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.

Or maybe a milkshake ?

A fat lot of good an empty lectern will do - it will just goad the Boris faithful into voting for him, accompanied by cries of how badly he was treated. Not that he's a liar and a turd and they should be ashamed to vote for someone who will bring the country into such disrepute.

And bang on cue, this flashes in:

www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/13/f35_alis_us_data_slurping_fears/

TL;DR - all data from the F35 planes data goes back to Uncle Sam. Where it's been, what it's done, who did it and when.

TL;DR#2 - UK has committed countless billions on this project, so has no choice but to take delivery and smile.

Whistles the "Sovereignty March" (which some might think is also called "Liberty Bell" .....)

DGR the US is already unwinding Turkey’s participation in the F-35 programme ahead of the July 31st deadline to halt the supply of the Russian anti aircraft missiles. Servicing of the engines has already been moved:

The DoD also stopped efforts to open a Pratt and Whitney F135 engine maintenance depot in Turkey, she [under-secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment Ellen Lord] adds. Instead, it shifted work to two European facilities. Turkish contractors will gradually be replaced and their contributions will wind down by early 2020.

www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/analysis-turkey-ban-to-wipe-out-20-of-f-35-sales-i-458816/

Looks like the European service centres are in the Netherlands and Norway.

A big reason why I want Rory to stay in the contest as long as possible is that
he is the only one of them so far who is really attacking Boris and his (lack of) Brexit policy.

The other candidates think Boris will win, so noone wants to piss him off and hence rule out being a Cabinet Minister / receiving a more prestigious Cabinet position.

Some candidates are probably only staying in the hope it enhances their chances of Boris deciding they are important enough to promote.

{TL;DR - all data from the F35 planes data goes back to Uncle Sam. Where it's been, what it's done, who did it and when.}

And I believe that all serious servicing is done at an airbase in Turkey(?) rather than on UK soil is an attempt to prevent the UK knowing too much about 'the works' of these jolly expensive US fighter jets.

OK, updated info from Continuity!

@fleetheart, sorry, in my earlier post Boris was shadow higher education minister - this was in 2006 or so.

oops sorry wrong thread

TL;DR - all data from the F35 planes data goes back to Uncle Sam. Where it's been, what it's done, who did it and when.

Hence the UK (amongst others) using the ALIS Sovereign Data Management system (firewall) which has been available since earlier this year?

“I can send them a tub of lard to put on it, if they need it”

A lemon, to match the Orange on the other side of the Atlantic.

Tub of lard is a very niche reference

I know Heseltine was desperate to become PM, but never made it. So it might be possible to stop Johnson....

Better I think would be if he won, immediately called a General Election and lost his seat. Whoops, a Portillo moment.

BCF, I agree. I want Rory to stay in as long as possible for the debate he opens up, more than a real desire for him to be the next PM. There are things he has said and done which led to me to have a long hard 'hmm' over him.

I think that Rory has also managed to do something from taking on Johnson directly too.

Firstly he's taking the heat for doing so. This has enabled the likes of Hunt to take a swipe this morning about 'What would Churchill do?' over the TV debate. Hunt did not want to do the debate and was the last to agree (apart from Johnson). He's trying to play the submarine tactic himself to a large degree. He's hiding behind Stewart in this sense. Stewart is a much better character to compare with Churchill than Johnson, once you scratch the surface - Hunt must not see Stewart as a genuine threat to draw attention to it and that might well be well justified.

Also Stewart because he is enabling a debate and is reaching places that other Tories can not reach, isn't jeapardising his chances of a Cabinet position or future career. He is only enhancing them and potentially setting up a long term direction for the party post Johnson.

I note, he either absoluetely would never serve in a Johnson Cabinet out of principle and doesn't fear that, perhaps playing the long game - or he's put himself in a position where Johnson would be extremely unwise to overlook Stewart as he'd be an asset to his premiership.

None of this is a bad thing in so far as I can see.

On that note, Hancock has now officially withdrawn as a candidate. That HAS to help Stewart.

I keep trying to hold on to the idea that the front runner/most popular has never won a Tory leadership race.

But we don't live in usual times so....

I'm working on the theory that Rory Stewart really wants to be the leader after Boris - if Brexit etc gets even more messed up by Boris, then he can come along with a "this is what I said would happen, I'm here representing the next generation of Tories and I'll reunite the party and appeal to the country..."

Also, is it not possible that if Boris decides to call a GE, he would seek to move to a safer seat? He would get some flak for it, but Boris has a talent for brushing off flak. Presumably, a Boris-supporting MP could even be persuaded to give up a safe seat for him, "for the good of the party / avoiding the potential for another leadership contest".

I know Heseltine was desperate to become PM, but never made it

My memory was that after the shock of Mrs T.s ousting, there was a frenetic "anyone but Hezza" campaign. Which delivered up John Major.

My memories at the time were that older folk detested Hezza. They felt he was a young upstart (!) and needed a haircut. So the level of political debate in the UK has hardly advanced.

There is much I disagree with Rory Stewart about, but he's intelligent, sane and principled, and right now that makes him better than all the candidates for the Tory leadership, better than the current Labour leader, and frankly better than some of the potential candidates for the Labour leadership.

Sad times.

The ERG may get a nasty shock backing boris.

He absolutely could revoke. I've always thought so.

He is without moral compass nor political savvy, despite what the Tory membership think.

He was a disaster as mayor of London.

He backed leave as a remainer as he thought it would help oust Cameron after a remain win.

He dropped out of the last leadership contest after being stabbed in the back by his owner campaign manager.

He was the worst foreign secretary we have ever had.

He is a thundercunt.

And I'm praying enough tory MPs know that/realise that and prevent him becoming PM.

So if Boris wins, presumably we can expect him to call a GE immediately, after all he said about Brown having no mandate.

{A lemon, to match the Orange on the other side of the Atlantic.}

I know a song about 'fruit salad', that is fairly 'niche' to MNetters.

I note, he either absolutely would never serve in a Johnson Cabinet out of principle and doesn't fear that, perhaps playing the long game - or he's put himself in a position where Johnson would be extremely unwise to overlook Stewart as he'd be an asset to his premiership.

It's the latter, according to The Sun. Reporting he reckons he would be the ideal man to deal with the crisis management required if Boris gets No Deal.

www.thesun.co.uk/news/9290996/rory-stewart-boris-johnson-no-deal-brexit/

If Hunt is using Stewart as a foil then I think he is being extremely unwise from his pov. Increasingly he is giving credibility to Stewart whilst people start to talk about him in the same sentence as Gove (ie yesterday's men with plenty in their back catalogue to put off just about everyone)

Ellie I am convinced he will call a GE. However he won't say that right now because he has to manage the politics of convincing his Tory (MP and membership electorate) that if he does so they can win.

This is the other reason Hunt / Gove are behind the curve. They are still trying to pretend they could change the voting in Parliament without a GE.