Paid Members PunkStep Posted October 20, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted October 20, 2022 5 hours ago, Carbomb said: I'm QMing a quiz at our bookshop Fuck me, when did we get so old Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 It’s going to be Johnson again, isn’t it, this being the darkest timeline. Just in time for the Chinese invasion of Taiwan and the Russian nuke test over the Black Sea. Come friendly bombs.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 Is their any precedent for someone to declare the country in a state of chaos and force a general election? Like at all? Just a slither of hope will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted October 20, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted October 20, 2022 Come on King Charles (nope, still sounds weird)- dissolve parliament and call one. On the basis the sheer chaos is forcing the country you inherited by birth right down the pan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Monkee Posted October 20, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted October 20, 2022 Genuine question: when Boris™️ resigned and there was the big battle for the new PM with debates on TV and all that shit, where did the money come from for that? Was that all funded by the party, by the individual standing, by the government or elsewhere? I don’t know the ins and outs of politics, government or political parties, and I don’t even know what specifically to Google to find more information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Your Fight Site Posted October 20, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted October 20, 2022 Here’s another: why when Boris left office, the choosing a replacement took an age. Yet it’s only taking 1 week this time around? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted October 20, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 20, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Monkee Posted October 20, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted October 20, 2022 (edited) Good point. (Edit - that was to @Your Fight Site’s comment) I have another one too (overactive brain tonight!) - when a new PM comes in, I know they get to appoint their cabinet. Do they also get a new back-room team? This might not be the correct terminology but I’ll explain what I mean. This is based off an office conversation this afternoon so I may have got the wrong end of the stick with some things that were said so bear with me here… The PM is just the face of the party and there’s a team in the background who will be pulling all the strings and looking at popularity polls and reactions to proposals/announcements and that sort of thing - hence the spineless lack of conviction and the spinning top U-turns. So is this ‘team’ a permanent fixture of the party regardless of who the face is or does the team change with each new leader? If it’s a permanent fixture then why are there all these decisions that seemingly come from thin air and are poles apart from what was there before? Surely if it’s the same team then they should be tweaking rather than demolishing? But if it’s a new team each time, I get that they probably want to make their mark or whatever, but again why are the new plans just so vastly different from the previous team? Apologies if this is like British Politics 101 but I could probably do with something explaining it all to me like a 6-year-old because I just don’t get it. Edited October 20, 2022 by Monkee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vamp Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 There's a wonderful documentary series on British politics called Yes Minister followed by the equally good Yes Prime Minister. Sadly I don't think they apply to contemporary British politics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted October 20, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted October 20, 2022 6 hours ago, wordsfromlee said: Despite being the shortest ruling Prime Minister, she's now entitled to £115,000 per year paid for by the tax payer which is... GREAT! It's not quite as bad as that sounds, though still bad. It's not a salary, it's a maximum expense allowance. It can only be claimed to pay for office and secretarial costs (so she doesn't get to keep any) and only for work done in her role as a former PM, not as a continuing MP. Whatever they spend, they then get another 10% to pay for pensions. When somebody asked about what "office and secretarial costs" means, the relevant minister said "These costs can include diary support, Met Police protection on public visits, correspondence, staffing at public visits, support to charitable work, social media platforms and managing and maintaining ex-PMs office (staff, payroll, admin)." https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-duty-cost-allowance/public-duty-costs-allowance-guidance On the other hand, it is as bad as it sounds in the sense that in 2020-21 everyone other than May claimed the full amount Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted October 20, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted October 20, 2022 1 hour ago, Monkee said: Genuine question: when Boris™️ resigned and there was the big battle for the new PM with debates on TV and all that shit, where did the money come from for that? Was that all funded by the party, by the individual standing, by the government or elsewhere? I don’t know the ins and outs of politics, government or political parties, and I don’t even know what specifically to Google to find more information. Entirely the party. It was a contest to choose the new party leader. There is no election or contest for the role of Prime Minister. That just goes to whoever is "best placed to command a majority in the Commons" when the outgoing PM resigns as PM. In practice, that means the leader of the party (or group of parties) with the most MPs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Monkee Posted October 20, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted October 20, 2022 2 minutes ago, Vamp said: There's a wonderful documentary series on British politics called Yes Minister followed by the equally good Yes Prime Minister. Sadly I don't think they apply to contemporary British politics. I’ll have to look for that. Is it in the on Netflix or can I maybe just search for a name, maybe like that Alec B’Stard or whatever he was called? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Monkee Posted October 20, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted October 20, 2022 1 minute ago, JNLister said: Entirely the party. It was a contest to choose the new party leader. There is no election or contest for the role of Prime Minister. That just goes to whoever is "best placed to command a majority in the Commons" when the outgoing PM resigns as PM. In practice, that means the leader of the party (or group of parties) with the most MPs. I know about how a PM is appointed and that it’s the leader of the party with the majority who becomes PM. I understand the basics… but I suppose that knowledge is based on the regular turnover that I’ve seen up until recently. The shenanigans of the past year or so is something I’ve not seen before so that’s why I’m now realising that there’s ‘background stuff’ that I’ve never paid attention to and so I’ve never considered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted October 20, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted October 20, 2022 36 minutes ago, Monkee said: Good point. (Edit - that was to @Your Fight Site’s comment) I have another one too (overactive brain tonight!) - when a new PM comes in, I know they get to appoint their cabinet. Do they also get a new back-room team? This might not be the correct terminology but I’ll explain what I mean. This is based off an office conversation this afternoon so I may have got the wrong end of the stick with some things that were said so bear with me here… The PM is just the face of the party and there’s a team in the background who will be pulling all the strings and looking at popularity polls and reactions to proposals/announcements and that sort of thing - hence the spineless lack of conviction and the spinning top U-turns. So is this ‘team’ a permanent fixture of the party regardless of who the face is or does the team change with each new leader? If it’s a permanent fixture then why are there all these decisions that seemingly come from thin air and are poles apart from what was there before? Surely if it’s the same team then they should be tweaking rather than demolishing? But if it’s a new team each time, I get that they probably want to make their mark or whatever, but again why are the new plans just so vastly different from the previous team? Apologies if this is like British Politics 101 but I could probably do with something explaining it all to me like a 6-year-old because I just don’t get it. So there's three different things here: 1) The cabinet, chosen by the PM and usually made up of MPs from their party (though they could be Lords as well.) 2) The PM's political staff, who aren't elected politicians and are appointed by him. (Eg Dominic Cummings, special advisors, etc.) Usually a new PM will bring in their own crew. 3) The civil service. They are permanent government employees who (in theory) don't make any decisions but instead talk ministers through their options, point out the possible pros and cons of any decision, then carry out what the ministers decide. Theoretically they stay in post even when there's a new Prime Minister or a change of governing party. Normally a PM being replace by another member of their party would only mean minor changes to the overall policies because you're still relying on the same MPs to support and vote for them. Truss and Kwarteng making such rapid and drastic changes was part of what caused the general insanity of the past couple of months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted October 20, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted October 20, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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