Liz Truss has resigned. Part 4: The Desolation of Boris

[sunnydaytoday0]

Continuation from last thread, for those of us following all the action on Monday.

And yes I'm a LOTR fan, so tried to continue the theme in the thread title 😉

This is one of the reasons Blair did so well. He was one of the most effective and gifted communicators in his generation. I know his credibility is now shot, but it was key to his success at the time. There has been no one as good since.

Thatcher had a lot of training. So too will Sunak. I wonder if they will tweak his image?

On the “The Rest is Politics” podcast Rory Stewart commented that he’d questioned Liz Truss’s speedy ascent within the party with the Cameron administration and had been gobsmacked when told it was because she was an excellent communicator! He speculated it was more likely “excellent communicator” meant she would say what she was told to say without question!

On the issue of politicians speaking, there was a political advisor on BBC News last week who was saying they would advise to never repeat a negative, which was why Penny announcing to the Commons that Truss wasn't "hiding under a desk" wasn't particularly helpful..

All my knowledge of political campaigning and communication strategy comes from The West Wing. The key is to never accept the premise of the question!

Mordaunt should have ignored that, and she knew better. She just wasn't taking more lumps for Truss. She is also a good communicator, btw.

Sounds like the plan is to get the resignation of Liz and appointment of Rishi done this evening.

Yes Mordaunt speaks well

Blair was very good

Johnson could actually land some good lines, before it went wrong he was polling well

@CaveMum Me too.
Can you imagine the equivalent of Toby and Sam having to deal with Boris. 🤯

The more I hear of this man the less I like him.

The reason Johnson fell apart was that he could not ever compromise at the right point. We saw that yesterday. He lacked a key political skill in timing and making decisions. His use of deadlines, up to wire speeches etc made him look foolish. By the end, no one believed him. Had he settled, as successful leaders do, he would still be in power. He is just too stubborn to be PM and cannot deal with an intellectual challenge. Sunak is more pragmatic and intellectually up to it. Politics is the art of compromise.

Tbf him losing it with Truss has ended up with him sounding very reasonable as everything he said came true. And is probably a very strong reason why he's now PM.

He could do something about being ultra rich. He could give it to food banks for instance...

Oh god don't have him give food to charity. That will make him look awful.

I agree although he also came up against someone who can really campaign and knows how to connect with the public, and had a personal attack going on.

His polling was fine until partygate. I can’t believe an 80 seat majority PM to now this, I didn’t want him back as too damaged but still, what a mess.

There’s another thread where people are losing it generally.

btw appreciate political insight as iirc you work in it

I agree. He had it all in his hand and messed it up. Amazing.

And gave us relevant, important speeches.

Like that time he blathered on about Peppa Pig World for absolutely no discernible reason.

So presumably you think Truss is an excellent communicator whose ascent to power was entirely in-line with her abilities?

There will be lots of nasty stories about Johnson now, Peppa Pig is the least of it. But he had his moments, they were just outweighed considerably by the low points.

His speech at the UN was dire. A kind of word salad.

They said Truss made Starmer look like Mr Charisma, but Sunak definitely has his uncanny valley moments too: twitter.com/johnestevens/status/1584563803957534720

I can't be bothered with Liz Truss and was amazed she became PM. Rory Stewart has teamed up with Alistair Campbell on an anti Brexit mission and they seem to be doing it in quite a nasty way. I'm anti Brexit myself btw.
Rory seems to be hailed as a hero on here but I see him as bitter ex MP.

@SleeplessInEngland - as I say it is a weakness. We won't get a lot of expositions from him!

I guess we’ll find out more on Wednesday in PMQs

He knows his stuff so he should be able to give decent answers, his MPs seemed to cheer at the announcement so instead of stony face a la Truss PMQ he could have them on his side

"Rory seems to be hailed as a hero on here but I see him as bitter ex MP."

I see him as an extremely intelligent man , who speaks common sense and is centrist in approach, rather than the right wing UKIP cabal that are the current Tories.

A counterpoint to Brexonomics is badly needed. A look at the reality of the situation I suppose. I don't think Sunak has either the will or the balls to do this. And therein might lie a continuing mess no matter what he does.

Some were promoted far beyond their capability just because they agreed with and supported Brexit without question. The good and clever people were silenced.

He'll sit in the Lords surely?

As the Lord of Misrule.

I think a 'boring' PM is excellent. Even better paired with a 'boring' leader of the opposition.

It's exactly what we need - people who do the job without drama.