Westministenders: Hustings and Humilation

[RedToothBrush]

Round 1 has passed.
Boris is winning. But these are the Tories. Surprises might yet happen.

But the chances are the lying buffon is full speed ahead to be the next PM. As long as he manages to keep his mouth shut.

Unfortunately being Prime Minister involves talking. This might prove to be something that bursts the BorisMania rather rapidly.

A GE is still very much on the cards.

And we might face the Constitutional and undemocratic shutting down of parliament to satisfy the Tory Faithless.

Meanwhile the EU couldn't give less shits. They just think we are wasting the time we were granted in good faith.

31st October beckons with No Deal.

Lonely you just need to go into the nitty gritty of that survey to see why it’s like that. It was weighted towards mainly male older southern leave voting members which reflects the Tory membership. It was also conducted before the weekend as they still have the results for Leadsom, McVey etc.

Romesh pointed out RS was manspreading directly at Laura K during his interview so badly his "manifesto" was fully on show. Now I can't unsee it and am in need of brain bleach. She is clearly a better journalist than I would be because I would have had to say "do you mind" in my best disgusted Glaswegian prude while she just left him hangn' and making a of himself.

Don't much fancy a photo op starring Paul M and RS either (shallow I know ).

Interesting that the Scottish Tories are not backing en masse. (Struth for Saj, Mundell for Gove, Paul M for RS, assume Ross Thomson is either Boris or Raab (?))

With YouGov I always feel I am being sifted out when they start asking questions like Do I believe a leader should be willing to break rules. I get the impression I get given a question on Dog food rather than the one on my political beliefs thus skewing there sample in a certain direction.

Richard Tice doing a bit more charity fundraising

Per Guido: Brexit Party Chairman Richard Tice sued SNP MEP Alyn Smith for calling the party “a money laundering front” on live television. Smith put up a bit of a noisy fight at first. His initial defiance waned quickly…

Smith then tried to get away with just issuing a ‘correction of the record’ which he hoped would be enough to make the problem go away. That was not accepted by Tice. Carole Cadwalladr and all the Remainiacs on Twitter making unfounded allegations should take note…

Full grovelling apology here:

“On 27 May 2019 I was interviewed by Sky News. In that interview I stated in the context of political donations that the Brexit Party is a “shell company that’s a money laundering front.” Its Chairman, Richard Tice, is concerned by implication this allegation related to him, although that was not my intention. Having reflected upon this following a complaint from Mr Tice, I apologise unreservedly to him and withdraw my allegation. I am happy to state clearly that I do not have any evidence to support such an allegation. I spoke in the heat of the moment and I am happy to set the record straight. I have agreed to pay a sum in damages to the Help for Heroes charity and I have agreed to pay legal costs.”

YouGov does have trapdoor questions - I have no issue with that, as long as you know that their pool or respondents is artificially pruned to a certain demographic.

What's less excusable is shaping surveys and questions in such a way that an unreal response is recorded - although ultimately it's probably jiggery-pokery like that that meant the 2017 GE polls were so shit (and YouGov were the best).

My bugbear is the classic "Who do you think would make the best PM" with "TM", "JC" and don't know as the only choices. So how can I answer truthfully "neither". Because I fucking well do know.

All of which being said, it was "Yes Minister" - over 30 years ago - that demonstrated how easy polls are to rig. Bearing in mind at Uni I know a lot of paid-for polls were actually filled out in the pub by people (i.e. fellow students) that had been paid to question people in the local town ...

How odd.

The Tories have had TM who was kept out of the limelight during the campaign for the 2017 GE that she called...to the point she sent the recently bereaved Amber Rudd as stand in...

Now they have their great white hope BJ whose "team" are keeping him locked in a cupboard so he can't say anything stupid/racist/misogynist/disablist or be shown up for the cunt he is.

It's almost funny. almost...

blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/parish-councils-engagement/
Parish Councils are a vital space for participatory democracy – but they are in crisis

lamb almost as if they desperately want to get certain people out of the way while they have such a toxic hot potato...

I've obviously been filtered out of YouGov surveys - despite having my settings as "as often as possible".

I'm averaging one (non-prize draw) survey every 3 weeks!

I presume it's a combination of my assertion in previous surveys that "I'm not going to change my mind" - and the coincidental fact that I am only 310 points from getting £50 from them

We don't have parish councils per se in Scotland - at least not in the same way.

Community Councils have tiny budgets: they might get some grants to distribute locally plus a small grant from the "parent" council to cover clerical costs and they have some formal influence on planning & licensing applications and can lobby the council (local authority) but that's about it. There are almost never elections - people tend to be co-opted on and a volunteer is jumped upon with alacrity welcomed. And importantly, they are explicitly non party political.

Any politician making allegations against the super-wealthy Faragists with law firms on tap, should do so using Parliamentary immunity

I don't know if MEPs have this, but if not, then channel via a friendly MP

btw, since Cadwalladr hasn't yet been sued, does that suggest Brexiters don't want all her allegations aired in court ?

iirc, C4 has also broadcast some of Cadwalladr's findings

Only the very wealthy - or someone with a TV channel etc backing them - can afford to defend libel suits against the very wealthy,
even if they have some evidence

UK libel laws are among the strongest in the world
Hence why the wealthy try to bring action against a UK branch of a media outlet, to squash stories

Hence my suggestion of using Parliamentary privilege

prettybird I used to be a Community Councillor. They are pretty toothless, although they are statutory consultees for things like planning.

I ended up resigning in disgust once I discovered that the new chairman worked for the Local Council as a Neighbourhood Officer (he was obviously directing the Community Council towards specific goals) and the planning person was outed as working for a huge (and very greedy) local developer. Neither had declared any kind of professional or commercial interest

Let's just say that the Parish Councillor story strikes a very big chord with people I know.

There is a group who I suspect will take on the parish council, but only after the elderly incumbents have died.

That's how bad things are.

Just heard that the chief cardiologist at Glasgow hospital is moving back to Germany and they don't have a replacement for him.

Hardly worth mentioning that a contract offer worth 25% of my annual earnings has been withdrawn because I had to warn about the effect of Brexit .

Ds1 and I have just been discussing bojo.

He used the term "trogladytic".

Appropriate, I thought.

The NHS is fairly dependent on E27 doctors - as the UK doesn't train enough of them.

Even changing policy and starting now, they take several years to qualify and then train

Specialist surgeons will be particularly hard to replace, as Glasgow Hospital may find

Ouch, the Sorry to hear that
I hope you can find a replacement somehow

Is a pact between the Tories and the Brexit Party just a matter of time - and could Boris survive as PM without one?

Vote Tory, get Farage ?

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/06/17/pact-tories-brexit-party-just-matter-time-could-boris-survive/

{Vote Tory, get Farage ?}
That must be one of the worst '2 for 1' deals ever.

Brussels nicknamed Dominic Raab 'The Turnip' during his disastrous spell as Brexit secretary

No surprise, but at least he did eventually discover Dover !

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/06/17/brussels-nicknamed-dominic-raab-turnip-disastrous-spell-brexit/?lisource=LI&lii_medium=li-recommendation-widget

Dominic Raab’s Brexit negotiating strategy was so wrong-headed he was nicknamed “The Turnip” in Brussels,
EU sources have claimed.*

Brussels sources said that Mr Raab was not the fully-briefed details man or tough negotiator meting out home truths to the EU he claims to be in his Tory leadership campaign speeches.

“The Turnip”, a play on raap, the Dutch word for the vegetable, allegedly "chickened out" when confronted by Michel Barnier over empty threats he made about the Irish border in a “very tense” meeting, according to the insiders.
< as in the documentary >

He'll alway be Roid to me

That's the impression I get Continuityerror - they are pretty toothless and have nowhere near the powers or budgets of some of the English Parish or District Councils. Planning and licencing seem to be about the only statutory requirements - and even that's only that they must be consulted. So in that respect, about on a level of schools' Parent Councils which are required to be consulted if they exist - which itself is not an absolute requirement

Shocking about the undeclared conflict of interest

Red sounds familiar with our Parish Council too. There is a couple of members on it that no one wants to take on because we have to live with them.

Sounds harsh but we just look and think “We’ll you’re not going to be here forever.” A couple of folks on the Parish Council are balanced and fair one uses it as an excuse for ‘sticky beaking’ into other people’s affairs noticeably around planning matters.