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

apparently Kinnock gave a "barnstorming" speech last night that fired up the Labour MPs.

It is vital, essential, irreplaceable that the leader has substantial support from those who go to the country and seek to become lawmakers.

When people join the Labour party, they are joining a party committed to the parliamentary road and that makes it crucial to have a leader with majority support of the parliamentary Labour party.

Damn them, this is our party, I have been here for 60 years, I’m not leaving it to anybody.

The problem is that he's preaching to the converted, and arguably making things worse by making it "us" vs "them". Not sure how it'll help find a compromise and heal the party.

I'm not sure I want there to be a GE soon after the election of the new PM. I'd expect to see a collapse in the Labour vote with an increase in the Tory majority in the House of Commons. UKIP would have a surge in its vote and possibly an MP or two. The new PM would feel strengthened in her mandate but would also realise that keeping the energised hard Right on side might be prudent.

I'd much prefer to see a Tory PM who feels she is walking on shifting sands and thus needs to tread cautiously. Unless it's Leadsom of course who would go charging across the minefield while being mindless to the carnage left being in her wake.

Catching up on this mornings Wright Stuff. So far 3 out of 4 callers want Loathsome over May. "she seems level headed" "good to have a new approach"

So, so fucked

www.private-eye.co.uk/issue-1422/hp-sauce

Private Eye on Loathsom.

If the Tories feel that there is a chance of an increased majority for them, they will call an election.
If they think there is a greater chance of losing seats to UKIP, they will not call an election UNLESS it is (please God, no) AL that becomes PM because she clearly has v. strong UKIP backing.
How many Tories are really remainers is not clear…Greens, LibDems, Labour have really got to get their shit together.
Theresa M is being quite reassuring now about we need a PLAN before triggering Article 50 etc but you never know.

tiggy, I think it is still a reasonable expectation that people who voted conservative but also voted remain, that there would be a Leave plan in place which was in line with the party line.

That is not even remotely the case.

There is very clear evidence of mismanagement of the whole situation.

In which case, an election is wholly appropriate.

Reading Private Eye with quotes from civil servants about AL saying she is the worst minister they have ever had - incapable of taking decisions and unable to grasp issues - is preaching to the converted. Is it people 'doing their own research' and 'making their own mind up' that think being 'level headed' is more important than the leader of government having intelligence, ethics or competence? This is beyond tragic...

Lovely Gary Nunn article in the guardian about the need for a Geek fight back which goes neatly into the active discouragement in many areas of people trying to get above themselves or be too clever for their own good.

I agree that the should be s general election but I going there will be now and actually I hope there isn't. If AL gets in, she has 4 years to demonstrate why voting for UKIP is totally stupid while Labour sorts themselves out and becomes an effective and sensible opposition ready for government.

In the meantime AL has to see to rebellions in the HOC general strike and a winter of discontent at the same time as the press become much much more interested in the minutiae of her tax return and phoney CV...

red really not sure that what a GE would deliver…(or rather dread what a GE COULD deliver…). Need BREXIT plans first.

Has she published her tax return yet?

I still can't find any sign of Loathsome's tax return.

In the red corner, AE has said (yes, again) that if Corbyn doesn't run, she'll stand against him.

In the tiny little corner representing a functioning political party in England, the LibDems have gained 15000 new members in the last two weeks.

Eagle at this point sounds like my mother did when she was trying to get my brother to behave as a teenager. She was forever threatening to ground him, or withdraw some privilege, but he paid no attention and she never followed through.

I do agree we do need Brexit plan first then GE.
But we do need a GE.

And yes I do appreciate the Labour Party / UKIP / LD gains argument. I still think it needs a GE to be a democratic mandate regardless of whether that will actually benefit me personally or not.

You make a good argument Tiggytape.

If AL does publish a tax return it'll be a recent one and relatively anodyne. If someone working in HMRC decided to leak earlier ones that would be more entertaining.

How the hell are these divided parties (with both leavers and remainers) going to sort out their manifestos/BREXIT strategies?! Those who voted remain knew pretty much what they were getting but meeting the (varied) expectations of leavers, particularly when they've been lied to (even if some them knew they were being lied to) seems undeliverable?

I really hope the Conservative Party elects Theresa May. It's not going to be a picnic, but I will be even more worried and concerned, if they go for Andrea Leadsom. I don't find her "loathsome" just a bit of a light weight, and I think we need as much experience and gravitas as we can get.

The pro-Loathsome Tory bloke on Daily Politics has investigated his preferred candidate so thoroughly, he just called her Angela.

Is that the chump who was cheerleading that march yesterday?

She's the hedge fund tax avoidance kind of level headed Tory. Maybe she doesn't think that will go down terribly well (suburban mum millionaire etc). She's hiding something. Private Eye will tell us soon no doubt.

citroen - I don't think they are. Whatever solution we end up with, there are going to be huge numbers of people who are pissed off. Ukip voters and the most rabid Eurosceptic Tories will not be happy with anything more than complete withdrawal, the more moderate exiters who would like to stay in the Single Market even if it means paying in and accepting free movement don't want a slash-and-burn exit, and Remainers are probably not going to be happy with much at all.

In short, there are likely to be very few people who are happy with what we end up with. And the mainstream parties will probably pay the price for that. I seriously think that in 5 years time, there is a good chance that both Labour and the Tories will have split, with the far-right of the Tories absorbing Ukip and being funded by Banks, while soft-left Labour move back towards the Lib Dems and hard left Labour go back to being a protest movement.

no, squoosh, it was some local party member from South Devon.

Oh, and SWDevon bloke thought it was fabulous that Loathsome appealed to Ukip voters.