I think I am in love with Charles Walker

[WannabeMrsWalker]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-63320605

All I know of him is this two minute video, but, By God, what a man. Just loved the way he expressed himself. Kept his voice calm and moderated, and used his words to powerfully convey his meaning and emotion. No angry voice, no raised voice, no aggressive body language, no foot stomping. Bet he never slammed the door on his way out. Just used words to strongly convey meaning (without swearing too).

I think I am in love. I want him to be my children's Father. What excellent modelling of how to handle and express your feelings when you are livid.

I'm genuinely going to use this video to show my boys what they (and I!) should be aiming for in how we convey our angry feelings.

And I agreed with what he said. Which helps.

I'm in love. He's my new crush.

I'm not sure... that eerie calmness whilst being so livid gives me a hint of the serial killer vibes 😂

My mate just said we should call this the Charlie Phwoaarker sub-forum

Not sure, he seems cross but perhaps that he never made it as a minister and now he knows the Tory's are out.

Never voted Tory in my life, never would.

Found the calm righteous anger quite sexy though, so glad someone else said it.

I am very far from being a Tory voter and cannot physically bring myself to fancy someone who is, let alone a Tory MP.

However I have to concede that his composure in that video was impressive. Almost majestic.

And now I have to go and throw up a little from the shame 😣

Agree totally. I’d snog him but still vote Labour. Honestly some people get their pants in a twist. Back in my day, National union meetings were rife with cross party shagging. All the better for it I say. Nothing like a grateful Tory fully appreciating a Marxist…

agree op- you can't fake authenticity and Walker has it in spades in this interview

it reminds me of Alan Johnson in the following- he means every word he says, and he says it well

Although I disagreed with him on the fact there shouldn’t be lockdowns, I remember at the time his calm dignity in highlighting the affect they had on mental health and that that should not have been ignored.

We do need more politicians who can state their position passionately and reasonably. It’s not too much to ask, is it?

I couldn’t agree more! Absolutely the world would be a better place with more of this!

I really find it genuinely quite disturbing all that ‘never kissed a Tory’ nonsense. Or those people who put on their dating profiles ‘ if you voted for Brexit we won’t get on’. It’s so othering, so divisive. And it’s only one way. I’ve never seen a Tory say similar about Labour voters, or Brexiteers say similar on their dating profiles about Remainers. I really think those on the left who think like this need to reflect on that.

And I don’t vote Conservative and I voted remain, just in case anyone thinks I only have my arse on because of my shrunken potential shagging pool.

Nah I have to disagree there, I couldn't start a relationship with a committed Conservative as we would fundamentally disagree on so much. Fine with friends etc though.

Did you miss the piece at the end of his speech were he said all his fellow MPs were worried about their salaries etc.

If he was genuinely concerned about the ordinary person I would find it more attractive.

I think you've set the bar low but each to their own.

No!! He can only speak so freely as he will never ever ever lose in Broxbourne.

And if you’re reading this Broxbourne council, Charles did not get back to me about the polio vaccine not being available to children in Brox even though we share polio infested drinking water with Enfield and some of the children here go to school there!

He was quite appealing in that clip, and seemed authentically angry, but my two problems were the strong sense that I got that he was motivated by:
a) I've been an MP for seventeen years and no one's ever offered me a ministerial office
b) obviously it's sad that ordinary people can't pay their leccy and mortgages but now it's getting serious! Conservative MPs might lose their jobs and be unable to pay their mortgages!

He said they are worried about paying their mortgages. Unsure why you think MPs should be the only group in society immune from the worry of losing their homes if they lose their jobs? Perhaps you think that the only people to become politicians should be those who are inherited wealth millionaires who use it as a way to fill that tricky time in-between Eton and Death, like David Cameron did?

There was plenty Mr Walker said about the concern his fellow MPs have about the situation their constituents are in, its dishonest to edit that out of your narrative to fit your argument.

And actually the points CW made are serious ones we really have to start addressing if we want to attract high calibre people into politics again. Becoming a politician does not pay that well compared to a lot of jobs that highly intelligent, capable and hard working people can get. Its a lot of work to get a seat that you have chance of winning. Its highly insecure work, especially with the near collapse of 'safe' seats. When CW said ' there is nothing as Ex as an EX MP' he was right. Being a bog standard MP is not a job with as many transferable skills as a lot of other jobs. And everyone hates you. I think this combination of factors is resulting in us getting the (low grade) politicians we deserve given the context we have created for politicians to operate in. I think we have to face to this. Because the people we are attracting to politics now seem to be ideologues (such as Truss), activists (such as Corbyn) and rich kids for whom it is a hobby (such as Cameron). None of these groups are the people we should want ruling our country.

I think that is unduly cynical. For many of the reasons I outlined in my last post.

Also. When he made the point about never being a minister I think he was saying that he had no skin in the game in that regard and was wanting to reflect what ordinary bank benchers who care about the country and party, and not just their personal career ambitions, think. He later went onto to elaborate that point quite extensively and passionately. So I think my interpretation there has credence.

As for the mortgages thing, as I said, he did talk about how MPs care about their constituents. And its surely not unreasonable, when talking about the impact of this mess on his party, to talk about the impact on his colleagues. Surely most of us would think like this if our employer is fucking up and ours and our colleagues jobs could be lost? Many working people pay into unions to make exactly this sort of advocacy on their behalf after all.

In fact I think posts like this and the previous are part of the problem. This virulent dislike of MPs so that all their motivations are seen through this selfish, self serving lens. That attitude is hardly going to attract people into politics, is it?

Look until he says yeah, Broxbourne children are at risk of polio too and need vaccinating in a methodical way; just as all children in Enfield are being vaccinated. In some cases these children live opposite sides of the road from each other. Almost next door.

I just ain’t snogging him.

Think of him with polio. That’ll put you off.

Charles…. Call me ✔️

The main thrust of his argument was that he was cross the party and his mates might suffer. Not the country, his colleagues. Tells you all you need to know really.

he was very articulate and passionate, but the words betrayed him.

I don't have a problem at all with his comment about MPs mortgages. It reminds us that there are many MPs of all parties who are from normal backgrounds and aren't a part of the nepotism he describes. We know about the big names with their books and their consultancies and their newspaper columns. There are many more who don't court that sort of thing and are virtually unknown outside their own constituency. It doesn't make them shit MPs.

He's a conservative. He thinks a conservative government is in the best interests of the country. He is angry the party has imploded, will lose the election and seats.

Now tell me any other MP of any other party wouldn't be equally as furious if an incompetent leadership destroyed their party and lost them the government?

No, no, no! Don't get sucked in.

He was almost tearful at the awful damage caused to his beloved party - but he did not mention the damage done to our country.

And he's sat on those backbenches, voted again and again with the government and enabled these mendacious people in Downing St to trash everything we once held dear.

If he had an ounce of scruple or principle he would have given up the Tory whip months, if not years ago.

@WannabeMrsWalker "its dishonest to edit that out of your narrative to fit your argument"

There is no dishonesty and no argument!!!!

I have to hand it to you. You've gone all it, fully committed!!

I now have Tammy Whynette's Stand by Your Man playing in my head 😂

Dear Lord, just play the video back and hear it for yourself. It’s there.

He was almost tearful at the awful damage caused to his beloved party - but he did not mention the damage done to our country

I can’t help feeling this post fails to understand what being a politician is. If you are a politician, damage to your party which means they can’t govern, is damage to the country. As you passionately believe your party is better for the country and your opposition party will be terrible for the country. Damage to your party and country are kinda synonymous.

You may believe that his party is bad for the country, but that’s a different argument altogether ( ie one about outcomes rather than intentions and motivations).

Absolutely agree and had to laugh at your description of him being a Grade A Rentagob Wanker. You're right. And they are all and have been self serving wankers. I'm lucky that I have a great Labour MP (Sir Alan Campbell, Tynemouth constituency)

With regard to the Tories, I've perhaps set my bar low in so much that anything other than a far right nut job is worth listening to. Not quite true, but the altruist in me would like to believe that even some conservative MP's went in to politics for the good of the country rather than for their own ego's. It is becoming less so now more than ever, sadly.

The reality is that the moderates within the Tory party are long gone. I guess I just took some solace in the fact that he (and other backbenchers) today said that the party was poisoned beyond the point of no return.

Yes, it's most likely to save their own skins. At best, I know I'd rather some of the better ones would cross the floor. At worst, I'd like to see the party extinct.

I saw this clip earlier and they didn't say who he was and I really wanted to find out, so thanks for starting this thread op!