Suella Braverman - sacked as Home Secretary (p394)

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Apparently meant Greece and Turkey

Easy mistake to make.

Her Rwanda scheme was probably based in Uganda.

 

[hilts]

The low calibre of our politicians is truly astonishing.

This woman is (or rather was) relatively senior in the Tory Party. It's not like she's some obscure, backbench crank.

I wonder how many current politicians would have got into Attlee's Cabinet in 1945? Or Churchill's in 1940? Not many, I suspect. Unless they wanted a Minister for Counting Knives and Forks.

This is not a party-political comment. We do seem to have political pygmies across the piece. There must be a reason for this.

It's like 5 live employing people from the match day thread.

 

[hampshireblue]

Apparently meant Greece and Turkey

Well considering she was barely half way into the show, she had plenty of time to correct herself but no.

 

[Rory Bluelow]

The low calibre of our politicians is truly astonishing.

This woman is (or rather was) relatively senior in the Tory Party. It's not like she's some obscure, backbench crank.

I wonder how many current politicians would have got into Attlee's Cabinet in 1945? Or Churchill's in 1940? Not many, I suspect. Unless they wanted a Minister for Counting Knives and Forks.

This is not a party-political comment. We do seem to have political pygmies across the piece. There must be a reason for this.

It’s hard to understand. We don’t seem to have had any capable senior politicians since the Blair government. Brown was a formidable Chancellor but a disastrous, gaffe-prone PM. Johnson was one of the worst administrators imaginable. Least said about May, Truss etc the better. There seems to be zero talent around Starmer and he is beginning to look like he has the political instincts of Gordon Brown !
Braverman will presumably shift to Reform at some point.
Pygmies all. I’d fucking emigrate if I was younger.

 

[Vic]

The low calibre of our politicians is truly astonishing.

This woman is (or rather was) relatively senior in the Tory Party. It's not like she's some obscure, backbench crank.

I wonder how many current politicians would have got into Attlee's Cabinet in 1945? Or Churchill's in 1940? Not many, I suspect. Unless they wanted a Minister for Counting Knives and Forks.

This is not a party-political comment. We do seem to have political pygmies across the piece. There must be a reason for this.

It's a vicious circle. Poor politicians - lack of respect for politicians - even worse politicians. Not helped by abuse on social media (leading to real threats). Local politics may be worse, as people actually know the people they're giving abuse to (but hide behind pseudonyms) so getting candidates is getting harder.

 

[BrianW]

It's a vicious circle. Poor politicians - lack of respect for politicians - even worse politicians. Not helped by abuse on social media (leading to real threats). Local politics may be worse, as people actually know the people they're giving abuse to (but hide behind pseudonyms) so getting candidates is getting harder.

I must admit, I'd not be a councillor these days for any amount of £.

They get absolutely slagged off, and yet are on 24/7/365 call for any twat in the town and have zero security. (Unlike the PM, who is covered for life by armed cops.) You'd have to be - well, very enthusiastic. And have a hide like 20 rhinos in one.

 

[ganganvince]

Well considering she was barely half way into the show, she had plenty of time to correct herself but no.

Think she is a waste of space but if they were all shelved for mis speaking j raise you Sausages

 

[hampshireblue]

Think she is a waste of space but if they were all shelved for mis speaking j raise you Sausages

There is a big difference between making an unfortunate one word gaff as Starmer did whilst making a live speech and her stating and repeating it whilst sitting in a broadcasting studio with a remaining 2 hours to correct herself.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

The low calibre of our politicians is truly astonishing.

This woman is (or rather was) relatively senior in the Tory Party. It's not like she's some obscure, backbench crank.

I wonder how many current politicians would have got into Attlee's Cabinet in 1945? Or Churchill's in 1940? Not many, I suspect. Unless they wanted a Minister for Counting Knives and Forks.

This is not a party-political comment. We do seem to have political pygmies across the piece. There must be a reason for this.

The straightforward answer is career politicians. In the last century people used to do something and make something of themselves before entering politics in their mid to late 30s. Now, at best they do a couple of years in the City after finishing their PPE degree before entering politics.

 

[Vic]

The straightforward answer is career politicians. In the last century people used to do something and make something of themselves before entering politics in their mid to late 30s. Now, at best they do a couple of years in the City after finishing their PPE degree before entering politics.

It's still a minority (maybe 10%) who take the PPE - political work - MP career path. Fewer MPs are from the legal profession, and far fewer teachers - which I guess may be because councils used to give teachers time off to be councillors and no longer do, and a lot of MPs have cut their political teeth in local councils (and proved their worth so it's a plus point for getting selected as parliamentary candidates). The number of MPs from a manual labour background has plummeted.