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Post by northwestman on Nov 14, 2022 12:02:59 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/14/rishi-sunak-prime-minister-britain-cuts-culture-warIf Liz Truss’s mantra was “move fast and break things”, then Rishi Sunak’s is “move slow and leave things where they are, and pray no one will notice”. It has been exactly three weeks since he was sent into Downing Street on a wave of relief and hope. But it has taken only those three weeks to expose Sunak as yet another under qualified and over promoted prime minister. There is now no doubt that he does not have the mandate, the appetite or the nerve to deliver what was expected of him. A brief look at his performance so far shows a failure to meet the goals set for him. A break with the volatile right of the party, who left a crater in the economy? Instead, Suella Braverman is back in the cabinet presiding over an asylum system collapse and protest crackdowns. A return to firm decision-making after a month of dizzying U-turns? His very first international effort as Britain’s leader was to reverse his decision not to go to Cop27. Restoring some semblance of decency to political office? The now yet-again-disgraced Gavin Williamson had to resign after allegations of bullying, despite Sunak being informed of the claims by the former chair of the Conservative party. We see now not an impressive intellectual whose time has finally come, but a man who outsources the sharper edge of his politics, has no real passions other than to “balance the books”, and no real imagination to conceive of doing that in ways other than off the backs of the most vulnerable. A season of austerity, historic strikes, protests and civic action is upon us just as the Tory party hands power to a prime minister unable to come up with his own lines, and so has defaulted to the old script – cuts, culture war and crackdown.
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Post by staffordshrew on Nov 14, 2022 12:12:02 GMT 1
Sunak is exactly what he was when Chancellor - a bit boring but sneaky. But he's getting on a bit better with Macron and will no doubt get on with Biden. Sometimes, like after the s show that was Truss, you need a bit boring. The stock market likes it somewhat anyway - the Truss era was a buying opportunity.
If he talks sensibly with Europe and he could get Brexit sorted, rather than just " done" he might be a diplomat rather than bombastic old Boris or terrible Truss.
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Post by zenfootball2 on Nov 26, 2022 9:29:04 GMT 1
if this article is to be belived New Labour and Blair have more of an influance over the goverment than you would think. www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-11471079/How-New-Labour-wormed-way-Downing-Street.html"Rishi Sunak sounds like Tony Blair and 'is closer than you think to Gordon Brown'... LEO MCKINSTRY and ANDREW PIERCE on how New Labour has wormed its way back into Downing Street" "But hiring Hewitt and Barber is just part of a wider pattern of New Labour’s heavy influence on the Government. Recently, it emerged that Blair himself has been helping behind the scenes to find a workable solution to the problem of the Northern Ireland protocol. One diplomat explained Blair ‘does not agree with the Government on every point but he had certainly been a helpful voice’. Revelling in his role as elder statesman, Blair also had secret talks at the height of the Covid pandemic with then Health Secretary Matt Hancock, pushing for mass testing and the roll-out of vaccines. In the end, Hancock grew wary of Blair, fearing that the former Labour leader was trying to pass off Government ideas as his own, and called a halt to their talks. No such distance seems to be apparent in Hunt’s relations with Blair, however, as was demonstrated in January 2021 when the two men held an online discussion, organised by the Chatham House think tank, about ‘the future of liberal democracy’. In the 50-minute talk, they covered the NHS, Artificial Intelligence, expansion of universities, welfare fraud and China."
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Post by northwestman on Nov 28, 2022 11:40:19 GMT 1
Rishi Sunak has only been prime minister for about a month, but already he is learning that a large part of his job consists of playing Whack-a-Mole with Tory party rebellions.
All party leaders face backbench rebellions from time to time but, with its poll ratings still in landslide defeat territory and MPs rushing for the post-parliament lifeboats, the Conservative party is more ungovernable than usual.
Sunak has had to postpone votes on the levelling up and regeneration bill (originally scheduled for today) because of two rebellions on it. One group of Tory MPs (the anti-growth coalition, as Liz Truss would call them), want to amend the bill to ban mandatory house building targets, while another group of Tories (from the pro-growth coalition) are backing an amendment tabled by Simon Clarke, the former levelling up secretary, that would lift the ban on onshore windfarms. Although only 25 Tories have signed the Clarke amendment (less than half the number backing the one on house building targets), Clarke’s is more dangerous because it has Labour backing.
This morning Grant Shapps, the business secretary, was doing the morning interview round and he signalled that the Whack-a-Mole mallet is coming down on the Clarke rebellion. Shapps hinted that the government will avert the onshore windfarm rebellion by giving in.
The Guardian.
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Post by zenfootball2 on Nov 28, 2022 13:20:11 GMT 1
Rishi Sunak has only been prime minister for about a month, but already he is learning that a large part of his job consists of playing Whack-a-Mole with Tory party rebellions. All party leaders face backbench rebellions from time to time but, with its poll ratings still in landslide defeat territory and MPs rushing for the post-parliament lifeboats, the Conservative party is more ungovernable than usual. Sunak has had to postpone votes on the levelling up and regeneration bill (originally scheduled for today) because of two rebellions on it. One group of Tory MPs (the anti-growth coalition, as Liz Truss would call them), want to amend the bill to ban mandatory house building targets, while another group of Tories (from the pro-growth coalition) are backing an amendment tabled by Simon Clarke, the former levelling up secretary, that would lift the ban on onshore windfarms. Although only 25 Tories have signed the Clarke amendment (less than half the number backing the one on house building targets), Clarke’s is more dangerous because it has Labour backing. This morning Grant Shapps, the business secretary, was doing the morning interview round and he signalled that the Whack-a-Mole mallet is coming down on the Clarke rebellion. Shapps hinted that the government will avert the onshore windfarm rebellion by giving in. The Guardian. unfortently we have another two years of incompetence a and impotence by the conservatives. i think Sunak needs a stab vest with so many ready to sharpen the knifes.
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Post by staffordshrew on Nov 28, 2022 14:27:55 GMT 1
So many broken promises, Sunak just doesn't have the ability to correct things all the way back through Boris, May through to Cameron and Osbourne. It's a right mess, the country has gone to the dogs, not sure anyone can rasolve things.
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Post by ssshrew on Nov 28, 2022 14:37:55 GMT 1
Exactly how I feel. It can all be traced back to Cameron and Osborne. The rest as they say is just the icing on the cake. A truly hopeless bunch.
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Post by northwestman on Nov 28, 2022 16:07:57 GMT 1
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson signalled that Rishi Sunak is no longer trying to block new onshore windfarm developments.
The spokesperson did not accept that Grant Shapps’ comments in interviews this morning showed that the government had already implemented a U-turn. He claimed that Shapps’ references to community consent were a description of rules that are in force now.
And the spokesperson would not commit the government to accepting the Simon Clarke amendment that would lift what in practice amounts to a current ban on new onshore wind developments.
But the spokesperson did not commit the government to opposing it either, and he hinted that the government was open to some expansion of onshore wind. He said:
You’ll know there are quite detailed rules around onshore wind and what is allowed – it requires developers to consult with communities in advance [of making] a planning application. So I’m not going to predict what might happen in the future …
The prime minister has talked at great length about his views on where the focus should be on renewables, where he is talking about building more wind turbines offshore in order to boost energy security and also the importance of ensuring communities support any action the government takes on renewables.
So we will continue to have discussions [on the bill, and amendments] as we would do normally.
The spokesperson also said the government had not yet set a date for the next debate on the levelling up bill, when Clarke’s windfarm amendment is set to be considered by MPs.
Another U turn then. Sunak has had a good tutor in Boris, who made quite a number of them.
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Post by staffordshrew on Nov 28, 2022 16:33:31 GMT 1
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson signalled that Rishi Sunak is no longer trying to block new onshore windfarm developments. The spokesperson did not accept that Grant Shapps’ comments in interviews this morning showed that the government had already implemented a U-turn. He claimed that Shapps’ references to community consent were a description of rules that are in force now. And the spokesperson would not commit the government to accepting the Simon Clarke amendment that would lift what in practice amounts to a current ban on new onshore wind developments. But the spokesperson did not commit the government to opposing it either, and he hinted that the government was open to some expansion of onshore wind. He said: You’ll know there are quite detailed rules around onshore wind and what is allowed – it requires developers to consult with communities in advance [of making] a planning application. So I’m not going to predict what might happen in the future … The prime minister has talked at great length about his views on where the focus should be on renewables, where he is talking about building more wind turbines offshore in order to boost energy security and also the importance of ensuring communities support any action the government takes on renewables. So we will continue to have discussions [on the bill, and amendments] as we would do normally. The spokesperson also said the government had not yet set a date for the next debate on the levelling up bill, when Clarke’s windfarm amendment is set to be considered by MPs. Another U turn then. Sunak has had a good tutor in Boris, who made quite a number of them. Chants of "You don't know what you're doing" ?
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Post by ssshrew on Nov 28, 2022 16:40:41 GMT 1
Ooops I forgot I should have added that awful man Clegg to my earlier list. He has a lot to answer for as well.
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Post by northwestman on Nov 28, 2022 16:49:25 GMT 1
Ooops I forgot I should have added that awful man Clegg to my earlier list. He has a lot to answer for as well. He does indeed. Nick Clegg opposed nuclear power in 2010 because it would only come on-stream by 2021 or 2022.
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Post by staffordshrew on Nov 28, 2022 17:21:48 GMT 1
Ooops I forgot I should have added that awful man Clegg to my earlier list. He has a lot to answer for as well. He does indeed. Nick Clegg opposed nuclear power in 2010 because it would only come on-stream by 2021 or 2022. Can't say I blame him for that, but did he support an alternative or just assume we would manage without the power generated?
2010? Were we not already thinking of closing down coal fired generation?
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Post by MetaShrew on Dec 9, 2022 15:20:59 GMT 1
Since becoming PM, Sunak has failed to provide sufficient support to the UK economy. He has been slow to provide adequate financial aid to businesses facing closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, and has failed to address the looming unemployment crisis.
His economic strategy has largely been focused on short-term, temporary measures, rather than long-term investment in infrastructure and job creation. He has also failed to adequately support low-income families and those in precarious employment. He has failed to invest in green jobs and green industries, preferring instead to focus on traditional industries, such as oil and gas. The UK is now falling behind other countries in terms of tackling the climate crisis.
If that were not enough, Sunak has also failed to provide adequate support for the cultural sector, which has been heavily impacted by the pandemic. In addition, he has been slow to address the issue of rising inequality.
In short, Sunak has failed to provide the necessary economic support to help the UK recover from the pandemic and has failed to address the long-term economic issues facing the country.
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Post by zenfootball2 on Dec 10, 2022 7:45:08 GMT 1
Ooops I forgot I should have added that awful man Clegg to my earlier list. He has a lot to answer for as well. also went back on his promise to scrap student fees, he also criticized big tech companies but was happy to take a big bag of cash from facebook
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Post by northwestman on Dec 13, 2022 12:29:28 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/12/the-guardian-view-on-sunaks-strikes-to-be-more-inflexible-than-thatcher-is-a-flawRishi Sunak sees himself as heir to Margaret Thatcher – but in dealing with December’s strikes, which version of the former prime minister does he want to be? Mrs Thatcher was an ideologue who claimed the backlash against the “winter of discontent” in 1978-79 represented a “sea change” in public opinion and a mandate to “clip the wings” of trade unions. But she was also a pragmatist who in 1979 gave public sector workers a 25% pay rise – roughly double the rate of inflation and more than the 19% received by private sector workers – to avert a second successive “winter of discontent”. Mr Sunak’s tribute act prefers ideological posturing to practical solutions: proposing new anti-strike laws that the Lords won’t pass as he has no electoral mandate to enact them; and doubling down on pay restraint for key workers. This strategy is disastrous for the public sector – leading to falling recruitment, worsening services and escalating industrial strife. The prime minister is out of touch with a nation growing restive over the unreliability and increasing dereliction of state-financed services. Millions of underpaid Britons struggling with a growing cost of living crisis seem, for now, empathetic towards rolling strikes from NHS, post and rail workers, as well as planned action by teachers and border force staff. Negotiations can end disputes but ministers won’t sit down with unions to talk money, preferring to call up the army – and let strikes go ahead so that workers can be blamed by those inconvenienced. Public sector workers are demanding pay rises to match inflation, arguing that they’re seeing real-terms pay cuts after more than a decade of restraint. Ben Zaranko from the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinks this would cost the Treasury about £15bn. Mr Sunak won’t spend the cash. This is not because of adverse market reaction or because the country can’t afford it. It’s because the prime minister’s most notable achievement is to make austerity respectable in his party again. Sunak should emulate Mrs Thatcher’s realism and offer inflation-proof pay awards to bring industrial action to an end.
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Sunak.
Dec 20, 2022 18:42:42 GMT 1
Post by northwestman on Dec 20, 2022 18:42:42 GMT 1
More potential good news.
Rishi Sunak left the door open to a 12p fuel duty rise in the Spring Budget as he was grilled by MPs on Tuesday afternoon.
Appearing before the liaison committee of senior Commons chairmen, Mr Sunak was asked at the liaison committee if he would stop Jeremy Hunt, his Chancellor, introducing a proposed increase of 23 per cent that was pencilled into Government forecasts last month.
He replied: "Having previously had his job, I always preferred it when the Prime Minister made absolutely no comment about future tax policy, and so I will very much adhere to that."
Harriett Baldwin, the chairman of the Treasury committee, noted this would amount to £6 billion a year during a cost-of-living crisis, telling him: "Surely you're not going to let the Chancellor get away with 12 pence a litre more on fuel."
But Mr Sunak said he would let Mr Hunt make the decisions and "announce them in the normal way", adding: "Whether I was chancellor or as Prime Minister, I would say exactly the same thing - tax decisions are those made by the chancellor in fiscal events."
Daily Telegraph.
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Post by ssshrew on Dec 20, 2022 18:58:24 GMT 1
And yet he is allegedly interfering with something the Health minister wants to do.
Another vile PM.
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Post by northwestman on Dec 21, 2022 11:00:08 GMT 1
And yet he is allegedly interfering with something the Health minister wants to do. Another vile PM. I'm not so sure Barclay wants to do it. “A real nightmare, vindictive, arrogant, a bully, hostile to the NHS and all its works, a micro-manager of the wrong things, views NHS management as bloated and profligate.” As this amalgam of quotes from senior NHS leaders makes clear, never has a politician arrived in the post of health secretary (or health and social care secretary) trailing a worse reputation than Steve Barclay. www.hsj.co.uk/comment/steve-barclay-is-nhs-leaderships-worst-nightmare/7032754.article
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Sunak.
Dec 21, 2022 12:56:38 GMT 1
Post by ssshrew on Dec 21, 2022 12:56:38 GMT 1
So just the right person to appoint as health secretary then. Or perhaps that was our Rushi’s plan all along.
What a truly awful bunch we have running us.
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Post by martinshrew on Dec 21, 2022 13:36:31 GMT 1
So just the right person to appoint as health secretary then. Or perhaps that was our Rushi’s plan all along. What a truly awful bunch we have running us. I doubt it'll get any better when it inevitably swings the other way, I think that's almost the biggest problem. It's all very depressing.
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Post by ssshrew on Dec 21, 2022 16:01:49 GMT 1
It is indeed.
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Sunak.
Dec 21, 2022 16:34:41 GMT 1
Post by davycrockett on Dec 21, 2022 16:34:41 GMT 1
So just the right person to appoint as health secretary then. Or perhaps that was our Rushi’s plan all along. What a truly awful bunch we have running us. I doubt it'll get any better when it inevitably swings the other way, I think that's almost the biggest problem. It's all very depressing. Most leaning towards the right would, let’s hope there’s enough intelligence, caring and honesty to improve things.
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Post by neilsalop on Dec 22, 2022 20:03:51 GMT 1
I see that Rishi Rich has appointed a former senior banker as his new ethics advisor. Two questions spring to mind: 1, what the hell does a man who spent 40+ years working in the City know about ethics and 2, why the hell does Sunak need an ethics advisor? If you need someone to advise you that something might not be ethical it's a fair assumption that you really shouldn't be running a f**kin' country.
My mum used to use the phrase 'the morals of an alley cat'. To describe some, most Tory MPs that way would be a bloody compliment and in fact most of them would probably take it as such.
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Post by staffordshrew on Dec 24, 2022 13:31:32 GMT 1
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Post by northwestman on Dec 24, 2022 14:17:03 GMT 1
This and Sunak's earlier appearance at a petrol station pretending he was the owner of someone else's bog standard car when filling it up, and not understanding how to make a contactless card payment are utterly cringeworthy. Why Number 10's spin doctors feel that these photo shoots portraying the PM as a man of the people are worthwhile defeats me. It didn't work for Johnson and it most certainly doesn't work for Sunak, who looks distinctly uncomfortable. It doesn't work for his Ministers either - Steve Barclay was shredded by the mother of a sick girl whilst at a photo shoot at a hospital. www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/19/mother-steve-barclay-health-secretary-nhs-staff-waiting-lists-hospital
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Post by northwestman on Dec 24, 2022 20:53:03 GMT 1
It doesn't matter what the PM said at the homeless shelter, it's the fact that someone in his team thought a man worth £730m giving a homeless person a plate of sausages and eggs would be good PR. They need replacing!
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Sunak.
Dec 24, 2022 21:01:43 GMT 1
Post by ssshrew on Dec 24, 2022 21:01:43 GMT 1
It will be water off a duck’s back to them because they don’t care.
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Sunak.
Dec 24, 2022 21:17:51 GMT 1
via mobile
Post by martinshrew on Dec 24, 2022 21:17:51 GMT 1
It doesn't matter what the PM said at the homeless shelter, it's the fact that someone in his team thought a man worth £730m giving a homeless person a plate of sausages and eggs would be good PR. They need replacing! Maybe £15m man Kier would've been a better choice?
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Sunak.
Dec 24, 2022 21:41:26 GMT 1
Post by northwestman on Dec 24, 2022 21:41:26 GMT 1
It doesn't matter what the PM said at the homeless shelter, it's the fact that someone in his team thought a man worth £730m giving a homeless person a plate of sausages and eggs would be good PR. They need replacing! Maybe £15m man Kier would've been a better choice? Starmer would be better off visiting a food bank than getting embroiled in the transgender stuff. A sure vote loser, certainly with the Sun and Mail readers. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11570689/Labour-war-Scotlands-new-law-changing-gender.htmlSir Keir Starmer would change the law to allow transgender people to self-identify their gender if Labour is elected, it has been revealed.
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Post by staffordshrew on Dec 24, 2022 21:52:53 GMT 1
k Years ago homosexuals were vilified. Many people thought they were a danger to be anywhere near children. It's about time transgender people were allowed to live their lives as they wish. Subject to them obeying the law of the land, just like everyone else.
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