Thread 2. Starmer, return of the Labour government

[L1ttledrummergirl]

Yes, lame but the last thread was nearly full.

I wish Biden would step down now. The US has a real problem electing a woman, if Harris was already President Harris then that milestone would already have passed and the reluctance may be lower. If they see her working as a president and called president I think some might find it easier to vote for her. Then the VP - Pete Buttigieg is a problem because he's gay, Josh Shapiro because he's Jewish, honestly the US is so narrow minded and conservative. Kamala Harris has to have a straight white man to offset the fact she's female and black. The UK isn't perfect but at least we don't have this amount of prejudice and discrimination.

I wonder if they will end up with a completely different candidate.

It just makes me so pleased our election is over to be honest.

Rwanda plan cost £700 million all in.
They had planned to spend £10 billion in the long term - something that was not disclosed to Parliament.

x.com/politlcsuk/status/1815397001682452933?s=46&t=Uw4lJNwxFZFnX0Xs3doHYg

Anyone watch the (excellent) comedy series 'Veep'?

In one series Selina Meyer (the VP) becomes president because the incumbent steps down and the series ends on the night of the next U.S. Presidential Election, in which President Selina Meyer is running against Senator Bill O'Brien. It eventually ends in a tie of electoral college votes so it goes to the House where each state gets one House vote with the first candidate to receive 26 votes wins the presidency, and the Senate chooses the VP. If there is a tie in the House, the VP Elect becomes president. So in Veep - this is what actually happens and Selina (the president) loses the election.

If this scenario played out now then JD Vance would be president!

(BTW I have no idea if this is a credible dramatic interpretation of what can actually happen or if it's all from Armando Ianucci's imagination!)

Is this all part of a 4-d Chess game the Democrats are playing

This is even worse than we ever imagined.
Just think what that money could have done with regards to NHS/staff/pay, social care, schools etc etc
Why is there not some way that we can prosecute the Tory government for misuse of our money!?

Yes - I know the answer. We elected them to govern for us. (Yada, yada yada as George Constanza would say)

So what benefits would they have eliminated to raise that £10 billion ?

More importantly, has that figure been baked into long term spending plans ? Because if it has, there may just be a few billions that have become suddenly available.

"More importantly, has that figure been baked into long term spending plans ? Because if it has, there may just be a few billions that have become suddenly available."

Interesting point. That would be useful.

But I wonder, if the figures weren't available to Parliament, whether they were formally included in spending plans as that would have prompted some awkward publicity.

If that £10m figure is part of their spending plans it more than covers the public sector pay rises recommended by the pay review bodies.

Why is Fromage being asked for his opinion on everything?

More importantly, has that figure been baked into long term spending plans ? Because if it has, there may just be a few billions that have become suddenly available.

That was my thought. Will help Labour with some of their spending plans.

Maybe that's why they were confident that they could deliver their promises (or conversely, why the Conservatives were saying that there was no money available except for their cronies as they'd committed it all. )

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/22/reeves-to-appoint-covid-corruption-tsar-to-claw-back-billions-of-waste

I have to admit, £2.6million is a surprisingly low figure. Presumably it's a %age of the total ?

It states that they believe 4bn is irrecoverable, but let's hope the amount is on the conservative side.

Keir Starmer: "Let me be clear, there is no need to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights... not now, not ever... Britain belongs on the world stage."

Good!

It’s billion.

My bad - I meant to type billion - like the song, my point remains the same 😀

🍿

New Tory leadership timetable for four month contest discussed by 1922 committee today

• nominations would open on Weds with threshold of ten MPs needed to reach first round of voting

• candidates spend August campaigning with knock-out votes on Sept 4, 9, 10 and 11 until just four left final four

• candidates take part in ‘beauty parade’ at party conference - whittled down to two on Oct 2
• ballots sent out to Tory members across the country with final result on Nov 2

@DuncinToffee I am glad you put beauty parade in inverted commas 🤢

Beauty parade?

Do they have a different definition of beauty?

Odious man. Just catching up on the thread. He makes my blood boil.

Haha, not my doing, just copied Pippa Crerar's tweet.

seen elsewhere ...

NEW: Nigel Farage predicts a handful of Tory MPs will defect to Reform UK within the next year as he vows to turn the party into an electoral powerhouse

It's the same old nonsense from Farage. He's been spinning this line for years. I'm reading his biography (Michael Crick one) and the above is basically the same shit he's pulled with UKIP. Says they are going to defect and nothing comes of it. Rinse and repeat. Even if a handful DO actually defect (which I doubt), it's hardly a powerhouse.

Surely the more he says MPs are going to defect, the harder it becomes for someone to defect.