48 Letters Reached

[Kromovaracun]

May now faces a vote of confidence in her leadership of the Tory party this evening.

If she loses, then the wider party membership (such as there are any...) gets to vote. Unless, of course, anyone runs unopposed.

Predictions? Hopes? Fears?

[jim360]

It's a complete nonsense and also flies in the face of what we've seen from the Tory party in the last few days. There *are* enough rebels to trigger a vote, and there *is* enough discontent to reach the 48 target, without having to invoke a crazy and nonsensical conspiracy theory.

[naomi24]

We’ll see.

[jim360]

Indeed.

If the final tally shows less than 48 votes in favour of Theresa May then I'll concede that you may have a point, but otherwise this vote will have resulted and be the sole responsibility of the Tory rebels.

[naomi24]

Surely you mean less than 48 against her?

[jim360]

Yes, I do. Whoops!

[New Judge]

"...but otherwise this vote will have resulted and be the sole responsibility of the Tory rebels."

Somewhat off-topic, but why is it that when a group of people take advantage of a procedure available to them to see a change they want made, it is seen as "rebellion". The Conservative party has a mechanism to challenge its leader via a VONC. Some MPs want to invoke this process to remove a leader in whom they have lost confidence. Why, then, are they "rebels"? Surely they are people with a particular point of view and want that view tested in a wider audience.

[jim360]

I think it makes some sense to talk about "Rebels" if they represent a minority position. And it's certainly the literal interpretation, here, of a group opposing the established leader.

Fun (and unfortunate) fact: the current Google example definition on its dictionary of "rebel" is "Tory rebels":

https://imgur.com/gallery/2Nryh2i

[naomi24]

By the way, Jim, I wouldn't say my notion is anything so dramatic as a conspiracy theory ... just that I wouldn't put anything past politicians. ;o)

[Canary42]

/// I wouldn't put anything past politicians. ///

Spot on, Naomi. Self-serving narcissists without a care for the rest of us except at election time.