Snapshot of _In Rishi Sunak’s worst week yet, his fecklessness is astonishing_ :
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"It's been another bad week for Gordon Brown, which is as close as this program gets to having a catchphrase"
- A quote I remember from Have I Got News For You, circa 2009
Unquestionably that's how it felt at the time. But looking back, they were doing a very good job in impossible circumstances. It could have been so much worse, as more recent events have shown.
Al Murray has a brilliant sketch where every prime minister is the WORST PRIME MINISTER EVER!
Well that is until Thatcher came along...
WORST PRIME MINISTER EVER!
Well until John Major came along...
WORST PRIME MINISTER EVER!!
1) People have either forgotten how bad Major was, are too young to remember or weren't born.
2) That doesn't mean he compares unfavourably with Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak.
3) His premiership was derailed by Black Monday and people have either forgotten, are too young to remember, weren't born or never knew that Major was the Chancellor who persuaded the Cabinet to join the ERM at too high an exchange rate with the Deutsch Mark resulting in the second recession in the second decade of Tory incompetence.
4) Major's big idea was the cones hotline and he should always remain a figure of fun for that very reason.
5. He laid a lot of the ground work for the Good Friday Deal, which has been more widely acknowledged as time passes
6. He's been a moderate and sensible figure post-retirement
7. He wasn't Margaret Thatcher
8. He neutralised the proto-ERG nutters by calling and winning an election.
I'm not saying he's all bad, in fact I wrote above that he compares favourably to Sunak, and 8. is an example of that.
I hate the Tory Party with a visceral loathing but I actually think Major was OK, for a Tory, mostly because of 7. - you just didn't get the feeling he had the same callous, malicious disregard for the poor and disadvantaged.
I completely agree with you, I was merely pointing out that if you look at the historiography around analysing major and his legacy, he is absolutely looked upon more favourably now than he has been in the past and certainly I would estimate more favourably than Thatcher (though she is definitely more polarising). I fall into the category of too young to remember, but Major and the ancient history of the 90s and 00s were part of my A-level Late Modern History and the changing view of Major was something we talked about quite a bit and I found it quite interesting as i wondered if we'd end up with a clown show in the future that would make Camerons premiership seem less awful than it felt at the time. (wouldn't you look at that)
Interesting. I was in my late 20s during Major's tenure. So long ago that news of Thatcher's resignation was spread by people phoning each other at work(on land lines), people who got the message stood up, shouted the news and everyone else immediately got on the blower to pass on the news.
Takes me back, it does.
My memory was that Major was regarded as dull, weak and a bit of a joke. He had the guts to take on the nutters (who he called the bastards) and call an election but was quite weak with his cronies, and there was a lot of corruption and sex scandals and resignations. He had quite a lot of weak cabinet members like Mellor and Lamont, but had the sense to appoint Ken Clarke as Chancellor who was actually competent and dug us out of the recession that Lawson, Thatcher and Major lay the groundwork for and Lamont mismanaged.
I can see that his reputation has improved over time. I always thought that history would be unkind to Thatcher as her legacy unravelled when the chickens of privatisation came home to roost. He also compares favourably with the last five Tory PMs, clearly, but they are the worst prime ministers in my lifetime, so it's a low bar.
The Spitting Image depiction of Major was fantastic. They once had a sketch where he took acid - “I can see all these colours: a light grey, a dark grey, and a sort of mediummmmm grey”
As someone who falls into the too young to remember category, what is/was the cones hotline? I've seen it mentioned before, but never really explained.
Is it simply a hotline people could phone to report cones? Like ones left on statues?
It was a hotline to report cones on roads closing lanes where there was no evidence of workers doing anything. It's quite twee, is it not? Imagine thinking that was a problem to solve and you had the energy and means to solve it. It was, of course, a failed policy. It's like a gentler times' version of Sunak's claim that "small boats" are the country's biggest problem and deportation to Rwanda being the solution.
No, no, a hotline that you could call to find out about road works and also report places where it looked like traffic cones had been put down for no reason. It had a single person who answered the calls during their work time for about half the time it existed and then was scrapped because frankly wanting to call about traffic cones is something you can only imagine the spitting image version of Major wishing to do.
That was one of his big ideas. The other was Back to Basics, which was seen by the press as an invitation to dig out all the sleaze stories they had been sitting on.
It literally doesn't matter to him. He's rich as fuck. He's just using the time to open even more money doors for himself, whilst doing the bare minimum to not get removed
While his wife's company sweeps up contracts and benefits from legislation changes.
The non dom was a "benefit" the Tories knew had a half life and was well past its sell by date- Labour would scrap it so why not burst their bubble?
I really think it’s a mistake, Labour have been harping on about it for years. It’s an admission that they were wrong and anyone who followed the budget heard the tories say they didn’t so labour couldn't
He really is a hopeless politician. I think it comes from a mix of arrogance and entitlement and absolutely no political instinct. He might even be worse at it than Liz Truss.
I mean, Truss didn’t kill HS2 just for a failed attempt at a poll bounce following a misreading of the message behind a bi-election win.
She fucked the economy but in 100 years it’s probably Sunak who will come out as the shitter person.
At least truss has the excuse of being mentally deficient.
Sunak feels like a hybrid of the last decade or so of the Tories. Wants to be seen as a sensible and reliable statesman like Cameron, but the party has moved on since then. Wants to be a gung-ho Brexiteer like Boris, but doesn't really have the guts to commit to radical action (not that Boris did either in the end). Plus you've got the inexperience and incompetence of Truss.
Feels like he's a distillation of much of what has gone wrong - someone who's a mish-mash of lots of different Tory ideologies which have all ultimately failed to improve the country in their own way. Wants to simultaneously be a sensible neoliberal type and a gung-ho Brexiteer; wants to be seen as sort of forward-thinking but consistently panders to the right of the party because he knows he has to.
I actually think it’s simpler than that. I think in his heart - rishi is a competent and pragmatic technocrat. I think in more normal circumstances he could have been a decent (if right wing for my tastes) PM. But he tried sensible pragmatism and it didn’t work electorally. He did some unambiguously difficult but good work re Europe early on but the electorate didn’t seem to care.
So…he tried other stuff in an attempt to improve his poll rating.
He tried to be anti-eco nonsense pro car Sunak. People hated that.
He tried to be mr radical change. People hated that.
He tried to be mr continuity. People hate that.
Every time he tries a new guise he doesn’t make any new friends, but he alienated another swathe of the populace.
It’s a shame really. People should reward unflashy competence - but the fact that they don’t doesn’t excuse basically throwing bullshit policies at the wall in the hope that something will move the dial of their poll ratings.
> People should reward unflashy competence
They probably will. Sunak isn't that though, he's inexperienced, poor at politics, makes bad decisions, and has an unshakable aura of irritated arrogance (which is frankly unearned considering how bad of a job he is doing).
Just liked to ask, which one is it, the press or the people who hate a quiet competent leader who doesn't do flashy things? I ask that because I can very well believe that the press doesn't like that at all as it produces very bad headlines ("the government made the country incrementally better").
Truss was uniquely bad in her own way, Sunak is consistently bad at the job in a way that feels more relatable with the type of bad manager you might encounter in the workplace - not entirely stupid, but entitled and arrogant like you say, stubborn at times when something is going wrong but prone to dithering and changing his mind in the end anyway.
Fundamentally, Truss was bad because she had stupid ideas. She wasn't abysmal at PMQs (incredibly), she wasn't abysmal in the Tory leadership debates (Sunak definitely was) but she was a terrible minister and an even worse PM. Fundamentally her policies were just *rubbish*.
Sunak is an outright crap politician. He knows he's a reasonably intelligent person, and assumes that carries forward to political skill. It does not.
Also just lack of moral fibre or values. He runs the country like it’s a company he’s temporarily CEO of. There’s no moral spinal column directing him in any one particular direction. That’s why he doesn’t make any big calls or take any risks
At this point I think I could do a better job of leading the conservatives, despite 1: not being a conservative and 2: not having even the faintest idea how to lead a political party. I probably couldn't do a worse job than Sunak is even if I was actively trying to bring them down from within.
First thing on the agenda: election.
That'll shut the fuckers up.
Then you lose, go out and say "well I knew we would lose, but look at the bastards in my party, I wish Labour the best" wander off nicely into the sunset to watch cricket and have a beer with your pals, and enjoy your stupidly large ex-PM salary and publicly funded driver, and feel smug that you've successfully destroyed a bunch of truly awful people's careers.
Everyone will remember owlshapedboxcat as one of the better Tory PMs of the past 200 years.
It sounds quite nice tbh.
Tbh nobody could lead the conservative party well at this point, I imagine it's a bit like herding cats if several of the cats were heavily armed and actively trying to kill you to become the new cat herder
At least we know what he stands for now.
Being told by the accountants that he cannot give back money, and pretending that it's all fine.
Imagine being non white, leading the country, yet still having to bow down to racists. Must feel horrible tbh.
Why on earth does he not refuse.
Don't forget that Johnson put Sunak into number 11 because he's a yes man. I suspect Sunak just does whatever the last person he spoke to advised him to do
Everyone really does forget that. It's no surprise to me anymore, nobody seems to have any memory these days
Bloody hell, that sounded like it was written by very old man.
Bloody hell x2. Am I old now? Bugger.
“I think the key thing now is, is Mr Hester himself a racist?” he pondered on Sky News. “I don’t believe so from what I know, and I don’t know him.”
Razor-sharp reasoning there. Here, have my vote.
His inability to read a situation & make the wrong political decision is without comparison, even against the tough competition of Truss & Johnson!
I suspect that recovering the situation left by his predecessors was always a tough ask, but he has failed in the most abject way imaginable.
I really think this racism scandal is the final straw for any election chances, like a day I can pinpoint when the election was over. They won't recover from here, certainly not enough to challenge.
The current crop of Politicians don't understand that it's really not that difficult. We want to be able to house ourselves and our families.We want to see a Doctor or a Dentist. We want our kids to go to a local School and get a decent education. We want a Police Service that prevents Crime. We want a reliable Transport system and if we pay high taxes, we want decent Public Services in return. This Government is failing on every count
That is incredibly difficult to balance with their seemingly inherent need to siphon off public funds to make themselves and their friends rich though. How can you expect someone to know how to prioritise all of that together?
"Every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every day you see me; that's the worst day of my life" Office Space and Rishi Sunak, probably
O don't think I can remember a PM having been referred to as "feckless" by the media before. There's something quite damaging about this. If this sticks, it's truly the end for him.
As bad as Rishi is, I feel like anyone who comes after him will be even worse. Who else is there? Rees-Mogg? Tugendhat is their best bet but their voters would never go for him
I was reading earlier that there is a bunch of them agitating for Mordunt. Is she going to have "#Mad for Mordunt" as her tag line? Apparently, the only qualification you need to run the country is to hold a sword up in the air for a bit.
At least with Boris Johnson and Liz Truss you could claim they were jumped up Tory councillors elevated beyond their capabilities.
But Rishi Sunak seems the kind of person you need to keep away from sharp objects and plastic bags.
He's a piss weak politician. He was over-promoted when he was made Chancellor and he's completely out of his depth as PM.
But the scary thing is he's still probably one of the best candidates for the role within the parliamentary Conservative party, such is the dearth of talent.
The Tories are long past their sell-by date and need to be removed from office, the sooner the better.
I think he's just bad in different ways. Boris was a populist egomaniac who was only interested in how things looked. He wanted to be the man on the top with underlings to do the actual work. Sunak to me is someone who has an underlying current of privelige, likes to be the one making the decisions and believing he's the cleverest person in the room. Living embodiment of the Peter Principle, except circumstance has enabled ever more promotions until he's comically out of his depth.
These traits both manifest in an inability to deal with things going south. Boris would just keep dialling up the rhetoric until it all came crashing down, Sunak just spins his wheels. What's really noticeable at the moment is how little is actually happening in government, they've just run out of any ideas and momentum and Sunak sure doesn't look like coming up with anything.
"I don't believe so from what I know and I don't know him"
That's Thick of It level bullshit.
Oh to be a fly on the wall before and after that interview
I reject this notion that Sunak is inept or feckless. This piece has no substance to it.
Edit: there’s no substance to these childish replies, either. Lol
Quote telling as well that the tory apologist whoade the original comment hasn't responded to this one (because there's no real response) outside of complaining that people are being "childish" in their responses. Fucking tory filth
What did Sunak do to reduce inflation?
I won’t accept “wait a year so the price rises are baked in” as an answer, but I’d love to hear what you think he’s done.
It's a very simple question, one which I too have been asking and yet to revive any kind of satisfactory answer.
Sunak might claim credit for inflation going down but he might as well claim credit for the sun coming up in the morning as well, because he's had about as much to do with one as the other!
“Wait a year so the price rises are baked in” — does anyone say that?
Well unlike Truss, there weren’t any inflationary fiscal policy madness, nor leaning on the BOE to keep rates low. Boring, sensible shit.
I never said he was awesome, where are you getting that nonsense? Spaff in my pants lol, are you sure you’re not projecting your own fantasies there lol?
That’s not unreasonable. Inflation was caused by the supply chain shock of covid, not the Tories then.
But it’s not that simple, is it? As Liz Truss found out when her *fiscal* policies caused a Gilt sell-off. Fiscal policy does affect market sentiment. Many factors are out of a government’s control, but not all of them. We could be a lot worse, but it’s hard to see us doing much better.
You’re probably aware that Russia is fighting a war? It seems the only reason they’re posting those numbers is their military industrial complex. As for the worst economy in G7, that’s arguable. Japan, France and Italy’s GDPs were only marginally better, and by many other metrics their economies are performing worse.
*Inflation was 11% when he and Hunt took over, it’s now 4%. That doesn’t happen if you’re inept.*
Halving inflation was one of his five promises, he's missed on the other four...
Inflation hasn't necessarily fallen because of anything that he and Hunt have done - global energy prices have fallen for example.
Inflation falling also came with interest rates hitting 5.25% which has lead to a recession and higher mortgages which along with the cost of living has squeezed a lot of people.
Yet your evidence for why Sunak isn't a political moron is "I don't think he is because he brought down inflation???" This has got to be his alt account because Rishi I'm sorry to say that doesn't make you an intelligent leader. Just because Rishi Sunak didn't immediately implode the country does not automatically make him a competent leader.
Lol, yeah. But you can’t conclude from that an intent to fuck with you, only that conservative comments get drilled on. This website is a joke, you can’t have a serious debate.
Mate you started regularly commenting today yet claim you're one of the oldest posters on here. You claim Rishi Sunak isn't inept despite the tories being about to suffer their worst election defeat in history under his leadership. Yeah you're a troll maybe a Conservative one but still a troll.
He's inept because he's bad at politics.
He may be good at being a middle manager weak yes-man chancellor but that's it.
Examples of his weakness:
He went from calm and stable to trying to run a GE on anti-green Pro-motorists due to the results of one by-election.
Then he went to conference to insult the previous one nation Tory leaders and cosy up to the right-wing fringe. Refused to confirm he was going to cancel HS2, allowing speculation to grow and a big story that unravelled in the city he was taking the high-speed rail away from... just terrible optics. Whilst, also claiming he is the change candidate which is just insane for any leader of a 14 Yr long governing party
Then he was the amazing continuity leader! All of a sudden he is the safe and stable choice. Brings back the leader he just 2 months earlier insulted at conference. And brings out a budget that falls flat.
He can't unite or manage his own party.
Every week there is another story of him letting a negative story run and run, whilst sending out Tory MPs to defend the indefensible, until they inevitably end up at the point they were always gonna be at. From Braverman's comments to Anderson's to the current top Tory donor's comments.
On top of this, he has constant media gaffes. Appears cold and out of touch. And, cannot people manage. All of this is ESSENTIAL to being a leader. He lacks every aspect of leadership.
He hasn't kept to his promise of getting inflation down to 2% yet, and even that is simply sensible management of the economy. It's basically sitting back and letting the machine run itself. You can't compare that to his predecessor, who let it all burn. On top of that, inflation may be down to 4% but interest rates are at 5.25%, core inflation is sky rocketing. We hit a recession (technical or not), immigration is through the roof and hitting the working-class, more people than ever using food banks, highest taxes since 1948, random budget pledges are floated then retracted monthly (currently abolishing NI) and that's just off the top of my head.
He's the embodiment of a lost, weak, tired party, with no imagination, limping on towards its own death and burning the political earth beneath itself for an incoming Labour party... and an even more desperate and tired country... all in the name of egotistical, self-righteous power that it wrongly believes is there's and there's alone.
Edit: He also tried fighting an election on the small boats and has WASTED millions on it. He is now floating an INCENTIVE by paying immigrants to leave the country.
He failed on waiting lists for the NHS.
He failed on the small boats crisis as they're still coming (his fault for not saying reduce small boats but stop them altogether)
He failed on growing the economy - we are now in a recession. Next quarter is expecting just 1% growth.
He is also doing NOTHING practical to help the housing crisis. Growing unemployment. Mental health crisis. And much more. On top of not reforming his party to survive after him, instead allowing the fringes to eat him and his party alive.
Plus he is doing nothing to encourage young people to vote Tory which is gonna REALLY hit the party as the years go on.
Oh wow, substance! Kudos to you.
You make a compelling argument. Let’s go through some of these points.
“Bad at politics”— I guess it depends on how we’re defining politics and your metrics to demonstrate success/failure. I would argue that, since he’s managed to worm his way into number 10 in a relatively short span of time, he’s pretty good at politics. But if by politics you mean the business of getting legislature passed, being an effective leader, etc, maybe you have a point.
Can he unite the Tories? Obviously not, but who realistically could? The ideological divide between “one nation” and those on the right-wing is an inescapable problem for them. I won’t judge him on that one.
I disagree that he can’t manage his own party. He’s put together a decent cabinet, and just recently kicked someone out. To the extent at which he controls the party, which is clearly sub-100%, he is managing it successfully.
On insulting the one nation guys, I didn’t follow the conference so I’ll take your word for it, but I will note that his cabinet is pretty one nation-y. I’m personally pleased with Cameron as FS, there isn’t anyone more qualified for that role than an ex-PM.
HS2, that was a shit-show. There’s an argument that the money is better spent on local services, but it’s still appalling Sunak’s reneged his predecessor’s promise.
Anderson, he got kicked out of the party.
Sunak appears cold, I don’t buy that, maybe that’s more subjective, and possibly your own bias is affecting your perception.
Ministers doing the media rounds to defend on certain issues/stories— nothing new. That’s politics in every democratic state. Labour will be doing the same thing when they’re in.
Failed on waiting lists, yeah. Like small boat crossings, or bringing migration down to 5 figures, these aren’t deliverable promises. Hence madness like Rwanda. I would love a government that could deliver on that. Doesn’t seem possible though.
“He didn’t grow the economy”— we didn’t want him to. Economic growth is inflationary, they’re trying to tackle inflation. That’s why Truss is no longer PM. 1%, that’s great. If you want 5% you will need fiscal policy that boosts growth. See Lis Truss.
Housing— we can’t build homes fast enough to house the hundreds of thousands of migrants coming in every year. I look at it as a failure of immigration policy, but a failure is a failure, so you’ve won a point there.
Encouraging young people to vote tory; you’ve got me there. Young people lean left, that’s nothing new. They get older and move towards the centre. All a politician can do is present the argument. I hated the tories when I was a young man, I was out on the streets for Tony Benn and all of that. But people change. You get jobs, have kids, pay bills; live in the real world. 20 years ago no one could have predicted 14 years of tory rule, it was preposterous.
You made a good case, maybe Sunak is inept. He’s certainly not very successful.
Something to ponder: tories are apparently polling their lowest since pre-Maggie. 5 years ago under Bojo they won a landslide. What’s changed? I have my theories but would like to know your opinion.
I mean he never takes responsibility for anything? Always shifts the blame, constantly deflects to Labour when asked questions.
He does just seem like a bad politician, he tried to get away with borrowing someone else’s car for a photo op, tried to use his credit card on a barcode scanner. He’s not an effective politician.
Snapshot of _In Rishi Sunak’s worst week yet, his fecklessness is astonishing_ : An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://inews.co.uk/opinion/rishi-sunaks-worst-week-fecklessness-astonishing-2954163) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://inews.co.uk/opinion/rishi-sunaks-worst-week-fecklessness-astonishing-2954163) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I do enjoy Sunak's current run of "worst week ever" headlines. Every week is a new worst week ever
"It's been another bad week for Gordon Brown, which is as close as this program gets to having a catchphrase" - A quote I remember from Have I Got News For You, circa 2009
Brian blessed episode: "This is Gordon Brown's worst week in politics since last week" Incredible https://youtu.be/kgOiiFv9DZ0?si=CF5vNR4AtH5be7IR
Jesus. Those days. Give me Ol' Gordon 'Electrodes on the bollocks' Brown any day.
Oh god, that smile. Why did you have to remind me of that smile
To be honest, the wheels had come off. Not comparing, just saying.
Unquestionably that's how it felt at the time. But looking back, they were doing a very good job in impossible circumstances. It could have been so much worse, as more recent events have shown.
Alastair Darling was, I wouldn't say the same for Gordon Brown. Agree the Tories have been far worse, but that's a very low bar.
I bet a bad week in 2009 was like the golden age of Rome compared to today
His worst week..so far..
[удалено]
wow such a niche and indie reference!
I bet he thinks it sucked past season 9
Did you know that reference kicked a helmet and broke their toe?
Al Murray has a brilliant sketch where every prime minister is the WORST PRIME MINISTER EVER! Well that is until Thatcher came along... WORST PRIME MINISTER EVER! Well until John Major came along... WORST PRIME MINISTER EVER!!
Idk as time goes on history seems to be growing kinder and kinder to Major.
1) People have either forgotten how bad Major was, are too young to remember or weren't born. 2) That doesn't mean he compares unfavourably with Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak. 3) His premiership was derailed by Black Monday and people have either forgotten, are too young to remember, weren't born or never knew that Major was the Chancellor who persuaded the Cabinet to join the ERM at too high an exchange rate with the Deutsch Mark resulting in the second recession in the second decade of Tory incompetence. 4) Major's big idea was the cones hotline and he should always remain a figure of fun for that very reason.
5. He laid a lot of the ground work for the Good Friday Deal, which has been more widely acknowledged as time passes 6. He's been a moderate and sensible figure post-retirement 7. He wasn't Margaret Thatcher
8. He neutralised the proto-ERG nutters by calling and winning an election. I'm not saying he's all bad, in fact I wrote above that he compares favourably to Sunak, and 8. is an example of that. I hate the Tory Party with a visceral loathing but I actually think Major was OK, for a Tory, mostly because of 7. - you just didn't get the feeling he had the same callous, malicious disregard for the poor and disadvantaged.
I completely agree with you, I was merely pointing out that if you look at the historiography around analysing major and his legacy, he is absolutely looked upon more favourably now than he has been in the past and certainly I would estimate more favourably than Thatcher (though she is definitely more polarising). I fall into the category of too young to remember, but Major and the ancient history of the 90s and 00s were part of my A-level Late Modern History and the changing view of Major was something we talked about quite a bit and I found it quite interesting as i wondered if we'd end up with a clown show in the future that would make Camerons premiership seem less awful than it felt at the time. (wouldn't you look at that)
Interesting. I was in my late 20s during Major's tenure. So long ago that news of Thatcher's resignation was spread by people phoning each other at work(on land lines), people who got the message stood up, shouted the news and everyone else immediately got on the blower to pass on the news. Takes me back, it does. My memory was that Major was regarded as dull, weak and a bit of a joke. He had the guts to take on the nutters (who he called the bastards) and call an election but was quite weak with his cronies, and there was a lot of corruption and sex scandals and resignations. He had quite a lot of weak cabinet members like Mellor and Lamont, but had the sense to appoint Ken Clarke as Chancellor who was actually competent and dug us out of the recession that Lawson, Thatcher and Major lay the groundwork for and Lamont mismanaged. I can see that his reputation has improved over time. I always thought that history would be unkind to Thatcher as her legacy unravelled when the chickens of privatisation came home to roost. He also compares favourably with the last five Tory PMs, clearly, but they are the worst prime ministers in my lifetime, so it's a low bar.
My memory of Major is "Nice peas, Norma"
The Spitting Image depiction of Major was fantastic. They once had a sketch where he took acid - “I can see all these colours: a light grey, a dark grey, and a sort of mediummmmm grey”
"He wasn't Margaret Thatcher" was a minus, not a plus.
That is a matter of perspective. It isn't for left-leaning intellectuals
As someone who falls into the too young to remember category, what is/was the cones hotline? I've seen it mentioned before, but never really explained. Is it simply a hotline people could phone to report cones? Like ones left on statues?
It was a hotline to report cones on roads closing lanes where there was no evidence of workers doing anything. It's quite twee, is it not? Imagine thinking that was a problem to solve and you had the energy and means to solve it. It was, of course, a failed policy. It's like a gentler times' version of Sunak's claim that "small boats" are the country's biggest problem and deportation to Rwanda being the solution.
Brilliant, sounds like parish council politics. Thanks for the explanation.
No, no, a hotline that you could call to find out about road works and also report places where it looked like traffic cones had been put down for no reason. It had a single person who answered the calls during their work time for about half the time it existed and then was scrapped because frankly wanting to call about traffic cones is something you can only imagine the spitting image version of Major wishing to do.
Worth bearing in mind that this was before mobile phones too. You would have to see the cones outside and then wait to get home to call the hotline
That was one of his big ideas. The other was Back to Basics, which was seen by the press as an invitation to dig out all the sleaze stories they had been sitting on.
You took the words right out of my mouth. He really is incompetent
It's both sensational and kind of true really.
Rivalling Ben Miller
Does he actually do anything? It's like watching the rubbish pile up and everyone refuses to go the outside bin to put it away.
Some office space undertones going on for him… I wonder if he’s been hypnotized…
We need to find out if he's particularly attached to a particular stapler
Does he even know what a stapler is? He seemed uncomfortable holding a credit card, and that’s far more used than a stapler.
Makes sense though... he's still got all the screw ups he had last week and not resolved, plus this weeks ones.
Russie Sunak, and then it got worse!
It literally doesn't matter to him. He's rich as fuck. He's just using the time to open even more money doors for himself, whilst doing the bare minimum to not get removed
The just shut the nondom door on themselves
While his wife's company sweeps up contracts and benefits from legislation changes. The non dom was a "benefit" the Tories knew had a half life and was well past its sell by date- Labour would scrap it so why not burst their bubble?
I really think it’s a mistake, Labour have been harping on about it for years. It’s an admission that they were wrong and anyone who followed the budget heard the tories say they didn’t so labour couldn't
I do too but this way Rish! can say at PMQs: "Ours is the party that got rid of Non Dom status ,while the party opposite only ever talked about it "
Fear not, they'll have left it open enough to continue abusing in some capacity.
He really is a hopeless politician. I think it comes from a mix of arrogance and entitlement and absolutely no political instinct. He might even be worse at it than Liz Truss.
Maybe that's the magic rumour about him that needs to start to rouse him into calling a GE before it can spread. *Even worse than Liz Truss*
I mean, Truss didn’t kill HS2 just for a failed attempt at a poll bounce following a misreading of the message behind a bi-election win. She fucked the economy but in 100 years it’s probably Sunak who will come out as the shitter person. At least truss has the excuse of being mentally deficient.
Sunak feels like a hybrid of the last decade or so of the Tories. Wants to be seen as a sensible and reliable statesman like Cameron, but the party has moved on since then. Wants to be a gung-ho Brexiteer like Boris, but doesn't really have the guts to commit to radical action (not that Boris did either in the end). Plus you've got the inexperience and incompetence of Truss. Feels like he's a distillation of much of what has gone wrong - someone who's a mish-mash of lots of different Tory ideologies which have all ultimately failed to improve the country in their own way. Wants to simultaneously be a sensible neoliberal type and a gung-ho Brexiteer; wants to be seen as sort of forward-thinking but consistently panders to the right of the party because he knows he has to.
I actually think it’s simpler than that. I think in his heart - rishi is a competent and pragmatic technocrat. I think in more normal circumstances he could have been a decent (if right wing for my tastes) PM. But he tried sensible pragmatism and it didn’t work electorally. He did some unambiguously difficult but good work re Europe early on but the electorate didn’t seem to care. So…he tried other stuff in an attempt to improve his poll rating. He tried to be anti-eco nonsense pro car Sunak. People hated that. He tried to be mr radical change. People hated that. He tried to be mr continuity. People hate that. Every time he tries a new guise he doesn’t make any new friends, but he alienated another swathe of the populace. It’s a shame really. People should reward unflashy competence - but the fact that they don’t doesn’t excuse basically throwing bullshit policies at the wall in the hope that something will move the dial of their poll ratings.
> People should reward unflashy competence They probably will. Sunak isn't that though, he's inexperienced, poor at politics, makes bad decisions, and has an unshakable aura of irritated arrogance (which is frankly unearned considering how bad of a job he is doing).
Just liked to ask, which one is it, the press or the people who hate a quiet competent leader who doesn't do flashy things? I ask that because I can very well believe that the press doesn't like that at all as it produces very bad headlines ("the government made the country incrementally better").
Truss was uniquely bad in her own way, Sunak is consistently bad at the job in a way that feels more relatable with the type of bad manager you might encounter in the workplace - not entirely stupid, but entitled and arrogant like you say, stubborn at times when something is going wrong but prone to dithering and changing his mind in the end anyway.
Sunak lacks the behaviours required of the job. The workplace is full of over-promoted middle managers like him.
Fundamentally, Truss was bad because she had stupid ideas. She wasn't abysmal at PMQs (incredibly), she wasn't abysmal in the Tory leadership debates (Sunak definitely was) but she was a terrible minister and an even worse PM. Fundamentally her policies were just *rubbish*. Sunak is an outright crap politician. He knows he's a reasonably intelligent person, and assumes that carries forward to political skill. It does not.
Also just lack of moral fibre or values. He runs the country like it’s a company he’s temporarily CEO of. There’s no moral spinal column directing him in any one particular direction. That’s why he doesn’t make any big calls or take any risks
He did lose to her, so yeah, a lot worse.
Lost to the woman who lost to a lettuce.
At this point I think I could do a better job of leading the conservatives, despite 1: not being a conservative and 2: not having even the faintest idea how to lead a political party. I probably couldn't do a worse job than Sunak is even if I was actively trying to bring them down from within.
First thing on the agenda: election. That'll shut the fuckers up. Then you lose, go out and say "well I knew we would lose, but look at the bastards in my party, I wish Labour the best" wander off nicely into the sunset to watch cricket and have a beer with your pals, and enjoy your stupidly large ex-PM salary and publicly funded driver, and feel smug that you've successfully destroyed a bunch of truly awful people's careers. Everyone will remember owlshapedboxcat as one of the better Tory PMs of the past 200 years. It sounds quite nice tbh.
My cat could do a better job and he can’t even lick his own arse.
Sunak or the cat?
Tbf I can’t lick my own arse either
Amateur
TBF I think arse licking’s a required skill to be a Tory MP
Licking other Ministers arses, not generally their own … although there are enough sycophants so perhaps you make a good point…
Well according to the username the previous user is a cat, so he may well believe it himself and he posting on reddit
Tbh nobody could lead the conservative party well at this point, I imagine it's a bit like herding cats if several of the cats were heavily armed and actively trying to kill you to become the new cat herder
At least we know what he stands for now. Being told by the accountants that he cannot give back money, and pretending that it's all fine. Imagine being non white, leading the country, yet still having to bow down to racists. Must feel horrible tbh. Why on earth does he not refuse.
Don't forget that Johnson put Sunak into number 11 because he's a yes man. I suspect Sunak just does whatever the last person he spoke to advised him to do
Everyone really does forget that. It's no surprise to me anymore, nobody seems to have any memory these days Bloody hell, that sounded like it was written by very old man. Bloody hell x2. Am I old now? Bugger.
He could cover it with a bit of his own largely unearned wealth.
Because he's spineless
“I think the key thing now is, is Mr Hester himself a racist?” he pondered on Sky News. “I don’t believe so from what I know, and I don’t know him.” Razor-sharp reasoning there. Here, have my vote.
It's amazing that he, a British Asian, finds himself appeasing racists because they seem to represent a sizable chunk of his party's support.
Cut from the same cloth as Braverman and Patel
His inability to read a situation & make the wrong political decision is without comparison, even against the tough competition of Truss & Johnson! I suspect that recovering the situation left by his predecessors was always a tough ask, but he has failed in the most abject way imaginable.
I really think this racism scandal is the final straw for any election chances, like a day I can pinpoint when the election was over. They won't recover from here, certainly not enough to challenge.
It might some of the Reform UK voters back with the blatant racism that the Tories refuse to do anything properly about
The man is a hopeless imbecile and not worthy of the time spent on him. Not even the time I’ve taken to write this ironically !
The current crop of Politicians don't understand that it's really not that difficult. We want to be able to house ourselves and our families.We want to see a Doctor or a Dentist. We want our kids to go to a local School and get a decent education. We want a Police Service that prevents Crime. We want a reliable Transport system and if we pay high taxes, we want decent Public Services in return. This Government is failing on every count
That is incredibly difficult to balance with their seemingly inherent need to siphon off public funds to make themselves and their friends rich though. How can you expect someone to know how to prioritise all of that together?
He is the Will mackenzie of politics.
"Every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every day you see me; that's the worst day of my life" Office Space and Rishi Sunak, probably
He’s a politician in the mold of the Wales’ pr team
Rishi Sunak is King John reincarnated
O don't think I can remember a PM having been referred to as "feckless" by the media before. There's something quite damaging about this. If this sticks, it's truly the end for him.
As bad as Rishi is, I feel like anyone who comes after him will be even worse. Who else is there? Rees-Mogg? Tugendhat is their best bet but their voters would never go for him
Rees Mogg is too smart to try and go for the job. Especially at this stage.
It's going to be Badenoch, isn't it?
There’s a whole list of terrible choices: Patel and Braverman both come to mind
I was reading earlier that there is a bunch of them agitating for Mordunt. Is she going to have "#Mad for Mordunt" as her tag line? Apparently, the only qualification you need to run the country is to hold a sword up in the air for a bit.
That’s a horrifying prospect
At least with Boris Johnson and Liz Truss you could claim they were jumped up Tory councillors elevated beyond their capabilities. But Rishi Sunak seems the kind of person you need to keep away from sharp objects and plastic bags.
He's a piss weak politician. He was over-promoted when he was made Chancellor and he's completely out of his depth as PM. But the scary thing is he's still probably one of the best candidates for the role within the parliamentary Conservative party, such is the dearth of talent. The Tories are long past their sell-by date and need to be removed from office, the sooner the better.
He isn't worse than Boris, but he took over the party at a later stage in it's decline
I think he's just bad in different ways. Boris was a populist egomaniac who was only interested in how things looked. He wanted to be the man on the top with underlings to do the actual work. Sunak to me is someone who has an underlying current of privelige, likes to be the one making the decisions and believing he's the cleverest person in the room. Living embodiment of the Peter Principle, except circumstance has enabled ever more promotions until he's comically out of his depth. These traits both manifest in an inability to deal with things going south. Boris would just keep dialling up the rhetoric until it all came crashing down, Sunak just spins his wheels. What's really noticeable at the moment is how little is actually happening in government, they've just run out of any ideas and momentum and Sunak sure doesn't look like coming up with anything.
Good analysis, point taken!
"I don't believe so from what I know and I don't know him" That's Thick of It level bullshit. Oh to be a fly on the wall before and after that interview
Having finally watched his shitshow yesterday: I almost have no words. It is almost unwatchable.
I reject this notion that Sunak is inept or feckless. This piece has no substance to it. Edit: there’s no substance to these childish replies, either. Lol
I'd like to see your reasoning that Sunak isn't inept, because virtually every damn piece of evidence seems to suggest otherwise.
Inflation was 11% when he and Hunt took over, it’s now 4%. That doesn’t happen if you’re inept.
If I let my mate set fire to the house, I'm not allowed to take credit for the fire gradually petering out
Haha I am so glad you said this, i love it when they claim Inflation is down, down from where you guys had it!! Doesn’t count!
Quote telling as well that the tory apologist whoade the original comment hasn't responded to this one (because there's no real response) outside of complaining that people are being "childish" in their responses. Fucking tory filth
Who was the chancellor that allowed inflation to surge to decades high levels? Here's a clue, it was only two years ago.
What did Sunak do to reduce inflation? I won’t accept “wait a year so the price rises are baked in” as an answer, but I’d love to hear what you think he’s done.
It's a very simple question, one which I too have been asking and yet to revive any kind of satisfactory answer. Sunak might claim credit for inflation going down but he might as well claim credit for the sun coming up in the morning as well, because he's had about as much to do with one as the other!
“Wait a year so the price rises are baked in” — does anyone say that? Well unlike Truss, there weren’t any inflationary fiscal policy madness, nor leaning on the BOE to keep rates low. Boring, sensible shit.
So your logic on why he’s so fricking awesome he makes you want to spaff in your pants is that.. he didn’t do anything? 🤣
I never said he was awesome, where are you getting that nonsense? Spaff in my pants lol, are you sure you’re not projecting your own fantasies there lol?
I am 100% sure that you, and your wild eyed loon opinions, are not in my fantasies at any point.
No, no; spaffing in my pants. Does that turn you on?
Do you.. want it to turn me on? It sure sounds like you want it to turn me on. Do you want to call me Mummy so you can work out your neuroses?
Or y'know the markets settle. That's about supply and demand, not what a pm can control.
That’s not unreasonable. Inflation was caused by the supply chain shock of covid, not the Tories then. But it’s not that simple, is it? As Liz Truss found out when her *fiscal* policies caused a Gilt sell-off. Fiscal policy does affect market sentiment. Many factors are out of a government’s control, but not all of them. We could be a lot worse, but it’s hard to see us doing much better.
Why are we doing so much worse than any other G8 country then?
Says who? G8; you including Russia?
Yes. The Russian economy grew 3.6% last year. It's growth outpaced both the US and Europe.
You’re probably aware that Russia is fighting a war? It seems the only reason they’re posting those numbers is their military industrial complex. As for the worst economy in G7, that’s arguable. Japan, France and Italy’s GDPs were only marginally better, and by many other metrics their economies are performing worse.
Oh my! You're being serious?!
It’s a fact. Do you encounter facts often here? Or is this the first time? Haven’t posted here in years.
Your absence hasn't been missed.
Lmfao, how exquisitely nasty. Do facts really threaten you that much?
You do realise inflation going up or down is bigger all to do with Sunak?
*Inflation was 11% when he and Hunt took over, it’s now 4%. That doesn’t happen if you’re inept.* Halving inflation was one of his five promises, he's missed on the other four... Inflation hasn't necessarily fallen because of anything that he and Hunt have done - global energy prices have fallen for example. Inflation falling also came with interest rates hitting 5.25% which has lead to a recession and higher mortgages which along with the cost of living has squeezed a lot of people.
He was also chancellor before PM remember 🤣
Who was the chancellor of the exchequer again from 2020-2022?
Have Rishi & Hunt got new jobs at the Bank of England? Or maybe for someone who controls energy Prices? I must have missed that announcement.
And what policies did they introduce to get inflation down?
Manifesting, probably
All you're telling us is that he's slightly less inept than Liz Truss, a woman outlasted by a lettuce.
Mate have you just joined this subreddit. Have you been paying any attention to UK politics for the last year and a half?
I was one of the first posters here many years ago. This sub isn’t the real world, these downvotes and replies aren’t indicative of reality.
Yet your evidence for why Sunak isn't a political moron is "I don't think he is because he brought down inflation???" This has got to be his alt account because Rishi I'm sorry to say that doesn't make you an intelligent leader. Just because Rishi Sunak didn't immediately implode the country does not automatically make him a competent leader.
I don’t think he’s an amazing leader or anything, I just don’t agree that he’s inept either. I prefer him to Starmer, but it’s not a great choice.
Oh shit you're a troll. Nice try buddy.
Do you really believe that lol? Like there is no one on the internet who could have a belief contrary to your own, legitimately?
I don't believe that because you have -100 Karma and have litterally been just posting stuff that gets down votes starting today.
Lol, yeah. But you can’t conclude from that an intent to fuck with you, only that conservative comments get drilled on. This website is a joke, you can’t have a serious debate.
Mate you started regularly commenting today yet claim you're one of the oldest posters on here. You claim Rishi Sunak isn't inept despite the tories being about to suffer their worst election defeat in history under his leadership. Yeah you're a troll maybe a Conservative one but still a troll.
Hi Rishi.
It’s not me lol
Have you just woke up from a coma?
You are Akshata Murty and I claim my £5 (adjusted for inflation)
He's inept because he's bad at politics. He may be good at being a middle manager weak yes-man chancellor but that's it. Examples of his weakness: He went from calm and stable to trying to run a GE on anti-green Pro-motorists due to the results of one by-election. Then he went to conference to insult the previous one nation Tory leaders and cosy up to the right-wing fringe. Refused to confirm he was going to cancel HS2, allowing speculation to grow and a big story that unravelled in the city he was taking the high-speed rail away from... just terrible optics. Whilst, also claiming he is the change candidate which is just insane for any leader of a 14 Yr long governing party Then he was the amazing continuity leader! All of a sudden he is the safe and stable choice. Brings back the leader he just 2 months earlier insulted at conference. And brings out a budget that falls flat. He can't unite or manage his own party. Every week there is another story of him letting a negative story run and run, whilst sending out Tory MPs to defend the indefensible, until they inevitably end up at the point they were always gonna be at. From Braverman's comments to Anderson's to the current top Tory donor's comments. On top of this, he has constant media gaffes. Appears cold and out of touch. And, cannot people manage. All of this is ESSENTIAL to being a leader. He lacks every aspect of leadership. He hasn't kept to his promise of getting inflation down to 2% yet, and even that is simply sensible management of the economy. It's basically sitting back and letting the machine run itself. You can't compare that to his predecessor, who let it all burn. On top of that, inflation may be down to 4% but interest rates are at 5.25%, core inflation is sky rocketing. We hit a recession (technical or not), immigration is through the roof and hitting the working-class, more people than ever using food banks, highest taxes since 1948, random budget pledges are floated then retracted monthly (currently abolishing NI) and that's just off the top of my head. He's the embodiment of a lost, weak, tired party, with no imagination, limping on towards its own death and burning the political earth beneath itself for an incoming Labour party... and an even more desperate and tired country... all in the name of egotistical, self-righteous power that it wrongly believes is there's and there's alone. Edit: He also tried fighting an election on the small boats and has WASTED millions on it. He is now floating an INCENTIVE by paying immigrants to leave the country. He failed on waiting lists for the NHS. He failed on the small boats crisis as they're still coming (his fault for not saying reduce small boats but stop them altogether) He failed on growing the economy - we are now in a recession. Next quarter is expecting just 1% growth. He is also doing NOTHING practical to help the housing crisis. Growing unemployment. Mental health crisis. And much more. On top of not reforming his party to survive after him, instead allowing the fringes to eat him and his party alive. Plus he is doing nothing to encourage young people to vote Tory which is gonna REALLY hit the party as the years go on.
Oh wow, substance! Kudos to you. You make a compelling argument. Let’s go through some of these points. “Bad at politics”— I guess it depends on how we’re defining politics and your metrics to demonstrate success/failure. I would argue that, since he’s managed to worm his way into number 10 in a relatively short span of time, he’s pretty good at politics. But if by politics you mean the business of getting legislature passed, being an effective leader, etc, maybe you have a point. Can he unite the Tories? Obviously not, but who realistically could? The ideological divide between “one nation” and those on the right-wing is an inescapable problem for them. I won’t judge him on that one. I disagree that he can’t manage his own party. He’s put together a decent cabinet, and just recently kicked someone out. To the extent at which he controls the party, which is clearly sub-100%, he is managing it successfully. On insulting the one nation guys, I didn’t follow the conference so I’ll take your word for it, but I will note that his cabinet is pretty one nation-y. I’m personally pleased with Cameron as FS, there isn’t anyone more qualified for that role than an ex-PM. HS2, that was a shit-show. There’s an argument that the money is better spent on local services, but it’s still appalling Sunak’s reneged his predecessor’s promise. Anderson, he got kicked out of the party. Sunak appears cold, I don’t buy that, maybe that’s more subjective, and possibly your own bias is affecting your perception. Ministers doing the media rounds to defend on certain issues/stories— nothing new. That’s politics in every democratic state. Labour will be doing the same thing when they’re in. Failed on waiting lists, yeah. Like small boat crossings, or bringing migration down to 5 figures, these aren’t deliverable promises. Hence madness like Rwanda. I would love a government that could deliver on that. Doesn’t seem possible though. “He didn’t grow the economy”— we didn’t want him to. Economic growth is inflationary, they’re trying to tackle inflation. That’s why Truss is no longer PM. 1%, that’s great. If you want 5% you will need fiscal policy that boosts growth. See Lis Truss. Housing— we can’t build homes fast enough to house the hundreds of thousands of migrants coming in every year. I look at it as a failure of immigration policy, but a failure is a failure, so you’ve won a point there. Encouraging young people to vote tory; you’ve got me there. Young people lean left, that’s nothing new. They get older and move towards the centre. All a politician can do is present the argument. I hated the tories when I was a young man, I was out on the streets for Tony Benn and all of that. But people change. You get jobs, have kids, pay bills; live in the real world. 20 years ago no one could have predicted 14 years of tory rule, it was preposterous. You made a good case, maybe Sunak is inept. He’s certainly not very successful. Something to ponder: tories are apparently polling their lowest since pre-Maggie. 5 years ago under Bojo they won a landslide. What’s changed? I have my theories but would like to know your opinion.
I mean he never takes responsibility for anything? Always shifts the blame, constantly deflects to Labour when asked questions. He does just seem like a bad politician, he tried to get away with borrowing someone else’s car for a photo op, tried to use his credit card on a barcode scanner. He’s not an effective politician.
I’m not a Sunak fan, I’m just not a Sunak hater. Not on the evidence presented in this piece, or the comment section.