Dorries Predicts General Election If Sunak Wins

[FatticusInch]

She likes stirring the pot! She does the Ipposition Partues jobs for them.

//Nadine Dorries: With Rishi Sunak we will be in general election territory within weeks
Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries has claimed that if Rishi Sunak were to win the Tory leadership race the country will be in "general election territory within weeks".
Mr Dorries, who is backing Boris Johnson in the race to become the country's next prime minister, claimed that the privileges committee would focus on the former chancellor if he were to be elected as the next Tory leader.
Last night, Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak were said to be locked in talks as speculation mounted over whether the pair could strike a deal.
Sir James Duddridge, a friend of Mr Johnson, said the former prime minister had the support of the 100 MPs required to reserve his place in the vote.//

Here’s her Tweet too:

/If Rishi Sunak were to win, the focus of the privileges committee I am absolutely certain would move straight onto Rishi Sunak and what he knew - in order to embolden Labours call for a general election. With Rishi we will be in general election territory within weeks./

Oh I do so hope she’s right! It’s now the only option that will suffice.

[jim360]

While you might be right about Penny, Johnson will fail to unite the Party because they already have too much experience of him, and Sunak will fail because apparently there's a sizable wing of MPs and members who can't stand him. So maybe the one with the least clout, the least reputation, works as a compromise.

Put another way, who else?

[jim360]

// Does it require a motion to be passed in the Commons for a referral to the privilege committee? //

Yes. Consequently, it also takes a vote to undo that.

[FatticusInch]

Careful Jim, don’t want you feeding the OP/Thread of a troll!

[ichkeria]

“She won’t unite the party: she doesn’t have the clout or the experience”

I agree. It would be bizarre to go for another comparatively inexperienced leader just because they aren’t Sunak or Johnson, No candidate is ideal but Sunak is the best option: for everyone

As for the point about Labour and a GE: after the OBR report at the very least will be when Labour would be best placed.
As a Labour supporter it doesn’t bother me if the Tories are ready or not.
I still say the Tories can pull this round with Sunak and a cabinet of sensible and talented ministers.
They wouldn’t be finished if Johnson took over (again) but it would be disastrous.
The sort of “disastrous” that even sensible Labour people should want to avoid

[FatticusInch]

//I still say the Tories can pull this round with Sunak and a cabinet of sensible and talented ministers.//

The public have had enough and we’ve got a harsh winter and 18 months of austerity in the offing from the Halloween Horror mini budget and a large workforce in what will shortly be open revolt.
They’d be better ditching all attempts now, their(and sadly ours) outlook is bleak.

Plus all the talent is as ever on the back benches.
These are just the self-servers, in it for a last pay-off before the landslide.

[perseverer]

I suspect that at some point this evening, or tomorrow morning, Boris will announce that, while he has sufficient support to run, in the interests of party unity, etc etc, he will not put himself forward .....and we will never know how much support he really had, .......and he can go off on holiday again rather than attend parliament or work in his constituency.

[FatticusInch]

That’s pretty much the crux of it, Perseverer.
When others mooted a return after the Cincinnatus drivel that he’d never come back as a ‘bit-part’ player, it’d have to be Head Honcho or nothing.
He obviously won’t get it(unless it’s a one-off run against Sunak before the Ovaltine Octogenarians) and as I predicted then will not be an MP much longer but will join the ludicrous but lucrative after-dinner circuit for former PM’s where he can still hold court and be lauded but also revert to type in regards to his previous shenanigans.

[naomi24]

Jim, Penny, like Liz, wouldn’t last five minutes, Boris wouldn’t be left alone to get on with the job for more than five minutes before the knives were out for him again, and although Rishi is, in my opinion, a backstabbing, self-serving slimy hypocrite, he, I think, would have a better chance of lasting the course.

[jim360]

While you may be right about Mordaunt -- and, if we're being honest, we'll never find out -- it has to be understood that Truss's short term was entirely self-inflicted. A blunder in the choice of Cabinet, a blunder in the "mini"-budget, and then a blunder in how she handled the fallout, eg a disastrous "conference" where she conspicuously dodged any scrutiny. All Mordaunt would need to do is (a) avoid doing anything radical, (b) pick a Cabinet that isn't stuffed with sycophantic loyalists, and (c) demonstrate the bare minimum of competence in handling questions and handling herself in front of the media. The second is easy enough, the third she's already shown better skills than Truss (although, then again, basically anybody in the history of anything ever managed that); and the first is rather a lot easier if you picked a competent Cabinet.

I know that, what with Johnson having little chance (although I don't think I'll ever quite understand your apparent loyalty to him), you don't seem optimistic, but surely the Tory party is bigger than one man.

[ZebuSanctuary]

// I still say the Tories can pull this round with Sunak and a cabinet of sensible and talented ministers //

Given that Starmer remains to be non-committal about how he would address the issues which are at the heart of the electorate's concerns, you could be right.

Even after the Labour party conference, nothing appeared to come out which suggested how Labour would tackle the current issues affecting the public. The only thing that seem to stick with me, party members wishing to add (against the wishes of Starmer) Proportional Representation to their next GE manifesto.

However should the nation be sent to the polls before Xmas, the visceral loathing amongst voters towards the Tories, is likely enough to get Labour over the line.

[FatticusInch]

Comedy or not, this factual social commentary sums it up.
Warning: bad language.

[jno]

I see Bojo has asked Mordaunt to get out of his way. Allegedly. She has said no.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2022/oct/23/rishi-sunak-and-boris-johnson-hold-talks-with-one-day-until-tory-leadership-nominations-close-uk-politics-live

[FatticusInch]

What a slimeball eh?
So much for Zahawi saying he’d changed!!

[naomi24]

Jim, Liz was never up to the job. Like Penny she didn’t have the clout or the experience but aspired to heights far beyond her capabilities. You’re pretty much saying that if Penny pussyfoots she could last, but in the wake of Covid and the war in Ukraine and all the problems they have caused we can’t have a prime minister being obliged to tread on eggshells - or incapable of doing anything other than that - or too afraid to do anything else. We need a proper leader - someone strong and experienced who can and will do what’s necessary, and one who, despite criticism, isn’t afraid to do what needs to be done - and Boris has more than proven himself well and truly capable of that.

Unfortunately, although it should be, the Tory Party is not currently bigger than one man and that is why it is visibly self-destructing. Big men are capable of rising above pettiness and spitefulness, and are even capable of rationalising other people’s mistakes, but unfortunately for this country big men are at a premium on all sides within the walls of Westminster and among much of the media. To make no bones about it, we, I am afraid, are landed with a bunch of big girls’ blouses with not a genuine
backbone between them.

I know you don’t understand my loyalty to Boris, but that’s because you don’t understand that I utterly detest witch hunts - whoever the victim - and I’m not seeking to destroy anyone on any conveniently trumped up charge that presents itself. That is entirely against my principles and in the face of that, I would defend my worst enemy. I don’t expect you ever to understand it.

[ichkeria]

"The public have had enough and we’ve got a harsh winter and 18 months of austerity in the offing from the Halloween Horror mini budget and a large workforce in what will shortly be open revolt.
They’d be better ditching all attempts now, their(and sadly ours) outlook is bleak."

The harsh fact - and I say this as a Labour etc etc is that most of the factors if not all causing the harshness will still be there for a Labour government. Of course I would like to believe that Labour would handle those problems better, but no government is going to be popular for long in the current climate

"Plus all the talent is as ever on the back benches."
Well Sunak (or whoever) needs to get them off those benches :-)

[FatticusInch]

naomi24
//I know you don’t understand my loyalty to Boris, but that’s because you don’t understand that I utterly detest witch hunts - whoever the victim - and I’m not seeking to destroy anyone on any conveniently trumped up charge that presents itself. That is entirely against my principles and in the face of that, I would defend my worst enemy. I don’t expect you ever to understand it.//

…..and nobody ever will, you can’t even explain it yourself.

You have the saved table over Trump. Utterly bewildering.

[FatticusInch]

No doubt they will Ichkeria but the ones not of their making they’ll have a good stab at, not sorting out bankers bonuses and tax cuts for the richest 1% in the country for sure.

They won’t be backtracking on statements made about disgraced former PM’s either, some of the stuff from Tory politicians over the weekend has been bilious and hideous, they’ve shown themselves for what they are.

[JDavis]

Johnson the victim of a backstabbing, self-serving, slimy hypocrite?

Great irony again there, naomi.

[FatticusInch]

Indeed JDavis.
Surely if it’s proved he’s approached Mordaunt that alone ought to move Brady to step in, it becomes more covert and devious by the day, but then there is one common denominator.

[naomi24]

Is there any point in me telling you not to be ridiculous, fatticusinch? So devious is that request that it’s the norm in situations like this and is immediately plastered all over the newspapers. You must have led a very sheltered life.