Essay by Eric Worrall
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has finally succumbed to anger over his partygate dishonesty and green economic mismanagement. But as his Conservative Party heads into near certain defeat in the next election, who will take up the poison chalice of leadership?
Boris Johnson resignation: What happens now?
…
Who could replace Boris Johnson as prime minister?
At the moment, there is no obvious successor to Mr Johnson, but there are several potential candidates.
Profiles: Who could be the next prime minister?
Former Cabinet ministers Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid have both previously stood for leadership and may choose to do so again.
Other possible contenders include:
International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt
Ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss
Foreign Affairs Committee chair Tom Tugendhat,
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace
Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi
Attorney General Suella Braverman
…
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-62068930
My money is on Lord Blackadder Michael Gove. Michael Gove doesn’t appear on the BBC list of likely successors, but how badly do front runner candidates actually want the job?
BoJo’s Conservatives were absolutely crushed in recent by-elections. The next leader doesn’t have to call an election until January 2025, so there are a few years in which the new leader can attempt to repair voter trust.
But unless there is a radical change in direction, policies which actually address the green energy cost of living crisis Britons are experiencing, it seems unlikely that the new leader whoever they are will outlast the current term of parliament – which could clear the way for second tier candidates like Gove to gamble their political future on a leadership bid.
I’m wondering how many more PMs Her Maj can see off.
Hopefully many more
If you want to see who has the best chance of being confirmed by the Tories then just look who the MSM are vilifying. So far Suella Braverman seems to be positively hated by many of the lefty rags that went after BoJo with torches and pitchforks. The next few weeks are going to be interesting.
ITYM ‘give wise advice to’ rather than ‘see off’.
JF
(Incidentally, you are possibly descended from. Alan Flaad, one time Seneschal of Dol.)
Gove has already ruled himself out. The Tories often choose a relatively low key successor, Boris being an exception. As far as the Tories green credentials meaning they won’t win the next election, the other parties are even worse as they are pushing for “net zero” being achieved much sooner.
The cost of living is a big issue but a lot of the electorate don’t seem to link it to the energy policy YET.
There is a lot of support in fighting “climate change” but lots of people haven’t realised how dramatically it will change their lives.
Once the government starts forcing the change then that is when it might hit home about the dramatic changes people will have to make.
Too late then. The decision between French EPR and the Rolls Royce SMR reactors will hinge on the go-ahead for the Sizewell EPR due this month. Any pressure on politicians hoping for ministerial appointments might delay the decision and, eventually, kill the project.
The Green Luddites don’t seem to care about the wildlife at Sizewell or the damage done by wind turbines.
JF
But the greens don’t want Sizewell. A lot of work has been done to relocate some of the wildlife to a nearby wooded area.
Sizewell remains a very popular place for walking especially with dogs.
I can say with complete certainty that I have never walked my dog near Sizewell, and I would hazard a guess that neither have 99.9999% of the British population.
I walked mine there. And Ive bveen to the bird sanctuary there.
(Waves)
JF
Where I hang out, the more jingoistic right prefer to spend money on British RR reactors than huge corporate EU based French white elephants. I think that Hinkley is largely seen as evidence of the failure of the EPWR to deliver on time and on budget and the perception is we might well do better with smaller simpler faster home built SMRs.
At the moment EDF owns all the existing southern sites in the UK, which is why Rolls Ryce’s consortium is lookig at the old Magnox only sites in Northern England, by and large.
Dumping EDF and pushing home-grown RR might well be a politically expedient move, at least to voters in the North.
My understanding is, over 1,000 SMR’s are required to power the country. RR is due to begin building the first of 16 around 2030. Even the man in the street recognises that arithmetic is ludicrous.
To deal with energy costs and inflation right now, the only solution is CCGT power stations employing North Sea and fracked gas.
There is a Geological Society report out soon on the risks of fracking. So far we know that the levels of geological tolerance stopping fracking is unrealistically low, akin to dropping a bag of groceries. I don’t see how the GS can return anything but a report favourable to fracking.
A fleet of cheap CCGT power stations can be built rapidly, well before 2030. The EU have decided Gas and Nuclear are now environmentally friendly fuels (how utterly laughable – will coal be next?🤣) which has holed the greens below the water line.
Frankly, Sizewell means nothing to the man in the street other than cheap electricity.
With energy costs due to increase again before the winter in the UK (£3,000 a year typically) and a credible risk of rationing and blackouts, the public will be in no mood to accept Sizewell isn’t going ahead because of wildlife.
If something isn’t done el pronto, people will die unnecessarily every winter if this issue isn’t effectively addressed.
Our government can fiddle around the fringes with support for the very poor, but it’s the middle class, with no support who will be affected. Most people are less than a single payday away from serious financial difficulty. A £2,000 jump in energy costs represents a month’s earnings for many people.
No, each reactor is 330MW MWe and we probably need – with gas as well – around 30GW So about 80.
RR reckons it could easily do 12 a year, so that’s 5 years plus or minus. And there are other SMR players in the game.
Obviously in the short term we need fracked gas.
The position si easily summarised as:
(i) renewables are not working
(ii) there is huge pressure on fossil energy,
(iii) we have access to frackable fossil energy good for a decade at least
(iv) in that decade we need to have a full nucletr implementation plan in place.
My vote will go to whoever understands that and is a credible alternative
Trouble is, I think we need both the SMR’s and the large reactors – reliability and flexibility.
Actually we don’t. Because both are relaible and flexible. Where the SMR scores is build time.
And MORE flexible. Shut down a % for periods of time with the remainder running at the most efficient output as opposed to throttling a large unit.
So big reactors for baseload and SMR’s for top-up and extra when required?
EDF has a huge experience throttling.
In France it’s done with bore in the water.
Control bars half way are to be avoided as half the reactor is full power and half shut down, and always the same half.
Then it will be too late.
The crunch will come by 2030 at which time new Ice cars will be banned.
Not going to happen.
I think that the linkage between living costs and energy prices is now thoroughly understood by the rank and file voter. The game will go to the politician with the courage to build more nukes and frack. Green activists gluing themselves to paintings only serves to isolate the ‘hard greens’ even more.
The situation to the average person is while they support the idea of net zero, renewables patently have not been able to replace gas in any meaningful sense,and the only thing that will is nuclear. And in the meantime we probably need to frack our own gas. Loss of Carrie Johnson from government should help here.
Don’t believe the articles in the media – they are paid for by the vested interests that would control the country. Read the comments by the paid trolls on the one hand, and by the politically engaged commenters on the other.
Green and woke are on the wane. Both have gone too far and now look like narrow political movements, not ‘where the country is going’. That means both will lose corporate and political support.
Britain is more politically sophisticated than almost any other country in the world. And it is starting to realise it.
Agree, except I don’t find many people at all supporting Net Zero. General laughter at the idea of heat pumps, electric cars etc. Most I find sort of go along with it but don’t really believe it is either necessary or will happen. Sleepwalking to disaster. I am hoping that some powercuts might wake them from their slumber.
The public is still bombarded with news of new windfarms being big enough to power a x million homes or boil a gazillion kettles with no caveats.
I recently complained to the ASA (Advertising Standards Agency) specifically about a Shell TV advert, but also about the claims of 100% renewable electricity made by every supplier in the UK. There’s not enough to go round everybody. Even including Hydro, and biomass is less than a third of electricity today.
Well done you.I’ve given up complaining about totally fraudulent adverts.Its easier to educace joe public into the implicit assumption that everybody is lying to him, and it’s really a question of why?
I had an interesting email exchange with a young lady at Budweiser (don’t start – I don’t drink the stuff but my mate does…..). It advertises “brewed with 100% renewable electricity”. I asked “Can you confirm you ONLY use 100% renewable energy – what happens when the wind isn’t blowing or at night”. The reply was “The electricity gets stored rather than being directly connected to the wind turbines.”. I pointed out that didn’t answer the question nor make any sense. Crickets………
The guy prepared to take climate change on, head on, is Steve Baker MP.
A lot of MP’s don’t like NetZero but can’t articulate their opposition because they are scientifically illiterate (and largely financially as well) and Steve knows what he’s talking about.
I do like Steve Baker but I’m wondering if he might be better in a key cabinet position rather than as PM. The peoblem with trying to get anything done is the leftwing bias and inertia of the civil service.
Well I hope he features in the cabinet somewhere. Andrea Leadsom understands energy issues as well, but is keeping her head down.
In the UK I think that people will really appreciate the link between energy prices, the cost of living, and green policies when the gas/electricity bills arrive. A follow up of winter power cuts/rationing will reinforce this. Things could get very ugly.
I think things WILL get very ugly. And not just in britain. Germany is up schiesestrasse without a paddle.
But the rank and file don’t vote for the PM.
This is a far more insightful and accurate reading of the situation than the original post. I doubt many people in the UK link the cost of energy to the government’s green policies.
In addition, BoJo’s Green campaigns haven’t been a cause for his removal – mostly it’s being caught out in obvious and avoidable lies.
You might think that, but I disagree. The reason he’s gone is rubbish bi-election results, as far as the party is concerned.But those results are a mixture of reactions to cost of living and energy prices as well as the weakness in the face of the EU, as much as anything. Partygate is just the excuse.
The mood in the grass roots is Euroesceptic climate )policy) sceptic and anti-woke.
True but I don’t think many people have made that connection between his policies and increased cost of living. I agree that the increased cost of living and the perceived failure to deliver on his promises happened during his tenure and that coupled with the minor scandals have seen him off but it still won’t have a further impact on the Green policies as yet.
But the loss of “Carrie Johnson in government” might! That’s the great benefit in BoJo’s departure!
Huge. The Greens won’t be able to infiltrate another activist that close to the top for a long while to come.
“There is a lot of support in fighting “climate change” but lots of people haven’t realised how dramatically it will change their lives.”
Simply look to Africa and you’ll see how a world without abundant fossil fuels will affect your life.
“Energy is life”
Has Putin picked out a seized estate yet?
Commentators on UK Guido Fawkes site claim Gove has a coke addiction problem. Could be something to it given a very bizarre interview he did not so long ago where he was scrambled. At the time I thought it might be a malicious edit but it came back to mind when I saw the coke use claims. Must say I don’t see any decent, competent and capable replacement for Johnson at the moment.
Gove was on the tip of my tongue.
Thank you for that uniquely horrible image.
JF
Thank you for tonight’s nightmare…
Eric, I’m guessing that “Lord Blackadder” and “nightmare” are clues towards your thinking about Gove? Subtle not too much, are we? PS: I’m also guessing you’re correct.
We aim to please.
Being branded a “Snake” by a Conservative party member, which most people know the slimy little git is, hasn’t helped his case in the least.
We have also had a succession of Scottish PM’s, Blair, Brown and Cameron (tenuously) and the Turk didn’t work out either. Nor is that in the least racist, I just don’t think the British public would accept another ‘foreigner’, they would much prefer a sober Englishman at the helm.
If they want to win the next election Scrap the Green shyte it’s finished or the conservatives are finished CO2 is not killing the planet and the British public knows it
Shyte is brown and trickles down your legs shite is what politicians speak . Shit is that in which they have dumped us. Shoyte is what I speak when I take the p—-s out of you. Be more aware of proper linguistic rectitude
Bollox 🤣
If you have shyte on your bollox then you have way bigger issues than the Greens, I’m afraid!
The most likely winner is the one with fewest enemies, which probably counts out Gove.
But whoever it is we’ll be stuck with Net Zero
It looks like Steve Baker will run. Hopefully he can bring ‘net zero’ into the debate as that is his main interest at present.
Agree. I have been in correspondence with Steve and I do believe he has major reservations about Net Zero, so I am, if he makes it to the final two, voting for him. People are saying he has never held any Office of State but did Tony Blair hold any office before he became Leader of the Labour Party then PM? No.
Me to he seems to-have something between his ears that is not green shit
And the only one Maggie had held was Education. The idea that you needed to have held one of the “major” offices — Home Office, Foreign Office, Chancellor of the Exchequer — harks back to the days when they were pretty much the only offices!
I think there will be a lot more realism in Downing Street and in the Conservative Party after this recent “aberration”. Whether it will kill off “greenery” I don’t know but we have had 17 years of being afflicted by it, five years of Cameron femme, five years of Lib-Dems in charge of Environment, a couple of years more Cameron and finally three years of Johnson femme. The country has not been well-served by Prime Ministers’ spouses recently and a “re-balancing” would be welcome.
Silly Walks! Don’t neglect Silly Walks when speaking of major offices.
Major reservations is an understatement. He’s a member of the GWPF, and I have posted a Guardian interview with him elsewhere. He recognises renewables for what they are, white elephants.
My MP is Kwasi Kwarteng. I have often written to him castigating him for wreaking economic destruction on us and pointing out that we need one SMR per month to reach Net ZERO BY 2050.
Deaf ears and platitudes were the result.
Labour Party are worse but I will vote for them because the incompetent conservatives when whipped may make a useful opposition. Labour are a green omnishambles in government or opposition. Woe is us
Sorry but I don’t believe there is any such thing as a useful opposition when the others hold a majority. Please don’t vote for green Labour.
A plague on both their houses .So it is spoil my ballot paper or stand myself as a founder member of the “No To Net Zero Now” Party
Are you with me?
I am. Lets get it on. So to speak.
My MP in Dartford simply refuses to engage on the subject. Gareth Johnson, another Johnson, and he is complete waste of space in every other respect as well.
Steve Baker has said explicitly that he will ditch all the green crap. I don’t think he’s high profile enough to get in though. Sad.
There is a big downside with Steve Baker in that while he sees sense on NetZero when it comes to trade and the economy he is no better than the lying oaf Johnson. He could actually be worse.
Every MP knows who Baker is. He founded the ERG, a back bench, snarling, Brexit watchdog.
I rather like this profile of him.
https://conservativehome.com/2021/12/22/profile-steve-baker-christian-conservative-erg-organiser-controversial-backbencher-and-thorn-in-johnsons-side/
Steve Baker sounds great, and isn’t there a need for more technical people in government? As long as his wife is not a deluded Greenie!
Steve Baker has a high profile and has been in the forefront of some key decisions in recent years. The sticking point will be whether he can maintain a high level of votes through the various rounds of voting – I think he represents a minority group within the MP’s so might struggle to forge necessary alliances. Someone else as PM but Steve Baker in a key position might be a good compromise – I’d like to see him replace Kwasi Kwarteng at Energy and Business frankly.
Kwasi is either a green zealot or a vacuous nobody who mouths the green platitudes his civil servants or Carrie feed him
I see him as a bit of both really – but committed to neither. Should be interesting to see just how quickly he’ll be willing to turn his coat if the political direction shifts.
But will we?
Everywhere the Augustinian cry of ‘Lord. give me Net Zero, just not yet‘ is being heard above the squealing of political tyres making U turns.
Is Net Zero referring to the economy, currency, or credibility there?
None of the above. net zero carbon emissions
I can’t find where she stands on “net-zero”, but in all other respects Suella Braverman looks the goods.
“Suella Braverman as our next prime minister? Be afraid, be very afraid…
But make no mistake, Suella Braverman would also be hugely divisive, turbocharging Britain’s Brexit divide and our culture wars. She would be Boris Johnson on steroids, a brown, female version of Trump. And that deeply worries me.”
When you see the source, you can know that she would be a good choice!
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/voices-suella-braverman-next-prime-084553570.html
Fail unfortunately 🙁 – https://www.suellabraverman.co.uk/climate-change-and-renewables
Hmmm. She doesn’t get green approval in https://www.edie.net/what-are-the-green-credentials-of-the-mps-who-could-replace-boris-johnson/
It looks like most candidates don’t get a green tick, and some are clearly in green bad books, so maybe the Toty party will end up in good hands anyway. I do assume that none of them, other than Michael Gove, would vote for Michael Gove.
Suella Braverman is Labour’s favourite candidate.
She’s so laughably inept, over-promoted and illogical that she was mocked to her face with impunity in the Commons.
Of course, all the have accepted the corrupt and incompetent Boris as their leader for three years so none a re fit for public office.
But Suella Braverman is a step below most.
Anyone who read Bunter’s column in the Telegraph when he was their man in Brussels then did their own fact checks against reality knew the man had no concept of integrity, the truth and honesty – even by the low standards of a journalist and politician.
His ability to get away with made up stories and the behaviour that has come to light recently never ceased to amaze me.
I still think he’ll have to be dragged from Number 10 with 2
menpeople on each leg, one on each arm and one on each hand prising his fingers off the door jambs one at a time, while he proclaims his innocence. That’s if they can get him out at all.On a practical level, her religion, Buddhist, isn’t going to go down well with the British public as they are roundly fed up with Woke. Not to mention her gender, MP’s won’t want to risk getting burned again with another female after Theresa May for the sake of Woke politics, or an illusionary lunge at the Thatcher years.
Thatcher fought her way into the job, Braverman is being groomed by the Woke establishment, but Woke is now a dirty word in the UK.
I strongly suspect the British public want a credible, sober Englishman who is prepared to take on the cost of living crisis up front and the only way of doing that is to address NetZero head on.
There is only candidate willing, or capable of doing that is Steve Baker.
I think you might have got that slightly wrong there – Suella Braverman is strongly anti-Woke and the left positively hates her for that and her pro-Brexit stance. Steve Baker might be the better choice but Suella Braverman might be able to get more support from the other Tory MP’s.
It goes further than just her political position on any matter. She is a woman and the Conservatives are still stinging after the failure of Theresa May.
I can’t see any female being a credible candidate.
Mind you, they could invoke pronouns.
Britain will be joining the EU.
I don’t think the EU want us back.
If you remember, they didn’t want us in the first place.
They want power.
They also want the money
They can print their own money.
No. Even the most ardent of the pro-EU fanatics in Parliament have pretty much given up on that dead duck. If Sturgeon can ever get her pigs to fly then Scotland might but don’t hold your breath for that – chances are the EU will have ceased to exist long before Scotland’s in a position to join.
I really doubt it. We would get a raw deal and be trashed by them.Even remainers aren’t that stupid
Dude, I am not sure you have a choice.
Why? What do you think you know that no-one else does?
We can always nuke Brussels..
Let’s not, nor Strasbourg. It’d only improve the places.
Braverman and Wallace perhaps, the rest are virtuous….
🙁 – https://www.suellabraverman.co.uk/climate-change-and-renewables
Eric you know what Parliament is like
She is anti-woke and in our politics that’s a big plus
I hope so. I’d take moderate green integrity small government over some of the other offerings.
We all live in hope!
That’s a small town in Derbyshire isn’t it?
It is… for Keir Starmer.
Will he get a fine from Derbyshire’s plod??
Nope, been found not guilty by Derbyshire Police.
Ah the double standards revealed once again.
Wallace will be seen as a safe bet.
English, ex Armed forces, male, enough experience in politics, but my reservation is, can he get the job done when, like most, he’s simply not been courageous enough to take a real stance on anything.
His armed forces are going woke at breakneck speed. They all know their pronouns….
Ben Wallace has ruled himself out of the running today. Apparently he just wants to concentrate on his job at defence.
In a bit of a shock move, so has Steve Baker. I just saw a piece announcing he will not run but has switched to supporting Suella Braverman instead – perhaps someone didn’t like an earlier unfortunate turn of phrase he made.
The Conservative party will probably win the next general election in Britain. After all, look at the alternative. The Conservatives will be helped by the new constituency boundaries which will be in force by the time of the next general election. This will give them at least another dozen seats. With a majority of 80 seats at the last general election, this means that the Conservatives can afford to lose 50 seats and still obtain an overall majority.
Yes but a 30% by-election swing – pretty extreme. The new leader has a lot of damage control and trust repair to do.
I have just checked the latest odds at the bookmakers. The Conservatives are odds on favourites to win the next general election. I wouldn’t pay too much attention to by-election results; they are a pretty poor predictor of the next general election result.
Eric
By elections are often protest votes and invariably return to the fold at a GE. They are a low risk way of protesting at the current Govt.
I agree there is room for doubt. But a 30% swing is pretty spectacular.
The First Past The Post system in the UK has given governments with huge majorities supported by a minority of those who voted. The current one is no exception 80 seat majority on a smidgen over 40% of those who voted is not democracy.
In the past there’s been some element of tactical voting but it hs very little overall effect. Now Brexit has been done there is no danger of a split Tory/UKIP vote. So with the current FPTP arrangement and no viable alternative, unless something happens in the next two years (not delivering on immigration for exmple), pretty certain it’ll be a decent Tory majority,
FPTP, like the electoral college, protects against densely populated areas like London dominating the election process.
It’s a warning shot and woe betide any government ignoring it.
By elections during the current crisis are pretty irrelevant.
Constituency boundary changes are needed to remove the inherent left-wing bias of the current scheme. The opposite of gerrymandering.
I didn’t mean to give the impression that the new boundaries were the result of gerrymandering. The current seat boundaries are very out of date and they need to be changed to accommodate the population shifts over the last 15 years. The Boundary Commission is apolitical and strives to keep seats about the same size in population. Neither of the previous boundary reviews (in 2013 and 2018) were adopted and implemented due largely to the opposition of the Labour and Liberal Democratic parties.
According to this analysis, the Conservative party will gain a net 13 seats.
New Constituency Boundaries for 2023 (electoralcalculus.co.uk)
Stick to Australian politucs Eric.
You have completely misread the UK situation.
The conservatives will likley win the next election, because the alternatives are worse.
I do not think the rcountry is in a mood for a green nonentity either.
Nor will a reversal of Brexit satisfy anyone except a minority vested interest.
This is British democracy in action. Keep sacking the leaders until one who can do the job is found.
Boris has gone not because he broke the rules, but ultimately beacuse he isn’t doing the job he was elected to do, and the voters signaled their displeasure by tactical voting at by-elections.
A minority of Tories see this as a chance to put Brexit into Reverse, and they command some media attention. The rank and file members fear for their careers.But the real sea change is in the party membership countrywide, and its electorate. They ultimately got the referendum across the line, a job which isn’t finished. And now they are dismayed by net zero which has unacceptable economic consequences. And by Putin, who has highlighted the need to rebuild the military.
The Tory internal hierarchy will try to put up a ‘company man’ like Cameron or May, but recently these haven’t done too well. There is no point in having a corporate Europhile puppet in charge if that loses the election.
So while the media attention will be focused on their choice – a paid liar of no character and with a wokeish weak front, (Sunak) that is only the media.In the end a leader who commands some respect from the party and from the majority ‘floating voters’ in marginal seats will be chosen.
People favoured by the right include Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Lord Frost…even Ben Wallace.
Yes, MP’s decide on their 2 most supported candidates then the party members vote one of those to be party leader and PM. The trick is for the party members to make enough noise so they get 2 candidates they are enthusiastic for. Those 2 might be quite different to the choice of the MP’s
tonyb
A report published by the conservative Bow Group has revealed that the average age of a Tory party member is now a startlingly high, 72 years old. The news follows recent reports that suggest the Conservatives have lost nearly a third of their members in the past four years, with membership falling hugely by around 50,000.
Actually that’s probably out of date… a later estimate gives 57 as the age of active (campaigning) members).
At any rate it is an untypically aged set of people
Maybe the clot shot is killing off members 🤔
He he – the Conservatives will all die out right Griff?
I think its more likely that a lot of former liberals become more conservative as they age, with some obvious exceptions.
How does the saying go?
If you’re 16 and conservative, you have no heart. If you’re 60 and liberal, you have no brain.
We see it with General elections that those over 45/50 generally vote Tory and those who are younger predominately vote for other parties. We also saw this with Brexit in as much those over 50 mostly voted for it and those younger against it.
Saying a person’s young and dumb is being redundant!
But young and dumb they remain.
I had left wing politics explained to me on a long walk home from school by a politically minded friend one day.
It took me 5 minutes to figure out it was the dumbest proposition I had ever heard.
The version I heard was “… if you’re 30 and a liberal …” Maybe it’s taking longer for the message to get through these days!
Griff, according to this analysis, 53% of Conservative party members are over 60, not too different from the Labour party where the figure is 45%. This doesn’t seem to match up with the average age of 72 which you have quoted.
• Political party membership by age UK 2019 | Statista
Ah, the guild of liars.
Did you see John Major’s bid to get the party membership out of the process? That went down very badly. BTW – Lord Frost is not in the running; he can’t be as a member of the House of Lord’s and there’s not enough time to do some political changeover with an MP.
The immediate future of both parties will be decided on their success in tackling the energy and cost of living crisis.
What do Tory MP’s do to save the next election and their own skin? Choose ‘a safe pair of hands’ like Wallace who hasn’t ever expressed anything radical enough to change the direction of the country, or someone knowledgable like Steve Baker who is brave enough to make a stance against insane NetZero.
Baker headed up the ERG to influence Brexit and, arguably, they were principle in forcing Theresa May out over Brexit.
Brexit is done and dusted. Even Remain politicians understand that. It would take us at the very least ten years to get back into Europe, politicians futures will be determined over the next two or three years by delivering a proper energy policy that materially impacts the cost of living, principally affected by energy bills that will be treble what they were even a year ago.
Because he’s thought about it for years, the only person who can achieve an immediate impact is Steve baker. He’s a member of the GWPF so understands the climate issue like no other politician.
We have to remember, this has nothing to do with the public. The MP who impresses his/her fellow MP’s with a route out of this mess will garner a lot of support.
Baker may be considered too extreme, but you can bet your bottom dollar he’ll be in the next cabinet and the next PM will lean on him heavily on plotting a path through the energy problem.
I think it was John Constable of the GWPF who said that within the next 10 – 20 years, wind turbines will be nothing more than a bad dream. Baker recognises the scientific, practical and financial futility of these ludicrous things and can inform the next PM reliably.
Biden also has an influence here. His green policies are seen as hugely destructive and this November should see the beginning of the end for him, if not impeachment, which will utterly destroy the green movement.
The radical American left has done more in 18 months to destroy the utopian green dream than we sceptics have managed in the last 50 years.
But Biden has done nothing impeachable (“High crimes and misdemeanors”) yet.
I have seen this described elsewhere as the “Whippings (*) will continue until morale improves” fallacy.
(*) “Whipping” is for UK MPs. In other domains “beatings” or “thrashings” is used instead.
Note also that Tory MPs often enjoy being “whipped” … allegedly …
Actually this is something that cuts across party lines – several Labour MP’s have been linked to dominatrices in recent years as well as at least one Tory MP. I’m not sure if it’s a job requirement or just a perk!
Slow down boys and …..
BoJo has not resigned, he just said he ‘agreed that a new leader should be elected’.
May be BoJo thinks he should be that.
Not Bojo this time. Some are saying he will be back in a few years though. In the meantime he will start making some money as he claims he is broke.
Definitely no more Bojo. He is an amiable buffoon and people liked that, but rule by his wife and his attempts to make himself universally popular simply made him look weak. The world has moved on. We are in the middle of 4 real crises – Russia, energy, cost of living, covid – and prizes will go to whoever is convincing about plans to tackle them. In the meantime wokeish greenness is likely to get washed way as utterly irrelevant.
A leader who attempts to make himself popular invariably fails.
“It is better for the Prince to be feared than loved”
Machiavelli (The Prince)
Carrie has drained him in more ways than one!
In practice that is a resignation.
Yep, for any normal person, but for BoJo at the moment it’s just a bit of fog on the top of Ben Nevis.
As we have found out, two days in politics is a long time, but two months is an entire eternity…
It gives the ‘greasy piglet’ time to reorganise, create a crisis and pop-out as a jack out of the box as the ‘heroic saviour’ once again.
p.s.
Ben Nevis was once a massive active volcano which exploded and collapsed inwards on itself …
just as BoJo did. Can the ‘greasy piglet’ rescue himself out of the quicksand?
I have serious doubts that Bunter will leave Number 10 this year.
Tories might still win it but with greatly reduced majority: another five years for BoJo.
No.
My god, what a sh!t show modern politics is.
Always was. Always was.
Jacob Rees-Mogg is where my vote would go.
Country is in the middle of financial crisis, it can’t afford building two more floors on the top of No.10 to accommodate all of his family. It is an ongoing process, by the end of 5 year term there might be another half a dozen more, the PM’s home would need to move to The Shard, to get number of bedrooms required.
Aristorcatic- born Helena said that her husband wants 12 kids – enough for a cricket team and and a scorer.
Moggy is already half way there.
do you think we could persuade them onto the stage? They could start with the Sound of Music
They will all be packed off to boarding schools.
Thé honorable Helena won’t let Jacob be PM. She’s NOT moving into that crappy flat above No. 10.
And certainly not after Carrie redecorated!
but he says he isn’t standing
🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
Thanks for cheering me up with the best laugh of the day.
Replace a privileged Eton wally with an even more affected Eton/Oxbridge/Rothschild wally……..
LOL.
You should play to your strengths Eric, and not start commenting on politics.._
Climate change is politics DiggerUK, there is certainly no scientific basis to climate crisis claims.
I know that, no need to get snarky.
But your understanding of how politics, in this case UK politics, works is challenged…_
Then educate me.
The nice thing about politics is that no education or qualifications are required to either qualify for government or make comment on the subject.
I think we all have. The main problem is that what the papers want international audiences to believe is not what is happening that people talk about when you bang on doors with leaflets.
Not snarky I suppose……….
24th January 2025 is the latest date that the next UK general election can be held. So just 30 months away (likely a bit less).
Institute for Government and the uk parliament website puts it at 2025
That’s at the latest. The fixed term parliament laws have been rescinded. An election date could be announced by the new PM on the day they start if they so choose.
Stick to what you know Eric…_
If you look at both websites it explains all that DiggerUK.
And your qualifications to comment are?
There are tactical decisions in picking a date for a GE that are to do with the mood of the electorate, the perceived popularity of the PM and a host of other factors. Nobody except the PM has a clue and everyone’s opinion is just as valid – simmer down a little ok?
Maybe the UK should just scrap Parliament and go back to the Monarchy? Oh, wait, the Queen can’t live much longer, so that means you get the crazy green leprechaun, Prince Charles. Nevermind.
Must be one of the most stupid comments I have ever seen on WUWT, and there are a long list of candidates.
BoJo’s obstinate refusal to immediately step down may help our skeptics’ viewpoint. That gives more time for the realism to strike home in Germany, with blackouts and other shortages to cripple the Green lunatics. Unless his successor is also coupling with a green Carrie lookalike – heaven forbid!
Boris now has got the sack
And he can relax, and go back
And park his (car) in CarriesCrack™
Apparently he doesn’t have a car of his own at the moment. It’ll be his Johnson.
Which deep green none entity, will replace Boris Johnson, you ask.
Well the pool of deep green candidates is so deep in the Tory Party it is difficult to say which of the none entities will get the job.
I think we can rule out Sunak the past Chancellor, I think he will be living in California returning to his American status enjoying the green ambiance of his mansion there.
Voldemort, or Gove a name he sometimes goes by, is a long shot. He does love Greta though, so you can never say never, in these green political fixated times. As a former politician might say ‘he has something of the night about him’ (Anne Widdicombe). His past performances of political back stabbing makes him an unlikely choice among the Tory membership in the country all of whom get a vote.
Give it a few weeks and a true short list will emerge.
You missed out Steve Baker. He has expressed an interest in running.
Don’t laugh, but he’s a member of the GWPF, and a staunch ‘denier’ with real world working experience (he was in the RAF and business), a sensible education (no Eton or Harrow) and he organised the ERG (a group of MP’s who pressurised for a hard Brexit) which terrified anti Brexit MP’s.
MP’s will be looking for an organiser, someone quite unlike Boris, who can steady the ship before the next election. They were burned by going Woke and pitching for the ‘Margaret Thatcher’ crowd when May screwed up Brexit, deliberately, and was also kicked out, in favour of Boris.
That’s two PM’s in around 6 years, this rate of churn is unsustainable.
On a practical basis, Zahawi seems in pole position as he hasn’t a blemish on his character. Sunak is far too wealthy and his families integrity has been called into question over Taxation. I suspect MP’s will actively avoid another female leader.
NetZero though, isn’t popular amongst a lot of Conservative MP’s. Their constituents are screaming for relief from the energy crisis which is only going to get worse in a few months. Baker also understands the financial lunacy of renewables.
Baker has shown willing to grasp the nettle of climate change and he knows what he’s talking about, unlike the vast majority of MP’s who are entirely ignorant of science and utterly unable to present an argument against climate change.
This battle will be fought on the grounds of inflation and the energy crisis. In my opinion, Baker is the only MP who won’t skirt around the issue of climate and is clearly knowledgeable enough to be very persuasive.
For a little insight into the man, the Guardian published an interview with him and he was straightforward on the subject of climate: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/07/anti-green-mp-steve-baker-considering-running-for-pm-if-boris-johnson-goes?mc_cid=f42b78d113&mc_eid=5f2cfb8234
And as far as I can gather, he’s not a WEF Young Leader.*
*Of course not, he’s against CC and didn’t go to the right schools……….
Zahawi has some questions about expenses claims and a Mail+ investigation into his businesses lurking in there.
And sadly many tory supporters won’t even think about him because he isn’t white.
“And sadly many tory supporters won’t even think about him because he isn’t white.”
What utter nonsense. Look at the Conservative government front bench!
Then compare it with the Labour front bench. Zahawi is in with a chance. But it seems like, in the membership right now, Mordaunt and Wallace are leading.
Usual racism from you griff.
No one mentioned skin colour until you pitched up.
Disgusting little left wing cretin.
It’s got nothing to do with his appearance you disgusting bigot. I’ve got a lot of time for Nadhim Zahawi but he’s always been seen as a bit of a government yes man; whenever a spokesman was needed to explain away the latest gaffe, Zahawi coincidentally popped up on tv with an excuse. He’s going to need to do a lot of work to be seen as a credible candidate in his own right.
Nadhim Zahawi has announced his candidacy on a platform of reduced government and tax cuts. If it wasn’t for his performance at COP26 he could have been credible.
‘Don’t laugh, but he’s a member of the GWPF, and a staunch ‘denier’….’
I would like to believe that of him, HotScot, but after reading the Guardian article to which you linked us his position on global warming appears somewhat ambivalent to me:
“He said he would end the push for more wind and solar power,…
Instead, he would increase the country’s use and domestic production of gas, though conceded he would support carbon capture and storage.”
If that Guardian report is correct, I think Steve Baker must have accepted the green lobby’s flawed basic assumption that our carbon emissions are a problem in need of a solution. That is hardly the position of a staunch ‘denier’, I would have thought.
Just ending ‘the push for more wind and solar power’ may help resolve the UK’s immediate energy-supply and cost of living crises but it won’t resolve the underlying problem of the green lobby itself, which will continue to fight tooth and claw to complete its insane ‘green reset’ of the UK by whatever methods and means come to hand. They will do this because they are fanatics who have abandoned reason and truth long ago in their quest for global power and dominion over everything. They want total, absolute control over the whole global environment, which means the entire world and everything in it including us. They may not think that is what they want, but their actions demonstrate that they do.
The green lobby have come to power in the UK because they have been courted, tolerated, appeased and pandered to by successive UK governments without exception since the reign of Margaret Thatcher and their basic agenda has been cemented into UK law under the UK’s Climate Change Acts that started in 2008.
What the UK needs is a government that has enough clarity of mind to see that the way of the green lobby is a highway to hell on earth and enough courage and strength of will to do whatever it will take to reverse the terrible, purely destructive course down which the green lobby is taking us. Can you imagine the British Conservative Party being able to put together such a government in its present state of division and confusion over just about everything? I can’t.
Unfortunately I don’t think it matters who thenew leader is, our politicians and green energy solutions are too closely aligned.
Both are Expensive, Inefficient, Unreliable and totally dependent on taxpayer handouts!
👍Best comment!👍
I am continually surprised at people moaning about the UK govt’s Net Zero and green policies… because they were on page one of the 2019 election manifesto.
did none of them read it?
They wanted Brexit. Now they will be back in the EU with higher energy prices and more green blight.
The 2019 election was a single issue election. As everyone but you is well aware of, apparently.
And not a single financial number associated with it. Apparently NetZero was going to cost nothing, but we knew better.
Stop trotting out your usual BS statement on this griff. We all know you are full of propaganda which has no avenues of debate, just a single line of argument.
The best selection method: write each name on a piece of paper; roll each piece of paper; put all rolled pieces of paper in one hat; shake the hat; pick one of the pieces of paper.
Johnson saved Britain from a Corbyn government. From a small clique of anti-semitic Trotskyite terrorist sympathizers, inexplicably funded by the trade union movement, who had infiltrated and taken over the Labour Party.
For this, despite his mistakes, he deserves their deep gratitude. He also made the right call on the Ukraine, on the EU, and on vaccination.
But the thing the British should remember him for is giving them the chance to show Corbyn and his gang of zealots the door, and with the force of an 80 seat majority that has sent them back to their burrows for a generation.
It was Nigel Farage’s Brexit that propelled Boris to his job as PM.
Boris had two letters written depending on the outcome of Brexit, one for, and the other against. he was never a Brexiter, just an opportunist.
Johnson jumped on Ukraine when he was told to jump by Biden.
Biden has no interest in the country other than covering up his family involvement.
Coercing an entire country to take a drug which violated every long term testing protocol established since Thalidomide was never the right thing to do. Unless you are walking around with your eyes closed the disastrous consequences of this decision are now manifesting themselves in the growing number of vaccine injuries, deaths, and reports of infertility etc.
Does no one find it curious that the UK government is now running a TV and radio public health campaign on shingles? Never before considered a problem until following a regime of injecting people with untested drugs? Monkey pox failed to terrify the country so shingles is now covering up for vaccine injuries.
HotScot – re: Ukraine – to me it seems US likes remote wars and also has supplies of energy and grain which will be needed as Ukraine and Russia continues. I agree about the corruption aspects but I think there is a bigger story than just Biden family involvement.
Labour was founded by the unions and continues to be funded by them. I think the information that you are blindly groping for is that the Labour Party was infiltrated and taken over, in part, by Momentum, an extreme leftwing activist group founded by an avowed Marxist oligarch with rather a lot of money and friendship with Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn was always supposed to be a joke candidate but when Jon Lansman threw the support of Momentum behind him they couldn’t get rid of him that easily. The Unions have been battling against Momentum for control of the membership for some years now.
Don’t think so. Len McCluskey was an ally of Lansman and also a main force behind Corbyn. I don’t think the unions, this time around, were battling against Momentum at all. They were allying with them.
Under Kinnock they were battling against Militant. That was quite a different story and why it had a different outcome.
The reason Corbyn and his lot got in was the change in the approach of the unions. The effort to take over Labour was as much a McClusky project as a Lansman project.
Its from a few years back, but read this:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/mar/18/secret-tape-reveals-momentum-plot-to-link-with-unite-seize-control-of-labour
Interesting article in iNews on Penny Mordaunt and Steve Baker.
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/conservative-leadership-election-young-tories-penny-mordaunt-steve-baker-next-prime-minister-poll-1732068?mc_cid=2b4630a0fc&mc_eid=5f2cfb8234
Penny’s voting record on climate related policies –
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24938/penny_mordaunt/portsmouth_north/divisions?policy=1030
Steve’s voting record on climate related policies –
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24786/steven_baker/wycombe/divisions?policy=1030
From the prism of climate, both seem encouraging candidates.
But British politics is more than just climate, we have had an illegal immigration problem for years. We have the Northern Ireland question following Brexit. We have ‘levelling up’ the concept of distributing work/industry/prosperity equally across the UK instead of being largely focussed on the SE and the Midlands. Not to mention the NHS, foreign spending and defence.
An important point is that the lying oaf Johnson has NOT resigned. He is not going until a replacement is found which for some reason won’t be until September. His former pal Cummings sees what his game is. Johnson hopes that something will turn up to save him before then. Why it should take so long to find another – possibly more truthful – Tory to take over is a mystery. Given that the cupboard is bare of anyone competent you have to hope they couldn’t be any worse than Johnson. An outsider might be Lord Frost but he is not an MP. Having delivered – possibly under orders – a very damaging Brexit deal despite in the past having shown some understanding of the Single Market and might have even understood The EU Customs Union is for EU members only, he has displayed a worrying naivety that Johnson could have been anything other than a complete disaster. The lying oaf never takes the blame which is clear from his speech, usually running away to leave others to clear up his mess.
You really have been looking at the uglier side of the MSM, haven’t you? The Tory selection process is well known and documented and, in the case of May and Johnson, took around 40 days, not including a preliminary period to allow candidates to sort out a campaign. That pretty much fits although the 1922 commission could shorten the process slightly if they so choose. Cummings is not a credible source – a bitter little man who got chewed up and spat out by Princess Nut-Nut (a name reflecting her inherent instability not her green credentials btw).
…
How about David Attenborough so they can get it out of their heads once and for all with a hard recession self-inflicted. Pity the Ukrainians watching this from their trenches.
….
A mockery of science is hardly a platform for political leadership.
Rules out most of Labour, Lib Dems, SNP, Greens and quite a few Tories as well. If you want to play this version of “Last man standing” you wont have many choices to start with!
…which is why they all need to fall down in a hard recession and see who learns something and gets back up sooner.
Place your bets…..
Russia cheers Boris Johnson’s demise as world reacts to the UK’s political drama (cnbc.com)
My favourite is Priti Patel, she is base conservative and East Indian. No non-sense about inter sectionalist race-baiting. The reason the electorate has been going against the Cons is because of their waffling on immigration which was a reason for Brexit, green non-sense, and all the insane leftist non-sense that still goes despite overwhelming representation in the parliament. People are disappointed and angry. They would vote for them again if they would stand up for the people.
Not a deep Green for sure but greener than some of the other candidates – I’m undecided at the moment on her.
Priti talks the talk, but hasn’t walked the walk, and she has let the home office stamp all over her.
My jury is also still out.
Patel isn’t Indian. She’s English, born and brought up in England.
Still just another tool for Washington, though.
horribly biased political article.
if you wish to be taken seriously, dont sink to basic political chattering
Concern troll is concerned.
What will it take to get the people to realize that green poicily is what got them in the mess? They need Anti- Climate Action leadership to get them out of the mess.
To mention Gove as a potential leader of a political party is like frightening young children by telling stories of ghosts and creepy crawlies. Have you no shame, Worrall?
It’s Halloween come early! When all the Goblins and Ghoulies (and Govies) come out to hold a party conference.
I met him once, he’s just as horrible in person.
The Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011 was repealed on 24 March 2022. So the PM can call an election at any time within the five year term of the Parliament by Royal Prerogative, as was the case before the FTPA. That is likely only if the Tories elect a proper conservative. If they don’t we will see another Rogue Parliament opposing the people, but not as monstrously as the Remainer Rogue Parliament which hid behind the protection of the FTPA to oppose and undermine Brexit despite the EU referendum instruction to leave the EU.