Conservative Party Leadership Contest 2022

Oh yes, just when you think they’re down, they spring up again like the villain in a horror film :scream:

So now do you believe what the BBC wrote was the time or do you believe what Channel 4 wrote as I posted. See just goes to show you can’t believe everything the BBC says :grinning:

There is a lot to play for in the next few days - and you could tell in the first TV debate.

Three things stuck out in the exchanges.

  1. None of the five would say out loud that the prime minister was an honest man. Tom Tugendhat won applause for saying the opposite.

  2. Mr Sunak wants to portray himself as a fiscal realist. Ms Truss wants to be seen as a low tax Tory.

  3. The divisions on self-identification for trans people in the Conservative Party were aired very publicly.

Until today, Penny Mordaunt had the momentum and seemed to be on the march.

Not everyone thinks Liz Truss had a good night.

The race continues.

I watched the 1st debate - there was a lot of deflection and an awful lot cliches flying around (especially in the answers Liz Truss gave) and a few sly digs at each other here and there.

I thought the two outriders acquitted themselves well - especially Kemi - her answers were more straightforward than the cliche-ridden responses of the three main contenders.

I find myself agreeing with Rishi’s fiscal policy more than the other contenders comments on tax and finances, though.

Why isn’t anyone talking about this criminal act?

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I never watch horror films…too gruesome…and I’m not watching this clique of baying wolves tearing each other apart…yuck :nauseated_face:

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It seems that Badenoch wasn’t an MP in 2008 but she was a member of the Tory Party. She was also 28 at the time and completing a law degree so she should have known better.

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Oh. My.Word.

I have nothing else to say. This country is beyond hope. She also (currently) is touting the idea/policy that families should look after each other rather than depend on government welfare, and that she would be tough on immigration.

Which given that she herself has only been in this country a number of years, really does make me shake my head.

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Jeez!
She has the cheek to stand on a platform of “trust, honesty and integrity” !
Scratch the surface and you find they’re all as crooked as a nine-bob note!

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What can we do about it though? Its alright saying oh they’ll go in the next election, but thats in 2 years or whatever. I imagine the new PM will ingratiate themselves so much with the general public, in that time, that all previous misdemeanors will be forgotten and the smarfest will get them in again :frowning_face:

apologies…mild digression

Hi

Politics is a very dirty game.

If it where Labour choosing a new PM it would be just as nasty.

It seems that there’s very few politicians who are fully honest - some of them may start off with good intentions but those who are ambitious to get promoted often sacrifice principles for personal gain.
I doubt that many who reach the top jobs in Cabinet arrive there unsullied by a bit of dodgy dealing, supporting someone else who they know has behaved badly or turned a blind eye to something as they have risen through the ranks - that goes for all political parties, I think.

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But it baffles me no end as to how these people are lauded as being “leaders” and represent us across the world, Boot. We commoners are nothing like this (for the most part) and the ones that are, get flung in jail so fast their feet don’t touch the ground. Yet these high heid 'uns flaunt their criminality like badges and get glorified. Makes me so angry!

I think part of the reason is that we expect our politicians to be perfect - when they do some of the things that many ordinary citizens do, such as have an affair or an office fling, get fined for speeding, they are pilloried for it in the media and they get a lot more criticism than most citizens would. Consequently, they go to great lengths to cover it up or hide it, then even lie through their teeth and deny it when challenged, which makes the offence even greater - it’s the cover-ups that people really don’t like.

As for the dirty tactics to slag off political adversaries - I blame our current adversarial political system - there’s nothing collaborative about our Parliamentary system - it’s all about point scoring.
I’d like to have a more truly representative system, with proportional representation, where MPs from different parties would have to collaborate and work together to reach agreement, instead of the First Past the Post government steam rollering every law through Parliament, with the Opposition permanently trying to wrong foot them on everything,

It is such a waste of time and energy - and very demoralising to watch,

Everyone hates Rishi
Everyone now knows the final runoff of two candidates to be put before the Conservative party membership will come down to Sunak v AN Other. But it was notable that debate centred on him, and when the candidates were given a chance to ask a question of another hopeful, three of the other four picked the former chancellor.

Everyone hates Boris even more
Again, that is an exaggeration, but only just. Perhaps the most dramatic single moment of the hour came when host Julie Etchingham asked the five to raise a hand if they were willing to have Boris Johnson in their cabinet. Not a hand went up.

The cost of living crisis is not yet being taken seriously
The fact that the candidates have first to parade their wares to Tory MPs before getting to show some policy ankle for party members does skew things, but it was notable how general and vague many of the answers were to the first question, about how to tackle the cost of living and energy crisis.

Heatwave? What heatwave?
This is not new in policy terms, but a day before what could well be the first 40C-plus day ever recorded in the UK – part of a wider pattern of extreme weather events that scientists do not doubt is caused by human activity – it was glaring that only one candidate, Sunak, unequivocally backed the net zero by 2050 target for emissions.

Mudslinging can rebound
The overall tone of the debate was not especially edifying, and it was notable that arguably the most uncomfortable moment for both Truss and Badenoch came when Etchingham challenged them over negative tactics.

Badenoch stood by her assertion that Mordaunt is either a liar or a fool in their slightly niche disagreement over self-identification for gender, but looked unsettled. As Truss sought to decry dirty tricks, Etchingham helpfully reminded the foreign secretary that her allies are regular sources for hostile briefings about the others. The reputation of rats in sacks rose by comparison.

I grateful for others taking the time to watch and report on what appears to be a very unpleasant series of playground squabbles involving the future political leader of the UK … :009:

They are very informative though.We see the politicians in their true light.

Hardly … :man_shrugging:

Hi

I avoided watching it.

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Getting bored with it now, but I do like to work out who is behind each candidate, pulling the strings, and working on their own personal ambitions by doing so.

Gove is one, very active, in my opinion, but not always towards the same candidate.

I hate the debate format so never watch it, as far as I can see from the reports in the press it’s usually more like bear baiting just to get them to sling mud at one another to boost tv ratings.

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