The car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel - The Tory leadership elections

xp we're gonna die etc etc

Rory Stewart he “certainly hopes” he’s won Southend MP David Amess by offering to make his town a city. And he offers to do the same for other Tory MPs. “More towns, definitely definitely. Anyone who wants to vote for me... anyone can be a city.”

— Dan Bloom (@danbloom1) June 19, 2019

tbf I am not sure the candidates are any less obnoxiously whimsical.

but doesn't city status open up towns to more grants and funding etc?

My god the desperation to hold this worst of all jobs is quite something.

Some of it (not Stewart) is probably more looking to get closest to the job, nab a cabinet position, then judge the right time to resign when it all catches fire.

Back here again in a few months.

but doesn't city status open up towns to more grants and funding etc?

I don’t think so, it’s status and bragging rights more than anything else.

My town was a city for 1300 years and messed up the paperwork to lose it in the late 90s. It took them four years to notice.

Owen Bennett is the guy who’s writing a book about Gove and brags about it, iirc?

strong testament to the human capacity for optimism imo
xps

Stewart is such a nob but the Boris-baiting is starting to get fun

lol bold

Rory Stewart he “certainly hopes” he’s won Southend MP David Amess by offering to make his town a city. And he offers to do the same for other Tory MPs. “More towns, definitely definitely. Anyone who wants to vote for me... anyone can be a city.”

— Dan Bloom (@danbloom1) June 19, 2019

Boris Johnson 143
Michael Gove 51
Jeremy Hunt 54
Sajid Javid 38
Rory Stewart 27

... the dream is over.

the May deal dies its last death and a set of reality-deniers get to try it all over again.

Election by autumn, I guess

will be vaguely interested in what desperate delusion centrist rory stans will cling to next

RIP big man, heaven needed a rando dwelling heaven talking to other rando's

Thinking of you in these difficult times, xyzzzzzzzz_

xps yes for the others, with Boris there's a 50/50 chance that he sticks a sprig of parsley on it and calls it The Great British Bulldog Deal, he'll do that thing where he waves his jowls and spittle goes everywhere, it'll be great.

Don't think they'll VONC a new leader this year. Those principled Remain Tories will fold like steel in burning jet fuel

tory leadership election looking about as competitive as the SPFL premiership

rip big man, we’ll always have kabul

xxp and they’ll be backed by the “regretfully I must” rump CHUK party plus assorted ne’er do wells.

the intrepid opium smoker and great white hope of the moderates doesn't even get a podium finish.. lol!

Look, the EU is the most important thing in the world except for pwning the Left

will be vaguely interested in what desperate delusion centrist rory stans will cling to next

the latest thing I saw (before these votes so there are probably some hot new takes already) is that Rory wasn't trying to win, just show that he's an adult ready for next time to clean up after any Boris-induced mess

and if that is his thinking, well, that means he isn't going to do anything to stop Boris making a mess, no? def no resigning the whip, prob still no voting to stop No Deal, only VONCing if sure it won't go through - do the bare minimum to keep the "finally a sensible Tory" murmurs going but the bigger the mess, the more chance he must see of capitalising on it

tears will ensue, excuses will be made (again), etc

brb, gonna become an opium addict

honestly smoking opium at a wedding in iran sounds like a good laugh

Kwasi Kwarteng's defence of Boris against accusations of racism seems to be that he's been accused of that before - like there's some sort of statute of limitations in operation or a limit on the number of times you can criticize someone on the same subject.

xp. pass the fesenjan please, Ali. *nods off*

Who is Kenneth Clarke going to back now?

Hunt started as Remainer then went crazy for the Brexit. Maybe Gove's crossed him going the other direction, I've lost track.

Sajid Javid voted Remain.

Ha, yes I'd forgotten that. What a world.

He's relying on everyone else forgetting about it.

Kwasi Kwarteng's main responsibility seems to be appearing on C4 News, sighing and saying "Look..." in a condescending manner in defence of whatever shit his leader/future leader is up to.

BREAK: Round 4 Results
Johnson 157
Hunt 59
Gove 61
Javid 34

JAVID OUT

— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) June 20, 2019

Boris Johnson - 157

Jeremy Hunt - 59

Michael Gove - 61

Sajid Javid - 34

xp

Should have put some money on boris in early june, nothing whatsoever has changed but he's gone from 3/1 to 1/10

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2019/may/28/tory-leadership-contest-odds-tracker-whos-up-and-whos-down

ah 2 spoiled ballots - dick move at this juncture

look, Rory's a passionate guy

One spoiled ballot obv May, the other...?

xxxp
you can still get 7/4 on next GE in 2019, isn't that buying money?

Kenneth Clarke (xp)

johnson, gove and cunt - perhaps the most challenging marry/fuck/kill lineup in history

it was saj, he was a politician

Pretty sure Ken Clarke will vote Boris tbh.

B-but he is the father of the commons wtf

Really, Tom?

Last week he was pretty damning. Spoiled paper sounds about right.

On Boris Johnson, Clarke is withering in a way that borders on contempt. He says he was a “disaster” as foreign secretary, and when asked if he could be equally terrible as prime minister, he answers in an instant. “Yes, he certainly has the potential to be. Unless he suddenly starts taking it seriously. I am not sure he knows what he would do to get us through the crisis.

Yes, really.

c'mon he listens to miles davis, you've got to take his word as bond!

when boris is anointed and calls a snap GE with BP standing aside to give the CON’s a free run... do we reckon CONs win that election? or are they losing from column B (social liberals who leak to LDs) what they pick up in column A (hard case BP wingnuts)... and thus being hurt in the marginals required for success?

If Boris Johnson wins the leadership race it will be the first time we've had an openly racist Prime minister since the beginning of the month.

— Ed Poole (@edwardpoole1975) June 20, 2019