1. Prime Minister Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party
2. Speaking outside Downing Street, she said she could not deliver the mandate on which she was elected
3. It kickstarts a contest to find the next Tory leader and PM - hopefuls need to get the backing of 100 MPs by Monday afternoon
4. If there are two candidates, the Tory membership will get to vote again, and a winner will be picked by Friday
5. The newly-appointed Chancellor Jeremy Hunt rules himself out. But Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt are seen as contenders
6. Sources close to former PM Boris Johnson do not confirm or deny speculation he will stand again
7. Truss's resignation after 45 days in office makes her the shortest-serving PM in UK history
8. Her now-abandoned September mini-budget started the turmoil; a chaotic night in the Commons on Wednesday sealed her fate

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https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-politics-63309400

 

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AND PLEASE DO NOT BLAME VLADIMIR PUTIN FOR THIS ONE... THIS SHEER INCOMPETENCE IS PURELY HOME GROWN, THOUGH MI6 COULD HAVE BEEN PART OF BLOWING UP THE CRIMEAN BRIDGE.... AND HE COULD HAVE RETALIATED. 

 

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1. Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak is well ahead of his rivals in the contest to be the next PM, with at least 129 Tory MPs now backing him
2. The BBC’s tally of public declarations of support currently has 55 MPs for Boris Johnson and 23 for Penny Mordaunt - candidates need 100 by Monday
3. Penny Mordaunt tells Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg she regrets Liz Truss's mini-budget and would keep Jeremy Hunt as chancellor
4. Mordaunt, the only person so far to have confirmed she is standing, also denies speaking to the Johnson camp about a potential deal
5. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer reiterates his call for a general election, adding "any incoming government will have to pick up the mess"

 

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https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-politics-63327087

 

GUSNOTE: THE CAT IS STILL STANDING FOR OFFICE (NOT OFFICIALLY NOMINATED YET). 

 

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Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has dropped out of the race to 10 Downing Street, Sky News reported on Sunday. Johnson was considered a potential replacement for Liz Truss, the former Conservative leader and Prime Minister, who resigned Thursday.

"Boris Johnson is out of the Conservative leadership race," the channel said in a statement. According to the broadcaster, the move opens the door to former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, who announced his bid earlier on Sunday.

After Truss’ resignation last week, Johnson was rumored to be seeking his old position. Allies of Johnson claimed that he had 100 backers in the party needed to run for PM, though media outlets refuted that claim.

Johnson claims to have enough backing to win the Prime Minister post. However, he said in a statement it “would simply not be the right thing to do.”

 

“There is a very good chance that I would be successful in the election with Conservative Party members - and that I could indeed be back in Downing Street on Friday,” Johnson said in a statement. “But in the course of the last days I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do. You can't govern effectively unless you have a united party in parliament.”

 

Johnson claimed to have the support of 102 MPs, enough to run for the office of Prime Minister. However, only 57 MPs publicly declared for Johnson. With him announcing he would not seek the position, it is unlikely the public will find out if the claim was true.

 

 

READ MORE:

https://sputniknews.com/20221023/boris-johnson-refuses-to-run-for-uk-conservative-leadership-prime-minister-post---report-1102558604.html

 

 

GUSNOTE: THE CAT IS STILL STANDING FOR OFFICE (NOT OFFICIALLY NOMINATED YET). 

 

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 Cats’ home turns down British parliament – media

 

 

Poisonous rat traps pose a significant risk to felines, an animal welfare group has warned the House of Commons, according to the Daily Mail

The UK’s lower house of parliament has been denied a request for a cat to tackle a rodent infestation, after an animal care home group said poisonous traps deployed in the building could put felines in danger.

The House of Commons was “deemed to be an unsuitable environment for a cat due to the use of poisonous rodent traps,”the Daily Mail reported on Sunday, citing comments from London’s Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

The animal welfare group, located on the other side of the Thames River from the Palace of Westminster, told the newspaper that it had previously successfully “rehomed working cats”to various government buildings.

The group said that 16-year-old Larry, a tabby cat who has his own X (formerly Twitter) account, had previously been transferred to the Prime Minister’s Office at 10 Downing Street, where he has served as ‘Chief Mouser’ since 2011.

Another, named Gladstone, has taken up residence at the UK Treasury Office, while a third, Palmerston – who is now retired – was previously a regular fixture at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Former leader of the House, Andrea Leadsom, told the Sunday Times in May that the Commons was “awash” with rodents, adding: “if you left a half-eaten bowl of crisps out, they’d be munched by the next morning.”

Renovation work carried out in February has been blamed for “migrating” rats and mice from Underground train stations to parliament buildings.

An estimate from the British Pest Control Association has suggested that there could be as many as 120 million rats in the United Kingdom – a figure almost double that of the UK’s human population. It added that unusually warm winters have helped the rat population thrive, after previous, harsher winter months had effectively culled the rodents.

The UK government’s pest problems also extend to moths and bed bugs, with the Daily Express reporting on Sunday that the House of Commons spent at least £112,000 ($142,000) attempting to eradicate the problem in 2022 alone.

https://www.rt.com/news/581216-uk-cat-rodents-parliament/

 

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London: If George Orwell was correct when he wrote that every joke is a tiny revolution, then the widespread mockery of Rishi Sunak’s election announcement might be enough to overthrow him.

Standing sans umbrella outside Downing Street’s famous black door, it was like the rain soaked Rishi was re-enacting the infamous scene from the end of that classic British rom-com Four Weddings and a Funeral.

All it lacked was Andie MacDowell’s character asking: “Is it raining? I hadn’t noticed.”

He tried to speak of sunny days ahead despite the grey skies above. And as water dripped from his lapels he was drowned out by a protester’s speaker blaring D:Ream’s classic Things Can Only Get Better.

 

It was, of course, the iconic campaign tune for Tony Blair’s landslide 1997 Labour victory – a rather dated but significant cultural reference. Perhaps it could have been “Things Can Only Get Wetter”?

From a country that gave us Yes, Prime Minister and The Thick of It, this was perhaps one of the most bonkers scripts imaginable.

Meanwhile, at “Drowning Street”, as one newspaper front page screamed, he told a nation he’d been to visit the King to seek his approval to prorogue the House of Commons and hold an election.

The only problem was that only every second word was audible thanks to that pop hit.

“World … dangerous … COVID… Putin … migration … future … inflation … debt … pensions … NHS … boats.”

Somehow we were supposed to make sense of it all.

Sunak has seemingly gambled on an election six months before he had to because Britain is out of recession and the latest inflation figures, released on Wednesday, were statistically within “normal” levels – down to 2.3 per cent in April – the lowest in nearly three years.

He has not been renowned for taking risks as prime minister but more about calming nerves and restoring stability after Liz Truss’s disastrous 49-day tenure.

All of which makes his decision, even to some of his colleagues, to call a general election in just over six weeks seem rather inexplicable.

Parliament will be dissolved on May 30. The election will then take place 25 working days later. Rarely has one man been so impatient to meet his demise.

The latest YouGov polling for The Timesconducted last week shows the Tories are languishing 27 points behind Labour in the polls, with no evidence that their position is improving.

Earlier this month they lost hundreds of council seats, and one of their only two metro mayors – despite his personal popularity – in local elections.

 

Sunak is attempting to pull off a turnaround that would be unique in modern political history. He and his brains trust had clearly made the calculation that July 4 is, if not the best election date, then the least worst.

The campaign is likely to come down to whether voters are tired of the Conservatives after 14 years in power and want change.

A former Goldman Sachs banker, Sunak has struggled to win over his colleagues with his more technocratic style, and several have defected recently to other parties.

Riddled with venom and bitterness, a Conservative Party at civil war had been threatening to overthrow him if things went on. Some of his colleagues are already briefing to the press that they might do it before parliament is dissolved.

 

While Tory MPs anonymously badmouthed their boss instead of updating their LinkedIn profiles, you can be assured that many everyday Britons will be breathing a sigh of relief.

The UK has for too long felt like a country adrift. Politics has been stalled by the fact that its government and revolving round of leaders have seemed to be living on borrowed time.

In British politics it never rains but it pours.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/diminished-and-drenched-rishi-sunak-seems-impatient-for-his-own-demise-20240523-p5jfxa.html

 

 

 

 

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