Conservative party/opposition watch

[clv101]

Couldn't make it up. It's just daft, he should have rejected that task the moment it was offered him as his involvement would inevitably be revealed.

[UndercoverElephant]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59714241

Brexit minister Lord Frost has resigned from Boris Johnson's government.

He led the UK's negotiations over the EU Withdrawal Agreement and Northern Ireland Protocol.

In a letter to Mr Johnson, Lord Frost said that while "Brexit is now secure" he had "concerns about the current direction of travel".

The Mail on Sunday, which first reported the news, said he handed in his resignation a week ago, partly in disagreement with Covid curbs.

The walls are falling in on Johnson. Rats leaving a sinking ship.

[kenneal - lagger]

I'm not too bothered whether Boris stays or goes really. The problem we will have is that there will be a ludicrous clamour from the left wing for a general election because "we haven't have voted for the new prime minister!" They always seem to forget that most of us have never ever voted for a Prime Minister unless of course we live in his/her constituency.

[Mark]

I'm not too bothered whether Boris stays or goes really. The problem we will have is that there will be a ludicrous clamour from the left wing for a general election because "we haven't have voted for the new prime minister!" They always seem to forget that most of us have never ever voted for a Prime Minister unless of course we live in his/her constituency.

That always happens when the Party in power changes leader mid-term.
The Tories did exactly the same when Brown took over from Blair.
It's called 'politics'.....

[Potemkin Villager]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 89329.html

Looking like a slow motion car crash.

" The “blind optimism” shown by government ministers in their plans for the future of England’s farms could result in many small and tenant farmers being forced out of business, a parliamentary report has warned.
...........

And it said ministers were over-optimistic about the likelihood of making English farms more productive.

The end result of encouraging farmers to free up land for environmental purposes – such as woodland – is likely to be that England ends up importing more of its food, often from countries with worse environmental standards than Britain, said the report from the cross-party Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

This would not only force up prices in the shops, but also make Britain more reliant on food from abroad."

[PS_RalphW]

Given the latest reports of Johnson having attended a pre-planned booze-up at no 10 in the middle of lock-down of may 2020, how long do you think he can last as Tory leader?

[kenneal - lagger]

Given the latest reports of Johnson having attended a pre-planned booze-up at no 10 in the middle of lock-down of may 2020, how long do you think he can last as Tory leader?

Until someone feels it's a safe enough bet to stick their head above the parapet. Once one person puts their hat in the ring their will be a mad rush to join in.

[Potemkin Villager]

Doris's clusterfuck just increases exponentially.

[UndercoverElephant]

We have passed an interesting point in terms of polling:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_p ... l_election

If you put the current moving average (Lab 41, Con 31...) into the election predictor at https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/, then it predicts a small overall Labour majority. The average has been shifted by a poll on the 13th which gave Labour a 14 point lead. The last time Labour was in a position this strong, Tony Blair was still PM.

[Mark]

Daily Mail (I know) desperately trying to find any scrap of COVID wrongdoing to tar Starmer:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -work.html
He's a chip of Theresa's block, so it's easy to believe him when he says he wasn't partying....

I still predict either a small Tory majority, or a Lab/LD coalition, with the SNP holding the trump card....
We've had Brexit turmoil, now COVID, next up could well be Scottish independence....?

[UndercoverElephant]

We've had Brexit turmoil, now COVID, next up could well be Scottish independence....?

I don't think so. I would be astonished if any of the main Westminster parties would agree to a second independence referendum unless they believe the probability of the nationalists winning is nil. I doubt they'd agree to it at all - they would prefer to attempt to run a minority government. But I also cannot see how the nationalists could win, for two reasons. The first is that the Irish border question is conspicuously unresolved, and the equivalent Scottish question is even more tricky. And the second is the current state of the EU itself, and the fact that Scotland doesn't meet the economic criteria and the rest of the UK has no reason cushion Scotland's exit from the union - Scotland can't make the sums add up, and the EU does not want a new economically-challenged member.

[Mark]

We'll see......, but I suspect that the pressure on the Union will also increase significantly once the Queen dies...
Plenty of countries poorer than Scotland have gone it alone - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Eritrea, Slovakia, East Timor, Kosovo, South Sudan to name a few....

[UndercoverElephant]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60039868

"Nobody warned me drinks event was against rules - Boris Johnson"

What the fuc*?

Wasn't he the principle speaker at numerous press conferences explaining the rules?

How can he seriously think he can get away with this level of bullshit? It's now got to the level of Theresa May's "Nothing has changed! NOTHING has changed!", when very obviously everything had changed.

I think he's finished.

[UndercoverElephant]

We'll see......, but I suspect that the pressure on the Union will also increase significantly once the Queen dies...
Plenty of countries poorer than Scotland have gone it alone - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Eritrea, Slovakia, East Timor, Kosovo, South Sudan to name a few....

It is the border problem that kills it. There's no way the EU is going to let Scotland join unless there is a very clear understanding about exactly how the border is going to be dealt with. There will be no escaping the fact that if Scotland wants to rejoin the customs union then there is going to have to be a hard border constructed between Gretna and Berwick. There's not going to be any fudge this time. And I just do not see how the nationalists can win if that is what they are proposing.

And as for your list of countries...I was not talking about the costs of independence, and should have made this clear. I was talking about passing the economic tests required for countries applying for membership of the EU.

[clv101]

I think Wednesday might be the day ... Will he do PMQs?