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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

We may not like her but who is fit to replace her?

80 replies

longwayoff · 17/11/2018 10:32

Just seen a photo of BoJo having dinner last night with Farage. Chummy. So, some - lots?- of Tories want to replace May. Imo there is nobody I'd trust to replace her. Johnson? Proven liar. Rees Mogg? Worryingly Chauvinistic to say the least. Gove? Heaven forbid. So if they do manage to "knife her in the front", who could be an acceptable replacement?

OP posts:
Theworldisfullofgs · 17/11/2018 16:22

Reckon there's a By election in Peterborough soon. Get David Milliband back.

Theworldisfullofgs · 17/11/2018 16:23

Or Jo Johnson. That would be funny and I think he'd be ok.

Catpyjama · 17/11/2018 16:26

Enjoying mumsnet sort of coming out for TM.

Jo Johnson would at least continue recent tradition of brothers at war.

lljkk · 17/11/2018 17:21

(Much as I don't want Brexit) & reckon it could be done with minimal economic harm if the Leavers took a very long view how to go about it.

Problem is, having moaned for 30+ yrs about wanting to leave EU (esp. since early 90s & Maastricht), the Leavers want it all done before it slips away from them. They are panicked into rushing at Brexit endpoints Come Hell or High Water. Brexit could be... if not a success, at least not a disaster, if it was slow & careful. The impatient eejits can't see that.

Thymeout · 17/11/2018 17:38

I'm another who doesn't understand this 'handed a poisoned chalice' idea. She fought to be PM with her eyes open. If it hadn't been for Gove selling Johnson down the river, she'd never have had a chance. So she grabbed it with both hands.

And she was never 'a staunch Remainer'. She kept a v low profile during the campaign.

I do admire her stamina. And she's handled the last few days brilliantly -
uncharacteristically for her. She's always avoided unscripted appearances on the media. If she had performed like this in the GE campaign, she wouldn't be in this precarious position, having lost Cameron's majority.

I think she'll hang on, but the numbers don't stack up for getting her deal through the HoC, unless she manages to sweet-talk Arlene and the Labour leavers, like Caroline Flint, and the soft Tories come on board in fear of something worse. Like losing their seats. But she's still got time before the vote, and who knows what will happen in the interim?

lljkk · 17/11/2018 18:58

Better metaphor is to say she grasped the nettle. Heck knows the rest were too cowardly or tainted to grasp it. And by golly she has held on (when many others would have relinquished).

Seems like she's performing so well because she has nothing to lose, now.

WitchesHatRim · 17/11/2018 19:01

IMO it will be a back bencher. Rumours are someone like Johnny Mercer or Tobias Ellwood.

SheWoreBlueVelvet · 17/11/2018 19:12

Once we're out and see what happens is the time to make leadership decisions. And I'm sure it will come pretty soon with plenty of acrimony about the bits TM " should" have seen coming etc.
Why you would even think of a change of leadership now is beyond me. Literally the country's leadership should ALL be coming together now to get the game plan in shape.

Badbadbunny · 17/11/2018 19:22

Literally the country's leadership should ALL be coming together now to get the game plan in shape

Couldn't agree more. Now is NOT the time for leadership challenges, referendums, general elections etc. Far too late for that. We have to see it through and then regroup once it's done and work towards the future.

lljkk · 17/11/2018 19:25

I want to ask BeLeavers to explain how a "tougher" negotiating stance would have led to a better deal.

I've heard that a lot, and unless No Deal was enthusiastically embraced as equally valid alternative to any deal, I'm not sure how May was supposed to be tougher. Is it brinkmanship that people think May failed at? Coz she's doing a fairly cheerful & bloody-difficult-woman "I'm not going to blink. Are you?" dance with her party right now.

lljkk · 17/11/2018 19:27

Johnny Mercer is very disillusioned, I think evident by his statement he wouldn't vote for Tories, either, right now. That won't endear him to any faction of his party. He's a 'soldier' whose instincts are to serve first and foremost, too, I don't think he has the ovaries to grasp this nettle.

KingPrawnBalls · 17/11/2018 19:32

Yanbu. Bo Jo & Farage, a match made in hell!

Troodon · 17/11/2018 19:38

If Gove becomes PM then I will take my children and leave. Fuck THAT. Jeremy Corbyn, all the way. I adore him.

Badbadbunny · 17/11/2018 19:52

Lots of people will leave the UK if Corbyn becomes PM too! We're between a rock and a hard place at the moment. Party politics and UK govt have been in crisis for about 20 years or more. I think we need some completely new parties - the major parties are all divided so it's time to scrap them and start afresh.

ShadyLady53 · 17/11/2018 21:18

I long for a new centrist party - would seriously consider leaving the country if Gove/Rees Mogg/Boris OR Corbyn became PM. Things are too extreme at both ends of the spectrum and things need to be fairer all round. More help for those in poverty, public services, people trying to buy homes and start families/support existing families and less racism/xenophobia/anti-semitism, thought policing and identity politics please!

Badbadbunny · 18/11/2018 08:48

I long for a new centrist party

2 are needed - a pro EU one and an anti EU one. It's the reason both Tory and Labour are fragmented - the pro and anti factions.

Maybe after next March and Brexit has happened, the main parties can unite again? But I'm not holding my breath.

SillySallySingsSongs · 18/11/2018 08:52

If Gove becomes PM then I will take my children and leave. Fuck THAT. Jeremy Corbyn, all the way. I adore him.

Hmm

Well my family and a fair few others I know will leave if Corbyn becomes PM.

What exactly is it you 'adore' not a cult

longwayoff · 18/11/2018 10:44

And now I bring you as an offering. . . Dominic Raab. No further comment.

OP posts:
SerenDippitty · 18/11/2018 10:58

I wish Keir Starmer was Labour leader.

If there is a general election I will be unable to vote Labour as Corbyn wants to leave and there won’t be another referendum.

I feel sorry for Theresa May and admire her persistence.

eddiemairswife · 18/11/2018 11:18

I bet all these people won't leave the country if the worst(in their eyes) happens. People always make that idle threat and it is rarely carried out.

CloserIAm2Fine · 18/11/2018 11:19

I’m no fan of Theresa May. But I’m really angry that so many Tory Brexiteers are choosing now, four months before the deadline to Leave, to have yet more fighting among themselves and potentially another Tory leadership contest that will waste even more time that should be being used to negotiate a deal and get it through parliament.

THERE IS NO GOOD DEAL POSSIBLE! And the likes of David Davies and Boris Johnson keep quitting and throwing tantrums when they realise this, but keep coming back expecting TM to have found a magic solution that just isn’t there.

The Tories have behaved disgracefully over the last two and a half years. David Cameron gambled the future of the country to try and shut up the anti Europe elements of the party and because he was threatened by UKIP. Then the shambolic unashamed barefaced lies of the Leave campaign. DC quitting after losing despite his claims that he wouldn’t. Leading to a Tory leadership battle. TM then called a General Election which wastes yet more time and ended up losing the majority and forcing her to do deals with the absolutely abhorrent DUP. Endless Brexit secretaries have quit. Now a deal is finally on the table and they’re still throwing tantrums and will probably waste the next four months with more Tory squabbling until we crash out of the EU and end up in another recession, when most of us are still recovering from the last one.

AlexaShutUp · 18/11/2018 11:20

Eddie, I know quite a few people who have already left the country because of Brexit.

Unfinishedkitchen · 18/11/2018 11:53

I know of three families who’ve left the country because of Brexit. All three families contain at least one adult who has skills this country needs so of course they found it very easy to up sticks.

I worry that the trickle of brain draining will become a flood come next year.

SillySallySingsSongs · 18/11/2018 12:55

I bet all these peoplewon'tleave the country if the worst(in their eyes) happens. People always make that idle threat and it is rarely carried out.*

In our case we most certainly will. We already have preperations in place. Corbyn PM would be awful for us and many of our friends.

Graphista · 18/11/2018 12:57

This is what worries me!

She's desperately incompetent and has never really been supported but I'm struggling to think of any Tory I'd prefer.

The thought of JRM or bojo getting in as PM is genuinely giving me sleepless nights! Both have absolutely no compassion for poor and I think if they could get away with it would euthanise or at best institutionalise us if they thought they had a chance of getting away with it!

"Although why she can’t just say it’s untenable and cancel the whole sorry shit show is beyond me." Precisely - a brexiter taking over as PM would at least mean they'd FINALLY have to put up! And sort the shitty mess they created. But I doubt they will as they haven't the spine for it!

In opposition I like keir starmer myself, I like Corbyn too but sadly the msm have done a stellar job for their paymasters by destroying his reputation to too many.

But generally I agree, there's a real lack of charismatic potential leaders who also have integrity and compassion.

And don't even get me started on lib dems!

I'm in Scotland so I also have the option of SNP when voting but honestly last election I voted labour as I strongly felt we needed the tories out and the only chance of that was a labour victory.

I'm a "floating voter" except I will never and have never voted tory.

PLEASE not Jo Johnson who not only consistently votes against welfare improvements but also votes against job creation and votes against higher taxation on the wealthy. He may be quieter than Boris but he holds the same views possibly even more strongly.

AnneLovesGilbert - I don't think the secret was his, he was happily going along with the leadership election then suddenly pulled out of tv appearances for "personal reasons" and then said that exposure to scrutiny for his family was too high a cost. Even at the time I strongly felt a personal secret of a family member was used to blackmail him out of running. Absolutely disgusting if so.

When it comes to the crunch I don't think they will get rid of Theresa simply because nobody else really wants the poisoned chalice that is brexit.

Ruth Davidson I like well enough (for a Tory) but she struggles with her mh and has said for that reason she'd not run for leadership. Plus she's an msp and I think probably still on maternity leave at the moment.

"I've never known it to be as bad as this and I lived under Thatcher." Same - thatcher was bad and many of the issues we're dealing with in terms of poverty are due to her policies but there are certain things even she wouldn't have tried - messing with the nhs, emergency services and armed forces are the ones that spring to mind. I don't think necessarily in an altruistic way but more as they're the biggest uk employers! So therefore that's where a hell of a lot of voters are working! I'm amazed that this hasn't led to huge reduction in Tory voters & I'm hoping by next election (whenever that might be ill be very surprised if it goes to when it HAS to be done) people have realised the tories are only for the wealthy and vote accordingly.

"I can hand on heart say that 20ish years ago I could name all the top ranking MPs and knew their strengths & weakness's.
Now I just wouldn't know who is who they are on that merry-go-round of am I a MP or am I not and who do I support this week" same - and I read a lot on this stuff and watch news & politics shows.

StrumpersPlunkett - on here, in real life, on tv & in papers and online comments there I've seen quite a few saying they voted leave but now they know how bloody complicated & expensive it's turning out they'd vote remain if asked again - not come across one remainer saying they'd vote leave.

And while not all those who didn't vote would vote remain I suspect more of them would have than would have voted leave and perhaps didn't vote as they really didn't expect so many to vote leave.

Problem with "a new centrist party" was we got one - lib dems and they betrayed their voters by throwing in with the tories just to get a taste of power! And then folded far too easily on their key beliefs.