brexit government and want to curb immigration why we seem to be changing tack,” the MP said. » | Rajeev Syal | Sunday, September 25, 2022
This woman must surely be taking the effing piss! We have come out of the European Union because of too many 'immigrants' coming into the country—note that most of those people were then part of our homeland - Europe – of which we were a part; and they were largely of the same cultural and religious background: Judaeo-Christian, And when we were in the European Union, everything was going just fine. But that was too much for this turncoat: the once committed Remainer who turned Brexiteer when it suited her career ambitions. Were this woman to be an object, one would say she is not 'fit for purpose'. I therefore say this: Eject the woman from her position as soon as possible, before she does any more damage to this once great country. Shame on her! Shame on the Tories! The party is as corrupt as corrupt can be. – © Mark Alexander
Liz Truss is preparing to increase immigration to fill job vacancies and boost economic growth in a move that will anger some of her ministers and MPs.
The prime minister plans to raise the number of workers allowed to enter the UK, government sources have confirmed.
Reports claim the government will lift the cap on seasonal agricultural workers and broadband engineers, and make other changes to the shortage occupations list, which will allow key sectors to recruit more overseas staff.
Truss is said to be keen to recruit broadband engineers to complete a pledge to make full-fibre broadband available to 85% of UK homes by 2025. It has also been suggested that she could ease the English-language requirement in some sectors to enable more foreign workers to qualify for visas.
The proposals faces resistance from cabinet Brexiters including the home secretary, Suella Braverman, and the trade secretary, Kemi Badenoch, according to the Sunday Times.
One Conservative MP said that many new Conservative voters in “red wall” seats will be baffled by any softening of immigration rules.
“The government is going to have to explain to those people who thought we were a pro-Brexit government and want to curb immigration why we seem to be changing tack,” the MP said. » | Rajeev Syal | Sunday, September 25, 2022
This woman must surely be taking the effing piss! We have come out of the European Union because of too many 'immigrants' coming into the country—note that most of those people were then part of our homeland - Europe – of which we were a part; and they were largely of the same cultural and religious background: Judaeo-Christian, And when we were in the European Union, everything was going just fine. But that was too much for this turncoat: the once committed Remainer who turned Brexiteer when it suited her career ambitions. Were this woman to be an object, one would say she is not 'fit for purpose'. I therefore say this: Eject the woman from her position as soon as possible, before she does any more damage to this once great country. Shame on her! Shame on the Tories! The party is as corrupt as corrupt can be. – © Mark Alexander
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