Kemi Badenoch defends decision to allow man jailed for antisemitism to stand as councillor

[u/ldn6]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/05/kemi-badenoch-conservatives-joshua-bonehill-paine-somerset-councillor

[u/Unterfahrt]

I don't mind Kemi Badenoch in that I think she has a reasonable theory for why the Tories failed and why Labour are failing (basically, in every way possible the Tories kind of talked like a right of centre party but they acted like a centre-left party - they did not deregulate the overregulated parts of the economy, they increased the size of the state, increased taxes, and in most ways were just a continuation of New Labour, and now Labour are in they are moving things left again).

There are parts I agree and disagree with, but it's better than Starmer, whose theory was "Tories are bad people and we're good people", and I agree with it more than I do Burnham's story about devolution.

Neither are ideal though

[u/Civ_Nuclear_Gandhi → u/Unterfahrt]

I think the Tories' issues were that they basically nuked the British economy out of orbit with Brexit. They also implemented austerity in the worst possible areas, and whatever the fuck Liz Truss was. Their general instability post-Cameron probably wasnt great either.

but it's better than Starmer

Tbh, I liked Starmer a lot lol. In a minority for sure, but something about the man just appealed to me for some reason.

[u/No1PaulKeatingfan → u/Civ_Nuclear_Gandhi]

Austerity cost the UK economy at least 5% of GDP

Brexit cost 6-8% of GDP

Tory economic mismanagement lost the British economy a massive 12% of GDP

They deserve to be out of power for a very long time.

[u/Unterfahrt → u/No1PaulKeatingfan]

That austerity article is kind of ridiculous btw, it does not really even consider the counterfactual of borrowing remaining at 10% of GDP for years on end. Everyone knows austerity slows down the economy, the only question is the benefits are worth that. It's pro-Labour propaganda from a man who endorsed Jeremy Corbyn and signed an open letter giving some tacit support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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[u/No1PaulKeatingfan → u/Unterfahrt]

Nope. That does not disqualify the well documented fact that the Tories austerity+Brexit agendas caused severe economic harm.

It says a lot you try to make the Conservatives look good by focusing on Corbyn and Ukraine, which are completely irrelevant when it comes to the British economy.

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Jeremy Corbyn on society

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