Who is going to win the 2018/2019 Tory Leadership election?

[stuff_it]

lol:



Tory leadership candidates grilled by media

I misread that as "Tory leadership candidates grilled by genitalia". I think I've stayed up too late again!

 

[cupid_stunt]

Some sort of love-in is going on between Stewart & Farage, with Farage prising Stewart, and Stewart reaching out to Farage for his input.

Nigel Farage invited Stewart onto his LBC show yesterday and hailed him for having ‘set alight’ the Tory leadership process, and praised his ‘terrific campaign’. In contrast the pro-Brexit frontrunner, Boris Johnson, has received the strongest criticism from Farage, who has described the blond Etonian as ‘untrustworthy’ for having voted for May’s deal on its third attempt, and of being ‘very confused’ about the single market during the 2016 referendum.

The Brexit party rallies behind Rory Stewart | Coffee House

RORY STEWART made a surprise offer to Nigel Farage and his Brexit party to be “involved” with the next stage of Brexit due to their success in last month's European elections.

Tory leadership candidate Rory Stewart emphasised the importance of Nigel Farage for getting the UK out of the UK and added he represented an important part of the debate. Mr Stewart insisted he wanted the input from Mr Farage and the Brexit Party but also the views of trade unionist and those interested in the UK economy.

Rory Stewart makes shock offer to Farage to enter Brexit negotiations if he becomes PM

 

[Crispy]

Are you saying that he is appealing to racist thickos?

We're taking about conservative party members here...

 

[agricola]

This is an odd one for an institution like the Torygraph to be reporting on. A 'whitehall source' said he was a spy for seven years. Even gives a timeframe to it! In what circumstances might it be legal under spying laws for a source to disclose that? What could he do other than deny it if it is true? Presumably the Torygraph approves in a general way of the existence of the secret services, yet they somehow expect it not to be secret as soon as they start asking questions.

I'd always assumed it was one of the few red lines left in British journalism, given the extreme rarity of stories that reveal the identity of British agents. As an attack angle to appeal to the Tory vote it is pretty spectacularly bad as well - "Look at him, he served his country clandestinely in war zones and never talked about it, you can't trust a man like that compared to this bloke who stayed at home and tried to sleep with everyone".

 

[kebabking]

I'd always assumed it was one of the few red lines left in British journalism, given the extreme rarity of stories that reveal the identity of British agents. As an attack angle to appeal to the Tory vote it is pretty spectacularly bad as well - "Look at him, he served his country clandestinely in war zones and never talked about it, you can't trust a man like that compared to this bloke who stayed at home and tried to sleep with everyone".

Indeed - look at this no-hoper, spying on the Queen's enemies, undercover and unarmed, in two of the most dangerous places on earth. Fortunately our candidate has a much more honourable history of being sacked for dishonesty (by a newspaper!), appearing on HIGNFY and doubling London's birth rate.

I'm not quite sure Johnson's team thought this one through all that much.

 

[Smangus]

Be intresting to see waht happens if Stewart survives the vote today.

 

[kebabking]

Quite a bit of Twitter gossip that the Johnson campaign are going to 'lend' Jeremy Hunt 15 votes to ensure he - something of a dead loss - finishes second and is the one to face Johnson in the party vote.

The other rumours are that Stewart has hoovered up about half (10) of Hancock's votes, and that Javid and Goves' campaigns are dead in the sand.

 

[Sprocket.]

and that Javid and Goves' campaigns are dead in the sand.

Neck shots?

 

[Proper Tidy]

Quite a bit of Twitter gossip that the Johnson campaign are going to 'lend' Jeremy Hunt 15 votes to ensure he - something of a dead loss - finishes second and is the one to face Johnson in the party vote.

The other rumours are that Stewart has hoovered up about half (10) of Hancock's votes, and that Javid and Goves' campaigns are dead in the sand.

What about Raab, dead duck?

 

[Steel Icarus]

What about Raab, dead duck?

Dead eyes

 

[chilango]

I can't believe some ostensibly left/liberal friends of mine are trying to figure out who the "best" candidate is.

Nah.

Fuck 'em. I want...

Johnson vs. Stewart.

Eton vs. Eton.

Class front and centre.

 

[killer b]

Javid & Gove are done for, I agree. Gove on the radio yesterday morning was making an obvious pitch for a cabinet role in Johnson's government...

 

[kebabking]

What about Raab, dead duck?

His own ego aside, and for a few headbangers for whom Johnson isn't pure enough, Raab was only ever a substitute in case Johnson imploded. I wouldn't be that surprised if he went out today...

 

[teuchter]

Some sort of love-in is going on between Stewart & Farage, with Farage prising Stewart, and Stewart reaching out to Farage for his input.


The Brexit party rallies behind Rory Stewart | Coffee House



Rory Stewart makes shock offer to Farage to enter Brexit negotiations if he becomes PM

You have actually used the term 'reaching out'.

 

[Steel Icarus]

You have actually used the term 'reaching out'.

 

[Sprocket.]

Indeed - look at this no-hoper, spying on the Queen's enemies, undercover and unarmed, in two of the most dangerous places on earth. Fortunately our candidate has a much more honourable history of being sacked for dishonesty (by a newspaper!), appearing on HIGNFY and doubling London's birth rate.

I'm not quite sure Johnson's team thought this one through all that much.

The irresponsibility in the Johnson/Telegraph outing of Stewart like this, also threatens Stewart by making him a possible target for assault and attack.

 

[killer b]

TBF everyone knew Stewart was a spook already.

 

[killer b]

What about Raab, dead duck?

ha, I had forgotten he even existed.

 

[Dogsauce]

I guess it’s a way of making him appear as an ‘establishment’ candidate, one sent by dark forces to keep maverick man-of-the-people Johnson from the throne.

 

[killer b]

this is quite the bar chart.

 

[newbie]

The irresponsibility in the Johnson/Telegraph outing of Stewart like this, also threatens Stewart by making him a possible target for assault and attack.

They're not new allegations

Rory was born in 1973, in Hong Kong, not long after his father had finished a four-year stint, in London, as secretary of the Joint Intelligence Committee, which liaises between ministers and intelligence agencies. That title, in particular, suggests something that is not in the public record, but that his son acknowledged: his father was involved in British overseas intelligence for twenty years, and reached a high rank. Brian Stewart, confirming this, noted that in the seventies he was in the running to become the director of the Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6.

Last fall, Craig Murray, a former British diplomat who became an antiwar activist, made a striking charge in a blog post: he claimed that Stewart had been an officer of MI6, and was still active in MI6, when, starting in 2005, he worked in Afghanistan, running the Turquoise Mountain Foundation, the charity that Prince Charles helped found. Stewart told me, “There’s no way I can prove it, but the reality is I was really busy in Kabul, and anyone working with me would realize that I wouldn’t have had the time to do anything. And what would I have been doing anyway? Why is running an arts school the best cover?” (And it’s hard to believe that British intelligence would put Prince Charles in the position of being a spy’s sponsor.) Stewart also denied that there was any espionage element in his walk, a few years earlier.

This seemed credible. But was he in MI6, at the start of his career, in Indonesia and Montenegro? Someone in London who is in a position to know told me that Stewart certainly was. His mother, when asked, smiled, and said, “I wouldn’t begin to know.” Stewart muttered that he was not, but he didn’t contest the idea with the vigor of his Afghan denial. As a storyteller and a newly minted politician, he must find it frustrating if he is under a legal and moral obligation to mislead. “It’s an unfair question,” he said crossly, although he later suggested phrases that I might use—such as his career “giving the appearance of” such a path. He added that people should have “the very, very clear understanding that I stopped working in embassies and for the government proper in 2000.” From then on, “I was no longer part of the system.”

Profile from 2010

 

[killer b]

Craig Murray. I see.

 

[Poot]

this is quite the bar chart.

I work with a bunch of Tories some of whom are almost certainly party members and can confirm that JC and his antics dominate every departmental meeting. I'm hoping that Chris Packham becomes an MP because I think it would actually finish them off.

 

[newbie]

this is quite the bar chart.

What is the definition of political extremism?

 

[Sprocket.]

TBF everyone knew Stewart was a spook already.

I and a great part of the population didn’t though. I just see it becoming headlines and him ending up being attacked.

 

[killer b]

I and a great part of the population didn’t though. I just see it becoming headlines and him ending up being attacked.

Who by?

 

[chilango]

Who cares?

 

[Proper Tidy]

Chatting to the card carrying Boris backing Tory who voted brexit party in work this morning, the MI6 stuff has done him a favour. Which was obvious really. Strange line of attack

 

[newbie]

Craig Murray. I see.

indeed, but not a strong denial.

Point is it took 2 mins to find that, so the Telegraph is hardly guilty of breaching the OSA or doing groundbreaking investigative journalism.

 

[killer b]

Chatting to the card carrying Boris backing Tory who voted brexit party in work this morning, the MI6 stuff has done him a favour. Which was obvious really. Strange line of attack

There's a lot of weird stuff going on which could indicate stuff going on behind the scenes - this is one thing, Stewart's Farage love-in is another. He isn't going to win - the bar chart I posted above clearly indicates why: but I can see this going down to Johnson v Stewart, Johnson winning but Stewart getting a prominent role in his cabinet as a fig leaf to pull in floating voters. So Stewart's run isn't about any realistic chance of winning, but about raising his profile as the reasonable face of conservatism for an autumn general election. Perhaps.