Will Liz Truss resign today? Part 2: PMQs

[sunnydaytoday0]

Well she's staggered on to PMQs today. Get the popcorn ready.

This.

His personal ratings were atrocious by the end. The feel good factor was a myth he tried, and ultimately failed, to perpetuate.

MN would go into meltdown 😂😂😂
Even if BJ had been a saint that would still be the case. Party allegiances are set in concrete here.
Hopefully Sunak is PM. Then there will be a Gen Election and KS will be PM and he won't make a blind bit of difference because there's no money.

His personal ratings were atrocious by the end. The feel good factor was a myth he tried, and ultimately failed, to perpetuate.

Yep. To be the feel good candidate, you can't have so many of the public fucking loathe you.

Boris' enduring popularity is a dirty secret among party members. They may no longer admit it publicly. It has simply gone underground. If he is capable of getting the 100 votes then I am sure he will be there.

Johnson’s government showed a shocking disregard for standards in public life and the rule of law. It prioritised a hard Brexit over the integrity of the United Kingdom. Surely there's no way back for him?

Nadine Dorries would put herself upon the sacrificial altar in order to ensure it!

How embarrassing for Truss. Imagine being such a failure and being remembered as the shortest serving pm in history! Takes some doing that.

I’m enjoying the schadenfreude far too much to feel any empathy.

@crostina1 Boris Johnson would be on his 'best behaviour' if he came back? It's that sort of attitude that is a major problem currently. Laughing it off, making it into a bit of a joke...good old Boris. His 'leadership' was shoddy and his morals appalling. We need a leader, someone who can be trusted and has intelligence and integrity.

Good thing he hasn’t got a snowball’s hope in hell of getting 100 nominations then.

He topped a members poll so it’s not such a secret. But as we’ve seen, being popular with members doesn’t mean much these days.

@RedToothBrush DH asked me this:
"If, come 2pm on Monday, there are no candidates with 100 backers (as there are too many candidates)...what then?"
GB didn't say much, other than the base level of 100 would be needed...obviously they'd prefer a single candidate/coronation, but that's as likely as snow tomorrow.
I told him I didn't know, but I might know someone who did.
Thoughts?

I think Graham Brady already knows that Rishi Sunak will have 100 names by Sunday night.

Who in their right mind would want that job.

They would horse-trade until someone did. A Candidate with 75 and another candidate with 50 nominations would agree they have enough in common, that they would persuade the lower candidate's nominees to nominate the higher one instead - in return for something of course, like cabinet seat of choice or whatever.

Given everything that's gone down, the last thing any of them want is further chaos. And it's not like anybody in their right mind would actually want the job right now anyway, or believe they're going to be in it for long.

@Buk - that wasn't hard to predict. I made that bet on the day of the mini budget. I am quids in because the Tory membership are so stupid.

What’s the point in the Conservative Party MPs shortlisting candidates, if it’s the party members who get the final say? Why not just let the MPs decide in that case? Why let the members pick between the final two?

I don’t remember Gordon’s Brown having a leadership contest. Is this a Tory thing?

I don't know the rules but I'd venture that if no candidate can rustle up at least 100 backers, they are unlikely to command a majority in the Commons. At that stage, requesting a dissolution of Parliament and a general election would be the honourable (laughs) course of action, though not necessarily obligatory. I don't even know who would approach the King in these circumstances.

Don't forget that the NIP is about to become a massive issue as the deadline to resolve the issue of Stormont being prevented from sitting by the DUP has to be resolved by Oct 28th. That in itself may be somewhat spicy.

I think it’s fairly accepted that Penny Mordaunt and Rishi Sunak will get the requisite 100 votes.

It's Sunak and Mordaunt. This is a contest where the rules are already fixed and the membership will not be allowed to screw it up.

Wonder if whoever is in next woll have the decency to at least lift the phone to the elected leaders of Scotland, Wales and NI. It’s absolutely shocking that she didn’t.

Looking down the possible options there's surprising few tories who have served in Cabinet for any length of time.

Badenoch has no chance. Braverman hasn't had much time in office and her performance yesterday was batshit. Mordaunt not much better but rumours are about a joint ticket with Hunt.

Jacob Rees-Mogg is loopy. Steve Baker nuts.

That leaves Matt Hancock, Dominic Raab, Grant Shapps, Greg Hands, Rishi Sunak, Michael Gove, Kwasi Kwarteng, Sajid Javid, Boris Johnson, Ben Wallace and Nadhim Zahawi as serious options. May would be the other but she's not that dumb.

Of those Hancock, Kwarteng and Zahawi are discredited/ arguably not experienced enough. Hands I wouldn't expect to stand.

That leaves Raab, Sunak, Wallace, Johnson, Javid and Gove as viables.

Raab is thick. He won't get enough votes.
Gove has supposedly retired from front line politics.
I still can't see Wallace going for it.

Its genuinely hard to see a serious contender outside Javid, Sunak or Johnson unless someone gets big endorsement from Cabinet or Gove decides its his time....

For a party that's been in power for 12 years there isn't much depth and with so many elections and leaders and May kicking out quality, its more like who is the designated survivor who is capable of doing the job!!!

Can we at least hope this is the end of the appalling Therese Coffey's cabinet career?