Why is Unherd giving space to political activist like McTernan?
He has no knowledge or analysis to offer. He is just a propagandist for a political party. I will go to the MSM if I want this
Because the man has much more experience and insight into how Westminster operates than you or me. While he may not be entirely neutral, that doesn’t mean what he has written is incorrect and should be dismissed out of hand.
Truss has only been in the job a month, and despite politics being on hold for half of that due to the death of Her Majesty she’s still managed to spook the markets and tank the Tories support
I don’t share McTernan’s politics but he’s a political operator. Here and in Australia. You don’t have to agree with him but he’s definitely worth listening to.
Quite agree. complete rubbish. not worth the paper it is written on
Nick SPEYER
2 years ago
Ever get the feeling you have just read an article by a lefty who really doesn’t understand very much about anything?
Yes, we know the media and political activists like McTernan don’t like the Conservatives and would like to turn the UK into Venezuela. But, the UK is a democracy and the people, on the whole, simply just aren’t stupid enough to vote Labour to the extent needed for them to win an election, even when the Conservatives are somewhat rudderless and confused.
So ……. just carry on writing about the demise of the Conservatives and a inevitable and wanted Labour government in the near future. But, importantly, don’t forget to have lots of salty tears ready for the day after the next election.
Tories got only 43% of the votes in the last election (yes, I know how elections work in UK) so are they the people or are the 57% that didn’t vote Tory?! And many people vote Tory because they didn’t want Corbyn.
Opposition don’t win elections, governments lose them. If you are as clever as you pretend you should know that. You have to be a fool to bet on the Tory party to win the next election.
The author is right. The Tories are devouring themselves, exhausted and facing electoral defeat. I just wish a top.Blairite would focus on two more interesting and important issues. Firstly, the total policy vacuum of Labour. Starmer is a slave to the vast dysfunctional public sector. Has he ever proposed a single cut?? Will he?? Of course not. He and Labour will let the State play magic money tree until the forest burns. His idea of 70% home ownership is actually rather sick when the bubble his Master first created is about to burst. Secondly – is it not clear that we are being swept up – on coattails of the Great Crash – into the Poat Political Age. By that I mean – a time when only the Technocracy holds the real levers of power. The Executive – of any party ..it matters not – cannot enforce their will when it runs up against the vested interests accrued in the 2 decades of Missrule. Border control? Thats gone well. Planning laws to accomodate the unplanned for 10million? Forget it. Wage restraint in public sector or reform of a broken NHS? Dream on. Fracking? Haha! Not one will be constructed. Net Zero fanaticism has and will stop reservoirs airports roads. Wake up. Parties are inpotent now and will be almost irrelevant when the tsunami hits this winter. When the Declinidsystem crashes only it is only the State and its legions of technocrats who will hold power.
There are some dodgy ‘facts’ quoted here. Wilson beat Heath in 3 out of 4 elections, not 4 out of 5. New Labour’s 13-year period in office was the outlier. The other periods of Conservative opposition since 1945 lasted 6 years (Attlee), 6 years (Wilson I) and 5 years (Wilson II, Callaghan), a single electoral term or just beyond. Not really ‘staying out of power for a while’.
Antony Hirst
2 years ago
So a new leader who everybody called “a bit thick” including me, has seen this cost of living crisis for what it is (and it is not inflation driving it!), and is starting to put in policies that will actually help normal people and isolate the Bank of England (the maintainer of the quo and defender of billionaire gilt marketeers) from being the central player.
Ah, well so there we have the source of this endless bad news cycle against Truss. She is actually doing something practical and not what the elites want her to do….hmmm interesting…
As a young management trainee I was treated to a Video Arts training vid featuring John Cleese. It was his company I believe. The vid was about sales. It features Cleese as the stereotypical sales guy. Brash, positive, pushy, well dressed, full of it. ( I managed sales teams so don’t get me wrong. The stereotype is just that) and then there was a little nerdy guy. Shyish. Reserved. Not massively dynamic. They were selling “widgets”. He just spoke to customers normally. What they wanted. Why they needed it. When they needed it. How it could be delivered, that sort of nitty gritty prosaic stuff. Well.. to cut a long story shorter, at the end of the day the Cleese character and his iconic black book had sold nowt. While nerdy man had sold a shed load. On hearing this the Cleese character exclaims. “Him. But he’s not a salesman!”. And then the point is made. The boss looks a bit puzzled and then says…”Well I suppose he isn’t, but people do tend to buy quite a lot from him.”
Perhaps John McTernan has seen this.
I think the PM is a terrible sales person. But maybe people “misunderestimate” her.
How many times have I heard in a mixed group of friends the realization that paying folks to stay home for 2 years has chickens coming home to roost. No one thinks the pandemic was cost free. Here’s the bill. They don’t like it. But they believe it’s real and has to be paid. They’d rather hear Starmer saying it should have been higher still but that no-one has to pay. But there’s the battle. No one believes him. They might not like her message but deep down they know it’s true.
Truss made an error of judgement in the way the top rate tax reduction was announced without an accompanying OBR forecast, but all she has to do is counter that with the Starmer misjudgements on holding a second Brexit referendum and wanting longer lockdowns, both of which would’ve had far more serious consequences for the UK than a climbdown on income tax.
The question i’m not sure about is whether she has the political nous to call Starmer out when the Commons returns. Open goals can still be missed.
To be honest Truss changes direction more often than a wind sock. I’m no fan of Starmer but for her to attack him in the manner you describe would leave her looking like a hypocrite
Correct. Starmer led the first Remainiac Coup, forever overturning the principle of losers consent in our democracy. He is an ideological identitarian, bending the knee to BLM and trans mania. As a Hard Locker he demonstrated his utter contempt for private enterprise which suffered hugely while his pals in the public sector got rich. He was a hypocrite over partygate forgetting the presence of the foul mouthed yob Rayner and encouraged that second media-led Remainer Coup. His effort to present himself as a Neo Tony is working only because of the Tory implosion. He is a coward and behind him and Rach lies a rabble of demented Corbynistas as unworthy and incapable of governance as the divided weary Tories. Few know what QE is. None are involved with business. How dare the Tories hand power to such a man and such a nasty dangerous gang.
The Tories have twice already pulled off the trick of selecting a new leader who disowns what went before and wins an election. Their chances of doing the same again are – agreed – slight. Other than the economic context, the Tory Party has a major internal division. It is now divided between the members and the MPs and the members will not forgive the MPs for their current treachery. Those MPs thinking that the best policy is to contrive to bring forward the next election and allow Labour to take the blame for the coming financial crisis should realise that many of them won’t be Tory candidates the next time the Tories win their seats.
Jerry Carroll
2 years ago
Boris Johnson doesn’t look too bad in retrospect. A trifle too Berlusconi perhaps, but that will fade from memory faster than Liz.
Nicky Samengo-Turner
2 years ago
Will Truss rename it ” The Maisonette of very Commons”?
Alan Thorpe
2 years ago
She does not make a case for Labour. Both parties make a case for us to get rid of both of them.
Main Edition
US
FR
Why is Unherd giving space to political activist like McTernan?
He has no knowledge or analysis to offer. He is just a propagandist for a political party. I will go to the MSM if I want this
Because the man has much more experience and insight into how Westminster operates than you or me. While he may not be entirely neutral, that doesn’t mean what he has written is incorrect and should be dismissed out of hand.
Truss has only been in the job a month, and despite politics being on hold for half of that due to the death of Her Majesty she’s still managed to spook the markets and tank the Tories support
Spot on. Would upvote but it isn’t working.
polidori redux is a snowflake.
It might be better to weigh the arguments in the article rather than resorting to the fallacies of ad hominem or tribalism.
I merely pointed out tha he is a party hack. I can read him in the Mirror for free, so why am I being charged to read him here?
I don’t share McTernan’s politics but he’s a political operator. Here and in Australia. You don’t have to agree with him but he’s definitely worth listening to.
Quite agree. complete rubbish. not worth the paper it is written on
Ever get the feeling you have just read an article by a lefty who really doesn’t understand very much about anything?
Yes, we know the media and political activists like McTernan don’t like the Conservatives and would like to turn the UK into Venezuela. But, the UK is a democracy and the people, on the whole, simply just aren’t stupid enough to vote Labour to the extent needed for them to win an election, even when the Conservatives are somewhat rudderless and confused.
So ……. just carry on writing about the demise of the Conservatives and a inevitable and wanted Labour government in the near future. But, importantly, don’t forget to have lots of salty tears ready for the day after the next election.
Tories got only 43% of the votes in the last election (yes, I know how elections work in UK) so are they the people or are the 57% that didn’t vote Tory?! And many people vote Tory because they didn’t want Corbyn.
Opposition don’t win elections, governments lose them. If you are as clever as you pretend you should know that. You have to be a fool to bet on the Tory party to win the next election.
Blair’s guru whining about Thatcher? Good joke.
The author is right. The Tories are devouring themselves, exhausted and facing electoral defeat. I just wish a top.Blairite would focus on two more interesting and important issues. Firstly, the total policy vacuum of Labour. Starmer is a slave to the vast dysfunctional public sector. Has he ever proposed a single cut?? Will he?? Of course not. He and Labour will let the State play magic money tree until the forest burns. His idea of 70% home ownership is actually rather sick when the bubble his Master first created is about to burst. Secondly – is it not clear that we are being swept up – on coattails of the Great Crash – into the Poat Political Age. By that I mean – a time when only the Technocracy holds the real levers of power. The Executive – of any party ..it matters not – cannot enforce their will when it runs up against the vested interests accrued in the 2 decades of Missrule. Border control? Thats gone well. Planning laws to accomodate the unplanned for 10million? Forget it. Wage restraint in public sector or reform of a broken NHS? Dream on. Fracking? Haha! Not one will be constructed. Net Zero fanaticism has and will stop reservoirs airports roads. Wake up. Parties are inpotent now and will be almost irrelevant when the tsunami hits this winter. When the Declinidsystem crashes only it is only the State and its legions of technocrats who will hold power.
Advisor to Blair. Why isn’t he in jail?
There are some dodgy ‘facts’ quoted here. Wilson beat Heath in 3 out of 4 elections, not 4 out of 5. New Labour’s 13-year period in office was the outlier. The other periods of Conservative opposition since 1945 lasted 6 years (Attlee), 6 years (Wilson I) and 5 years (Wilson II, Callaghan), a single electoral term or just beyond. Not really ‘staying out of power for a while’.
So a new leader who everybody called “a bit thick” including me, has seen this cost of living crisis for what it is (and it is not inflation driving it!), and is starting to put in policies that will actually help normal people and isolate the Bank of England (the maintainer of the quo and defender of billionaire gilt marketeers) from being the central player.
Ah, well so there we have the source of this endless bad news cycle against Truss. She is actually doing something practical and not what the elites want her to do….hmmm interesting…
Yes, in your world pigs fly!
As a young management trainee I was treated to a Video Arts training vid featuring John Cleese. It was his company I believe. The vid was about sales. It features Cleese as the stereotypical sales guy. Brash, positive, pushy, well dressed, full of it. ( I managed sales teams so don’t get me wrong. The stereotype is just that) and then there was a little nerdy guy. Shyish. Reserved. Not massively dynamic. They were selling “widgets”. He just spoke to customers normally. What they wanted. Why they needed it. When they needed it. How it could be delivered, that sort of nitty gritty prosaic stuff. Well.. to cut a long story shorter, at the end of the day the Cleese character and his iconic black book had sold nowt. While nerdy man had sold a shed load. On hearing this the Cleese character exclaims. “Him. But he’s not a salesman!”. And then the point is made. The boss looks a bit puzzled and then says…”Well I suppose he isn’t, but people do tend to buy quite a lot from him.”
Perhaps John McTernan has seen this.
I think the PM is a terrible sales person. But maybe people “misunderestimate” her.
How many times have I heard in a mixed group of friends the realization that paying folks to stay home for 2 years has chickens coming home to roost. No one thinks the pandemic was cost free. Here’s the bill. They don’t like it. But they believe it’s real and has to be paid. They’d rather hear Starmer saying it should have been higher still but that no-one has to pay. But there’s the battle. No one believes him. They might not like her message but deep down they know it’s true.
Truss made an error of judgement in the way the top rate tax reduction was announced without an accompanying OBR forecast, but all she has to do is counter that with the Starmer misjudgements on holding a second Brexit referendum and wanting longer lockdowns, both of which would’ve had far more serious consequences for the UK than a climbdown on income tax.
The question i’m not sure about is whether she has the political nous to call Starmer out when the Commons returns. Open goals can still be missed.
To be honest Truss changes direction more often than a wind sock. I’m no fan of Starmer but for her to attack him in the manner you describe would leave her looking like a hypocrite
Correct. Starmer led the first Remainiac Coup, forever overturning the principle of losers consent in our democracy. He is an ideological identitarian, bending the knee to BLM and trans mania. As a Hard Locker he demonstrated his utter contempt for private enterprise which suffered hugely while his pals in the public sector got rich. He was a hypocrite over partygate forgetting the presence of the foul mouthed yob Rayner and encouraged that second media-led Remainer Coup. His effort to present himself as a Neo Tony is working only because of the Tory implosion. He is a coward and behind him and Rach lies a rabble of demented Corbynistas as unworthy and incapable of governance as the divided weary Tories. Few know what QE is. None are involved with business. How dare the Tories hand power to such a man and such a nasty dangerous gang.
Superbly put!
The Tories have twice already pulled off the trick of selecting a new leader who disowns what went before and wins an election. Their chances of doing the same again are – agreed – slight. Other than the economic context, the Tory Party has a major internal division. It is now divided between the members and the MPs and the members will not forgive the MPs for their current treachery. Those MPs thinking that the best policy is to contrive to bring forward the next election and allow Labour to take the blame for the coming financial crisis should realise that many of them won’t be Tory candidates the next time the Tories win their seats.
Boris Johnson doesn’t look too bad in retrospect. A trifle too Berlusconi perhaps, but that will fade from memory faster than Liz.
Will Truss rename it ” The Maisonette of very Commons”?
She does not make a case for Labour. Both parties make a case for us to get rid of both of them.