UK General Discussion

[Phony Moderate]

Unlike Hague, Ken Clarke is not standing down as an MP.

He strikes me as someone destined to become Father of the House.

Anyway, all of this is terrible news for Ed Miliband, obviously.

[You kip if you want to...]

Esther McVey is one of those supposedly being promoted to cabinet. A bit risky, seeing as she has a marginal seat; but I guess Cameron has a plan.

He's got whole binders full of women. A Tory who isn't a man or from down South, that's a vote winner right?

[afleitch]

Oh yes and the Church of England voted to allow women to wear nice hats.

[You kip if you want to...]

Michael Gove demoted, the best news to come out of this reshuffle.

Some very happy staff rooms in schools across the country this morning I'd imagine.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Some stuff from the reshuffle:

* Cameron tried to fop Liam Fox off with a Minister of State for India, China and Latin America. Literally an attempt to send a troublesome menace abroad, but Dr Fox won't play ball.

* The new Welsh secretary Stephen Crabb is the first bearded Tory minister in more than a century. Another unrepresented minority in the cabinet!

* Cameron attempted to make it seem way more diverse by announcing all the women in one go, then releasing a bunch of men in drips and drabs.

* A lot of people are "in cabinet, but not of it". Esther McVey has been effectively promoted, for example, with her Jobs portfolio pretty much identical. Presumably Osborne wants to milk the recent rise in employment

* European Commissioner is Lord Hill, the current Leader of the House of Lords. No by-election needed.

* Gove's move is a surprise - his public fray with May may have been a mistake. He also gets some strange new position involving TV appearances. Gove is a good media performer, but still a bizarre role for a job normally kept out of the public view.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I think you'll find that many, many Conservative ministers over the past century have had beards...

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I think you'll find that many, many Conservative ministers over the past century have had beards...

It was according to the Conservatve History Group

"The last Tory cabinet minister with a beard was 4th Earl of Onslow (president of board of agriculture until March 1905)"

First secretary and not minister, I guess

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Beard can also refer to something else...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Hague's retirement means a ridiculously safe Tory seat opens up, of course. Will it go to another high-flier (Hague's predecessor was Leon Brittan, who moved there in 1983 from abolished and marginal Cleveland & Whitby), or will the local party revert to its pre-1983 tradition of selecting well-liked local-ish dullards?

[Silent Hunter]

Michael Gove demoted, the best news to come out of this reshuffle.

Some very happy staff rooms in schools across the country this morning I'd imagine.

Definitely; although he is now Chief Whip. Mind you, his role in that could backfire.

[You kip if you want to...]

Clegg announces that he wants the Bedroom Tax scraped.
Having heard this, Rachel Reeves announces another Bedroom Tax vote in the Commons.
Clegg panics and the LDs say they only meant they want it "reformed".

[You kip if you want to...]

Nick Griffin ousted as leader of the BNP after nearly 15 years.

He's to be replaced by a disgraced former teacher Adam Walker.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Hilarious. I await with amusement a) the response of the ousted Fuhrer (a splinter party perhaps?) and b) what happens when the new Fuhrer tries to find out where all the party's money has gone...

[You kip if you want to...]

Indeed, the collapse of the BNP has been one of the funnier side-stories of this parliament.

[YL]

David Ward, Lib Dem (for now) MP for Bradford East on Twitter: "The big question is - if I lived in #Gaza would I fire a rocket? Probably yes."

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

David Ward, Lib Dem (for now) MP for Bradford East on Twitter: "The big question is - if I lived in #Gaza would I fire a rocket? Probably yes."

He's already been suspended once for this, think the whip will go for good now.

Whatever you think of his tweet, this is beyond the pale:

http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-07-23/former-lib-dem-mep-apology-after-disputatious-jews-slur/

[You kip if you want to...]

He's the member for Bradford East. Doing things like this is a kind've desperate, dirty, identity politics. Look at how George Galloway ran his campaign in the other Bradford seat.

He'll be out in May anyway.

[YL]

Ward has issued what the Guardian calls a "partial apology" which it looks like may be enough to save his place in the Lib Dems, though perhaps he ought to try to think before tweeting:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/23/lib-dem-david-ward-apology-gaza-tweet

McMillan-Scott definitely stepped over the line IMO.

[afleitch]

What a stramash over the Red Arrows.

[YL]

David Tredinnick MP (Con, Bosworth) goes off on one again:
Astrology-loving MP seeks health answers in the stars

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[You kip if you want to...]

http://labourlist.org/2014/08/about-that-miliband-wreath/

Terrible news for Ed Miliband.

[Silent Hunter]

Read the article and the comments; it wasn't his fault.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Bugger all this 'they died for our freedom' cant for a game of soldiers.

[Cassius]

Yes well, what else can they say.

[You kip if you want to...]

Read the article and the comments; it wasn't his fault.

I know, but nice example of what the media have done/are doing to Ed.

It looks like the Dept of Culture requested the cards, passed one on to Dave, but none for the other leaders, then shipped them up to Glasgow.

Oh silly season.