So the Final 2 - Liz and Rishi

vegansrock

Neither candidate seems worried about the climate crisis, the death of species, or appalling state of the waterways in the U.K. just banging on about tax cuts. The planet will be frazzled in and many parts uninhabitable in the not too distance future. Yet these so called leaders don’t care.

Looking at the how much climate change levies are costing us each year, it’s more than I expected.

In 2019, the CCC estimated that the total costs of getting to net zero would be £50bn per year, less than 1% of projected GDP over that period. The Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) put the figure at £70bn per year, or over £1 trillion by 2050

Having reached net zero in the UK is that going to stop climate change, NOT A CHANCE, because we are exporting our pollution to China and other countries.

Just pointing the finger at China isn’t an excuse to do nothing

vegansrock

Just pointing the finger at China isn’t an excuse to do nothing

My thoughts too!

I can't remember where I read it but the net zero carbon offset is one of the biggest mistakes in tackling Global warming on the grounds that it often just pushes things to somewhere else. So whilst pointing a finger at China is not necessarily helpful, our strategy might well be worth rethinking.

The point is we are not as green as we think, because products are manufactured overseas instead of the UK. Not just China even German products using coal fired power stations, we buy them without a thought.

Whitewavemark2

Don’t be too complacent!

Rory Stewart
@RoryStewartUK

From the US to Pakistan former leaders are trying to defy political gravity - and whip up forces inside and outside their old parties - to force their way back into office. There is every chance Boris Johnson may think of trying to do the same…

Maybe one of the first laws to pass should be like that of the USA, a President should be someone thé was born in the country. They can have Boris.

Boris Johnson hasn’t even stepped down yet, I see no evidence that he’s planning to. There’s no such thing as a ‘caretaker Prime Minister’, we don’t need one. We have a deputy PM for temporary absences, who seems to have managed perfectly well while the PM had Covid, and if the government isn’t stable, we need a General Election.

Mr Johnson will go, he has said so and really has had no choice but to resign, and has written a letter to that effect.
He has said goodbye in Parliament too.
It would be a conspiracy theory to believe that he will stay in Number 10.
The new PM will be announced early in September.

Prentice

Mr Johnson will go, he has said so and really has had no choice but to resign, and has written a letter to that effect.
He has said goodbye in Parliament too.
It would be a conspiracy theory to believe that he will stay in Number 10.
The new PM will be announced early in September.

It would be a conspiracy theory to believe that he will stay in Number 10.
The new PM will be announced early in September.

So those MPs who are backing a move to get Johnson onto the Ballot paper, and whose comments have been reported in the media, are a figment of the imagination?

Johnson may be forced to go.

If the Standards Committee decide that he mislead Parliament over the Downing Street parties and suspend him for 10 days his constituents would be able to call for a by election. If he loses the by election he will no longer be an MP.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jul/21/boris-johnson-could-face-byelection-if-inquiry-finds-he-misled-mps-over-partygate

Wouldn't it be a turn up for the book Boris back by overwhelming support on September 5th.

It is all very Trumpian.

It's possible to get a vote in the leadership election by joining the Conservative party. Anyone can do this anywhere in the world even if they are not eligible to vote in the UK.

So that 'overwhelming support' could come from.......well, who knows where and with who knows what agenda?

www.thenational.scot/news/20301957.tory-membership-loophole-see-next-prime-minister-decided-non-british-citizens/

Also, that 'overwhelming support' would be amongst the 0.2% of the public who are members of the Conservative party.

Maudi

Wouldn't it be a turn up for the book Boris back by overwhelming support on September 5th.

Have you been reading Noddy needs a Truss in Toytown again?

Dickens

Prentice

Mr Johnson will go, he has said so and really has had no choice but to resign, and has written a letter to that effect.
He has said goodbye in Parliament too.
It would be a conspiracy theory to believe that he will stay in Number 10.
The new PM will be announced early in September.

It would be a conspiracy theory to believe that he will stay in Number 10.
The new PM will be announced early in September.

So those MPs who are backing a move to get Johnson onto the Ballot paper, and whose comments have been reported in the media, are a figment of the imagination?

Which MPs and what is the evidence that it would happen?
No, it is the rumour mill at work.
Even if his name appeared on the ballot papers, and really, really cannot believe that, he stands no chance at all of being chosen.
It is a done deal as they say, that he is leaving office.

My post was actually tongue in cheek, I hope Liz Truss becomes PM.

Prentice

Dickens

Prentice

Mr Johnson will go, he has said so and really has had no choice but to resign, and has written a letter to that effect.
He has said goodbye in Parliament too.
It would be a conspiracy theory to believe that he will stay in Number 10.
The new PM will be announced early in September.

It would be a conspiracy theory to believe that he will stay in Number 10.
The new PM will be announced early in September.

So those MPs who are backing a move to get Johnson onto the Ballot paper, and whose comments have been reported in the media, are a figment of the imagination?

Which MPs and what is the evidence that it would happen?
No, it is the rumour mill at work.
Even if his name appeared on the ballot papers, and really, really cannot believe that, he stands no chance at all of being chosen.
It is a done deal as they say, that he is leaving office.

Lord Cruddas told the newspaper that a significant part of the membership still wants the option of voting for the leader who triumphed at the 2019 general election.

“We think it is only fair because Boris was the members choice back in 2019 and he has been constructively removed by the Parliamentary Party without referral to the membership,” he said.

... those are his words.

The senior Tory donor added: “By adding Boris to the final ballot to make it a three-horse race means that the winner will have the backing of the membership. (source: The Independent, 4 days ago).

... and so are those.

It has also been reported in The Daily Mail and the Express.

There are something in the region of 2,000 members who have written to the party chairman to demand they are given the option of voting for Boris Johnson in the leadership ballot.

Whether this move has any chance of being successful is a moot point. But it is neither a 'conspiracy theory' nor part of the rumour mill.

Johnson is still extremely popular with some party members and MPs - and obviously that beneficent donor, Cruddas - so I am not at all surprised at the move.

Now the conservatives have changed the rules allowing Tory 160,000 Conservative Party members members to vote twice incase they have changed their minds.

mokryna

Now the conservatives have changed the rules allowing Tory 160,000 Conservative Party members members to vote twice incase they have changed their minds.

What ?????

No, I don't think if they vote twice both votes will be counted! It's just the latest one to arrive. That is assuming that the party has an adequate computer system to work that...

Even if it does work though, it means that they can change their minds up until the last minute. If the party is run like that, how on earth can they think they can run the country properly? We have the evidence to show that they can't.

???

But it isn't funny, is it!!

It certainly isn’t funny and we will be stuck with this lot for the next couple of years.
I wonder if in other European countries their tabloid press are as influential in the outcome of elections as in the UK?

Prentice

Mr Johnson will go, he has said so and really has had no choice but to resign, and has written a letter to that effect.
He has said goodbye in Parliament too.
It would be a conspiracy theory to believe that he will stay in Number 10.
The new PM will be announced early in September.

I think keeping an open mind about what someone, who has already shown he can act well beyond the bounds of acceptable behaviour, would do. I don't think that means we are conspiracy theorists.

Also, we have illustrations around the world of countries turning away from liberal democracy. Parliament is our legislative body. That is why people become MPs - to be able to change the law and move it in the direction they wish it to go.

Governments, including ours, show a rise in attempts to use the law to discriminate against specific individuals or groups. In the last 12 years, MPs have extended their actions to remove legal protection of our basic rights, such as freedom of assembly and free speech. They have also been underwhelming in provision of collective security against all forms of threat while dancing on the international stage via Ukraine. They have just about destroyed the final leg of liberal democracy by ending any thinking about equality in the distribution of our country's economic and social benefits.

Some in this government have said they want to turn the UK into Singapore on Thames. Singapore is a country which has rejected liberal democracy in favour of a one-party state. The people in Parliament who talk up Singapore want just that. Johnson wants it as long as he can lead it.

Burying your head in the sand is simply the lack of imagination that allows dictators to rise and thrive.

As I see it we have no checks and balances system in place for our legislative body.
If a PM is elected with a huge majority as recently then they and the cabinet, chosen by the PM has carte blanche to do what they like as described by DaisyAnne.
They are supported by the Whips who have extraordinary power.
I believe Lord Hailsham and more recently Rory Stewart described the system as “elective dictatorship”.
I believe we need electoral reform. Our First Past the Post system is not representative, and leads to a dysfunctional political system.