IDS resigns

[Fide]

Did anyone see Frank Field MP sucking up the arse of IDS?

 

Beware the snides of March.

[RedRob72]

Don't believe for one moment that he's just suddenly had his conscience p***ked by another skewed budget, timed beautifully to stab both Osborne and Cameron in the back!

IDS of March gag, very good Fide.

[ICTChris]

When was the last time a government minister resigned over a budget decision?  I can't remember this ever happening before.

 

Hopefully this has killed George Osbourne's chances of becoming Prime Minister, he's hugely over-rated for some reason.  I suppose when you are opposed by a man who thinks lobbing Mao's Red Book around is a proper response to a budget statement in the Commons chamber you might get a bit slack.

 

There's something hugely unedifying about the jockeying for position by what passes for Conservative 'big beasts' for the leadership.  Hopefully they all make a giant c**t out of it and the leadership goes to Peter Bone, that would be a good laugh.

[sparky88]

Don't believe for one moment that he's just suddenly had his conscience p***ked by another skewed budget, timed beautifully to stab both Osborne and Cameron in the back!

IDS of March gag, very good Fide.

I'm not sure it's a Fide original, very good though ( it was in a telegraph cartoon earlier in the month) Very close to the actual ides of march though. This EU referendum must be one of the biggest clusterfucks in modern political history.

[WaffenThinMint]

When was the last time a government minister resigned over a budget decision?  I can't remember this ever happening before.

 

Not sure about a budget, but in 1958 Peter Thorneycroft (Chancellor of the Exchequer), Enoch Powell (Finance Secretary) and Nigel Birch (Economic Secretary) all resigned in protest over Harold Macmillan's decision to spend money on an expensive public works programme but fund it by printing extra money.

 

The Department of Work and Pensions is the British government equivalent of being in charge of (fittingly enough) Defence of the Dark Arts at Hogwarts - it has a pretty high rate for incumbents being forced to resign under dubious circumstances, with both David Blunkett and Peter Hain past casualties.

[marty_j]

IDS champion of the working poor. He must think we have come down in the last shower. A complete c**t of a man.

[Peppino Impastato]

Something everyone seems to be missing, he didn't say he opposed these cuts at all he said they should have been made as part of a budget that didn't also hand money to rich people at the same time. Nowhere did he oppose them, read his statement he supports the cuts to pip

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Something everyone seems to be missing, he didn't say he opposed these cuts at all he said they should have been made as part of a budget that didn't also hand money to rich people at the same time. Nowhere did he oppose them, read his statement he supports the cuts to pip

Well they have been doing the "we're all in it together" line for a while so in that sense he is right.

But I have absolutely no doubt that he has seen this as an opportunity to jump ship to campaign along side the arsehole Johnson.

[Peppino Impastato]

Well they have been doing the "we're all in it together" line for a while so in that sense he is right.

But I have absolutely no doubt that he has seen this as an opportunity to jump ship to campaign along side the arsehole Johnson.

 

Of course, its nothing to do with PIP he couldn't care less about that.

[Bishop Briggs]

Well they have been doing the "we're all in it together" line for a while so in that sense he is right.

But I have absolutely no doubt that he has seen this as an opportunity to jump ship to campaign along side the arsehole Johnson.

 

The most likely explanation is that IDS knew that Camoron and Osbrown would get rid of him after the referendum. He decided to go on his own terms and knife them first. The big question is how long will Gove last or will he resign too?

[marty_j]

 Follow

Nick CleggVerified accountâ€@nick_clegg

These disability cuts, like tax credits and Universal Credit cuts, would not have happened with LDs in gov. I blocked similar

 

Aye no bother Nick, like you "blocked" the bedroom tax. p***k

[welshbairn]

Something everyone seems to be missing, he didn't say he opposed these cuts at all he said they should have been made as part of a budget that didn't also hand money to rich people at the same time. Nowhere did he oppose them, read his statement he supports the cuts to pip

 

Like you say, he was defending the PIP cuts in Parliament 2 days before the budget.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/iain-duncan-smith-how-asked-how-he-sleeps-at-night-after-cutting-disability-benefits_uk_56e6cf41e4b05c52666ee81b

[Peppino Impastato]

Like you say, he was defending the PIP cuts in Parliament 2 days before the budget.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/iain-duncan-smith-how-asked-how-he-sleeps-at-night-after-cutting-disability-benefits_uk_56e6cf41e4b05c52666ee81b

Exactly and not once has he said he's opposed to them, he's getting far too easy a ride in the press about this

[Crossbill]

 

 Follow

Nick CleggVerified accountâ€@nick_clegg

These disability cuts, like tax credits and Universal Credit cuts, would not have happened with LDs in gov. I blocked similar

 

Aye no bother Nick, like you "blocked" the bedroom tax. p***k

 

 

Based on the completely batshit mental stuff that the tories have been foisting on the country since they got a majority, I find that I (reluctantly) have to give the Lib Dems a little bit of credit for the restraining job that they did.

[williemillersmoustache]

Based on the completely batshit mental stuff that the tories have been foisting on the country since they got a majority, I find that I (reluctantly) have to give the Lib Dems a little bit of credit for the restraining job that they did.

 

Yes very well done them for compromising all their principles for a bit of shiny shiny and the very last time you will ever hear the words liberal democrat and government in the same sentence. Medals all round.

[Granny Danger]

Based on the completely batshit mental stuff that the tories have been foisting on the country since they got a majority, I find that I (reluctantly) have to give the Lib Dems a little bit of credit for the restraining job that they did.

If they had allowed the Tories to govern as a minority administration rather than being desperate to get their bums into the ministerial cars they could have restrained a hell of a lot more. Every likelihood the Tories would not have had a majority next time around too.

[Carl Cort's Hamstring]

If they had allowed the Tories to govern as a minority administration rather than being desperate to get their bums into the ministerial cars they could have restrained a hell of a lot more. Every likelihood the Tories would not have had a majority next time around too.

 

 It was an impossible decision for them though. Had they gone down that route then many people would have legitimately asked what's the point of voting for a party that turns down the opportunity to govern. Obviously for Labour and the SNP the animosity that most of their voters have towards the Tories would rule out a coalition automatically, but the Lib Dems weren't in the same position.

[Granny Danger]

It was an impossible decision for them though. Had they gone down that route then many people would have legitimately asked what's the point of voting for a party that turns down the opportunity to govern. Obviously for Labour and the SNP the animosity that most of their voters have towards the Tories would rule out a coalition automatically, but the Lib Dems weren't in the same position.

I don't agree, though I accept that's a judgement call. I appreciate that I have the benefit of hindsight, but do you think if the Lib Dems had refused to be party of a coalition government then they would be in a worse position than they are now?

Common sense dictates they would be seen as a party of compromise and would get little plaudits for any achievements. FWIW I don't think they achieved as much as they claim they did, and certainly far less than they would have had the Tories been a minority.

When they renaged on their tuition fee pledge they sealed their own fate. Hell mend them.

[Carl Cort's Hamstring]

I don't agree, though I accept that's a judgement call. I appreciate that I have the benefit of hindsight, but do you think if the Lib Dems had refused to be party of a coalition government then they would be in a worse position than they are now?

Common sense dictates they would be seen as a party of compromise and would get little plaudits for any achievements. FWIW I don't think they achieved as much as they claim they did, and certainly far less than they would have had the Tories been a minority.

When they renaged on their tuition fee pledge they sealed their own fate. Hell mend them.

 

I don't think they'd be in a worse position no, but I do think the "a vote for the Lib Dems is a wasted vote" would get a lot more credence if they had turned down the opportunity. I think they would have lost support as a result of either choice, but no-one could have predicted quite what a catastrophe that the coalition was for Clegg and Co.

 

You're right that the Tuition Fee nonsense f*cked them. Although I could have forgiven them almost anything if they had delivered a referendum on proper electoral reform. Unfortunately they f*cked that as well.

[welshbairn]

 Although I could have forgiven them almost anything if they had delivered a referendum on proper electoral reform. Unfortunately they f*cked that as well.

 

That was what wrote them off for me as a party. Ok, join a coalition with whomever, but don't settle for a hugely watered down version of reform that's been the central plank of your strategy for decades, and then run the most apathetic, anaemic campaign in history. They just came over as witless amateurs being manipulated by professionals.