Witney

[Davıd Boothroyd]

David Cameron is resigning.

[Andrew_S]

I thought he promised to stay on for another full term?

[jollyroger93]

Sept 12, 2016 14:20:50 GMT Andrew_S said:

I thought he promised to stay on for another full term?

Clearly Bollocks.

[Deleted]

Must have a job.

[Andrew_S]

Maybe Osborne will follow suit.

[Deleted]

Sept 12, 2016 14:17:17 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

David Cameron is resigning.

So long, Ratbag.

[Andrew_S]

List of the 9 Tory MPs who lost their seats last year:

Nick de Bois (Enfield North)
Angie Bray (Ealing Central & Acton)
Mary Macleod (Brentford & Isleworth)
Esther McVey (Wirral West)
Stephen Mosley (City of Chester)
Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster & Fleetwood)
Simon Reevell (Dewsbury)
Lee Scott (Ilford North)
Paul Uppal (Wolverhampton South West)


List of West Oxfordshire councillors:

cmis.westoxon.gov.uk/cmis/Councillors.aspx

[edinburghtory]

If the party asks I am willing to be the sacrificial lamb to the slaughter and be the candidate. I am willing to put party before self.

I don't think any of the 9 Tory MPs is likely to be the candidate, don't think any of them is highly rated enough for CCHQ to move them there.

[La Fontaine]

So he won't have to vote to bring back grammar schools.

[Adam in Stroud]

Sept 12, 2016 14:22:21 GMT CatholicLeft said:

Must have a job.

... or a young family, a big pile of money in the bank, and a tendency to dodge hard work.

I've only got two out of the three; if I had the third I wouldn't be hanging around Westminster like a spare wotsit at a wedding, with absolutely no prospect of career advancement, in a party which I doubt will regard him as a respected older statesman.

Wouldn't be at all surprised if Osborne too went soonish, but in his case I rather suspect he will wait until he's got a job.

Quite good news for T May I'd have thought; a chance to get a supporter in rather than have one of her small parliamentary majority taken up by a guy who probably isn't wildly enamoured of her approach, is opposed to Brexit, and who has no reason to do what the Whips tell him.

Unless of course we do an Orpington. 

[Deleted]

Surely the boundary review couldn't have been that bad a read for him today.

[billsikesdog]

I bet the people of Witney get a new MP long before the people of Batley & Spen do.

[carlton43]

That is a surprise. I think the tenor of the party has changed enough for him to feel that it may be best for him to be off the scene so as not to be a perpetual ghost at the feast like Heath became. He might find a small cadre of malcontents seeking him out and the press ever seeking articles and knocking copy against May. And he may have had a really good job offer?

I have long been a major critic and I will not be sorry to see him go, but I do not revel in it. He was not my sort of conservative and the whole tone he set grated on me. But he had a major success in 2010 that gained the party power again after a long interval. I was one who opined the fact that a strong Eurosceptic position and real conservative noises on immigration and real austerity might well have gained an absolute majority? We cannot know. He did pull in voters my policies would not have done, but he lost me and at least 1M more in that year. And he lost our active support and our money. But he was perfect for coalition and for putting an acceptable face to a government at a time of real stress. He was a man of parts and not all were bad.

He was young, inexperienced and with a largely young inexperienced team. He was prone to magic circle cronyism and to current fads and fashions that might have been avoided by having Redwood, Davis and a few other time-served hands from the start. He let Osborne do too much interfering and did not check him enough over duff decisions of his own at the exchequer. He was slow to reward talent and nothing like brutal enough with incompetence. In fact he often sacked the wrong people.

May looks like running a different show much more to my taste and to my considerable surprise. He is as well to slip away now and I am able to wish him well and praise him for saving the party and making it electable, and for hiring one man of talent who won him the 2015 GE. Least said about other advisors the better!

[Crimson King]

Sept 12, 2016 14:48:56 GMT justlooking said:

Surely the boundary review couldn't have been that bad a read for him today.

I wonder if the reverse is true - largely unchanged in the review, so it is worth getting a new MP in now, and continue after the GE. If the seat was going to be split with no obvious successor there would be little point getting someone in for 3 years

[Adam in Stroud]

Sept 12, 2016 15:00:58 GMT Crimson King said:

Sept 12, 2016 14:48:56 GMT justlooking said:

Surely the boundary review couldn't have been that bad a read for him today.

I wonder if the reverse is true - largely unchanged in the review, so it is worth getting a new MP in now, and continue after the GE. If the seat was going to be split with no obvious successor there would be little point getting someone in for 3 years

That's a nifty observation: I was trying to work out how the review might be relevant; the timing seems too close to be unconnected.

[mondialito]

Sept 12, 2016 14:56:12 GMT billsikesdog said:

I bet the people of Witney get a new MP long before the people of Batley & Spen do.

Surely the smart thing would be to agree to move the writs at the same tine?

[Deleted]

Sept 12, 2016 15:23:37 GMT ArmchairCritic said:

Sept 12, 2016 14:17:17 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

David Cameron is resigning.

Somebody rang me this morning....who will have to remain nameless but you loathe each other, sorry I can't narrow it down any further than that ....and said that he had heard that Cameron was going to resign after the party conference.

Then Cameron jumps the gun.

Only a few weeks ago "it was a privilege to serve the people of Witney", and he would "carry on as their MP until at least 2020"...

...then he resigns without warning while being interviewed on ITV news.

Another tiny pebble to add to his great cairn of lies and broken promises.

[Andrew_S]

Sept 12, 2016 15:23:37 GMT ArmchairCritic said:

Sept 12, 2016 14:17:17 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

David Cameron is resigning.

Somebody rang me this morning....who will have to remain nameless but you loathe each other, sorry I can't narrow it down any further than that ....and said that he had heard that Cameron was going to resign after the party conference.

Then Cameron jumps the gun.

Well at least you know not to take any notice of that person's prognostications again.

[Chris]

You can be sure that Ian Hudspeth is going to throw his hat in the ring, though I sincerely doubt DC will help him try and secure the nomination.

Will be interesting to see whether National Health Action try and make a big splash over the issues surrounding nearby Banbury's hospital troubles...

[Davıd Boothroyd]

I can't see anyone challenging Duncan Enright if he wants to be Labour candidate. But he's no Corbynite (he signed the open letter calling for Jeremy to resign).