[davidjay]

Guess which number-based three word phrase two of the first three replies included?

[mattomac]

I keep seeing #backboris everywhere on twitter all of a sudden, of course they all parroting the same jibberish.

I had never noticed the question about physical and mental health not that surprising but Starmer is well ahead on that attribute.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Jesus Christ. This is literally the bit that joins HS2 to the line to Scotland (as well as Wigan, Preston, Lake District and Carlisle). Public position is it's happening. Tory MP (Graham Brady) tells constituency Shapps has told him it isn't.

[Spoonman]

Even a few years ago when the NI Conservatives were running in most Assembly & General Election constituencies, they were less popular than a shit sandwich. Nowadays they're on their death throes.

NI Conservatives fielding just one candidate in May Assembly election

THE Northern Ireland Conservatives are to run just one candidate in the forthcoming Assembly election.

Matthew Robinson, who is the party's chairman, is standing in North Down .

This compares to five years ago when the party fielded 13 candidates.

It comes just weeks after Gary Hynds, who was the NI Conservatives candidate in Lagan Valley, quit the party in protest over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Now running as an independent in the May poll, he accused his former party of being "incredibly out of touch".

Alan Dunlop, the former party chair, also quit six months ago and has claimed that local Tories were almost "an extinct species".

But the party's sole candidate Mr Robinson, who in the Westminster constituency election in 2019 picked up almost 2,000 votes, has urged people to back the party as "your first choice for change".

He said that he wants to be the "pragmatic, pro-business, liberal voice that it so lacking in our politics"

https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern ... s441rif44T



Note for those not too familiar with NI politics - North Down has long been an area with a small but notable base for the Tories in this part of the world, partly because the constituency whilst largely Unionist leaning has a reputation of being a bit of a maverick - in the 1992 GE the Tory candidate came second there with 32% of the vote, though this dropped to just 2.1% in a 1995 by-election. Since then their GE share in the constituency (when they've stood) has bounced between 2-5%, with Assembly 1st preference votes between 1-3%.

[MisterMuncher]

I'll miss the odd Tory soul that used to appear in South Down.

Not that I would vote for them or anything, it was just amusing to hear how thoroughly they misunderstood Northern Ireland and their own party

[Watchman]

To be perfectly honest, I never realised that the Tories were actually a “thing” in NI

[MisterMuncher]

It's fine. Neither have they.

[Youngian]

Never understood why the Conservative Party stands in NI, wouldn’t you vote UUP if the Tories are your bag?

[davidjay]

Never understood why the Conservative Party stands in NI, wouldn’t you vote UUP if the Tories are your bag?

I think it's because they have an ethos that anyone should have the opportunity to vote Conservative. I would guess that it's also a tactical thing, appealing to the Unionist part of their name.

[Tubby Isaacs]

More woke Tories.

[Abernathy]

I think it’s probably now safe to say that Sunak’s chances of succeeding Johnson as PM are toast. However, “Partygate” still isn’t quite dead. Johnson could still be shown the door or have to stand down.

In which case, who’s the next Tory leader?

Truss?
Patel? (christ, surely not)
Zahawi?

I’m thinking that the Saj is now quite nicely poised. That’s if the swivel-eyed grass roots Tory electorate will bite the bullet and vote for a brown mekon.

[Boiler]

[...]
In which case, who’s the next Tory leader?

...Patel? (christ, surely not)

Why not? She's got that streak of callousness Tories love. And could she really be any less competent?

[satnav]

Saj is now probably out of the running after admitting that he was a non-dom between 2000 and 2006 when he was earning a fortune as a banker.

[Boiler]

"It's not a loan."

[MisterMuncher]

I wonder exactly how many Tory operatives and Murdoch hacks are currently working their way through a list of Labour spouses for the smell of the ghost of impropriety

[The All New KevS]

A lot of Tufton Street bots have been screaming "What about Stephen Kinnock then, eh? EH?!"

Overlooking the fact that it was twelve years ago, and HMRC confirmed there was no case to answer.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

That probably doesn't matter. Like the truth of Starmer and Savile. The brain-deprived progress-hating right just needs its slogans...

[Cyclist]

I think Carl Sagan's words apply

[Youngian]

Zahawi appears to be running a Sunday School. Is this get out of doing the morning media rounds?

[Tubby Isaacs]

He's turned into Marco Rubio. In other news, odds on a by-election in Somerton and Frome seem to shortening.