U.K. Politics: Nadine Dorries resigns her post as MP - or does she?

[Thriller]

Good, but in the meantime the government are pushing through a bill that will curb, silence and punish the workers even further.

[Wayne]

In short, our relative political stability may be about to come to an end. It’s fascinating really, that first bolded sentence. Increasingly, more senior conservative politicians are suggesting that Truss and Kwarteng had the right ideas (minus the top rate tax cut, which was a step too far) but executed them all wrong. With the next election looming in the medium term, more people are going to call for tax cuts - does that give Truss the road to redemption?

"Liz was mad but right. Rishi is wrong but competent."

Those blunt sentences come from a serving government minister - and they sum up the problem the PM may be about to face. Liz Truss is set to return to the political fray, via a Sunday morning newspaper op-ed, just four months after her rapid exit from No 10.

Her time in charge was a disaster. The financial markets melted. The shelf life of her premiership was compared, in real-time, with that of a wilting lettuce (it outlasted her).

Why on earth would she want to crawl out from under the duvet - and why would anyone listen?

Here is the official explanation from her camp: "Liz remains an active politician, keen to draw on more than a decade of experience in government as she contributes to national and international debates on a variety of issues."

So far, so vanilla. Why shouldn't a former prime minister have her say?

But here's the less official explanation from one of her political pals: ''It's human nature to want to justify what you did."

Pilloried around the country, and the world, Ms Truss wants to tell her side of the story - to explain what really happened, "not the fairytales", as one ally puts it.

It's worth noting that she's doing so in her own words in the Sunday Telegraph - a newspaper that's broadly sympathetic to her cause - and then in a pre-recorded chat for a podcast later in the week. She is not yet, despite our own invitation and no doubt many others, sitting down for live interviews with no holds barred.

Like many in her tribe, Ms Truss has never been short of that priceless political quality: a brass neck. Despite presiding over what many in the party see as one of the most disastrous political reigns in history, she is expected to argue that, essentially, she was right.

One ally says "she doesn't shirk responsibility" - but she's expected to restate her argument for low taxes and an economic shake-up.

And by arguing that she was fundamentally right, the implication is that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is fundamentally wrong.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64523277

[Artoo]

If she’s staging a comeback of sorts, it’s just going to rock the Tory boat and I’m all for that

[ferrero]

it says alot when even Russia is going to perform better than Uk for the next 2 years, according to IMF

[Artoo]

Nicola Sturgeon is to resign as Scotland's first minister after more than eight years in the role.

The Scottish National Party leader is expected to make the announcement at a hastily-arranged news conference in Edinburgh.

It is not thought that her departure will be immediate, allowing time for a successor to be elected.

A source close to Ms Sturgeon - the longest-serving first minister - told the BBC that she had "had enough".

Ms Sturgeon has been first minister since November 2014, when she took over from Alex Salmond following the independence referendum.

The first minister will hold her press conference at Bute House in Edinburgh at 11:00.

BBC

Amazing News. Finally. I’ve been waiting for this day.

[bm08]

That's quite a surprise

[Plym]

very sad day for our queen but glad to see how much she riles up people that have nothing to do with scotland and makes them seethe with anger at the mere mention of her name. hope her successor does the same! our need for independence is not resigning with her.

[Artoo]

That's quite a surprise

It really is. Nicola has been resolute in fighting for independence, to the point that she has already outlined the direction she wanted to take the party in going into the next general election.

Yes politics is tough but I actually think she really enjoys it, so I don’t think it’s that she has simply had enough. It’s hard to imagine she’s being forced out considering her polling, but I honestly don’t believe she could have delivered independence either. So whether she and the party feel she needs to step aside for someone else to have a go, I don’t know.

[greek_boy]

shocking. curious to see who's going to replace her now.

it says alot when even Russia is going to perform better than Uk for the next 2 years, according to IMF

isn't it sad? Meanwhile, the PM and some Brexit gammons insist on waiting for the 'Brexit benefits'.... this is pure self-destruction!

[Artoo]

It’s worth noting that a new poll was reported on yesterday, suggesting Scotland would not vote for independence - with ‘remain’ twelve points ahead.

[Artoo]

So she’s saying she doesn’t have it in her anymore, but has also mentioned that using the next election as a de facto referendum was firmly her idea - it wasn’t explicitly said, but it sounded to me like the party might not actually be on board with that.

[SholasBoy]

Bye hun

[Wayne]

Really sad to see Sturgeon go - to lose both her and Drakeford in the same election cycle will result in seismic changes in Scottish and Welsh politics respectively.

I didn’t agree with all of Sturgeon’s politics - her stance on Scotland’s independence is something I’ll never agree with - but she is principled, has integrity and is a really fine leader.

[jordi_89]

F*** this. Why do all these leaders always leave when the people need them the most. I wanted to see an independent Scotland, but without her, I don't know if people are gonna vote for it. Because, as sad as it sounds, people need a leader they trust (or one that appears strong enough so they "respect" them) to guide them through big changes like this.

[Wayne]

F*** this. Why do all these leaders always leave when the people need them the most. I wanted to see an independent Scotland, but without her, I don't know if people are gonna vote for it. Because, as sad as it sounds, people need a leader they trust (or one that appears strong enough so they "respect" them) to guide them through big changes like this.

I think that this does more for Scotland's bid for independence than it would, had she stayed around - she was becoming increasingly divisive among SNP supporters due to her polarising policies at home (most recently, the gender self-identification debate). The SNP is essentially a single issue party, elected to govern and so once she started to split her electorate, she knew she had to go.

What should concern the electorate in favour of the SNP is that there really isn't anyone who can replace her - after Salmond, it was her...and she hasn't done a very good job of building other politicians to replace her. She is or was the SNP to millions.

[jordi_89]

I think that this does more for Scotland's bid for independence than it would, had she stayed around - she was becoming increasingly divisive among SNP supporters due to her polarising policies at home (most recently, the gender self-identification debate). The SNP is essentially a single issue party, elected to govern and so once she started to split her electorate, she knew she had to go.

What should concern the electorate in favour of the SNP is that there really isn't anyone who can replace her - after Salmond, it was her...and she hasn't done a very good job of building other politicians to replace her. She is or was the SNP to millions.

Exactly. She's the most visible face of the independence cause tbh. We've had this issue in Catalonia as well. When the useless but popular ones went on exile or were jailed (for 3 years lol), we were left with the useless but unpopular ones. So new we've been on this stalemate for 5 years, with no light at the end of the tunnel. Hope the same thing doesn't happen to Scotland.
Tbh I think it's stupid that gender self-identification is such a big issue, but oh well. We're still living in the early 21st century. I don't think everyone (or a big majority) in the West will have evolved (emotionally / mentally) enough to fully comprehend and accept everything about the LGBT (specially the T) community until the 2050s.

[Artoo]

I don’t think it was the gender issue itself that forced her hand, I think it was more the political games Sturgeon was playing. The road to independence has to be won through the electorate, not through legal loopholes and forcing Westminster to exercise powers that it really shouldn’t have to.

Scotland is still part of the UK and no devolved government should be looking to start a political civil war (however tepid) for the sole purpose of break king away: if the electorate wants independence the Scottish government should not be manipulating events to sway them.

That's what I think anyway. We can take Sturgeon at face value and accept she’s had enough, but I suspect there’s more at play.

The next general election is going to be an interesting one though - the four largest parties from the 2019 election will all have new leaders.

[Artoo]

What should concern the electorate in favour of the SNP is that there really isn't anyone who can replace her

Finally, something all parties have in common

[jordi_89]

I take back what I said. I saw a headline from a UK news outlet saying that the new Scottish PM is a woman "more dangerous than Sturgeon". So if they English hate her guts and start attacking her non-stop, that's probably gonna rile up the SNP base and mobilize them (hopefully).

[greek_boy]

Really sad to see Sturgeon go - to lose both her and Drakeford in the same election cycle will result in seismic changes in Scottish and Welsh politics respectively.

I didn’t agree with all of Sturgeon’s politics - her stance on Scotland’s independence is something I’ll never agree with - but she is principled, has integrity and is a really fine leader.

well said!

But I still did not understand why she left... was there a scandal about her ready to come out? or did she decide to leave now because her popularity was decreasing in polls and she was losing support for independence?