Mailwatch(ed) Forum

But the House of Commons is sovereign. There is no constitution, so they can make up and pass any laws they want to, no? Even if it means amending Erskine May?

I’m waiting for the self-titled knowner of all things Parliamentary, Rees-Smug, to pronounce on what happened in 1833

kreuzberger wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 5:39 pm But the House of Commons is sovereign. There is no constitution, so they can make up and pass any laws they want to, no? Even if it means amending Erskine May?

Yup. Like they did with broadcasting and mobile phones...

Given the current state of the House of Commons I think the Lords would probably do a far better job of holding the Foreign Secretary to account than MPs. There are plenty of Lords who have worked in the diplomatic services and in the armed forces. They are more likely to ask telling questions than some of the toadies in the commons.

satnav wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 5:46 pm Given the current state of the House of Commons I think the Lords would probably do a far better job of holding the Foreign Secretary to account than MPs. There are plenty of Lords who have worked in the diplomatic services and in the armed forces. They are more likely to ask telling questions than some of the toadies in the commons.

That is a good point. They also tend to listen to answers and dissect them.

Even if there is no change, Cameron will often be out of the country and, anyway, Andrew Mitchell, far from the worst of the bunch, will still be mauled by David Lammy.

I can't see what new arrangements the sovereign Commons could bring in that aren't a nonsense.

You want to be able to question the Secretary of State during big debates. So Cameron's in Westminster Hall at the start of the debate, where MPs can ask him questions, then all apart from Cameron have to troop into the Commons for the rest of the debate and a vote? How can Cameron respond to points made in the debate. Do they go back ito Westminster Hall again for a bit, then back into the Commons?

The only thing that can happen is that the Minister of State (Andrew Mitchell apparently) will do it all, with Cameron doing no more than texting messages in from outside.

I don't see any way this can stand. And a gift to Labour in their "reform but don't abolish the Lords" agenda.

BTL on the Guardian are sure this is Hoyle's fault somehow.

The husband of the new Health Secretary is the managing director of a large sugar company as well has running the country's biggest cannabis farm. I can't see any conflict of interest there!

Clever of him to get the munchies sewn up.

Sunak- Hello, is that Esther?

McVey: Might be. And I think it's a disgrace what you've done to Suella. Come for her, and you come for all of us.

Sunak: So you wouldn't want a job in government then?

McVey: As Foreign Secretary?

Sunak: No.

McVey: What's my job?

Sunak: Not much, but I'll call it "Minister for Common Sense".

McVey: Deal!

I'm still wondering just how it was possible to turn a blind eye to all the Greensill crap that Cameron was involved in to fast-track his arse into a seat in the Lords. - apparently bypassing the normal scrutiny of the Lords appointments committee (that successfully blocked Lady Dorries). Didn't King Chaz have concerns?

Can't help thinking there is more to this, yet to come out.

According to Cameron his Greensill links have all been properly investigated and it is all in the past. Surely now he is back in government people are surely going to look at those links again.

Abernathy wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 6:26 pm I'm still wondering just how it was possible to turn a blind eye to all the Greensill crap that Cameron was involved in to fast-track his arse into a seat in the Lords. - apparently bypassing the normal scrutiny of the Lords appointments committee (that successfully blocked Lady Dorries). Didn't King Chaz have concerns?

Can't help thinking there is more to this, yet to come out.

I am beginning to wonder how far Chaz can be pushed.

I am beginning to wonder how far Chaz can be pushed.

It’s his job to tick the boxes, cut ribbons and keep his snout out of government business. Bad things happen to monarchs who deviate.

Cameron should be more worried about the Mail taking a closer look at his Greenshill affairs. Dacre loathes Cameron as he leaned on Rothermere to have him fired as editor in 2016. As someone has already mentioned it’s Alien Vs Predator time, who cares who wins or loses just enjoy the carnage.

Bad things happened to monarchs who interfered. Sometimes.

In 1931 George V denied Ramsay MacDonald's request for a dissolution and told him to form a national government and get on with it. No-one lost their head.

That sort of thing.

Both Penny Mordaunt and Kemi Badenoch seem to have been overlooked in the reshuffle which doesn't bode well for their future leadership ambitions, only James Cleverly seems to have come out of all this looking like a possible leadership contender.

Depends what the outcome of the election looks like.

I don’t think Sunak’s backing will have much sway.

only James Cleverly seems to have come out of all this looking like a possible leadership contender.

Imagine how utterly ridiculous that would have sounded five years ago. Or the idea that Suella Fernandes would even be appointed milk monitor.

One winner out of all this is Nadine Dorries on her book plugging tour as the right sort of chaps are taking back control of their party from ghastly oiks.

Crabcakes wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 11:53 am All that said…I’ll give Sunak credit for this: if you wanted a way to ensure all the attention was sucked away from Braverman’s sacking - this Cameron move 100% did it.

This seems totally bizarre to me. The first thing Sunak has done right since becoming PM is to (finally) sack a universally-hated figure. This could have earned him some much-needed Brownie points from those who are not totally insane - ie the majority of people in this country. Instead, he diverts attention away from this Good Thing by publicly reintroducing another universally-hated figure whom the majority of people were hoping had left British politics for good.

To Malcolm's now-standard comment I can only add... and a weapons-grade fool, too.