Andrea Leadsom

Whose plan failed?

I agree dd

I bet Gove feels a bit miffed though !

Leadsom was going to be a puppet. Thank goodness the plan failed.

Where's Malcolm when you need him?

Yes Minister and The Thick Of It!

Of course it's quite plausible even probable....I'm sure you all remember 'Yes, Minister'

And another one bites the dust!

Gracesgran I suspect that you and I may have very similar political ideals.

After living abroad for part of the 1970s we moved to an area where there were only two political parties - the Tories and the Liberals. The Labour party did not exist at local level although in general elections they did put up a "paper candidate" whose campaign was funded by a union and who did well not to lose his deposit. Because of FPTP many constituencies only had two parties, which differed in different areas.

In our area the Tories controlled every level of government. We joined the Liberals and in twenty years took control of District Council, County Council, elected a brilliant MEP and in 1979, a LibDem MP. What a difference that made to the lives of real people in this area!

At the time of the SDP /Liberal Alliance, and subsequent merger, it seemed to me that those in the SDP had, broadly speaking, come to the same opinion as the Liberals, but just a bit later. I am dissapointed that you never felt able to join us. I have met all the party leaders from Jeremy Thorpe to Tim Farron and appreciate what they have contributed to this country, which does not mean that I agreed with every single policy.

The two politicians I most admired were Roy Jenkins and Shirley Williams, either of whom could have made a wonderful prime minister.

Of course things might be different under PR, which is something I have always campaigned for, but surely it is better to work with those with whom we agree on the fundamental principles and not reject co-operation. Both the conservative and labour parties encompass a wide range of opinion. Please support the LIbDems - we need you more than ever.

Well, another lady prime minister!!!!! Mrs May, yay!

I think we are crediting politicians with too much in the way of tactics/manoeuvring tbh.
It's probably more just the way things fall out.

Anya As a Scottish Resident and life-long Scottish Nationalist I will redouble my efforts to extract Scotland from the shambles that is the United Kingdom. If I were not Scottish, I would probably follow in the footsteps of the actual Queen and retreat to Scotland for the summer and hide there until order is restored (which might take a long time.

@Granny23

You could write the novel before somebody else does!

Yes, it was a question to you. You were the one who suggested some Machiavellian plot. If there really was a plot, May's played a blinder. She's been the best of a bad bunch all along.

As for Leadsom...apart from all the other reasons, I had absolutely no confidence in somebody who (in her own words in a Telegraph article) cried because people had abused her and who seemed more concerned about cooking more roast potatoes to go with a roast chicken for more Sunday guests than being PM.

Assuming you're not the queen, that is!

Granny23 so what are you going to do about it?

Is that a question to me DD because if it is you will have to put it more clearly, as I'm totally

Do you honestly have much confidence in people to deal with the likes of Putin, when they can't outflank people in their own party?

Well it worked didn't it

Canny maneuvering, by phone calls to Michael Gullible Gove, from 'friends' urging him to stand! This obviously caused Boris to drop out. Then Gove got his comeuppance (as was planned all along) and here is Theresa, as planned.

Watch who becomes Chancellor and all will be revealed!

Machiavelli couldn't have planned it better

I am finding the current '10minutes is a long time in politics' situation quite unbelievable. People are telling us that the Brexit vote was all about 'taking back control' - CONTROL of what? We have had about 6 sure fire Prime Ministers in Waiting declared and now, it seems, we will have a new one by the end of the week, simply because she is 'the last one standing'. Not a single democratic vote has taken place and every promise made has been broken.

Talk about 'Fiddling while London Burns'. While the Press and pundits try to keep up, it would seem that the future of the Nation is being decided via late night tweets and secret messages between a select few while the parliamentary and party political 'rules' are swept aside, ignored or rewritten as they go along. Someone on Facebook suggested that there is some great brain steering the course of events for their own ends - if so that brain must be a deranged one.

I am sick and tired of being lied to, taken for granted and taken for an idiot, told to trust,not to worry because 'THEY' will sort it out, etc. etc. 'THEY' have managed to alienate both those who voted for BREXIT and those who voted to REMAIN, made the country a laughing stock, disrupted millions of people's future financial, career and residence plans. If I were the Queen I would dismiss the lot of them (including the Labour ones who are too busy fighting each other to provide an effective opposition)and call a General Election under PR.

All these below served as PM without going to a General Election first

2007 Gordon Brown Labour
1990 John Major Conservative
1976 James Callaghan Labour
1963 Sir Alec Douglas-Home Conservative
1957 Harold Macmillan Conservative
1955 Sir Anthony Eden Conservative
1940 Winston Churchill Conservative
1937 Neville Chamberlain Conservative
1923 Stanley Baldwin Conservative
1916 David Lloyd George Liberal
1908 Herbert H. Asquith Liberal
1905 Henry Campbell-Bannerman Liberal
1902 Arthur Balfour Conservative

TM has quite a task ahead of her, it should be 'interesting'!

I've just discovered Grayling use to be a member of the SDP. OMG!!!

Thank goodness - Andrea (Mummy) Leadsom has gone and very soon we will have a Jolly Good Woman in charge.

At least AL saw the writing on the wall and did the proper thing.

varian (Mon 11-Jul-16 13:48:12)

I was a founder member of the SDP, on the local steering committee and involved until the end but I did not and would not join the Liberals although I have voted for known Liberals locally from time to time. To me they remained Liberal (not always a bad thing) and there was little of the social democracy I was looking for.

Join the Tory's? - probably not unless our politics changed out of all recognition but hope for a new, properly social democratic party - of course. Without PR I do not hold out too much hope though. So then you vote for those offering what you see as closest to your own principles don't you. With all that has happened in the last two weeks who knows who that will be

Who would you like to see as Chancellor? Grayling?