[Andy McDandy]

In the case of Opik, I think it's mainly attention-seeking. With Truss, my feeling is that while her shift from liberal to conservative was probably a genuine rethink of her ideals, what we've seen happen to her is something else entirely.

I think she was promoted too far and too fast for her to keep up with. She was surrounded by people telling her she was Thatcher reborn, the next great hope for the Tories, and for a while she was the one Tory who was scoring successes - OK, they were cut and paste trade deals more impressive in quantity than quality, but she was racking up the personal approval. Then on to the foreign office, where she was on the biggest stage of all. And still with the entourage and the whole circus around her.

This isn't about her being a woman though. This could happen to anyone.

Then she makes PM, and everything goes to shit. What she didn't realise was that her candidacy only got anywhere because she was saying what the Tufton Street mob wanted her to say. It helped that she agreed with it herself, but it was very clear she was Hugh Laurie as the idiot shoved into office, while Stephen Fry's vaguely fascistic chap in a blazer pulls the strings. And when it went wrong, she was cast adrift. Suddenly, nobody's returning her calls. The entourage are all gone. And at that point, I think, something snapped.

I see the same thing in that recent Braverman speech. These are people who have thought for so long that it's about them - their charisma, their ideas - and are quickly learning that it's not them; any idiot out of CCHQ will do.

[Bones McCoy]

I observe, without further comment.

Most of the British contributors at the "Popular Conservative" conference have:
a) Never been elecetd,
OR
b) Recently lost their seats in the worst Conservative election performance ever.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Henry Campbell-Bannerman was a Liberal...

He won a landslide victory over the Conservatives in 1906, shattered them.

Introduced free school meals, overturned the Taff Vale Case. Generally a good 'un - whatever happened to his family?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Something nice about Tories for once.

Sir Peter Bruinvels was a fairly short lived by notoriously unpleasant Tory backbencher, who was homophobic even by the standards of the 80s right.

So this was a surprise. And fair play to him.

Bruinvels issued a statement in February 2022 apologizing for and repudiating his 1986 statements. Published in the Surrey County Council's staff newsletter, Bruinvels indicated how the years since 1986 had changed his attitude and perceptions, as well as noting actions he has taken recently which have been contra to his prior position: "I have had a lot of time to reflect on this especially as I have developed close friendships with a number of gay people as well as family members who have come out as gay and realise how wrong I was in making those comments then, some 36 years ago. I am now trying to publicly demonstrate that I have learned the lessons of my past discriminatory behaviour through the actions I have since taken, including recently supporting trans-gender and same-sex blessings in Church as well as voting to ban the practice of Conversion Therapy on General Synod."

[Tubby Isaacs]

Was David Campbell-Bannerman originally a Liberal before becoming a right wing looney? Along with Liz Truss, Lembit Opik and Mark Littlewood whose journeys also make little coherent sense. Whereas pissed off One Nation Tories becoming Lib Dems aren’t making any great political leap apart from suddenly being converted to PR.

Talking of the latter, has you're in the area, has Heidi Allen completely given up politics? Shame. She seemed like someone who gravitated towards the Tories when she got involved in politics, having been focussed on her family business previously. She got quite a shock at how bad they were once she was elected, and one of the first things she did was really stick it to Osborne on tax credit cuts. Same as Sarah Wollaston, who won an open primary (and by all accounts, very deservedly) though she took a bit longer to reach the same conclusions.

What the Tories need to think about is that it's much less likely that a younger version of Heidi Allen or Sarah Wollaston would gravitate to the Tories at all.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Tory hot dog man latest.

[Killer Whale]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost#Fallacy_effect

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yep.. Also the Concorde Fallacy, I think.

[Andy McDandy]

Ha ha, that person has to clean out that shitted toilet that we shat all over.

[Watchman]

Something nice about Tories for once.

Sir Peter Bruinvels was a fairly short lived by notoriously unpleasant Tory backbencher, who was homophobic even by the standards of the 80s right.

So this was a surprise. And fair play to him.

Bruinvels issued a statement in February 2022 apologizing for and repudiating his 1986 statements. Published in the Surrey County Council's staff newsletter, Bruinvels indicated how the years since 1986 had changed his attitude and perceptions, as well as noting actions he has taken recently which have been contra to his prior position: "I have had a lot of time to reflect on this especially as I have developed close friendships with a number of gay people as well as family members who have come out as gay and realise how wrong I was in making those comments then, some 36 years ago. I am now trying to publicly demonstrate that I have learned the lessons of my past discriminatory behaviour through the actions I have since taken, including recently supporting trans-gender and same-sex blessings in Church as well as voting to ban the practice of Conversion Therapy on General Synod."

During the Miners Strike he demanded that Scargill be hung, and that he would willingly be the hangman

[Tubby Isaacs]

Didn't know that. He was truly awful. Glad he's found some inner peace, let's call it.

[Youngian]

Talking of the latter, has you're in the area, has Heidi Allen completely given up politics?

Heard nothing of her until election night when she popped up on either Sky and Ch4 as a Lib Dem pundit. Looking more relaxed than her awful experience as an MP. Her successor Anthony Browne went on a chicken run and still lost, last week.

Peter Bruinvels would always be available to the Sun for a reactionary quote on any subject. Like demanding the BBC sack actor Tom Watt (Lofty) from Eastenders as he was a CND member. A bit camp IIRC so he was probably in the closet and overcompensating.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I had Sky on, but I can't recall any Lib Dem pundits at all. Glad Heidi is well. Peerage and come back?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Another Tory hot dog man. With added wink at the audience: "I did stick it to Sunak, you know"

[Bones McCoy]

Fun to see the quantity of Reform sourced heckling on that thread.

For all the talk of "turning their guns on Labour", which Reform inevitably will, they seem to enjoy binning the scrag end of the Tories.

[Bones McCoy]

Unseated MPs getting new jobs.
(Part of a continuing series)

[Youngian]

A very long list of seats won and lost by a whisker
https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battl ... ets/labour
https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battl ... nservative

[Bones McCoy]

Another Tory hot dog man. With added wink at the audience: "I did stick it to Sunak, you know"

People who've examined the leaks suggest that only Kemi Badenoch could know all the details contained therein.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yeah. If it's not her, it's someone strangely focussed on what she and she alone was saying.

[Youngian]

Kemi’s the office slimeball grass who makes up for her lack of integrity and ability with desperate ambition.