world

Liz Truss vows tax cuts after winning vote to be next British PM

98 Comments
By Elizabeth Piper and Kylie MacLellan

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© Thomson Reuters 2022.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


98 Comments
Login to comment

Liz Truss is going to be the answer, one way or another, to the philosophical question “Is it possible to be a stupider, more incompetent version of world class tossed BoJo?”

On his way to Chamberlain-ville, let’s spare a thought for BOJO; a man touched by neither hair brush nor intellect. A fired “journalist”, noted philandering putz, (How he convinced multiple women to bed him, let alone his former wife proves that men are not the only sex to make bad decisions under the effect of alcohol.) and professional weather vane - he took the saying to heart and when the going got tough, got going on holiday.

14 ( +22 / -8 )

As a Brit who has lived abroad for several decades I wring my hands as my country of birth lunges from one insanity to another. I don't envy her task in trying to rescue England from all of the things going on there now, most of all the legacy of the stupidity of Brexit. One only has to look at the value of the British pound now compared to its value the day before the Brexit vote for evidence of what a disaster this has been.

14 ( +19 / -5 )

The poor need the greatest help. Food banks will close because they can no longer pay their energy bills. The same will happen with important charities. Hospitals reduce staff and services. The sick who relie on home medical equipment to survive.

14 ( +15 / -1 )

So Brexitannia is now all "Trussed up "and "oven-ready" to feed the greedy fat cats at the Tory trough. Fortunately, Liz's incompetence and her abysmal lack of charisma will doom her to an early political demise.

12 ( +16 / -4 )

One doesn’t need to be a subject of her majesty to feel a twinge of sympathy for the Queen. After a lifetime of selfless service to the realm, in the December of her reign watches “Boris in a wig” take the reigns during a time of unprecedented economic upheaval.

One could forgive her for thinking “This is the best we can do? THIS?”

10 ( +16 / -6 )

@Designer 02Today  07:40 am JST

As another Brit who has lived abroad for several decades.... totally in accord!

10 ( +14 / -4 )

The people are bleeding and it needs more than a bandaid. Tax cuts don't help the poorest much. They still have to pay the same energy costs as the rich.

10 ( +15 / -5 )

Suspend VAT on energy. A wealth tax on Big Oil has made huge profits.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

You cannot trust Truss

8 ( +11 / -3 )

NHK don't know much about her (there isn't much to know), so in their reporting they emphasised her similarities to Thatcher (because, er, Truss once wore that scarf thing).

8 ( +9 / -1 )

I thought it couldn’t be possible. Someone who is even more useless than Johnson as PM. The Peter Principle in action.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Right wingers love to throw the insult of "left winger" ," liberal" "socialist" .

But a blind man could see that the Tory party have overseen a massive deterioration in the quality of life, services in the UK

They've been in charge for 12 years.

Truss is a continuation of their incompetence which they will attempt to divert attention from by blaming the EU, immigrants, professional footballers etc.

Anything to hide the kleptocracy they are running

7 ( +10 / -3 )

A banana republic

6 ( +14 / -8 )

The UK is going to need a lot of gaffa tapes.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

Another political opportunist like Boris who is willing to change their political and moral integrity in exchange for fleeting, short-lived political ambition.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

This will not end well.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

Another populist victory of empty promises. After Boris, I hoped people would see through that.

Add Truss to the list of leaders that have oversimplified our complex world to win the votes on the non thinking crowd.

I hoped the likes of Trump, Trudeau, and Johnson would be enough...but then again we are about to select a populist non thinker as leader of the opposition too.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

Rishi Sunak started the plot to remove Johnson and now paid the price.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

It's not the sort of thing the BBC would dare say, but I suspect Rishi Sunak was just not white enough for members of the Conservative party. They see Truss as a second Thatcher, which is hilarious. I came to terms with the UK being an international laughing stock a few years ago, so replacing the Clown with someone worse isn't a problem. Suffice to say Labour and the LibDems are well pleased with the outcome.

Sterling went down 20% at Brexit, 5% since, and Truss will take at least another 5% off it before she is done. Parity with the dollar beckons. Pumping up military spending from 2% to 3%, if it wasn't just theatre for the coffin dodging dementia sufferers who get to vote in Tory leadership elections, will cost billions. Pointless expenditure unless we actually start WWIII - maybe she has that planned too. That said, 3% of post-Brexit GDP may buy you the same number of F35s as 2% of pre-Brexit GDP. Don't forget to include some for repairs. One of our aircraft carriers conked out last week. Hush. None of you tell the Russians that.

She is kicking off with tax cuts, despite the people who are suffering from inflation being too poor to pay tax. So it's a hugely expensive and entirely ineffectual policy that will simply make the rich richer. Standard Tory fare, but obsolete as a policy nowadays, and suggesting (as many have already done) that the lights are on but nobody is home.

Things will get worse for a couple of years. Then maybe a LibDem/Labour coalition will replace the Tories and get their chance to do some damage. Coalitions are a bit less rubbish as they are usually too weak to wreck the economy or peoples' lives, as each partner limits the freedom of the other.

Silver lining. Priti Patel and Nadine Dorries have quit. At least for now. That's worth celebrating.

There are bound to be some amusing clips of Truss cosplaying as Thatcher on YT, so enjoy the next episode of the Clown imperium. You don't even need a Netflix subscription.

5 ( +17 / -12 )

This is what we have after 12 years of conservative government. Working people are down on their knees because they can no longer afford their needs.

5 ( +10 / -5 )

Veteran Conservative lawmaker David Davis described challenges she faced as "probably the second most difficult brief of post-war prime ministers" after Conservative Margaret Thatcher in 1979.

Yeah and look at how that worked out. The UK is screwed

4 ( +13 / -9 )

Tax cut for the 1% or 10% most wealthy people in the Kingdom but not everyone. Inflation will risen to 16.5% next year forecast..... well your career is subject to be doomed. Don't pretending you are Mrs. Thatcher and if you does using the iron hand.... Riots are waiting for you.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

endless lies peddled through "friendly" news outlets with no one challenging them except tabloids

Some of the worst of it came through the tabloids. Some of the defence of Boris Johnson from the Mail and the Express would have been comical if they hadn’t enabled the most unfit PM in living memory.

Some are trying to see the positives in believing Truss is the perfect choice to lead the Tories to a 1997-style wipeout. I hope for the country’s sake she isn’t as bad as many think. Her time as foreign secretary doesn’t give me much hope though.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

At least she tried to get all the illegal economic migrants sent off to Rwanda.

Which is actually quite close to where her parents escaped from.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

The magic money tree!!!

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Truss vows tax cuts after winning vote to be new PM:

She has made so many irresponsible promises during her campaign that she must have forgotten most of them by now.

In any case, those near impossible pledges are mostly practical lies.

Can Truss be trusted..?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Sadly, the UK is in one way like Japan at present. It lacks a credible opposition

I don’t think a comparison of the UK Labour Party to anything in the opposition in Japan is reasonable. I don’t trust polls 100% but the Tories are in an awful place with the electorate. The massive tactical voting against them in the recent by elections was indicative.

There is enough ‘anyone but the Tories’ sentiment out there to see them booted out.

I agree that Truss is under no obligation to call an election. Labour wouldn’t and didn’t.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Johnson may have charisma but he is also a proven liar.

He tells lies at will and the last months of his government with daily denials his lies.

Then when over fifty of his ministers resigned he went off in a huff.

Avoided any action on the developing crises and then went off twice on holiday.

A real patriot.

The only thing he loves is himself.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@painkiller

"This current selection of a PM shows the UK is lingering behind many other Western countries, such as the US,..."

Gimme a break. The UK has had three UK female prime ministers. How many female US presidents have there been? Women are only half the population, after all. LOL.

the almost 500 year slave trade and slavery, and colonization history has lingering effects to this day in the UK.

You mean the slavery that Britain abolished before anyone else? And then when to war with numerous countries in its unilateral push to abolish slavery globally? It took the US around half a century to come around to abolition and most of the rest of the world from about a century later and beyond, and that was largely under pressure from Britain.

TokyoTigerDome

The stark reality is that the UK is verging on another big recession

"Verging on" means it hasn't happened. Therefore it is not "reality."

I haven't mentioned any of my own politics or opinions. 

I hope you're being ironic.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Should be "world-class TOSSER, BOJO"

The wisdom of commenting pre-coffee aside, my kingdom (such as it is) for an edit function.

As always, apologies.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Truss was selected by about 172,000 grassroots members of the Conservative Party; that figure represents less than 1% of the U.K.'s sixty-seven million population; and she considers herself to be Margaret Thatcher’s political heir. Oh geez(!)

in her speech:

Boris, you got Brexit done. You crushed Jeremy Corbyn, you rolled out the vaccine. And you stood up to Vladimir Putin. “

I’m gonna go Morgan Freeman (in Seven) and say: I agree with the second part. Oh, I know, reality is a little bit different.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

This is what we have after 12 years of conservative government

Yep.

Johnson tried pushing some of the blame for the energy crisis on Labour, gibbering about nuclear energy policy from over a decade ago.

Bringing manufacturing back from China would help for a start... oh, and stopping importing the rest of the world's population for some reason? It's absolutely out of control!

Immigration is a serious issue but as we’ve seen from Johnson in the UK and Trump in the US, incompetent, populist gas bags won’t fix it and end up getting thrown out on their oversized backsides by the electorate or their own party.

That doesn’t help matters.

Let’s see what Truss does.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Hapless Liz Truss, just happened to be holding the parcel when the music stopped.

Is Liz Truss about to walk on water, turn water into wine, heal the blind, feed 5000, or 70 million?

The opposition parties are just as delinquent. delusional.

Blame it all on brexit if it helps to deaden the pain.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Redstorm, couldn't agree more, if Johnson fashioned that discursive verbose all by himself, it is little doubt he is in for a payday to end all paydays on after dinner speaker circuit, mega book deals, and a seat in the house of lords.

Once a scoundrel, always a scoundrel.

Be in no doubt Boris Johnson is a reprobate rascal that can, with ease, string a sentence together.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

That speech is why the conservatives won the last election by such a margin.

Compared with the snivels of Theresa May, the "cut n run" dodgy Dave Cameron.

If one had had being living in a cave for the past 18 months, that speech would be anything but a step down from high office.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I shake my head. Conservatives are so predictably stupid. To them every economic dilemma is solved by a tax cut. Deflation? Cut taxes. Inflation? Cut taxes. Recession? Cut taxes. Strong GDP and revenue growth? Cut taxes. I don't think a single one of these conservative politicians have ever even been shown the Equation of National Income to understand what raising or lowering taxes does to GPD and growth. In any event in this instance of inflation being caused by too much money chasing too few goods, the traditional source of inflation, but rather from pandemic related global supply chain disruptions, factory closures in China due to shortages of electrical power caused by low river levels cutting hydroelectric output and wartime shortages that are not going to be remedied by the usual fiscal and monetary policies of parliaments and central banks. UK cannot tell China to open closed seaports or fire up factories that are shut due to shortages of electrical power as many are now. These are problems far beyond the ability of any one government to remedy but no politician wants to admit there are problems so large they are beyond their ability to control.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

All 4 Great Offices of State now occupied by either women and/or ethnic minorities and yet the usual Tory Tropes are still rolled out.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Patel has resigned...

A very thin silver lining.... Sadly she will be replaced with another muppet.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

Bye, Blighty!

1 ( +3 / -2 )

WobotToday  12:07 pm JST

That's it? That's the best idea she has?

Vowing tax cuts or no new taxes? If she is anything like Maggie Thatcher the Dull Witch of Dulwich, then Britain is in trouble again. Many Brit rockers I grew up with - Peter Gabriel, Simply Red, Genesis, Julian Cope, the Kinks, Roger Waters, Duran Duran and more have written songs about British decline. That's how I know.

Another thing to note. Here in the US, George Bush promised 'no new taxes' but the recession that started in 1990 forced him to renege. The economy got even worse and George was out the door in 1993.

It's easy to make promises, harder to keep them. You never know how things could turn up and even though it's not your fault, the public will think it is.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

RedstormToday  07:32 pm JST

There are so many non-whites in the government I think skin color is no longer an issue.

Don't be so sure. Here in America we had our first Black American POTUS with Barack Obama and there were so many outrageous, hateful and violent rumors and sassymouth conspiracy theories about him from the racist scum. And he had to take a lot of hateful CRAP during his 8 years in office, more than any other POTUS before him.

The one thing is, while most of the vitriol hurled at him was by racists - they weren't MAN enough to admit that. Whether Obama was right or wrong at anything, skin color was truly an issue, but these stupid critical clods just weren't man enough to admit it. Cause if they did, everyone could vividly see how immature and full of it they truly are.

And I think it may still be an issue in the UK too. I may be wrong about it.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The one thing is, while most of the vitriol hurled at him was by racists - they weren't MAN enough to admit that. Whether Obama was right or wrong at anything, skin color was truly an issue, but these stupid critical clods just weren't man enough to admit it. Cause if they did, everyone could vividly see how immature and full of it they truly are.

Yes. There were "Impeach Obama" bumper stickers on cars before he was even inaugurated! The racists could not publicly admit their racism so they accused Mr. Obama of being "divisive". Even as Mr. Obama studiously avoided pointing out examples of racial injustice on the many occasions where he could have in order to avoid being accused of "playing the race card", many whites considered the whole idea of an African American President (who also happened to be half white btw ) to be so outrageous his mere presence was considered to be "divisive".

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Have a good look in the mirror @painkiller and a good look at your own country before turning an article on a new UK PM to attack a country which has an infinitely better record than yours on integration.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

painkiller

The almost 500 year slave trade and slavery, and colonization history has lingering effects to this day in the UK.

Haiti (then Saint-Domingue) formally declared independence from France in 1804 and became the first sovereign nation in the Western Hemisphere to unconditionally abolish slavery in the modern era.

Slavery Abolition Act, (1833), in British history, act of Parliament that abolished slavery in most British colonies, freeing more than 800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and South Africa as well as a small number in Canada. It received Royal Assent on August 28, 1833, and took effect on August 1, 1834.

On December 18, 1865, the 13th Amendment was adopted as part of the United States Constitution. The amendment officially abolished slavery, and immediately freed more than 100,000 enslaved people, from Kentucky to Delaware. The language used in the Thirteenth Amendment was taken from the 1787 Northwest Ordinance.

However, segregation remained for another 100 years.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

To put some perspective on the differnece between the US and UK in terms of diversity, persons of black descent account for 13.6% of the US population vs 3.0% in the UK. Conversely the Asian descent population of the US is 6% vs 6.9% in the UK. White population of UK is 87% vs 75.8% in the US, so it is not suprising that the US was the first to have a black president/MP. Sunak came close to being the first Asian PM, with 43% of conservative party members voting for him, so its only a matter of time before the UK has its firstnon-white leader.

Sources: https://populationdata.org.uk/uk-population/

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045221

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I feel sorry for the Brits. They got a PM who is a cross between Thatcher and Bush.

when Bojo quit there should of been a NATIONAL snap election.

the police are already preparing for mass rioting this winter.

0 ( +12 / -12 )

I am sorry to suggest that there could be no monetary, fiscal, or economic monkey to be pulled out a proverbial hat.

Europe/UK/EU is up poo creek without a paddle.

Pandemic, war in Ukraine, sovereign debt, industrial unrest, the failure of our political establishments.

It is time for total honestly, a total dismantling and restructuring of Europe energy market could buy time.

However, overall everyone is in for a bumpy ride, deliberately understated.

Look.....

Europe Central Bank - Eurosystem

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/html/index.en.html

Scroll bottom dashboards, pay attention to inflation dash boards

Banque de France Net lending and net borrowing of institutional sectors

24 May 2022..last quarter.

https://www.banque-france.fr/en/statistics/net-lending-and-net-borrowing-institutional-sectors-24-may-2022

Now IMF--Reforming the EU Fiscal Framework: Strengthening the Fiscal Rules and Institutions

https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Departmental-Papers-Policy-Papers/Issues/2022/08/31/Reforming-the-EU-Fiscal-Framework-Strengthening-the-Fiscal-Rules-and-Institutions-The-EUs-518388

Liz Truss, former finance minister Rishi Sunak, it might as well been Rumpelstiltskin. There is no simple rearranging the deck chairs you are on the Titanic, about to collide with the ice burg.

Sit back order a cocktail, at least enjoy the string quartet.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

As matter of interest......

Watch live: Boris Johnson delivers farewell address outside Downing Street

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqA_Xr-u8i8

Politics and politicians, leadership cannot, will not, speak from the heart, and deliver a honest account of the challenges that will soon be upon the most venerable in society.

The fakery, the teams of speech writers to draft hollow pat on the back shallow deceitful insincerity, obscuring embellishing the truth.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Whoever mentioned the NHS as an industry? Certaintly not me.

Fair enough. But the dismantling of the NHS today is part of Margaret thatcher’s legacy.

Transportation is awful, still. But better than then. I'm assuming you never tried to take a train in the late 1970's/early 80's.

No I didn’t. But I know that when I was using public transport in the 1990s there people were complaining about how it was going downhill, And how much better it used to be

0 ( +4 / -4 )

I suspect Rishi Sunak was just not white enough for members of the Conservative party.

Wot tokyo_m sed. If the result had been otherwise, we would have pundits here telling us the grassroots tories are obviously all misogynists.

They hated Boris because he had charisma

That's not how you spell no sense of responsibility

(except for his support for Ukraine)

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Painkiller

Racism is far less of an issue in U.K. than the USA, far less divided on racial lines however divided on political party lines. The Tories have done a crap job and Labour has failed to capitalise on that, which to me speaks more or their shambolic mess of a party.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Desert TortoiseToday  01:33 am JST

The one thing is, while most of the vitriol hurled at him was by racists - they weren't MAN enough to admit that. Whether Obama was right or wrong at anything, skin color was truly an issue, but these stupid critical clods just weren't man enough to admit it. Cause if they did, everyone could vividly see how immature and full of it they truly are.

Yes. There were "Impeach Obama" bumper stickers on cars before he was even inaugurated! The racists could not publicly admit their racism so they accused Mr. Obama of being "divisive". Even as Mr. Obama studiously avoided pointing out examples of racial injustice on the many occasions where he could have in order to avoid being accused of "playing the race card", many whites considered the whole idea of an African American President (who also happened to be half white btw ) to be so outrageous his mere presence was considered to be "divisive".

Not only that but there were rumors that Obama was affiliated with the black racist supremacist cult Nation of Islam (Farrakhan's cult). Then there were the 'birther' rumors, the 'Obama Is a Muslim' jive (of course that reflects Islamophobic bigotry, doesn't it?), 'he's going to combine our economy with so-and-so' (as if that were so simple), and on and on and ON. At one 2008 'McCain For President' rally in Pennsylvania a racist turd shouted that Obama was an 'Arab' and that he 'should be hung' (!). McCain just shook his head and actually defended Obama, his rival. Of course, after losing he conceded to Obama, and they became government rivals but friends. John McCain was an honorable man. And so many Americans sassed off about the Republican John Boehner and Obama being golf buddies.

I truly believe that if Obama were white he would've never been subjected to all that lippy crap. And you know who stoked some of that hateful gossip? There were plenty who did and one of them was the ill-mannered juvenile Donald trump.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

"Verging on" means it hasn't happened. Therefore it is not "reality."

JeffLee, oh I am corrected. Everything is just great here in the UK. No recession and seriously all fine. People have lots of cash to spare, the health system is working just fine, and the public transport system is getting us all into work on time.

(that's being ironic).

0 ( +1 / -1 )

the UK is facing a recession caused by Putin's invation of Ukraine

Oh that old chestnut. The main reason for the global rise in energy bills is due to demand in Asia following the effect of the Covid pandemic. Norway are by far the biggest natural gas import into the UK. Also we are not "at war" with Russia. Ukraine are. The UK merely sells arms to Ukraine.

the pressure on public services due to populatio growth

This gets funnier. Since 2015 the UK's population growth numbers have been falling downwards. Public services are failing due to a reduction in their budgets.

she is highly intelligent and well educated

Sunak was educated at Stroud, Winchester, and Oxford and attained a First. He then achieved an MBA at Stanford and worked for Goldmans. As I said, Truss is not in his league.

And you call yourself an economist? I doubt that.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Politician's Electoral Promises are just like 'your cheque is in the post' messages.

Will be forgotten or denied within hours.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@theResident

I’ve posted before that I don’t think Labour can get a majority now - the maths have changed with the rise of the SNP.

A Lib/Lab pact looks more possible.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

> Government mismanagement is why it is better to thus privatize and leave people in charge of how to spend more of their own money. 

That’s taking heroin to solve an alcohol addiction. And it’s a gross misrepresentation to say that privatization means people are in charge of their own money. It’s not that the regular people are in charge. It’s the one percent. When you privatize, you can’t hold those peoples feet to the fire the way you can do it with government

Neoliberal policies were a stunning success in various places. That’s why key neoliberal policies were not reversed by subsequent governments.

No that’s not why they were never reversed. It’s because the one percent got richer and we’re able to keep the new liberal policies in place through illicit means such as Lobbying and such

Some industries like healthcare education transport we’re not supposed to make money. They’re supposed to provide a social good.

Bakers provide bread to people so they can eat - that is a social good.

Any kind of service you provide is a social good. That doesn’t mean you privatize everything. Somethings should be privatized somethings should be run by the government

At the very least government should stick to governing, and ensure all people have the means to provide for themselves adequately, but should not get into the business of directly providing services to people (e.g. business). 

That is absolute hogwash. We’ve seen with the American healthcare disaster how completely incorrect that statement is.

this fundamentally comes down to whether or not you believe in neoliberal economics.

Neoliberal economics is glorious

The same people that said trickle down economics works. More like tinkle down on the people economics.

Simple question… do you think you are capable of choosing what services to purchase by yourself, or do you want a bunch of central planners to make those decisions instead of you?

I’ve got news for you. Privatization does not mean you get a say in anything. It means the private sector, the one percent, get to control your decisions for you. I would much rather have government control it as I can control government through elections. I have no power over the 1%

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

I also have news for you Aly, You wish to go to Canada so much because of the liberal society ( I actually quite like Trudeau fwiw), but his society sadly won't last much longer. We are (sadly) slipping back to something thats further right of centre right and Canada will also follow suit. Real world politics mate, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but what you crave no longer exists.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Truss has an politics, philosophy and economics degree from Oxford and her husband is also an economist. While I would have preferred Sunak, she is highly intelligent and well educated. Sunak's downfall was that he was seen coming from a privalaged background with a public school education and billionaire wife. despite the fact that his parents were self-made immigrants, The reality is that like the rest of Europe the UK is facing a recession caused by Putin's invation of Ukraine. The health service is certianly facing extreme pressure due to the crisis in social service provsion that is resulting in beds being blocked in hospitals (the problem with the ambulance service is ambulances queueing at hospitals for hours at peak times to offload patients, and the pressure on public services due to populatio growth (UK has the highest rate of population of any major European country - 65% more than Germany 2.5x France. Unemployment is well belwo European levels, but inflation is slightly higher (Spain is far higher). As an econo,ist working for a Chinese bank in London we are far more concerned at what is happening to the German economy ove the next 12 months than the UK.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Patel has resigned...

https://i.stuff.co.nz/world/uk/300679804/liz-truss-is-britains-new-pm-replacing-ousted-boris-johnson

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

t's not the sort of thing the BBC would dare say, but I suspect Rishi Sunak was just not white enough for members of the Conservative party. 

I think you hit the nail on the head.

To be fair, my yank understanding is that his wife is not a UK citizen (and thus not subject to taxation? Regardless, this would be a poltical problem in the States as well.) who also happens to be a billionaire.

But even if none of those were true, there would still be the dark skin discrimination.

I mean, Liz..... Hell, she looks like she would ignite spontaneously with exposure to direct sun light. If she were any whiter, she would be translucent.

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

awww bless

I want more of it. He’s reminded me of a few others.

Remember ‘soy boy’?

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

good luck Albion...!

with great "leader"...!

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Yes, Prime Minister:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxkBdcWfUfc&t=315s

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

I miss Spitting Image and Not the Nine O’clock News!

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Aly RustomToday  08:24 am JST

Veteran Conservative lawmaker David Davis described challenges she faced as "probably the second most difficult brief of post-war prime ministers" after Conservative Margaret Thatcher in 1979.

Yeah and look at how that worked out. The UK is screwed

Long term - It worked out very well. Prior to that Tory Government, the UK was a second world country, controlled by the Unions, riddled with debt. Taxes so high that it there was a brain drain. Short memories.

The Labour party yet to have a woman as leader or correct me if I'm wrong anyone BAME hold one of the 4 great offices of State.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

Oh Aly, come on. British Leyland. British Steel - really? There to provide a social good?

Whoever mentioned the NHS as an industry? Certaintly not me.

Transportation is awful, still. But better than then. I'm assuming you never tried to take a train in the late 1970's/early 80's.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner, would be faced with the same challenges.

With the requirement to satisfy the financial markets, any errant behaviour, be prepared to see a sustained sell off gilts, British sovereign bonds which any government relies on to bridge the divide for spending that is not cover by taxation.

Any proposed freezing the cap on energy prices will have to at least partly be financed though borrowing.

The IMF, the link provided above has made this point, there is no difference between UK and the EU where monetary and fiscal stability is concerned. Please read it is a warning all bets are off in this crisis.

The purse is empty, without a clear credible monetary policy.

In other words, less government spending,

A clear balance between provision (welfare state) and base level polices to increase revenue or cut/balance expenditure.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Rishi Sunak got just about half of the Tory party member vote, but I agree that a sizable percentage of that other half were probably against the idea that he wasn't white. We are talking about the most conservative people in the UK remember, not average voters or even average Tory voters.

Truss is widely regarded as being told to captain the Titanic whilst everyone else is readying the lifeboats. And there is a lot of speculation that the UK will face sky-high inflation, a recession and even mass riots by next year. She is viewed as a "wicker woman" for the Tories.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

I also have news for you Aly, You wish to go to Canada so much because of the liberal society ( I actually quite like Trudeau fwiw), but his society sadly won't last much longer. We are (sadly) slipping back to something thats further right of centre right and Canada will also follow suit. Real world politics mate, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but what you crave no longer exists.

Well my friend. We’re gonna have to agree to disagree. The main criticism that the conservatives have of Trudeau is that he is the first NDP Prime Minister ever elected. Have a very good friend who is very conservative and his rabbit hatred of Trudeau stems from the “towel head”controlling him in his own words. The fact of the matter is, Trudeau has made Canadian politics swing for more to the left than ever before. He saved Canada. And the Proof is in the pudding. Andrew Scheer was less conservative than Stephen Harper and he failed. And then the next conservative leader was Erin O’Toole. Far more liberal than Andrew was. So you see, Canadian politics are swinging more and more to the left because people are swinging more and more to the left

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Sunak came close to being the first Asian PM, with 43% of conservative party members voting for him

Don't be fooled by that. On paper Sunak should have absolutely walked the leadership contest. It should have been a no-contest in terms of his education, his career path, and his dialogue. And I'm not a conservative. He is brown therefore his own party voted instead for a complete amateur who is white with white hair. Truss is not even in his league in terms of economic intelligence.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Long term - It worked out very well.

The UK today is a shell of what it was.

Prior to that Tory Government, the UK was a second world country, controlled by the Unions, riddled with debt.

It most certainly was not a 2nd world country. Unions are what protected the middle class.

Taxes so high that it there was a brain drain.

taxes were high because the NHS was being funded properly. Education was free.

Now thanks to the legacy of Thatcher and the Tories in general, the neo liberal model of the US is taking place in the UK and the NHS is slowly being sold off

The Labour party yet to have a woman as leader or correct me if I'm wrong anyone BAME hold one of the 4 great offices of State.

I don't care about the sex of the office holder. I care about what he or she does in that office

-3 ( +6 / -9 )

Aly: At what income level is 98% tax ever reasonable? - In fact, in today's money adjusted for inflation you'd only have to earn 220,000 Pounds a year to fall into that bracket!

A similar model was used in the United States under FDR and it still worked very well. The rich still got to be rich and enjoy their high quality lifestyle. That’s all you needed. They were taxed very heavily for public services. The system certainly worked a lot better than today.

It most certainly was a second world country. Rolling power cuts for a 3 year period due to industrial action.

It was not a second world country. If there were problems it was because the government mismanaged some funds. But privatization and Neo liberal economicsis not the answer and that’s what Thatcher did

Railways and infrastructure in shocking disrepair.

Have you taken a look at the Transportation today? You really wanna tell me it was better than it was back in the days of before Thatcher?

Government owned (so taxpayer owned) industries that didn't make a penny.

Some industries like healthcare education transport we’re not supposed to make money. They’re supposed to provide a social good.

Want me to go on?

Sure go on. But this fundamentally comes down to whether or not you believe in neoliberal economics.

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

rabid hatred of Trudeau stems from the “towel head”controlling him in his own words. That individual would be the amazing NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. Want to add that Canada owes a great debt of gratitude to Mr. Singh for pushing the liberals for more to the left than they initially intended to. But I think Trudeau and his heart of hearts is very liberal and he just needed that push from Singh And that support from the NDP to realize just how much he can accomplish on a liberal agenda

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Just putting socialism versus capitalism to one side and the red against blue division that David Cameron created with his referendum vote (don't be fooled by his 'first past the post fairness' - it was another India style class partition). The stark reality is that the UK is verging on another big recession, has emergency ambulance waiting times of up to 5 hours (a real basic in the lives of any nationality), a severe reduction in national health dentists for children, an acute energy bill problem, big increases in the cost of food, accident & emergency overnight waits in hospitals (another human essential), not enough staff to run full train timetables, and our own sewerage running through our beaches.

I haven't mentioned any of my own politics or opinions. Forget all of your personal politics and finger pointing - this is the current situation in the UK today.

And for the posters here trying to deflect this truth onto Keir Starmer or the Labour Party, they are not the government and haven't been since Gordon Brown.

Whilst the queen sits up in her tax-free castle in Scotland and gives her blessing to this current catastrophe, elderly people will sit in public libraries (the ones that weren't sold off) or ride on buses to heat themselves this winter.

An absolute disgrace in the history of the UK (but there again they put up statues of queen victoria who had children in workhouses under her watch).

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

So not pm yet, but so far she said she would be cutting tax during a recession and increasing debt, increasing riot police training for the upcoming riots, preparing British soldiers to go to Ukraine frontline, threatened to pre-empterly use nukes on Russia, depleted the UK arms stockpiles…what going to happen when she gets the keys to number 10?

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

@Jimizo: Right now, Agree. She would not win a General Election. I also don't believe that Labour would win an outright majority. Not with Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner at the helm.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

If there were problems it was because the government mismanaged some funds.

That’s right, government mismanagement.

Never an oxymoron, is it. So,

But privatization and Neo liberal economicsis not the answer and that’s what Thatcher did

Government mismanagement is why it is better to thus privatize and leave people in charge of how to spend more of their own money.

Neoliberal policies were a stunning success in various places. That’s why key neoliberal policies were not reversed by subsequent governments.

Some industries like healthcare education transport we’re not supposed to make money. They’re supposed to provide a social good.

Bakers provide bread to people so they can eat - that is a social good. It is typically not government run these days. Lots of stuff is good for other people, which is why providing those things to other people can be a way of earning oneself a living.

At the very least government should stick to governing, and ensure all people have the means to provide for themselves adequately, but should not get into the business of directly providing services to people (e.g. business).

this fundamentally comes down to whether or not you believe in neoliberal economics.

Neoliberal economics is glorious.

Simple question… do you think you are capable of choosing what services to purchase by yourself, or do you want a bunch of central planners to make those decisions instead of you?

The former is essentially neoliberal, the latter is anti-neoliberal.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

in closing I just wanted to say to you that you are right in a sense that the whole world is going to not necessarily center right but more far right

However Canada serves as a beacon of hope for the left thanks to Trudeau

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Aly: At what income level is 98% tax ever reasonable? - In fact, in today's money adjusted for inflation you'd only have to earn 220,000 Pounds a year to fall into that bracket!

It most certainly was a second world country. Rolling power cuts for a 3 year period due to industrial action. Railways and infrastructure in shocking disrepair. Government owned (so taxpayer owned) industries that didn't make a penny. Want me to go on?

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

While Truss eulogised about how Johnson had stood up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and was admired in Ukraine, the Kremlin warned that the countries' dire relations could get even worse.

And now the tumbling UK economy. Good luck to Truss.

painkillerToday  05:14 am JST

The UK has still not had a person of an ethnic minority as a Prime Minister.

JeffLeeToday  07:15 am JST

Gimme a break. The UK has had three UK female prime ministers. 

Last I checked, women are not an ethnic minority.

You mean the slavery that Britain abolished before anyone else?

The one started before, spread globally more, and lasting longer than anyone else. That one.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

They hated Boris because he had charisma; they hate Truss because she doesn't? All nonsense. The left will always find reasons to hate everyone to the right of them. 'Pas d'ennemis a la gauche; pas d'amis a la droite'. It's actually a sick obsession with power. Leftists worship power and are apoplectic when they don't have it; it's the meaning of their entire, miserable lives. Good luck Liz. Give it to them.

-7 ( +4 / -11 )

Liz Truss will become Britain's next prime minister after winning a leadership race for the governing Conservative Party on Monday, vowing to press ahead with promised tax cuts and action to tackle a deepening energy and cost of living crisis.

The UK has still not had a person of an ethnic minority as a Prime Minister. This current selection of a PM shows the UK is lingering behind many other Western countries, such as the US, in its willingness to overcome racism in its society.

The almost 500 year slave trade and slavery, and colonization history has lingering effects to this day in the UK.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

Too bad Patel resigned. At least she tried to get all the illegal economic migrants sent off to Rwanda.

-9 ( +6 / -15 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites