Dear West Country Voices, Like many others up and down the land, I was delighted by the news of Boris Johnson’s resignation. It has taken long enough. However, my euphoria has rapidly dissipated as I have forced myself to witness the pathetic farce of the leadership race. Even referring to it as a ‘race’ with […]
Accidently just watched Liz Padded Hernia Belt and her leadership bid speech. It looked like it was filmed through her tights on a Nokia and if some eager young SpAD had plonked the instructions to a combi-boiler in front of Truss, she would have given it equal credence. A curiously and suddenly profound Northernness, peppered […]
Mr Rushforth acknowledges that Brexit is not ‘done’ and had, in the great tradition of the adaptable Mr Johnson, two versions of his cartoon – one with Brexit crossed off and one with it not. Johnson certainly f**ked it up, along with everything else he touched. Will the new leader and PM consider it done […]
“In 2021, the environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies was the worst we have seen for years. Measured against our four-star rating, most of them went the wrong way: down. Four companies (Anglian, Thames, Wessex, Yorkshire Water) were rated only 2 stars, which means they require significant improvement. Two (Southern and South-West […]
If the Conservative Party truly believed in the democratic robustness and fairness of the first past the post system, it would surely use it for its own leadership elections. Rishi Sunak would have won in the first round and it would all be done and dusted. We plebs must be happy with a system which […]
Here we go again. Like the shoe-stretchers my mum got me for Christmas, the Tories are the stinky gift that keeps on giving. Let’s dive in… 1. Previously on The Week In Tory: thermonuclear tribunal magnet Boris Johnson battled to survive, as Steve Baker told the BBC “I believe the Conservative Party is the only […]
Sometimes a small issue can cast a big shadow. It just depends how much light you shine on it. A small story can act as a signpost to much larger concerns. This is certainly one of those. In June 2022 a team of demolition vehicles entered a small village wood in Highcliffe, Dorset. They arrived […]
There is no question that the fates of Boris Johnson and Brexit are inextricably linked. It is impossible to imagine that the UK would have abandoned its 40-year relationship with the EU had it not been for this young journalist making his name through inventing nonsense stories about the Eurocracy and for the same man, […]
So, the Pincher lies were what did it. They were the final straw which made some MPs at long, long last say ‘enough is enough.’ Not the towering mountain of Brexit lies. The ‘Get Brexit Done’ lie. Not the threats to the Good Friday Agreement and the breaking of international law. Not the litany of […]
Here in South East Cornwall, we have a mirror behaviour of Johnson’s attitude and arrogance as our so-called MP Sheryll Murray goes about not doing her business. A combination of sycophantic adoration for Bozo and almost total neglect of her constituents has enraged local people of mixed political beliefs (including Tories) and prompted them to […]
“Let him get on with the job…he’s a breath of fresh air” The political sections of our national media (TV, radio, newspapers, social media) are now dominated by one topic: how much the PM knew about the behaviour of Chris Pincher MP when he, Johnson, appointed Pincher as Deputy Whip. If we the UK voters say it’s […]
‘Stop it now, get up from your desks, walk away, no more.” In an extraordinary call this serving civil servant urges his colleagues who are facilitating Boris Johnson’s ‘lies’ to quit [and tells us not to underestimate the danger posed by this prime minister and complicit government. We are on the way to becoming a […]
Dear Sheryll Murray MP I am writing to you with grave concerns that the government is going to remove special Covid sickness rules for NHS staff in the coming days. My fellow NHS colleagues have had to work tirelessly against a background of a decade of poor investment to fight a pandemic. Boris Johnson and […]
Steve Baker is standing for election to the Conservatives’ all-powerful 1922 committee. He may want Boris gone (good), but as a Brexiteer cultist who will he want to replace him? A tweet and a couple of articles to remind us of what Mr Baker is all about…
Warning: strong language. Ed Because I was busy last week, this episode of The Week in Tory covers more than seven days, but not – you’ll be amazed to hear – the 700 years it would take most governments to get through this lot. Remember, it’s OK to want to scream or take drugs during […]
The Vote Leave government must have thought it was being so clever, abusing its position to slip draconian, Putinesque provisions into the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. Part 3 on ‘Public Order’ targets all the protests and protestors that the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, in particular despises: Extinction Rebellion, Black Lives Matter and […]
Dear West Country Voices, As I came through passport control at Edinburgh Airport last week, I saw a sign saying: “Welcome to GREAT Britain.” I had 40 minutes to look at it as we threaded our way slowly towards passport control. There had already been a 20-minute delay when the plane landed, because the right […]
In the wake of Steve Bray’s threatened arrest, this article counts the warning signs the UK has largely ignored. And shows what we can do about it. When Johnson first pulled together a cabinet of market fundamentalists, most people ignored the risk of a constitutional crisis. Most of us ignored Philip Hammond’s warning about “extreme […]
Many of you will have seen Steve Bray on television, holding his placards and flags aloft, calling out the lies and hypocrisy of the politicians being interviewed on Brexit. Some of you may have joined him on his near daily protests outside parliament or 10 Downing Street. For many, he has become the embodiment of […]
If there is one lesson we should take from Covid so far, it’s that we live in an age of disinformation and political Spin. And it works! Arguably, the ease in which we are manipulated is one of the greatest threats to humanity and social justice. Covid is a good example… 🧵 At the point […]
Dozens of residents and visitors attending the Bideford Soapbox Derby took time out to share their views with Compass Northern Devon on the state of politics in this country. As in other Northern Devon towns, the results show that many people have lost faith in both politics and political parties. Many wish to be rid […]
This is not a country of Johnson fans. This is not a country which will put up with lies, corruption, oppression, racism, law-breaking, hypocrisy and exploitation. There is a majority not just for specific progressive parties but for the core values of truth, fairness, inclusion, kindness, decency, integrity, humanity and the rule of law. Tiverton […]
The First Past the Post voting system is used nowhere else in Europe bar Belarus. Its ‘winner takes all’ approach coupled with voter tribalism has led to safe seats in which MPs are able to coast to victory even with less than satisfactory track records and often on a minority of the total votes cast.. […]
I have been a Tory supporter since I was a child. My parents were as Tory as they come, our home hosted MP surgeries. Our front room was often piled high with election literature and envelopes. That is my dad in the photo. I have had the privilege of meeting three Prime Ministers: Macmillan, Heath, […]
I am getting increasingly fed up with hearing ‘Let us not forget that this is the Prime Minister who has consistently got the big calls right’. This particular quote comes from the Daily Express of June 7, 2022, but it originated in a speech by Johnson himself and has been parroted by Tory MPs, party […]
On a balmy summer evening a week before the poll, the electorate of Tiverton and Honiton lined up expectantly to pack out the by-election hustings at the Tiverton Community Arts Theatre at Tiverton High School. As they queued across the courtyard, a number of local activists unfurled a substantial banner – 18 metres (60 feet) […]
Dear West Country Voices, Here’s my list of reasons NOT to vote Conservative at the Tiverton and Honiton by-election. Austerity – 10+ years of needless ‘measures’ in a country with the 6th largest economy (GDP) in the world. Hit the poorest hardest. Brexit – it’s not done and it never will be; it was always a stupid idea. […]
Cornwall for Europe posted on Facebook, citing the letters received from Sheryll Murray regarding the vote of no confidence in Johnson, including a screenshot of her boilerplate, standard response. The post provoked lifelong Conservative voter, John Holloway, to write to Murray himself. Here is his letter: Dear Mrs Murray, I have been a lifelong Conservative […]
Democracy is under threat like never before and our reliance on the antiquated first past the post system, which in Europe is shared only by Belarus, that bastion of democracy, is a key factor in the mass disenfranchisement of voters, the sense of powerlessness and disengagement with politics. This is the most fertile ground for […]
