Boris Johnson

[Toast 16,130]

He's like a child who won't let go of his favourite toy.

[Redrumours 860]

25 minutes ago, Toast said:

He's like a child who won't let go of his favourite toy.

He reminds me of the kid who brings the ball and then buggers off home with it when his team is 3 down after 10 minutes.

[maryportfuncity 10,644]

39 minutes ago, Redrumours said:

He reminds me of the kid who brings the ball and then buggers off home with it when his team is 3 down after 10 minutes.

 

 

You've read the biography, then - that's a quality explored at some length

 

 

[RoverAndOut 4,746]

Peter Bone

Robert Jenrick

Claire Coutinho

Michael Fabricant

Natalie Elphicke

Jack Brereton

Brendan Clarke-Smith

 

For the record, the above all had the bare-faced cheek to stand up today and claim the Prime Minister is in the clear.

 

Julian Lewis and Craig Mackinlay instead took the Jacob Rees-Mogg line of explaining that it was perfectly reasonable for the Prime Minister and Number 10 to ignore their own laws as their laws were ridiculous to begin with.

 

They are making a mockery of the norms and customs of our parliamentary democracy. They are, in one fail swoop, making it clear that they don't believe there is a single other member of the parliamentary Tory party who is capable of being Prime Minister. Today, Boris Johnson's response has been 'I take full responsibility but it's not my fault'. No, genuinely. He talks of a complete change of senior leadership in Downing Street, ignoring, without irony, that the most senior figure in Downing Street is still sitting in his office. He deflects by talking about the civil service's achievements 'securing PPE, rolling out Test and Trace and organising the vaccine programme', safe in the knowledge it will be at least 18 months before that line of defence is torn to shreds by the Covid Inquiry, which will detail the eye-watering amount of money wasted paying for inadequate or non-existent PPE, the multi-million pound contracts that strangely benefitted the friends and families of cabinet ministers and the frankly criminally useless Test and Trace programme among a hundred other failings. He feigns contrition but exudes the arrogance and self-entitlement that underpins someone who was not just at Eton but also a member of the Bullingdon Club. That the Tories got rid of May for trying to honour the Brexit vote without destroying the United Kingdom, while steadfastly defending this charlatan masquerading as a statesman is absolutely sickening. They have not a shred of humility among them, I hope they enjoy the next 2 decades on the sidelines once again.

[Redrumours 860]

1 hour ago, maryportfuncity said:

 

 

You've read the biography, then - that's a quality explored at some length

 

 

No  I 'm not aware of the book. Must try and find it.

[The Old Crem 3,582]

I think Boris might be finished soon but for the opposite reason. Rishi popularity might well restore soon once his energy discount comes in. Once Rishi is back popular Boris is gone.

[Windsor 2,233]

5 minutes ago, The Old Crem said:

I think Boris might be finished soon but for the opposite reason. Rishi popularity might well restore soon once his energy discount comes in. Once Rishi is back popular Boris is gone.

 

Liz Truss is a better bet.

 

Continuity for Ukraine. Didn't attend any parties. Seen to be more competent than the others (not difficult I grant you).

She also has the benefit of being white, which is a big tick for most Conservative voters.

[Youth in Asia 1,086]

6 hours ago, The Old Crem said:

I think Boris might be finished soon but for the opposite reason. Rishi popularity might well restore soon once his energy discount comes in. Once Rishi is back popular Boris is gone.

 

Rishi will never get the top job. In this day and age being a billionaire tax avoider (and Indian to boot, not mention he is a midget) is not really going to resonate with the public.

[maryportfuncity 10,644]

9 hours ago, Windsor said:

 

Liz Truss is a better bet.

 

Continuity for Ukraine. Didn't attend any parties. Seen to be more competent than the others (not difficult I grant you).

She also has the benefit of being white, which is a big tick for most Conservative voters.

 

 

She's massively unpopular amongst some of her fellow MPs, mainly for a combination of rabid ambition and lack of real talent. That said, if she's on the final two in a ballot and the party members (most of whom likely have massive portraits of Thatcher over their well-appointed mantlepiece displays) she'd be highly fancied to win.

 

Atm, frankly, Boris would win the vote of confidence if it came to that.

[TQR 14,385]

9 hours ago, Windsor said:

 

Liz Truss is a better bet.

 

Continuity for Ukraine. Didn't attend any parties. Seen to be more competent than the others (not difficult I grant you).

She also has the benefit of being white, which is a big tick for most Conservative voters.

There’s a reason why she very rarely speaks publicly. She’s fucking, FUCKING useless. Even by Tory standards. Dismal.

 

Doing twelve photo shoots per day and holding a great office of state by title and title alone will be the peak of her career.

[maryportfuncity 10,644]

6 hours ago, TQR said:

There’s a reason why she very rarely speaks publicly. She’s fucking, FUCKING useless. Even by Tory standards. Dismal.

 

Doing twelve photo shoots per day and holding a great office of state by title and title alone will be the peak of her career.

 

 

At which point she can content herself with the thought she's a deeper thinker and more effective in general than Nadine Dorries. 

[msc 18,437]

1 minute ago, maryportfuncity said:

 

 

At which point she can content herself with the thought she's a deeper thinker and more effective in general than Nadine Dorries. 

 

Iain was a deeper thinking and more effective in general than Nadine fucking Dorries!

[maryportfuncity 10,644]

1 minute ago, msc said:

 

Iain was a deeper thinking and more effective in general than Nadine fucking Dorries!

 

 

Similarities, mind...just thinking, I've never seen a picture of those two together. 

 

You may be onto something there

[maryportfuncity 10,644]

[Toast 16,130]

[msc 18,437]

2 hours ago, Toast said:

 

No that Iain, he was much loved (and badly missed).

[maryportfuncity 10,644]

[The Old Crem 3,582]

I noticed Alicia Kearns MP has called for Boris to resign. She strikes me as someone who would support Tom Tugendhat in a leadership bid and might mean he is getting ready to call for Boris to go. 

[msc 18,437]

7 minutes ago, The Old Crem said:

I noticed Alicia Kearns MP has called for Boris to resign. She strikes me as someone who would support Tom Tugendhat in a leadership bid and might mean he is getting ready to call for Boris to go. 

 

Wrote one of the worst Bond theme songs imo.

 

No, sorry, Kearns, not Keys.

[maryportfuncity 10,644]

3 hours ago, The Old Crem said:

I noticed Alicia Kearns MP has called for Boris to resign. She strikes me as someone who would support Tom Tugendhat in a leadership bid and might mean he is getting ready to call for Boris to go. 

 

 

Yeah, I saw that and was speculating with a mate over a beer tonight about what'd happen if someone halfway to heavyweight status said something about being willing to take over and restore dignity to the great office. Thatcher's card was marked a year early when the no-hoper Sir Anthony Meyer stood against her and the likely future leaders bottled it by not joining in. His 33 votes looked pathetic but it was the fact that when the spoiled ballots were added and it was clear 60 MPs had failed to back her that really made the case. Just over a year later she was gone. It's a different voting system for Tory leaders now, but the maths are about the same. A goodly chunk of the parliamentary party openly failing to support the leader precedes a fall. Safe for now, but that's a mixed blessing when the economy's careering out of control, the public services are in the shit and respect for the government is at a low point. Boris' appeal is his ability to win over the working classes and win elections as a result. No pressure, then

[maryportfuncity 10,644]

So, former Attorney General takes the known numbers of letter writers to 27. Worth a mention because when May faced a vote of no confidence it was subsequently discovered that those publicly calling for her to go represented about half of those who'd formally submitted to the 1922 Committee. If the current situation is remotely the same we're almost in vote of confidence territory.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61636151

[maryportfuncity 10,644]

And further to the last post the tipping point is "inching closer" - gloriously ironic (and probably caused a few smirks at The Mirror), since one of the crowd-pleasing iniatives of the Save Big Dog campaign involves bringing back imperial measures

 

[msc 18,437]

1 hour ago, maryportfuncity said:

And further to the last post the tipping point is "inching closer" - gloriously ironic (and probably caused a few smirks at The Mirror), since one of the crowd-pleasing iniatives of the Save Big Dog campaign involves bringing back imperial measures

 

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the criticism and demands for John Major to resign lumber on and on too, until eventually Major called his own leadership contest. And then, all of the rivals just sort of got routed, and the Tories continued to sleep walk to electoral death?

 

Curious to see if history repeats. This struggle to reach 54 letters doesn't strike you that there's 170 Tory MPs out there who want Boris Johnson gone.

 

It took ages for them to get the numbers against Theresa May, and then she won the Vote of Confidence easily, iirc...

[Bibliogryphon 9,571]

3 minutes ago, msc said:

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the criticism and demands for John Major to resign lumber on and on too, until eventually Major called his own leadership contest. And then, all of the rivals just sort of got routed, and the Tories continued to sleep walk to electoral death?

 

Curious to see if history repeats. This struggle to reach 54 letters doesn't strike you that there's 170 Tory MPs out there who want Boris Johnson gone.

 

It took ages for them to get the numbers against Theresa May, and then she won the Vote of Confidence easily, iirc...

But with Iain Duncan Smith it was a case of once the letters were in he felt that he was electorally damaged and went anyway

 

For the Conservative party it is a case of what is the worst possible outcome both in terms of individuals losing their seats, potential for future promotion and the prospect of a Labour Government

[TQR 14,385]

2 minutes ago, msc said:

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the criticism and demands for John Major to resign lumber on and on too, until eventually Major called his own leadership contest. And then, all of the rivals just sort of got routed, and the Tories continued to sleep walk to electoral death?

 

Curious to see if history repeats.

This is most likely, I reckon. But even if they did find a new leader they can agree on, the next GE is gonna be tricky unless something major happens in their favour.

 

This is how polls translate to GE performance at the moment, this with a Tory leader who hasn’t yet met the VoNC threshold and a Labour leader who’s not having the most stable time either: