The Political Thread

[The Legendary Shark]

That's the thing - it is simple.

[Tjm86]

Something else is afoot, I reckon, and IDS is jumping before he gets pushed.

For the man who made a fist pump in a previous budget announcement about benefit cuts (IIRC) to suddenly decide that he cannot in 'all good conscience' preside over the implementation of what have to be the most insidious cuts contemplated by this government (or any in the last fifty years?) is curious to say the least.  This does smell of something else. 

This budget has been universally reviled from what I can see.  It seems that Osborne has taken a step too far and revealed the naked truth about the Tory party.  Is he jumping before he was pushed or is he distancing himself from a marked man?  The jostling for top position is now starting to take place and Cameron's legacy is starting to look a bit like Blair's.  Whoever becomes next Tory party leader will have to deal with that.  If that is what is behind this then I would suggest that it is too little too late.  IDS as with all of the present cabinet is now tainted worse than Thatcher. 

Anyone who voted for these guys better take a look at the Welsh Valleys because this government is doing to the country what Thatcher did to those communities.  That will be the UK in thirty years time.  Gutted and impoverished.

[Old Tankie]

There is something else happening.  As someone who has been in receipt of disability benefits for nearly twenty years and who knows the system very well, I know the current proposed cuts to PIP are small compared to previous cuts imposed on disabled people in the last few years, so why resign now?

[Hawkmumbler]

Ouch, that was some harsh language I was using last night. Remind me not the forum whilst pished ever again chaps, not the first time tis has happened. Sorry to Tanky for....ahem...saying you should "pile drive yourself into a concrete foundation"* and for being a condesending prick to Sharky. 

*Why can't I think of threats that imaginative whilst sobber?...

[The Legendary Shark]

I think he's positioning himself in case Britain leaves the EU. If Britain does leave, he can say "hey look, I stood up for you over these reforms - now vote for me to stand up for you in this new, free Britain," and continue the "welfare reforms" from the bosom of government. If Britain stays in, he can resign and take up a corporate job, probably on boards like Atos or similar, to continue the "welfare reforms" from the private sector.

No worries, Hawkie - this is an emotive thread and full of passion and I for one wouldn't have it any other way

[Modern Panther]

He's on tv now, with mock indignation about how the most vulnerable are being put upon by the government.  I'm "a man without ambition" says the former leader of the opposition, Secretary for defence and Secretary of state for work and pension s.

His apparently moral decision to step down has, I'm sure, nothing to do with the court throwing out his appeal against a report into Universal Credits being published, just the day before. 
If we're in the EU, he'd be out anyway, and will join up with the other backbenchers to be led by the actor who plays Boris Johnson in trying to seize the votes of the fearful and wealthy.
If we're out, Cameron will stand down and PM Boris will name IDS as defence minister.

[Professor Bear]

I thought his comments about Cameron and Osborne deliberately targeting the working poor because they were a group that would never vote Tory was interesting (if true), but otherwise I just couldn't believe a word of what he was saying because of who was saying it.

[Modern Panther]

Cutting benefits for the most vulnerable was a good thing when I was doing it, because I'm a good person.  When Osborne does it its a bad thing, because he's a bad person. 

[Hawkmumbler]

Cutting benefits for the most vulnerable was a good thing when I was doing it, because I'm a good person.  When Osborne does it its a bad thing, because he's a bad person.

They're all a bunch of man children anyway.

[The Legendary Shark]

Tories' Disregard for the Law 'Legal Enough' Says Judge Dredd.

[Professor Bear]

The Telegraph exclusively reports that a shadowy cabal of Labour Party hard-left communists are meeting in secret to plot the downfall of the right wing of the party, and to that end have drawn up a list of MPs classifying them as "loyal" or "hostile" to Jeremy Corbyn.
I know I mock the right-wing media when they invent stories, but I actually like this one for its sheer whimsy.

[Steve Green]

I wondered what all that Dungeons and Dragons guff was at PMQs.

[Professor Bear]

By sheer coincidence, the story came just in time for PMQs.  Funny that.

[Steve Green]

What are the chances?

*rolls dice*

[The Legendary Shark]

Hang on, I need to consult the Minister Manual...