Liz Truss has resigned. Part 3: The Return of the King?

[sunnydaytoday0]

Continuation from last thread.

By Monday we could have a new prime minister, and by next Friday at the latest.

Will Sunak win this time, or could Johnson get his old job back? Would the Tory members once again go against the wishes of the MPs?

And yes I think Johnson sees himself as some sort of world king..

Is Sunak more likely to benefit the tories in the blue wall rather than the red wall?

Yes.

In a word.

Christabel Cooper AT ChristabelCoops
If Mordaunt pulls out (as expected) then it's an implicit admission that in a Parliamentary system you can't be an effective PM without the support of your MPs - regardless of what the membership thinks. Both Lab and the Tories need to think about changing their leadership rules.

"What an honourable man. He knew he would have won but dropped out for the sake of the country."

I'm laughing at some people on social media right now, deluded to the end!

@Kissingfrogs25 Can you please check in to let us know you’re ok?

😂

So - who will be on Sunak's cabinet? If he has any sense he'll clear almost everyone out IMO. The public appetite for change is very strong.

Let’s be honest, the current economic plan as outlined by Hunt is highly likely to have been heavily influenced by Rishi - Hunt got the job on Friday, spent Saturday and Sunday doing the rounds of the tv and radio studios and launched the new plan on Monday. Do people really think he magicked it up himself on Sunday evening with a glass of red in hand? It’s highly probable that he referred back to a previous incumbent for advice on the best way forward, particularly one who had warned that Truss’ plans would play out exactly the way they did.

😂😂😂

If he’s got any sense he needs to not follow the Johnson/Truss model of only using loyalists/sycophants. If he’s going to “unite” the party he needs both right and left of the party in the Cabinet.

Oh god will Mordaunt just feck off already

re: Sunak’s cabinet, Braverman’ one to watch. Worse than useless, but I’ve a bad feeling a deal was cut.

This

Because Boris is obsessed with his own image. He is incredibly vain, even for a politician. Like all vain and narcissistic people, he isn't really as thick-skinned as he seems. I think there are people he listens to, one of them is his wife who is very political herself - more Cherie Blair than Philip May.

If those people tell him it's going to be miserable and shit, because his MPs will rebel constantly and the markets will react badly if he tries to spend money doing popular things, I think he will listen. He wants to be Churchill and return vindicated and triumphant. He'll wait.

Sunak has tweeted:
Boris Johnson delivered Brexit and the great vaccine roll-out.
He led our country through some of the toughest challenges we have ever faced, and then took on Putin and his barbaric war in Ukraine.
We will always be grateful to him for that.

Although he has decided not to run for PM again, I truly hope he continues to contribute to public life at home and abroad.

How very magnanimous lol

Sunak is known to have been on manoeuvers by Tuesday. They were well in progress.

However my thought here is that it REALLY took everyone by surprise that Hunt had got the job. Hunt taking the job, may have very much helped to destablise Truss, however with the markets reacting well to Hunt, Sunak has a problem. If he removes Hunt to install someone who has helped his campaign, he risks upsetting the market and this idea of stability / unity. However if he keeps Hunt thats one less person to reward/appease in his Cabinet.

Hunt is far more likely to have been opportunistic and seen the opportunity to get the no2 job he wouldn't ever have got. He previously refused to get demoted and took the back benches - he always have made clear he wanted to advance his career not take steps back.

Hunt has a problem though. He doesn't really have a faction within the party to represent in the same way as others. If Sunak drops him, he's done til Tory WipeOut.

He has to be nice as Johnson can cause trouble very easily if not on side imo

He has the capacity to get lines in the press

I reckon he should keep Hunt but who knows

He should have tweeted that 'Bye Bye Boris' song the protestors were forever playing around westminster 😂

I think the magnanimity will get to Boris more than the song.

What a Kissoff from Sunak!

I'm assuming Coffey will be spending a bit more time in her constituency?

Ironically, if Sunak wants to keep Johnson supporters happy and in the Cabinet, he could do a lot worse than keep Wallace and Cleverly. He'd be wise to keep Hunt in my book too but I'm not convinced he will.

That only leaves Home Sec as the prized office of state though. Reasonably, you'd have to think he's going to want to put Braverman, Mordaunt and Badenoch somewhere.

Braverman could go back to the Home Office but the price of that would be to give her free reign to go ahead with her agenda that she feel out with Truss over. Now, there was some suggestion that Hunt was in play on that one, so that could be interesting. Thats the job I'm watching most closely for clues about the direction he's likely to head.

If he gets rid of Hunt who does he replace him with? There's a distinct lack of talent to do the job.

As it goes, I did think that Truss did manage to pick a Cabinet who were a fairly decent pick of the better candidates available, which is ironic.

That one is a given!