Conservative membership deciding new pm

[ChampagneCamping]

This is bonkers, the conservative membership cannot be trusted to decide who will be PM. They opted for Liz Truss last time, with her extreme conservative values. The country needs someone less extreme and with good morals

I think the hope is there will be only one candidate with >100 backers in parliament hence no need to go to the membership. If I understand it correctly there are no residency or nationality requirements for Conservative party membership. It's crazy to me to think that literally anyone, anywhere, could have had a role in putting Truss in number 10 and trashing our economy.

The odd thing is that the membership effectively said what they wanted when they voted Truss in, but she couldn't deliver it and they have no reason to believe that anyone else can. So what can they vote for, realistically?

Well said

Good grief, is JRM totally incapable of recognising reality? After the total embarrassment of his being caught out in trying to force MPs physically into the voting lobbies, and after the last two PMs he supported being forced to resign, you would think he might entertain just a smidgen of self-doubt. But I suppose ultimately it comes down to who will make most money for JRM and his mates.

hesbeingabitofadick · Today 07:41
Don't worry too much.

Nothing you or I can say or do to change it.
If it goes to the membership, it'll be Boris...🤦‍♀️“

The lunatics have taken over the asylum.

In terms of the membership - they never wanted Boris out.

When faced with having to choose between two people, neither of whom they wanted, they had to pick.
I had to choose and didn’t want either but firmly believe in voting. I didn’t want to spoil my ballot, or not vote at all.

many many members said the same to me, many also spoiled their ballot.

the/we didn’t want him gone, they definitely want him back.

I'm more on the fence that a lot of time if I’m honest.

I’m not a Rishi fan - not because of the ‘he stabbed Boris in the back’ argument. I’m just not.

but…he did predict what would happen with Trussonomics and he was right. Maybe we have to respect that.

or maybe more seismic things have to happen, it seems to me the Conservative party is fundamentally split, maybe we have to part ways into two separate entities?

Looks to me like Sunak and Johnson will both get the 100+ nominations.
I think Johnson can win it if he wants to - he would win the members leadership vote vs Sunak. But if he is smart I wonder if he would pass on it at this juncture. Afterall, the Tories are at this stage about 80% chance of getting kicked out in just two years time. It’s a question of whether he indulges his ego now, or whether he can wait a few years until a full term is guaranteed.

So many typos/autocorrects sorry!

I’m less convinced than a lot of THEM, if I’m honest.

Whoever wins, it’ll be a poisoned chalice.
Boris won last time before anyone had imagined we’d shortly be in pandemic lockdowns, with all the huge costs of those and Covid generally, which we will now have to pay for. Never mind the increased cost of living thanks to the warmongering bastard Putin.

It’s a very different scenario now - IMO he’d be mad, but I dare say he’s reckless enough to take it on.

What's crazy is, that from a Tory perspective, what they really really need is a unifying candidate. Someone safe, modest, seen an a boat steadier.

They’ve all gone. They were purged after Brexit. That is what people don’t get about Brexit. It wasn’t just about immigration rules and which queue to get into Malaga. The knock on consequences of it were huge and are still rippling today.

IMO he’d be mad, but I dare say he’s reckless enough to take it on

For him, it’s just a couple of more years (at minimum) of front pages and every one saying his name. Boris Johnson of 2022 probably couldn’t give a shit what happens at a General Election in 2024, much less what happens to the Conservative Party or the UK in 2024 and beyond. He just needs that attention back again on him and that’ll be reason enough for him to stand.

Very good point.

It will be Boris

He's more popular elsewhere than here!

Ahhhh if it goes to members then of course Boris Johnson will be back in power, which is the exact reason it shouldn't be done that way.

Boris Johnson will love it, he doesn't care that he can't do the job, he is a liar but above all he is a narcissist. Imagine the opportunity for one version of his legacy being the person that was Prime minister twice in (however many) months, he resigned but the party just needed him back, he was that good he was the only one for the job.

Obviously that's is not the truth, but that's the memberships legacy they will give him.

First point; each candidate must have 100 MPs supporting them this time. MPs other than the Boris Groupies will be more careful next time. Jacob R Smugg was threatening Legal Challenge if Membership did not have final say. Tory MPs together are less Right Wing than the membership They have woken up and realised how strong they are in the House.

I will not vote for Boris now. He is still waiting for that Enquiry. GE after this coming one might be Boris time. When we need to rescue the Country from 8 years of Labour 'misrule'. (anyone remember that phrase?)

I'm no fan of any of the current batch of MPs or leaders from any parties, but I'm not sure that most people understand democracy and how the current shenanigans are an assault on it. Whilst you might end up with something that you are more happy with, we will have lost more than is gained.

You don't understand tory voters in the red wall

They want Boris or alternatively, Penny

It's very optimistic to imagine they want any Tory at all.

Actually it isnt wealthy
Rural poverty is very significant.

The demographics are pretty clear: www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/seatdetails.py?seat=Richmond

Richmond is wealthier, better educated, and healthier than both the Yorkshire average, and the UK average (and bear in mind that UK wide wealth is skewed by the SE in comparison to other regions). That doesn't mean that everyone is Richmond is loaded, but on a population basis it's certainly a wealthy area.

As a comparison, this is the same data for a few typical red wall constituencies in Yorkshire:

www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/seatdetails.py?seat=Wakefield

www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/seatdetails.py?seat=Don+Valley

www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/seatdetails.py?seat=Batley+and+Spen

Similarly, Kensington is an extremely wealthy area when you look at the demographic data, but that doesn't mean that all the residents are wealthy by any means (Grenfell residents certainly weren't).

What have morals got to do with politics?
The members voted for Liz Truss as she had some actual Conservative policies - her belief in a "small state" is to her credit. Unfortunately, she hadn't factored in the reaction of the markets and her personal style just isn't sufficiently dynamic and engaging.
Boris trashed his credibility with the party by ditching his libertarian principles and bringing in nonsensical and never-ending Covid restrictions, initially supported by Rishi giving away loads of free money.
However, they will now be much more pragmatic and vote for whoever they think has the best chance of winning an election (however unlikely that is). Ideology just won't cut it at this point!

Yes Sunak's Richmond constituency is a typical left behind northern ghetto (251st in the government's own index of deprivation), so deprived it received levelling up funds whereas Barnsley (38th) didn't. Weird that 🤔

Slightly off-topic, but a general suggestion for whichever government replaces the tories, whenever that may be: how about passing a law that says replacing the prime minister automatically triggers a general election?

That would put a stop to all of this.