Little Rishi is the new boss. Yay. Apparently, before Mordaunt dropped out, the 50 ish strong One Nation group of (moderate) Tory MPs had declined to nominate anyone, just saying that they would support whoever wins. It would be hypocritical of a convinced abstainer like me to have a pop here, but I suspect that there will be many people, both Tory party members and members of the broader electorate, who would really like to have a vote on who will be Prime Minister and will be rather confused that elected party members declined to have a preference. Odd.
There's been a lot of oddness since Boris Johnson resigned. An unprecedented time. I'm thankful it didn't go to members today, I'm sure they'd have gone for Mordaunt, who is comparatively lightweight. Sunak is incredibly bright, is blooded in government at the centre and was right on the economy when Truss was wrong. Sunak v Starmer will be serious, dull and what is needed now. The next two years will be interesting. We know we and most of the world are in for a pretty bumpy ride.
First person to be a practising follower of a religion other than Christianity as PM (Disraeli was a convert), and on Diwali too. He’ll be able to have a good chat with Charles ‘defender of the faiths’ III about rebirth and karma.
News presenter Martine Croxall taken off air by the BBC for celebrating when Boris pulled out of the leadership contest. Good.
Maybe India will be watching this and hopefully learning something from it ! Is there any chance of an Indian Christian or a Muslim being elected Prime Minister in India under the present setup of a Hindu Nationalist Government there - which is almost Fascist in some of its rhetoric ? Questions have been asked about whether Sunak is suitable for this job but they have all been along the lines of whether he is too rich and privileged, or whether he actually has any contact to working people, or about issues of tax avoidance - but nobody has expressed any problem with him being a Hindu. In India his religion would be the first question asked - questions such as tax avoidance or contact to normal people wouldn't figure at all there ! So they need to learn a few lessons on multiculturalism from us.
I don’t think we’re in much of a position to lecture anyone on democracy or how to elect governments.
I wasn't making any comments about British democracy (or lack of it) just making a statement about British 'openness'. Unfortunately the British political system is geared towards producing 'majorities' which don't represent the wishes of the electorate and then giving them immunity for a whole 5 years if that majority is large enough. The nature of the beast is that even if 80% of the population and all the opposition (and the King himself) all want a new general election to get rid of this rabble, none of that makes any difference. To end this fiasco of a place in number 10 becoming like a round of musical chairs it would be necessary for a very large number of Tory MPs to rebel in parliament and thus put their own jobs on the line.
The multi millionaire, knight of the realm, Sir Kier is apparently going to attack Rishi Sunak on account of his wealth.
For my sins I know a fair few Tory Party members. All of the ones I know are pleased it didn't go to members and I can see why - it's extremely hard to govern with the mandate from your members, but not the parliamentary party. We (the country) and they (Tory Party) need a period of stable leadership. Boring would be good for a bit. Strong MP mandate for one leader is the best hope for that. I feel very relieved today. Feels like the nightmare is finally over.
But if both the Parliamentary party and the members backed the same candidate surely the mandate, such that it is, would be stronger? Don’t your, doubtless urban liberal elite Tory member friends trust the grassroots in the Shires? Let’s put some metrics on the nightmare being over. What would yours be?
Johnson and Truss set the bar so ridiculously low that I can understand having someone who can both string a sentence together and probably not crash the economy in a week feeling like relief. He’s still a right wing Tory though fortunately one of the brighter ones.
Ha, yes, fair point on my friends mostly being London and on the liberal end! Not all, but most. Good question. Watford is right - the bar is low. I mostly want someone who will deal in reality, get one or two major policy changes through on something like social care funding (as opposed to vacuous promises about levelling up or 40 new hospitals), and manage the economic challenges competently. Above all, I'd like to see more integrity, which fell off the cliff in the Johnson era.
Clutching at straws now. Starmer and wife have an estimated net worth of £7.7m, and anyone who has had a house in Camden for sometime will have several million in property alone. He was a QC at a young age, doubtless with commensurate earning, but probably not as much as Geoffrey ‘two jobs and I turn up to the one that pays’ Cox. This is just above 1% of Mr and Mrs Sunak’s wealth, and none of it was inherited. He was knighted for services to the law for his time as DPP.
