Thread 2 Burnham : Coragem e Esperança.

[DuncinToffee]

Welcome to our long running thread for political discussion, general chit chat, a friendly hug and taxes in kind

🍦 for anyone who needs them

New PM, new thread title, the discussion continues.

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5556659-thread-1-burnham-esperanza-en-cada-corazon?page=40

The election point is very interesting. It sounds very much like a disguised party political broadcast.

Very interesting indeed. That’s exactly what is. I bet he doesn’t take questions.

He did take questions. But it did seem very much like an election broadcast.

This is the background photo.

The contradiction with Jenrick is that he voted when in a Tory government for all that he opposes now.

Eta he called for a general election.

He called for a general election? At a point where his leader is fighting a by-election with a laundry list of comedy candidates and more evidence of corruption in the party is emerging daily? He surely had to be joking.

Neither Reform nor the Tories actually want an election. The Tory brand is still toxic and their finances haven’t recovered from 2024 (which is why they are desperately trying to look attractive to MAGA). Reform have umpteen investigations, Farage is at an all time low and can’t face interviews and they don’t have enough even vaguely suitable candidates. They also know their finances will be under a great deal more scrutiny.
It’s just bluster to undermine the government.

I suspect that had an election been called, the whining from the other parties would be deafening.

Maybe we need some way of fixing the term of a parliament so no party can game the system for their own advantage ?

We could have a referendum on it.

I'm surprised those from the press didn't start singing "We're here because we're here, because we're here, because we're here."

Guardian headline - not the 'death-tax' or 'two-tier policing' but the stuff which they just won't let go away

Jenrick ducks question on why George Cottrell gave $2m to his mother days before her big donations to Reform UK

Badenoch previously said there shouldn’t be an election right now,; the Tories definitely don’t want one, understandably, as they wouldn’t benefit at all. For Reform, that’s all they ever call for, they’re like a broken record. (It would also spare Farage from the potential humiliation of losing to Count Binface. 🤣)

I’m in Greater Manchester (granted, I don’t post much, I’m mostly on the puzzles board but lurk on politics threads to stay informed).
voted this morning and proxy voted for DH. There was a steady stream of voters at my polling station but no queue.

Labour chair Bridget Philipson has referred Reform-UK to the Electoral Commission over the $2 million transferred to Fiona Cotterell by her son George and thence to Reform

I wonder about Farage and all the dodgy donations. He’s vile, but he’s not stupid…so why did he accept them? Did he think nobody would notice. Or care? Did he think he could get to be PM before anyone noticed? What was in his head?

I think he's so arrogant, he thought nobody would find out.

Never underestimate the power of greed in affecting rational thought.

You could easily form a narrative (i.e. make a damn good Netflix series) around Farages shock as discovering that - despite his cynicism - people really are that stupid, and rather then the whole Reform project slowly sinking into obscurity (allowing him to depart the richer) it snowballed and all of a sudden he is facing scrutiny.

I really cannot recommend the 1967 version of "The Producers" as an explainer. If just to agree that Reforms party anthem is "Springtime for Hitler"

I agree with Jane. Pure greed and the theory is entirely plausible. He must be shitting himself.

It's amusing the more he does to make himself generally unpopular, the more his faithful appear to cleave to him.

Joking aside, it does rather feed into the discussion about what Trump could possibly do to throw off his most ardent MAGA base. And I think that discussion has to encompass the possibility of the answer "nothing".

Also don't think he counted on the Guardian/Times 'sources' leaking information and how tenacious the journalists have been - note that all his threats to sue have come to nothing

There is nothing funnier in life than watching grifters expecting loyalty.

I think he just indulges in high risk behaviour with the confidence of an extremely privileged man who has learned that deceit and dishonesty are no barrier to success, and things have so far had a habit of coming up Nigel.
Watching him learn a different lesson is proving enjoyable.

When your rival far right fringe party is funded by a dodgy billionaire whilst your party only has a dodgy crypto millionaire.

Deeper pockets to buy silence, or make people spill the beans.

Maybe it is just that simple. Pure greed. No forethought.

Sort of corollary to Hanlons razor ?

Never attribute to intrigue what you can explain by greed ?

It’s kind of understandable that he got so complacent, he was Teflon coated for so long. All those QT appearances out of all proportion to his political importance, all the coverage when no difficult questions were asked, all the lack of challenge about his infrequent Commons attendance and non existent constituency surgeries. Former Tory cabinet ministers joining him. He thought he was invincible.

I wonder who is paying Channel 4 ?