Mailwatch(ed) Forum

Crabcakes wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2024 4:52 pm Priti Patel is shadow foreign secretary. So we know who’ll be having a go when the rank and file get fed up of Badenoch.

Braverman will be furious.

Interesting appointment for someone sacked for running their own shadow foreign policy. Surprised Kemi hasn't enobled Liam Fox and put him back at Defence.

Re diversity and leadership, the (lack of) reaction from the Tories' opponents is key. Minority Tory leaders are not subjected to racist pile-ons from Labour (or the LibDems, Greens etc). Compare and contrast to Tory responses to Anas Sarwar, Vaughan Gething and Saddiq Khan. I think it's a safe bet that race will again become an issue for Tories when UK Labour elect their first BAME leader. Ditto Labour's first female leader.

The “talent” pool from which Bad Enoch is obliged to appoint her shadow cabinet was always woefully shallow, but following the election in July is now reduced to just 121 Tory MPs.

I hear, for example, that the utterly clueless Laura Trott has been handed the shadow Education brief, and that Jenrick has been appointed shadow Justice Secretary. Thank the mythical deity they are no longer ministers making actual decisions.

According to the R4 bulletin, Laura Trott is now the "Education Secretary".

They're struggling to get over it, the poor lambs.

Not so much a pool as a clogged ditch.

Mel ‘PIP is thousands of pounds a month’ Stride is Shadow Chancellor.

Nick Timothy is going to be in it, isn't he?

Not seen many actually appointed yet. Rebecca Harris is Chief Whip (presume Badenoch knows her well as an Essex MP) Jenrick, Trott and Patel, who else?

Abernathy wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2024 6:35 pm The “talent” pool from which Bad Enoch is obliged to appoint her shadow cabinet was always woefully shallow, but following the election in July is now reduced to just 121 Tory MPs.

I hear, for example, that the utterly clueless Laura Trott has been handed the shadow Education brief, and that Jenrick has been appointed shadow Justice Secretary. Thank the mythical deity they are no longer ministers making actual decisions.

Sounds like some academy wings are being clipped by Bridget Philipson. I agree with Sam Freedman less on schools than on other things, but he makes the reasonable point that some of the chains at least do offer a route to sustained improvement. It's not yet clear how the new government will do improvement. Are LAs up to the task, given all the cuts they've had?

So Education could be a be an opportunity for a heavy hitter. Perhaps Trott is all they've got.

John Crace, he good.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... -of-talent

Laura Trott, lest we forget.

Actually Rebecca Harris has a fair bit junior whip experience, so I suppose that's a fairly logical appointment.

The appointments do seem very slow though. But one appointment she has got done is a donor (and business partner of Jacob Rees Mogg) as co-chairman, Lord Johnson.

She needs to fill more briefs with more MPs than those who voted for her. It would be beyond funny if she fails.

Perhaps that richly upholstered, Johnson-adjacent lass in the Lords could put in a few shifts?

Whilst the appointment of Patel as shadow Foreign Secretary has grabbed a few headlines what does the shadow Foreign Secretary actually do. David Lammy gets to fly around the world visiting other countries and attending summits and conferences but is opposite number gets very few of these perks. Patel will spend much of the time quizzing Lammy when he returns from his jaunts.

Jenrick's appointment could be rather problematic for the Tories because a number of MPs have been banging on about the need for a deterrent to stop asylum seekers arriving in small boats but Jenrick has been very vocal in slagging off the Rwanda scheme so his hands will be very much tied if he starts going on about deterrents if he didn't actually support the Tories main deterrent.

I’m guessing Patel has been appointed because of her contacts in Israel

Trott probably won’t understand how inflation works. So Phillipson’s announcement on fees is a good one.

Seems like Badenoch was waiting to announce the rest at once.

Can’t see NickTimothy.

Tom Tugendhat is also left clutching his dick.

He's kept the security job, having debased himself in his leadership campaign.

Actually, don't think he is in it.

Jehovah in a jump jet - Chris Philp is the shadow Home Secretary. Chris Philp.

That sound you can hear is the bottom of the barrel being scraped to fuck.

So to sum up:

* the leader is divisive, tribal, gaffe prone and has some of the lowest numbers supporting her ever
* a couple of the shadow cabinet are complete unknowns who seem to have been picked simply because they’re available
* most of the shadow cabinet are from the c-listers that made up the last few cabinets
* most of them already have form for corruption, stupidity, laziness, bullying etc.
* none of them have any particular skills or suitability for their briefs - in fact, some of them have demonstrably no idea about their briefs

This is the political equivalent of when Bart Simpson got put in a special ed. class, and pointed out the absurdity of them trying to catch up by deliberately going slower.