Now the TV hustings are over, where does that leave us?

Yes, after 7 foreign Secretary's before her failed to get Nazanin released, she managed it because we finally paid up.
We could have done that 7 foreign secretaries earlier!

Blossoming

The only thing I can’t understand is why these ‘debates were ever given airtime in the first place. This is not a General Election, only a tiny percentage of the UK’s population will be eligible to vote for the next Conservative leader. Are they trying to copy the Americans?

Does this normally happen? Or is it just a very good distraction from the fact that Johnson has admitted he met Russian oligarch and ex-KGB officer Alexander Lebedev without officials present?

Do check Penny Mordaunt's voting record re. privatisation by stealth of the NHS.

I reckon the final two will be Sunak and Truss.

Is Truss still popular with the membership? If so she’ll be the next PM??

Honestly this country is as mad as a box of frogs.

Vintagenonna

Do check Penny Mordaunt's voting record re. privatisation by stealth of the NHS.

The voting records of Tory MPs demonstrate that they care more about money than people.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202207/medium-997378-b2e79c65-91d7-4f5c-bb46-d60970219944.png https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202207/medium-175324-f8a3a456-3ab5-4583-9497-960c69ee6664.png https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202207/medium-240828-89cbd252-8b8d-4446-a5b8-12bf8d5d6b73.png

Further to Truss and her comments about Roundhay School…here’s an article about her lies

Last bit

Morning everybody! ?

Sadly I think Tory party members are no doubt going to be offered a “least worst” choice. Tainted , slick as a used car salesman Rishi Sunak, weird Maybot 2.0 Liz Truss or mendacious Penny. They’re all just a bit rubbish.

Kemi would be transformative for the party and Britain but the manipulative Westminister nonsense & horse trading at this stage will probably ensure she doesn’t reach the final two.

Business as usual then?

Whoever wins will have 2 years to really show some decision making, enough to make a difference before going to the polls. No time left now to prevaricate.... Keir Starmer says the clock is ticking.

Badenoch would guarantee a Labour win at the next election, but I'm not sure how the country would survive with two years of her as PM.

growstuff

Badenoch would guarantee a Labour win at the next election, but I'm not sure how the country would survive with two years of her as PM.

Yes. The voter who will be struggling to pay bills will not tolerate being told to prepare for private health, watch severe cuts to our schools and social services being reduced to a rump.

Thank you Lucca - very interesting reading. Liz Truss being in search of a tribe struck a chord, maybe that's why she tends towards the Thatcher-like image.
But leaders really can't expect to make friends with the tribe they lead - it's lonely at the top. I feel rather sorry for her just now - a very fleeting sensation I'm sure!

Lots of information here
twitter.com/RussInCheshire/status/1548982466995802112

twitter.com/RussInCheshire/status/1543901064180781056

Kemi Badenoch: I know what it's like flipping burgers at 16, on minimum wage, and then watching my pay slip away to taxes.

Lie

No minimum wage existed when she was 16. She would have paid either no tax or very little.

Kemi was 18 when a Labour government introduced the minimum wage.

Whitewavemark2

Kemi Badenoch: I know what it's like flipping burgers at 16, on minimum wage, and then watching my pay slip away to taxes.

Lie

No minimum wage existed when she was 16. She would have paid either no tax or very little.

Did she really say that?

She worked for a few hours a week in McDonalds. She probably paid a little National Insurance, but there's no way she would have paid tax on what she earned.

Oh dear, she really is trying too hard to be one of the people, isn't she.

Would she have had one of the last student grants too?
I remember it changed around the time DD went to university and she is just a bit younger than Kemi.

growstuff

Whitewavemark2

Kemi Badenoch: I know what it's like flipping burgers at 16, on minimum wage, and then watching my pay slip away to taxes.

Lie

No minimum wage existed when she was 16. She would have paid either no tax or very little.

Did she really say that?

She worked for a few hours a week in McDonalds. She probably paid a little National Insurance, but there's no way she would have paid tax on what she earned.

Same as the nonsense about walking miles to get water when she spent her childhood in Nigeria.

No doubt other lies we haven’t seen or heard yet.

We can’t possibly have another blatant liar for PM.

This is Badenoch spouting on about being ‘the only woman working amongst 300 men’.

Except for all the other women there, who don’t really count, apparently.

twitter.com/thenewsdesk/status/1549097898033438720?s=21&t=ezy4ajx4amvQyUDbXqEKUw

I wonder why she never mentions her jobs in banking and journalism…

I must be missing something. Working in McDonalds whilst a student is completely different to working full time in a low paid job on a long term basis. Nearly all students work part time in low paid jobs to supplement their income, so her doing so isn’t exceptional, or even worth mentioning is it?

Here's the Telegraph's report of the debate.

7:08PM
Badenoch and Sunak's responses

Kemi Badenoch: I know what it's like flipping burgers at 16, on minimum wage, and then watching my pay slip away to taxes. What I want to do is cut fuel duty but we need to look at why the cost-of-living is rising and the problem is inflation

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/07/17/conservative-leadership-debate-2022-tv-penny-mordaunt-rishi/

Tobias Ellwood lost the whip?. Now in parliament as an independent.

Zonne

This is Badenoch spouting on about being ‘the only woman working amongst 300 men’.

Except for all the other women there, who don’t really count, apparently.

twitter.com/thenewsdesk/status/1549097898033438720?s=21&t=ezy4ajx4amvQyUDbXqEKUw

I wonder why she never mentions her jobs in banking and journalism…

I was talking to a local Conservative the day after she was selected by the local party. He was one of the people who had voted for her. Nice man in his 70s or 80s (I would guess), who had worked as a civil engineer in different parts of the world. He was singing Badenoch's praises. I remember him mentioning the 300 men on a building site as one of the reasons he admired her. He thought she had been building roads and bridges, as he had done, and was impressed, especially as she appeared like a little black girl, who had carried water for miles as a child, and had "made good" by her own efforts. Badenoch has done nothing to change that impression and it seems she's still coming out with the same old tripe.

Casdon

I must be missing something. Working in McDonalds whilst a student is completely different to working full time in a low paid job on a long term basis. Nearly all students work part time in low paid jobs to supplement their income, so her doing so isn’t exceptional, or even worth mentioning is it?

I worked in a department store selling toys when I was in the sixth form. Funnily enough, I've never mentioned it on any CV and I don't think it would qualify me to be PM.

Thank you for the article Lucca. It reports how I remember Roundhay (High) School.

Are you saying Kemi's lies (exaggerations) don't matter Urms?
Was it the same with Boris and Trump - lying isn't important in todays politics?

Callistemon21

Oh dear, she really is trying too hard to be one of the people, isn't she.

Would she have had one of the last student grants too?
I remember it changed around the time DD went to university and she is just a bit younger than Kemi.

It's possible she might have paid some fees. The first ones were £1000 a year - so nothing like they are today. Loans started to replace grants in the 1990/1 academic year. Badenoch would have qualified as a "home" student, so would almost certainly have been eligible for a grant with (maybe) a top up loan.