[Abernathy]

Don’t be daft. Reform UK limited doesn’t have leadership contests. It just appoints leaders.

[Yug]

And Tice and Farage are both there because their paymaster finds them useful.

[Crabcakes]

Don’t be daft. Reform UK limited doesn’t have leadership contests. It just appoints leaders.

Fair point - by “leadership contest” I really meant “very public falling out between 2 or more absolute wankers where the ideal result is they all kick lumps out of each other and leave the rest of us alone”

[kreuzberger]

Let's see if the BBC covers such hostilities with their customary enthusiasm.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Party discipline latest.

[satnav]

I think it would be really funny if Suella walked out on the Tories but then gets rejected by Reform on the grounds that she is too extreme.

[Spoonman]

Don’t be daft. Reform UK limited doesn’t have leadership contests. It just appoints leaders.

It reminds me of back in the mid 10's when UKIP were at their peak and tounges were wagging as to what Torys would defect - in the end they only got milquetoast Mark Reckless & Doug Carswell because no one with any reasonably high profile was going to be admitted to the 'kippers and potentially overshadow Farage's "big fish in small pond" ego. Fast forward nearly ten years on and the same mostly applies - Tice is somewhat like Carswell will be happy to tag along as his ego isn't going to eclipse Farage's any time soon and will happily be his nodding dog. Braverman, though? There's no way her ego will survive being put in check were she to cross over to Reform LLC and potentially overshadow its appointed leader. It's for the same reason I can't see what a few delusional eejits call a "dream ticket" of a Tory/Reform merger or Farage leading the Tories on his own (without destroying the party) - there's no way numerous egos in the ranks Tory party will allow themselves to be subservient to Farage's whom would likely demand Trumpesque fealty to him.

[Watchman]

But back in the 10’s the Tory were starting on their match to the right, and I think most of the nutters decided it was safer, and more financially advantageous to keep in the camp

[Tubby Isaacs]

Odd dynamics here.

Suella- Liberals are losing their shit at my speech!
Kemi- Suella's going mad.

[Bones McCoy]

Party discipline latest.

What we now need is a giant paddling pool, half filled with mud.

[slilley]

Braverman against Starmer at PMQs each week would be a blood bath. She will give it all the "tofu eating wokerati" and Starmer will just inform everyone just what his government has donr since being elected.

William Hague was reasonably successful against Blair by using humour, I am not sure Braverman has that skill in her locker.

[Andy McDandy]

Her only advantage will be the old Chris Morris one - she'll be too stupid to realise when she's losing.

[Watchman]

The only humor a Tory has is when the "joke's" at someone else's expense

[Bones McCoy]

Odd dynamics here.

Suella- Liberals are losing their shit at my speech!
Kemi- Suella's going mad.

Aristotle might conclude that Kemi's a Liberal.

[Crabcakes]

William Hague was reasonably successful against Blair by using humour, I am not sure Braverman has that skill in her locker.

It would be the worst case scenario, unfortunately - she definitely doesn’t have that skill in her locker (arguably she doesn’t even have a skill locker so much as a bin bag of competencies that barely surpass a toddler’s), but she also doesn’t have the self-awareness to realise she doesn’t. Hence the speeches with painful gaps for applause that never comes (or at least not without prompting).

As shown by her excruciatingly awful election video, she inexplicably thinks she’s amusing and fun. Which I suppose she is in the singular sense it would be fun for the rest of us to see her stand up and attempt to take on the former DPP each week when her main claim to (in)fame is being the attorney general who was fine with breaking international law.

[Youngian]

Braverman from last year has dated badly: “We know how to choose a leader and we know how to win elections.”

Swellin has already made a list and Emily Thornberry will be dealt with first

[slilley]

The other thing is that if Mrs Braverman did win the leadership, possibly going against the wishes of the parliamentary party, how many would refuse to serve in her Shadow cabinet? the talent pool is not great at 121 MPs and a good few of them will need to nurse a constituency with a very small majority. Added to that a number of former cabinet ministers who did make it back who probably want a quieter time on the backbenches now. Opposition against a government with a huge majority is a thankless task.

The small size of the parliamentary party means that the front bench would not be that big, meaning those shadowing ministers would have more work to do than perhaps would normally be the case. Added to which opposition of any type for the first couple of years is harder as new policies need to thought out, especially given the scale of rejection of the last manifesto.

If Braverman is going to continue down the road she is currently on, then their could be plenty who refuse to serve. It wont necesarily be a Shadow cabinet crammed with talent.

[Youngian]

If Braverman is going to continue down the road she is currently on, then their could be plenty who refuse to serve.

Nah, doubt there’s many young Dominic Grieves on the Tory benches.

Hilarious for Labour that a Braverman leadership would be, this country needs a sane main opposition to be taken seriously again as a country.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I think there'd be a few, but she might not ask them anyway.

[Crabcakes]

The double whammy is the pool is small at 121, but also the pool was already small in terms of actual, genuine talent. Braverman, Badenoch, Cleverley and a fair few others are ‘senior Tories’ because Johnson shat the bed and expelled anyone half decent before the 2019 election - usually because being half decent they recognised the danger his malformed shit heap of a Brexit deal represented. So they got jobs because they were what was left and/or were suck-ups who’d do as they were told.

Talent hasn’t been any sort of guide to job allocation in the Tory party for some time. The whole outfit is running on some nightmare mishmash of the Peter principle and Lord of the Flies.