This is the News!

[Leigh S]

My guess is the Tories will play the system to make sure Rishi gets through with Liz Truss to see off the threat of Penny Mordaunt, who would be the biggest threat to Starmer, but is also the "slightly" more moderate of the top three

[IndigoPrime]

She's no more moderate, having just thrown trans people under the bus. She has no principles and – like Truss – would be continuity Johnson in that regard. The danger is she's a much better liar than Johnson and at least appears to have convictions. My guess is she will win.

Of course, given how much the Tories pray at the altar of FPTP (and have fought to scrap multi-round voting for mayoral elections), Sunak should already be PM today. But what's forced on everyone else is somehow not good enough for the Tories. Again.

[The Mind of Wolfie Smith]

she's truly terrible.

the sad fact is, though, that she is by far the least terrible in this hard right freak show. she's a good performer too, though (of course this shouldn't matter but it does) - and so she will surely wipe the floor with starmer (unfortunately, she will also be able to go on and on about having been in the navy and having worked in romanian orphanages, while debating a grey knight who oversaw the cps becoming the travesty that it is today).

don't get me wrong. i can't stand her, but have you heard what the others are saying and promising?

[Tjm86]

She keeps going on about her Navy service but she was a reservist and hasn't been actively involved in several years now.  Trying to find out what role she served in seems to be a bit of a challenge too.  Closest I've been able to get is that she was stationed at HMS King Alfred in Portsmouth and has only ever been shore based.

The coyness is a little unusual in a politician.  Normally they like to blow their trumpet as loudly as possible.  There's a rather interesting little article from Portsmouth News that manages to conflate her time in the Defense role with her reservist service to give the impression that she has been actively involved in training Ukrainians.

As for the rest of the field ... oh f***!

[JayzusB.Christ]

Meanwhile, Fucker Carlson is hungrily swallowing the idea that Johnson was ousted for becoming 'woke' (whatever the shitting hell that's supposed to mean this week).  AAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/tucker-carlson-fox-boris-johnson-resignation-b2122367.html

[The Mind of Wolfie Smith]

so it's sunak v truss.

eat-out-to-help-out-and-die v stop-eating-french-cheese

ffs.

heaven help us all.

[Jim_Campbell]

It'll almost certainly be Truss. Which is simultaneously hilarious and horrifying — she's as unprincipled as Johnson, equally prepared to tell flat-out lies for even momentary political advantage, but with the added wrinkle that she's unbelievably fucking stupid, she makes Dominic Raab look like an intellectual.

The Tories might actually have done it, they may have found someone who'll be an even worse PM than Johnson, who took the "Worst PM in living memory" title from Theresa May, who in turn took it from David Cameron.

I suppose you have to admire their consistency...

[sheridan]

Matter of interest, why do you think the party faithful will pick Truss over Sunak?  Whether they want to admit it or not, as there are no white male candidates I'd imagine they're torn between voting non-male or non-white...

[Jim_Campbell]

Matter of interest, why do you think the party faithful will pick Truss over Sunak?  Whether they want to admit it or not, as there are no white male candidates I'd imagine they're torn between voting non-male or non-white...

I believe the opinion polling of Conservative members shows Truss at a substantial advantage over Sunak. Whether that's because they think's Sunak's damaged goods, they don't forgive him for being one of the primary movers in expelling Johnson, or they just straight-up don't want to vote for a brown person, I have no idea. Probably a mix of all three, TBH.

[Barrington Boots]

I must admit I thought Truss would be laughed out of the hustings early doors by the other MPs, virtue of a combination of her essentially being the Johnson-continuity candidate, being backed by known clowns like Dorres and Rees-Mogg, and being so incredibly stupid. Jim sums her up well in the post above and the fact that she's now likely to be our next PM is terrifying.
On the plus side, she's a charisma vacumn so I fancy her to lose the next election.

Matter of interest, why do you think the party faithful will pick Truss over Sunak?

It's not a cert, but Sunak has been hammered by the Johnson-loyalist press who seem to think it's all his fault. Looking at the way the negative press tanked Mordaunt's prospects in opinion polls, dropping her from front-runner to also ran in the minds of the Tory faithful, it looks good for her.
I'm pretty sure the racism thing comes into it too.

[Funt Solo]

Most Tories, I expect, would like a bit of a dullard in charge (see as evidence: Boris) - all the better to manipulate.

[The Legendary Shark]

It baffles me why people put up with it.

[Leigh S]

Standing by this and my original beleif we are looking at Truss - should have bet on it, as its the only money I'm likely to make out of her Premiership.

My guess is the Tories will play the system to make sure Rishi gets through with Liz Truss to see off the threat of Penny Mordaunt, who would be the biggest threat to Starmer, but is also the "slightly" more moderate of the top three

[The Mind of Wolfie Smith]

i agree with cummings (a novel experience!) that johnson wants truss to win, confident that she's so mad that it will all end in tears - and then the racist buffoon will be back. "hasta la vista" as he signed off today. he will be back. trump style.

also, amazing that the tories always choose the worst possible leader and yet they still keep winning and ruling.

[Jim_Campbell]

It baffles me why people put up with it.

The alternatives are bloody revolution or moving to another country. At this point, honestly, I'm open to either.