To ask if you think there will be a Tory Leadership change before the election

[Fieldofbrokenpromises]

I never thought the Tories would elect Boris as their boss so my crystal ball is fucked.
Do you think the Tories would risk a change of leadership?

I would be very surprised if an election as early as spring. I’d say late 24. The economy is going to keep improving, interest rates going down, they need the time for that to please the public, the tax cuts to hit, before.

Nah... think under any other circumstances Sunak would be toast, but in this instance he will limp on until the next election, with concomitant infighting and backbiting and airing of dirty linen at regular intervals. He looks like he can't wait to ditch the whole mess and get back to his portfolios though, I think he'll leave politics when they lose the election.

I’m not sure either, I can see a few putting their hats in, inc David Cameron.

🤣🤣🤣brilliant and true

I don't think they will go for a new leader before the next election. After all, we've had so many in the last few years. I'd be amazed if they decided to risk it after the ridiculous string of PMs that we've had recently. But who knows, clearly Sunak is floundering. And the Tories seem to have long since lost touch with any kind of normal approach to government.

Personally, I've got the popcorn out and I'm rather enjoying the opportunity to watch the Tory party implode. It's interesting to see it all play out in all its glorious absurdity.

I'm confident that they'll all be out of a job soon enough in any case, but it's quite good fun watching them take each other down.

I think a lot of people also would like to see sunak stay, as it is likely to make a labour victory a little more certain. That doesn’t mean the tories will keep him though.

He’s a positive leviathan compared to most of what they have left in senior positions though.

Would he really be more of an electoral liability than Braverman?

Gravitas and charisma...? Is there anyone in the current Tory party who could meet that brief? Basic competence would be a start, I suppose.

I don't actually think anyone is capable of unifying the Tory party now if I'm honest. The more moderate Tories will never be happy with the extreme right wingers in charge, and vice versa. Even the extreme solution that was Brexit didn't manage to fix the divide that it was meant to heal. Ultimately, the party will clearly have to split.

They should but they won't.

But who could they put in ?

Actually I don’t think there is anyone who meets the brief in any party, I honestly find starmer a wet lettuce. It’s not a great choice.

Jenrick and Braverman for a start. And Badenoch. Looking a grim future, isn't it?

But with Sunak's popularity still sinking they might try a switch, see if the "populist vote" can swing it.

I'm not keen on Starmer either, but that's not what the thread is about.

And frankly, uninspiring as Starmer is, he could wipe the floor with any of the current Tory offerings.

It's all relative!

I don't know. But this country is crying out for a politician who will stand up for what they believe and not just bend whichever way they think is the current populist view. I mean, I am not in any way advocating Farage but at least you know where you are with him and what he stands for, even if you don't agree with him. I find most senior politicians on both sides of the house to be identikit weak-willed jellyfish these days.

How would that play, having the PM in the Lords? I know we've done it before, but that was in different times.

I think the frightening thing is that they know that they have nothing to lose at this point.

I think they renounce their peerage.

No. It would be madness.

Suella is blatantly positioning herself for it after the election though. That's what all this hoo-haa is about.

She needs to understand that having a hard right party will never win an election for the Tories.

She needs to understand that having a hard right party will never win an election for the Tories.

No no no, Braverman should hang onto her delusions about what would win Tories next election. Go Girl, you carry on with your uncompassionate irrational nonsense. Tear your party apart with it. All good outcomes in my eyes.

Starmer was brilliant in PMQ last week. Then again, those lines may have written themselves.

Aren’t they running out of candidates? My prediction is a general election in May with Sunak still as leader. And lots of delicious Portillo moments.

At least they have moved on from But Jeremy Corbyn.

Has they know what a woman is gone out of fashion as well?

The problem for Sunak in that scenario is that he would have to negotiate the car crash that will be the local elections, making a leadership challenge even more likely.

Exactly that. He can’t afford another episode of local election carnage.

I doubt that even the notoriously ruthless Tory party would knife yet another leader, because any likely successor would probably do even worse in the polls than Sunak, and who the hell would even want the job at this stage?

The party now expects to lose next year’s election & lose it badly, no matter who is leader. Rishi will inevitably resign afterwards & probably bugger off back to California, so they are all positioning themselves for the next leadership election. This will decide the future of the Tory party. Will it continue to be a Cameron / May style moderate centre right party? Or will Braverman win & lurch to the Trump-style populist nationalist right?

What I don't understand is why they are all so busy positioning themselves to be the leader of the opposition who loses the general election after next.