[Britse politiek] #131: How Not To Run A Country

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Op dinsdag 4 oktober 2022 16:10 schreef George_of_the_Jungle het volgende:
Maar nu gaan ze het openbaren van de plannen dus toch naar voren brengen. Dus komen er niet meerdere forecasts van het OBR, maar mogelijk maar eentje. Maar is die dan gebaseerd op de plannen die wij nu al kennen, of op de plannen die Truss en Kwarteng met het OBR hebben gedeeld vorige week? En hoe zit het dan met de 45% rate, waar ze schijnbaar binnen een uur over van mening veranderden. Volgens mij zijn meer bezig met paniekvoetbal, dan met het nadenken over, en doorrekenen en uitwerken van, goed doordachte plannen.

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Op dinsdag 4 oktober 2022 17:23 schreef Tijger_m het volgende:

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Het was om te beginnen al geen goed uitgedacht plan, natuurlijk, het blote feit dat buiten Truss en Kwarteng de rest van het kabinet niet eens wist wat dit mini budget inhield spreekt wel boekdelen.

Nu de halve partij rood van woede aanloopt (waarom ontgaat mij, dat Truss dit soort ideeen had was allang duidelijk) en men openlijk aangeeft om haar positie al weer in stemming te brengen proberen ze met dit soort U turns de boel nog enigzins te redden maar het is puur paniek wat hier gebeurt.

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Op dinsdag 4 oktober 2022 17:23 schreef Tijger_m het volgende:

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Nu de halve partij rood van woede aanloopt (waarom ontgaat mij, dat Truss dit soort ideeen had was allang duidelijk) en men openlijk aangeeft om haar positie al weer in stemming te brengen proberen ze met dit soort U turns de boel nog enigzins te redden maar het is puur paniek wat hier gebeurt.

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Op dinsdag 4 oktober 2022 17:44 schreef George_of_the_Jungle het volgende:

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Dat dit plan de pensioenen naar de afgrond dreef hadden ze zeker niet voorzien, evenals de sprong in hypotheekrentes, dat was ook zeker niet voorzien.
Het zou me niets verbazen dat ze de ophef over de 45% naar 40% wel degelijk voorzien hadden, en ook wel ingecalculeerd dat ze daar weer vanaf zouden zien. Dan geef je aan te luisteren naar de burger, terwijl het afleidt van maatregelen die veel meer impact hebben (geen hogere corporate tax, geen cap voor bonussen van bankers, een hele reeks aan environmental protection wat overboord gegooid wordt).
Maar dat hadden ze binnen de partij ook wel wat beter kunnen plannen. Hoe kan het in godsnaam dat zoiets door slechts 2 man bekokstoofd wordt tijdens een avondje 'brainstormen'? En hoe vaak is het voorgekomen dat een voorstel van iemand direct 65 miljard kost? Dat is iets meer dan £1000 per inwoner van de UK!

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Braverman: MPs 'staged a coup' against Truss over 45p tax rate

Tory MPs “staged a coup” against the prime minister over the 45p tax rate, Suella Braverman has said.

The home secretary told the Chopper’s Politics podcast: "Ultimately I’m very disappointed that members of our own party staged a coup, effectively, against the prime minister."

She added that former minister Michael Gove “got it wrong”, saying it was “incumbent on him to try and corral support” for Liz Truss and he should have raised his concerns “in private”.

She said: "I’m very disappointed to say the least by how some of our colleagues have behaved."

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Truss government in chaos amid budget confusion and coup accusations

Liz Truss’s government is in chaos after the chancellor refused to confirm he would bring forward his budget to calm the markets and the home secretary accused fellow MPs of a coup against the prime minister.

Cabinet discipline also appeared to have broken down on Tuesday, as two ministers, Robert Buckland and Penny Mordaunt, suggested they did not back the idea of cutting benefits – an idea floated by those close to No 10.

Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng embarked on a round of media interviews intended to convey a message that they were getting a grip after the damaging 45p U-turn. However, they caused more confusion as both said their medium-term fiscal plan would still happen on 23 November, despite government sources having briefed that it would be brought forward to try to reassure the markets.

Adding to the sense of open warfare in the party, Suella Braverman, the home secretary, accused Tory MPs of having “staged a coup and undermined the PM in an unprofessional way” to force the reversal of the abolition of the 45p rate.
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Iain Duncan Smith has said it would be wrong for the government not to increase benefits in line with inflation.

In a warning to Liz Truss’s government as she considers increasing the value of universal credit benefits from April by less than the rate of inflation for September this year, he said putting more money in lower-income households’ pockets would help grow the economy.

“If you do want growth the group that is most likely to spend the money that you give to them is the group we’re talking about [lower-income households].”

“If you want the economy to grow... the money you give to people through their benefits will end up almost certainly back in the economy in double quick time. So there is a positive to this.”

Duncan Smith said he resigned in 2016 because he believed the government had “lost the plot” on the balance between support for working people and those out of a job, and that it would be best for the government to look at support for households in the round.

The former Conservative leader said the government needed to provide extra support for those in the most difficult circumstances during the cost of living crisis, and that it made little sense to offer a real-terms cut in the value of support for the poorest.

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Andrew Mitchell, the former Tory chief whip, has joined those calling for benefits to be uprated in line with inflation, and not just earnings. He told the World at One:

I didn’t come into politics to make poor people poorer. It seems to me that it will be very strange to have dealt with and addressed this issue of terrifying rising costs on the one hand, and then not to maintain the real value of the benefits and support that the poorest in society really needs.

Mitchell said government whips were talking to MPs to find out how much support there would be for a decision to uprate benefits just in line with earnings.

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Many of the Tories publicly calling for benefits to be uprated in line with inflation are on the one nation, leftish wing of the party. But rightwingers are making this case too, and this afternoon Lord Frost, the former Brexit minister who on most issues is a strong supporter of the Liz Truss agenda, has joined those saying not uprating in line with inflation would be wrong. He told GB News:

I’m going to say something which I don’t say very often, which is I agree with Penny Mordaunt (see 8.02am) and I think she’s got this right.

The government has made a commitment to uprate benefits. It shouldn’t take on battles it can’t win. People feel insecure going into the autumn and I think it should stick to this commitment.

We should, of course, for the future, look at incentives to work and probably there is going to have to be reform over time, but choose your moments and reassure people and take people with you. That’ll be my view in the following the events of the last few days.

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Eric Pickles, a Tory peer and former party chair, told the BBC that it was “almost certain” that Tory MPs would fail to support the government if it tries to uprate benefits just in line with earnings. He said:

The next big issue is with regard to the uprating of benefits, and I obviously I’m out of it – I don’t know what’s happening in the Commons – but I was just recently talking to somebody who does know what’s happening, and it was her estimation that the numbers against not uprating were greater than those that were against the 45% income tax [cut].

Asked if he thought the government could not get sufficient backing if it decided against uprating benefits in line with inflation, Pickles said: “Yeah, I think that’s almost certain.”

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Thérèse Coffey’s speech to the Tory conference was mostly – or almost entirely – a rehash of the plan for patients she announed to MPs last month. James Illman from the Health Service Journal struggled to spot a new line.

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Op dinsdag 4 oktober 2022 21:20 schreef George_of_the_Jungle het volgende:
What heeft Sunak eigenlijk hierover gezegd de laatste tijd?

SPOILER

Om spoilers te kunnen lezen moet je zijn ingelogd. Je moet je daarvoor eerst gratis Registreren. Ook kun je spoilers niet lezen als je een ban hebt.

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Op maandag 3 oktober 2022 15:43 schreef George_of_the_Jungle het volgende:
RS Archers

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Op woensdag 5 oktober 2022 10:03 schreef Heph844 het volgende:
Tijd om weer eens flink ruzie met de EU te gaan maken, dat doet het altijd goed in de peilingen.

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Op woensdag 5 oktober 2022 10:27 schreef icecreamfarmer_NL het volgende:

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Link?

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Op woensdag 5 oktober 2022 10:54 schreef Tijger_m het volgende:

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Aangezien het VK die ruzies altijd verliest met negatieve gevolgen voor de burgers (die beginnen dat zolangzamerhand wel door te krijgen) is dat ook niet echt een effectieve methode meer.

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Op woensdag 5 oktober 2022 11:45 schreef George_of_the_Jungle het volgende:

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[ twitter ]

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Op woensdag 5 oktober 2022 11:45 schreef George_of_the_Jungle het volgende:

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[ twitter ]

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Op woensdag 5 oktober 2022 11:51 schreef icecreamfarmer_NL het volgende:

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ja die ken ik met de specifieke draad. Ik kom door beperkingen van twitter niet verder tenzij ik ene directe link heb.

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Op woensdag 5 oktober 2022 19:28 schreef crystal_meth het volgende:

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Twitter is dit jaar lastiger geworden voor wie niet ingelogd is. Heb me een tijd lang beholpen met hun cookies steeds opnieuw verwijderen, kon ik daarna enkele searches doen voordat de login popups weer opdoken. Uiteindelijk bedacht dat het makkelijker was om een account aan te maken, dat moet je maar één keer doen. Geen probleem met de searches meer, en nu kan ik interessante tweets bewaren door ze te retweeten (de "correcte" manier is met bookmarks of lists, neem ik aan).

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Op woensdag 5 oktober 2022 19:55 schreef icecreamfarmer_NL het volgende:

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Ja dat weiger ik dus uit principe.

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Tory party drops strategist behind Boris Johnson’s 2019 election sweep

Senior Tories aghast at removal of Isaac Levido in apparent deal with Liz Truss’s chief of staff Mark Fullbrook

Isaac Levido, the political strategist who ran Boris Johnson’s successful election campaign in 2019, has been dropped from his role at Conservative headquarters, party insiders have confirmed.

The Tory aide, who was a protege of the controversial Australian strategist Lynton Crosby, is understood to have lost his contract, prompting incredulity from Tories who are already reeling after a turbulent few days for the party at their Birmingham conference.

Levido, along with his business partner, the pollster Michael Brooks, have been credited by Tory MPs for spearheading the biggest majority for the party since the 1980s by persuading Labour voters in the so-called red wall to switch allegiance.

His departure smooths the way for Liz Truss’s chief of staff, Mark Fullbrook, to move to Tory headquarters to run the next election campaign. The Guardian revealed last month that Fullbrook had been promised that his lobbying company could run the campaign, expected to be highly lucrative for his firm, if he joined No 10.

The move has infuriated senior Conservatives who pointed to Fullbrook’s previous experience of running election campaigns, including Zac Goldsmith’s disastrous bid for London mayor.

One senior Conservative source said: “This would be an indefensible decision at any time. Isaac and his team took the Conservatives to our best result since the 1980s, whereas Mark Fullbrook’s last campaign was losing the London mayoral race badly.

“For Liz Truss to abandon Isaac and hand a lucrative contract to her chief of staff beggars belief, especially given the chaos of the last few days in Birmingham. I am yet to speak to anyone who thinks this is anything other than crazy.”

Another senior Tory said: “In 2019 we won seats we have never held before. The red wall turned blue. If there was one man responsible for that more than Boris Johnson, it was Isaac Levido.

“Now team Truss have axed him in some murky deal. It stinks and means it’s even more likely we will be consigned to opposition at the next election.”
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Truss takes aim at ‘anti-growth coalition’ on final day of turbulent conference

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“As the last few weeks have shown, it will be difficult. Whenever there is change, there is disruption. And not everyone will be in favour of change. But everyone will benefit from the result,” she said. “I am ready to make hard choices. You can trust me to do what it takes. The status quo is not an option.”

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She argued the Tories faced an “anti-growth coalition” of Labour, the SNP, Liberal Democrats, trade unions, and anti-Brexit and environmental campaigners, as well as “vested interests dressed up as thinktanks” – even though many of her own backbenchers are standing in the way of her plans.

“The fact is they prefer protesting to doing. They prefer talking on Twitter to taking tough decisions. They taxi from north London townhouses to the BBC studio to dismiss anyone challenging the status quo. From broadcast to podcast, they peddle the same old answers,” she said.

In contrast, Truss put herself on the side of “normal working people” such as white van drivers, hairdressers and, bizarrely, accountants – her own professional background – who the coalition “just doesn’t get”. She added: “I know how it feels to have your potential dismissed by those who think they know better.”

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Truss allies said they felt she had “done what she needed to do” to buy herself some time with disgruntled Tory MPs. Her team has started meeting backbenchers to explain her plan and take soundings on their priorities.

But many MPs left conference disheartened. One said: “Liz is playing a bunch of tunes that nobody is listening to. Never has a voter said that what they want is growth. They want the consequences of it – but she keeps talking about it in a way that nobody understands.”

Several MPs warned the local elections represented a moment of danger for the prime minister. “If [the results] are bad the party will panic and try to get rid of her,” said one MP.

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Op donderdag 6 oktober 2022 09:55 schreef crystal_meth het volgende:
Liz Truss wil eind oktober een trade deal met India afsluiten. Braverman, de dochter van Indische migranten, is tegenstander omdat India in ruil een toename in werk en studie visa's voor Indiërs vraagt.
https://www.theguardian.c(...)rade-deal-with-india

Opvallend dat een kersverse home secretary meteen het beleid van haar PM bekritiseert. Verwacht ze snel een nieuwe leadership challenge en wil ze zich profileren als top bitch wat immigratie betreft (met oa hyperbolische uitspraken als “I would love to have a front page of The Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, that’s my dream, it’s my obsession")?

Het contrasteert alvast met Sunak die vorig jaar met een plan kwam (point-based visa om buitenlands talent aan te trekken) waarvan Boris Johnson toegaf dat het tot meer immigratie zou leiden.

Wat misschien een motief zou kunnen zijn: tonen dat ze ondanks haar Indische afkomst niet verdacht kan worden van "dual" of "divided loyalties" (iets waarvan personen en politici van "vreemde" ethnische afkomst wel vaker beschuldigd worden, bvb Joden en hun houding tov Israel, ethnische Turken en Turkije, etc..). Kemi Badenoch heeft ook al meermaals duidelijk gemaakt dat ze weinig liefde koestert voor Nigeria, het land waar haar ouders vandaan komen. Voor sommige kiezers (met onderbuikgevoelens) zou dat een verschil kunnen maken.

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Op woensdag 5 oktober 2022 19:55 schreef icecreamfarmer_NL het volgende:

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Ja dat weiger ik dus uit principe.

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Op donderdag 6 oktober 2022 01:12 schreef crystal_meth het volgende:
Ze heeft een nieuwe vijand gevonden, de "anti-growth coalition". Ze herhaalt weer dat ze "ready to make hard choices" is. En ik gok dat we de woorden "status quo" ook vaker zullen horen.
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https://www.theguardian.c(...)ory-party-conference

"Truss put herself on the side of normal working people such as white van drivers".
Vreemde keuze, zich associëren met "white van drivers". In de UK is dat een negatief stereotype, volgens SIRC (Social Issues Research Center) hebben ze zelfs de football hooligans voorbijgestoken wat "social undesirability" betreft.
Typisch beschreven als: selfish, inconsiderate, aggressive, dangerous, mad bastard who never signals, cuts up other drivers and uses the kind of vocabulary that has to be represented by asterisks in newspapers.