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Also, there’s a lot of people far better placed than you or I to know, who believe he was nowhere near the required number.
Ah, I haven't heard that but fair enough if that is the case. I'm a little surprised though as although he is clearly a divisive figure among the PCP it is also clear that he still has significant support, including among some senior MPs and Tory ministers.
. I think him and his team have spent the day trying to round up the numbers and realised the games up. Rather than be found out tomorrow and humiliated he’s thrown his toys out now
I don't you'll find many people disagreeing with you here!
Is that two flushes or three now…
Wonder if Sunak will try and keep him onside for a bit? Maybe make BJ Foreign Secretary or something on the grounds that at least he might play Team Tory for a bit.
Or if he'll just disappear off on holiday again and spend his time pointing out how wonderful he'd have been as PM and what a shit job Sunak is making of it all...? BJ could be quite damaging from the sidelines, he's a spiteful little shit.
Minister of Brexit opportunities vacancy needs applicants.
Who's Sunak gonna make Chancellor?
he still has significant support, including among some senior MPs and Tory ministers.
Or they thought if he gets the 100 votes it’s the best way to keep/ get a job as I expect had it gone to the party member vote he’d have beaten Rishi.
I can’t see the ERG/ Britannia Unchained mob getting behind Rishi as they thought he went too far with furlough and putting taxes up
Who’s Sunak gonna make Chancellor?
I reckon he'll keep Hunt
Wonder if Sunak will try and keep him onside for a bit? Maybe make BJ Foreign Secretary or something on the grounds that at least he might play Team Tory for a bit
I can’t see the ERG/ Britannia Unchained mob getting behind Rishi as they thought he went too far with furlough and putting taxes up
Boris only got around 52 endorsements, the Tories have a majority of 60, hopefully Sunak will be able to tell Johnson and the right wing loonies to do one
So the ERG need to decide whether they are actually tories or they will need to destroy the party and let labour in ball is now in Steve (the hardman) Bakers court
Wonder if Sunak will try and keep him onside for a bit? Maybe make BJ Foreign Secretary or something on the grounds that at least he might play Team Tory for a bit.
May did that, didn't seem to do her any good TBH. The best way to handle Boris is to starve him of influence and publicity.
Stick him on the back benches, feed extra compromat to the standards committee, set the whips on him if he talks to the press or even vaguely steps out of line, basically make being an MP no fun for him so he ****s off and joins GB news or whatever...
So he had 102 nominations but has declined to stand?
Yeah, right.
Does anyone sentient actually believe that Shite?
Do you doubt his honesty?
"Stick him on the back benches, feed extra compromat to the standards committee, set the whips on him if he talks to the press or even vaguely steps out of line"
Do to Johnson what Starmer did to Corbyn.
can’t see the ERG/ Britannia Unchained mob getting behind Rishi as they thought he went too far with furlough and putting taxes up
This is what I don't understand, it's not the first time that I have seen sentiments along those lines, ie, he was pursuing his own policies when he was Chancellor.
When Kwasi Kwarteng was Chancellor, we are told, he was pursuing Liz Truss's economic policies, but when Rishi Sunak was Chancellor he wasn't pursuing Boris Johnson's policies.
Plenty of those on the hard-right of the Tory Party publicly threw their weight behind Sunak, off the top of my head Suella Braverman, Steve Baker, and Kemi Badenoch.
The idea that Sunak is on the left of the Tory Party is frankly bizarre. He doesn't want to increase taxation to pump money into public services, like Thatcher he wants increase taxation and slash public services.
"We inherited a bunch of formulas from Labour that shoved all the funding into deprived urban areas and that needed to be undone. I started the work of undoing that.” - Rishi Sunak
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/margaret-thatcher-conservative-taxes-budget_n_3037728
....revolutionized the UK economy through free-market policies that included cuts to the British welfare state.......she was willing to raise taxes to achieve that goal.
Rishi will cut services not taxes, he will raise pensions and benefits but cap/cut with a vengeance to demonstrate fiscal responsibility.
Personal allowances and tax bands will be frozen, next year when inflation drops all public sector salaries will be frozen along with benefits (not pensions)
He will enable stealth tax (VAT maybe excise duty) he will boil the economic Frog.
Yep, I don't see Rishi Rich being much of a saviour for us(well you) and we've a winter to go thru 🙁
BJ would be insane to set into the ring now,None of them have any thing to offer its just the timing of the bad luck.
Another lucky player in game of PM gets to sit on the throne.
Furloughs an odd one, no way would any of them really want do it, but there would have been no economy left if they hadn't bailed it and I reckon it would have got nasty, he was just the man in the frame who had to front it regardless of his opinion.
So he had 102 nominations but has declined to stand?
indeed, “I’ve a winning lottery ticket, but I’ve ripped it up, as now is not the time to win millions” said no one ever, especially Johnson.
Do you doubt his honesty?
I properly laughed at that.
Its a poisoned chalice thou especially after TrussOnomics made it even a bigger mess, he may as well sit it out, its not like he would bring anything new to the table and there is still 2 more years to go on this ride.
It's just too early for BJ to ride in and save us from reality, letting them make it worse and have to deal with the truss mess suits his agenda and giving people longer to forget his sins and accept him back with rose tinted memories.
some interesting and damning analysis on bbc breakfast (some guy from marlborough I didn't catch his name) basically saying that's it it's over for Johnson now, even if Sunak?Mordant lose the next election He's not going to do the hard yards of opposition for 5-10 years.
Will Walden Johnsons former communications director.
It's hilarious to see Johnson bail out in a flood of lies, spin & incompetence- his signature style!
https://twitter.com/sgfmann/status/1584297130457382913?t=Zx6RCzwQsezo3noeVGjARw&s=19
Boris pulling out?
Must be the first time in his life #babies
Out of 357 Tory MPs only 180 have so far publicly declared which candidate they are backing in the leadership contest. I find it astonishing that only half Tory MPs have been open about who they are backing.
Quite why a professional politician who expects members of the public to back their political stances should be so secretive about an important political stance I don't know.
IMO no politician should be protected by the principal of secret ballots. They should always be held accountable for the way they vote.
With only 5 hours left to go I am of course assuming that considerably more than half have decided how they are voting.
Well, there is always time for the big hitters to play for a deal, make a bargain...
those 102 backers in full:
Grant Shapps presumably counts as 4 different backers depending on which of his pseudonymns he uses?
Quite why a professional politician who expects members of the public to back their political stances should be so secretive about an important political stance I don’t know.
There are many Boris fanatics in the grass roots of the party. I know two people who have written to their MP saying "If you don't back Boris, you lose my vote". Perhaps some MPs are waiting so that that doesn't become an issue.
People like Fabricant and Dorries who are fanatical Johnson supporters saying it mustn’t be a ‘coronation’ of Sunak or he would have no mandate. Yet if it does come to that it’s Johnson’s fault as he pulled out having reached the threshold* so it was him who deprived their limited electorate a vote not Sunak.
He could have provided the membership with a contest, but the indicative vote would likely have made him look like a loser with the MP’s even if he won the membership.
*Or not. Which is actually most likely
https://twitter.com/Pandamoanimum/status/1584479418981851136?t=o7RuETcIp3_-NhsQCdvhyQ&s=19
Afternoon amusement.
I did like the joke under the skips thread on Instagram.
What's the difference between Boris Johnson and a skip?
One is full of shit, the other one is a skip.
Boris pulling out?
Must be the first time in his life #babies
🤣🤣🤣
Aye, it was fake headlines all along.
How can you pull out when there was never any (Official Declaration) pushing in ..
That fly tipped sofa of a human had a harder neck than a Churchill statue.
It beggars belief that (some)people still think there is a government position he could do competently.
A failure at almost everything he does ,a skip at Westminster will always be more useful .
It beggars belief that (some)people still think there is a government position he could do competently.
Food taster and/or double for any government minister when assassination attempts are expected.
Okay I suspect he would mess up both but its worth a go.
So according to the Chairman of the 1922 Committee, Graham Brady, Johnson did receive the one hundred required nominations:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63503932
I suspect that Johnson's reason for pulling out was either because he never really wanted to lead the Tories again right now so early, and the certainty of failure at the next general election.
Or he realised that even if he got the backing of the membership there was now too much significant hostility within the Parliamentary Conservative Party to allow his premiership operate smoothly.
Or a combination of both.
The important thing for Johnson though is that the "will he won't he" put him in the limelight, gave him massive media coverage, and had everyone talking about him, so probably a very worthwhile exercise as far as he is concerned.
Grifters gonna grift,job done.
Do you trust Brady?
Do you trust Brady?
About as far as I could throw him
Creating a false narrative for his next runat it, like his American Idol
Well there is always the possibility that anyone is lying, including Graham Brady. And it certainly provides an explanation if you would prefer not to believe what you are being told.
However up to this point most people have not questioned the honesty and integrity of Graham Brady's remarks. Furthermore it would raise the question of motivation - only a few weeks ago Brady met Johnson in an attempt to convince him to resign, why would he now lie to back his latest attempt for a comeback?
And Brady would also be lying to the wider Tory Party, including Johnson's enemies, why would he do that?
Presumably Graham Brady has been chosen by the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs because they feel that they can trust him to honestly represent their views - that is his job. I can't see why their trust would necessarily be misplaced, or why he should be just another one of Johnson's stooges.
Motivation? Brady still thinks he could be leader one day. Of course he’d be happy to lie to the wider party. The members are still wedded to their 2019 “winner”, whispering sweet nothings in their ears could possibly earn you some future support. Johnson’s own “102” was promises, not letters… I don’t believe for a second that 1922 had over 100 letters backing Johnson. Has Brady even said that? Or just given vague assurances that Johnson “had the required support”? No one else will be looking in that box… he can claim what he wants, but doubt he’d bother with such a clear lie when a more vague one is available.
I don’t believe for a second that 1922 had over 100 letters backing Johnson
Not for a second? Your knowledge of Tory MPs and their preferences is so intimate that not for a second would you imagine that as many as a hundred could back Johnson?
I have no idea what nominations letters the Chairman of the 1922 Committee received but I am fairly certain of two things.
Firstly that Johnson enjoys significant support within the Tory Party (I have no idea why anyone would dismiss that as unthinkable)
And secondly that Tory backbench MPs trust the Chairman of the 1922 Committee to honestly handle their letters of no confidence in the party leader and any subsequent leadership contest.
He, and he alone, knows how many letters of no confidence he receives, he is known for keeping it a closely guarded secret, which presumably gives him the possibility of rigging any leadership process.
And so on that basis I am not really in a position to accuse him of lying. Although obviously if it suits your narrative accept everything he says except the bits which you would rather weren't true.
Brady is like the Ayatollah of the Conservative party. Deciding who gets to run for PM and setting the conditions by constantly moving the goalposts of our democracy.
Deciding who gets to run for PM and setting the conditions by constantly moving the goalposts of our democracy.
No he doesn't. He gets to change how the leader of the Tory Party is chosen, not the goalposts of our democracy. As far as I am aware at least the last 5 Labour Party leadership contests have been carried out under different rules. Usually it is the Labour Party leader who gets to decide the new rules. I don't consider that to be moving the goalposts of our democracy.
Edit: In the case of the Labour Party it is invariably new and creative rules to stop the Left gaining the party leadership. Although in the case of Ed Miliband and his incredibly brilliant idea, fully backed by Tony Blair, of giving a vote to "Labour supporters" it backfired spectacularly.
Lighten up ernie.
Although obviously if it suits your narrative accept everything he says except the bits which you would rather weren’t true.
I’ve never trusted Brady. Or how the 1922 committee operates.
I like this outcome, means Johnson had the number of backers but has actually realised he's no longer wanted or the best solution for the party. Most have been quite a blow for his ego. Also be interesting to know if he was leaned on by people like Brady to withdraw. It's still not a good outcome for Johnson.
Can't really see what gain Brady makes by announcing it if it isn't true.
Lighten up ernie.
I generally find the political threads quite amusing, so really not a problem.
Today I learnt that Boris Johnson is so unpopular among Tories that not for a second could he have found a hundred Tory MPs to back him.
After all Tory MPs are renowned for being so wise and sensible, so why would they do anything that daft?
Do you have 102 MPs in mind, or just happy to take the word of Johnson and Brady? Honest guys. Perhaps the way our PM is chosen by their MPs should involve less secrecy.
And it certainly provides an explanation if you would prefer not to believe what you are being told.
Given Johnson's history of being a relative stranger to truth, it's not exactly surprising that folks doubted that he had the numbers. It's probably a better tactic for folks at the fag-end of a particularly chaotic parliament to assume that anything they're being told by by Tories right now is either 1. an outright straight lie, 2. positioning by various members of the Tories for leadership bids when they get hammered at the next election, or 3. statements to undermine their "colleagues" and once those possibilities are exhausted 4. something approaching truth.
Rats, fighting, sack, in a, like - rearrange to form a well know phrase or saying
Do you have 102 MPs in mind, or just happy to take the word of Johnson and Brady?
Just a combination of my awareness that Johnson is fairly popular among Tories and that the man entrusted by Tory backbenchers to deal with leadership issues is unlikely to lie unnecessarily to them.
I personally didn't feel that Johnson stood any realistic chance of regaining the Tory leadership so incredibly soon after losing it. But I am not really in a position to accuse the Chairman of the 1922 Committee of lying to everyone including members of his own party.
I consider it unlikely.
Yep, I think now that Brady has mentioned it we can forget any illusions that BJ was a no-hoper.
But it’s waay to early for him to come saving us, let Rishi do the dirty work and come back at a later date to save the day.
(Assumimg he escapes his current predicament)
Lighten up ernie.
Oh, sweet summer child, are you new here?
MCTD - arf arf...
arf arf…
Agreed, there is something highly amusing, and it has to be said rather satisfying, when people have to resort to ad hominem attacks because they lack the ability to do otherwise.
The BBC, the Independent, and the Guardian, all report the claim made by Sir Graham Brady that Johnson received sufficient nominations to go forward in a runoff against Rishi Sunak. None appear to suggest that Brady might be lying.
However STW's very own political analysts, using their huge personal knowledge of internal machinations of the Tory Party, and no doubt their connections, have decided that this is quite impossible because Johnson enjoys so little support within the Tory Party! LOL! 🤣 arf arf etc
The BBC, the Independent, and the Guardian, all report the claim made by Sir Graham Brady that Johnson received sufficient nominations to go forward in a runoff against Rishi Sunak. None appear to suggest that Brady might be lying.
How would they know either way?
And quoting politicians without fact checking them is entirely normal. Sadly.
And did he actually say he had 102+ written nominations, or is that an interpretation of what he said?
Can't find the story on BBC or Guardian websites.
This popped up for King Grifter though...
Can’t really see what gain Brady makes by announcing it if it isn’t true.
Could be a play to show Johnson that Brady can set the narrative in the press when he wants to, could be knocking Johnson down a peg or two after his publicity stunt.
How would they know either way?
Well political reporters/news providers have a fair idea of what represents reliable sources within the Tory Party. They will also have a fair idea how credible Brady's comments are.
I have never previously heard it suggested that Brady's comments with regards to the Tory Party's backbench veiws, confidence in the leader, etc, was unreliable.
I am not in a position to confirm or deny Brady's comments, and I don't think anyone on this thread is. But I do know that in the past Brady's comments concerning Tory leadership issues has been considered credible.
I also know that Johnson has considerable support within the PCP probably second only to Sunak. Although crucially possibly not enough to to fill all the ministerial positions. As well as strong support within the PCP Johnson he also faces strong opposition.
All of which imo is more likely to have been the cause of his withdrawal from the contest than insufficient nominations.
Well political reporters/news providers have a fair idea of what represents reliable sources within the Tory Party.
They do indeed. Now point me to a single one of them who said that they thought he had 102+ MPs send a letter in for him. Most said it was between 50 and 80.
I am not in a position to confirm or deny Brady’s comments, and I don’t think anyone on this thread is.
Thank you.
I think the speed of Truss's downfall was just so unexpectedly rapid that it didn't really give Johnson the time to get over the current investigation and allow enough time for the public to forget his sins.
I'd wait till the spring to start gauging the possibility of a BJ return.
I just don't think an unelected Oligarch telling people how they have to cut costs is going to work for them after a grim winter, but the clown offering up more positive dreams may(it worked before).
Rushi also got a ticket for partying and the missus did manage to avoid 20m of tax before they got caught out.
Most said it was between 50 and 80.
Every political reporter/news provider who has commented on the issue has said that they didn't know. And why would they?
IIRC only half of Tory MPs publicly revealed who they nominated for in the leadership process.
If as you claim as many as 50-80 publicly claimed to have nominated Johnson then it is perfectly feasible that another couple of dozen did so without publicly declaring.
I don't know how many nominations Johnson received, and nor do I care. But I do know that he is popular with many Tory MPs and I also know that the Chairman of the 1922 is unlikely to have any motivation for lying about the issue.
It certainly wouldn't help Party unity for Sir Graham Brady to lie, it could be challenged by Sunak/Mordaunt supporters, so if for no other reason I think it is unlikely.
And why would they?
You just claimed that they would have a "fair idea". Whatever.
If as you claim as many as 50-80 publicly claimed to have nominated Johnson then it is perfectly feasible that another couple of dozen did so without publicly declaring.
I didn't claim that. About 60 publicly claimed to have nominated him, IIRC. High figure of 80 letters came from journalists getting the nod that more might back him on the quiet. Low figure of 50 came from some who thought even some of his public backers weren't prepared to put a letter in for him.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63343308
Boris Johnson - Before he pulled out, 58 MPs pledged their support
They published a list.
Yeah half of Tory MPs didn't publicly declare who they nominated so another 42 could have easily also nominated Johnson.
This is what I posted on this thread a week ago;
ernielynch Free Member
Out of 357 Tory MPs only 180 have so far publicly declared which candidate they are backing in the leadership contest. I find it astonishing that only half Tory MPs have been open about who they are backing.Quite why a professional politician who expects members of the public to back their political stances should be so secretive about an important political stance I don’t know.
IMO no politician should be protected by the principal of secret ballots. They should always be held accountable for the way they vote.
With only 5 hours left to go I am of course assuming that considerably more than half have decided how they are voting.
Posted 1 week ago
I thought that today's comment by the Chairman of the 1922 Committee that Johnson had in fact secured sufficient nominations for a runoff against Rishi Sunak might make an interesting update to this Boris Johnson thread.
I thought that it might shed new light on why Johnson might have pulled out of the leadership contest, if it wasn't because of lack of nominations.
Could it perhaps be because he didn't feel that now was a good time to lead the party when losing the next general election is all but certain?
Or could it be that despite having support from the party membership Johnson felt that there might be insufficient PCP support to fill all the ministerial positions and he would struggle to form a government?
What I didn't expect was that just mentioning Graham Brady's comment would ruffle quite so many feathers and result in unsubstantiated claims that Graham Brady must be lying, and then get dragged over a couple of pages, with a few ad hominem attacks against me thrown in for good measure 🙂
And no I'm not new around here so yes I should have fully expected a reaction if challenging what is obviously STW's predetermined idea of the truth 😉
if it wasn’t because of lack of nominations
I still think it was. My opinion. I have no reason to believe that he knew for sure he had 102+ letters, and nothing said today changes that, for me. Brady didn't say out right how many letters were submitted for Johnson. Even if he ever does, it can't be corroborated if MPs wouldn't own up to it in public. He can say what he wants, I still think that Johnson pulled out because he couldn't be sure he'd get enough letters submitted for him. He withdrew to try and save face. His reasons for withdrawing just another lie.
Just keeping this ‘VIP fast lane’ scandal fresh as it happened on Johnson’s watch and he was always a cheerleader for sticking up for his mates.
Mone contacted Agnew by private email on 8 May 2020, copying in Gove. She offered to supply large quantities of PPE face masks, the Guardian revealed, saying they could be sourced through “my team in Hong Kong”.
Agnew passed the offer to civil servants handling “priority” offers from politically connected people. PPE Medpro, the company, was not even incorporated until four days later, on 12 May 2020, but by the end of June, the government had contracted to pay it £203m of public money.
Another tenner for the Good Law Project.
👆
This scandal needs its own thread! It's unbelievable
https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/23/the-yacht-the-wedding-and-29m-michelle-mones-life-during-the-covid-crisis
The latest batch of documents reviewed by the Guardian state that in October 2020, Barrowman transferred £29m originating from PPE Medpro profits to a trust set up on the Isle of Man. Records indicate the trust was set up to benefit Mone and her three children, and that its bank account was opened the same month that she recommended PPE Medpro to Tory ministers.
I also find it staggering in general that companies received money for supplying nothing, after their PPE was found to be of substandard quality.
The numbers involved in that article are mind blowing.
As well as the insane levels of corruption and entitlement all this feeds in to the covid denying/ antivax nuts who see it as confirming their conspiracies
dantsw13
Free MemberThe numbers involved in that article are mind blowing.
They are indeed. Cleaners regularly go to jail for pocketing amounts in the hundreds/thousands. Let's see what happens here.
Call me cynical but my expectation is she gets to keep the £29m, doesn't go to jail and keeps her peerage.
It shouldn't be down to Private Eye/The Guardian/The Good Law Project to expose this stuff, but well done to them for doing so.
Sorry for the twitter vid...
Kay… show us how to interview a slippery eel…
https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1595705704576229376?s=20&t=BLIDYInYzlhf3FuDGI0eOw
The numbers involved in that article are mind blowing.
Tip of the iceberg.
she missed a trick there, he says if anyone had contacted him "to go through the proper channels" so why didn't he reply to Mone in the same way ? His involvement as a minister is highly suspect.
His involvement as a minister is highly suspect.
The proper (for a lose definition of proper but the one he would be using) channels did include the "vip lane" which I assume she went into as along with Hancocks pub landlord and so on.
Cant find the source right now (think it may have been private eye) but the failure rate of the procurement via that approach was far higher than those via the normal channels.
Its almost like letting a bunch of cronies do deals for ppe vs dealing with companies whom have been selling it to the nhs for years wasnt the best plan.
I see Mone has just made a post on Twitter, the first for some time. Guessing it's in reference to the latest revelations.
A Tory spiv basically.
What a corrupt little country we now inhabit.
https://twitter.com/MichelleMone/status/1595734300749697026?s=20&t=_9mXdv79QF3EojFSeKoG1A
TBH other than the squirming there I don't think Gove's done anything wrong, if it's as he claims? "Making the introduction" isn't really a thing if he was contacted and then passed it on to the people who make the decisions, without making recommendations or whatever. It's not dodging the issue to say "yeah someone contacted me so I passed it on".
multi21
Free MemberI also find it staggering in general that companies received money for supplying nothing, after their PPE was found to be of substandard quality.
Yup, this bears repeating. It's not just the money- I mean, the money is a big deal. But this killed people. We had doctors and nurses and carers on the front line with inadequate ppe. Same as track and trace- the money is a smaller issue than the absolute betrayal