The last Tory government was a succession of handouts for their rich friends, controversies, law-breaking, lies (to Queen, country, and parliament), and raw poo. We’re not even exaggerating.

How are the Tories failing today?

• Tories Ditched Net Zero Commitment While Receiving £250,000 from Oil Investors and Climate Deniers
  Kemi Badenoch’s party has been receiving money from fossil fuel interests while pursuing anti-climate policies. The Conservatives received a hefty sum from oil and… Read more: Tories Ditched Net Zero Commitment While Receiving £250,000 from Oil Investors and Climate Deniers
• UK Tory leadership race lurches into dangerous far-right territory
  Peter Oborne reporting for the Middle-East Eye says, “Former cabinet minister Robert Jenrick, who has a history of Islamophobic remarks, has emerged as the… Read more: UK Tory leadership race lurches into dangerous far-right territory
• Remember this when you vote this week
  From 35 foodbanks to 3,572 while the richest 1000 went from £284B to £1T. Via @riggs7sct

How have the Tories failed before

The corrupt and heartless Robert Jenrick

In 2023 Robert Jenrick ordered murals of cartoon characters at a reception centre for child asylum seekers in Dover be painted over because they were too welcoming. [link] [link] [link]

How heartless and cold do you have to be to feel upset that displaced children get to look at nice pictures?

Robert Jenrick admits deliberately helping Tory donor avoid £45m tax bill by rushing through housing development. [Tory] Housing minister says his actions on the Westferry scheme were consistent with ‘natural justice’

Wednesday 22 July 2020, independent

Cash for their mates

Cash to inactive shell companies: The Tory government handed out a £43.8 million contract to a dormant firm. The contract was for hand sanitiser during COVID. This handout of a contract was given without the required competitive tender. Someone’s buddy got free government cash. Tell us again why they say those on low incomes are freeloaders.

• Government Procurement Scandal Continues with £43.8 Million PPE Contract FOR DORMANT FIRM, Byline Times, 1 September 2020
• Conservative peer Michelle Mone received £29m via profits from PPE contracts which was later transferred to a secret offshore trust. Guardian, 27 November 2022

Unsafe testing kits from their mates: The Tory government gave their buddy and backer, Randox Laboratories, a £133m Covid-19 testing contract. The DHSC ordered 750,000 test kits withdrawn because they were not safe for use.

• Healthcare firm advised by Owen Paterson won £133m coronavirus testing contract unopposed, Guardian, 11 May
• Coronavirus: Randox recalls up to 750,000 test kits over safety concerns BBC News, 8 August

Tory poo in our drinking water

It might be safe to say that the Tories (Conservative Party) are deeply unpopular. According to all the polls, the Tory government has lost the confidence of the public. It is not hard to see why.

The Tories recently broke with their 2019 manifesto pledge to ban fracking. Instead, Liz Truss is trying to lift the fracking ban. Just another broken Tory promise.

Useless PPE Shipment for the NHS

A massive shipment of PPE from Turkey was found to be unfit for use and left in a warehouse rather than deployed in the NHS. This included much-needed gowns (400,000 of them).

• 400,000 Turkish PPE gowns flown in by RAF’s on-off-on flight are USELESS and impounded in a warehouse tests Daily Mail, 7 May

Some of the many terrible things the Tories have done while in power.

Here are just some of the things done by the party that gave us austerity, bungled Brexit, and “expendable OAPs” during COVID.

The Tory party almost fell apart because the female PM wore leather trousers. I shit you now, this happened in 2016.

They lied to the Queen. They lied (for each other) to us. They lied to parliament.

Well, the elected Tory prime minister did the direct lying to the queen, if you want to get fussy. But he did so on behalf of the entire Tory government.

When they were found to be in breach of the parliamentary standards system, they tried to change the standards system (voting 250 – 232 to do so) rather than let one of their club members be dismissed. The result was infighting and chaos in the Tory party.

They made the lockdown laws and then broke them. This is a party that partied while our late queen mourned alone. They told us to skip Christmas and stay at home while boozing it up. The press dubbed this, “Party Gate“

Under Boris, they allowed a known sex pest to serve as deputy chief whip. Liz Truss was then accused of hiring the sex pest ex-minister for her leadership campaign

They Bungled Brexit. They triggered the exit process without a clue as to how it would work. We are still yet to see any clear benefit from the hard Brexit they gave us. The Tories bungled Brexit and we paid the price.

Cost of living crisis

No one voted for powercuts in winter

The Tory government keeps trying to give tax cuts to the super-rich and benefits cuts to the poor. If you are robbing the poor to give to the rich, mummy did not read Robin Hood to you often enough. Let’s not even get into the arse-ache that is Universal Credit and The Bedroom Tax.

They have failed to address the cost of living crisis. People may have to choose between eating and heating this winter. Not to worry though, we will have rolling blackouts so the heating won’t work anyway.

Under three separate prime ministers, they have failed to keep a full cabinet. Liz Truss had her ideal chancellor and he proved to be shorter-lived than a mayfly. They quit or get sacked faster than we can keep up with.

Meanwhile, we struggle to try to cope with the mess they have made.

No one voted for thousands of foodbanks because food is too expensive for average people

Instead of helping us, they removed the cap on banker’s bonuses. That would be the same fat cats who crashed the economy last time.

They gave us rising food prices, spiralling inflation, and more expensive mortgages. They failed to put an energy plan in place and households may have to find an extra £4,000 in April.

People are frightened because they do not know how they will cope with the growing costs and stagnant income.

In contrast with almost every other European country, the Tories have failed to offer an official government public information campaign on how to save energy.

No one voted for uncertainty over the basics of food and warmth

The Tories u-turn so fast you could be forgiven for thinking they were trying to pull off a doughnut.

No wonder people feel insecure.

It is almost as though we are living in a time when the longevity of a Prime Minister or Chancellor of the Exchequer is measured in hours rather than months or years, so please forgive me if I keep an eye on my phone to ensure that Ministers and policies remain the same as they were when I rose to speak. It is good to see this Minister in his place. He is certainly not hiding under any desks, as it may have been suggested that others were.

Owen Thompson MP for Midlothian (SNP) [Hansard]

This prime minister – Liz Truss – created a “mini-budget” so bad it almost bankrupted the UK.

• How Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng wrecked the UK economy in seven days
• How Liz Truss plunged the UK to the brink of recession in just one month
• The mini-budget that broke Britain
• After the pound hits a record low and the Bank of England intervened to the tune of £65 billion, Liz Truss insists ‘this is the right plan’
• Pound rises as Liz Truss announces resignation

The Bank of England had to step in and bail us out by aggressively buying government bonds. After the bonkers first week under Truss, confidence in the UK was so low businesses were selling off government bonds like they were about to explode.

Government bonds are usually thought of as the safest of investments. Somehow, the Tories found a way to mess that up too.

• The inside story of the mini-budget disaster

Rather than admit they had ruined the country to line their own pockets, the Tories tried to label the opposition party “the anti-growth coalition”. What a lot of horse poop. That’s the kind of behaviour we might expect from playground bullies, not government leaders.

• The Tories are the anti-growth coalition
• Tories are the most powerful part of the anti-growth coalition

Her “pro-growth” agenda performs the same role as tax cuts for the very rich. It’s a transfer of power to the wealthiest people, among whom are the bosses of corporations headquartered abroad, ruthless foreign oligarchs and British plutocrats who channel their money through tax havens. In other words, it is a further manifestation of the class war the rich are waging against the poor. Growth, in her vision, is not a promise. It’s a threat.

I’m part of the ‘anti-growth coalition’ Liz Truss loves to hate – and I’m proud of it, George Monbiot

The Tories screwed up the NHS

What 12 years of Conservative rule has done to the NHS

More things that the Tory government screwed up

When COVID-19 arrived, the Tory Prime Minister (BJ) chose to go on holiday rather than enact plans to safeguard the public. As a result, many thousands more people were killed by COVID. After all, they had a plan – let it kill people then those who are left would be immune and the problem solved.

People want change

638,593 892,781 906,624 people signed a petition calling for an immediate general election. When it was debated in parliament only one Tory showed up.

When the people suggested they might like a Brexit, the Tories cried “will of the people” and forced a bad deal through. When the people said they want a general election, the Tories told us “no”. Maybe the reason they pushed for Brexit was that they could short the markets and get richer.

Where is the cry “will of the people” when the people ask for a change of government? Could it be that the only people Tories help are other Tories?

Do they know what’s happening in the real world?

I mean, just look at these muppets. Do they look like they know what is going on?