required field
- 03 Feb 2016 10:00
Thought I'd start a new thread as this is going to be a major talking point this year...have not made up my mind yet...(unlike bucksfizz)....but thinking of voting for an exit as Europe is not doing Britain any good at all it seems....
ExecLine
- 06 Jul 2016 11:17
- 4299 of 12628
From MaxK's link above at post 4291:
Prime Minister Theresa May — An Insult To Democracy
by JAYNE ADYE5 Jul 20161,247
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The Home Secretary Theresa May has put herself forward as the candidate with experience. She points to her record time in the Home Office as evidence of her competence.
Her supporters claim as a reluctant Remainer she is ideally suited to unify a divided party. She is now also the bookies’ favourite with around 100 Tory MPs supporting her so far, but with many still need to declare their allegiance in the first round. To many, Theresa May might seem the safest bet.
There are however several key reasons why May would be a disaster as Prime Minister, and why her election as Leader would be an insult to the Conservatives, to the country and to the Great British Public.
May’s supporters point to her time in the Home Office as evidence of her competence. However, when we examine her record in closer detail, the prognosis is not great. It is undoubtedly true that Theresa May is the longest-serving Home Secretary since Henry Matthews in 1892. This indeed is regularly trumpeted by her supporters as a great achievement given the position’s legendary capacity for denting reputations.
Her supporters point out, as she has managed to effectively run the Home Office, a department notorious for mucking stuff up, she would therefore be able to run our country in a similarly effective manner. This however is determined on the basic assumption May’s long tenure at the Home Office is due to her effectiveness as a minister, rather than due to her survival skills.
Scratch the surface of May’s Home Office record and things do no look so rosy. If we look at the UK Border Force for example, we see a rather bleak picture. The UK Border Force is in effect the successor to the UK Border Agency, which was closed in 2013 (under Theresa May’s watch) as a result of repeated controversies.
The Border Force has fared little better to its predecessor. As a result of poor resource allocation and adequate planning, gaping holes have been left in the UK’s border security. Maritime patrol aircraft are a vital part of any modern coastal border force, yet the UK’s existing aircraft were scrapped as a result of the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review! There was an attempt to ratify this in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, when the Government announced it would order 9 new Maritime Patrol Aircraft. However, as of January of this year these have not yet been purchased, leaving major gaps in Britain’s border protection.
As Home Secretary, May’s ultimate responsibility is to ensure Britain’s borders are secure – and in this regard she has completely failed.
In recent years the Home Secretary has tried to gain support from the ‘Right’ of the Conservative Party by promising to get tough on immigration. Last year in her speech to the Tory Party Conference May highlighted the implications of high migration. She warned of the long-term threat to social cohesion which uncontrolled EU migration would bring. For this she was loudly applauded by the Tory ‘Right’, as someone who is willing to discuss migration.
But when we look at her record we see a Home Secretary who has consistently failed to lower migration. There is a huge difference between what Mrs May promises and what she actually delivers. How can anyone now trust her promise – “Brexit means Brexit.”
During the referendum campaign itself the Home Secretary opened herself up for ridicule by insisting Britain has control of its borders. This was despite the official migration forecasts which predicted 3 million people will be migrating to the UK by 2030. What is even more insulting is the fact this was less than a year after she had warned a packed Conservative conference of the dangers of unrestricted EU migration.
Are we really supposed to believe it was David Cameron’s pitiful renegotiation which changed the Home Secretary’s mind? When the so-called “Eurosceptic” Business Secretary Sajid Javid came out for Remain – citing Cameron’s ‘deal’ – he was rightly attacked for it. The Home Secretary on the other hand managed to minimalize her press exposure and stay out of the spotlight. For all of the recent attention given to the ‘Machiavellian’ manoeuvrings of her leadership rival Michael Gove, it is the Home Secretary who is a veteran of the political dark arts.
Do we really want a Prime Minister who is someone who has deliberately kept a low profile during the most important vote of our lifetimes? Someone who has suggested she was going to back one side or the referendum campaign, and then belatedly support the other! Say what you will about Cameron and Osborne, but at least they stood for what they believed in.
On the battlefield, this would be called cowardice; in Westminster it’s called strategy. How can ministers who put their careers on the line to support Brexit, now accept the leadership of someone who put her career first and foremost? What sort of example is this setting to future generations?
Theresa May’s greatest skill is her ability to duck and dive her way through the perils of the Home Office. Her actual record there is poor. But her supporters seem to assume the mere fact she is still there assumes she must be competent – but the role of Prime Minister is completely different. Can we really assume her skills are directly transferrable to Number 10? The best thing one can say about Theresa May is that she makes the best of a bad job.
Desolate Remainers may now think this is what is needed – but it is not. Brexit is the beginning of a bright new chapter for the United Kingdom, and we need a Prime Minister who embodies this.
The referendum result has made one thing clear. The Great British Public has voted for change not continuity – and to Get Britain Out. For the millions who have voted for Leave, Theresa May’s election as our Prime Minister would be a kick in the teeth and a stab in the back. It would further undermine the Great British Public’s already limited confidence in our political system.
cynic
- 06 Jul 2016 12:51
- 4300 of 12628
but not voted for "out" with a significant majority
there were many reasons for voting for "out", not all of which will coincide with those of the more rabid on that wing
Haystack
- 06 Jul 2016 12:56
- 4301 of 12628
The article is from a far right US news service that supports Trump.
Dil
- 06 Jul 2016 18:23
- 4302 of 12628
Ffs someone press the button on Article 50 I'm sick of all this sh&t.
As for do we still have to obey all their stupid laws , no we don't as there is feck all they can do about it.
Let's start shipping the terrorist supporters back for starters.
Haystack
- 06 Jul 2016 18:26
- 4303 of 12628
It is almost as bad as listening endlessly to discussions of what chances Wales have tonight.
MaxK
- 06 Jul 2016 21:57
- 4304 of 12628
Dil
- 07 Jul 2016 09:57
- 4305 of 12628
Well I've sorted that problem for you Haystack now someone press the fecking button.
Haystack
- 07 Jul 2016 12:02
- 4306 of 12628
I watched Wales and was cheering for them. It would have been quite something if they had progressed.
Budweiser was giving free cases of beer to everyone in Wales yesterday. You go to their web site and enter an email address (that they don't check). Then it gives you an opportunity to print off a voucher. You take this to a Co-Op or a Tesco and they give you a case of beer, either a case of 4 or 6 depending on what they sell. My son and his friends printed off lots of vouchers and took them shops.
Despite the voucher saying for use in Wales, all the supermarkets gave them the beer. In a couple of hours they collected nearly 50 cases of beer for free. They have been sending the web site detail to other friends all day yesterday and everyone got free beer. It looks like Budweiser should have warned Co-Op and Tesco that it was just for Wales.
Fred1new
- 07 Jul 2016 12:34
- 4307 of 12628
Haze.
It seems to me, that your son is growing up to be another smart arse like you appear to be.
cynic
- 07 Jul 2016 12:38
- 4308 of 12628
smart trading surely fred
Haystack
- 07 Jul 2016 12:42
- 4309 of 12628
I need a second beer fridge now.
cynic
- 07 Jul 2016 12:52
- 4310 of 12628
now if it was for Budvar rather than that vile american chemical concoction, it would be worth having
Haystack
- 07 Jul 2016 12:54
- 4311 of 12628
When you are a student, it is quantity that prevails.
Haystack
- 07 Jul 2016 12:55
- 4312 of 12628
Are you still in Portugal? If so, what was the atmosphere like last night?
cynic
- 07 Jul 2016 12:58
- 4313 of 12628
yup, still here until saturday ....... we intentionally avoided the football, but there's a great market square in the town where not only are there small food kiosks and a couple of restaurants (one is easily our fave here), but they also have loads of tables and chairs and television screens ...... it must have been totally rammed
Haystack
- 07 Jul 2016 13:07
- 4314 of 12628
I am tempted to volunteer to help May's campaign.
I know from Ken Clarke's campaign in 2005, that there is a lot going on in the background and has been since the day the candidates were announced.
There is a lot of lobbying of Conservative members. There are computer printouts with contact details of Conservative members. They are used to email and telephone asking for support. The process goes on from morning to the end of the evening. A lot of the people are Conservative Councillors. It takes a lot of phone calls just to get through to one person sometimes.
The success of the candidates depends on how good this backroom activity is. At the start of the 2005 leadership election, Ken Clarke was the runaway leader. He was also the favourite of the party members. As he was such a fan of Europe, he was stitched up by Eurosceptics voting for Fox to stop him getting on the final ballot. The same may happen this time with Andrea because the majority of Conservative MPs are remainers..
iturama
- 07 Jul 2016 13:19
- 4315 of 12628
Yes, go ahead and support Theresa, Hays. I hope you have the same success with her as you had with ol' Clarke and she is stitched up by Eurosceptics once again.
Haystack
- 07 Jul 2016 13:37
- 4316 of 12628
May won't get stitched up. The party has changed. The majority of the party are now remainers. The Eurosceptics have less power now.
MaxK
- 07 Jul 2016 13:43
- 4317 of 12628
The Nu Tory party are going the way of Nu Labour, almost total disconnect between MP's and the ordinary party members.