Forum menu
that happened with the SNP landslide as well. My SNP mp is a dimwitted liar who should never have got near parliament. I'll bet it happened with Blairs landslide as well.
I didn't want to jinx it but I figured in advance that the lack of a heir apparent/chief backstabber suggested that they didn't expect to bring him down. Trying to unseat the leader without any thought to replacement is a very Labour party thing to do. But what an absolute shitshow. Very conflicted now, it's obviously an absolute disaster for the tory party but is the likely short-term damage to the country worth it in the longer run?
Interesting nationally, there's now only 2 MPs in the entire of Scotland with any confidence in the PM. Or 3. Or 2. By the end of this line it might be 3 again as "leader" Douglas Ross continues to rotate
I reckon the reason he has survived is that the MPs couldn't stomach any of the alternative "candidates". Which is good as it just means the party will continue to fester.
The rebels are saying they are going to fight on. Rats in a sack
mad Nads tweets should be fun as will PMQs
There won't be any protests on the street. People have realised that has no effect. How many people protested against Brexit, how many people protested against the Iraq war?
People won't strike either. There's very few unions in the private sector to organise it and lots of people who could strike can't afford to. One of the reasons that rail strikes are successful is that drivers can afford to strike to get a pay rise. If you're in the "just about coping" category you're not going to go on strike if that will take you into the "not coping" category. People will only go on strike when things are really bad and striking doesn't make things worse for them.
In some ways it's the worst result possible (Johnson still PM, Tories will spend the next few years self-destructive while the country goes to shit) but it's also the best result (Johnson paralysed, Tories will completely show their full colours). We need to play the long game, short term pain so that Labour or a coalition can get in and tidy up this unholy mess.
Unless he’s ousted by another means (and given his history at clinging to power, I doubt it), it seems likely that Johnson will “lead” them into the next General Election. That’s pretty good news for the other political parties.
Seeing all the interviews yesterday with folks on the street in the recent Tory gained seats, it was alarming how many still supported him. They were very much, “oh, it’s Boris, we know Boris, we don’t know anyone else”. And “they all lie, but at least it’s Boris”. WTF?!?
How on Earth can there be this level of dissonance? “Lying to parliament, that’s okay, but he’s gonna do right by us!” What?!
Daffy - remember the broadcast media have to show "balance" which is representing both sides in any debate / story with no weighting for truth or popularity. so even if sentiment is 100 : 1 against Johnson they will keep on interviewing folk until they find someone who supports him still and then show an equal number of folk from either side.
Seeing all the interviews yesterday with folks on the street in the recent Tory gained seats, it was alarming how many still supported him. They were very much, “oh, it’s Boris, we know Boris, we don’t know anyone else”. And “they all lie, but at least it’s Boris”. WTF?!?
I think if you’ve a few quid and effectively cocooned from his reality you’ll get that. When they can’t afford to pay the heating bills in the winter their view will be slightly different.
Ed Davey saying on R4 this morning that Lib Dems will be tabling a VONC in the government today.
When they can’t afford to pay the heating bills in the winter their view will be slightly different.
No, that'll be the fault of the evil EU, Putin, the war in Ukraine...
It would have been worse under Corbyn/Starmer...
It's the fault of the lefty green socialist scum for trying to force expensive renewables on everyone...
Johnson is a cult, like Brexit. Any realities of Brexit must be blamed on literally anything other than Brexit.
This all seems good stuff, but whilst the Tories are imploding what are the opposition parties doing? We don't seem to be hearing anything from them other than more fuel for the Tory fire. If this all goes badly for Tories and there is an election in a few months what will be the voting? No idea what any party is thinking or doing other than poking the current bear to see if he'll topple.
If this all goes badly for Tories and there is an election in a few months
Valid points about the opposition, but THERE WILL NOT BE AN EARLY ELECTION!
It's weird but people have been saying we'll have one, every time there's another Johnson scandal/crisis
There's no way Tories will jeopardize their 75 seat majority when there's another 2+ years of the parliament to run.
whilst the Tories are imploding what are the opposition parties doing?
Not giving away their best ideas and letting the papers rubbish the rest of the plans.
You only need to entice voters just before an election.
Only the desperate mail and express spinning bozo's disaster positively. The former warning of 'starmer's coalition of chaos' 🤣
Johnson is a cult, like Brexit
Autocorrect strikes again.
The former warning of ‘starmer’s coalition of chaos’
I for one am looking forward to “chaos with Ed Miliband”… the idea that the Tories bring either stability or good governance are long gone, except in the twisted lies told on the front pages of the Daily Mail.
I can't decide if the result is, on balance, good or bad. The one positive I can see at this point is my mother won't vote for a Tory party led by Johnson but she won't vote against them either.
I bet he'll have a leaving party anyway. He could easily star in a picture by Otto Dix or John Heartfield.
The danger here is that the "oh, they're all the same" story sticks.
I have a hunch that he is not as damaged as being portrayed. I think a lot of those voting against him did it either because they were afraid they would lose their seat, or since it was anonymous it was worth a punt.
Now it is out the way. In the absence of anyone offering a clear alternative, I can't see many of them doing anything other than toeing the party line.
The by-elections might change things a bit as will polling. However as Keir Starmer is not personally polling much better than Johnson, again the lack of opposition will help maintain the status quo.
I can’t decide if the result is, on balance, good or bad.
It doesn't really achieve anything. They should have either totally supported or got rid. they did neither. Both sides claim victory, Johnson stumbles on.
whilst the Tories are imploding what are the opposition parties doing?
Keeping clear of the self destruction - no need to put the boot in & give the Tory party an outside opponent.
no need to put the boot in or give the Tory party an outside opponent.
Wondering what PMQs will be like on Wednesday. A blustering bolshy Boris convinced that he's won, we should move on vs SKS trying to get him to accept blame and failing to do so...?
This will become another mantra to add to the "got Brexit done" and "beat Covid" lines trotted out verbatim. "landslide victory in VOC, the right PM doing the right things..."
The by-elections might change things a bit as will polling. However as Keir Starmer is not personally polling much better than Johnson, again the lack of opposition will help maintain the status quo.
By-elections are pretty crucial, everyone assumes they'll lose Wakefield, so I'd expect big push on leveling up & culture war guff to shore up that crumbling red wall.
Losing Tiverton to libdems will be a bigger challenge for Johnson
And starmer is no Blair but his approval is clearly higher than Johnson
https://twitter.com/hskensington/status/1533935433616437248?t=lH1E8XH7ezdtdo76jwpldA&s=19
It must surely be getting to the point now where a member of the number ten team coaxes Mad Nad into a pub, pours her a large Sauvignon Blanc, plonks the bottle down next to her then locks the doors?
With friends like those…
I think it was channel 4 news who rolled their end credits last night over film of Nad stood with a face like pissed thunder, furiously stabbing her quivering digits at her phone, no doubt issuing her latest rambling incoherent rant on Twitter 😂
The ruddy faced Tory MP they had defending johnson on Newsnight was brilliant
Mark Urban had no idea how to handle the nonsense he was spouting, oh for Maitlis!
https://twitter.com/johnestevens/status/1533936476173500416
And starmer is no Blair but his approval is clearly higher than Johnson
But it is more a case of who is less disliked and Boris Johnson's approval has been up and down like a yo-yo - in his mind he just need to fabricate the right crisis at the time to secure another term. I am a big fan of Starmer particularly his ability not to sink to the levels of Johnson despite what appears like missing open goals and that he has a level of integrity and decency. I hope that in the long term this is the right strategy. However, I get the feeling people generally want more personality/celebrity in their leaders these days.
It could be if him and Rayner get fined and resign someone like Jess Phillips might be a more appealing rival in these times. However, the nation also seem to have a deep seated desire to be led by someone who believes they are better than the plebs so that might not wash either.
more a case of who is less disliked
Johnson is dragging all of politics down with him though. What's even more depressing than Starmer also having a negative approval rating... is that despite that he's also the most popular politician in England. The "they're all just as bad" false equivelence line that is being pushed (because the public increasing see Johnson for what he is, he can't be washed clean now, so spreading the shit wider is their only defence of him they have left) is taking us somewhere very dangerous.
is that despite that he’s also the most popular politician in England.
Those polls should be taken with a pinch of salt, particularly for less well known politicians. As the popularity is based on the whole population even if people have not heard of them. For instance Jess Phillips, has a "fame" of 42%. That adds up to 18% that like her, 10% who dislike her and 14% that don't know. The popularity score of 18% is just taken as the percentage of the whole population that like her.
If instead you based popularity on those that know who she is. You would get 43% who like her 24% who dislike her i.e. a net favourability of +19%
That compares to -1% for Keir and -24% for Boris
Can we talk about Alex's sudden onset of the sniffles following the result announcement?
https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1533913763526676481
I spent the last 30 seconds of that video trying to see if I could see the size of his pupils properly.
Either that, or Mad Nad will be tweeting support for his allergies a bit later in the day.
If instead you based popularity on those that know who she is.
It doesn't work that way. At first, politicians are mostly known by people who have an interest in the workings of their party, often people who would vote for that party. As politicians get more widely known, that is often people will never support them getting to know who they are.
There aren’t many people I would struggle not to punch on sight. Boris and Donald Trump are in joint first place though.
Is he still here?
#BorisWatch
expect big push on leveling up & culture war guff
he's already started spaffing out soundbites, as of this morning:
The prime minister said the government would focus on "levelling up" to address regional inequality, as well as supporting people through the "aftershocks of Covid"
but, just so we don't forget that we shouldn't be criticising in any way, you know, like for instance expecting the PM to obey the bloody laws he only just enacted:
"we are able now to draw a line under the issues that our opponents want to talk about"
...such as the PM* being a complete lying incompetent delusional farkwad, utterly unfit for office, you mean?
*and, er, the entire cabinet
There aren’t many people I would struggle not to punch on sight. Boris and Donald Trump are in joint first place though.
Can we all agree on Jacob Rees Mogg in first place?
Nope, Farage. I strongly doubt there are many that would be able to resist landing a bat into that smug visage.
Milkshake isn’t it?
Why is Farage all over the news this morning? I mean, why are we getting his opinion? He's not a person of importance (is he?) or relevance to the issue. Might as well get the opinion of <insert name of some daft reality show contestant to show that I'm down with pop culture>.
The prime minister said the government would focus on “levelling up” to address regional inequality, as well as supporting people through the “aftershocks of Covid”
Funnily enough so did my supportive Tory MP, so he'll get both barrels on auto-reload about how his boss continues to be unsuitable for to high office.
Roll on the bye-elections.
Ok so revised list Farage, Rees Mogg, Boris and Donald Trump. Can’t separate them to be honest.
Gove, that's a face that's crying out to be smacked.
Michael Fabricant & Mark Francois both look like a good punch would do them the world of good.
Ok so revised list Farage, Rees Mogg, Boris and Donald Trump. Can’t separate them to be honest.
It’s like a Beatles tribute act…
🎵Talkin’ ‘bout a revolution, we-ll you know 🎵
Ok so revised list Farage, Rees Mogg, Boris and Donald Trump. Can’t separate them to be honest.
Oh if I saw Farage, I'd be running to the nearest fast food outlet for the biggest milkshake possible. And maybe a large Coke as well.
Whatever fine resulted from it would be worth it.
Can we not talk about punching politicians, please. Many face constant threats of physical assault, and not just the ones that you or I disagree with or dislike.
Milkshakes and eggs are protest. Punching, knifing or shooting are not.
I don't know. I can't help but think if people had just regularly kicked the shit out of members of the Bullingdon Club 30 years ago the country might not be quite so ****ed now.
The best time to kick the shit out of a bunch of sociopaths who abused the poor, the homeless, women, and basically anyone who wasn't them was 30 years ago. The second best time is now.
Well that seems a fairly accurate portrayal of who I’m fairly sure Boris Johnson still is, beneath the facade of just about pretending to care, which he doesn’t do very well.
beneath the facade of just about pretending to care, which he doesn’t do very well.
He cares a lot about announcing things and also opening things - especially if he can claim credit for the thing he's opening. Otherwise his record is pretty abysmal.
As London Mayor, he cancelled the Thames Gateway Bridge and the DLR extension although he did announce a lot of stuff about Garden Bridges and Boris Airport, both of which spaffed hundreds of thousand of pounds of taxpayer money up the wall with nothing to show for it.
As PM, he's cancelled almost all of Northern Powerhouse Rail, significant parts of HS2, moved back from planning reforms and onshore wind power.
He posted a lovely tweet about how wonderful Crossrail was as work had already started on that when he was Mayor so he managed to (falsely) claim some of the credit.
And that's before we get onto announcing 40 new hospitals and a new nuclear power station every years for a decade...
Can we not talk about punching politicians, please. Many face constant threats of physical assault, and not just the ones that you or I disagree with or dislike.
Milkshakes and eggs are protest. Punching, knifing or shooting are not.
Well said.
"Milkshakes and eggs are protest. Punching, knifing or shooting are not."
Milkshake and eggs thrown at any individual represent an assault - and those of us that have been on the receiving end of stuff thrown at us from passing cars would say the same.
Sometimes a brick through a window is needed to bring about change.
Can we talk about Alex’s sudden onset of the sniffles following the result announcement?
There are supposedly photos of Boris and the substance he's allergic to. My source was working at Tory HQ at the time.
Sometimes a brick through a window is needed to bring about change.
Can you all get on with this revolution then, rather than just posting on the Internet
There are supposedly photos of Boris and the substance he’s allergic to. My source was working at Tory HQ at the time.
Yep I’ve been wondering when they are going to surface,but tbh anything that good is probably worth more closer to election time.
he’s already started spaffing out soundbites, as of this morning
Everyone’s going on about partygate being the reason that Boris is polling so badly in the ‘Red Wall’ constituencies he won, but that’s just bollocks from the London based media.
It’s one element, sure
More pertinent is that we’ve been listening to talk of ‘Levelling Up’ and ‘Brexit Opportunities’ for 3 years now, while the only thing that has actually happened is scrapping northern powerhouse rail (and let’s face it, absolutely nobody believes HS2 will make it north of Birmingham) and being treated like an afterthought during covid
That’s why he’s polling so badly. We’re not stupid, no matter what they think in number ten. You can’t just carry on saying ‘Levelling Up’ while doing absolutely nothing.
You can’t splash the photo ops of you grinning like a chimp at a gleaming, new crossrail station while we’re all looking at our crumbling Victorian infrastructure and expect us not to notice
To add to that I’m pretty sure we’re now in for Austerity 2.0, a rerun of Austerity 1.0 which hugely disproportionately clobbered northern councils
But we have a "Minister for Levelling Up", and a "Minister for Brexit Opportunities"... what more do you want?!? A undeniably winning campaign team... that can't govern, and can't deliver anything for us outsiders other than slogans and platitudes.
You can’t just carry on saying ‘Levelling Up’ while doing absolutely nothing
objection!
he's saying 'levelling up' while doing a large line of toot
it's a skill, I tells ye
what more do you want?!
A Minister for The Northern Powerhousecuts
A Minister for Drawing A Line Under Things
A Minister for Unquestioningly Gazing Longingly Into DePfeffel's Eyes and Ignoring His Character Flaws
(and let’s face it, absolutely nobody believes HS2 will make it north of Birmingham)
Yep, Golborne Link (which was absolutely vital to the WCML connectivity and freight access) has been scrapped. It was "only" £3bn - OK, I know that £3bn is a lot of money but it's still a drop in the ocean in terms of large scale infrastructure and once again, classic shortsightedness and the British thing of half doing a project in the most half-arsed way possible.
Has anyone actually seen or heard from the “Minister for Levelling Up“ for the last 12 months?
And we all know that the Minister for Brexit Opportunities has given up looking for non-existent benefits and is now just wheeled out as Boris’s spokesperson from the 19th century, to defend whatever the indefensible thing he’s done today is
A Minister for Unquestioningly Gazing Longingly Into DePfeffel’s Eyes and Ignoring His Character Flaws
He has that already, just the title is different. Although quite what culture it stands for is concerning
Maybe she's just The Minister of Cult
without the "ure"
Has anyone actually seen or heard from the “Minister for Levelling Up“ for the last 12 months?
Biding his time for another leadership bid, I thought.
Austerity - is that Boris only planning on spending £30,000 this year on unnecessary designer stuff for the number 10 flat rather than his usual £100,000+?
But we have a “Minister for Levelling Up”, and a “Minister for Brexit Opportunities”… what more do you want?!?
I can't wait till those ministers have to account for their departments output to the Public Accounts Committee and National Audit Office, like all the others 😎
Account for their output?
That sort of thing is for the lower classes, I think you'll find.
Maybe she’s just The Minister of Cult
without the “ure”
Cult? You are.
.
Kwasi Kwartang has just interviewed on channel 4 news about what the Tory party now actually represents
He’s not a bright lad, is he?
To summarise:
1. I’m fundamentally opposed to windfall taxes on principle, but I support this one
2. The Brexit deal is indeed crap, but people said we couldn’t get a deal, so it’s better than nothing
3. The Tory party is a tax cutting party, but yes, we have just raised taxes
This is the business Secretary, ladies and gentlemen. He supported Boris last night obviously.
The Daily Mash always makes me smile:
https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/suck-it-britain-20220607221938
He’s not a bright lad, is he?
Perhaps Kwasi Kwartang was a King's Scholar at Eton and attended Harvard University on a Kennedy Scholarship because he helped to fulfill an ethnic quota?
Not sure how he got a PhD in economic history from Cambridge and was on the winning team of University Challenge though....... cheating maybe?
None of what you wrote implies intelligence just a knack for knowing the right answer in an exam/test situation.
EDIT A Phd is a qualification in the student's speciality. If that can't be passed it will be down to not knowing ones own subject.
It's why many school-leavers nowadays are in need of some remedial training when joining the work-forces all they are schooled in is passing exams.
^^ Einstein shouldn't even solve a simple mechanical problem the US Navy had with their torpedo detonators during WW 2...
The point being that even genius has its limitations/ blind spots and Kwasi Kwartang is no genius that's for sure. His support of Brexit shows as much.
Of course he’s smart… but he’s just defending the indefensible. Johnson is making everyone who feels they have to defend him look intellectually moribund. Repeat stupid and you soon sound stupid.
Brendon Clark-Smith, the Tory MP for Bassetlaw has just been asked about the total failure to deliver anything on ‘Levelling up’ and has just said - and I’m not joking, not making this up, he actually just said this - that Levelling up isn’t about funding, it’s about an attitude
Jesus wept!