easy job, but Starmers first question neatly filleted blohard
This is wonderful viewing. So much for the hallowed Oxford Union training 😃
The sad fact is Johnson isn’t the worst option here, not by a long way
The problem with threads like this one is that the constant focus on demonising Johnson loses sight of this very fact.
One example of this is the accusations that Johnson is a racist, well he's a Tory what would you expect?
There isn't however any evidence that Johnson is particularly racist, in fact the complete opposite.
It all seems to be based on his use of the words pickaninny and watermelon smiles (none of which is particularly racist) some 20 odd years ago when he had to write entertaining waffle for spectator readers who enjoyed his pompous eccentric style.
Contrast that with David Cameron who made outrageous racist comments whilst he was actually Prime Minister. Examples include
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33945402
The idea that migrants are "breaking in" suggests that they thieves, criminals, that probably deserve to be locked up.
Another example of inflammatory language from Cameron as Prime Minister
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33716501
Describing migrants as a "swarm" is comparing them as insects, pests, which need to be dealt with.
Another example of Prime Minister Cameron.
Dismissing refugees "a bunch of migrants" is designed to dismiss them as worthless.
And yet despite all that, and the fact that Johnson has had a remarkable amount of black and asians in his Cabinet, more than any other UK PM ever, and the fact that he has never as PM used inflammatory language even approaching that of Cameron, Johnson is vilified in a way that other more deserving Tory politicians haven't been.
Gove & Truss both to busy to attemd PMQs
Gove & Truss both [s] to busy [/s] to attemd PMQs
Too clever. And that's not something I say lightly about Truss.
Edit, actually no Gove particularly is quite possibly too busy preparing his bid for the leadership to risk getting covered in the poo which will undoubtedly be flying about there today.
Gove & Truss both to busy to attemd PMQs
Watching the front bench, Zahawi and Dorries are precisely the nodding dogs that Starmer said. But Raab to the right of BoJo looks completely nauseated.
Gove & Truss both to busy to attemd PMQs
Got knives to sharpen.
Had to turn off pmq's after 5mins - Boris is doing my nut in...
But Raab to the right of BoJo looks completely nauseated
Dead man walking - no way he keeps his seat at the next GE now
How noisy are the govt benches?
‘A Z list of nodding dogs’ was a good line from Starmer
Johnson’s rejection of reality is now total. The only question is how long he can carry on in his little fantasy world
Johnson’s rejection of reality is now total. The only question is how long he can carry on in his little fantasy world
You could easily have said this at any time in the last 2 and a bit years, yet here we are.
A [not so] great man once called him Britain Trump and its turning out to be quite prophetic, even once he's pushed it'll be
I want to provide an update on our ongoing efforts to expose the tremendous voter fraud and irregularities which took place during the ... Conservative leadership election in July
The other problem is there are plenty who will believe its some sort of remoaner coup unless we get someone a bit more brexity than Boris. Maybe one of the ones who actually believes in the project rather than just believing its their ticket to greater things.
The only question is how long he can carry on in his little fantasy world
There are levels of fantasy world at play.
There's the one where Johnson in his own head thinks he can turn this around and be a latter day Churchill.
Ranging through to...
The one where Britain still has an empire, can sail a gunboat up a river to gain concessions and is seen as a heavyweight on the global stage.
All need to be addressed before we can get out of this rut.
Saj sticking the knife in and giving it a twist
Is May doing a passable impression of Gru by the way?
Yes, quite a damning statement from Javid
Javid putting shit on the Cabinet too!! 🥊
I've seen some bad PMQs but I've never seen anything like that. Conservative benches looking on in disbelief. He'll be doing well if he makes it until the end of the day.
Saj sticking the knife in and giving it a twist
That was Javid setting out his stall for his leadership campaign. "We need to come together as a nation", bring unity from both sides of the house etc, start again. He didn't do too badly IMHO, but it was pretty obvious and cynical.
I wonder why he wanted / was permitted a speech when Sunak said nothing.
Javid putting shit on the Cabinet too!! 🥊
That was good though.
Saj sticking the knife in and giving it a twist
That was Javid setting out his stall for his leadership campaign. “We need to come together as a nation”, bring unity from both sides of the house etc, start again. He didn’t do too badly IMHO, but it was pretty obvious and cynical.
Only reading the highlights on the BBC but I can't disagree that wasn't a resignation speech, it was a stall setting,
Javid putting shit on the Cabinet too!! 🥊
That was good though.
"a team is only as good as its captain captain is only as good as his team"
Sounds to me more like "trust in me and be saved, I will rehabilitate you" or "you can all keep your jobs if you ditch him and support me" rather than sticking the knife in.
A little like with Trump, I see Johnson's current situation as a consequence as much as he is the cause. He is a failed human being. A deeply unpleasant person. A proven liar with a poor work ethic and a wonky moral compass. But he still hangs on. And he can do that because there are enough sycophants, career politicians looking out for themselves and plain nasty or stupid individuals who can still stomach standing by him. He is just the fluffer; they are the true scum that the tory party is built upon. If this was happening on a battlefield, they would be the ones you'd run through, leaving Johnson as a toothless inept fool staggering around without consequence.
Gawd help us, but we are lumbered with tory governance for the next...forever.....whilst we have who we have doing the voting. The best we can possibly hope for is a tory with some vestige of a conscience getting the job; and whoever they are having a little black book right now with all the Johnson hangers on written in ready to ensure they never get a sniff of a government job ever again. If it's someone who is yet to resign - well, we are truly ****ed.
Nice drive-by shooting by Saj.
This is going to get really interesting now. Apart from the thicko’s in the cabinet, who as Jess Phillips pointed out ‘have dipped their hands in his blood’, it looks like everyone wants him gone. 18 resignations so far?
But I don’t doubt he meant it when he says he is determined to carry on. He’ll be digging in, for sure
So, what now?
That NI minister, Conor Burns, on BBC politics program is a bit sociopathic. Gone from "calm down" to jaw clenching finger pointer in fractions of a second. But glad to know he's guilty of loyalty to his friend. Put his name on the list for an office in the basement.
1922 committee will give him a choice, resign now or wait until we change the rules and boot you out.
Will be interesting to see which he would choose but I think he might hold on, not that there is much he will be able to do until he gets booted.
So, what now?
Biscuits, now we eat biscuits and wait.
TINAS, don't forget putting the kettle on. If I am going to watch this shitshow unraveling with biscuits, I want a cuppa as well as biscuits.
Johnson has had a remarkable amount of black and asians in his Cabinet
I had noticed that there several women and brown people being talked about for the top job and their gender or race haven't been mentioned, that I can see. Also that whilst we are queueing up to excoriate them, it's for actual personality traits and the thing's they've done, rather than -ist stereotyping. At least, not that I've seen.
"The job of a prime minister in difficult circumstances, when he's been handed a colossal mandate, is to keep going - and that's what I'm going to do."
I don't give resignation very high odds.
A gangplank and a lot of pushing, now that I can bet on.
How long til he dissolves parliament and declares Martial Law?
I'm going for 4 o clock
World class simpleton Greg Hands has just been on Radio 4 defending Boris. I do find it quaintly charming that these idiots think that this loyalty would be a two-way street and he wouldn't cast them aside like a mistress with a positive pregnancy test
Careful what we all wish for. Let the words "Acting Prime Minister Raab" sink in.
I do find it quaintly charming that these idiots think that this loyalty would be a two-way street and he wouldn’t cast them aside like a mistress with a positive pregnancy test
They don't especially, they're just not stupid enough to think the next folks will even want their blind loyalty. If he goes, they're done for, if he stays there a slim chance (getting less slim as he runs out of folks who want his favor mind) they might be rewarded.
Careful what we all wish for. Let the words “Acting Prime Minister Raab” sink in.
Is fine, it's nearly summer recess and we're all well aware Rabb isn't cancelling his holiday to go to work.
A pretty good assessment of the state of things by Martin Kettle in the Guardian
This mutiny should be the end of Johnson. But never underestimate his sheer lust for power
His former lieutenant turned would-be assassin, Dominic Cummings, retailed a devastating Johnson remark this week which, if true, sums the whole thing up. Suggesting that he should appoint himself as his own Downing Street chief of staff and spokesman in November 2020, Johnson reportedly told Cummings: “Yes I’ll **** up all sorts, but so what? If I can’t do what I want, what’s the point of being prime minister?”
I once took an 80 seat majority, and pissed it up the wall in less than 3 years.
(stolen from twitter, but for some reason the link would work)
Scary thought: the honourable member for the 18th century has been keeping his nose out of the media recently.
Clear enough to mount a leadership bid or just trying to stay out of the fallout?
Mogg is just staying clear. No way he is a candidate for leader unless they're trying to lose.
He was on the BBC yesterday saying he supported the pm. Did a big piece on sky news too.
Boris holed up in number 10 right now
Do you think someone will supply the handgun as well
It all seems to be based on his use of the words pickaninny and watermelon smiles (none of which is particularly racist)
Try using that language in a pub in, for example, Moss side. I suspect that, at a minimum, there will be a liquid diet required for several weeks if one survives the experience.
Presumably theres been a run on commons headed notepaper so theyre having to do them 5 at a time
https://twitter.com/DominicPenna/status/1544673877393129473
“why did we leave in the first place?”
So that Boris Johnson could claim the title of Prime Minister. It was debate he felt he could win, and use to get himself the big title. Past the point of winning, he had absolutely nothing to offer the country once in the post beyond making sure we left. Absolutely nothing. He had no plan at all. He never did.
So who do we think then?
Truss
Javid with sunak back at number 11
Dorries entirely by accident?
Gove
Patel I can see trying for it but being too much even for the Conservative party.
