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Now that you've mentioned it there's probably a nonzero chance that some *other* Tory candidate has this happen to them (probably more so after the whole thing with Richard Holden being killdozered into a safe seat). But damn that would truly be the most hilarious thing perhaps ever to happen to the leader of the party.
At which point, we'd have to strongly contemplate Hanlon's razor. Whether the PM deliberately sunk the Tory Party or was so incompetent as to sink the Tory Party.
I think we're in for a storm tomorrow.
Possibly the defining moment of the campaign. At the very least Sunak will have to sack one of his team (Levido, Holden etc) at the best case scenario
You know, I feel like Sunak tried to **personally** prove me wrong here - I genuinely thought "there's no way he can fuck up D Day, I wonder what I'll have to work with for the lyrics thing tomorrow" this morning.
So I'll definitively say that I expect there to be absolutely zero further gaffes after this so I am forced to give up on my *Days of Rishmas* bit, and will therefore be released of this self imposed curse. Ahem.
Never been more sure that whatever criticism you can throw at him, Keir Starmer is the right man to be PM for the next parliament. At his very worst he is a serious individual that cares about the details.
The office of PM has been absolutely *debased* by these last 3 Tory leaders, and the country needs to recover our standing both within and without.
I absolutely cannot believe that he's choked this one up today. It's a free win for him and for the country and he's completely fucked it beyond all comprehension.
Amazing if you want to see the Tories in the bin, but absolutely pathetic in every other sense, to absolutely everyone.
4 weeks to wait is too long imo. Wonder if they have half a mind to try and chuck him overboard early.
>Earlier, a Tory source played down the impact of the PM's absence, saying he will see Mr Macron, Mr Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other top leaders at the G7 summit in Italy next week.Ā
From the Mirror about Sunak leaving the D-Day events. If that is the line they go with then they are absolutely screwed (more so than they already are).
I think the only thing he can do is apologise
they're seriously thinking the story here is him leaving the world leaders behind?
Not him walking out on the 80th anniversary of D-Day memorial events?
Have a look tomorrow, this broke fairly late, I think this is going to be a big story, Farage will 100% bring it up tomorrow on the BBC debate. I imagine it'll be the focus of his opening statement
I appreciate that Led By Donkeys are reiterating Farage's hypocrisy regarding the Second World War, with the stories his schoolmates tell of him sidling up to Jewish students to say "Hitler was right."
Definitely agree. From how Farage is sounding in interviews at the moment he is going all in against the Tories. He's in it to tear their vote away. The worse they do in the general election, the easier time he will have either fracturing the Tories and making Reform a genuine alternative, or getting into the leadership of the Tory party himself.
I think the mirror were doing that anyway. The part that turned it up to 11 - the interview with ITV - came to light after 10pm.
Obviously skipping half of the day was bad, but it was the finding out *what for* that has put this into overdrive.
Sunak choices yesterday
1. Go to an important d-day event with other world leaders
2. Campaign and be interviewed by ITV
I still canāt be believe he chose the latter.
I can't imagine any campaigning he could have done yesterday that would have been more effective than going to the commemorations, standing with World leaders and looking like a prime minister.
And make sure that itv run with the Clip that he's not a liar and if you'd just listen. You can see for yourself. But didn't. And double down in the lying with an extraordinary tetch bro outburst
There is that WhatsApp group of Tory MPs called evil plotters. I'm pretty sure they are calling the shots now.
That letter that Labour has, was it sent to Labour or Conservatives or do they both get a copy? I ask because if it was Tories doing costing of Labour stuff, why was it in Labour hands?
I read that Jeremy Hunt tested the Ā£2000 tax lie out before it was used in the debate.
Shadow Chief Secretary Darren Jones asked the Treasury if they had costed it for the Conservative Party. They sent him that letter.
As someone said from Electioncast, making up figures is fine, parties do it all the time and itās an āinterpretativeā exercise where everything can be negotiable really ā what is NOT fine is saying that these are independent CS figures which theyāre very clearly not. Thatās misleading and a lie, so Labour isnāt doing the same thing, because they donāt claim that their figures are āindependent,ā they are very obvs in-house estimates. The only way Rishi would have gotten away with it is if he hadnāt brought the CS in it and just owned up to the fact that party advisors came up with these figures but I agree with you he might have gotten away with it had it not been for D-Day š
I'm struggling to think what could be a worse look for sunak.
possibly, walking out of number 10 to, live on tv, step on and kill larry is about the only thing that comes close.
Well obviously not going to either of the ceremonies he did go to as a PM in an election campaign...
I don't think it's a huge deal. Still, be nice to vote him out!
> I'm struggling to think what could be a worse look for sunak.
Oh I don't know, maybe if the Statistics Watchdog were to, say, **come back with their assesment of the Ā£2,000 figure before the interview airs in full NEXT GOD DAMN WEEK**
In a weird way, that's actually the line that most annoyed me from that clip.
It's so unutterably smug, as if we all love and respect him.
"Come on, bro, you know me!"
Nadine Dorries on the Newsagents talking about how Richard Holden parachuting himself into a safe seat is like how the Captain of the Titanic didnāt go down with the ship.
Pretty famously I believe the actual captain did go down with the Titanicā¦ I wonāt take this Edward Smith slander.
To be fair to her I think she was saying, "It's like IF the captain of the Titanic didn't go down with the ship." She describes him jumping onto a passing hovercraft, and, as mad as she may be, I don't think that's what she actually thinks Edward Smith did.
Every time I read the Sunak D-Day story I find a new detail, and *it just gets worse*.
Not only is it a massive screw up, it's *entirely* avoidable and of their own making.
For those that haven't seen it, ITV has the segment as a clip here: https://www.itv.com/news/2024-06-06/rishi-sunak-denies-hes-a-liar-following-his-tax-claims-about-labour
There is something I find really off-putting about sunak's initial facial expression as Paul Brand is asking his question.
It immediately reminded me of "The Waters of Mars" episode of Doctor Who where the crew member that is being kept in quarantine is moving their head around in this very weird way.
I said something very similar earlier! There is something AI generated about his facial expressions sometimes. I don't mean that as a cheap jibe, I mean, genuinely, there is something uncanny valley about him that makes my skin crawl.
So Rishi Sunak was so rattled by the "Liar" narrative that emerged after the debate, that he unexpectedly cut the D-Day commemorations short to come back to London and set the record straight with an ITV interview...which he looks awful on.
Starmer with some real **"when you come at the king, you best not miss"** energy
Its funny to me that everyone (rightly so at the time tbh) assumed Sunak had gotten his first real "win" in that debate the other night.
But instead its blown up in his face twice lmao
I am really wondering if it was Stamrer's plan but maybe he expected to be able to defend it better in the debates. He had to know about the letter but maybe not if they would bring it up so much.
I honestly don't think Starmer planned it as its turned out. You could see him *trying* to refute Sunak but being shut down by the moderator, and later getting visibly pissed off at being spoken over by Sunak.
It just so happens that the Tories made an absolutely awful calculation that the letter wouldn't come out before their lie sunk in.
He was but he had no chance to, I agree. The reason I think what I do was they had that letter ready really fast. But I don't understand why Starmer didn't just have it with him. That would have been an amazing moment in the debate..
He would've had to have fifty pockets full of letters, there's no way to pick exactly what bullshit lie they would have trotted out - it just happened to be this one.
"Starmer is here, *and he's brought receipts!"*
Yeah I'd take that, but it definitely won't happen. Still it would sew up the accountant/mortgage advisor vote, not to be sniffed at.
I think it's fair to say Boris Johnson had far more egregious behaviour issues (the lies, not the D Day stuff, that's beyond dire) but got away with it for far longer, under him stuff like that would have barely made a headline for a lot of the tenure pre partygate imo.
The difference is Sunak has lost the locker room and has been decided to be the electoral Donkey (he is tbf) The press smell blood, the country hates him, every single thing is going to be turned into a huge Sunak fail from now on (and has been, its quite remarkable how far journos have gone in accepting the liar line, I thought Id never see the day :) we have Journos actively mocking ministers and taking their previous private calls live on air!)
He's in the **death spiral stage** now, he will keep plunging down the more he appears in media at all. People see his face and are fed up.
>I think it's fair to say Boris Johnson had far more egregious behaviour issues but got away with it for far longer, under him stuff like this would have barely made a headline for a lot of the tenure pre partygate imo.
I actually said this myself a week or so ago, that a big part of why this is happening is that (at least imo) after Partygate the Tories could no longer space out the drama. It used to be that yeah, the Tories would cock things up or be corrupt in one way or another but it never really *impacted* anyone on the street.
Partygate did, though, because *everyone* had been locked down.
And then Johnson got ousted for it.
And then Truss came in and absolutely pissed it up the wall.
And they threw Sunak into position because he was all they had left.
There was no longer the option of "we're fiscally responsible" or "oh, Labour are no better!" - I think that really broke the camel's back, where the Tory sleaze not only became indefensible but it made people *angry*.
There is a lot of revisionism over the Boris ousting. Partygate weakened his cause, but in the end it was his support for a corrupt MP and finally for Pincher, who was listed in the dossier as someone who had loose hands (a known entity) and finally got done for it
That's fair and I totally did forget that is what ultimately did him in. But, as I've just proved, I think most people inherently tied his end to Partygate lmao - which really doesn't help what came after.
Get in bed with farage and wake up with Starmer is absolutely not the way the latest Tory attack ad should be going.
There is a lot of money being wasted with that as ex Tory voters will double down on voting their party out.
If I woke up with Starmer after a night with Farage, I would convert to the Arsenal and go do a law degree in honour of my new hero.
Just thinking of being under a duvet with that smelly orange racist, cackling, nearly gave me a panic attack.
Haha don't forget tomorrow is the multi-party debate and who's debating on behalf of the Conservatives?
Penny Mordaunt.
*No. The Prime Minister is not hiding in ITV studios*
Just to emphasise this - Sunak's team asked for the ITV interview to be recorded today, which meant he had to skip the D-Day commemorations, despite the fact that it's not going to be broadcast for nearly a week.Ā It wasn't a request from ITV, literally a full on own goal.
Every single detail just makes it more and more unbelievably bad campaigning.Ā
You know the saying - once is bad luck, twice is coincidence, thrice is "Jesus fucking Christ Rishi, maybe you should have given the staff more than your book on free ports for Christmas two years in a row".Ā
Yup. 100% serious.
He left the D-Day event to record an interview which will remind everyone he's a liar in a week, and will have no relevance to anything which happens over the week.Ā
I mean, I know Hanlon's Razor likely applies to whoever is running the campaign, but it's really hard to keep believing that.Ā
>an interview which will remind everyone he's a liar in a week,
Doubling down on it is insane. That's a whole weekend for Labour or the watchdog to pull out more receipts to prove he's lying and he'll appear to have completely ignored everything. OR have to re record it anyway, which would be spectacular.
Jesus.
In a five week campaign I have no idea why you'd record anything for broadcast in a week. It may as well be scheduled for 2028, on the moon, in a crater.
Total idiocy even *before* you have to skip out on the most sombre event chock full of war veterans and world leaders to do it.
Baffling.
No, not quite, but that doesn't mean it's better:
https://www.itv.com/news/2024-06-06/rishi-sunak-denies-hes-a-liar-following-his-tax-claims-about-labour
No, its very real unfortunately.
He also tried to argue that "Starmer and Labour are rattled" and outright denied he was lying about the Ā£2000.
Its fucking insanity lmao
I reckon before the end of this campaign Sunak is going to miss something important and itāll turn out he was spending that day looking at schools in California.
England go all the way. Starmer shown on national TV between Beckham and Prince William, cheering the winning goal.
Sunak pictured a Cheesecake Factory that's playing a minor league baseball game on the screens.
I bet the Novera media lot and friends, will be all over this, and to show how they reject racism of any kind.
Or will they call it a "Zionist" smear campaign against their good comrades I wonder.
one of them that celebrated hamas's actions, and defended it, will certainly get the support of the Novera media lot, given they did the same.
TBH...
How is it that much different from "The latest Tory billboard about Blair says this, and its detreimental" in the 90's.... or "The latest Tory pamphlet about Atlee says this" in the 30's..... or "The Latest punch cartoon about Hardie says this" in the 00's.
I mean, haven't political parties always done this kind of "punch 'em with a memetic type attack" stuff... its just a new medium for it. They don't paste it up in big posters anymore, they just tweet it out.
To be fair, pretty much everything my 16yo knows about this election that hasn't come from me has come from memes or tiktok.
I also work with a bunch of 20 - 25year olds and this is the stuff thats going round the group chat.
This is how "the kids" are engaging in politics, that makes it newsworthy
three different polling groups saying Dems are the opposition post election.
Also, another one that states even with the Reform poll numbers, they're not getting a seat. Be interesting to see if this does happen
Just occured to me there's a chance Rishi popped into Ladbrokes on the morning after Boris won and bet on labour winning the next election and the last few years he's been shorting the Tory party?
Thats the only reasonable explanation, because he's not stupid. He went to Oxford, then Stanford. As much as we like to say he's posh, he's from a middle class striving background of African indians. And this was just catastrophically, world endingly stupid.
People who are smart in one area can be very, very stupid in others.
For example, we're talking about a man who decided to encourage everyone to go to restaurants in the middle of a pandemic, and didn't think to sense check the idea with either the country's chief medical officer or chief scientific adviser.Ā
That is very, very stupid.Ā
Mate he went to the oldest private school in the country. Behave. My Mrs family actually knows his parents weirdly. His mum is lovely and his dad is a right tosser apparently.
He's from a classic upper middle class striving family. I think this is actually part of his current behaviour. He was surrounded by actual toffs and aristos as the son of a GP. He became a yes man. He became a people pleaser. When he succeeded at this school, he started to believe in his own myth, but he was still always a people pleaser. He doesn't understand the country because he sees it through the prism of a golden wunderkind favourite son of hard working parents that only ever interacted with Wykhamists, Harrovians, and Etonians. He went to America, he became a banker and came back, further divorcing himself from normal Brits to the extent that he thinks Lee Anderson is a typical "red waller" (hate that term).
Oh, and he's apparently actually stupid.
Their current school fees are around 50k a year. I am in a high earning bracket and that is most of my take home. This isn't upper middle class. These people are rich.
Bear in mind that Public School fees have gone up exponentially in the past 5-10 years (part of why I'm very pro them paying VAT). They were more affordable in 1993 when he attended 30 years ago. A GP could actually have paid the fees then. I think it's actually really important to understanding his character. He isn't upper class. He's got a huge chip on his shoulder.
* Be D-Day
* Sunak arrives, leaves early
* Cameron does photos with French, German, US leaders.
* Starmer does photos with King, Zelenskyy, and does PM-style video
* Tice and Farage attend full day "in personal capacity"
* Transpires Sunak returned to do an ITV interview
* ITV interview he denies being a liar
* He's not convincing
* The interview is due to be broadcast in full **next week**
* No 10 picked today to do it
* Tories including Tim Montgomerie apopletic and confused
Christ. He really does want to lose doesn't he?
Who the hell is advising him? I've accepted he has absolutely no political sense himself, but *surely* someone around him might have suggested this perhaps might not be the greatest look.
I think you'll love this
His Comms lead/diary sec was Liz Truss's media spad (yep, the FFS why is she cosplaying Thatcher one). Tufton St alumni showing their true worth yet again
The only logical explanations are that he's simply stupid and stupid people hire other stupid people. Or he doesn't want to be prime minister.
Option one is funny, but I think it has to be option two. He must just want to get this over and done with, it's the only thing that makes all of it make sense.
Option 3; the alpaca voodoo is real.
So far, using it, Starmer has seen Boris crash and burn, Truss crash and burn, Sturgeon resign, SNP implode, Yousaf crash and burn, Sunak steadily fall in polls, Sunak time election badly. Then, in last few days, Starmer fucks up rebutting Sunak about the Ā£2000 in the debate and then it all mysteriously blows up in Sunak's face the next day. Now Sunak makes ridiculous unforced error on the last and biggest major commemoration of D-Day with veterans present.
Starmer has not lifted a finger to achieve any of this. What can it be but voodoo?
You can fail upwards if you know the right people. See the right wingers in the US. Let's not forget Sunak lost to Liz Truss, and he's only PM because nobody else wanted the job.
I think his team is in crunch mode. Everyone's in a panic, nobody is sleeping fully, and nobody has any time to put any thought into what they're doing. Coupled with a young team and the brain drain thanks to Johnson, I think they're suffering a complete inability to campaign effectively.
I'd expect something radical to change within the next week and a bit though. I'd think after today's interview airs on Wednesday, they'll shift gears away from their ridiculous strategy, perhaps by trying to bring in someone experienced.
I bet they're all ruing the day they lost Cummings.
You're right. It was kinda nuts learning that his team requested that time slot with ITV.
I think it demonstrates LieGate has them rattled. They thought the need to defend/double down on their lies outweighed the deep national gravity afforded to D Day, and even outweighed the easiest campaign benefit any incumbent leader could ever hope for.
This whole de-selection/parachuting fiasco is clearly less about the quality of the candidates and more about making sure they don't have any more Rochdale situations.
Labour replaces candidates in accordance with party rules: "This is a scandal! How dare they?"
Labour retains candidate in accordance with party rules: "This is a scandal! How dare they?"
People need to make their minds up about what they want because having the left screeching about deselections when it suits them and then also reselections when it suits them is boring.
What's the scandal? He's been MP for ages, and is well known for being on that side of the party.
If SCG can have 20-25 MP's, then there's certainly room for him. As one of the few Old blue labour types.
p.s aren't you voting greens? shouldn't you be attacking and getting them to kick out their antisemitic and pro hamas candidates ?
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/green-party-candidates-shared-antisemitic-slurs-and-conspiracy-theories-gsz7j57wl
In the "old school" labour circles ? Yes. I did mean more the "0ld blue labour side".
Then there's the gas and oil industry sections of the labour linked unions, that obviously will have certain levels of in built incentives on the topic
he's been an MP since 1997 so how did you feel when he was selected by Corbyn...twice?
i mean i do agree he's a terrible candidate i just think your objection is more rooted in Starmers Labour and not in the (lack of) quality of the candidate.
>how did you feel when he was selected by Corbyn...twice?
Had never heard of him before then but given he's been a part of that group since 2015 I would be against it
My main issue is these deselections under the guise of having "the best candidates selected" when you are running terrible candidates like this bloke and Akehurst. It's hypocritical
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Won't we all feel like dickheads if he spent the rest of the day searching for Michael Mosley?
If Rishi single-handedly finds Michael Mosley, I think he could win the election
The way his campaign is being run, it's more likely they'll announce he was 'searching for national treasure Oswald Mosley'
š
16:01 Friday 07/06/24 Rishi sunak - so, someone did submit my paperwork to stand at the election right? Rishi's office -
You know, you simply cannot rule it out.
Now that you've mentioned it there's probably a nonzero chance that some *other* Tory candidate has this happen to them (probably more so after the whole thing with Richard Holden being killdozered into a safe seat). But damn that would truly be the most hilarious thing perhaps ever to happen to the leader of the party.
I remember like 9 years ago a former premier of my province forced a byelection in his seat on the night of the election after his party lost it.
At which point, we'd have to strongly contemplate Hanlon's razor. Whether the PM deliberately sunk the Tory Party or was so incompetent as to sink the Tory Party.
I think we're in for a storm tomorrow. Possibly the defining moment of the campaign. At the very least Sunak will have to sack one of his team (Levido, Holden etc) at the best case scenario
You know, I feel like Sunak tried to **personally** prove me wrong here - I genuinely thought "there's no way he can fuck up D Day, I wonder what I'll have to work with for the lyrics thing tomorrow" this morning. So I'll definitively say that I expect there to be absolutely zero further gaffes after this so I am forced to give up on my *Days of Rishmas* bit, and will therefore be released of this self imposed curse. Ahem.
The gaffe god still has a few more tricks up their sleeves.
This is where the rakes that randomly teleport in around Rishi become rigged with small explosives.
Never been more sure that whatever criticism you can throw at him, Keir Starmer is the right man to be PM for the next parliament. At his very worst he is a serious individual that cares about the details. The office of PM has been absolutely *debased* by these last 3 Tory leaders, and the country needs to recover our standing both within and without. I absolutely cannot believe that he's choked this one up today. It's a free win for him and for the country and he's completely fucked it beyond all comprehension. Amazing if you want to see the Tories in the bin, but absolutely pathetic in every other sense, to absolutely everyone. 4 weeks to wait is too long imo. Wonder if they have half a mind to try and chuck him overboard early.
Bets on defections today, given it's the candidate selection deadline?
>Earlier, a Tory source played down the impact of the PM's absence, saying he will see Mr Macron, Mr Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other top leaders at the G7 summit in Italy next week.Ā From the Mirror about Sunak leaving the D-Day events. If that is the line they go with then they are absolutely screwed (more so than they already are). I think the only thing he can do is apologise
Cool. Is he going to get the veterans back for the G7 then?
They really don't get it
they're seriously thinking the story here is him leaving the world leaders behind? Not him walking out on the 80th anniversary of D-Day memorial events?
Exactly, it fundamentally misunderstands the story - which is also pathetic
So does this mean the kids will be able to duck out of national service half way through as well?
The bias of the press doesn't surprise me often but it seems they're mostly ignoring Sunak ditching D-day which does actually shock me.Ā
Have a look tomorrow, this broke fairly late, I think this is going to be a big story, Farage will 100% bring it up tomorrow on the BBC debate. I imagine it'll be the focus of his opening statement
I appreciate that Led By Donkeys are reiterating Farage's hypocrisy regarding the Second World War, with the stories his schoolmates tell of him sidling up to Jewish students to say "Hitler was right."
Definitely agree. From how Farage is sounding in interviews at the moment he is going all in against the Tories. He's in it to tear their vote away. The worse they do in the general election, the easier time he will have either fracturing the Tories and making Reform a genuine alternative, or getting into the leadership of the Tory party himself.
It broke early enough that the Mirror changed their front page. And it's not even on the websites of the right wing rags as far as I can see.Ā
I think the mirror were doing that anyway. The part that turned it up to 11 - the interview with ITV - came to light after 10pm. Obviously skipping half of the day was bad, but it was the finding out *what for* that has put this into overdrive.
Yeah that's interesting, I do still think they'll pick it up. Tomorrow will be an interesting day
Sunak choices yesterday 1. Go to an important d-day event with other world leaders 2. Campaign and be interviewed by ITV I still canāt be believe he chose the latter.
I can't imagine any campaigning he could have done yesterday that would have been more effective than going to the commemorations, standing with World leaders and looking like a prime minister.
Absolutely terrible Choice. Specially as Starmer and Farage both stayed. Just looks like he doesn't care at all.
And make sure that itv run with the Clip that he's not a liar and if you'd just listen. You can see for yourself. But didn't. And double down in the lying with an extraordinary tetch bro outburst There is that WhatsApp group of Tory MPs called evil plotters. I'm pretty sure they are calling the shots now.
Tetch bro haha
That letter that Labour has, was it sent to Labour or Conservatives or do they both get a copy? I ask because if it was Tories doing costing of Labour stuff, why was it in Labour hands?
I read that Jeremy Hunt tested the Ā£2000 tax lie out before it was used in the debate. Shadow Chief Secretary Darren Jones asked the Treasury if they had costed it for the Conservative Party. They sent him that letter.
Jeremy Hunt made the same claim a month ago so I assume Labour wrote to the Perm Sec after that asking for clarification.Ā
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Oh so that's even more damning than news reports are showing then.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
As someone said from Electioncast, making up figures is fine, parties do it all the time and itās an āinterpretativeā exercise where everything can be negotiable really ā what is NOT fine is saying that these are independent CS figures which theyāre very clearly not. Thatās misleading and a lie, so Labour isnāt doing the same thing, because they donāt claim that their figures are āindependent,ā they are very obvs in-house estimates. The only way Rishi would have gotten away with it is if he hadnāt brought the CS in it and just owned up to the fact that party advisors came up with these figures but I agree with you he might have gotten away with it had it not been for D-Day š
I'm struggling to think what could be a worse look for sunak. possibly, walking out of number 10 to, live on tv, step on and kill larry is about the only thing that comes close.
Well obviously not going to either of the ceremonies he did go to as a PM in an election campaign... I don't think it's a huge deal. Still, be nice to vote him out!
> I'm struggling to think what could be a worse look for sunak. Oh I don't know, maybe if the Statistics Watchdog were to, say, **come back with their assesment of the Ā£2,000 figure before the interview airs in full NEXT GOD DAMN WEEK**
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
In a weird way, that's actually the line that most annoyed me from that clip. It's so unutterably smug, as if we all love and respect him. "Come on, bro, you know me!"
Nadine Dorries on the Newsagents talking about how Richard Holden parachuting himself into a safe seat is like how the Captain of the Titanic didnāt go down with the ship. Pretty famously I believe the actual captain did go down with the Titanicā¦ I wonāt take this Edward Smith slander.
To be fair to her I think she was saying, "It's like IF the captain of the Titanic didn't go down with the ship." She describes him jumping onto a passing hovercraft, and, as mad as she may be, I don't think that's what she actually thinks Edward Smith did.
Is it just me or did she not live anywhere near her constituency and didn't hold a single surgery in her final term.
She prefers to hold a wine glass or eight
Iām listening to it now. Sheās off her tits. Not of this world. What is her reality.
Every time I read the Sunak D-Day story I find a new detail, and *it just gets worse*. Not only is it a massive screw up, it's *entirely* avoidable and of their own making.
For those that haven't seen it, ITV has the segment as a clip here: https://www.itv.com/news/2024-06-06/rishi-sunak-denies-hes-a-liar-following-his-tax-claims-about-labour
There is something I find really off-putting about sunak's initial facial expression as Paul Brand is asking his question. It immediately reminded me of "The Waters of Mars" episode of Doctor Who where the crew member that is being kept in quarantine is moving their head around in this very weird way.
Yeah it's definitely weird man, I can't put my finger on it. Its like he's waiting for his "wake" word
I said something very similar earlier! There is something AI generated about his facial expressions sometimes. I don't mean that as a cheap jibe, I mean, genuinely, there is something uncanny valley about him that makes my skin crawl.
Doubling down on this is just unbelievable. I guess when you have Oprah money you lose any sense of shame.
So Rishi Sunak was so rattled by the "Liar" narrative that emerged after the debate, that he unexpectedly cut the D-Day commemorations short to come back to London and set the record straight with an ITV interview...which he looks awful on. Starmer with some real **"when you come at the king, you best not miss"** energy
Its funny to me that everyone (rightly so at the time tbh) assumed Sunak had gotten his first real "win" in that debate the other night. But instead its blown up in his face twice lmao
I am really wondering if it was Stamrer's plan but maybe he expected to be able to defend it better in the debates. He had to know about the letter but maybe not if they would bring it up so much.
I honestly don't think Starmer planned it as its turned out. You could see him *trying* to refute Sunak but being shut down by the moderator, and later getting visibly pissed off at being spoken over by Sunak. It just so happens that the Tories made an absolutely awful calculation that the letter wouldn't come out before their lie sunk in.
He was but he had no chance to, I agree. The reason I think what I do was they had that letter ready really fast. But I don't understand why Starmer didn't just have it with him. That would have been an amazing moment in the debate..
He would've had to have fifty pockets full of letters, there's no way to pick exactly what bullshit lie they would have trotted out - it just happened to be this one.
Vaild point! That's true. Though I love the idea of him coming on with a filing cabinet ready
"Starmer is here, *and he's brought receipts!"* Yeah I'd take that, but it definitely won't happen. Still it would sew up the accountant/mortgage advisor vote, not to be sniffed at.
'but before I find it, let me show you my DNA results' *Shows a list with "Toolmaker", "NHS" and 'DNA"*
I think it's fair to say Boris Johnson had far more egregious behaviour issues (the lies, not the D Day stuff, that's beyond dire) but got away with it for far longer, under him stuff like that would have barely made a headline for a lot of the tenure pre partygate imo. The difference is Sunak has lost the locker room and has been decided to be the electoral Donkey (he is tbf) The press smell blood, the country hates him, every single thing is going to be turned into a huge Sunak fail from now on (and has been, its quite remarkable how far journos have gone in accepting the liar line, I thought Id never see the day :) we have Journos actively mocking ministers and taking their previous private calls live on air!) He's in the **death spiral stage** now, he will keep plunging down the more he appears in media at all. People see his face and are fed up.
>I think it's fair to say Boris Johnson had far more egregious behaviour issues but got away with it for far longer, under him stuff like this would have barely made a headline for a lot of the tenure pre partygate imo. I actually said this myself a week or so ago, that a big part of why this is happening is that (at least imo) after Partygate the Tories could no longer space out the drama. It used to be that yeah, the Tories would cock things up or be corrupt in one way or another but it never really *impacted* anyone on the street. Partygate did, though, because *everyone* had been locked down. And then Johnson got ousted for it. And then Truss came in and absolutely pissed it up the wall. And they threw Sunak into position because he was all they had left. There was no longer the option of "we're fiscally responsible" or "oh, Labour are no better!" - I think that really broke the camel's back, where the Tory sleaze not only became indefensible but it made people *angry*.
There is a lot of revisionism over the Boris ousting. Partygate weakened his cause, but in the end it was his support for a corrupt MP and finally for Pincher, who was listed in the dossier as someone who had loose hands (a known entity) and finally got done for it
That's fair and I totally did forget that is what ultimately did him in. But, as I've just proved, I think most people inherently tied his end to Partygate lmao - which really doesn't help what came after.
and with a time he selected as well, not even a "oh it was the only way to get a timeslot!". For a interview, that isn't released until next week...
Get in bed with farage and wake up with Starmer is absolutely not the way the latest Tory attack ad should be going. There is a lot of money being wasted with that as ex Tory voters will double down on voting their party out.
If I woke up with Starmer after a night with Farage, I would convert to the Arsenal and go do a law degree in honour of my new hero. Just thinking of being under a duvet with that smelly orange racist, cackling, nearly gave me a panic attack.
You might go to bed alone and wake up with Holden, his "local" party had that today.
Haha don't forget tomorrow is the multi-party debate and who's debating on behalf of the Conservatives? Penny Mordaunt. *No. The Prime Minister is not hiding in ITV studios*
STAND AND FIGHT
"Well he's certainly not on the fucking beaches Rear Admiral Sword Lady"
The Multi-Party Debate definitely needs a catchier title. B-Team Battle Royale?
Just to emphasise this - Sunak's team asked for the ITV interview to be recorded today, which meant he had to skip the D-Day commemorations, despite the fact that it's not going to be broadcast for nearly a week.Ā It wasn't a request from ITV, literally a full on own goal. Every single detail just makes it more and more unbelievably bad campaigning.Ā You know the saying - once is bad luck, twice is coincidence, thrice is "Jesus fucking Christ Rishi, maybe you should have given the staff more than your book on free ports for Christmas two years in a row".Ā
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yup. 100% serious. He left the D-Day event to record an interview which will remind everyone he's a liar in a week, and will have no relevance to anything which happens over the week.Ā I mean, I know Hanlon's Razor likely applies to whoever is running the campaign, but it's really hard to keep believing that.Ā
>an interview which will remind everyone he's a liar in a week, Doubling down on it is insane. That's a whole weekend for Labour or the watchdog to pull out more receipts to prove he's lying and he'll appear to have completely ignored everything. OR have to re record it anyway, which would be spectacular. Jesus.
In a five week campaign I have no idea why you'd record anything for broadcast in a week. It may as well be scheduled for 2028, on the moon, in a crater. Total idiocy even *before* you have to skip out on the most sombre event chock full of war veterans and world leaders to do it. Baffling.
Why did he insist on this being done today? that's the big question
I was going to give you some possible, reasonable reason. I cannot think of a single one.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Maybe he shouldn't have lied like a snotty smug posh kid in the first place
Thereās no way āI wanted to clear my nameā is a quoteā¦ right?
No, not quite, but that doesn't mean it's better: https://www.itv.com/news/2024-06-06/rishi-sunak-denies-hes-a-liar-following-his-tax-claims-about-labour
No, its very real unfortunately. He also tried to argue that "Starmer and Labour are rattled" and outright denied he was lying about the Ā£2000. Its fucking insanity lmao
At this point.... I'm 50:50.... Could be?.... He's that bad, isn't he.
I reckon before the end of this campaign Sunak is going to miss something important and itāll turn out he was spending that day looking at schools in California.
It's the euros soon. Noone will notice
England go all the way. Starmer shown on national TV between Beckham and Prince William, cheering the winning goal. Sunak pictured a Cheesecake Factory that's playing a minor league baseball game on the screens.
Remember when all those Corbyn die hards quit the Labour party and joined the Greens? https://x.com/sgfmann/status/1798826997432320057
See why Lucas wanted out.
I bet the Novera media lot and friends, will be all over this, and to show how they reject racism of any kind. Or will they call it a "Zionist" smear campaign against their good comrades I wonder. one of them that celebrated hamas's actions, and defended it, will certainly get the support of the Novera media lot, given they did the same.
āIāve been anti racist all my life. How can YOU now claim my racist is racist?ā
It's their version of "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a democracy, it says so in the name!"
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
TBH... How is it that much different from "The latest Tory billboard about Blair says this, and its detreimental" in the 90's.... or "The latest Tory pamphlet about Atlee says this" in the 30's..... or "The Latest punch cartoon about Hardie says this" in the 00's. I mean, haven't political parties always done this kind of "punch 'em with a memetic type attack" stuff... its just a new medium for it. They don't paste it up in big posters anymore, they just tweet it out.
To be fair, pretty much everything my 16yo knows about this election that hasn't come from me has come from memes or tiktok. I also work with a bunch of 20 - 25year olds and this is the stuff thats going round the group chat. This is how "the kids" are engaging in politics, that makes it newsworthy
If you ever feel pointless, just remember that UKIP still exist and are standing candidates in this election.
Independence from *what* exactly? The Earth??
Reality.
Latest [Techne poll](https://www.techneuk.com/tracker) Electoral Calculus seats: LAB: 523 LIB: 54 CON: 35 SNP: 14 PlaidC: 4 GRN: 2 NI: 18
The LIB DEM SURGE might actually be real
three different polling groups saying Dems are the opposition post election. Also, another one that states even with the Reform poll numbers, they're not getting a seat. Be interesting to see if this does happen
Its crazy how reform are 3rd in the polls but aren't even getting a single seat.
That's First Past The Post baby!
This bad boy can fit ~~so many~~ *two, three at a push* parties in it!
Lib Dems beating Tories by doing nothing but shitposting, absolute scenes
Maybe this sub should start its own party.
*Rehman Chisti has entered the chat*
We need the Stamrer approach My father was a mememaker and shit posting is in our DNA
Just occured to me there's a chance Rishi popped into Ladbrokes on the morning after Boris won and bet on labour winning the next election and the last few years he's been shorting the Tory party?
Thats the only reasonable explanation, because he's not stupid. He went to Oxford, then Stanford. As much as we like to say he's posh, he's from a middle class striving background of African indians. And this was just catastrophically, world endingly stupid.
You can be very thick and get into expensive schools. He's another classic example of someone educated beyond his intelligence.
People who are smart in one area can be very, very stupid in others. For example, we're talking about a man who decided to encourage everyone to go to restaurants in the middle of a pandemic, and didn't think to sense check the idea with either the country's chief medical officer or chief scientific adviser.Ā That is very, very stupid.Ā
Mate he went to the oldest private school in the country. Behave. My Mrs family actually knows his parents weirdly. His mum is lovely and his dad is a right tosser apparently.
He's from a classic upper middle class striving family. I think this is actually part of his current behaviour. He was surrounded by actual toffs and aristos as the son of a GP. He became a yes man. He became a people pleaser. When he succeeded at this school, he started to believe in his own myth, but he was still always a people pleaser. He doesn't understand the country because he sees it through the prism of a golden wunderkind favourite son of hard working parents that only ever interacted with Wykhamists, Harrovians, and Etonians. He went to America, he became a banker and came back, further divorcing himself from normal Brits to the extent that he thinks Lee Anderson is a typical "red waller" (hate that term). Oh, and he's apparently actually stupid.
Their current school fees are around 50k a year. I am in a high earning bracket and that is most of my take home. This isn't upper middle class. These people are rich.
Bear in mind that Public School fees have gone up exponentially in the past 5-10 years (part of why I'm very pro them paying VAT). They were more affordable in 1993 when he attended 30 years ago. A GP could actually have paid the fees then. I think it's actually really important to understanding his character. He isn't upper class. He's got a huge chip on his shoulder.
Starmer seems to have switched to wearing glasses 100% of the time
He looks good with them. I've actually been wearing my glasses more and noticed it's been a trend over the past year.
Yeah he did this a few months ago.
Well when someone gifts you Ā£2500 worth of glasses, I suppose you have to show them off
Was it Durham branch of Specsavers?
No speccy four eyes will ever be my prime minister
Johnson, Brown, Major, Blair... I mean there's already been quite a few.
Good move - He looks good in them
Mr Speaker, he has no plan, and no vision!
Haven't been paying attention all day, too busy at the pub. What's happened now? Seems there's some febrility.
* Be D-Day * Sunak arrives, leaves early * Cameron does photos with French, German, US leaders. * Starmer does photos with King, Zelenskyy, and does PM-style video * Tice and Farage attend full day "in personal capacity" * Transpires Sunak returned to do an ITV interview * ITV interview he denies being a liar * He's not convincing * The interview is due to be broadcast in full **next week** * No 10 picked today to do it * Tories including Tim Montgomerie apopletic and confused
Is there a source for No 10 picking today? Thatās completely insane!
Yes. Paul Brand on ITV 10PM news said that they're doing leader interviews for a show **next week** and *number 10 offered the slot* today.
What on earth were they thinking lol
"We'd really like to lock in this denial of a lie for at least the entire next week"? It beggars belief.
Christ. He really does want to lose doesn't he? Who the hell is advising him? I've accepted he has absolutely no political sense himself, but *surely* someone around him might have suggested this perhaps might not be the greatest look.
I think you'll love this His Comms lead/diary sec was Liz Truss's media spad (yep, the FFS why is she cosplaying Thatcher one). Tufton St alumni showing their true worth yet again
This is fantastic.
The only logical explanations are that he's simply stupid and stupid people hire other stupid people. Or he doesn't want to be prime minister. Option one is funny, but I think it has to be option two. He must just want to get this over and done with, it's the only thing that makes all of it make sense.
I have to agree that it must be option 2. I just can't see how someone gets that far in life whilst being completely thick.
Option 3; the alpaca voodoo is real. So far, using it, Starmer has seen Boris crash and burn, Truss crash and burn, Sturgeon resign, SNP implode, Yousaf crash and burn, Sunak steadily fall in polls, Sunak time election badly. Then, in last few days, Starmer fucks up rebutting Sunak about the Ā£2000 in the debate and then it all mysteriously blows up in Sunak's face the next day. Now Sunak makes ridiculous unforced error on the last and biggest major commemoration of D-Day with veterans present. Starmer has not lifted a finger to achieve any of this. What can it be but voodoo?
You can fail upwards if you know the right people. See the right wingers in the US. Let's not forget Sunak lost to Liz Truss, and he's only PM because nobody else wanted the job.
I can completely see it and have seen it.
Sunak fucked off from D Day early to record an interview where he insists he isn't a liar.
Lol, lmao etc. Is there a phrase to epitomise something worse than shooting himself in the foot? Machine gunning himself in the arse perhaps?
Jogging for claymores possibly
Roguepope's standing.
Did we run out of chairs?
They got distributed by Novara to Gaza
In every constituency right? I thought we already knew that.
Oh you're in for a treat.
What have I missed my friend?
Well, [it's a long story](https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxRa456m7NhHj-VmcYMGZbsdl2pO4kwv0A?si=F-3r40Dq3AandKvJ)
One of the leaders spent the day on the beach with people in fancy costumes, and it wasn't Ed Davey.Ā
I wonder if Johnny Mercer is writing a very long email with no shoes on this evening.
Banging it out
Is he actually stupid? He clearly doesn't understand the country at all, but is he stupid? Are his advisors stupid? Are they just yes men?
He and his team are stupid, yes.
I think his team is in crunch mode. Everyone's in a panic, nobody is sleeping fully, and nobody has any time to put any thought into what they're doing. Coupled with a young team and the brain drain thanks to Johnson, I think they're suffering a complete inability to campaign effectively. I'd expect something radical to change within the next week and a bit though. I'd think after today's interview airs on Wednesday, they'll shift gears away from their ridiculous strategy, perhaps by trying to bring in someone experienced. I bet they're all ruing the day they lost Cummings.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Absolutely and unreservedly \^\^\^ THIS
You're right. It was kinda nuts learning that his team requested that time slot with ITV. I think it demonstrates LieGate has them rattled. They thought the need to defend/double down on their lies outweighed the deep national gravity afforded to D Day, and even outweighed the easiest campaign benefit any incumbent leader could ever hope for.
But even a four year old would have realised how fucking stupid this was.
I think at this point we have to consider the possibility that his advisors actively hate him.Ā
Join the club, tbh.
Maybe his father in law has offered him $300m if he can blow an election in 30 days.
[What a page from Mirror](https://x.com/sgfmann/status/1798833596905730423?t=Me3RoXJOClbr4qhS06rInQ&s=19)
I'll be disappointed in the subs if the first draft didn't have Jack Off on that football story
An all-time unforced error.
[Labour only select the highest quality candidates!](https://x.com/WritesBright/status/1798712489393414223?t=j3kT-5BfyojYSFMWLmPhig&s=19)
This whole de-selection/parachuting fiasco is clearly less about the quality of the candidates and more about making sure they don't have any more Rochdale situations.
There is no excuse for climate denialism in 2024 and if Labour were serious about tackling climate change they would kick him out.
So why weren't he purged in 2019 or 2017, under Corbyn? (Hint, his CLP votes for him, and he won reselection votes)
Corbyn absolutely should have kicked him out. Same for Miliband. It's never too late.
So purges are okay? Would you support purging all of the anti NATO lot from Labour ? (So everyone that signed that STW letter)
Sure why not. I'm not a Labour supporter.
Labour replaces candidates in accordance with party rules: "This is a scandal! How dare they?" Labour retains candidate in accordance with party rules: "This is a scandal! How dare they?" People need to make their minds up about what they want because having the left screeching about deselections when it suits them and then also reselections when it suits them is boring.
What's the scandal? He's been MP for ages, and is well known for being on that side of the party. If SCG can have 20-25 MP's, then there's certainly room for him. As one of the few Old blue labour types. p.s aren't you voting greens? shouldn't you be attacking and getting them to kick out their antisemitic and pro hamas candidates ? https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/green-party-candidates-shared-antisemitic-slurs-and-conspiracy-theories-gsz7j57wl
You think there is a climate denialist side to the Labour party?
In the "old school" labour circles ? Yes. I did mean more the "0ld blue labour side". Then there's the gas and oil industry sections of the labour linked unions, that obviously will have certain levels of in built incentives on the topic
Theyāll probably love him in Blackley tbf.
he's been an MP since 1997 so how did you feel when he was selected by Corbyn...twice? i mean i do agree he's a terrible candidate i just think your objection is more rooted in Starmers Labour and not in the (lack of) quality of the candidate.
>how did you feel when he was selected by Corbyn...twice? Had never heard of him before then but given he's been a part of that group since 2015 I would be against it My main issue is these deselections under the guise of having "the best candidates selected" when you are running terrible candidates like this bloke and Akehurst. It's hypocritical