[davidjay]

For a party that loves homespun wisdom, they never seem to take my mum's advice of "Buy cheap, buy twice".

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I do like a nice classical allusion.

You don't get that from Novara...

[Crabcakes]

Hunt’s arrival will show whether the public are having a temporary sulk with the Tories or if they are toast (if polling doesn’t move much in their favour).

Bear in mind that any minor bump up from not having a pair of essentially economic terrorists in charge will be immediately smashed in the knackers by the arrival of still greatly increased energy bills supported only until warmer weather (hopefully) returns, and years of locked-in high interest rate mortgage repayments with no guarantee toughing it out for a few months before fixing will make it even worse.

I’m now of the opinion a GE in the spring would be the very best bet, because the damage has been done and Labour can’t magic it away. But what can happen is the Tories have to own it, and face the consequences at the ballot box

The fact - based on polls - they’d now not even make it into 2nd place and be the opposition is good, but that’s still an unlikely real world result. But a few more months of misery and incompetence and who knows?

[zuriblue]

Very childish, hard not to laugh...

I’m not entirely convinced all of them are “accidental”

I'm sure they're not.

[Arrowhead]

I have to be honest and say that, although the current polling makes for (very) amusing reading, I'm really not reading too much into them at all. I'd estimate that around 30% of the British electorate identify as either "right-wing" or "very right-wing", and I'm working on the assumption that most of these voters will return to the Tory mothership by the time of the next GE. Although I suppose Farage could throw a lot of calculations out of the window if he presses ahead with plans to launch his rumoured Party for Nasty Bastards, or whatever it'd be called.

Also, this latest MRP poll currently doing the rounds looks decidedly dodgy to me. For example, it has my constituency of Meriden narrowly returning a Labour MP (in reality there's more chance of Blues winning the PL next season), whereas just down the road it has the Tories comfortably holding on to Solihull, despite it being a Lib Dem seat until fairly recently.

[mattomac]

Also gives the Rhonda to Plaid.

I can’t see that currently.

I expect if it does crash and burn its more likely the Labour vote turns out and the Tories sit it out like a reversal to some extent of 2019 and a bit like 1997.

[Arrowhead]

Also gives the Rhonda to Plaid.

I can’t see that currently.

I did wonder whether they'd factored in local election results to their calculations, because although Solihull did indeed have a Lib Dem MP (Lorely Burt) 2005-2015, her party has pretty much disappeared from the map at council level ever since.

But Rhondda County Council currently has 59 Labour councillors versus just 8 for Plaid, so it can't be that.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Plaid got killed in the Welsh Assembly elections in Rhondda too. Labour aren't losing that.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Truss didn't just do a budget that had to be withdrawn, but she's left 10 weeks worth of "we've been shit for 12 years" quotes.

[Youngian]

Go on Jeremy, stick him in the cabinet, I dare you

[Bones McCoy]

Rumours saying that Peston fluffed his "Jeremy Hunts cuts" line in a Spoonerific manner.

[Bones McCoy]

Still struggling to embed tweets: Here goes

[mattomac]

To often to be a mistake.

[Bones McCoy]

I do like a nice classical allusion.

You don't get that from Novara...

The telegraph might mention George Washington's axe.

GB news would be looking up references to Trigger's Broom.

[Yug]

Wing nut welfare, and guess who's paying?

A charity founded by the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, paid more than £110,000 – two-thirds of its income – to his former political adviser Adam Smith, who lost his job over a lobbying scandal.

Patient Safety Watch, which was set up to research preventable harm in healthcare, paid Smith as its sole employee and chief executive about 66% of its income in the year ending January 2022.

Hunt part funds the charity but it also solicits donations from the public...

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... adam-smith

[Youngian]

If this is mainly Hunt’s money what’s he paying his mate to do? Not much evidence of him delivering or being qualified to do so.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Looking forward to newsreaders reporting on "Hunt's cuts'. What could possibly go wrong?

[Yug]

Quonset or nissen?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

[mattomac]

They’ve mostly postponed their budget til err 2025.

Which increases the need to ask, what is even the point in continuing, a pay packet and a name badge, whilst they reheat the strategies from 12 years ago.