One of the pair of boards seen in It’s A Knockout! has now been replaced to reflect the latest in the sorry tale of the UK’s Conservative party. The newspaper front pages reporting the “90-minute shouting match” between the resigning UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Prime Minister Liz Truss were barely dry when Truss herself resigned. The main cause was the September 23rd “mini-budget” that promised to scrap the 45% personal tax rate entirely, lower the 20% to 19%, and keep the corporate rate at 19% instead of having it increase to 25% in April 2023 – these numbers are seen on the pages falling from Truss’s hands, above – without explaining how the reductions would be funded. Over the next three weeks these positions were reversed – “volte face”, Truss’s flip-flops, and the two-headed Truss; all part of a pattern, artist Ciaran Gallagher (web) suggests with Truss’s clothing: she was originally in the Lib Dems before joining the Conservatives in 1996 and supported ‘remain’ in the Brexit vote (WP).

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng went on the 14th. Braverman resigned over a breach of the Ministerial Code – sharing an official document on migration from her personal e-mail account – but got in a few digs at the Truss government as she left. (WP)

The Tories hope to put a new leader and PM in place within a week. Rishi Sunak, Terminator-style, says “I’ll be back!” and is the bookies’ favourite (BBC).

For Larry the cat – who was previously pictured sitting on the steps outside Number 10 but has gone from the mural – next week’s prime minister will be his fifth.

Hill Street, Belfast city centre

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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It’s A Knockout ran from 1966 to 1982 and entertained millions both live and on television, with teams from neighbouring towns playing ridiculous games in over-sized foam-rubber suits (plus jaunty theme music by Herb Alpert). It was based on a French show that was based on an Italian show, and so broad was its appeal that Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Great Britain (and, once, a team from “Northern Ireland”) – took part in an international version, called Jeux Sans Frontières. (Here’s a ‘best of’ compilation.)

The Conservative party leadership election ran for 54 days, with a series of debates and twelve hustings involving candidates Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak (here are summaries of all twelve hustings, including the one in Belfast), ending mercifully on September 5th with party members electing Truss. In Ciaran Gallagher’s (web) repainted mural (see previously, And In The Blue Corner …) Jacob Rees-Mogg declares Truss – in the Union Flag top and England shorts – the winner while Boris Johnson (still nominally the Prime Minister but who took two holidays, to Slovenia and Greece (HuffPo)) counts out the bloody-nosed Sunak, skipping over the No 10.

In the middle of the mural, Larry (the cat) wants to “Bring back Julian Smith!” Smith was NI Secretary 2019-2020. The task has (eventually) fallen to Euro-skeptic Chris Heaton-Harris, Conservative MP for Daventry (web). He replaces Shailesh Vara, who lasted 62 days, the shortest-lasting NI Secretary ever (BBC).

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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