So is Hunt the Prime minister in all but name?

Not necessarily. Yesterday it was being said that if Truss goes, another three month campaign to choose a new leader would be fatal and there needs to be one candidate only for the job, or candidates for PM and Chancellor, who can be shoed in, and the word on the web was that the perfect pair would be Mordaunt and Sunak.

I have read that too M0nica. I wonder why the Tory party make such a mess of electing their leaders?

In the first round of the leadership election Hunt came last with 18 votes and was eliminated. Now he's the most powerful political figure in the country.

What on earth is going on here?

Penny Mordaunt was initially top of the polls but then Truss emerged - how did that happen? Who are the puppet masters?

Tactical voting by MP’s in the final stages I think vegansrock. Sunak was the darling of the MP’s. They needed a patsy with no charisma up against him so they loaded the dice for Truss to be up against Sunak. Then asked the membership to vote and we’re totally taken aback at the result. And now we all have to suffer the consequences.

Do you think that Truss actually had any say in Hunt's appointment?

My own gut reaction yesterday was that he was foisted on her by the big boys in the Party in an "either you accept this or you will be forced to resign immediately" scenario.

I think it was a damage-limitation / face-saving exercise done for the benefit of the party, who are more worried about optics than anything else. They must think that Truss nominally still in post as PM will look marginally better than their admitting that her appointment was a huge mistake and having to go through the embarrassing rigmarole of electing yet another leader in such a short space of time.

It just seems like delaying the inevitable to me, but hey-ho, it's only the good of the country that they are playing with!

So yes, WW, at the moment I do suspect that Hunt is currently Prime Minister in all but name.

Hunt has said he’ll raise taxes and cut public spending. That’s the opposite of Truss’ promise.

No point in the what ifs but if Sunak had been successful I very much doubt we would be in the position we are now.
Hunt regardless of Trusses promises has to be more realistic of what is possible at this moment in time.

I first read that as ‘hunt the prime minister’ as in ‘hunt the thimble’.
Though IMO that’s applicable too, though ‘competent’ would need to be added.

I think Hunt was appointed in an effort to calm the markets. Whether or not this succeeds remains to be seen.

But we have a lot of pain to come domestically with spending cuts. Cuts that will just drag us (i.e the country) further down in to poverty and minimal growth.

We might one day get a chancellor bright enough to recognise that state spending is as much an engine of growth as is private investment, but Hunt isn't the one...

The rot set in when they voted BJ in - he was clearly totally unsuited to leadership and eventually they had to acknowledge that and get rid of him before he tarnished the UK's reputation any further.

But they had no decent people waiting in the wings, as we have seen. I think the Tories are stuffed for the foreseeable future and all we can do is wait for a general election. We are an international laughing stock that has gone on too long to be retrievable without a change of government.

I think he is prime minister in all but name. I also think she was told accept this or resign. It will be interesting to see what happens next. Gove and Shapps apparently plotting behind the scenes as usual according to the papers.

rosie1959

No point in the what ifs but if Sunak had been successful I very much doubt we would be in the position we are now.
Hunt regardless of Trusses promises has to be more realistic of what is possible at this moment in time.

I agree that we wouldn't have had the market turmoil, but we would still be looking at massive and very painful public spending cuts and no 'growth' to show for the pain.

It seems he has already announced cuts and higher taxes. Well that will definitely do zero to promote growth.

He appears to have reversed all of Truss’s economic plans. We are heading back to austerity. That did so much to prevent growth. In fact it made the working class so unhappy that they turned to Brexit in desperation, and the chaos that started with Brexit has ended with where we are now.

So, I ask

Who is in charge?

I’m talking about Hunt btw?

A picture of Tory chaos

I reckon Hunt will the caretaker PM, whilst they are moving Sunak into post.

They have no alternative but to install a new PM, whoever it is - if there's another party ballot god knows who the crazy members would come up with next!

There'll be no general election - the Tories have an 80-seat majority and know they face certain defeat in any future GE.

We might one day get a chancellor bright enough to recognise that state spending is as much an engine of growth as is private investment, but Hunt isn't the one.

... this - emphatically, this.

Oldnproud totally agree with your post - couldn’t have put it better myself. What a devious lot!

Whitewavemark2

I reckon Hunt will the caretaker PM, whilst they are moving Sunak into post.

And if Sunak says he's leaving?

Callistemon21

Whitewavemark2

I reckon Hunt will the caretaker PM, whilst they are moving Sunak into post.

And if Sunak says he's leaving?

Oh! I haven’t heard that?

Just what does he know about economics? Asking for 1.6m NHS staff?

It was a rumour a while ago - he might go to America?
I may have read it on GN, whitewave so take with a pinch of salt
?