Westministenders: Oh No Not Another One. Thread that is.

[RedToothBrush]

In this edition of Westministers we play a game of ‘Where are they now?’

In June 2016 our screens were subjected to the sight of a number of particularly vocal MPs who participated in debates and stood on soap boxes to talk about the referendum.

The most noticeable of these for Leave were perhaps Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Andrea Leadsom, Gisela Stuart, Nigel Farage, Priti Patel and Kate Hoey. For Remain it was David Cameron, George Osborne, Jeremy Corbyn, Ruth Davidson, Sadiq Khan, Nicola Sturgeon, Nick Clegg and Tim Farron.

It is starting to seem that anyone involved in campaigning either for or against Brexit in June 2016 has faced an epic battle for survival. Just how long can they last before being defeated or conceding defeat.

David Cameron’s scalp was the first to go, as he swanned off leaving everyone to clear up his mess.

Boris Johnson, who was keen to stamp his mark and pitch for the leadership by stitching up Cameron, got stitched up by Michael Gove who also lost his own bid for leadership as a result.

Johnson, of course, still lives to fight another day by getting a nice job as Theresa’s whipping boy. He’s occasionally let out by himself, but its Michael Fallon who does the ‘Grown Up Business’. He was said to be one of the last to support an early election. I can’t think why that might be.

Poor old Gove is now confined to a straight-jacket, the back benches where he’s been told to think about what he’s done like a naughty school child and a column in the Times

Andrea Leadsom was sent to a field of cows never to be seen again except to pop up for the odd cameo line shouting about ‘Jam’.

Queen Theresa also dealt with the other Conservative Leader Leave Candidate Mr Liam Fox, by shipping him off to every dodgy corner of the global to get pampered by state hostility.

Stephen Crabb simply crawled back under his rock.

The announcement of the General Election seems to be like the major soap incident episode where half the cast get killed off by a totally unrealistic disaster because their acting contracts weren’t being renewed.

The quitters and abdicators who now have legged it at the sight of a General Election are Gisela ‘Champion of the Brexit Bus’ Stuart and Nigel ‘Too chicken to be defeated for an eighth time and risk losing my nice EU pension’ Farage. George Osborne took the advice of his school teachers and had another career to fall back on when he didn’t become successful in his first choice.

Its rather starting to look like the curse of being a leading Brexiteer is to be made to disappear off the face of the earth or fuck off when the going gets tough. Have you seen Priti Patel lately? Does she even still exist? And Chris Grayling? He was convinced he was going to get chancellor when he supported May in her bid for the leadership.
Instead he got packed off transport and disappeared off the face of the earth much to the annoyance of everyone caught up in the rail strikes.

The only one who is remotely visible seems to be David Davis and is like May’s pet poodle who just tries to please his owner.

It’s almost like the only one still standing or hasn’t been banished is Kate Hoey. And the Lib Dems are trying to work on that one and make her sink beneath the waves, on board her Alan Partridge Titanic once and for all.

Conversely the visible Remainers seem to be – on the face of it - fairing rather better at the moment.

Sadiq Khan is hugely popular and actually does his job rather than fannying about on zip wires. Ruth Davidson is also well respected and apparently has saved Priti Patel’s job from abolition. If the rumours are to be believed bored with scrapping with Nicola, she might be lining herself up for ‘Big Things’ in Westminister. Cameron’s one time love interest, Nick Clegg hasn’t shaken the tarnish of the coalition but he is enjoying a new reputation as the Brexit Soothsayer and some people actually know who Tim Farron is now, which is progress. Nicola Sturgeon is of course riding high and seems to be a permanent thorn in Theresa’s side.

Jeremy ‘I’m a Remainer, honest comrades’ Corbyn is the one who seems to be something of a walking disaster area yet is also thriving with it like a zombie who just keeps going regardless of what you throw at him.

And then of course there is Queen Theresa. The Remainer. Who has crushed everyone in her party. Not just the saboteurs. Even her supposed ally Hammond and BBF Rudd have been thrown under the bus at her wimb when its suited May personally.

The General Election now sets a new scene and opportunity for new characters to emerge. Now the rats have left the ship or been put in their place.

Will May set course to the left or to the right or simply plow on like a bull in a china shop?

Anyway I’m now looking forward to the shocking soap opera moment where your favourite hero or villain gets killed off in a twist you didn’t see coming. Role on June 8th. If only to get pass the upcoming horror of the next six weeks.

oddly getting rid of tuition fees might save money (but really be a cut to university funding so fewer uni places)

Here's an article about scrapping tuition fees....(£10 billion cost) funded by 2.5% increase in corporation tax or 7% increase in National Insurance for those that earn over £50,000

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/21/labour-ruled-tories-real-extremists-slogan-amid-fears-could/

It will be interesting to read the manifesto in due course and see what's made it in and what hasn't....and how it's going to be funded

pretty - forgotten... or blocked out the trauma of it ?

Two, that's a very long list of things JC is funding...he's dead set on unpicking all of the new labour legacy. More change for the university sector isn't where i'd start.

Free tuition hasn't worked out well for the SNP - they've capped numbers to make it affordable, meaning more Scottish students than ever not getting in. Perhaps labour should learn from that.

oh yes free tuition fees have been mentioned as part of the 'national education service' of cradle to grave free education :)

Just doing my local research, labour were second in my area last time in a tory area (since 1950), but that was after lib dem rout, seeing how low labour votes are in my town, explains a lot!

www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/homepage.html

My favourite tweet today

Matt Forde‏*@mattforde*
This whole UKIP veil argument is simply misunderstood. They like faces. They're facists.

TUC: Workers Rights Improved by the EU

Anyone who thinks / claims the EU didn't improve UK workers' rights, should read the TUC assessment:

https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/UK%20employment%20rights%20and%20the%20EU.pdf

Or the Indie's summary:

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/brexit-latest-news-10-ways-eu-protects-british-workers-rights-in-danger-european-union-a7531366.html

"According to the House of Commons Library, a “substantial component” of workers’ rights in the UK comes from EU law."

Uk govts fought hard to resist some of these rights, e.g. equal paid holidays etc for agency staff
The EU"red tape" the Tories want to Brexit, to get rid of, include many of these rights.

Anyone on the left who is considering voting Tory to push through Brexit - to improve conditions for the the lower paid / temp workers:

Are these rights likely to be increased or reduced by PM Theresa May and her successors as Tory PM ?

With the Labour meltdown and the voters' hard swing right, the Tories may be in power another 10-15 years.
If you happy to contribute to this, then fine.

Tweet of the week, Hashi

To be honest I don't think scrapping tuition fees is helpful if you don't also have a bursery system. If there is no bursery you leave students with the problem of having to pay living costs either through a loan or working a lot (which disadvantages poorer students whose parents can't support them). Students who are put off by a loan for fees will also be put off by a loan for living costs. It doesn't actually achieve anything except make a nice sound bite.

On the other hand I do often wonder just what the return is going to be on student loans in the end. I certainly know plenty of people who will probably never pay back their loan. I'm about to get a second one and do not ever expect to pay it back on what I will be earning after I graduate, it may as well be a bursary.

With the Labour meltdown and the voters' hard swing right, the Tories may be in power another 10-15 years.
If you happy to contribute to this, then fine.

I am just waiting for the complaints to start " we didn't expect this". Why not? You only have to examine what recent Tory policy has been.What will make them change?

It all happened once going to uni was no longer 6% of the population, but 50%

As one of the 6%, with a v poor mum (disabled widow), my fees were paid and I received a grant for living expenses.
I was already under pressure not to go to uni - ideas above my station ! - so I would NEVER gone to uni if that had meant taking a loan.
When you grow up very poor, then all the time debt / loans are demonised as the Road to Hell.

I left uni with BSc, MSc & PhD, with no debt, in fact with savings from holiday jobs.
Now, I'd never have that chance

When I started work, my degrees gave me an advantage
Now, not having a degree is a massive DISadvantage
Supply and demand

The poorest kids - who don't have family money for internships, or useful connections to help get that brilliant job - are forced into debt.
The wealthy kids don't need to take out loans. They have no debt and will receive huge gifts and inheritances.

The social divide is worse than ever, even before people start their careers
It stinks.

DT: Marine Le Pen is now pretending she is a force for good, not a grubby fascist. She won’t fool anyone

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/25/marine-le-pen-now-pretending-force-good-not-grubby-fascist-wont/

"When Marine Le Pen takes to primetime TV to distance herself from the Front National, you know that there is something very wrong with French fascism.

Until Monday night, the far-Right populist and her family party were as one – both symbols of a uniquely brutal nationalism steeped in hatred."

"Le Pen is using cheap semantics to try and fool the unaffiliated into thinking that she means more than the FN:

a party traditionally driven by racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and political violence.

"The FN was in fact started by bitter ex-colonialists furious at the way he [De Gaulle] let Algeria slip out of the French Empire."

"Many also expressed nostalgia for the wartime Vichy regime that collaborated with the Nazis"

"Le Pen evoked such dark affiliations this month when she denied her countrymen were responsible for some of the worst acts of the Holocaust
– a lie that provoked outrage among Jewish groups, not least of all senior members of the Israeli government."

They were equally concerned that some of Le Pen’s closest friends and party colleagues were portrayed in well-sourced documentaries and a new book as Neo-Nazis and Hitler aficionados."

"Paris courts have continually ruled that we can in fact refer to her as a fascist."

"Those contemplating a vote for a “non-FN Marine” on May 7th should consider this as,

just 73 years after the German Nazis left France, Le Pen’s odious party^ tries to sneak itself into the Elysée Palace."^

I wonder if that's buyer's remorse with the DT, they were all over MLP on Sunday. BCF.

I also value my education above almost anything I've had in this country. I've paid taxes for over 30 years, so think they've had their money's worth back though. Taxes were so high in the 1980s, for all British workers. And cheap at the price.

Thanks for that great post earlier RTB on theories on where the political landscape may be going, really thought provoking. As an old time socialist, I hope you're wrong! But the extremists do seem to be nicking the best ideas, and adding those popular racist ones too, and destroying socialist parties on the way.

Interesting to look at how the last few local elections have played out in my area. Although it's chronically tory, interesting how the non tory vote has moved between Labour, Lib Dem and UKIP benefitting from lib deb slide in 2015. Now that Paul Nuttalls is Gandhi, it will be interesting to see how they do. Maybe that's why he decided to go on a brief retreat during the press conference earlier this week. Spiritual reasons.

Zac Goldsmith has just proved what a vanity project and waste of time (and taxpayers money) his little tantrum over Heathrow was. He has been reselected - for the Conservatives - who he quit, as the candidate for Richmond Park. Apparently he was reselected by a landslide.

I so agree with you BigChoc. Supposedly Widening access (in many some cases simply by renaming colleges as Unis ) at the same time as introducing student fees and loans and taking away grants has just resulted in the divide widening.

And I say that as someone who was fortunate enough to go to Uni when grants still existed. Because of my parents' income I was on close to the minimum grant (only reason it wasn't the minimum was because they had an enormous endowment mortgage ) but my parents made it up to the full amount.

I was at St Andrews, so I had friends who'd gone to Roedean and/or were really well-off as well as friends who were children of single parents/who struggled for money and were the product of "ordinary" state schools.

In my hall of residence, we all had the same amount to spend as we were all on the same income.

In theory, we all left on the same terms, ie with no debt my best friend even managed to save but then she was one of those super organised people She still is - although some of us were better at managing our money than others

I got my first overdraft facility before starting work after graduating: my lovely bank manager reminded me that I might need a bit extra for a deposit for renting somewhere.

The only real difference was during the summer holidays when most of us had to work (especially if we wanted any sort of holiday) but a few "holidayed"

What do you reckon Red? Will he win it back?

They are crawling out of the woodwork and back as Tory candidates. McVey selected for Tatton. news.sky.com/story/esther-mcvey-selected-for-george-osbornes-former-tatton-seat-10852241

She was vile as a DWP Minister.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/labours-biggest-nightmare-ukip-voters-10302096
Labour's biggest nightmare is UKIP voters switching to Tory - and it looks like it's happening
Jeremy Corbyn could lose up to 60 seats to the Conservatives after a survey showed support for UKIP had collapsed

One Labour source claimed private polling puts support at just 20%, the worst result since the Second World War.

Just mentioned to dh that Paul Nuttall has compared himself to Gandhi . He said, "Well, he's bald..."

I suppose Paul could also have got the fact that Gandhi was a fruitarian and he himself is a fruitcake confused!

What do you reckon Red? Will he win it back?

Do you want the right answer or the one you want to hear?

Well that.

Lib/Lab pact isn't really going to work if it's the switching Ukip-ers' vote that will boost the Cons .

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/26/britain-likely-bound-european-convention-human-rights-2022/
Britain to be bound by European Convention on Human Rights until 2022

But only because Theresa is too busy to deal with it. (and funny how this comes out right before the election).