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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: UK Political Tea-Leaves
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glockenspiel
Shipmate
# 13645
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Posted
The political 'tea leaves' here in the UK seem to be indicating the following:
- That Boris Johnson will ascend to the Conservative leadership following the one-term-and-out Cameron;
- And that the Lib Dems cannot put Clegg into the 2015 election at all, if they are to stand a chance of tasting power again - probably Cable instead;
- And that Labour will probably scrape an overall majority - but that the Milliband brothers need to be 'reconciled' before then (ie, David M. brought back into a senior role).
How do we judge the likelihood of these happenings, ship-mates?
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Stejjie
Shipmate
# 13941
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Posted
Here's my not-very-expert thoughts (bearing in mind I was the guy (aged 11) who dismissed rumours of Thatcher resigning... on the day she resigned):
1) Yes, I think Johnson will become next Tory leader and it will be after the next election (though some caution: Tory leadership elections don't always seem to go the way people expect, eg Hague in 1997 and IDS in 2001);
2) I think Clegg's apology over tuition fees this week has sealed his fate. The LDs are fatally damaged with him (perhaps without him as well). Cable does seem the most likely to takeover, though I'd personally quite like to see Charles Kennedy return (even allowing for the reasons for his leaving the post);
3) I think this depends on the economy. If by some miracle things are improving by 2015 (and today's debt figures don't hold out much hope for that) then the Tories might stand a chance. If not, I think it will be Labour - probably only just and they may well be reliant on the Lib Dems in some way (I think there may be more cosying up to the LDs from Labour in the next few years, probably on condition that Clegg goes and Laws and Alexander are prevented from taking any high-profile position).
I actually think Ed Miliband could be a good Labour leader - infinitely preferable to Blair or Brown, preferable to his brother as well (who, IMNSHO, would've been too much of a Blair-lite character). I don't think he needs to spell out specific policies now (what fool does that 3 years before a likely election, especially in the current volatile circumstances?), but I do think he needs to be bolder in setting out an alternative agenda to the Coalition.
What we desperately need are some politicians with some real vision and desire to do than just manage things a bit better or tell us how terrible it is - who will do that?
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A not particularly-alt-worshippy, fairly mainstream, mildly evangelical, vaguely post-modern-ish Baptist
Posts: 1117 | From: Urmston, Manchester, UK | Registered: Jul 2008
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Ricardus
Shipmate
# 8757
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Posted
I think Michael Gove is more likely than Boris Johnson as a successor to David Cameron.
Whatever one's views on Gove, he's been a lot more successful than pretty much any other Cabinet minister at pushing his programme through.
Conversely, I think a lot of the Tories still regard Boris as too unreliable and too much of a loose cannon. The same is probably true of the electorate as well. (He's also quite definitely on the Tory left, which may not endear him to the disaffected right-wing backbenchers who hate Cameron.)
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Then the dog ran before, and coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail. -- Tobit 11:9 (Douai-Rheims)
Posts: 7247 | From: Liverpool, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
- By 2015 it will be clear that Osborne's attempt to reduce the deficit have been unsuccessful, and many will question the wisdom of putting all the money on that one horse. He, if not Cameron, will be finished.
- The Lib Dems will be routed at the next election. Their voters will stay at home in such numbers that despite Labour gains the Tories will fail to win an overall majority by just three or four, though they will attempt a minority government with support of a couple of UKIP MPs. UKIP will get in a snit about something, so about 18 months later there will be another election, at which Labour will win a small majority.
- In Cameron's second term meanwhile, the Lib Dems will split, on the pre-1983 lines of a Liberal Party, led by Noddy, and a Social Democratic party that will be swallowed up in the Labour Party.
- Yes, the bloody awful Gove will get the top job in the Conservative Party, mostly because the Tories hate teachers and they love Gove for the way he carries that policy through.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
The depressing thing is, that none of those scenarios is in the least bit attractive or inspiring. Nor is the one that hasn't been aired yet of a Labour Party led by either Mr or Mrs Balls.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stejjie:
I actually think Ed Miliband could be a good Labour leader - infinitely preferable to Blair or Brown, preferable to his brother as well (who, IMNSHO, would've been too much of a Blair-lite character). I don't think he needs to spell out specific policies now (what fool does that 3 years before a likely election, especially in the current volatile circumstances?), but I do think he needs to be bolder in setting out an alternative agenda to the Coalition.
What we desperately need are some politicians with some real vision and desire to do than just manage things a bit better or tell us how terrible it is - who will do that?
I agree. I think Ed M needs to smarten up his act pretty quickly, but I can't think who would be any better. Certainly his brother would take us back to Blair. There is a majority in the country, I'm sure, that despairs of the system and policies that we currently have, but New Labour wouldn't do anything other than tinker with Toryism. They couldn't be worse (and must be better) than the current lot but there is a momentum for radical change that must be seized.
[PS: I missed the rhyming slang implicit in the thread title!]
[ 21. September 2012, 20:33: Message edited by: Angloid ]
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Stejjie
Shipmate
# 13941
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
I agree. I think Ed M needs to smarten up his act pretty quickly, but I can't think who would be any better. Certainly his brother would take us back to Blair. There is a majority in the country, I'm sure, that despairs of the system and policies that we currently have, but New Labour wouldn't do anything other than tinker with Toryism. They couldn't be worse (and must be better) than the current lot but there is a momentum for radical change that must be seized.
I think the problem for Labour in taking hold of that momentum is that New Labour and Blairism (if such a philosophy exists) has been so ingrained in it that it's going to take a heck of a lot of work to get it out of their system. And there will always be the voices off from the Blairites saying "no, no, you must follow our way" which, I'd imagine, a decent number of their MPs who were elected since 1997 (or perhaps earlier) will be tempted to agree with.
I think they need to shake off Blairism if they're to provide a fully credible alternative, but it seems to be a bit like turning round an oil tanker that's sailing through treacle - mighty tricky.
quote:
[PS: I missed the rhyming slang implicit in the thread title!]
I only noticed it once you pointed it out! ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
quote:
Originally posted by Enoch:
The depressing thing is, that none of those scenarios is in the least bit attractive or inspiring. Nor is the one that hasn't been aired yet of a Labour Party led by either Mr or Mrs Balls.
Actually, I think Yvette Cooper is considered future leader material - there's a few clips of her in the Commons on YouTube and she's not bad at all. And, love him or loathe him (and I'm not his biggest fan), Ed Balls has been proved at least partly right about the folly of the government's economic "policies"; shame he won't commit to reversing at least some of the cuts...
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A not particularly-alt-worshippy, fairly mainstream, mildly evangelical, vaguely post-modern-ish Baptist
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stejjie:
I think they need to shake off Blairism if they're to provide a fully credible alternative, but it seems to be a bit like turning round an oil tanker that's sailing through treacle - mighty tricky.
Good image. That's about right. But there are signs that it might be turning nevertheless. I was at a meeting last night to discuss Labour's transport policy; our local MP who is also Shadow Transport Secretary admitted that the last government had been too timid and done little to challenge or change Tory privatisation and deregulation. There seems to be more of a will now to grasp the nettle, at least of bus regulation and of giving more power to conurbations to co-ordinate transport in the way it is done in London. I hope other departments will move in the same direction. But hints were passed that Ed Balls is reluctant to do much that involves spending, which is perhaps the major problem.
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ricardus:
I think Michael Gove is more likely than Boris Johnson as a successor to David Cameron.
But he looks like a duck.
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Anglican't
Shipmate
# 15292
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Posted
I'd like Boris Johnson to be the next Tory leader, but I don't think it will happen as those heavily tipped to be leader rarely get the top job. (E.g. who would have said in 1970 that Margaret Thatcher would be the next Tory leader? Ditto John Major in 1985, William Hague in 1992, IDS in 1997 or David Cameron in 2000.)
Posts: 3613 | From: London, England | Registered: Nov 2009
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Anglican't:
I'd like Boris Johnson to be the next Tory leader, but I don't think it will happen as those heavily tipped to be leader rarely get the top job. (E.g. who would have said in 1970 that Margaret Thatcher would be the next Tory leader? Ditto John Major in 1985, William Hague in 1992, IDS in 1997 or David Cameron in 2000.)
Michael Heseltine didn't become leader, but he looked a shoo-in for the job. Then again, Denis Healey never became leader of the Labour Party. The eighties could have been very different.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
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Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
Yes, I think Boris will turn out to be the Heseltine of his generation, and not just because he also has unruly blonde locks. Very popular with many, can 'find the clitoris of the party' (as someone charmingly once said of Hezza), but too much of a loose cannon and too capable of pissing some people off to get the top job. Mind you, he's better at covering his ambition and ruthlessness with charm than Hezza ever was; and he's rather more right wing than Hezza was (or is), which would count in his favour.
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My beard is a testament to my masculinity and virility, and demonstrates that I am a real man. Trouble is, bits of quiche sometimes get caught in it.
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Stejjie
Shipmate
# 13941
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Posted
TBH, I'd never particularly considered the possibility of Gove becoming Tory leader. I can see why he'd be popular with the Conservative faithful - he certainly seems to "push all the right buttons", not least his apparent disregard for teachers. But I can't see the Tories being elected under him; but then I guess the right is just as capable as the left of preferring ideological purity over any chance of appealing to the wider electorate.
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A not particularly-alt-worshippy, fairly mainstream, mildly evangelical, vaguely post-modern-ish Baptist
Posts: 1117 | From: Urmston, Manchester, UK | Registered: Jul 2008
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Anglican't
Shipmate
# 15292
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stejjie:
I guess the right is just as capable as the left of preferring ideological purity over any chance of appealing to the wider electorate.
Oh, absolutely. In 2001 it was obvious that Ken Clarke was the only man in the Conservative Party who could win over public opinion and get the party back on track, but instead 60% of the membership voted for Iain Duncan Smith. The mind boggles.
Posts: 3613 | From: London, England | Registered: Nov 2009
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Anglican't:
quote:
Originally posted by Stejjie:
I guess the right is just as capable as the left of preferring ideological purity over any chance of appealing to the wider electorate.
Oh, absolutely. In 2001 it was obvious that Ken Clarke was the only man in the Conservative Party who could win over public opinion and get the party back on track, but instead 60% of the membership voted for Iain Duncan Smith. The mind boggles.
The Conservative equivalent of Michael Foot. Does a party in long term opposition have to go through that phase before it can reconcile itself to the constraints of electoral credibility?
Who has been their equivalent of Tony Benn? John Redwood, anybody?
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Enoch:
The Conservative equivalent of Michael Foot. Does a party in long term opposition have to go through that phase before it can reconcile itself to the constraints of electoral credibility?
Who has been their equivalent of Tony Benn? John Redwood, anybody?
Surely Norman Tebbit was the Tory purist. The difference is I suppose that his politics are still to the fore in the Conservative Party, while Benn's politics aren't those of Labour nowadays (if they ever were).
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Tom Day
Ship's revolutionary
# 3630
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stejjie:
TBH, I'd never particularly considered the possibility of Gove becoming Tory leader. I can see why he'd be popular with the Conservative faithful - he certainly seems to "push all the right buttons", not least his apparent disregard for teachers. But I can't see the Tories being elected under him; but then I guess the right is just as capable as the left of preferring ideological purity over any chance of appealing to the wider electorate.
God if Gove gets to be Tory leader and PM I might just move to Scotland. Or China. Or anywhere really. Knowing my luck he'd make Michael Wilshaw Secretary of State for Education...
The only way the Lib Dems can get any major votes at the next election is for Cable, or Kennedy to take over and apologise for Clegg. Then create a center left coalition with Labour.
Tom
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shamwari
Shipmate
# 15556
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Posted
What makes you think they would get any more votes if they did that?
Posts: 1914 | From: from the abyss of misunderstanding | Registered: Mar 2010
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Tom Day
Ship's revolutionary
# 3630
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by shamwari:
What makes you think they would get any more votes if they did that?
I reckon the more left leaning Lib Dems would vote that way. I also think that there is probably going to be a backlash against the Tory party. Osbourne's policies are not working yet as far as I can see and that will make people think twice. They have also managed to annoy most of the public sector so far (I know a fair few public sector voters who voted for them last time as they were peeved with New Labour)
I suppose part of it is that is what I feel would be good for the country.
Tom
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Posts: 6473 | From: My Sofa | Registered: Dec 2002
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
I don't want to say 'I told you so', but no-one who voted Lib Dem the last time round has any reason to say that they didn't know that they might go into coalition with the Conservatives. Clegg said before voting day, in so many words, that in the event of a hung parliament he would first talk to whichever of the other parties got more seats. You might, I suppose, say that you didn't know how ghastly the Conservatives would turn out to be in government, but if you voted Lib Dem you can't say that you didn't know that they might put the Conservatives in.
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
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glockenspiel
Shipmate
# 13645
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Posted
... Do we think the 'game' has changed at all, since the three big party conferences??
Posts: 1258 | From: Shropshire | Registered: Apr 2008
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by glockenspiel:
... Do we think the 'game' has changed at all, since the three big party conferences??
No.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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Stejjie
Shipmate
# 13941
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by glockenspiel:
... Do we think the 'game' has changed at all, since the three big party conferences??
Maybe. Certainly Labour has got a shot in the arm from its conference, not least from Ed Milliband's speech, though they've still a lot of work to do in making what he outlined concrete. Also, he desperately needs to rein in Ed Balls and (especially) Liam Byrne if they're to ever seem like a proper alternative to the coalition.
The Lib Dems seem in as dire straits as ever, and I'm really not sure their conference convinced anyone about anything positive about them at all (I say that as someone who voted Lib Dem in 2010 - all I can say is it was in a safe Labour seat, so it had no bearing on the result whatsoever )
As for the Tories... I dunno, they seem to have run out of steam and ideas. They're resorting to rabble-rousing (Chris Grayling's speech) which, only 2 1/2 years into the government's lifetime is quite astonishing. They already sound like Tories under Hague or IDS - both of whom were a massive turn-off for voters.
They just seem to have lost any freshness, any ideas, any life about them at all. It's as if Cameron and Osborne have had their play at being Prime Minister and Chancellor and are bored and want a new toy now. No one likes Osborne's "shares for rights" idea (the boss of Sainsbury's has dismissed it, and he's not alone); Cameron had little or nothing that was new in his speech and his pot-shots at Labour were badly out of date (Labour has, annoyingly, conceded they can't reverse many of the Coalition's cuts, so to keep raising the spectre of "Labour borrowing" is disingenuous at best). I suppose they still think "Look at the mess Labour got us into" is a vote-winner - is it really?
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A not particularly-alt-worshippy, fairly mainstream, mildly evangelical, vaguely post-modern-ish Baptist
Posts: 1117 | From: Urmston, Manchester, UK | Registered: Jul 2008
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stejjie:
Certainly Labour has got a shot in the arm from its conference, not least from Ed Milliband's speech,
What, the one where he pretended to be David Cameron for the whole bloody thing?
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Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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Mark Betts
Ship's Navigation Light
# 17074
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Posted
I actually thought that the title of the thread, "UK Political Tea Leaves," was cockney rhyming slang for political thieves.
I was about to write a reply with this in mind - something along the lines of, "a sort of reciprocal Robin Hood, robbing the poor to feed the rich," when I realised my mistake.
Silly me, my bad!!
[ 12. October 2012, 10:20: Message edited by: Mark Betts ]
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"We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary."
Posts: 2080 | From: Leicester | Registered: Apr 2012
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chris stiles
Shipmate
# 12641
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Albertus:
I don't want to say 'I told you so', but no-one who voted Lib Dem the last time round has any reason to say that they didn't know that they might go into coalition with the Conservatives.
Though the conservatives have also gone down a road that was considerably more radical than anything they laid out in their manifesto (exhibit A, changes to the NHS).
Posts: 4035 | From: Berkshire | Registered: May 2007
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
I think David Cameron has established once and for all that the Conservative Party is a One Nation party, that nation being England.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
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aumbry
Shipmate
# 436
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Posted
There seems to be a view that the public will carry on voting for the three main parties no matter who leads them. It is patently clear that Cameron is not a capable leader and the less said about Clegg the better. But are the voters likely to turn to Milliband or Boris? I doubt it.
Before the next general election there will be a European election where it is possible to see UKIP coming in as the number one party. The effect of that could very easily cause the Conservative Party to disintegrate and once the two party system collapses anything could happen as the political plates move.
Posts: 3869 | From: Quedlinburg | Registered: Jun 2001
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by aumbry:
Before the next general election there will be a European election where it is possible to see UKIP coming in as the number one party.
Fortunately, I think that's very unlikely.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by aumbry:
There seems to be a view that the public will carry on voting for the three main parties no matter who leads them.
People have been trying to challenge this view (or more often, that there are only two main parties) for as long as I can remember. It took the Lib Dems long enough to get accepted as a viable contender and now they seem to have knocked themselves out of the race. Whatever views might be expressed between elections, when it comes down to it it is always a two-horse race.
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Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Enoch:
quote:
Originally posted by aumbry:
Before the next general election there will be a European election where it is possible to see UKIP coming in as the number one party.
Fortunately, I think that's very unlikely.
Unfortunately I have to disagree. Between the Euro-sceptic wing of the Conservative party, anti-Europeans in the Labour Party, the EU itself and substantial parts of the press, UKIP gets a lot of justification for its views.
The fact that most anti-EU rhetoric is bollocks is obscured by the sheer dullness of most of what the EU actually does, so the rebuttals are not reported because it is rarely 'good copy'. I'd like to see a fully democratic European Parliament for a start, but that is almost as dull as Site Value Rating, so won't get many column inches, nor will it get any support from UKIP which will no doubt continue on its merry way, with its members setting unfortunate records for poor attendance and creative expenses claims.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
quote:
Originally posted by Enoch:
quote:
Originally posted by aumbry:
Before the next general election there will be a European election where it is possible to see UKIP coming in as the number one party.
Fortunately, I think that's very unlikely.
Unfortunately I have to disagree. Between the Euro-sceptic wing of the Conservative party, anti-Europeans in the Labour Party, the EU itself and substantial parts of the press, UKIP gets a lot of justification for its views.
The fact that most anti-EU rhetoric is bollocks is obscured by the sheer dullness of most of what the EU actually does, so the rebuttals are not reported because it is rarely 'good copy'. I'd like to see a fully democratic European Parliament for a start, but that is almost as dull as Site Value Rating, so won't get many column inches, nor will it get any support from UKIP which will no doubt continue on its merry way, with its members setting unfortunate records for poor attendance and creative expenses claims.
All very true I think. My best friend's husband is just finishing his MPhil on EU rules on freedom of religion - even as a Christian politics student, that still sounds pretty dull to me, as important as it is. It's hard enough getting people interested in UK politics, let alone EU politics.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
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aumbry
Shipmate
# 436
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
that still sounds pretty dull to me [/QB]
Seconded.
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Taliesin
Shipmate
# 14017
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ricardus:
I think Michael Gove is more likely than Boris Johnson as a successor to David Cameron.
Whatever one's views on Gove, he's been a lot more successful than pretty much any other Cabinet minister at pushing his programme through.
Conversely, I think a lot of the Tories still regard Boris as too unreliable and too much of a loose cannon. The same is probably true of the electorate as well. (He's also quite definitely on the Tory left, which may not endear him to the disaffected right-wing backbenchers who hate Cameron.)
I read the first line of your post and actually shivered. The day Gove ascends to no 10 will be... a... horrible day!!!
[ 12. October 2012, 17:26: Message edited by: Taliesin ]
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Ronald Binge
Shipmate
# 9002
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Posted
Cameron is being sized up for the drop by Boris and Gove, using the "clear blue water" fallacy so beloved by the Tory right, they will plump for Gove, and it will be a disaster of IDS proportions. Cameron at least partly understands why the Tories were unelectable for so long, but there will be few Lib Dems left to act as a mudguard for him in 2015. In fact, unless the Lib Dems dump the utterly toxic Clegg fairly sharpish, it is moot as to whether there will be any appreciable numbers of Lib Dem MPs the next time.
One of the most charming people I know is a UKIP member but he keeps a table as generous as his politics are toxic. Pro-hanging, anti Johnny Foreigner (though apparently I'm okay despite being Irish). It is possible that UKIP could get Farage over the fence next time, but seeing as the raison d'etre of UKIP is to act as a right-wing whip over the Tories, they could easily deny a handful of Tories seats but without reaping any benefits themselves.
Labour is gaining a lot of Lib Dem supporters in the bit of North London I know well. I don't rate Ed M. terribly highly, but having a relatively poor leader doesn't necessarily prevent a party getting into power, if the voters have the knives out for the Government. Ask Enda Kenny in Ireland.
Progressive votes that went Lib Dem last time happened because Brown and Blair were so far up the backside of Bush and Rove, and utterly dropped the ball on issues that a reasonable person would expect a Labour government to tackle, not least the Health service, education and the railways. If Labour form a government at the next election it is not unreasonable for voters to demand that they do tackle those issues and tell the Daily Mail, the Daily Express and the Murdoch press to go f*ck themselves.
[ 12. October 2012, 17:57: Message edited by: Ronald Binge ]
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Older, bearded (but no wiser)
Posts: 477 | From: Brexit's frontline | Registered: Jan 2005
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by leo:
Every day that Gove breathes is an horrible day.
I'm willing to let him breathe, so long as he does a proper job. Maybe he should do a PGCE then teach at some inner-city comprehensive? Eldest Son knows a few in Bristol where he would grow up fast.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by kankucho:
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
quote:
Originally posted by Ricardus:
I think Michael Gove is more likely than Boris Johnson as a successor to David Cameron.
But he looks like a duck.
Oy! Less of that, if you don't mind! More than one person has said he looks like me.
I'm sure you're not an elitist reactionary duck.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
Why does Michael Gove impose himself on us rather than the Scottish Parliament? The Tories in Scotland are doing so badly that they must need him really desperately.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Enoch:
Why does Michael Gove impose himself on us rather than the Scottish Parliament? The Tories in Scotland are doing so badly that they must need him really desperately.
Looking for a political career with the Tories in Scotland is like looking for a future in snowploughing in the Sahara. I'm afraid ambitious politicians - of all stripes - are still taking Dr Johnson's advice.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ricardus:
[Boris is] also quite definitely on the Tory left, which may not endear him to the disaffected right-wing backbenchers who hate Cameron.)
I am aware that the centre ground of British politics in general, and the Tory party in particular, has shifted a great deal. But surely not so far as to place Boris on even the Tory left? He's had to appear a social liberal to get elected as London Mayor, but his gut instincts are well to the right.
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Brian: You're all individuals!
Crowd: We're all individuals!
Lone voice: I'm not!
Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
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leo
Shipmate
# 1458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
quote:
Originally posted by leo:
Every day that Gove breathes is an horrible day.
I'm willing to let him breathe, so long as he does a proper job. Maybe he should do a PGCE then teach at some inner-city comprehensive? Eldest Son knows a few in Bristol where he would grow up fast.
Indeed - I would have had him in my 'challenging' school and would have relished letting the kids loose on him while i popped out for a couple of minutes - then again, I wouldn't want to risk any harm the kids might have suffered if they listened to a few of his words before they savaged him.
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My Jewish-positive lectionary blog is at http://recognisingjewishrootsinthelectionary.wordpress.com/
My reviews at http://layreadersbookreviews.wordpress.com
Posts: 23198 | From: Bristol | Registered: Oct 2001
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