This is the direct result of letting people outside the parliamentary party impose a leader on the parliamentary party. We've seen it with Duncan Smith, Corbyn and now Truss. It's been avoided with Howard, Brown and May.
Aye.
14% support first round, 31% final round. How can you lead a parliamentary party when two thirds of your MPs would prefer someone else?
By getting the big calls right ! The Tory membership would probably prefer someone else too, and you could argue the system is flawed, but it is democratic.
Next you'll be telling me that a one off referendum result supported by 38% of the electorate is a democratic mandate for major constitutional change
| Is it all over for Truss? Liz Truss is giving her big speech to the Conservative party conference tomorrow morning. I say ‘big’ speech, but we’ve been told it’s actually going to be quite short – 25 minutes, in fact. Many leaders go on for more than an hour when given this chance to address the party faithful, so that’s really short. But the bigger question that’s on everyone’s lips around the Birmingham gathering today isn’t about how long the speech will go on for. It’s about how much longer Truss herself can keep going. If the Prime Minister and her supporters had hoped that Monday morning’s U-turn on the 45p rate of tax would be the low point of conference, they’ve been proved very wrong. Today has been even worse, with a breakdown in cabinet discipline and rebels openly saying she has just days to rescue things. The cabinet row started this morning with Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the House, saying she wanted the government to increase benefits in line with inflation. She told Times Radio: ‘I’ve always supported – whether it’s pensions, whether it’s our welfare system – keeping pace with inflation. It makes sense to do so. That’s what I voted for before.’ She’s not the only one, of course: we have a rolling list on Coffee House here. And Mordaunt technically isn’t breaking collective responsibility because the decision has, as Truss keeps saying, not been taken yet. But it was still a sign that discipline within the government has broken down and that MPs across the party feel they can push the Prime Minister whichever way they want (iron is, of course, quite malleable compared to other less politically popular metals). Then Home Secretary Suella Braverman accused her own colleagues of staging a ‘coup’ against Truss, which is quite strong language from anyone, let alone the holder of the great office of state responsible for law and order. But she broke with the message, too, saying she was ‘very disappointed’ that the 45p rate U-turn had happened. Some of her colleagues, including Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke, pointedly agreed with her. Others, such as International Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, accused her of using ‘inflammatory’ language. Other ministers have been taking pot shots at Truss too. At one fringe, trade minister Conor Burns praised his boss, saying: ‘Kemi totally gets that trade needs to move beyond Instagram posts about free trade agreements and needs to actually focus on delivering for companies the support to unleash the potential that the free trade agreements open up.’ Which Instagram-loving former international trade secretary could he possibly be aiming this barb at? Burns supported Truss for leader and had been publicly applying to be her Northern Ireland secretary. Instead, he was moved sideways out of that department and into another minister of state role, which won’t have encouraged warm feelings towards the Prime Minister. On the backbenches, the mood is even colder. Michael Gove continues with his tour of the fringes and drinks events. Grant Shapps, too, is spending more time in the broadcast studios than he ever did when he was in government. He claimed today that the PM had just ten days left to turn things around, after which MPs will start to mobilise against her. It’s difficult to see how another change of leadership will really help the party. But it’s also difficult to see how the Prime Minister’s speech tomorrow can salvage what has been a historically bad conference for the Conservatives. Indeed, it is very difficult to see how this is going to end in anything other than tears for the Tories. |
Next you'll be telling me that a one off referendum result supported by 38% of the electorate is a democratic mandate for major constitutional change
Such a simplistic take on it to be merely ridiculous.
