The Westministenders / Media Baron Hunger Games continues. Who is trying to outmanoeuvre who?

[RedToothBrush]

Don't worry we've all lost track.

In the Blue Corner
It started out with Cameron and Osborne trying to win the battle of the Tories, but they got stung in a UK wide vote. Some of us thought it was about the 'EU'. Instead it has turned out it was an internal Tory Bitch fight between some old Oxford and Eton mates, whilst for others a protest vote at being disenfranchised.
Gove and Johnson stabbed Cameron & Osborne in the back to run for Team Leave. Then they won when they didn't expect to. And there was no Plan. Uh Oh. Then it all started to go really wrong.
Cameron quit in disgust. Johnson went all President Churchill, before he also got stabbed by Gove (possibly with the assistance of the dark influence of Osborne).
We now have a Tory Smackdown with the shadowy influence of the Media Barons in the background.

#Team Gove has been doing their best with the knives. This is a mission to stab as many Tory MPs in the back as possible in order to become PM. Sponsored and supported by Murdoch

#Team Leadsom has been selling more unicorns and trying to pretend her CV and tax return are completely transparent. Think positive and the economy will be just fine. She is the homeopathy of politics. Sponsored and supported by Arron Banks, Leave.eu, UKIP and Britain First.

#Team May has been threatening to deport everyone if the EU don't play nice. Sponsored and supported by The Daily Mail's Dacre

In The Purple Corner
Tragically, it appears that not only do UKIP have a Plan A, they also have outwitted everyone by having Plan B. Yes that’s right TWO plans.
Farage has swanned off –sacked—for a life on CBB so they are looking for a new leader.
The potential candidates are all equally loathsome. They include Arron Banks himself, a suspended member of the party and several other people with an uncanny ability to put their foot in their mouths.
If this wasn't horrible enough, Team Leadsom is increasingly starting to look like a UKIP take over bid of the Conservative Party, which might be a neat way of avoiding a leadership battle of their own considering the quality of the candidates on offer.

In short, its a bit like a Bad Dystopian Movie that invokes Godwin, set in 2016 Westminster. Except its real.
In the Red Corner
Meanwhile the WMD has finally gone off in the Labour Camp, as Chilcot has been published. However the Chicken Coup rattles on regardless.

Corbyn is STILL clinging on, putting in a good claim for the Westminster 'Charlie off Casualty' Award. He has however had his Big Moment in the Commons. Which was a bit of a let down really. ...

The Unions have been trying to talk some sense into everyone. Meanwhile everyone else is has given up and are now just praying for a ruddy miracle to end this torture and give the country an opposition party.

Angela Eagle is still outside for the 5th day in a row, going "I will stand. Soon. If he doesn't quit" The BBC now qualify for a discount deal at the local Travel Lodge.

We FINALLY know who the fuck Owen Smith is! He's a Welsh MP and sounds like he's not completely away with the political fairies.

George Galloway appears to be trying to make a late bid to be included on the ballot paper for any leadership election.
Bliar's cried. We didn't. Chilcot took over 2 million words to tell us everything we already knew. As well as the fact that Mi6 like Nicholas Cage a lot.

The Cult of Momentum are still worshiping their Dear Leader by sending death threats to PR companies they suspect of disloyalty. Somehow they still manage not to get the title of the most vile pressure group in the UK.

And I suppose I should ask, when will a50 be triggered....? And by whom?

All these questions and more.
Tin foil hats now available upon request

Sense of humour compulsory. No experience necessary though

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/2670552-Has-Boris-been-outmanoeuvred?pg=1 Previous thread 1

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/2672388-Has-Boris-been-outmanoevered-Will-someone-please-tell-me-who-is-in-charge Previous thread 2

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/a2673982-Have-Boris-and-Jeremy-been-stabbed-in-the-back-Please-can-we-have-some-leaders Previous thread 3

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/2675432-Boris-outmaneovered-Et-tu-Gove-Corbyn-The-Westministenders-Hunger-Games-Continues? Previous thread 4

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/2678198-The-Westministenders-Hunger-Games-continues-Boris-still-trying-not-to-be-outmanoeuvred Previous thread 5

There's something appallingly Sarah Palin-esque about Loathsome, isn't there I also think she could well win.

Sarah Palin UK style? Terrifying.

but leave yourself just enough wiggle room to portray yourself as a victim of media smears.

But surely you can only get away with one or two 'media smears' before you just start looking incompetent?

My only hope is that the Tory membership is sexist enough and conservative enough that the "mum" and "fresh face" discourse won't work on them.

Adding to the list of "things I never thought I'd say"...

an attempt to position her as Brexit’s Bisto mum
Yes and this makes her dangerous. How can a woman possibly been that bad and horrible. Look at her smiling. Ooops silly me. You bad people making me out to be so awful.

And yes I agree the Times will live to regret playing to that. They don't know how to handle a woman because they are being tripped up and having their own sexism effectively used against them in a way on this one.

The trouble is that anything against Leadsom is perceived to be a move by May too. Even though May has nothing at all to do with it, and in fact is really the 'victim' of the piece.

The EU referendum did a lot of flipping things on its head as a preemptive to neutralise criticism. I think we will see a lot of it here again. Playing the card as the innocent victim whilst being the one who has done the attacking. Its a nasty double move.

Its one only available to the 'underdog' too.

But surely you can only get away with one or two 'media smears' before you just start looking incompetent?

No, you just look more and more like a plain-spoken outsider being hounded and victimised by "the establishment". To your supporters, at least. Sarah Palin built an entire career on this...

Actual positive press about JC.

www.independent.co.uk/voices/jeremy-corbyn-prime-minister-iraq-war-chilcot-inquiry-labour-party-mps-coup-a7125311.html

www.independent.co.uk/voices/chilcot-report-jeremy-corbyn-labour-party-leader-iraq-war-inquiry-tony-blair-a7123096.html

If in a few week's time we end up with Leadsom in charge, would it be better to have a general election - downside would be more limbo, risk of another mad result, politicians in chaos and in no state to campaign - or just let her get on with it?

Gove did the same thing actually.

He said something about scientists and them being Nazis. Then apologised and withdrew the comment. But the idea had been planted in people's heads by them. It suggests that the side that is starting to look a lot like Nazis is the good guys and the other side are really the Nazis. Its subversive. Mind control games.

Gove's comment was intended and deliberate and he probably knew why he was saying it at the time.

While I think these tactics work, I don't think AL has it in her to maintain a balance for what is essentially 2 months (from today).

(I think that there would be a point where public demand for a general election backed by MPs would make it impossible to avoid, whatever the constitution says)

Bread - that Marina Hyde article is a gem

“She has steel,” blethered Iain Duncan Smith, “but there is a velvet glove of compassion.” Oh Iain! God knows I’ve learned to manage my expectations as far as IDS is concerned. But I would like a secretary of state who understood a basic despot metaphor before he accidentally deployed it.

😂😂😂

Alright. I'm placing a bet here. 1p (small token bet obviously) says that we see comments from someone related to AL's campaign echoing this as a good thing in light of national security in the next 24 hours.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/muslims-fined-8000-wearing-burkas-niqab-switzerland-ticino-islamic-dress-a7124586.html

Yes and this makes her dangerous. How can a woman possibly been that bad and horrible. Look at her smiling. Ooops silly me. You bad people making me out to be so awful.

It's the Mrs Umbridge 'little me' pink kittens tactic. It's a gamble because you're either going to win people over or make them vomit.

Hopefully she doesn't have the skill to pull it off over several weeks, yes.

Sarah Palin started off looking really good to a lot of people, but within a few weeks of intense scrutiny had become a liability for McCain.

AfD in Germany are pros at these tactics too, but one of them went way too far recently, beyond plausible deniability, and it appears to be really damaging them.

Maybe there is hope...

How can a woman possibly been that bad and horrible.

No. How can a Mum?

A childless woman, on the other hand, is an unnatural monster.

Watch the other threads and the linking of TM to "political correctness".

That looks deliberate to me.

My worry is starting to be like this.

If Leadsom tries to do something the rest of the party don't like immediately after the leadership election, what happens

1. They HAVE to support her for the sake of the party
2. They don't support her and you have a situation where the party members have just voted her in, but the MPs do something different - thus they then look out of touch and members are up in arms and Leadsom's MP supporters look amazing. A rebellion could then trigger a GE. The potential for a split in the party is quite high at this point. Then what happens at a GE a) Do we then see mass defections of MPs to UKIP whilst Tory membership who are disillusioned by the MPs turn Kipper. Or b) The party stays together and the disgruntled Tory Membership turn Kipper and rush to great the new leader of UKIP come charging in with his St George Standard to save them all from these out of touch MPs who didn't stick by the leader they just elected? The new leader potentially being Arron Banks himself.

BIG PROBLEM. BIG BIG PROBLEM.

Gove's comment was intended and deliberate and he probably knew why he was saying it at the time.

On the bright side, he/Sarah didn't turn out to be brilliant tacticians after all. (Clutching at straws).

It's the Mrs Umbridge 'little me' pink kittens tactic. It's a gamble because you're either going to win people over or make them vomit.

Exactly this! JK Rowling, fountain of all wisdom.

Ginger bet noted, and it's a pretty safe one I suspect... AL has already written on her blog about the topic, bemoaning PC-ness and asking "what is wrong with face-to-face communication." We can guess where she stands.

I think one thing that works very much in TM's favour is that her article, in which she states she wanted children and they tried but were unable to, came out first. It can in no way be stated she was responding to AL's comments. As TM indicated she wanted children but couldn't have them, she appears as someone who wanted to be a mum but sadly was unable to.

This alone will put a bit of a hard edge on AL's comments. If TM had said she'd never really wanted to be a mum, the spin would have been utterly different. AL's comments WILL offend some, simply because it was poor timing and judgement on her part. If she'd made those comments prior to TM's article, it would have been better timed. But now it just looks like "kicking TM when she's down" especially in light of the fact that it came out within a week of TM's article.

It's the Mrs Umbridge 'little me' pink kittens tactic.

We have a local counsellor who does it. Except based on her age. She's a total dragon. She's possibly been caught out doing very dodgy things. Been raised in the local press that there is an issue to answer. Trying to nail her on it though... No one has managed it yet.

She got more votes than anyone else at the last local election.

I suspect some MPs are supporting Leadsom because they think they can run rings around her.

Very very true Ginger.

May needs to keep doing that. Set her own agenda - try and be ahead of what Leadsom might do.

Therefore if EHCR is a potential poison May needs to tackle it first BEFORE Leadsom tries to.

The second May starts playing to Leadsom's tune that's it. Game over. She definitely needs to forge her own path.

I suspect some MPs are supporting Leadsom because they think they can run rings around her.

I suspect Arron Banks thinks he can influence her, that's for sure.

Hopefully, Ginger.

But there's a strain of that "positive thinking" thing that seeks to blame any misfortune on the sufferer.

"You make your own luck."

"If yiu want things enough, you make them happen."

"She could have adopted if she really wanted to be a Mummy."

"Her career got in the way. That's the real reason."

"We can't say these things because of PC."