The Dubious World of Boris Johnson

(27-01-2022 16:50 )Cooper_temple Wrote:  Latest Westminster voting intention:

LAB: 40% (+1)
CON: 31% (-3)
LDEM: 13% (+2)
GRN: 9% (+2)

And the next Gen Election is due when?

It's scheduled to be held on Thursday 2 May 2024 unless a snap election is called.

(27-01-2022 16:42 )crankshaft Wrote:  

(27-01-2022 15:18 )lovebabes56 Wrote:  Before he takes a pot shot at Ian Blackford's size again he should take a longer look at himself in the mirror that if he has one...Quite right he got rapped for his comments.....

Yep, pot - kettle

Blackford was probably out yesterday morning running to Greggs for a nice healthy breakfast. Paps didn't quite manage to catch him with a good pic.

(27-01-2022 09:53 )crankshaft Wrote:  Yesterday I said he's toast. Now I'm not so sure. In parliament, it is hard to say if he'll survive a no-confidence motion. However, with the Tories having an 80 seat majority, even with 50 or so voting against, he'll survive. And even if the 1922 Committee get the 54 letters to spark a challenge, looks like enough Tories are sticking by him. I think they may come to regret that decision come the next election

If forced to put wager on it, I’d say he’s staying — if only because he has survived much worse.

But I do think it’s interesting that the Daily Torygraph has been uncharacteristically critical of him. I wonder if that’s a signal that the conservatives have turned on him.

I would say it couild be a sign that the tables are slowly turning on him Funny how London Mayor has stayed quiet he's ususally very vocal on these things

(27-01-2022 17:40 )Cooper_temple Wrote:  It's scheduled to be held on Thursday 2 May 2024 unless a snap election is called.

Can't see it happening eiither until unless there is a dramatic turn of events and a no confidence votes goes against him which it won't.

If Sunak or Truss ort Gove don't fancy ther job would JRM be an unlikely candidate for it?

(27-01-2022 21:05 )lovebabes56 Wrote:  

(27-01-2022 17:40 )Cooper_temple Wrote:  It's scheduled to be held on Thursday 2 May 2024 unless a snap election is called.

Can't see it happening either until unless there is a dramatic turn of events and a no confidence votes goes against him which it won't.

If Sunak or Truss ort Gove don't fancy ther job would JRM be an unlikely candidate for it?

Rees-Mogg has always had the look of a Prime Minister in the old-fashioned mould, slightly aloof but very articulate. He made a point of speaking to the press outside Downing Street after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, expressing support for the PM, fronting out their absurd backing of this laughing stock of a PM with a rhino-skin of defiance and hallucinatory effrontery to avoid taking ownership of his litany of mistakes and shirking of responsibility for his own failures (LBC's James O-Brien calls out JRM on this with great gusto, pointing to the fact that the Tories' line that Boris got all the big calls right shows they are that arrogant and deluded to actually think the public are thick as pig-shit ). He also spoke for the government on Newsnight the same evening.

But it is clear the majority of the government really think they handled the pandemic well. Rees-Mogg is putting himself out to front this out, though they all must have a nagging doubt that The Clown Prince may not hang on if Sue Grey's report singles him out for not taking responsibility.

If that is in play in the minds of BJ's fellow cabinet ministers, it is interesting that Rees-Mogg is going out on a limb here, however deluded he is. I am reminded of John Major's initial open vocal support for Margaret Thatcher when she faced a leadership challenge from Michael Heseltine. Major went on to put his hat in the ring for 2nd ballot, stabbing her in the back. That's politics! Gove already wielded his knife in Boris' back a few years back. I'd say it's Gove who would be the outsider going into any potential contest, like Major was, in view of what Gove did to Boris before, though he's quietly and competently got on with cabinet jobs since in the background - some very important, like handling Brexit, Environment and now housing.

If Boris's position did suddenly became untenable (bad news keeps getting leaked, such as the evacuation of dogs from Afghanistan which the leaked email proves he did authorise, despite him claiming the opposite 24 hrs earlier), then who has placed themselves in the best position as someone who has been most vocal to come out to support Bojo - so having the backing of the body of MPs who back Boris - and de-facto especially because of being a Brexit advocate - Rees-Mogg of course. JRM has long been highly thought of in the tearooms of Tory-majority constituencies and Tory Party Associations across England. However, I would think his star has plummeted in Scotland amongst Tories in Scotland after recent remarks ridiculing the Tory leader in Scotland, and I'd say is reviled by practically every non-Tory voter north of the border (and by a good number of non-Tory voters in rest of UK).

Rees-Mogg being PM, with the look of the UK harking back to some bygone era, would be symbolic of UK's retreat backwards in my view.

Ok, slightly off-subject on this thread about Boris, but posting this because clearly the whole mess in No.10, as has been identified, goes deeper than just our lying, deceitful, incompetent PM. There is a culture of corruption, abuse of power, misapplication of proper procedures and disingenuous evasion from proper scrutiny (albeit, under the command of the bullshitting charlatan in chief). Ian Hislop gets to the nub of the issue of one aspect of this which has been a longstanding problem in British politics - lobbying - at a recent Select Committee meeting: https://youtu.be/a3O8mwDFo4M

(27-01-2022 23:23 )crankshaft Wrote:  (bad news keeps getting leaked, such as the evacuation of dogs from Afghanistan which the leaked email proves he did authorise, despite him claiming the opposite 24 hrs earlier),

I think this is being made into a bigger thing than it really is. The animal rescue charity crowd funded their own charter plane. All they needed from The Government was a runway slot.
As long as it wasn't denying a military plane a slot, or otherwise hindering the evacuation, I don't see what the issue is.

Boris's problem is, if that's how it went down, he doesn't have any credibility left to explain that in a way people would accept. So he just goes into default setting - denial and lies.

Mind you, the head of the charity isn't helping Boris by doing the rounds on media praising him for his intervention. Maybe he has his own agenda though, who knows.

Hmmmmm.
The Met Police have now requested the Sue Gray report make minimal reference to any events it is investigating.
I smell a rat