Thread: The British Prime Minister - for as long as there is a Great Britain

Originally Posted by Troy

There is no place for someone who blatantly misrepresents the truth in any government.

Good luck trying to find an honest politician



I rather chuckled at the new Health minister...

Originally Posted by Troy

I'm sure you've asked this before and had it answered.

That is correct.

But like most morons he doesn't read attentively.

Perhaps you could find a meme?

Originally Posted by cyrille

That is correct.

But like most morons he doesn't read attentively.

Perhaps you could find a meme?

A ‘Hot take’ video with flashing lights and lots of shiny things would probably work better for him, but why bother? He never acts on advice anyway!

Originally Posted by Backspin

I did ask before and i got no intelligible answer. I find it hard to believe that the skeletons in his closet are worse than Johnsons. And you don't have to like him to see that he's just more intelligent and better spoken than Teresa May and Liz Truss combined. Which still isn't saying much

Liz Truss isn't qualified to be the mayor of Salisbury.

My answer was perfectly straightforward. And it's of no surprise whatsoever that you're impressed by him.

Now, have you understood Troy's post? Or even read it properly?

Originally Posted by cyrille

Now, have you understood Troy's post? Or even read it properly?

He has major problems understanding anything.

Originally Posted by S Landreth

Anyone advocating for a “new” nuclear power station in lieu of renewables

The question is not about nuclear in lieu of renewables, the question is how do we keep the lights on over the next 10 years? Renewables are not there yet.

Originally Posted by cyrille

My answer was perfectly straightforward. And it's of no surprise whatsoever that you're impressed by him.

Now, have you understood Troy's post? Or even read it properly?

Troy said "He was told, quite bluntly, not to bother as the Tories would never win a GE is he was leader."

Which to me by default means they thought Johnson , May and Truss were better.

And no. I'm not impressed by him. I watched a debate between him and Rory Stewart once. That's the only exposer I've had of him. He's just not a zero like Truss.

Originally Posted by Backspin

Troy said "He was told, quite bluntly, not to bother as the Tories would never win a GE is he was leader."

Which to me by default means they thought Johnson , May and Truss were better.

And no. I'm not impressed by him. I watched a debate between him and Rory Stewart once. That's the only exposer I've had of him. He's just not a zero like Truss.

The tory membership went for Truss.

What's the point in speculating why others didn't stand, really?

Originally Posted by Troy

...and Steve Baker has been appointed Minister of State for NI.
Fireworks night is looming...

The path was set when Truss won, she'll go into bat on NI with the EU - it needs sorting.

In other news ministers are in discussions with energy companies, renewables & nuclear over capping their unit charges, not rocket science as their production costs have not increased. The world is being taken for a ride by these companies and only they and hedge funds are laughing.

Originally Posted by aging one

He has major problems understanding anything.

If someone could do it in join-the-dots or colouring book format maybe?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

If someone could do it in join-the-dots or colouring book format maybe?

Zing

Fuck off Harriet

Originally Posted by aging one

He has major problems understanding anything.

Should have just told him rees-mogg is german

Rees-Mogg is the product of privilege and a back ground that might have held sway in Victorian times. Today he is seen as an anachronism, out of step with the electorate.

The same could almost be said about the succession of King Charles III, but that is a matter of historical protocol which requires no decision to be made by the public.

By virtue of the Tory leadership selection process, the government ends up with Liz Truss as Prime Minister. The general public have little say in the matter.

Each subject relies on different forms of patronage, none of which is perfect.

What Backspin thinks as an outsider to the human race, is really of little consequence.

A cross between an Automaton and a Simpleton...love that comment.

Originally Posted by malmomike77

In other news ministers are in discussions with energy companies, renewables & nuclear over capping their unit charges, not rocket science as their production costs have not increased. The world is being taken for a ride by these companies and only they and hedge funds are laughing.

Well the first moves are made....they had to be.

British Gas owner plans to cap profits to cut energy bills

British Gas owner Centrica plans to voluntarily cap booming profits in an effort to cut household bills and defuse outrage over them, the Guardian can reveal.

The chief executive, Chris O’Shea, said he is keen for Centrica to become the “first company” to sign up to new, renegotiated contracts with the government on its electricity generation, amid controversy over windfall gains.

As part of Liz Truss’s £150bn energy bills freeze, renewable and nuclear power generators will be asked to supply electricity below current market rates – but the new prime minister has refused to impose a windfall tax on them.

Ministers plan to “negotiate” with generators on older wind, solar and nuclear contracts, which have benefited from windfall gains as the price of gas has soared, to persuade them to switch to newer, less lucrative deals, which lock in lower prices in return for guaranteed long-term income.

As well as being the UK’s biggest supplier of gas and electricity to households via British Gas, Centrica is also a big generator via its 20% stake in Britain’s nuclear power stations.

O’Shea said Centrica is willing to switch the five nuclear plants to the new-style contracts. He said he was even prepared to draw up long-term contracts with the government for Centrica’s North Sea gas fields, which are not covered by the initiative and have already been subject to the windfall tax announced earlier this year by the then chancellor, Rishi Sunak. North Sea oil and gas extraction does not currently receive subsidies.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/10/british-gas-cap-profits-cut-energy-bills-centrica-electricity

A great left wing bellyache in the Indy

Whitehall fury grows over sacking of top Treasury official

Mounting anger in Whitehall over the abrupt dismissal of the Treasury’s top official burst into the open today as a former head of the civil service accused Liz Truss of “destabilising” her government’s impartial advisers.

Another former senior Whitehall mandarin said the sacking of Sir Tom Scholar indicated that Ms Truss and chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng want to surround themselves with “yes men and women”, adding: “That is a sure route to bad decision-making and weak government.”

Lord Wilson – who headed the civil service under Tony Blair – is the third former cabinet secretary to speak out over the sacking of Sir Tom Scholar, who was removed by chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng within days of Ms Truss’s appointment as prime minster.

It came after the new PM railed against supposed “Treasury orthodoxy” during the Conservative leadership campaign, and has kicked off a hunt for a new department head who will back her controversial plan for £30bn of tax cuts largely benefiting the rich and corporations at a time of soaring inflation.

Former Treasury minister Lord Agnew on Tuesday defended the decision to sack Sir Tom, branding him the embodiment of “the malign influence of the Treasury orthodoxy”.

“Whether it was foot-dragging and passive resistance to creating a Treasury office in the north, which he fiercely resisted, or the botched arrangements in the construction of the bounce-back loans during the pandemic, all roads led back to him,” said Lord Agnew.

But Lord Wilson – cabinet secretary between 1998-2002 – said such attacks were “ill-judged”.

“To summarily dismiss a key top official, judged by most people to be outstanding, at this moment is destabilising,” he said. “It may affect morale; there has already been a distressing loss of talent over the past decade.”

Attacks by politicians on the civil service were “self-destructive”, he said.

“It looks like an attempt to shift on to institutions the blame for the failure of ministers’ own past policies. Civil servants will implement whatever the government decides, loyally and with energy, as they always have done. This should be a moment for bonding, not attacking.”

Former Home Office permanent secretary Sir David Normington also added his voice to the chorus of mandarin outrage.

Lord Agnew’s broadside “follows an age-old formula – if you cannot get your way in government, attack the civil service and throw in a few slurs about metropolitan elites on the way,” said Sir David, who led the Education Department from 2001-05 and the Home Office until 2011 before being appointed First Civil Service Commissioner.

“The sad fact is that in sacking Sir Tom Scholar, one of the ablest civil servants of his generation, the prime minister and chancellor have sent a clear message to the civil service that they are not interested in impartial advice and intend to surround themselves with `yes’ men and women.

“That is a sure route to bad decision-making and weak government. It is also another small step on the road to politicising the civil service.”

Sir David said it was “disappointing” that current cabinet secretary, Simon Case – who is remaining in post despite earlier indications that Ms Truss wanted to remove him – had “failed to stand up for the values of the civil service” by acquiescing in Scholar’s dismissal.

Former cabinet secretaries Lord O’Donnell and Lord Butler have already voiced their dismay at Sir Tom’s removal, meaning that protests have been made by all but one of those who led the civil service between 1988 and 2012.

During his thirty years as a civil servant, Sir Tom, 53, worked closely with both Gordon Brown and David Cameron before taking the top Treasury job in 2016.

He served as Mr Brown’s principal private secretary before moving to Washington as the UK representative at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. He then worked as chief of staff for the last Labour PM and returned to a senior post at the Treasury at the height of the banking crisis. He was senior adviser on Europe to Mr Cameron.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/whitehall-treasury-scholar-civil-service-b2167098.html

well that's handed Labour the next election, looks like the Tories will need to get the note back from Camoron about there being no money left and add a postscript

Kwarteng accused of reckless mini-budget for the rich as pound plummets

Kwasi Kwarteng has been accused of delivering a reckless mini-budget for the rich after his £45bn tax-cutting package sent the pound crashing to its lowest level against the dollar in 37 years.


In a high-risk strategy designed to revive Britain’s stagnant economy, the new chancellor announced more than £400bn of extra borrowing over the coming years to fund the biggest giveaway since Tony Barber’s ill-fated 1972 budget.


Kwarteng said tax cuts worth more than £55,000 annually to someone earning £1m a year were part of a new direction for the economy and were designed to help boost growth to 2.5% a year. Some Labour MPs described them as a “class war”.


The Treasury admitted there were no forecasts for the impact of the measures on growth and the gamble received a hostile reception not just from the markets and opposition politicians, but from economic thinktanks and many Tory MPs, some of whom were aghast.


Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said: “Today, the chancellor announced the biggest package of tax cuts in 50 years without even a semblance of an effort to make the public finance numbers add up. Instead, the plan seems to be to borrow large sums at increasingly expensive rates, put government debt on an unsustainable rising path and hope that we get better growth.


“Mr Kwarteng is not just gambling on a new strategy, he is betting the house.”

more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/23/kwarteng-accused-of-reckless-mini-budget-for-the-rich-as-pound-crashes

well this could be a fairly short tenure, lets hope so....if her judgement was questioned before the leadership vote, it certainly is by many now - it staggers me how inept the politicians here seem to have become.


Tory MPs tell Truss: sack Kwarteng or face mutiny

MPs express disbelief over sterling slump as privately some fear PM’s government is ‘dead on arrival’

Liz Truss is facing growing pressure from jittery Conservative MPs to sack Kwasi Kwarteng or face a mutiny after the Bank of England’s emergency intervention to address the turmoil in the financial markets.


The move prompted comparisons to 1992’s Black Wednesday, when the UK was ignominiously ejected from the European exchange rate mechanism.


Tory MPs expressed disbelief at how sterling had slumped after the government’s mini-budget sparked market turbulence, compounded by the chancellor’s subsequent remarks, at a time when households across the country were already struggling with the cost of living.


They said Kwarteng would have to resign for the party to survive the financial crisis, as they urged the prime minister to reverse her plan to scrap the top 45p tax rate, which they said had been received badly in their constituencies.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/28/liz-truss-kwasi-kwarteng-tory-mps-sack-or-mutiny

and nobody steering the ship as it approaches the falls......

Truss accused of hiding from budget chaos as No 10 resists recall of MPs

Downing Street is resisting pressure to recall parliament, with Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng being accused of going into hiding as the markets spiral in response to last week’s mini-budget.


Opposition leaders said it was unacceptable that the Commons would not sit for nearly two weeks, and pressed for MPs to be brought back to Westminster early.


Recess began on Friday and runs until 11 October, meaning ministers cannot be questioned by MPs on concerns from constituents about the cost of living crisis, including rising mortgage payments. A three-week break is traditionally held at the end of September and start of October, during party conference season.


Truss and Kwarteng have given no interviews about the fallout from the budget. The chancellor was questioned outside the Treasury by the BBC about his response to the crisis on Tuesday, but declined to comment.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/28/keir-starmer-labour-no-10-lost-control-economy-r

Twitch, shouldn’t you be griping tediously about successive stories from ‘The Guardian’?

Anyway, it seems highly unlikely to me that she will either resign or sack Kwarteng.

^ I agree more is the shame but she's supposed to be making a statement today once she comes out of hiding.

It'll be interesting to see how she explains away her policy which has benefitted no one but higher rate tax payers, will now push up mortgage rates to 4-6% (at least) and at the same time costing more for business to borrow...... and now seeking billions in savings from Govt Depts to cover the higher Govt Debt interest payments.

Is KK merely taking revenge on the mother country for the days of empire

Brexit, innit.