to scare them into acting appropriately
This is Johnson, no one will “scare” him into not acting how he always has, and always will. Now, the Tory party might be scared into replacing him… but that’s just down to what they think the voters will do to them. Binners is right, nothing happens ‘till an election or two has gone horribly wrong for the Conservative Party. And that’s where the opposition parties come in. Even with dull uninspiring leaders, there could be a lot of upsets in May. Probably still won’t be enough, the Tories have invested so much in Johnson and his winning cons. They won’t change course ‘till he’s a proven loser, and I suspect that proof will require more than one lot of poor election results.
a decade away from any real chance of another party having the majority unfortunately
Agreed. I’d go further. I don’t think we’ll see any party other than the Conservatives winning a majority again in my lifetime. Multiparty government is our only way out of near continual Tory rule. We need to become a modern democracy.
Just watched that clip, it is rather perfect for the situation unfortunately.
That clip is very apposite.
Well, I take it back about the news cycle being seemingly bored over no.10 parties. It's bloody everywhere.
I'm interested to see what the papers say tomorrow, especially the Express, about his only remaining cheerleader.
Again though, it undermines government messaging regarding masks/ boosters and other hard decisions that might need to be made this year. I'm not blaming the reporting to be clear, it has to be exposed. I'm blaming the government, yet again.
Cummings really is a detour little shite isn't he? Wonder what else he has in store.
The Express even have a tiny picture of the fall guy. They basically just want a sacking. And not Johnson’s.
Yeah, about on a par for the Express then. Surprised they didn't also sneak a little pic of Sunak in with a proposed VAT cut on fuel prices.
Please moan to your Tory mp about that stupid ****.
Moaning on here is not enough.
My Tory MP is one of these few MPs who is actually far worse than Johnson… so in my case that would be pointless. Him losing his seat would actually please me more than Johnson losing his title.
Kelvin, let the **** know what you feel about him. He probably believes everyone loves him.
He’s already blocked me on all Social Media, and letters aren’t replied to. He’s not one for seeking interaction or finding out what his constituents think of his record.
Kelvin - we must live near each other!!! Maybe they are all just that useless.
Writing to my MP is a totally pointless exercise. I live in the constituency where Boris hid in a fridge the day before the GE. He is that in Boris’ pocket it won’t make a blind bit of difference, sadly.
My one saving grace is we live a mile from the next constituency where the Labour MP is really excellent and though not our representative, we do benefit from his work.
I agree zippy and I already have.
She is mega loyal though, never once voted against the government and recently got promoted to a junior role.
That said, she is bound to have the genetic Tory trait of self preservation.
In truth I'm hoping she got an invite but I'm just not that lucky.😉
SKY reporting that the Met are looking into the latest party revelations.
I'm actually a little surprised.
Most MPs know the locals don't like them, but they get in because they know that only 60% will turnout for the election (the actual big one!) and in the area they represent, they pretty much know the percentage they'll get just for being the tory candidate. It's the same with labour, SNP, etc, they know the safe seats and the ones that could do better with specific candidates.
The sad truth is that we've had the same style of party for 25 years, New Labour were pretty much Tory lite, and it split the party to the way it is to this day, an absolute basket case of different views, opinions and pretty much mandate.
In other news, Michael Gove announces that developers are to foot the bill for cladding. Anyone else see it as a bid to be prime minister in the spring?
Think about it, he makes an announcement that makes it appear that he has found a moral compass, whilst hoping that someone else will have to work out all the details because he thinks he'll be prime minister by the time anything actually has to be done.
It could be that the back stabber is stabbing Johnson in the front this time.
Yes, but Sunak has already nuked his attempt. More accurately “someone at the treasury” has leaked information to undermine today’s flurry of media noise from Gove. Made it clear it’s all noise. Lisa Nandy detailed it all earlier today… hold on…
Twitter thread…
https://twitter.com/lisanandy/status/1480583769027399680?s=20
Commons statement…
https://twitter.com/LBC/status/1480572754986426380?s=20
What an absolute pit of vipers the Tory party is.
Nandy's point kind of makes my point. Gove's proposal is either an empty promise or a huge problem for the Social housing budget further down the line.
Do we think he cares? Certainly his proposal will be taken apart on Newsnight but the broader public perception will be that he has said the right thing, never mind that he hasn't actually done anything yet.
But anyhow...please let it be Truss....
He’s already blocked me on all Social Media, and letters aren’t replied to. He’s not one for seeking interaction or finding out what his constituents think of his record.
Exactly the same as my Tory MP
Has no interest in any interaction with his constituents other than staged photoshoots. Doesn’t reply to letters or emails. Blocks all people on social media who ask him perfectly reasonable questions. I got blocked for asking him about Barnard Castle at the time.
He seems absolutely typical of the new Johnson/Brexiteer intake of MP’s
Certainly his proposal will be taken apart on Newsnight but the broader public perception will be that he has said the right thing, never mind that he hasn’t actually done anything yet.
True. And as it happens, I’m not sure it’s a play for the top job at all… he’s just been sent out to try and neutralise the idea (truth) that his party is supportive of developers over voters, on the lead up to the May elections. They don’t want Council seats in traditionally safe areas for them swinging to the LibDems. He’s in campaign mode for the party. That’s the brief he’s been given really… “levelling up” is a campaigning brief, not really a government job.
This is bang on. You can guarantee that Johnson will go and hide in a fridge, as always, and leave his human shields to face the press
‘Nobody was available’ for Newsnight tonight. It’ll be interesting to see who, if anyone, will be fronting up in the morning
https://twitter.com/johnjcrace/status/1480680733693861890?s=21
Boris and Carrie have obviously got their priorities sorted this evening though
https://twitter.com/hardeep_matharu/status/1480655954836402182?s=21
^^ In fairness, going camping this time of year is pretty hardcore.
Oh, I see.
As much as I'd like to see boris thrown under the bus, preferably a red one with promises about the NHS painted on the side in blue letters...
I can't help but feel this is just another dead cat flung onto the table, right on top of the already large and growing pile of dead cats.
The rotting corpses are getting too smelly now for even the conservatives.
We will have a new PM at some point before the next GE, the question is, will the public still vote for them in the next GE?
I'd guess, yes they will.
We will have a new PM before the next GE, the question is, will the public still vote for them?
That's the big one isn't it? I feel a lot of inconvenient truths are slowly but inexorably rising to the top of an already pungent barrel but I'm continually shocked at how strong the Tory vote is. Yes, I know they are behind at the moment but not devastatingly so and the electorate have impressively short memories.
Throw in a new "clean" leader, a few perks to the plebs near a GE and you would have to be a real optimist to say there is no way on earth they will win again.
All that said I do now hold more than a little hope that we might not have to endure another ten years of Tory rule but there is no way I would place even a modest bet against it.
Depressing, but I fear you are correct.
Labour voters who don't like Starmer will stay at home, and that will be the end of that.
Much like labour defeat in the last GE, only the corbynites voted Labour. The rest of the 'left' are working class racists and the conservatives appeal to the racists, so it's a win-win for the cons.
Dominic mentions this party in his blog from Friday. I wonder if he released a copy of the email invite...He seems determined that Johnson's downfall is going to be at least in part because of him.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/10/opinion/boris-johnson-britain-bills.html?smid=tw-share&s=09
Fairly stark article in the NY Times about the direction the UK is taking under the Tories now.
Edit: hmm, won't allow me to share it...
Nope, hyperlinks to NYT disabled. Go to NYT homepage and click in the Opinion section, it's right there.
Anyone else make the mistake of listening to the government minister for health and obfuscation on Radio4 just now? We should just wait and not ask questions, while they scrabble around trying to get a new set of stories/lies straight to replace the previous ones, now they are no longer remotely plausible.
That NYT article is worth signing up for. The potential for abuse of the forthcoming legislation is terrifying and going completely unnoticed.
That NYT article is worth signing up for. The potential for abuse of the forthcoming legislation is terrifying and going completely unnoticed.
Disagree.
It's noticed by us that care AND can think - unfortunately as evidenced over the last few years, we're in a minority...
Anyone else make the mistake of listening to the government minister for health and obfuscation on Radio4 just now? We should just wait and not ask questions
Isn't that the point of having an inquiry, quickly kick one off so you can just palm off any questions saying 'I can't comment, we need to wait what the inquiry discovers'
They mostly get away with it but when Johnson was asked directly last night whether he was at the party and his answer was to wait for the inquiry it starts to look very ridiculous, i.e. you need an inquiry to tell you whether you were there or not.
They mostly get away with it but when Johnson was asked directly last night whether he was at the party and his answer was to wait for the inquiry it starts to look very ridiculous, i.e. you need an inquiry to tell you whether you were there or not.
Well that's like sitting in the interview room and refusing to answer questions until your solicitor is there to avoid incriminating yourself later.
He can't say "no I wasn't there" because it WILL come out that he was there and then he'll be forced into something like "oh THAT party, no I meant the other one" which isn't any better.
He can't say "yes I was there" because that immediately says that there was a party, it was against lockdown rules and he knew all that.
I can see why he said that, it's the least worst option and he still comes across as a liar but everyone knows he's a liar anyway.
The NYT article is so on the 'money':
"His place in the history books, however, is secured. He will forever be the libertine whose pursuit of personal freedom and “control” saw his countrymen robbed of theirs."
I can see why he said that, it’s the least worst option and he still comes across as a liar but everyone knows he’s a liar anyway.
I can’t understand why reporters allow this no comment line to go unchallenged - it’s not sub judice, there’s no imperative for him to remain schtum, press them for an answer and don’t let them kick the can down the road.
Just emailed m Tory mp, he has had run ins with Johnson before (whip withdrawn) so hopefully this will irk him some.
Yes a decent interviewer is needed. But Bojo will avoid these like he avoided Andrew Neil during the election. Anyone would do! Richard Madeley would have him on toast.
Will Bojo turn up for PMQs?
It's been noted already that these parties seem to be the only thing that is cutting through. I think this is because obviously everyone is comparing the reality of what they were doing at the time with 'bring your own booze' parties at number 10
When he's lost Julia Hartley-Brewer, that truly is a new level?
https://twitter.com/JuliaHB1/status/1480649442416119810?s=20
Will Bojo turn up for PMQs?
If he does (and I'm sure he's presently looking for any excuse not too), please let it still be Angela Rayner opposite him
I am still convinced Johnson will hang on and hang on. IMO he simply is incapable of accepting he does anything wrong. I think and hope his hanging on will continue to damage the tory party.
He'll hang on because it's his nature, and the party have no one willing to pick up the mess at the moment.
Sadly, the longer he hangs on the more the damage will be seen as Boris's problem, and not a Tory problem. New leader, new broom, let's put that behind us and move forward tra la la
From the NY TYimes article noted above by @crazy-legs
It’s a truism that nations sleepwalk into tyranny, and England — the most politically powerful of the nations that make up Britain — is no exception. For decades it has possessed all the necessary ingredients: ever more spiteful nationalism, press fealty sold to the highest bidder and a fervent, misplaced belief that authoritarianism could never set up shop here, because we simply wouldn’t let it.
I don't think you would hear the issue discussed in terms of England/[not]the devolved nations in quite that way from a UK journalist.
I am still convinced Johnson will hang on and hang on. IMO he simply is incapable of accepting he does anything wrong. I think and hope his hanging on will continue to damage the tory party.
I think there's an element of that but I also think he takes great delight in pulling a fast one.
That stuff about the flat refurb where he was basically cleared in spite of the fact that the fund he was asking for money from hadn't yet been set up. He was absolutely thrilled, he was like a kid in a sweet shop. Yep, got away with it again, what a smooth master criminal I am, what larks.
I don’t think you would hear the issue discussed in terms of England/[not]the devolved nations in quite that way from a UK journalist.
The journalist is British.
Much like labour defeat in the last GE, only the corbynites voted Labour. The rest of the ‘left’ are working class racists
That's one of the most stupid comments I've seen on here and there's plenty of competition.
Anyway, I'm off to email my MP, wish me luck!
