106 Comments

Very funny LSO, too long for most people but very funny, and mostly spot on. Yes Kemi is the best hope for the Tories, well, there's not much competition.

And YES you're right about Nigel, it's all about him and his APPALLING inability to delegate, to form a Shadow Cabinet of strong like minded men and women. Where is Reform's Economics Spokesman? Immigration Spokesman? Health Spokesman? Green Issues Bullsh*t Spokesman? Protect Children from Leftist Gender Paedo Poison Spokesman? Crime off the bleeding scale Spokesman etc etc and in each case of 'man' I mean 'woman' of course. Reform needs to look like a TEAM of hard hitters, not a one man band, Nigel.

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Thanks. Maybe a bit long but there was a lot to say. And people seem to be happy to read some longer pieces. I just write what I think it takes. No one is under obligation to read them!

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I agree, and it is an issue. Has he been a one man band for too long? Possibly. I see him as a disrupter rather than a leader, but, like Boris, he wins votes. Let us hope they build up a decent team for the next election.

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I agree Jeremy. Maybe his most effective role is as a disrupter. I worry as I say in the piece, that splitting the vote is a recipe for even more years of this Labour government. I also worry that if they fall, and Starmer looks like he could, they will leap to the left, and still have years remaining in power

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We shall see whether a Muslim party rises up to split the left.

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That would be an interesting outcome. It would do the left much good and it might make a lot of people dislike muslims more than they already do.

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Nigel needs to stop poncing about and start to fight to win MASSIVELY. Attacking the Tories to knock them out and to become the main opposition to loony Labour was Stage 1. Stage 2, very urgent now, is to utterly destroy Labour (not difficult, they are idiots) while there's just enough time.

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Agreed, it’s not as if any of this is important.

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I agree as usual with most of what you write. I wanted Badenoch to win not Truss in 2022, but since have read Dorries' book and am concerned about Badenoch's links to the shadowy cabal rotting away at the heart of the Tories - Dougie, Munira and the rich swingers including Gove. I'm a bit sceptical about her real loyalties and she has also been the most resolute about ruling out a rapprochement with Farage, which isn't helpful.

Turning to Farage, I'm very disappointed about Reform's cowardice on the Tommy Robinson issue. To anyone who still thinks Tommy is far right and deserves what he gets, please buy a couple of tons of popcorn and watch a) his documentary 'Silenced' which he is being locked up for showing, but which anyone with an iota of honesty will see is truthful and shocking, and b) the two interviews that Jordan Peterson and his wife have done with Tommy R in the past 4 months. Taken together these are a cast iron red pill / blue pill moment.

The failure of the establishment (political, legal, media etc.) to safeguard the country from mass unassimilated immigration, and in particular from Islamism, is extraordinary. Tommy Robinson has been calling this out bravely for a long time. He is no right wing racist as the smears portray him - his message is actually very similar to that of Ayaan Hirsi Ali if you examine them closely. The elephant in the room is the establishment failure and then the perversity of the establishment corrupting our judicial processes to imprison Tommy Robinson when he is speaking the truth to the rotten parasitical injustice that we have been incubating for the past 27 years+.

I was in London anyway on Saturday and so I went on Unite the Kingdom march and then left for my meeting and bumped into the counter march by mistake. Call them the Tommy march and the Stop march:

1. The 'Stop' march felt more organised - loud drum sections and loads of placards amongst all their marchers. Some of the placards had aggressive messages, e.g. "Smash the right". Several face coverings.

The 'Tommy' march felt more relaxed by comparison, no face coverings, no feeling that people had been bussed in and regimented with placards by a top-down organisation. More of a free expression of happy-liberty-kind of march.

2. Flags - the Tommy march had a large number of flags but the predominant one was the Union Jack, followed by St George's Cross, then Scottish, Irish, Welsh, USA, Israel etc. etc. etc.

The 'Stop' march on the other hand was dominated by Palestine flags. i.e. the regimented ones were marching under the banner of a country that has been ruled by the martial law of a proscribed terrorist organisation.

Even based on those simple facts above it should be obvious that the Telegraph should support the Unite the Kingdom march, but they don't. They still call the march 'far right' and insinuate violent conduct because Churchill's statue was fenced off (clearly a red herring). It's abject cowardice to adhere to the woke agenda so slavishly. It's also disappointing that other journals don't cover it. No surprise re Spectator, Unherd has been getting weaker so no surprise there, but Spiked is a big let down as I thought Tom and Brendan were stronger than that. You have to go to sites like Free Speech Backlash and Conservative Woman to get fair coverage. The Guardian and Independent are of course biased in their reporting if they mention it at all.

So Reform's disavowal of Tommy Robinson and 'that lot' is also a huge betrayal. The right needs a proper awakening and I suspect a new leader to take on Labour in 2029 (or even before if 2TK, Reeves et al continue to crash the country as spectacularly as they are managing to date). Badenoch is probably only a short-term caretaker. New unifying person needed to roll-back the woke and run Britain on small state and free speech etc. principles. No idea who at the moment!

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Thanks so much for that clear and insightful comment Alex. I agree e with you about Kemi.. these are areas to worry about. We need to keep an eye on it. I’m also worried about Gove taking on the Spectator, a publication I have loved, though not always agreed with, under Fraser Nelson.

I think people are beginning to reappraise TR at the moment. And I’d put myself in that camp. I’ve never had much time for him and I find his ‘vibe’ quite off putting. (Please don’t come back at me on this, it’s just an opinion, and one that’s shared by a lot of people, and I don’t want to get lost down that particular rabbit hole.) Also. I think he’s been in contempt of court and the law, being as it is, is obliged to punish him, as it has, for that.

Having said that I do feel he has been targeted by lawfare. The march you went on seemed entirely peaceful to me, and was of course, under reported and dismissed by the legacy press, while the ‘counter protest’ seemed as ever to be a lots balaclavas and intimidation. I think people in this country need to be able to express their feelings about mass immigration etc without being branded ‘far right thugs’, I’ve written about that before.

I’m not sure TR is the best front man for that, but as ever the left is in danger of willing the monsters of their own imagination into being.

I plan to listen to the Jordan Peterson interview and go from there. And make up my own mind.

Thanks again.

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I completely understand your perspective on TR and the I think the journey you mention is an apt description of what I am on and what I hope many more Brits will explore.

For convenience I've copied the links here as Google/YT etc don't always make it easy to search for TR articles which are positive (which echoes what Tom Armstrong of Free Speech Backlash recently wrote: "I have just been researching an article I want to do on him (TR) and believe me, google really, really, makes it hard to find anything remotely supportive. One of the worst I read was in Spiked, dripping with distaste and disingenuity").

First Peterson interview (Jul24): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnhwBoFxaDI

Second Peterson interview (Sep24): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv0TW2LF_dE

And for anyone else who wants to form their own opinion about 'Silenced', this is the link I think- https://t.co/HKIBPsuZTA (it is now being more and more posted on X by others - I am hoping it is a little bit of a 'Je suis Tommy' moment in the face of Hate not Hope's threats).

I agree that strictly speaking TR was in contempt of court for showing 'Silenced' in July. However - when the parasite has eroded the State to the point where it perverts it's own standards and launches corrupt lawfare to suppress some of the more horrific symptoms of the parasitical erosion (rape gangs etc.), then I think it is incumbent on us as decent British citizens to protest against the woke-fuelled wrong-headedness and that is simply what TR has been doing.

Anyway, enjoy the journey and the popcorn!

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Totally agree about Tommy - I've watched both his films and the Peterson interviews and he comes across as a very sincere, passionate, dedicated and extremely brave man. Wrt Unherd, although I've noticed increasing moans about the calibre of their articles recently, you may not have seen their latest one about Tommy, where although some comments were critical of the article, the overwhelming majority were 100% supportive of Tommy.

https://unherd.com/2024/10/the-dangerous-martyrdom-of-tommy-robinson/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=02bac3a7ec-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_10_28_09_56&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-02bac3a7ec-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

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Unherd has gone a bit downhill recently Alexei. It’s a bit like the Free Press, it’s sort of reverted to being a bit Guardian-y. And I don’t mean to sort of slag them off dismissively, they have both been excellent, balanced and bold in the past. I think Bari Weiss made a huge positive impact at first and I still really admire her. Now they’re both a bit tepid maybe.

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Thanks for the link to that Unherd article Alexei, I hadn't seen it. Found it v interesting and I've made a couple of comments below.

First a quick mention for a new article which gives an excellent and fair summary of Tommy Robinson which I highly recommend to anyone looking to understand the man and what is really happening with him -

https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/article/prisoner-starring-tommy-robinson

I initially thought the Unherd article by Simon Cottee was good - in part I think because my expectation of Unherd has gone downhill in the past year or so, much as LSO commented too.

On reflection I now think it is a decent work in progress, for an academic who is at least on the journey to realising how Tommy Robinson has been misrepresented and persecuted, but doesn't want to fully leave the bunker of elite opprobrium for Tommy yet.

A few statements from the article I disagreed with:

1. "Where Robinson goes wrong, however, is his tendency to paint all migrants with the same toxic brush"

- It is very clear from Tommy's interviews with Petersons etc. that this is completely false and that he is certainly not a racist. He sees the real issue as being the unassimilated Islamist movement, to ignore and ultimately erode British culture and freedoms and usher in Sharia law etc. This is a very similar argument to the one which Ayaan Hirsi Ali makes so eloquently.

2. "Robinson’s chief problem is his tendency to elide his own personal grievances with the political woes of the people he claims to speak for. The draconian severity with which the authorities put down this summer’s riots is synonymous in his mind with what he sees as his own tyrannical persecution by the British state."

- TR's grievances are manifold and clearly hugely material. The article appears to trivialise them a little which is unjust. And in many ways it is fair to draw a parallel between TR's grievances and those of a gas-lit British public which has long felt disquiet about unassimilated mass immigration, and which has been assured in the past 13 years that that would be fixed, but which has been let down time and time again by our governing elite with particularly ugly consequences for victims of the grooming gangs and other such serious offences. The article was of course written before the shocking revelation that the government knew that the Southport attacker was an extremist, proto- or full Jihadist, and yet they actively camouflaged any such link to the Islamist cause.

3. "And if he is jailed this week, he will be able to bathe in the musky smell of martyrdom and hope to return from prison with even greater renown and credibility."

- Urban Scoop reported yesterday that the governor of TR's prison (Belmarsh) is either offering TR general ward (which means he will be attacked and possibly killed) or onto the child sex offenders block which he can't accept morally and which would besmirch his reputation further. This underlines the difficulty prison gives TR, as he movingly describes in the Petersons interviews. Again the author of the article is a bit glib and frivolous about an incredibly serious (and unfair) threat to TR's liberty and life here.

I've gone on too long but will end my assessment of the Simon Cottee article with one of the comments at the end by someone with the excellent Ronseal handle of 'Unherd Reader' which I think contextualises the article well, if perhaps not giving enough credit (as they did in a previous comment to be fair) for the progress that the article does represent for the journey from neo-liberal woke-ism to enlightenment rationality:

"A well crafted article that subtly underplays the enormity of the problems of the modern version of ‘multiculturalism’ and wrongly purports to show balance. Lets be clear, If immigrants (legal or illegal) do not share the existing values of the British culture then it is correct to assert that the UK is sliding into the cesspit of ‘Lebanonisation’ . A cesspit, by the way, which will be impossible to recover from. The article simplifies the devastation of Rotherham and claims that young people in Rotherham were ‘sexually harassed’ …No… over 8000 young people were sexually groomed and subjected to rape. Only eight men were charged. One man for every 1000 victims. Let that sink in on multiple levels. Tommy Robinson for all his flaws sums up the absolute frustration that the majority feel with the gross stupidity of open borders. The bigger shame is that the silent majority who are frustrated say nothing and do nothing to stop this slide into the abyss."

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The root problem of the Conservative Party since about 2000 is that it has ceased to be rooted in any consistent set of principles. In its desperation to beat the seemingly unbeatable Blair and get back into office at any cost it adopted a smorgasbord of random policies, largely picked as crumbs from the Blair table, and went to the extent of changing its candidates to an equally random bunch with less and less evidence of conservative principle between them. The present debacle is the result.

I’ve been a fan of Kemi since she made her maiden speech in the House of Commons and sensed that she would in due course be the future of the Party. Why? Because it seems to me that she will be the first leader since Thatcher who has a political philosophy rooted in principles rather than being an opportunistic consumer of the aforementioned smorgasbord. If you get the principles right, and I believe she has, then the right policies will follow.

Of course principles are not enough. You need to have the courage of a lion and the force of character to push your agenda in the face of the howling of the liberal establishment. The last leader of the party with these characteristics was of course Thatcher. It remains to be seen whether Kemi will have the courage of the lion or the timidity of a mouse. But she’s been the only candidate to offer a scintilla of hope that she may be the real deal. She certainly doesn’t care about upsetting people, which is a good start.

I’m not a member (I resigned the day the mask mandate was introduced) so don’t have a vote, but can see myself rejoining if she lives up to my hopes. It will certainly be fun seeing her duff up the useless Starmer.

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I think you are spot on Paul. I was also impressed with her maiden speech. She certainly seems to have the character. Whether she has the conviction to follow through with proper conservative policies, and not just performatively rail against the ‘woke’ remains to be seen. Many, like Jeremy just below here, can point to policy areas where she came up short. Not removing the 4000 EU laws from the statute books because it was ’too hard’ is my initial contribution to that side of the debate …..

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I actually have sympathy with her on the issue of sweeping away 4000 EU laws. Yes, it would no doubt have given every red blooded Brexiteer a visceral thrill on Day 1 but we would have looked like the fools that Remainers took us for on Day 10 when chaos inevitably ensued.

By citing 4,000 laws you point to the problem. For half a century EU law had stuck its tentacles into every nook and cranny of our statute book. Amid the crap that offends our Common Law (not to mention Common Sense) there are no doubt laws that we would have introduced anyway. And there are other genuinely home grown laws that are interdependent on the EU inherited corpus. It’s a mess that requires careful unpicking.

I’m afraid that leaving the EU was inevitably a long term project taking years (I always assumed a decade) where we could at leisure review the inheritance, consider its fitness and desirability and then amend or repeal as seen fit. Kemi was quite right to point out that a bonfire on some arbitrary near term automatic expiry date would have been a disaster. She started that measured process and it is to her credit that she resisted the appetite for the bonfire.

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Fair point Paul. I wish she had made it at the time!

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Er, she did!

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Ok. My mistake then! Apologies Kemi! 😢

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She may well have principles and dtermination to push them through, but she can be rude to people, and is dismissive of Farage.

This is not a good sign as the Right may have to cooperate to eliminate this disastrous government in the next GE.

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Yes antony. I think a splitting the right is exactly what Labour are hoping for. And the cack handed Conservatives might well hand them exactly that.

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I don't agree very much with her politics but I agree that she is an impressive politician. I think she had to appeal to the right to get elected leader (same as Jenrick) but I hope she moderates a little but keeps her political fortitude. I think that will appeal to a lot of good people and might be good for us all.

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She voted for the Energy Act 2023. Her record on immigration is mixed. I remain to be convinced.

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She has also called NZ unilateral economic disarmament so all is not necessarily lost on that front.

She may disappoint but she’s the best that is on offer.

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Thats the same mindset that has supported the red/blue Uniparty since Thatcher was deposed; "vote for us because the others will be even worse"

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I’d like to see a positive agenda too antony. I think we all would.

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Agreed.

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NEVER TRUST A TORY, EVER AGAIN - what's this, give them ANOTHER chance??? Fool me once...

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Hi LSO.

As much as I am a real fan of Mr Farage, I, like you, remain unconvinced that he has that certain 'je ne sais quoi' which would project him all the way to being the Prime Minister. He absolutely has that ability to get Reform into the eyeline of the public, but I fear he doesn't have the requisite 'Statesmanship' aura that the PM needs. I feel sorry for Ms Truss. I was delighted that she beat the others to the top job the last time round - especially that self appointed 'shoe in', Rishi. She was really dethroned in the most egregious and dishonest way possible - and if the general public knew the financial crash was orchestarted by Rishi and his fan club of ankers et al, there would be riots on the streets. well, not now because Stammer would have them all locked up for dissent.

But Ms Truss also failed to project that PM 'Statesmanship' aura required. I still believe reform have the wherewithall and the growing public support to get someone to Number 10 - but unfortunately not our Nige. Nige is a king-maker, not Royalty. They do have royalty in their ranks though, well, political royalty. Zia Yusuf. he is a very well spoken and highly informed polititian without actually being a polititian. his attributes, some of which actually shouldn't have to be attributes, are deeply embedded, and credible; he is a very successful businessman, so has knowledge of and backgound in business which undermines the credibility of 99% of the Labour MPs, he is very well spoken, and speaks from deep seated knowledge and understanding - again 99% of labour MPs come unstuck here, he is calm and maintains an air of unbridled superiority over those who simply pretend to be quality stock, and is from a minority. I appreiate this last point is unnecessary, but it is 1005 considered by the parties as they plan to garner votes.

There is nothing that the vast majority of the current 650 MPs can match him at - and potentially zero who hold all these attributes as well as he does. just my thoughts really, but they might need to get Zia in to 'soon to be vacated seats up north' as a potential MP so he can start to move towards the forefront of Reform's public image, and get his credibility and votability in the public's eye.

Nige will get reform to the table, Zia will get Reform into Number 10.

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Very interesting take Sean. I’m not that familiar with Zia. But I think it’s a shame that they ditched Ben Habib. I don’t know what happened there but he’s much missed I think.

TBH I’m not sure any third party can get all the way to No 10. I think the system is just not set up that way. The great thing about Nigel over the years is how he has managed to push his agenda from the outside, ‘keeping the Tories honest’ as it were. I worry that now he’s within the system he’s neither one thing or another. A viable third party in a two party system, or an outsider who can bring pressure while remaining untainted by the usual party political shenanigans.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see. But maybe just waiting to find out is no longer good enough! Thanks for taking the time Sean.

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Farage is the only politician I know that campaigned to put himself out of a job - one with massive remuneration and perks. That must count for something.

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Great point Zeb.

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Yes. He seems unique in that he has no desire for political power in itself.

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The problem is no matter who is in power we are beholden to financialisation and the hollowing out that that has done.

The Truss budget is a prime example. An actual attempt to ease the burden on business and to start to strip away the stupid regulations including IR35. But because the public pensions had loaded up on leveraged gilts thanks to BoE policy, and that the BoE had no backstop for when gilt yields rose rapidly, they were a prime target for the markets. The same as with Japan two week previously.

But it also served to install Rishi so the MSM gladly didn't put the LDIs front and centre (as in this is a lot of your pensions going to shit because the BoE forced them to look for yield in all the riskiest places). Nor that it was international banks that sold them the stuff.

Any policy and its success are going to be dictated by interest rates and how much can be loaned and turned into profit. Which is not a bad thing, it's just that we have so few indigenous industries nor the energy security that we are so sensitive to small changes and not even bold ones.

Labour's nonsense this week is already making gilt yields rise and they are slightly higher than when Hunt was chancellor, at which level was higher than even the worst of the Truss/Kwarteng budget.

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Yes yes yes. It’s so obvious how the same economic ‘policy’ - borrow loads of money, spend loads of money, - is being spun, now the ‘good guys’ are in charge.

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Heard Kemi being interviewed on Times radio this morning. She may well have some good policies but she comes across so condescending and patronising that she’s just not going to connect with voters. I can’t see her lasting until the next GE.

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The liberals will purge whichever wins. Apparently they went to the 1922 committee as soon as they found out the result of the last vote and articulated to them they refuse to align behind them because they're 'far right'!!!!!. They said they were going to plan a no confidence vote.

I think everyone is too far ahead of themselves with this. The liberal party will never deliver conservatism, they haven't for years and they're clearly not going to now either. The question is 'when' will they purge before or after the GE??? They might shut up before to gain power but they'll make their move immediately after and we'll be back to square one. I sound like the left now 'never trust a Tory! (Liberal).

I'm still not voting for them.

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I can easily see your prediction coming true Elizabeth. I wish the fifth column Lib Dems would quisling back to their own party.

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I can see you being right JB.🙄 I’ll have a listen.

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I loved the ECHR bit. But I actually think leavingit would be good because it would free the government from having to write legislation that takes it into account. That means that if judges start finding other bogus reasons they can be slapped down because of a law that says you can't take XXX into account for leniency

I think I like both Farage and Bradenoch. If Farage can do things right he'll find a way to do a takeover of the right wing part of the Tories and consign the rest to the Lib Dims where they belong. Done right that;s probably a winning combo, but it will be quite a trick to pull off

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Thanks Francis. All fair points. Re the ECHR I think we’ve been here before with Brexit. These things are not panaceas though they are sold to us as such. The issues are much deeper than that. I agree about the Lib Dem!

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I think leaving the ECHR is a necessary condition but it isn't the only thing. WIthout leaving it getting the courts to enforce deportation is next to impossible, but it's not a magic bullet on its own. Same as Brexit as we saw with the useless May

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Loved this. My concern over Kemi, is she was part of the cabinet that failed to do anything other than increase our taxes and oversee a massive spike in net immigration. I am hoping that it is not all talk, and that previously she was bound by cabinet collective responsibility and will now walk the walk as the leader.

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Thanks Dean. Hope so. But so far. Very much a damp squib. I haven’t written her off quite yet, that would be unfair so soon, but I am reaching for my pen!

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Very entertaining and a somewhat depressing read however I agree with your very humorous characterisation. I have always liked Kemi, despite a few missteps, as she is intelligent, eloquent and courageous.

Great post!

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Thanks Celtic Rose. I have long been a fan of Kemi. But so far she has proved a disappointment. I know it’s early days but she should be out there everyday shouting about how terrible this government is.

So many open goals. She’s back hiding in the dressing room. (Weird metaphor me I suddenly realise-I don’t even like football 🤣)

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I absolutely agree and I do hope she settles into her role and rediscovers her voice! There is a fighter in there - now I can hear Rocky playing in the background.

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🤣 Let’s hope she finds her inner Balboa.

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From the ashes comes humour rarely experienced these days! Top assessment.

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Nice account. I enjoyed it.

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Brilliant article, I had no idea that a Tory leadership campaign could ever be made funny! My congratulations!

I like Kemi Badenoch for all the reasons you give, and if I had a vote would probably vote for her. The Gove angle though worries me a lot. That’s an unlikely pairing, at least on the surface, and it makes her less trustworthy. Obviously she’s a politician and is therefore inherently untrustworthy, but you know what I mean.

As for Tugendhat always banging on about being in the Army, I thought soldiers were supposed to be tough, but look at him. I know, books and covers and all that, but still. I can’t imagine some Russian paratrooper who looks like he was descended from Ivan Drago would be remotely nervous looking at Tugendhat waving his bayonet about. It’d probably just fall off his rifle.

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Thanks so much R. Very kind words. Agree completely about Kemi and Tugendhat. Kemi’s in now, let’s see if she just morphs into another Lib Dem Tory. I really hope not.

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A pleasure.

Yes indeed, I fear she might well do exactly that, but like you I really hope not.

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Brilliant, love it, you have a new subscriber.

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Thanks Dave. Welcome aboard.

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That was a hilarious read and I'm not interested at all in the Tory leadership contest! Thank you!

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Thank you Helen!

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Neither Britain nor the Conservative Party will be saved by a Nigerian woman who plays identity politics. LSO is right: no Tory can be female or black enough. This is a game they cannot win and it is toxic for the country, so flip the table and play different game. Fourteen years of Conservatives playing in the Blairite paradigm led to their biggest defeat ever and the country in a mess. Badenoch is a continuity candidate who is not talking about structural reform to the party to reverse Cameron’s candidate lists, restoring selection to local associations, leading to candidates, MPs and a party who reflect the country and its people. She is also part of the Spectator clique. How have they done? Let’s see: Boris Johnson; Michael Gove; James Forsyth, Sunak’s best man and chief advisor; Mary Wakefield, Mrs Cummings; and so on. They are the problem, not the solution and she is their candidate.

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Harsh Dan. But you could be right. I still prefer her at this stage. The Gove connection is worrying tho.

I’ve always liked the Spectator. Even if it is a bit soft in parts. But I worry now Gove is in charge.

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