Only five MPs voted against passing the Climate Change Act in 2008. Before the last election, over Tory 130 MPs belonged to the Conservative Environment Network, or over half of all Conservative backbenchers. The star of the Centre for Policy Studies’ 2022 Margaret Thatcher Conference on Growth was Octopus Energy Group CEO Greg Jackson, who told nodding heads in the audience that “it’s absolutely unarguably cheaper to make electricity from renewables than from fossil fuels”.
That wasn’t true then and it isn’t true now, but conformity to the green ideology was enforced with an iron fist. Incredibly, Liz Truss gave the job of “reviewing” her climate policy to Chris Skidmore, the greenest of the green Tories, who duly delivered what the blob wanted: “Mission Zero”. With the honourable exception of the late Nigel Lawson’s Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), the Tory intellectual apparatus in SW1 has kept a pretty low profile on the biggest issue of the day.
ISTR that the “only five” were the only ones in The Commons at the time who had scientific or engineering backgrounds! All the “arts grads” went with “the feelz”…
One of many reasons to never vote Tory. Christ, and perhaps not even the strongest one. That’s what a fucking ruinous bunch of cunts they were.
A popular theme amongst those still clinging to the rotting corpse of Blue Labour is that we should have voted Tory to save Britain from Labour and to mock Reform supporters who moan about the vote-splitting potential of Restore etc.
Thing is, had the Tories been elected in 2024, we’d have been about 5% better off. Reform wasn’t splitting the right wing vote, it was the only right wing party. Sunak’s Tories were in favour of big government, net zero and mass immigration, all of which were encouraged by him in office. They back-pedalled a bit in the election campaign naturally, but voters remembered “net migration in the tens of thousands’, “bonfire of the quangos’ and sundry other lies.
You can get net migration in the tens of thousands by having 10 million Brits leaving and 10,010,000 rapists arriving.
Now even the God of Green Finance has rowed back.
“The pendulum moves all the time. Do I believe the pendulum five years ago was too far? Yes” Fink said this week.
“Pendulum”?! What a euphemism. The word Larry Fink is looking for is “carnage”. Or perhaps “despair”, because that is what belief in global warming has caused to those on the receiving end of green policies, such as the ceramics workers of Denby.
They’ll never say ‘sorry’. That’s the rule. ‘others carried out their orders with more zealotry that required. They’ve been shot for damaging our glorious green revolution’
I have a lifelong desire to see the destruction of the Labour Party. This blog post reminds me that if the price of that is the destruction of the Conservative Party there’ll be no great need to mourn. In fact I could enjoy a second beer.
Better get stocked up with drinks. I’ve got a bottle of bubbly in the fridge for when TTK goes. It’s not real champagne, but then he’s not a real prime minister.
Be careful what you wish for – one of the more likely candidates to replace 2TK is Ed Millibrain. That would give little cause for celebration.
Its was even worse than claimed, at least according to Claude (my emphasis):
Chope is a barrister, Lilley studied economics and Tyrie did PPE.
What really distinguishes them is their unwillingness to be sheep and follow the flock.
You’d think it would be good that all parties vote for a policy Recent examples have shown that it isn’t good at all. These things have to be opposed. Properly with the arguments against the popular position made. That’s what the opposition is for.,
And just a remender. When they voted in October 2008 snow was falling outside. Snow in the middle of London in October. Climate change indeed.
Indeed. It’s the job of the opposition to oppose and look for flaws Nothing good can ever come from 600+ politicians agreeing with themselves.
When I was copyright lobbying in 2010, the attack on copyright was proclaimed, not least by that cunt Putnam, to have “strong cross-party support”. A person of my acquaintance with shrewd political experience then pointed out to me that anything which has “strong cross-party support” is invariably a stitch-up featuring a good deal of personal gain for most of those supporting it.
And this is what we find.
This all goes back to is the Cameroons centralising the party. So instead of local associations choosing candidates, Central Office started interfering in selection, like the Cameron A List. Which were nearly all Lib Dem-ish metrosexual types, and a few brown women.
That old association thing had the benefit of creating a set of MPs that represented the UK. Hampstead, Swindon and North Yorkshire have different perspectives on things. The first might use trains more, the second is doing manufacturing, and people drive a lot in North Yorkshire. If you get London gayboys in all of them, you miss that perspective, that balance. The association in Ripon would have screened out someone who loves choo-choos in favour of a bloke with a Jag.
The split into Conservatives and Reform is because all those non-gayboy places didn’t get heard. Wellingborough or Maidstone likes a Peter Bone/Ann Widdecombe type. Which is why both are now Conservative marginals, because so many voters have defected to Reform.
This is also why so many association types quit the Conservatives for Reform. Fuck doing a load of free work for the party and having zero say in who gets to be the local MP.
Fuck doing a load of free work for the party and having zero say in who gets to be the local MP.
I’m in general agreement, but will Reform be any better? AIUI they’ve got an even tighter control on candidate selection.
They have to, to keep the nutters out, but their selections are more likely to align with the views of Wellingborough, Maidstone and North Yorkshire than those of metro-gayboys.
to keep the nutters out
Strange how I seem to be corresponding with so many nutters in the UK, now. Or is nutter just code for a lot of opinions which are contrary to the leftish status quo? Like a lot of people want the Channel sailors actually stopped. By whatever means it takes & fuck hurt feelings.
Reform has to take care not to select people who are too easily demolished or misrepresented, and instead choose those who actually have the potential to be effective politicians and administrators rather than mere fulminators. They haven’t won yet and still have the full force of media and party dirty tricks to oppose.
People in politics are far too concerned about media management. Most of them haven’t got it into their heads how tiny most of the media is now, and within that, how many people likely to vote for them are even looking at or believing The Guardian, and finally, everyone votes on aggregate. I’m sure there’s the odd twat councillor in Reform, but how much does that bend me towards another party?
Most people who get wound up with a mispronounciation or the use of the wrong words are people who are never going to vote for you anyway.
I’m not so sure. Look how easily the masses were swayed by the media during covid. A person with half a dozen functioning braincells should have seen through the utter bullshit the authorities were coming out with, yet all the stupid rules were very popular, because people believe what the talking heads on the TV tell them. Most of them aren’t out on the wilder edges of t’internet getting real information (and a lot of tinfoil) and having to sort one from t’other.
Reform need to not frighten the horses (or sheep). Once in power they can unleash hell for all I care, but they won’t get into power unless they play the PR game first.
Wolves in sheep’s clothing basically.
Reform have done themselves considerable self harm by accepting in a bunch of failed Tory MP’s who most people feel should never hold political office ever again.
Jenrick in particular seems to have been a bit of an own goal. His defection has pissed off a lot of people in Reform, especially at the top as he’s walked in to a coveted position, and at the same time removed a lot of leadership psycho drama from the Tories.
My issue with this thing of hiring former Conservatives because of “experience” or “skill” is that most of them have just held posts, been seat warmers. Having met some Conservative MPs in my brief time as a member, I thought most of them were bluffers.
Jenrick’s a former solicitor, then an MP for 12 years, and can you name a single thing that he achieved in terms of improving anything when in the ministries of health, housing, immigration?
Braverman again, a lawyer, and what did she deliver as Home Secretary?
One of the things I liked about the local UKIP candidate is that he ran a pub. The Conservative was a barrister. Running a pub is more suited to being a minister because it’s something operational. You can wear a nice suit and say the right things, but delivery matters. If Reform are going to last more than a term, they need people who can plan, come up with realistic goals and deliver on them.
Zawahi’s about the only one that I think might be worth having because he ran some businesses before he was an MP.
I have a horrible feeling that if the CCA was voted on again today the result wouldn’t be much different. Maybe a few dozen might vote against, but Lilley, Widdecombe et al are all long gone.
And Mad Ed is the most popular Labour MP among the grass roots.
I just had Green Party canvassers at my door asking how I would vote in the May Scottish elections.
It gave me great pleasure to say “Anthing that is anti-Green and anti-SNP. I will be voting tactically against both. ”
They were quite shocked.
Why would any MP vote against a policy that ensured they would get lots more of peoples money to spunk on their own friends and pet projects?
Because when the lights go out, MPs will be eaten.
But most of them are too stupid to realise this.
the Tory intellectual apparatus in SW1
What intellectual apparatus? Srsly? Who are they?
When was the last time you heard of the Tories having something valuable to say about anything important?
When Miriam Cates brings up something important, like “uh, guys, we’re dying out, anybody want to talk about that?” the other Tories roll their eyes and snigger at her.
Meanwhile, the intellectual party brought us the Online Harms Act, and went into the last election promising to bring back national service and stop centenarians from smoking. Kemi promises to slightly reduce interest rates on student loans.
Serious people, they are not.
“it’s absolutely unarguably cheaper to make electricity from renewables than from fossil fuels”.
Unarguable as in shut up and pay me subsidies, he explained.