Bye Bye Big Dog. Who is going to take over? Truss V Sunak Thread 12

[Roussette]

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4589396-the-one-where-big-dog-is-still-here-and-the-race-to-be-the-new-top-dog-thread-11?page=40&reply=118674329

Here we are.

"Kwasi Kwarteng has defended Boris Johnson and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, who are on holiday amid the Bank of England hiking interest rates and warning of the longest recession since the 2008 financial crisis.
The business secretary told Sky News that Mr Zahawi is "always available" and that he spoke to him on WhatsApp yesterday. "

Government business done by WhatsApp?
I don't about you but I only use WhatsApp for short messages and photos.
Interesting that Kwarteng is the one stepping in for the Chancellor - warming up for when Liz gets in.

The ERG’s preferred candidate was attorney-general Suella Braverman. Yet the Tory right was split in the MPs’ shortlisting stages and her hopes faded fast. The group shifted en masse to Team Truss, including ERG chair Mark Francois and its formidable former leader Steve Baker. Their backing bought momentum, but also a problem.

Prime minister Truss would have two options. One is to go all in and appoint an ERG cabinet: bring back former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith as chief whip, promote Braverman to home secretary or install her as culture secretary to fight a “war on woke”. Keeping them close provides protection, but it also gives her no political headroom and severely limits the talent pool of her nascent government.

www.ft.com/content/3a79ee7e-0486-430b-af22-54e2581cf58c

Posted elsewhere by mistake. FT article on Truss needing to face down the ERG.

Braverman is now telling off the Bank of England for not timing the interest rate rise correctly.

They must be laughing their socks off at her telling them about economics. This is a woman who doesn't understand the law, even though it's her actual job.

They are all going to blame the BoE now, those lefty woke bankers.

I noticed that suit wearing Kwarteng went to great efforts avoiding saying that Zahawi is on holiday.

As for WhatsApp, tells you how serious they are taking it.

EXCLUSIVE: In a leaked video, Rishi Sunak boasted to Conservative Party members that he was prepared to take public money out of “deprived urban areas” to help wealthy towns.

twitter.com/NewStatesman/status/1555476253045673987?t=pDfXz3zLs2W4KfkCw2ZhnA&s=19

One of my pet hates at the moment is 'got the big calls right'.

I even heard Truss using it about herself FFS

That video

The 'got the big calls right' gives me the rage too Rousette. The British government paid far more than the EU did for the vaccines. The lockdown was far too late, the furlough scheme was sloppily administered and it was presumably part of the original pandemic planning/modelling that the government ignored for far too long.

As for Ukraine, wouldn't we have had more influence as part of the EU?

Totally agree. And as for 'eat out to help out' what a sham that was. People were going out anyway, they had cabin fever, yet the Govt wasted all that money on it, that could've been used elsewhere.

Big calls right... my arse. It's just yet another soundbite.

The only 'call' Mr Johnson got right and on time was to accept Chris Grayling's resignation.

It's all soundbites and 3 word slogans with this lot, easy to repeat without having to think about it.

WOW

I'm not surprised though. It's blatantly obvious he's in it for his own interests and that of wealthy people like himself. Not to make the country a better place for us all. 🤬

So Truss wants to give public sector workers from deprived areas a pay cut and Sunak openly brags in public about diverting money from deprived areas to wealthy areas because they 'deserve' it.

Seems they've abandoned the pretence of levelling up and are actively levelling DOWN

twitter.com/REWearmouth/status/1555525913269387266?t=H3mfZhoC-5T-WebxVeP2Eg&s=19

Labour’s @lisanandy has written to Levelling Up Secretary & Tunbridge Wells MP @GregClarkMP about Sunak’s “deeply concerning” claim funding was moved away from “deprived urban areas” to favour others

NB, Clark was with Sunak at the time

One of the comments said it's like the scene in The Big Short when someone says "I don't understand...why is he confessing?" and someone replies "He's not- he's bragging".

Honestly, what will it take for the Red Wall to wake up? He's literally talking about them.

The tories have become a parody of themselves. There’s no restraint on their desires for personal gain at the expense of their fellow citizens. Traitors the lot of them, at least any of them that don’t call it out for what it is.

I was just thinking the same in response.

She doesn't even know how to be an MP in actually supporting her constituents.

Hell - she's even banned the staff working for Tory members locally from conversing with her own staff.

The woman's a nut job with no people skills.

Wasn't the old Tory ethos aligned with Victorian values of wealthy people (landed gentry and the aristocracy) helping "those less fortunate than them", charitable works etc fitting in with the notion of trickle down economy? Doing public service?

From what I can see Sunak has a gossamer thin pretence of doing that. Liz Truss, and her many supporters, not at all.

Just saw this in The Guardian by Martin Kettle

Sub headline is

Once out of office, the former PM could emulate US media shock-makers, wielding influence without accountability

Influence without accountability? No change there then.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/05/boris-johnson-power-media-influence

Isn't that from the school of Steve Bannon? Or have I misremembered?

I don't know but it wouldn't surprise me

After her speech is interrupted by protestors, Liz Truss tells the audience she will bring in new legislation to stop "our democracy being disrupted by unfair protests."

twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1555624903566663680?t=IbVu7yhjQHf_Mfhv8xOMcw&s=19

No doubt he's already got highly paid slots on Times Radio and GB News lined up. But he won't do phone-ins, too much risk of being asked difficult questions.

Crisis? What crisis?
My eyes, my eyes.
twitter.com/RupertMyers/status/1555507898763075586