British Politics Guide

[Nachtswalbe]

Why do headmistresses feel inclined to ask women about courting and kids?
https://mobile.twitter.com/lottelydia/s ... 4303872004

[Nachtswalbe]

Switzerland has a seven-person Executive Council: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal ... itzerland)

[alice]

Why do headmistresses feel inclined to ask women about courting and kids?
https://mobile.twitter.com/lottelydia/s ... 4303872004

This is Britain, chum. If you have to ask, you'll never know.

[Raphael]

Serious question to those of you who are following British politics more closely than I am:

Are the antivaxxers doing anything in terms of electoral politics? I know about their increasingly vicious and intimidating protest rallies, but what about parties or candidates? The Tory government seems to follow fairly "mainstream" (for lack of a better word) policies for handling Covid-19, so it looks like the spittle-flecked "vaccines contain secret mind control microchips and make people magnetic" types would have to turn to somewhere to the right of the Tories to find politicians willing to suck up to them. Or perhaps to the murky corners of the political spectrum where it's sometimes not completely clear whether someone is on the far right or the far left.

So, are there attempts to form new parties? Or, perhaps, attempts to organise some kind of antivax rebellion within the Tory Party? Or, for that matter, within any other party? What's going on?

[Travis B.]

They promised me I would be able to turn on my car with my mind, yet I can't. I feel cheated.

[MacAnDàil]

Well, Reform UK has shifted from being about Brexit (its former name) to being anti-lockdown. I think antivaxers are likely more common among anti-lockdowners. But the PR system is not particularly conducive to new parties.

[Raphael]

Ah, thank you, good to know (and not exactly surprising). (Pedantic note: I think you mean the non-PR system?)

[MacAnDàil]

Ah yes, I meant FPTP.

[Raphael]

Another question: how are the loopier parts of the right-wing section of British media handling the fact that the Tory government, whatever its other flaws, hasn't gone Covid-denier yet?

[Raphael]

Our British members seem to have given up on this thread, but just in case anyone still reads it: what do you think about Johnson's current situation?

[alice]

Our British members seem to have given up on this thread, but just in case anyone still reads it: what do you think about Johnson's current situation?

Where's Sal when you need him? (yes, I know)

Anyway, it's not at all surprising, and it'll be very funny if his time as Prime Minister ends up less than Gordon'a or Teresa's. It's quite Trumpian, but in a very British way.

Not to mention the current problems besetting Prince Andrew, or the fact that the CCP has managed to infiltrate Parliament... it's been quite a few days for political news lately.

[Frislander]

Our British members seem to have given up on this thread

Some of our British Members have been otherwise busy...

but just in case anyone still reads it: what do you think about Johnson's current situation?

I mean I honestly am glad that the scales are finally tipping against him, because it's been infuriating being someone who's never thought highly of Johnson knowing that on balance enough of the electorate are just ignorant enough of his lack of leadership qualities and integrity to think that he's actually doing a good PM, or at least are accepting of the fact that he is PM. The only thing that remains to be seen is if the anger can carry over to the rest of the party when the obligatory general election comes around when he finally is replaced (assuming of course the winner isn't a total authorotarian like Priti Patel, who currently seems obsessed with criminalising protest among other things...). I've no idea when that will be though, but my instinct for the upper bound of how long it will take obviously shrinks daily (I don't think he's going to last a year for sure, and probably a good deal less).

As for who's going to follow him, well it's looking it's probably going to be a two-horse race between Sunak and Truss (I've heard rumours Hunt my make an attempt again but I can't see any chance he'll even get off the ground with the membership now). Word is that the former is more popular with the public but the latter with party members, which makes sense when you consider that he was happy to splash out with Eat Out to Help Out in a fairly standard piece of electorate bribery, while the latter is looking more and more like a reincarnation of Thatcher by the day, or at least she'd like you think so (and what we know of her policy positions seems to corroborate that, she was one of the authors of that tract Britannia Unchained after all).

Neither Patel nor Javid certainly look like they're making any actual effort to present themselves as obvious leadership candidates (Patel in particular seems too obsessed with getting her frankly inhuman legislative agenda through parliament now to build up a platform from which to mount such a challenge and I'd say similar though less so with Javid). Meanwhile Raab seems to be have been sufficiently neutered by being shunted to Justice after his fuck-ups in Foreign that I can't see him attempting it like I might have done a year ago. There's also no-one else that I'm aware of that looks even remotely serious.

Our British members seem to have given up on this thread, but just in case anyone still reads it: what do you think about Johnson's current situation?

Where's Sal when you need him? (yes, I know)

I mean same.

Anyway, it's not at all surprising, and it'll be very funny if his time as Prime Minister ends up less than Gordon'a or Teresa's. It's quite Trumpian, but in a very British way.

Remind me exactly how long those too were PM for?

Not to mention the current problems besetting Prince Andrew,

NGL it was a pleasant surprise to see Buckingham Palace actually finally do the right thing and strip him of his titles, because honestly regardless of the veracity of the allegations he's been tarred too much.

or the fact that the CCP has managed to infiltrate Parliament

For those out of the UK, the story is that MI5 has put out a warning that an individual who has it seems been trying to exert some soft power over a handful of Labour MPs is apparently working at the behest of the CCP, which is honestly not surprising to me at least, just standard CCP stuff afaic.

[alice]

Anyway, it's not at all surprising, and it'll be very funny if his time as Prime Minister ends up less than Gordon'a or Teresa's. It's quite Trumpian, but in a very British way.

Remind me exactly how long those too were PM for?

Here you go. Boris has just over 20 weeks to overtake Gordon.

Oops, and I missed out an "h" in "Theresa". Here it is: h

[sangi39]

I think Johnson should resign, but I'm not actually sure he will, and I'm not even 100% that his position as Prime Minister will even be challenged by a vote of no confidence until after the May local elections, unless it comes directly from Conservative MPs who are confident in there position within the party. If Johnson does step down, or is removed from his position, I'm not confident at all that anything will actually change, and Johnson will end up being used as a scapegoat (if that wasn't the plan behind his rise to leadership in the first place), allowing the new leader, and the new cabinet, presumably comprising largely of current cabinet members, to continue on as they are right now, but having resolved themselves of any personal responsibility because, well, it was the last leader's fault, right?


So, if I'd have to guess, Johnson will manage to hold on to power for at least a few more months, until after the May local elections, while the various members of the core Conservative leadership try to gain more and more support from backbenchers and members of the Conservative Party, to the point where a VONC can be raised, succeed, and lead to a relatively swift leadership election followed by a general election in September. The local elections will be the big measure of whether any of this is a good idea (if they can maintain control of local councils, especially in England, then they can be reasonably safe in the knowledge that they might maintain their parliamentary majority), but if Johnson continues to become increasingly unpopular amongst the wider public, to the point where "swing voters" are being turned away from the Conservative Party due to him ruining their reputation, then he needs to go, and May is probably the absolute latest they can hold on to him.


If he's removed from his position now, that's a leadership election ahead of local council elections. Is that enough time to really secure any sense of authority and presence within the Party and in the eyes of the public to do them any good? Especially in the current climate where people seem to vote on the basis of their views of the party leader, rather than who their local MP actually is (not even joking, some people I've talked to in this constituency who voted Conservative didn't even know Rishi Sunak was the MP for this constituency - They just saw "Conservative Party", liked Boris Johnson at the time, and ticked that box)


And I really don't think a VONC will be successful at all if it comes from any of the opposition parties. If one is raised, I suppose Conservative MPs will largely oppose it, in spite of any opinion regarding Johnson, to show some sort of loyalty towards the Conservative Party as a whole. "If he has to go, he's going on our terms, not yours" sort of thing. But then if they don't support it, how will that affect the view of the Conservative Party in general, if it looks like they support Johnson and the Party over the public?


I think either way, this might go on for a few more months, unless Johnson himself turns round a lot sooner and resigns, or there's enough support within the Conservative Party for a small handful of candidates for leadership of the Party, who are viewed as popular enough that it won't negatively impact their chances in upcoming local council elections and a following general election (assuming there is one - as Frislander points out, some Conservative MPs might not even want one. "People voted for the Conservative Party for their policies, not the party leader, surely?")

[Raphael]

(not even joking, some people I've talked to in this constituency who voted Conservative didn't even know Rishi Sunak was the MP for this constituency - They just saw "Conservative Party", liked Boris Johnson at the time, and ticked that box)

I don't think that's all that unusual. I've got the impression that many people basically have enough space in their mind to pay attention to one major political office, and use that space for whatever the top political office in their country is called.

[sangi39]

(not even joking, some people I've talked to in this constituency who voted Conservative didn't even know Rishi Sunak was the MP for this constituency - They just saw "Conservative Party", liked Boris Johnson at the time, and ticked that box)

I don't think that's all that unusual. I've got the impression that many people basically have enough space in their mind to pay attention to one major political office, and use that space for whatever the top political office in their country is called.

Hmmm, actually, yeah, that's fair. I couldn't name any of the local councillors for Hambleton District if I tried, only that all but 4 of them are from the Conservative Party, in part because of the way seats are assigned (it's like First Past the Post, but with multiple winners, each party can field multiple candidates, and seats are assigned to candidates, not to parties - I forget the name for it)

[Moose-tache]

So with an active police investigation, lower approval ratings than May ever had, and growing distaste within Johnson's own party, do we still think the Tories will wait until summer to replace him?

[zompist]

How many MPs besides Johnson himself were at the parties?

That is, to actually get the scandal out of the papers, it wouldn't work to choose a new PM who was also there, no?

[Moose-tache]

How many MPs besides Johnson himself were at the parties?

Great question! I doubt this matters much for backbenchers, because the party can replace them fairly easily if voters care, which they won't. But Johnson's replacement couldn't very well have a scandalous photo of themselves draped drunkenly over Wilfred Johnson's swingset.

I went through this list and typed "[NAME] garden party" into google. Let's see what we find!

Liz Truss: "The British public should “move on” from the scandal over parties held at No 10 during the pandemic, foreign secretary Liz Truss has said" OK, well that's her 100% confirmed for being at the parties.

Rishi Sunak: insists he was not invited to the infamous garden parties (which seems like an unnecessarily self deprecating way of saying you weren't there), but he did "accidentally" attend Boris Johnson's birthday party during national lockdown.

Jeremy Hunt: no information. After a few minutes searching, I'm not sure that any substantive facts or information exist about this "person."

Priti Patel: no evidence she was at the parties, but she steadfastly defends the PM, despite going off a year ago about illegal gatherings and how they should be raided by the police.

Sajid Javid: denies knowing about the party in December. I'm not sure if he has specifically denied the parties in May 2020 or April 2021.

Kwasi Kwarteng: insisted in October that people should "absolutely" go ahead with plans for office Christmas parties, and in general he seems to oppose lockdowns on principle. He's too wrapped up in other scandals for the press to ask him hard questions about BYOB parties..

Nadhim Zahawi: the only one I could find who actually admits to being at one of the garden parties!

[alynnidalar]

Might I ask how one accidentally attends a birthday party? Was he on the way to the grocery store and tripped into the backyard where the party was being held and then couldn’t find his way out or something? Or did he just forget there was a lockdown somehow?