I think this country is right on the brink, and only a general election can pull it back

[UndercoverElephant]

Everyone here agrees the whole world is heading for collapse, and there is a great deal of general agreement about what that might entail. But it looks to me like the current economic-political situation in the UK means that we might be the first developed nation to descend into the next level of collapse. People were already desperate before the tory party decided to inflict Liz "I'm a human hand grenade" Truss on this country. We were already facing the worst "cost of living crisis" since WW2, and already suffering from an extended period of political turmoil. Had they elected Sunak 2 months ago then maybe he could have soldiered on for 2 more years before facing the electorate without the situation falling apart. But they didn't. Instead they chose somebody who was 100% incompetent and whose only achievement in the top job was to cost the Bank of England £65bn and significantly increase a lot of people's mortgages for no gain whatsoever - unless you count the total discrediting of the extreme right wing ideology that Truss tried to implement without a mandate.

I am assuming Sunak is going to take over now, and he has a choice. He does not need tory MPs to agree to an election -- he can call one all by himself. If he does not do so then he's going to preside over 2 years of public spending cuts, and that means cuts to the NHS. And as we all know, the NHS doesn't have anything left to cut -- no fat, no muscle...all that is left to cut is the bare bones. I believe the result, on top of everything else, will be to push this country over the edge. It will supercharge people's feelings of powerlessness, hopelessness and injustice. He will have no mandate whatsoever for the cuts he will be making, and all the opposition parties will spend all day every day calling for an election with very good reason. I suspect even the tory party itself knows that what this country actually needs right now is either a Labour government or tory government that actually has a mandate for the most vicious public spending cuts in living memory. If it tries to cling on because it is scared of an election then there is going to be an explosion of anger like nothing we've seen since the poll tax riots.

Sunak (unlike Truss) isn't stupid. He must understand this. It is far too simplistic to just say "turkeys will never vote for Christmas". It was Gordon Brown's failure to call an election when he took over from Blair that doomed him to defeat 2 years later, and that situation was far less demanding of an election than this one is. Does that mean he will do it? I have no idea -- I don't know enough about Sunak's motivations, morality and strategic nous. All I am saying is that if he chooses not to, then I think this winter will be the point where the grinding, bitter discontent turns into something much worse. People have had enough, and an election is the only way to release the pressure.

[UndercoverElephant]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/20 ... ng-tories/

The Conservatives have lost moral authority and lack the democratic legitimacy to form an effective administration. At the earliest opportunity, leadership candidates should commit to holding a general election within six months. While this could invite electoral Armageddon, it is a risk worth taking to avert complete breakdown in our political system.

Many Conservative MPs will view this as madness. But let us send them a message from the real world - politically and morally, you cannot spring brutal austerity on hard-pressed families as a result of your own stupidity without seeking their consent. Not without making them angrier than ever before.

Is an early election really a risk? Let us consider risk from the other direction. You cannot flip from optimistic tax cuts to pessimistic and brutal austerity in a week. Austerity without an election would lead to a breakdown in our political system.

People naturally jump to the prospect of riots. I fear some physical disorder would be inevitable, even as most people would condemn it and want it put down - the polls are clear on this, the public always want riots crushed.

I am, however, talking about something more fundamental than this. A breakdown in our system would see the Cabinet pulling the levers of government that simply had no impact any more.

We would see more strikes, stasis within the Civil Service, outright disobedience from public sector workers, a growth in extremist parties and a flight of investment from the UK.

And then the Conservatives would be wiped out anyway.