And the next prime Minister will be………

Whitewavemark2

They aren’t thinking about the country are they?

They are going for the one they are hoping can keep their jobs

That's exactly what they're doing.

Seeing as it's so obvious they are a lost cause, some will vote for the person they think might win a GE.

I'm guessing Boris is more likely to get votes than any other candidate.

Who knows.

Whitewavemark2

I heard this morning, that Johnson will not put his hat into the ring unless he is pretty sure he can win??

My god this country is insane.

He won’t want to be seen as a loser twice. His ego is too big.

Zoejory

Whitewavemark2

They aren’t thinking about the country are they?

They are going for the one they are hoping can keep their jobs

That's exactly what they're doing.

Seeing as it's so obvious they are a lost cause, some will vote for the person they think might win a GE.

I'm guessing Boris is more likely to get votes than any other candidate.

Who knows.

That’s what an MP from Teeside has just said. All they are thinking about is the next election. No thought about what’s happening to the people in this country.

Whitewavemark2

They aren’t thinking about the country are they?

They are going for the one they are hoping can keep their jobs

Especially the narcissistic Johnson. I can't believe so many still think he is there for the country. But opinions come free, so you don't really have to think about why you have them, I suppose.

Alok Sharma has now supported Johnson. I was only saying the other day how decent he was. Just remind me never to think good of any Conservative MP in the future. At least Sir Roger Gale has said he’ll leave the party if Johnson is elected.

Gransnet is obviously very pro Johnson. I keep getting the awful interview videos of him. No sign of the other two.

I no longer think it matters who we get as the powers behind that 'throne' will dictate po!icy.

Kim19

I no longer think it matters who we get as the powers behind that 'throne' will dictate po!icy.

To Johnson Kim? We have seen he doesn't care what people think of him. Why would he change and do what others say now.

DaisyAnne

Gransnet is obviously very pro Johnson. I keep getting the awful interview videos of him. No sign of the other two.

I think GN is predominantly anti Mr.Johnson

Boris Johnson stopped being PM when 60 (sixty) government ministers - members of the Conservative party - resigned and told him in their letters of resignation that he was unfit for office and spelled out why.

I trust that the opposition parties have copies of all 60 of these resignation letters to show the electorate just how disgracefully corrupt and incompetent he was if the Tory Party should ever be so monumentally stupid as to re-elect him as their leader.

MayBee70

Alok Sharma has now supported Johnson. I was only saying the other day how decent he was. Just remind me never to think good of any Conservative MP in the future. At least Sir Roger Gale has said he’ll leave the party if Johnson is elected.

MayBee70

Alok Sharma has now supported Johnson. I was only saying the other day how decent he was. Just remind me never to think good of any Conservative MP in the future. At least Sir Roger Gale has said he’ll leave the party if Johnson is elected.

I think Johnson committed to net zero carbon emissions last year (whilst urging other countries to do the same) and Sharma said he would resign if the next leader didn't do the same. Maybe that's why he's supporting him?

Mind you, as the commitment is for the middle of the century, I think Johnson's not too worried whether we hit that target or not - he'll be long gone by then. I may be being cynical but I think he'll say whatever's necessary to get others to back him. He might even have forgotten that obligation by now, but I'm sure he'll re-iterate his dedication...

And as the party is clearly fighting for its own survival - as opposed to doing what is right for the country as a whole, and many of the beleaguered people who suffered initially under him during those first crucial weeks of the pandemic, and just now due to Truss' airy-fairy economic policies - I suspect there will be all kinds of private discussions and agreements going on behind closed doors.

Johnson has the support, adulation and admiration from an awful lot of the general public - on Microsoft News some have even given him God-like status. All this will be gauged by the party (and not least Johnson) and I'm sure you'll see him playing to the gallery in a star performance like none other before eventually.

What is depressing is that there are those who've admitted he's a rogue, an adulterer, that he's wayward - but that it's worth seeing him back in Downing Street just to upset the Remoaners, woke-lefties, the BBC and Sky News. And, of course, to keep out Starmer who seems to be regarded as a
Red Tory and a rabid Leftie, both at the same time - depending on the political outlook of the commenter!

Has this country ever been in such a mess? How will all this play out on the world stage - that world we're eager to do business with - "global Britain, open for business"? Do people trust Johnson - would investors be flocking to invest in Johnson's PLC Britain? Perhaps in the end, the markets will decide. One commenter asked, "what's it got to do with the markets, who cares what they think"... that was a face-palm moment for me and I exited the site realising that argument was futile.

The markets did for Truss. I think they wield the real power. Makes you wonder why we bother having elections.

I think Truss did it for Truss.

True as well Iam64. She had some great ideas but tried to run before she could walk. She’s a hopeless communicator. Anyway the markets yanked her leash.

Urmstongran

The markets did for Truss. I think they wield the real power. Makes you wonder why we bother having elections.

Why would you want a government that doesn't know where power lies, or have you grown up thinking we were above every other country in the world UG.

This is part of the Brexit story where everything was a fairy tale told to keep the children quiet.

Iam64

I think Truss did it for Truss.

Truss and the others whose pride came before the fall we will have to suffer Iam64.

Urmstongran

True as well Iam64. She had some great ideas but tried to run before she could walk. She’s a hopeless communicator. Anyway the markets yanked her leash.

What "great ideas" Urmstongran?

Johnson had listened too much to Juvenal's "bread and circuses". He provided the circuses but thought the bread would look after itself. I doubt he will be one of the ones who starves.

Less taxation DaisyAnne. It would have powered growth and invited investment.

And no, I’ve never grown up thinking we were better than other countries. Certainly ‘as good as’ though in many ways.

Do tune into "any questions". please, it's brilliant as they have a good and very articulate Tory - discussions are excellent.
It's on repeat tomorrow, lunchtime R 4.

Urmstongran

Less taxation DaisyAnne. It would have powered growth and invited investment.

And no, I’ve never grown up thinking we were better than other countries. Certainly ‘as good as’ though in many ways.

Why do you think they have had to reverse it Urmstongran. If it was going to grow the economy everyone would have been cheering them on.

Less taxation DaisyAnne. It would have powered growth and invited investment.

Unfortunately, Ug, apart from Mad Minford, very few economists would agree with that.

She lowered corporation tax. which, far from being an invitation for investment is usually an invitation for companies to buy back their shares to raise their prices and to hand out more dividends to shareholders, who are not investors, but are speculators. They also tend to be wealthy and don't use the money to spend in the domestic economy, because they don't need to. They tend to either use the money to indulge in more stock market speculation or save, in tax havens if they possibly can.

It's higher CT, with tax allowances on invested money that invites them to invest.

The largest tax cuts went to the wealthiest, who don't have a tendency to spend. The lowest tax cuts went to the poorer people who need every penny they can get to fund the basic necessities of life. They're not going to spend enough to grow the economy, especially when the cost of just existing is rising fast.

It was never going to work...

May I post a brief humorous comment texted by a friend?
“ Asking who is the current prime minister used to be a test for cognitive capacity.
Now all it tells is if you have checked your phone in the last hour… “

Urmstongran

The markets did for Truss. I think they wield the real power. Makes you wonder why we bother having elections.

But if you embrace the free-market economic model then surely you have to accept their verdict on your economic policies?

And she did embrace it. Rees-Mogg backed an initiative which aimed to encourage people to reduce their use of gas / electricity. This campaign included measures designed to help people save up to £300 a year (apparently), also to help preserve national supplies, so that the gas-fired power plants that produce our electricity could keep running. But she was ideologically opposed to it (allegedly) because she thought it was too "interventionist". In other words, she believes the markets should rule, untrammelled.

Well, they did. And they ruled against her. She can't have it both ways, not if you are a free-marketeer idealogue. Or perhaps she believes in a controlled market which is only relevant when it responds the way you want it to? Or possibly her head was so crammed with ideas from Tufton Street that she didn't quite know what she believed or was supposed to believe and just got completely carried away with her own sense of importance which was heightened by the buzz from those in the party that voted for her? Who knows?

The markets didn't do for Truss - she did it to herself. She didn't comprehend the basics of the ideology she was flogging to the rest of us. Didn't listen to her advisors.

Her former Oxford tutor said, “her most noticeable characteristic is a capacity to shift, unblinkingly, from one fiercely held belief to another”.

MaizieD

^Less taxation DaisyAnne. It would have powered growth and invited investment.^

Unfortunately, Ug, apart from Mad Minford, very few economists would agree with that.

She lowered corporation tax. which, far from being an invitation for investment is usually an invitation for companies to buy back their shares to raise their prices and to hand out more dividends to shareholders, who are not investors, but are speculators. They also tend to be wealthy and don't use the money to spend in the domestic economy, because they don't need to. They tend to either use the money to indulge in more stock market speculation or save, in tax havens if they possibly can.

It's higher CT, with tax allowances on invested money that invites them to invest.

The largest tax cuts went to the wealthiest, who don't have a tendency to spend. The lowest tax cuts went to the poorer people who need every penny they can get to fund the basic necessities of life. They're not going to spend enough to grow the economy, especially when the cost of just existing is rising fast.

It was never going to work...

Agree Maizie