Ben Wallace, the UK Minister for Defence, is the only inner circle Tory, who looks relatively upbeat this year and next. He’s a former soldier, initially an MSP and has been around Westminster in various roles since 2003, with a reputation for being outspoken.
He’s a stalwart and ultra-ambitious Sun Taurus opposition Neptune and trine Pluto; with Pluto in an emotionally intense and can-be-courageous or can-be ruthless square to Venus Mars in Gemini. His Virgo Moon is probably trine Saturn Mercury in Taurus.
His Jupiter in Libra is catching the confident, usually successful tr Pluto square picking up early this March till June and then on and off till late 2023. He’s in the right place at the right time and despite the catastrophe of the Putin assault he’s looking chipper right now with tr Uranus square his Sun/Jupiter midpoint till mid March. He’ll have some jolts and jangles and sinking moments through this year but on the whole looks in lively spirits with more and better prospects next year.
His relationship chart with Boris Johnson is fairly competitive at the best of times and may be sagging from mid May this year onwards with tr Neptune square the composite Venus, into 2023 as well. But it is 2023 when the pressures between them really mount.
Liz Truss had some lucky traction last month from a Jupiter midpoint and that influence returns August to early December; but that apart she’s having a discouraging struggle to make progress this year and next.
Tom Tugendhat, 27 June 1973, London, is another with an increasingly visible profile and a surprising background. He’s the son of a High Court judge, holds dual-French nationality, with a French mother and French wife who is a judge, studied theology at University, then Islamic studies at Cambridge, is Catholic with Jewish ancestry. Before entering politics he was a journalist and PR consultant in the Middle East. He served as an army reservist in Iraq and Afghanistan; and is Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Westminster.
He’s a Sun Cancer on the focal point of a super-determined Pluto opposition Mars in Aries which is trine/sextile a confident Jupiter in Aquarius. He also has an inspirational and attention-demanding Fire Grand Trine of Mars trine Mercury in Leo trine Neptune. This year is filled with setbacks, calamities, swamps and glitches. Where he comes into his own may be around 2025 when his Solar Arc Jupiter opposes his Pluto.
Tobias Ellwood, 12 August 1966, is another with an international background, having been born in New York to British parents, educated in Bonn and Vienna, did a business degree, then served in the Regular UK Army before moving into politics. Was a Cameron supporter, a Minister in the Department of Defence, and not pro-Boris.
He’s a Sun Leo square Neptune, with Uranus Pluto opposition Saturn; and an enthusiastic Jupiter, Mars, Venus conjunction in Cancer. He’s slipping and sliding through this year; but will be more buoyant into next year with a May 2023 catastrophe opening opportunities for him as two of his Jupiter midpoints get a boost – plus a lucky Jupiter Solar Arc around mid 2023.
Both of these are without birth times so there may be other factors in play which are not known.
Graham Brady, the Chairman of the key 1922 Tory Committee (men in grey suits wielding the knife) is less than enamoured of Boris at the moment till late March and again November to early January 2023; with increasing tensions from this March across the May elections, and on and off till late 2023. Aggravation will mount from late March 2023 across the May 2023 elections. It doesn’t necessarily mean Boris will still be in situ by then, though he might be. But it’s a downhill slide from now onwards.
Tory panics about Boris will emerge more strongly from mid this May onwards, though it may be May 2023 when the Conservative Party rue the connection sufficiently to upend it. All they care about is losing a general election and once they deem him sufficient of a liability, he’ll go.
Thank you Marjorie. I have always found TT and Tobias Ellwood very unlikely Tories, apart from their backgrounds. They are more of the ilk of Rory Stewart – harmless/non-threatening. They both have very liberal views and always talk sense. In fact Ellwood was the only Tory who came out in support of BLM in 2020.
I wonder if we’ll see a return of moderate conservatives before the next general election.
Tobias Ellwood is one of a bunch of MPs in my true blue neck of the woods and really the only likeable one among them. I think he’s probably quite a nice bloke on a personal level but, at the back of my mind he is still a Tory …
He has repeatedly spoken out against Boris over the past couple of years, especially when he / Patel were going to start repelling migrants through use of the navy. Notably about a week or two after that (Dec 2020ish), a story was published in the papers about him attending a dinner at a club in London that was in potential breach of lockdown – so he clearly got under someone’s skin.
The major doubt I’d have about him is he talks more like a project manager. But he clearly has a good, sensible brain and a Leo sense of fair play and honesty. Astrologically I’m not sure I’d trust any of the mid-Sixties generation as leaders anymore; they all bring their victim-saviour projections to the table. And the mars-venus-jupiter in cancer is great on a personal level but as leader of the country during these tough times, I’m not sure he’d have the edge required.
Thanks Marjorie. I’ve noticed these men during the unfolding crisis, and found it reassuring (well, a bit) that there seem to be some more serious individuals around in the flimsy government circus. I was particularly impressed with Tom Tugendhat yesterday on the Ch 4 news. His background is so interesting – and a Catholic with Jewish and French ancestry, while Boris is supposedly a Catholic, with Muslim Turkish ancestry.
His background is astonishingly wide. Agree about more gravitas – but military backgrounds will help. Boris et al would not have survived the first week of training.
The thought of Boris doing military training is hilarious! Yes, military backgrounds will help now, something I never thought I’d think – I’ve always been so anti war. However, having seen one or two military men organise things in civilian life in recent years I can see how the training/thinking makes for calm and order.
I remember watching the Queen Mother’s funeral way back when and thinking how seamlessly well-organized it was. It was the first thing we’d seen run to time in years and I reckoned the sooner we get the military in charge of the country the better.
us poland and romania to attack? pincer.
@Virgoflake: Marjorie, you may also want to check out Tobias Ellwood. He is an MP, an author and soldier. And he’s been fantastic and for a while now he’s been warning the West to take strong action against Putin.
Yes, Ben Wallace and indeed, Tom Tugendhat seem to be the two men to watch.
Marjorie, you may want to take a look at Tom Tugendhat.
Thank you.
Yes, just watching TT being interviewed on Ch 4 news uk. He comes across as far more coherent, articulate and knowledgeable than Johnson imo.
Looks like we’re stuck with that idiot Johnson for the forseeable future unfortunately
Sun-Saturn-Mercury in Taurus – that’s a set of placements for a defence secretary. And he looks it too – a politician from the past.
No surprise to see he has the Gemini – mutable square planets which are traditional for a member of Boris’ cabinet, along with an ill-placed Neptune in opposition to his sun.
Transiting Uranus about to hammer into his Saturn-Mercury conjunction. Will be interesting.
…they say “Cometh the hour, cometh the man…..” Wallace has 6 earth planets – eureka! – not to mention he’s done it (being an experienced soldier) How often could we say it’s wonderful to see a Merc/Sat conjunction!? His Sun is also Taurus, Moon Virgo… he looks like a Leo ascendant to me, (receding hair) but his N Node is conjunct the Moon …. Jupiter hits his N Node shortly – a man to watch…he does have a bulldog look about him, a la Churchill, the only hopeful thing astrologically I’ve seen today. I like his jaw, he has a plan……the maniac in charge is just hair tossing, posing, out of it… and probably having his mates around tonight for an office occasion……
Thank you for looking at this chart, Marjorie. Until he made the “full tonto” comment I thought he looked quite sensible!