UK Politics Thread: Kemi Badenoch elected Tory Leader

[The Huskar Social Union]

Sinn Fein is dealing with three back to back controversies regarding the conduct of its members, two of which involve elected officials, one current and one former, and what the leadership of the party knew about in relation to these issues.

Firstly, Michael McMonagle: He was suspended from the party over an investigation into child sex offences (which he has now been convicted of) but after his suspension he received referrals from two Sinn Fein press officers when he applied to work at the British Heart Foundation. Those Press Officers have been fired but questions have been raised about what Michelle O'Neill knew in relation to his suspension and has even faced questions in a Stormont committee over it.

Secondly, Niall Ó Donnghaile: A former Seaned member for Sinn Fein who was suspended from the party last year has revealed the reasons for his suspension involve sending inappropriate messages to two people including a 17 year old. He resigned officially over mental health issues but this is the real reason. The police were notified and no formal complaints were made but this has led to Mary Lou McDonald facing criticism about her statements made when he resigned and what she knew about when it came to this incident, especially as they are being accused of misleading the Oireachtas over his resignation.

And thirdly, Brian Stanley: A elected TD who has left the party to stand as an independent after accusing the party of stitching him up in a Kangaroo court over a complaint made about him last year over an alleged incident which has been referred to to the Gardai.

Gona make a prediction: A fourth Sinn Fein controversy over inappropriate conduct from one of its members before the end of the month.

[El Lazaro]

First poll showing the Conservatives tied with Labour

Does Labour really miss being the opposition that much?

[Kerwa]

You say that, but just the other day when I was explaining why Chris Hipkins will never win an election, one of the reasons I cited was that he's a ginger man. There's a bias you know (despite the above anecdote I am not speaking from personal experience: I may have a reddish beard, but I have brown hair... this is my genuine observation from observing the way the world interacts with hair colours).

Julia Gillard managed.

[The Notorious Mad Jack]

First poll showing the Conservatives tied with Labour

Does Labour really miss being the opposition that much?

Do polls five years out from elections really matter?

[El Lazaro]

First poll showing the Conservatives tied with Labour

Does Labour really miss being the opposition that much?

Do polls five years out from elections really matter?

The downward trend will continue under Starmer, barring unusual circumstances

[Tinhampton]

In news of rather more consequence to the British people, McDonald's have confirmed that they will now squirt sauce onto your McRib rather than dunking it with the stuff like they did the last time they had it on offer in 2015.

[Forsher]

Julia Gillard managed.

She's not a man.

[El Lazaro]

You say that, but just the other day when I was explaining why Chris Hipkins will never win an election, one of the reasons I cited was that he's a ginger man. There's a bias you know (despite the above anecdote I am not speaking from personal experience: I may have a reddish beard, but I have brown hair... this is my genuine observation from observing the way the world interacts with hair colours).

Churchill was a ginger. Not having a soul must’ve made the Bengal Famine easier on his conscience.

Jokes aside, which countries and time period does your theory apply to? It’s too vague to be testable.

[Emotional Support Crocodile]

Apparently if Robert Jenrick wins, he wants to make Jacob Rees-Mogg chairman of the Conservative Party. Proof his head is full of mince.

[The Notorious Mad Jack]

Apparently if Robert Jenrick wins, he wants to make Jacob Rees-Mogg chairman of the Conservative Party. Proof his head is full of mince.

No apparently about it, he tweeted it out. Silly man.

Do polls five years out from elections really matter?

The downward trend will continue under Starmer, barring unusual circumstances

Maybe, but the Tories had a 25 point lead in 2020 so...

[The Archregimancy]

You say that, but just the other day when I was explaining why Chris Hipkins will never win an election, one of the reasons I cited was that he's a ginger man. There's a bias you know (despite the above anecdote I am not speaking from personal experience: I may have a reddish beard, but I have brown hair... this is my genuine observation from observing the way the world interacts with hair colours).

Winston Churchill, Robin Cook, Calvin Coolidge, Oliver Cromwell (alright, so didn't win an election as such), James Garfield, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Yitzhak Rabin, William Howard Taft, Martin Van Buren...

[Camtropia]

"Reeves eyeing £40bn in tax rises and spending cuts." Well, that's one way to plug a £22bn black hole.

I remember when everyone used to criticise Labour for being the party of "tax and spend". Now they're the party of "tax and don't spend"; two of their biggest policy announcements so far seems to have been to tax independent schools and to gut winter fuel payments for pensioners.

[Mtwara]

Low opinion poll ratings for Labour at this stage are a bit of a big “so what?”.

There’s lots of time to recover from this position. Think about Margaret Thatcher and her attempts to manage inflation from a purely theoretical/ideological standpoint in 1979/1980. She must have been one of the most throughly disliked people in history at the time but once she changed tack she recovered from that and went on to be PM for another term.

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

Low opinion poll ratings for Labour at this stage are a bit of a big “so what?”.

It's saying a lot about Labour getting a landslide mandate to do change and then just ending up being red Tories tho.

[Mtwara]

I do struggle with that understanding of events though. There’s a deficit and a debt, some of it needs to be cleared in order to reallocate funding further down the line. They’ve arranged a pretty successful investment conference, but the issue the uk has with investment isn’t a lack of cash per se, it’s the pain of starting and delivering projects, and this takes time to sort out.

I think it was always clear Labour want to improve public services by growing the economy, but it hasn’t had time to grow yet…

[Forsher]

You say that, but just the other day when I was explaining why Chris Hipkins will never win an election, one of the reasons I cited was that he's a ginger man. There's a bias you know (despite the above anecdote I am not speaking from personal experience: I may have a reddish beard, but I have brown hair... this is my genuine observation from observing the way the world interacts with hair colours).

Winston Churchill, Robin Cook, Calvin Coolidge, Oliver Cromwell (alright, so didn't win an election as such), James Garfield, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Yitzhak Rabin, William Howard Taft, Martin Van Buren...

Anyone since the advent of (a) colour photography or (b) young enough that they still had red hair?

Jokes aside, which countries and time period does your theory apply to? It’s too vague to be testable.

Quite entirely the present. But I wouldn't be surprised if does track back to the 60s when colour photography and visual mass media became mainstream (see above).

[The Notorious Mad Jack]

Winston Churchill, Robin Cook, Calvin Coolidge, Oliver Cromwell (alright, so didn't win an election as such), James Garfield, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Yitzhak Rabin, William Howard Taft, Martin Van Buren...

Anyone since the advent of (a) colour photography or (b) young enough that they still had red hair?

Robin Cook was MP for Livingston from 1983 to 2005.

[Forsher]

Anyone since the advent of (a) colour photography or (b) young enough that they still had red hair?

Robin Cook was MP for Livingston from 1983 to 2005.

Chris Hipkins is a current MP. My point was about his ability to become PM by leading Labour to victory (as opposed to succeeding a resigning PM).

It may be a stupid point -- or it might not -- but it's a narrower point than "ginger men can't win any kind of election".

[The Huskar Social Union]

Labour backtracks on push for genocide ruling on China’s treatment of Uyghurs

Exclusive: Party drops plan for formal recognition laid out last year by David Lammy, who will visit Beijing on Friday

Labour has backtracked on plans to push for formal recognition of China’s treatment of the Uyghurs as genocide in the run-up to David Lammy’s trip to the country this weekend.

The foreign secretary is expected to arrive in Beijing on Friday for high-level meetings before travelling to Shanghai on Saturday.

The trip marks a shift in the British government’s approach to China, with ministers seeking to improve engagement and build closer economic ties. Trade between the UK and China is worth £110bn a year.

Senior government figures are bullish about their approach, pointing out that allies including the US and the EU have maintained high-level engagement with China in recent years while the UK has fallen behind.

As part of this diplomatic rapprochement, Labour has dropped its tough stance towards Beijing over its treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority.

China has detained Uyghurs at camps in the north-west region of Xinjiang, where for years there have been allegations of torture, forced labour and sexual abuse. The Chinese government claims the camps carry out “re-education” to combat terrorism.

The European parliament passed an emergency resolution this week censuring China’s repression of the Uyghurs and calling for the release of detainees.

In opposition, Labour backed a Commons motion that declared China’s conduct genocide and urged the government to seek formal recognition of this through the UN and with other countries.

Stephen Kinnock, then shadow Asia minister, said in 2021 that it was not enough to leave the matter to international courts because China would have to consent to an investigation.

“Ideally, a competent international court would examine this evidence, but there is no prospect that either the ICC or the international court of justice will be able to do so, as this would require the consent of China,” Kinnock told the Commons.

=CONTINUES=

[Tinhampton]

I'm hearing that Boris Johnson's new book isn't available in the EU because of Brexit? That's the first time I've ever heard something like this. I know that Mr Bruff doesn't sell his English revision guides to EU students because of VAT issues, but he's self-published and his primary audience is UK-resident, while BoJo is a global celebrity under contract to the publishing behemoth that is HarperCollins, which is literally owned by Rupert Murdoch.

[Ifreann]

I'm hearing that Boris Johnson's new book isn't available in the EU because of Brexit? That's the first time I've ever heard something like this.

Don't think that's true.

[Tinhampton]

I'm hearing that Boris Johnson's new book isn't available in the EU because of Brexit? That's the first time I've ever heard something like this.

Don't think that's true.

Heard it on X first but somehow didn't find anything about it in the New European. Managed to snare up a link from Left Foot Forward about it which basically explains that it was not available, in some stores, for a week because they had to go through customs processing first. Carry on.

[Ifreann]

Don't think that's true.

Heard it on X first but somehow didn't find anything about it in the New European. Managed to snare up a link from Left Foot Forward about it which basically explains that it was not available, in some stores, for a week because they had to go through customs processing first. Carry on.

Would have been funny if true. Alas.

[Imperializt Russia]

Sure would be nice if people were getting access to medicine based on their healthcare needs rather than based on the expected economic gains.

You think the NHS was a purely altruistic gesture? Healthy workers after a world war means the economy getting on its feet faster. There has always been a cost benefit analysis when approving drugs and how they are prescribed within the NHS.

There is an impossibly vast gulf between the provision of healthcare where for many, it previously no longer existed - bettering those people to enable them to achieve the economic value they wanted to - and medicated people into work for the sake of extracting economic value from them.

"If you don't take this injection, we will sanction you".

That is literally dystopic.

[Fartsniffage]

You think the NHS was a purely altruistic gesture? Healthy workers after a world war means the economy getting on its feet faster. There has always been a cost benefit analysis when approving drugs and how they are prescribed within the NHS.

There is an impossibly vast gulf between the provision of healthcare where for many, it previously no longer existed - bettering those people to enable them to achieve the economic value they wanted to - and medicated people into work for the sake of extracting economic value from them.

"If you don't take this injection, we will sanction you".

That is literally dystopic.

But that isn't what is happening.