Conservative leadership contenders

[Pale Rider]

I think it's a bit early to speculate on who will be next, although it's harmless enough forum fun.

Sunak seems to me to be the best bet, he's sharp, appears to have avoided the vast majority of anti-government fallout from Covid, and ticks one woke box, which is never a bad thing.

I'm told Truss is a genuine contender, although she's always struck me as being not very bright bordering on stupid.

The Tories' gender diversity leadership credentials are well established - Thatcher and May - but Truss does tick that box which seems to still be important in the minds of some electors.

It's bound to be a factor, given the aim is to pick a leader who will win the next election, not a leader with sound intellectual Conservative political credentials.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Do you know something the rest of us don't or are you speculating about the beneficiaries of the will before the death?

If you made not having an affaire a qualification what affect would this have on the number of candidates? It is the Conservative Party after all.

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...vid-new-year-rules?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

 

[Xipe Totec]

I'm not defending anything, so lots more ignorant and baseless assumptions from you.

Grow up (hard) and get a grip (just as hard).

I apologise, I mis-spoke. I should have said "desperately kid themselves that they are protecting" their aforementioned fragile misconceptions.

 

[newfhouse]

the aim is to pick a leader who will win the next election, not a leader with sound intellectual Conservative political credentials.

Does that not sadden you? Is it really just a choice akin to supporting a football team, with no care about how lives are affected?

 

[Pale Rider]

Does that not sadden you? Is it really just a choice akin to supporting a football team, with no care about how lives are affected?

Not especially, it's just the rules of the political game which all parties play.

Trying to find an electable leader was a big thing for Labour post Corbyn.

My view is that while clever QC lawyers have their uses, one of those is not as a leader of a political party.

 

[newfhouse]

Not especially, it's just the rules of the political game which all parties play.

I was asking about you, personally.

 

[Pale Rider]

I was asking about you, personally.

Not for the first time you've lost me.

 

[newfhouse]

Not for the first time you've lost me.

The party may be playing a game but it doesn’t mean you have to follow the same rules, does it? Or is it a case of ”my party, right or wrong?”

 

[theclaud]

First, what a complete disgrace and tragedy that key public-health decisions are being made not on the basis of saving lives but on the basis of a handful of leadership contenders jockeying for favour among the miniscule and unrepresentative electorate in the forthcoming leadership election. Not just with Johnson but with his putative successors, we seem to have quite transparently given up any pretence of doing the right thing and it's just about political expediency.

Then, what do we think of the candidates? They are all odious, but Javid, Hunt and Sunak strike me as possessing basic competence, whereas Truss seems lightweight? Or is that my sexist prejudices?

It comes to something when Jeremy Farking Hunt appears to be the least repugnant candidate. I take a perverse enjoyment in Tory leadership contests, just to enjoy a bit of poisonous internecine squabbling amongst the worst people in the country, but we shouldn't kid ourselves that there's a favourable outcome. Creepy weirdo billionaire Rishi is probably too obvious a representative of the economic interests served by the Tory party. I expect they'll go for empty-vessel weathervane populist moron Truss - now that Johnson has proved that a complete absence of ability, integrity or responsibility are no bar to the highest office. And they'll spin her as the new Thatcher. Paley sneers now, but he'll be laminating her picture to go alongside Patel's when she's wearing the prime-ministerial trousers. Of which we've had a preview, by the way...

 

[Pale Rider]

The party may be playing a game but it doesn’t mean you have to follow the same rules, does it? Or is it a case of ”my party, right or wrong?”

I'm still not there.

I'm not a member of any party, so my only influence is the vote, same as the majority of electors.

What I cannot do is differentiate between the parties on the basis of sleaze, because I know they will all be at it given the chance.

Clearly, Labour isn't at it at the moment, but that's purely because they don't have the opportunity.

Paley sneers now

Hardly, it appears there's some agreement between us with regards to the, er, talents of Ms Truss.

 

[winjim]

It comes to something when Jeremy Farking Hunt appears to be the least repugnant candidate. I take a perverse enjoyment in Tory leadership contests, just to enjoy a bit of poisonous internecine squabbling amongst the worst people in the country, but we shouldn't kid ourselves that there's a favourable outcome. Creepy weirdo billionaire Rishi is probably too obvious a representative of the economic interests served by the Tory party. I expect they'll go for empty-vessel weathervane populist moron Truss - now that Johnson has proved that a complete absence of ability, integrity or responsibility are no bar to the highest office. And they'll spin her as the new Thatcher. Paley sneers now, but he'll be laminating her picture to go alongside Patel's when she's wearing the prime-ministerial trousers. Of which we've had a preview, by the way...

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My 2yo also sometimes fixes me with that stare when he's having a poo.

 

[Unkraut]

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...vid-new-year-rules?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

When I saw the thread title I assumed (never assume!) that Johnson was going to step down, but there was nothing on the BBC. I am hardly surprised at jostling for position - this was one of the more disgraceful elements of the referendum campaign with the hedging of bets according to which way it seemed to be going.

Member of the Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs: In any future leadership contest, we will all remember how they acted this week. We need real, gutsy, freedom-loving Conservatives to rescue us from this madness

Professor Adam Finn of Bristol University: Better to take the flak for overreacting than for failing to act when there was still time.

I fully understand everyone is fed up with the restrictions, but these are being made necessary by the virus for medical reasons, party political considerations are irrelevant.

 

[newfhouse]

I fully understand everyone is fed up with the restrictions, but these are being made necessary by the virus for medical reasons, party political considerations are irrelevant.

Like vampires being repelled by a crucifix, the virus will be defeated by flag waving.

 

[BoldonLad]

Does that not sadden you? Is it really just a choice akin to supporting a football team, with no care about how lives are affected?

All parties are playing the same game. In my lifetime, the Conservatives have been better (at the electability game).

 

[newfhouse]

All parties are playing the same game. In my lifetime, the Conservatives have been better (at the electability game).

I don’t believe the electorate are required to play the same games.