Westminster Politics

Mr Pigeon

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Fury as Tory millionaire says poor parents 'actually prefer' to pay for kids' meals

Nadhim Zahawi said parents didn't like the 'label' of meals being free and prefer to pay a 'modest sum' - as he refused Marcus Rashford's call to extend free school meals over half-term.

"Although they valued the meals, they didn't like the labelling of them being free.

"They actually prefer to pay a modest amount, £1 or £2."

The bungling former oil executive – who once billed taxpayers for heating his horses' stables – blundered into the latest row over whether the Government should fund food for the poorest children.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/polit...qhS8dENV_GP9YcGeXmTcKQSzS_kGCgaFa0Py6J4E4heog

Missed this yesterday.

I’ve seen the damage Islamophobia does – the Conservative Party must have zero tolerance
Islamophobia is not exclusive to a small fringe element on the far-right
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/damage-islamophobia-the-conservative-party-have-zero-tolerance-716260
It's still amazing that after all this time Islamophobia in the Tory party is still being ignored.
 

NinjaFletch

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It’s hard to choose a politician I dislike the most but Hancock is right up there.
How about resident ERG dickhead Steve Baker arguing we don't have the money to feed kids because of quantative easing.

 

Smores

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I'm not sure Starmer succeeded in his pitch today. Needs to stress the point that a circuit breaker is less effective the longer you wait and how it could avoid the harshest restrictions ever being needed in places currently low. At the moment they're very likely to face them.

Unless you hit that point home then the strategy of not putting certain areas into lockdown makes sense.
 

Sweet Square

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Twitter surprised me there, i thought the comments would be their usual horrendous self but most are pointing out that Tories have been in power for so long the excuse doesn't work.
It might not work on twitter but else where I'm not so sure. During the last election there were stories from Labour activists who went door knocking only to be meet with claims about how awful the record of the current Labour government!

Which imo shows

1. Just how awful Labour councils are.

2. Some set of conservative minded voters views the dominate liberal social order(More equality through rights, better representation etc etc)as the same as state power.

It's a very bizarre mindset.
 

Mr Pigeon

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:lol:

We are soooo fecked.
Starmer needs to start doing something that looks good. I can't believe I'm saying it but populism is here to stay and what matters nowadays is sounding and looking right. It's an uphill journey considering that the press won't be on his side but he needs to do it. Maybe even take the social media work that Corbyn's team did to energise folk whilst still maintaining his center politics and ....

...nah, you're right. We're fecked.
 

jeff_goldblum

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It might not work on twitter but else where I'm not so sure. During the last election there were stories from Labour activists who went door knocking only to be meet with claims about how awful the record of the current Labour government!

Which imo shows

1. Just how awful Labour councils are.

2. Some set of conservative minded voters views the dominate liberal social order(More equality through rights, better representation etc etc)as the same as state power.

It's a very bizarre mindset.
Had this multiple times in Bishop Auckland, people thought that because they had a Labour MP that Labour was in charge. Just a fundamental ignorance of how the system works.

But yes, Labour councils being dreadful possibly has something to do with it. Maybe it's the just what councils are like, but they seem to invariably be on the wrong side of public opinion and amongst less politically engaged voters they likely do much damage to 'the brand' as anything the leadership does.
 

berbatrick

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does it have anything to do with how boris was pursuing brexit *against* parliament and the courts (and talking about that) which maybe gave rise to the impression?
 

MoskvaRed

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:lol:

We are soooo fecked.
Blair’s biggest (domestic) mistake was not pushing through PR. Presumably he thought his first two big majorities indicated some kind of paradigm shift rather than being an outlier. Under FPTP, the Tories seem impregnable in England. Labour can pile up votes by the thousand in the cities but it won’t be enough to overturn the conservative majority in the seats in the market towns and shires. So yes, we are fecked.
 

Mr Pigeon

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This policy from Twitter is stupid. A lot of people in these positions saying lies however no one is allowed to respond to challenge them.
It's appalling. Also "lead by example" seems to be something that he should try and do himself.

1) Consistently voted against measures to reduce tax avoidance
2) Voted against measures to prevent climate change

And he's only been in for a year.
 

Fingeredmouse

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It's appalling. Also "lead by example" seems to be something that he should try and do himself.

1) Consistently voted against measures to reduce tax avoidance
2) Voted against measures to prevent climate change

And he's only been in for a year.
Naturally. He's a Tory.
 

Sweet Square

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Had this multiple times in Bishop Auckland, people thought that because they had a Labour MP that Labour was in charge. Just a fundamental ignorance of how the system works.

But yes, Labour councils being dreadful possibly has something to do with it. Maybe it's the just what councils are like, but they seem to invariably be on the wrong side of public opinion and amongst less politically engaged voters they likely do much damage to 'the brand' as anything the leadership does.
I've massively underestimated just how alienated/ignorant many people are on even the most very basic workings of the British parliamentary system.

The only reason I bring up council's is because of the amount of complaining I've heard from people about them which far exceeds complains aimed at central government/the ruling party. I guess out of all the state infrastructures its the one most people have interactions with, maybe ?

Blair’s biggest (domestic) mistake was not pushing through PR. Presumably he thought his first two big majorities indicated some kind of paradigm shift rather than being an outlier. Under FPTP, the Tories seem impregnable in England. Labour can pile up votes by the thousand in the cities but it won’t be enough to overturn the conservative majority in the seats in the market towns and shires. So yes, we are fecked.
Completely agree.