DEM not gonna CON dis NATION: Rolling UK politics in the short-lived post-Murdoch era

yesss

one down

hunners of millions left to go

he definitely did not get fired though, because that would make dave look like john major. or something.

Mr Werritty was also was present with Mr Fox on 18 overseas trips, including two family holidays and trips to Singapore, Dubai, Florida , Bahrain, Israel, Washington, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka.

did they go everywhere together?

well there was that implication...

wonder what their conversation is like

nah actually I don't

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/56061000/jpg/_56061833_013151377-1.jpg

word of a possible cabinet reshuffle tonight, apparently

There's an intriguing rumour about the Fox-Werrity relationship (not the nudge-nudge insinuation that's been there from the start)

do tell...

I'm not one for tittle tattle

Oh go on...

The CIA conspiracy bollocks?

No. I assume it's bollocks, tbh.

http://public.images.pressassociation.com/prvw/2.11788334.jpg

lol that is amazing. Poor woman though.

SHE MARRIED LIAM FOX SHE DESERVES EVERYTHING SHE GETS

People threw websites in lieu of confetti!

xp yeah that thought crossed my mind too!

Phil Hammond new Defence Secretary.

Clearly a Murdoch influence:

http://i.imgur.com/ptueW.png

Did we cover Tony Blair helping controversial government of Kazakhstan yet or do we just shrug, think 'how very surprising' and move on to the Guardian shop?

LOL Tories

"Definitely not a disaster" = total disaster.

I always suspected Europe would come back and bite the Tories. On the down side, all this nonsense makes a referendum that bit more likely.

Yeah, when half of your backbenchers defy a three line whip to vote against you that is "definitely not a disaster"

The funny thing is that a row with the French should play quite well with the back benches. It wouldn't surprise me if the Sarkosy argument was staged.

Didn't work though did it? Is there any doubt that the current batch of Tory MPs is the most right wing ever? In spite of Cameron's "reforms".

Though what party isn't "the most right wing ever", tbf

These whips are issued to MPs in the form of a letter outlining the Parliamentary schedule, with a sentence such as "Your attendance is absolutely essential" next to each debate in which there will be a vote, underlined one, two or three times according to the severity of the whip

I did not know this.

hence the phrase "three line whip"

dunno how this is a disaster for Cameron really, he gets his way, his party gets to look hard to the sizeable chunk of the public that wants out of the EU, status quo continues, undemocratic super-state lumbers on

Having the worst ever rebellion by Tory MPs on a European vote, twice as bad as John Major ever managed, doesn't look great on your CV

Esp. if, as it seems to be the case, it's been provoked by your ineptitude and mismanagement

Then to deny there was any sort of issue!

xxp I suppose that a referendum might force the EU to look at the democratic deficit, but surely it could only be a disaster for the UK and (less so) the EU itself? Not saying that the EU is by any means perfect, but engagement is better than some spurious Atlanticist fairy tale, IMO.

in all honesty i'm not sure what's so great about it, and if somebody who sort of gives a shit about lol politics doesn't have a clue then there's a problem for the electorate at large.

the "rebellion" is just woo parliamentary sports fan shit, doesn't make an iota of difference to their electability

But it's the woo parliamentary sports fans (Nick Robinson et al) who frame these stories for the rest of us, and if those guys start thinking "sinking ship" it will come through in news stories, the tone of which I think that can have very serious consequences for a party's electability.

Wishful thinking of course but it's cumulative, it was just 'woo parliamentary sports fan shit' in Major's time too after all

spunking the nation's money up the wall on the ERM with irl economic consequences plus a spate of high profile MPs taking bungs is a bit wider-reaching than college green groupies.

Indeed, took him two terms to get there though, Fatboy's on his way there after one year

i fully understand the desire to want to see everything as a big hole under the waterline but there's zero credible opposition and no prospect of any political solution to problems that the whole of our political system has decided are forces of nature that we shd grimace at and suck up.

at this stage i'm more intrigued by the consensus across all shades of our parliamentary political spectrum that the EU must be saved at all costs. i can see why nutters might think of that as some kind of confederacy of dunces.

These whips are issued to MPs in the form of a letter outlining the Parliamentary schedule, with a sentence such as "Your attendance is absolutely essential" next to each debate in which there will be a vote, underlined one, two or three times according to the severity of the whip

I did not know this.

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 04:06 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Neither did I, I always thought it meant 3 lines of Malcom Tuckeresque eviscera expounding on the doom that would befall an MP who voted against the party line.

i always imagined it was like a cat o' nine tails but with only three tails.

assumed it had something to do with cocaine

Yeah, I remember this.

One line is "be there plz"

Two lines is "Be there, unless you are pairing off with someone voting against, in which case say so and whom.

Three lines is "be there unless you are dying, and even then only if the leader says it's ok"

Got taught this at school. Wot are they teeachin' youfs these days?

At my school we learnt the skills that would enable us not to have to slum it as a backbench MP. ;-P

But it's the woo parliamentary sports fans (Nick Robinson et al) who frame these stories for the rest of us, and if those guys start thinking "sinking ship" it will come through in news stories, the tone of which I think that can have very serious consequences for a party's electability.

This won't happen properly until such time as the press decide they want Cameron to lose. Editors have to make a policy decision to start really shitting on him, as they did with Major and Brown. Don't see that happening with Cam for a while, partly because those editors that backed him last year will look like clowns.

Also this sort of posturing over the EU will help rebel Tory MPs more than it hinders them at the next election, especially if said MPs will be hit by boundary changes in the meantime.

I don't know about that, who else are Eurosceptic Tory voters going to vote for anyway? UKIP? Not in a general election.

It'll help if they're in competition with a less anti-European Tory MP for the nomination in a redrawn constituency.