Ref my post #2657, and your reply at post #2660, I was catching up on this week's BBC Radio 4 'Today in Parliament' podcast this morning. I noted the explicit question posed in the chamber on how many of the instances of abuse of Downing Street security and cleaning staff came from politically appointed SpAds, and how many of them had been subject to appropriate disciplinary proceedings as a result. I further noted that the government representative declined to provide a direct answer to the question.That puts me well up in the politician stakes, as you will have seen how politicians respond to questioning during TV interviews. There was a prime example on the BBC morning programme when Charlie Stayt was trying to get Rishi Sunak to give information live on that programme prior to it first being announced in the House of Commons.
However, at 77, I am too old to make new career in politics, but am happy to be a back-bencher on this website.
I also note that a prominent Conservative MP not too distant from my part of the world has this evening expressed doubts about his re-election prospects
If the Tories are to win the next election, Boris has to go
I cannot accept that the PM did not know what was happening in No 10 in partygate. He has lost the public’s trust
Sir Bob Neill MP is Conservative MP for Bromley and Chislehurst and chairman of the Justice select committee.
This is a fairly leafy and prosperous part of the world (probably not dissimilar from Prestbury and Wilmslow) and I wonder if the following comment raises any alarm bells?
Bromley is traditionally a suburban Conservative heartland. It voted overwhelmingly for Boris in the London mayoral elections of 2008 and 2012. Indeed, in 2012, the weight of votes from our borough alone exceeded his overall winning margin. But in the council elections in May, the message was very different. The Conservatives lost seats and votes across the borough. Areas which had been blue for as long as we can remember turned against us. Repeatedly, the message I got on the doorstep and in my emails was that our Conservative council was doing a good job, but they could not support us under Boris’s leadership
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/05/27/tories-win-next-election-boris-has-go/