Who Is Leader of the Opposition?

[spen666]

Now Sunak has resigned, who will be leader of the opposition until Tories appoint a new leader?

 

[AuroraSaab]

Deputy Con leader Oliver Dowden? No, I hadn't heard of him either.

 

[Bromptonaut]

As I understood the announcement Sunak's staying until they elect a successor which, even if the get the ball rolling next week, will take a while.

 

[AndyRM]

A not entirely bad egg, Dowden. When he was Culture and Media Secretary during COVID, he put out a £2 billion arts support fund which helped a fair bit. Not nearly enough but it saved one of the orchestra's my sister plays for.

But like @Bromptonaut said, I think it's Sunak until they organise a leadership election. Which shouldn't take long, they've had enough over the years.

 

[Bromptonaut]

As I said in the other thread one hopes that before embarking on a leadership contest they'd give some thought as to whether letting the membership have the last say is sensible.

 

[Beebo]

Sunak has said he will stay in post until a new leader is elected.

 

[Beebo]

As I said in the other thread one hopes that before embarking on a leadership contest they'd give some thought as to whether letting the membership have the last say is sensible.

the 1922 committee have lots to think about. Maybe change the voting rules to remove a leader too, as the current rules require 15% of MPs to tigger a vote.
And that is only 18 MPs.

 

[All uphill]

the 1922 committee have lots to think about. Maybe a change the voting rules to remove a leader too, as the current rules require 15% of MPs to tigger a vote.
And that is only 18 MPs.

Tigger a vote?

More like Pooh a vote!

 

[Beebo]

Has anyone actually worked out yet what made Sunak call an early election?

It seems to have been a totally abysmal decision with no evidence that there was actually a plan to win.

 

[AndyRM]

Has anyone actually worked out yet what made Sunak call an early election?

It seems to have been a totally abysmal decision with no evidence that there was actually a plan to win.

I believe the logic was that prolonging the election until Autumn was only going to make things worse.

 

[stephec]

Has anyone actually worked out yet what made Sunak call an early election?

It seems to have been a totally abysmal decision with no evidence that there was actually a plan to win.

Maybe he wanted a decent summer holiday?

 

[BoldonLad]

Has anyone actually worked out yet what made Sunak call an early election?

It seems to have been a totally abysmal decision with no evidence that there was actually a plan to win.

Maybe even he had had enough of the crap?

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

As I said in the other thread one hopes that before embarking on a leadership contest they'd give some thought as to whether letting the membership have the last say is sensible.

At the time anyone of those who put their name into the hat to be leader would have won the membership vote against Sunak in the final two vote. When Truss resigned they had to create a situation where Sunak was the only choice so it didn’t go to the membership again. A great majority of the members can’t relate to Sunak’s wealth and are put of him by that.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Has anyone actually worked out yet what made Sunak call an early election?

It seems to have been a totally abysmal decision with no evidence that there was actually a plan to win.

He might have wanted to get moving before Reform could get themselves organised.

 

[Bazzer]

Has anyone actually worked out yet what made Sunak call an early election?

It seems to have been a totally abysmal decision with no evidence that there was actually a plan to win.

He might have wanted to get moving before Reform could get themselves organised.

^^^WHS^^^

This came up on R4 this morning. It had puzzled me given the economic indicators appeared only to be showing very early signs of recovery. IIRC, there had been an announcement about inflation or some such measure a couple of days or so before the soggy Downing Street speech.
Apparently Sunak knew the Conservatives were vulnerable to Reform and waiting until Autumn would have allowed Reform to marshall their candidates. Sunak thought that by making a snap call, Reform would be caught out, thus limiting the electoral damage.