Margaret Thatcher and her Chancellors cut Income tax from 33% to 25%.
She cut Top rate Income tax from 83% to 40%
She cut the tax on savings Income from 98% to 40 %
She cut Corporation Tax from 52% to 34%
Rishi Sunak increased the Corporation tax rate by 31% to 25%
He raised the NI rate by 10%
He imposed a new Digital services Tax
He imposed a windfall tax
He invented a Social Care Tax
And then he wants us to believe he can be the new Margaret Thatcher!
July 13, 2022
Agreed
July 13, 2022
Sunak, no thanks.
July 13, 2022
Yes farcical isn’t it.
July 13, 2022
So Iām guessing Rishi will not be getting your vote then, Sir John.
July 14, 2022
Only a Socialist would vote for Sunak.
July 13, 2022
Tax cuts equate to a pay rise without being inflationary.
– Public services have increased hugely without delivering public service. They enforce things such as Newspeak and scare the bejeesus out of us because the sun is shining
– Tax increases have happened by stealth and massively on the forecourt through blatant lies and the E10 con (which is dilution of our fuel as a form of shrinkflation meaning we need to buy more of it and pay more tax.) Also the lie that tax only forms around half of our fuel cost. Depending in which way one looks at it fuel tax is actually well over 100% of the cost of the commodity itself – especially considering commuters who must pay it out of taxed income and then pay the retailer’s tax on tax…
So tax cut’s wouldn’t be cuts at all but simply a return of money that is being stolen from us to pay for Sunak’s largesse during the extended lockdowns. These were a wicked act and the economic cushioning of those measures made them tolerable when they were, in fact, lethal in themselves.
When will Chris Whitty be presenting his Lockdown Deaths charts or does he not give a toss ? Surely it’s easy to spot when someone’s depression started ? Or a tumour that should have been spotted ?
One doubts having free pizza shoved down their throats helped with health – especially with prolonged bouts of social isolation and criminalisation for normal behaviour.
Had people been presented with the tax bill during the pandemic they would have certainly demanded that there been a discernment between death ‘with’ or ‘of’ Covid.
July 13, 2022
Well put Sir J, Fishy Rishi needs to use his Green Card and head back to usa šŗšø
July 13, 2022
or Richy Sunak?
July 13, 2022
Rishi the MP for Davos.
July 13, 2022
With the same employer on his CV as former Bank of England governor Mark Carney.
July 13, 2022
Sunak increased corp tax from 19 to 25% not 31 to 25% !
Reply He increased the rate byb31%
July 13, 2022
That’s blown your chance of being Chancellor Ed. Penny Mordaunt currently on TV and she certainly comes across as confident with a determined agenda.
July 13, 2022
I didn’t see her on the TV.
I like her but don’t think she’s brainy enough – sorry. You need brains for this job (which is why I could never be Chancellor … I’ll stick to armchair commentary).
July 13, 2022
In that the increase is 6% – and 6% is 31% of 19% …
That may be true, but no-one was reading it that way, probably because it’s not expressed inthe same terms as the other entries in the lists.
Sometimes your prose needs to be read twice or more to discern the meaning – it might be useful to use a few more words sometimes to get the message across? In politics the difference between being right and being seen to be right (by the varied electorate) is immense.
July 13, 2022
“Tax Cuts ‘Doomed to Fail’, CBI Warns Contenders” – Bloomberg
Strange that, don’t you think? Businesses saying don’t cut corporation tax.
The rate rises from 19 – 25% 31% (increase) on profits over Ā£50,000 pa. Sunak claims 70% of UK businesses make less than that. Perhaps if big business supporters of the CBI don’t want the tax cuts they could increase theirs to pay to raise the pre-tax allowance higher. “One senior business leader said: āThere is no company in the world that makes decisions on investment based on the headline corporation tax.” FT, which business leader said that? Why does that person think Ireland wants to keep it’s corporation tax which is actually against EU regs. “Ireland’s “headline” corporation tax rate is 12.5%, however, foreign multinationals pay an aggregate Ā§ Effective tax rate (ETR) of 2.2ā4.5% on global profits “shifted” to Ireland, via Ireland’s global network of bilateral tax treaties.”
July 13, 2022
I can never understand why so many people welcome higher taxes as a good thing, the proviso being that they don’t expect to pay them themselves
July 13, 2022
Ed,
The point is he is for high taxation with a 70 year historic record for increasing taxes against manifesto pledge and also a record for debt, deficit, inflation, worse disposable income. Appalling record for school boy fraud errors which led to Lord Agnewās resignation. Why did Sunak no tender his if he believes in trust so much?
I think his snake like qualities would lead me to suspect he has been to the Gove school of mentoring.
July 13, 2022
I’ve only recently being learning about his policies on tax. I get what you’re saying, though, and looks like he’s made enemies in the party as a result. Which means he could well be toast. Which is why – in my armchair commentary – thinking it’s now between Ms Truss, Javid and Zahawi (and Hunt maybe)?
July 15, 2022
Maths and the comprehension of English aren’t your strong points are they?
July 13, 2022
He has no basic concept of what will incentivise the commercial sector and the individual to create the extra wealth that when taxed at a modest rate will increase the tax rate of government. Additionally there are taxes which require to be abolished altogether, the ones that impose a tax on already taxed income. Stamp Duty, Inheritance Tax, Death Duty, and Capital Gains Tax. The approximate Ā£0.90 tax and VAT on vehicle fuel should be reduced by 50%, the government must be rolling in tax take from these inflated prices. VAT should disappear from all domestic fuel prices.
I would make all school fees tax deductible and the same would apply to private health care costs. If the immediate effect was to create a deficit on government spending then government spending would have to suffer cuts.
Can I suggest you create a chart of candidates tax and spend commitments so that we have a clear idea of what these people stand for.
July 13, 2022
I get the impression that Mr Sunak is saying what he thinks people want to hear, but this applies too probably, to several of Sunak’s opponents who call for immediate tax cuts, without it being apparent from these people’s history, that they really understand why low taxes are so liberating.
We badly need someone cast in the Thatcher mould to deal with the deeply vested powers of inertia and negativity that you highlighted in your final paragraph yesterday, and this is clearly not Sunak, but from the candidates now available, does to me, seem most likely to be one of the women. Until the past few days, I had never heard of Mrs Badenoch, but what she had to say yesterday, seemed to me to be well thought through, full of sense and well delivered. Can she though, survive the endorsement of Mr Gove?
July 13, 2022
“I get the impression that Mr Sunak is saying what he thinks people want to hear” – Well if so he is totally deluded as to what they want to hear. What people really want to hear is:- I will scrap net zero and the 25% levy, stop illegal immigration now, scrap HS2 & the renewable subsidies, cut taxes hugely, undo all my tax grabs and manifesto rattings, simplify taxes, have a bonfire of red tape, stop wasting billions all over the place and get real and fair competition into education, energy, healthcare, housing…
July 13, 2022
Fully Agree
July 14, 2022
No, thatās what you want to hear. To name but two items – most people are pro net zero and relaxed about immigration. Iām not. Youāre not. But we are a minority. We are not āmost peopleā.
July 13, 2022
I canāt believe that Sunak got the support of 88 Tory MPs
July 13, 2022
Kemi wont be picked as she has conservative values and policies. Very few conservatives in the Tory Party.
July 14, 2022
+1
July 13, 2022
Could be written as:
Corporation tax from 19 to 25%, NI rate from 12 to 13.25%.
Funny how Margaretās rate drops are quoted in absolute values, and Rishiās hikes in relative values.
Well, inconsistent mathematics or could it be called āmanip*****onā?
Sir John really takes us for more stupid than we actually are.
The digital service tax might not be such a bad idea as it can help small store owners vis-a-vis huge digital behemoths like Amazon (that successive governments have left off the hook with the taxes on their UK sales).
The Social Care Tax should have been introduced years/governments ago as the provision for home or residential care in this country is rather dismal, also thanks to successive governments.
As for the windfall tax, whatās so wrong when the profits of the oil and gas companies went up and up after economies finally came out of lockdowns and later thanks to the Ukraine war. And donāt tell me that the Treasury is not taking a nice share via the VAT computed as a percentage on the retail price.
July 13, 2022
@Hefner
Okay. Margaret cut income tax by 24.24%.
July 13, 2022
Well what really matters is government expenditure as a % of GDP, tax as a % of GDP and does the government do anything of much value with it.
Currently we have the worse of all worlds huge taxes and dire public services much spent doing positive net harm like net zero, HS2, the pointless degrees for Ā£50k, test and trace, vaccinating the young doing net harm too.
July 13, 2022
She cut Top rate Income tax from 83% to 40% (a 52% drop)
She cut the tax on savings Income from 98% to 40 % (a 59% drop)
She cut Corporation Tax from 52% to 34% (a 35% drop)
How is that manipulation?
July 14, 2022
I was not contesting the figures but the way of presenting the Thatcher and Sunak figures.
When one wants to use statistics, it should be done consistently. Sir John was not consistent.
July 13, 2022
hefner, employers also pay national insurance, it is now 15.05% (up 1.25%) up from 12.8% in 2010, in addition, employers now pay an extra 3% to workplace pension from 2012 (and 100% of the ssp cost and 100% SSP holiday pay) which is what half the Employer’s NI was supposed to be for and starts at a much lower Ā£6240. This provides a gross NI level of 28.3% (compared to 23.8%) for PAYE workers and 10.25% for the self-employed, if you include workplace pension for PAYE workers it is 36.3% compared to 23.8% and no compulsory workplace pension for the self-employed.
July 14, 2022
That was not my point. The point was an accidental or deliberate misuse of statistics.
July 13, 2022
The problem with windfall taxes is that they create a worry for global companies who are looking to invest in the UK.
They do their figures on how the future regulatory and tax situation might be and then there is talk of a windfall tax.
Actually the government already receives a windfall tax from the extra corporation taxes they get from the improved profits of these companies.
Then there is extea employment, staff bonuses, extra investment and all the other taxes generated.
July 14, 2022
On the same day (27/05/2022) Sunak announced the windfall tax he also announced a 91p tax rebate per pound invested in North Sea developments.
Shellās beef was that the announced tax reliefs would not apply on the Ā£20-25 bn the company wants to invest over the next decade in renewable energy projects.
Shell had got big tax rebates previously (07/04/22 āShell nets $121 m tax rebates in UKā). It had got a similar $131 m rebate the previous year.
July 14, 2022
How is that relevant?
Exploration forvfiels in the sea is very expensive and often provides little result despite many millions spent.
Quite properly these companies are allowed to offset these costs.
July 15, 2022
It was relevant because Shellās main complaint was not about windfall tax but the non-access to future tax relief, a point you did not address with your āwindfall taxes creating a worry for global companiesā.
Please read what I write.
July 15, 2022
No you fail to understand what I wrote heffy.
You speak of Shell.
I wrote about the effect any windfall tax has on company investment confidence.
Politicians introducing such sudden stealth taxes on any company they feel is making too much money.
However that is defined.
On top of the increased corporation tax they already are getting from higher than normal profits.
Please read what I write.
July 18, 2022
I notice once more you never write a primary comment but are only on this blog to comment after others.
Within the scope of the present Conservative Competition, you could be said to be more a follower than a leader, couldnāt you?
July 13, 2022
That’s what politicians do. Present specific facts in a selective manner designed to lead to a particular conclusion.
I guess it leads to the conclusion that there is maybe 1 of the 8 that John Redwood definitely won’t be voting for this afternoon.
July 13, 2022
But Thatcher’s tax rate cuts sound even more impressive as “income tax cut by more than 50%, investment income by circa 58% and Corp. Tax by circa 40%!
July 13, 2022
Hefner
You are absolutely right about sir John he probably supports a Brexterr like our foreign secretary.
The tax cuts could also create further inflation depending on how they are implemented
July 13, 2022
Fancy supporting a person who isn’t keen on rejoining eh billy.
PS
Where did you pal heffy actually say what you claim?
July 13, 2022
Peter 2
What are you really talking about?
July 14, 2022
I’m talking about your comment to Hefner where you say ” you are absolutely right about Sir John…….etc
Where did Hefner say anything about that?
July 13, 2022
Hef,
How many times do you think we should be taxed for the same thing? Social care tax (as you put it) was part of ordinary taxation- after all local authorities had water taken away without any reduction to taxpayers, same for rivers/flood defence, then we have to sell our homes to pay for it, it is already an addition in our community charges each month. Therefore to add NI tax was the the fourth time we are taxed for the same thing! Your social care tax. Thanks in advance.
July 14, 2022
Why should I pay (twice) for someone else’s care ? They should have made provision for their own care when they were working.
July 13, 2022
When it comes to his supposed tax-cutting beliefs, Sunak obviously subscribes to this statement, attributed to Joseph Goebbels:
āIf you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.ā
It is obvious that Sunak is the left-wing Establishment’s favoured candidate. Which is precisely why he must not win. We need a Reforming Conservative.
July 13, 2022
Liz Truss looks more like Margaret Thatcher.
She attempts to match the Iron Ladyās genuine qualities, but her rusty record pre-Brexit still feels too wet and rough.
July 14, 2022
Looks like, perhaps ? Is, never !!!
July 13, 2022
I believe many see Mr Sunak as having failed at the first fence. We need a change of direction, and we need it now.
July 13, 2022
I’m all for small, independent stores on the High Street paying no Corporation tax at all. If turnover is less than Ā£2 million a year. It would help revitalise the dying High Street across the UK.
I’m highly fed up with the small business continually being taxed to death, penalised for mistakes and hounded by HMRC for every last penny owed.
Whilst the big Corporations pay next to nothing and do grubby deals with HMRC and the Government to minimise their tax liabilities. ‘Investment in the UK’ is not an excuse for not paying the tax that is rightly owed.
Investment does not pay the day to day running costs of the UK. Taxation does.
July 13, 2022
Indeed but even more to the point he is a multiple manifesto ratter so a new manifesto and any promises from him would not be believed. He is also unpopular with party members and voters due to being rich, his greencard and his wife tax avoidance.
He would be a very foolish choice unless one wants to help Starmer/SNP/Libdim gain power. The complete opposite of a man of the people. Also a net zero enthusiast and a very wasteful Chancellor who failed even to kill the absurd HS2 project. A Tax, borrow, print, over regulate and piss down the drain man.
What do MPs see in him to make him favourite for the last two?
July 13, 2022
Indeed on all the tax graps and vast tax increases plus the many frozen allowances too on CGT, income, IHT, pensions lifetime allowances causing even more taxation and pushing people into higher rates and more taxes.
July 13, 2022
Simon Hart just now on LBC supporting Sunak:- “There are tremendous upsides to net zero” yes sure Simon what are they! The only upsides are 25% plus higher bills, more expensive less flexible cars, less efficient heating and a nice upside for tax payer funded government grant farmers and crony capitalism! Plus higher taxes to fund all this lunacy. The solutions proposed do not even save any or any significant CO2.
EVcars increase CO2 considerably over keeping your old car for example.
July 13, 2022
Lifelogic :
Agreed. Net Zero is :
– Pointless. There is no correlation between CO2 levels and temperature and our contribution is just 1% of the global total. Chinaās CO2 emissions per capita are 30% higher than the UKās.
– Unnecessary. CO2 is plant food and at historically low levels and during the last ice age came very close to being too low for plants to survive.
– Unaffordable with renewables and electrification being absolutely the worst way to decarbonise. And hence why it was chosen.
July 13, 2022
There are a lot of Tories like tricky Rishi and who support him. Promoting himself as having Thatcher beliefs is typical of the deceitful tactics considered respectable by many in the party.
Instead we need truth, honesty and courage, and someone who understands our nation and society and will take us further and urgently out of the EU’s clutches.
July 13, 2022
Yep, a few maths inconsistencies aside, we cannot afford to have Sunak as Chancellor. I’m in the (Almost) Anyone But Sunak camp.
The pro-EU lefties are perhaps more of a danger to Brexit though and Hunt especially has shown himself to be rather less than competent at Health.
Tughendat is overplaying the ex-military card since he was a reservist and never in a strategic role, rising only to Lt Col for a short time, although he did serve some time in Afghanistan and Iraq. He cannot make the case for understanding the miltary’s needs based on this. His speed in condemning Roger Scruton shows a lack of judgement that a PM cannot have (Johnson being the possible exception since it’s “priced in”).
Of the remainder, Mordaunt has shown “woke” tendencies and has appraently gone AWOL from her ministerial role, refusing trips abroad to seal deals with US States and doing very little but plotting her own aggrandisement.
Badenoch is a breath of fresh air and would be my choice. The others just don’t seem to have that intellectual heft and insight which one might look for in the role. Her policy stance is sound and she seems to come without baggage, which is important with teh rabid media we have today. She is also an excellent speaker and dare I say it, as a woman of colour she can address issues that the pink male cannot easily tiptoe into without facing a storm of confected outrage.
Truss – maybe, but “converted remainer” didn’t work out so well with May, who played a long game of robotically mouthing “Brexit means Brexit” to position herself to sell it out to the EU. How can we know that Truss is not the same, since she was a Remainer in the run-up to the referendum?
Brexiteers, the ERG etc, need to rapidly get behind a candidate and push them over the line into the final two.
July 13, 2022
I have just watched Penny Mordant (if I have spelt her name wrong I apologise) . I am greatly impressed with her attitude about we Brits not needing lectured by politicians as most of us can form our own opinions. I concur with most of her plans for her policies to implement .
She is a well rooted Brit who has watched and thought about the running down of our country including armed forces and the politicalisation of our police forces. We need those such as her and yourself who put Britain FIRST and recognise a lot of the NGOās such as the WHO and WEF have plans to destroy our Great homeland.
I hope we will see a bit of common sense and get this well grounded person as PM.
July 13, 2022
The worst aspect of this is Mr. Sunak’s expectation that people will buy his message.
July 13, 2022
Whatever these people say to you, John, when they actually get the job, doesn’t the reality of the international corporation tax alignments of the G7 and the EU kick in? It seems only Ireland can get away with low taxes (i.e. no equivalent high level of corporation tax from 2023, no contribution to nato).
July 15, 2022
EU corporation tax rate alignment? tradingeconomics.com āList of countries by Corporate Tax Rate | Europeā, dec.ā21.
July 13, 2022
Hello Sir John,
I agree with your scathing comments about Rishi Sunk, but despair that so many conservative MPs are backing him. Are they conservatives? Have they learnt nothing in the last 31 months? How can a man whose personal finances are so far removed from ordinary people ever understand the choice between heating or eating, buying new or going to the charity shop, trying to keep an old car on the road so they can get to work, or struggling to pay their rent or mortgage? As Chancellor did he crack down on government spending, Quango spending, the fraud on Covid loans, or try to lift the tax burden for ordinary people? No he did not, if MPs choose him they have lost the next election!
July 13, 2022
Keith
They have lost the next election already
July 14, 2022
You should set up as a fortune teller Billy.
Before the next PM is chosen and two years to go before an election and you already know the result.
July 14, 2022
Were you not the one telling us that two lost by-elections were of no impact? I thought I had read something like that from you.
July 14, 2022
Did you heffy?
If you check actual figures you will find that I am right.
Mid term by elections are often reversed at the next general election.
July 15, 2022
P2, you are either so intelligent or so dumb that it is impossible to have a ādecent debateā with you. Iām still hesitating which one it is.
July 15, 2022
Listen heffy cut out the rudeness everytime your argument fails.
There is plenty of UK election history data to show most mid term by-election results get overturned at the next general election.
That’s easy to predict compared with trying to predict the results of a general election two years away which is what your pal bill was doing with absolute certainty.
And why I said mid term by-elections have little real impact.
July 13, 2022
I think it is worth reminding conservative MPs what the 2019 manifesto plan was https://www.conservatives.com/our-plan
We will get Brexit done in January and unleash the potential of our whole country.
I guarantee:
Extra funding for the NHS, with 50,000 more nurses and 50 million more GP surgery appointments a year.
20,000 more police and tougher sentencing for criminals.
An Australian-style points-based system to control immigration.
Millions more invested every week in science, schools, apprenticeships and infrastructure while controlling debt.
Reaching Net Zero by 2050 with investment in clean energy solutions and green infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and pollution.
We will not raise the rate of income tax, VAT or National Insurance.
Thank you for supporting our majority Conservative Government so we can move our great country on instead of going backwards.
July 13, 2022
We Will Put You First
Getting Brexit done. Investing in our public services and infrastructure. Supporting workers and families. Strengthening the Union. Unleashing Britainās potential.
The Conservatives offer a future in which we get Brexit done, and then move on to focus on our priorities ā which are also your priorities.
Because more important than any one commitment in this manifesto is the spirit in which we make them. Our job is to serve you, the people. To deliver on the instruction you gave us in 2016 ā to get Brexit done. But then to move on to making the UK an even better country ā to investing in the NHS, our schools, our people and our towns.
We will build a Britain in which everyone has the opportunity to make the most of their talents. We will ensure that work will always pay. We will create a fair society, in which everyone always contributes their fair share.
So that together, led by Boris Johnson, we can get Brexit done, and move on to unleash the full potential of this great country.
So if just the leader is changer all the others have to do is return to a commitment to complete this plan. Not drag net-zero forward to 2030/35.
July 13, 2022
Still perhaps a āmaybeā for Rishi, JR? Who has impressed you so far as I see that you havenāt backed any initially.
Zorro
July 13, 2022
Tax cuts are a mustā¦.but meaningless if you donāt also stop Net-Zero, HS2 and Illegal Immigration
July 13, 2022
Sir John is correct.
Talk should be about creating growth.
Lower taxes help create growth.
Higher taxes stifle growth.
July 13, 2022
Conclusion: any of the four women candidates would be preferable to Rishi.
Whoever wins will have to cure inflation in 2022/23 and go for growth in 2024. If only we hadn’t had all that QE and ultra-low interest rates in 2020 and 2021.
July 13, 2022
Growth and enterprise will not occur in the UK unless Net Zero is cancelled as the only energy allowed, electrical energy, will be very expensive and intermittent and cause rationing of electricity, food, heating and transport.
Whilst China and India will continue to burn 5.6 billion tons of coal each year to provide cheap energy for their people and industry.
July 13, 2022
But Thatcher’s tax rate cuts sound even more impressive as “income tax cut by more than 50%, investment income by circa 58% and Corp. Tax by circa 40%!
July 13, 2022
I think Sunak could be toast:
1) The issue of wife’s tax
2) Relatively high taxation as Chancellor
3) Resigning from cabinet and affecting Boris’ future as PM (and creating enemies in Tory Party)
Looks like Ms Truss, Javid and Zahawi now as main contenders (and Hunt)?
July 13, 2022
The Resolution Foundation said ” the UK had closed the productivity gap with France and Germany in the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, but since then the gap had widened from 6% to 16% ā the equivalent of Ā£3,700 per person….middle-income British households were 9% poorer than their counterparts in France, while the poorest fifth of households in Britain were more than 20% poorer than their French and German equivalents.”
What is middle income in the UK? Middle income in London and the SE is very different to what would be considered Middle income in the North West and North East. If you can still buy a 3 bed terraced house in Liverpool for Ā£70,000 to Ā£100,000 then what is middle income in Liverpool compared to London? The national living wage for a full-time job over 23 years of age is now Ā£18,525 so that is the bottom. The London living wage is Ā£21,547 so that is the bottom there. Does the middle start at Ā£30,000 (Ā£33,000 in London) and end at Ā£50,000 when you are then a higher earner? Let’s start by making these people give some proper definitions, is this resolution foundation saying that people on Ā£20,000 are Ā£3700 pa worse off or is that just the people in the middle over Ā£30,000?
They make this statement: “British firms enter this decisive decade with a poor
record on productivity..One potential cause of poor aggregate performance that receives
much attention is the underperformance of a ālong tailā of UK firms” So who are the top centile private businesses and who are underperforming, how does anyone expect these businesses to change if they’re not even aware they’re considered the problem! It’s a joke, what is the point of a talking shop foundation who have no answers, don’t specifically identify the problem and give help to sort it out. It’s all just hot air talk, and frankly how you can compare a Country that charges for its biggest service, the health service with a health service that is free at the point of use is all just guesswork, they don’t even know if patients included in GP surgeries patient lists exist! There are people treated at A&E with no records. Ireland has the biggest productivity and GDP, what does that tell you? They’re taking in lots of money without any workers doing the work?
July 13, 2022
It’s not readers of this diary that need to be convinced that Sunak would not make a good PM – we can already see that.
The people that need convincing are the far too many federalist Tory MPs that imagine Sunak is right.
July 13, 2022
Any thinking person can see that Sunak is NOT a Conservative. His economic policies are to the left of Corbyn!
His actions also clearly show that he is a liar:
– He claims to be low-tax but in reality has increased taxes; and
– He claims to be a Brexiteer but has opposed Brexit policies in Cabinet.
Tory MPs are not completely stupid; they can see all this for themselves, so the real question is why is he gaining so much parlamenttary support? Any MP voting or Sunak is a SOCIALIST. What are they doing in the Tory party? This proves the Tory party is a FRAUD and conservative voters should look elsewhere at the next election.
July 13, 2022
The leadership race has definitely highlighted the fact that the conservative party is full of greens and socialists while it should be 100% full of Tories
July 13, 2022
I think the first start of any new PM is to look at all measures to get inflation under control. They need to look for solutions with the maximum effect at the minimum cost to the state.
Petrol, diesel and energy costs affect manufacturing, food production and transportation etc . The government can take a temporary hit with taxes getting fuel costs back to where they were if only to get people spending again.
July 13, 2022
One question for all Conservative MPs:
If FPTP voting is such a great system (so we are repeatedly told), why isn’t Rishi Sunak already the PM?
July 14, 2022
And as an addition to that: It is usually said by some on this blog that any voting system other than FPTP would lead to behind-the-door arrangements between parties, out of the view of the voters, something completely fully utterly āundemocraticā.
And yet here we have 354 CUP MPs arranging their little affairs between themselves, the result then put to the vote of at most 0.4% of the potential voting population: are we really to believe this to be a working democratic process?
Looks more like a defective kind of oligarchy.
July 14, 2022
Didn’t hear you whining when Gordon Brown was made PM hef.
July 16, 2022
Indeed, June 2007, I couldnāt have whined as in those days I had not discovered this wonderful blog.
July 14, 2022
Because Conservative members get to have a vote.
July 14, 2022
Six of the eight will be out before that happens. Why not put all 8 on that ballot and let the membership choose from a full slate?
July 14, 2022
Obviously because the leader needs to be popular with his or her MPs
July 15, 2022
Then why let the Conservative party membership have the final say? What if they elect someone the majority of Conservative MPs don’t want?
July 15, 2022
Because the MPs have narrowed the race down to their two favourites and have given members their opinions on those two candidates.
July 20, 2022
Strange argument P2, why not organising proper open primaries like the Americans do?
Or if you consider that MPs have already been properly elected, why is it not good enough to let them choose the PM?
The bastardised present system is neither here nor there.
As can be seen from some comments on this and other blogs, it seems that a lot of Conservative people are now tempted to vote ānone of these twoā and would have preferred Badenoch or Braverman.
July 14, 2022
I simply donāt trust :
– Yet another Oxford PPE
– Goldman Sachs trained
– Partner for a Net Zero supporting hedge fund
– Voted every time for the EU supporting PMās Withdreal Agreement which was nothing of the sort.
– Ignores the manifesto pledges
– Pretends to be filling his car with fuel for a photo.
July 14, 2022
He’s a modern Conservative, what do you expect ?
July 14, 2022
[…] a proper Tory Big Beast does a proper nudge, read yesterdayās Diary entry by Sir John Redwood (link). Thatās how itās done.Ā Meanwhile, the ‘business’ of the traders, string-pullers […]