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^^ I agree with that. I know Starmer is excellent at cross examination (obviously) and it was beautiful to watch Johnson losing his s*** yesterday.
To see Starmer showing a hint of a lighter side was something of a revelation.
Johnson was desperate to claim he didn't hate John Lewis today
I wonder if Starmer is as much trying to get under Johnsons skin
Johnson property lost it at PMQs when starmer (& Blackford) did it yesterday
Johnson is still safe, big majority, vaccine rollout- means he'll be fine on Thursday & beyond
But the sleaze sticks and he's rattled too, a lot of parallels with how Trump eventually fell from grace, that took 4 years too
Johnson is still safe,
My second political post 🙂
Who says he's safe? I'm bloody livid at watching this blatant (apparent) lying and I've never given two shits before about party politics.
And I'll doubly care if it turns out the PM said "let bodies pile high".
Which probably explains why Johnson has toned down his act since coming off the back benches.
Eh? in what way has he toned it down? If anything, he’s dialled it up to eleven
He can’t help himself. It’s his default position. With glib, flippant comments like ‘Operation Last Gasp’ he picked the most inappropriate moment imaginable to play it for laughs, when he’s actually talking about the deaths of tens of thousands of people. It takes insensitivity to a grotesque new level. How many press conferences has he done with that stupid inane grin fixed on his fat, smug face?
Toned it down? He can’t even play it straight in the middle of a global pandemic.
He's a sociopath, pure and simple
He’s a sociopath, pure and simple
That's just Hear'Say.
a lot of parallels with how Trump eventually fell from grace, that took 4 years too
Trump never fell from grace, he just lost the 2020 presidential election.
Almost half of American voters, 47%, voted for Trump in 2020. His total vote actually increased, to the second highest ever in US history. He still has a huge personal hold over the Republican Party. And he stands a half reasonable chance of winning the 2024 US presidential election.
I would much rather a far more definitive end to Johnson's political career.
I wonder if SKS has two bites at this. Preferred option is that Cummings nails him at the hearing - very possible out of spite, with the benefit it embarrasses all those that stood behind him after his Durham trip. And if he doesn't for whatever reason....then produce your evidence. Meanwhile wait while the lies stack up and his ministers contort and embarrass themselves further.
I wonder if Starmer is as much trying to get under Johnsons skin
Johnson property lost it at PMQs when starmer (& Blackford) did it yesterday
I know Starmer is excellent at cross examination (obviously) and it was beautiful to watch Johnson losing his s*** yesterday.
To see Starmer showing a hint of a lighter side was something of a revelation.
Starmer is just poking Johnson a bit between PMQ sessions, riling him up as much as he can without going overboard so that next Wednesday he only has to ask one to-the-point question and he'll explode again. Do this for a few weeks and suddenly the news is full of stories of Boris losing control etc and Starmer will be seen as the calm one. Starmer knows he can't knock Boris down quickly so is using the current furore to land blow after blow after blow, the cumulative effect of those should do enough damage to be much more effective than one well-placed punch that will be quickly forgotten or buried by some other news story.
I have no doubt that Starmers trolling of Johnson with his hilarious browsing of John Lewis wallpapers today will go down extremely well with most people who already deeply hate Boris Johnson.
However I am less convinced of its effect on the undecided. I suspect that he might have simply cancelled all that he had achieved the day before during PMQ.
Many will simply see it as an infantile prank. Which to be fair, is exactly what it was.
If the reaction of my parents is anything to go by (long-time Tory voters, voted for Brexit, Daily Mail readers) Starmer got it bang-on, they both laughed at it and are openly saying Boris is in trouble over all of this. That would have been unheard of least week!
Back from the pub. My Tory voting mate said… “how does he sleep at night?!?” Mercer’s comments about all the lying in office cut through with him. Yes, many people voted for Johnson knowing he has lied to get where he is. That he is unable to tell the truth to even his political allies, or about his money, now he is the PM, is casting a different light. I’m now less sure about the “his voters know he was a liar, so none of this will lose him support” view I’ve had up to now. Some expect him to show more integrity now that he is PM, rather than campaigning and manipulating things to become PM. Election campaigns and holding high office elicit different expectations of probity, for some at least.
Johnson's humour , sorry 'humour' is perceived as a strength when it's actually non existent. It's a more boorish version of Jeremy Clarkson if that's possible, unnecessarily florid and arcane language as a substitute for wit
He says things like 'lets form a square around the Prittster', I've met people who talk like that in my life and you run a mile. can you imagine how annoying it'd be just to be in his company for a minute? He probably used to burn fifty pound notes in front of the homeless for lolz when he was at eton
Starmers stunt today was miles funnier than anything Johnson's ever done. Good quality **** taking
Sky News: Boris Johnson's flat: PM brushes off refurb questions - as poll says Tories' lead increases.
https://news.sky.com/story/nothing-to-see-pm-brushes-off-flat-refurb-questions-as-poll-says-tories-lead-increases-12290082
"Despite a week in which the PM's activities have been closely scrutinised, a YouGov poll on Westminster voting intention carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday - well into the row over who paid for what - put the Conservatives on 44%, unchanged from a week earlier. Labour was down a point on 33%."
I'm not sure results from a polling company set up and owned by budding/current Conservative MPs and published on Sky News can be trusted but the numbers are staggering if they're even 1/2 way correct. Who ARE these 44%?
Hahahahahahahaaaaaa!!😂
Boris Johnson's personal phone number found to be available online
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56937889
Who ARE these 44%?
https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/29/boris-johnson-thatcher-unions-bbc-north
The Guardian makes a good stab at explaining it.
Mercer’s comments about all the lying in office cut through with him.
Mercer resigning, especially over supporting troops, did hit a sensitive nerve with Tory supporters, from what can gather. It could be those quiet issues in the background that erode his support in the party, rather than the "public" set piece scandals
That Guardian article is interesting, this particularly struck me
pessimism is an understandable state of mind for non-Tories; but it risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, as low turnouts in next week’s English local elections may demonstrate.
The anti Tory majority in this country need something to unite behind for things to change
BJ comes across as a jack-the who couldn't care less about his waistline, height or hair: you can be a bonsai bloater and still pull the birds, get the top job, have loads of money and a free doer upper. They imagine his classical allusions and bluster are a mark of superior intelligence (they assume it must be clever stuff because, like us, they don't know what it means). You stereotype the opposition as vegetarian, effete, tinfoil helmeted, pure of thought, world-class victims are there you have the perspective. There's a gammut of people not doing very well at all but relate to the Johnsonian buffoonery and collaborate in their own undoing. Once the small matters of jobs, incomes and housing strike the fan, you do wonder how long can this last. Corbyn, immigrants, EC, trades unionists, republicans, protesters can't be used forever to explain away Tory failures. The worm will turn.
The worm will turn.
Maybe one day but at the moment it seems to be well set in the Tory direction
bearnecessities
Full Member
He’s a sociopath, pure and simple
That’s just Hear’Say.
😆😆😆
Maybe one day but at the moment it seems to be well set in the Tory direction
See my quote from the Guardian about our pessimism becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy
Who ARE these 44%?
The Guardian makes a good stab at explaining it.
It's a stab, but a poor one imo.
I think the claim that Thatcher's premiership was threatened by the Liberal-SDP Alliance is particularly misleading. On the contrary, it very much saved her bacon imo - it divided the opposition and let her continue far beyond what might have been the case had there been a strongly United opposition.
The Guardian opinion piece also completely ignores the elephant in the room, ie how the Labour Party, and its capability to govern effectively, is seen. There is really not much point in ceasing support for a political party if you don't believe that the alternative is any better.
Why did the article not address the issue of something as critical as the alternative to the Tories when it is analysing why the Tories appear to be remaining so popular?
The one point I do agree with in the article though is the possible change in attitudes towards Johnson from the right wing press. I have been taken back by the tone of headlines and articles concerning Johnson's scandals in the Daily Mail recently.
The Daily Mail hasn't done Johnson a lot of favours in the way it has been reporting to its readers his recent difficulties. I'm not sure what that's about but I have no doubt that it is deliberate and calculated. I just don't know what their bigger picture is.
He does display some classic characteristics of malevolent narcissism: need to control, doesn't get things finished, uninterested in detail, insatiable appetites, no empathy, systemic lies, bullying, verbal trickery to evade responsibility, smearing both Corbyn and Carrie's curtains. Lots like it though.
Zuffle
I’m not sure what that’s about but I have no doubt that it is deliberate and calculated. I just don’t know what their bigger picture is.
Simple really. They want someone else in charge probably Gove and they will be disappointed when they are more likely to get Sunak instead.
They have actually dialled it back today since I think they got concerned it might be too damaging just before the elections.
That’s just Hear’Say.
Very well done.
As regards Daily Mail bashing up Boris recently, is it purely a coincidence that Gove's wife (Sarah Vine) works there? IIRC, there's more than a few of these coincidental links between MPs and the UK press network.
[strong][/strong] wrote:
He’s a sociopath, pure and simple
That’s just Hear’Say.
Deserved more credit....
Chapeau
I’m struggling with the Hear’Say joke?
EDIT - It’s that band isn’t it. As you were.
So the ultimate authority over the parliamentary standards advisor is..... Boris Johnson!
Ffs, just when think they couldn’t get away with much more.
clear browsing history
Applies for those searching for Pure&Simple, as well as the curtains thing.
See my quote from the Guardian about our pessimism becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy
It isn't pessimism, it is the reality of living in the UK.
All Hail the mighty Roger for he did bequeath the Profannisauraus for our delectation
Every word of this article
https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/30/scandal-charge-sheet-johnson-wallpaper-lying
The Guardian is great for hypocrisy and volte face given what AC they spewed to help get Johnson elected.
So the ultimate authority over the parliamentary standards advisor is….. Boris Johnson!
Ffs, just when think they couldn’t get away with much more.
Heard this to absolute joke. I think he also has the final word on if they even do an investigation at all.
'I said I wanted a Gaudi spaffing sofa.'
Boris Johnson: What is the PM's relationship with the truth?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56624437
Some real laugh out loud moments in that BBC piece. Not sure if they were meant to be.
Bercow on R4 now skewering fatso.
No doubts anymore about who’s pocket LK is in. Not that there were many before
Reports starting to appear that donors we're asked to stand the costs of the bairns childcare now. 😁
Apparently he requires a £300k salary to keep his head above water. Whats that, about 10x median salary? Incredible.
Here we have an unmarried mother, living in sin, with a divorcee who can't pay his bills, at tax-payers expense, in a Wren designed mansion tarted up in the Michael Jackson fashion, and they want someone else to foot the bill. Kippers and curtains.
When the gullible and the liars come together to gaslight the country with the “it’s not tax payers’ money, so why should voters care”, then it’s time to repeat … again and again … “what do they get out of bribing giving money to the prime minster and his party?” … “and who pays the real price of such corruption?”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/builders-grenfell-cladding-give-tories-2-5m-5c9gwvhrb
Boris Johnson has personally received £50,000 from individuals with links to the cladding debacle.
Bercow on R4 now skewering fatso
And thoroughly enjoying the task, I expect!
And thoroughly enjoying the task, I expect!
Basically calling Johnson a liar in every sentence....without actually saying it definitively.
Doubt it will make a difference. The dickheads think Bercow is a pinko commie traitor or something...
Doubt it will make a difference. The dickheads think Bercow is a pinko commie traitor or something…
True, I still think they'll do well at the locals next week
I suppose tory turnout might be down, the daft thing is that if all this sleaze bad press does hurt then, it all goes back to Johnsons daft decision to personally brief against Cummings a few weeks ago.
The dodgy donor flat refurb, now childcare and bodies piled comment are only news because Cummings released them.
What I dont get is that if Johnson already knows Carrie's mates was the chatty rat, why go after Cummings?
'cos he still wants some bedroom athletics
‘cos he still wants some bedroom athletics
Isn't he shagging the Russian violinist* for that?
*Not a euphemism.
???
Yeah, I thought that too. Apparently not that newsworthy in the UK and therefore the subject of theories that it was the subject of a super-injunction.
I find it highly unlikely that the Kholodnaya stories are true, but the connections between Lebedev (now in the House of Lords) and Johnson (attended a party at Lebedev’s place in Italy, without his personal security team) are very much public knowledge, despite attempts to avoid them being so well known and easy to find.
Yeah, I thought that too. Apparently not that newsworthy in the UK and therefore the subject of theories that it was the subject of a super-injunction.
The genius of the super-injunction being that even stating that one exists breaches the injunction and renders you liable to prosecution. This level of protection doesn't come cheap, though. Now draw the dots to why Johnson needs a lot of cash and is prepared to trade influence for wonga. It is all connected.
Edit: Johnson is widely rumoured to have at least two super-injunctions live - both related (in one way or another) to his inability to keep his todger in his trousers.
Come on people, there are more important things to worry about other than whether the PM is crooked…
https://twitter.com/ThatTimWalker/status/1388815153953746946?s=20
[ and let’s not get into how many of those “other things” can be laid at the feet of our lying Prime Minister… ask a farmer, or a someone in fishing, or those promised no border in the Irish Sea, or those he told he would lie in front of a bulldozer to stop Heathrow expansion, or those struggling to feed their children during the pandemic despite promises that ‘everything’ would be done to help them, or those struggling against institutional racism that he hired someone to ‘prove’ doesn’t exist, or those waiting for operations because he allowed to NHS to be swamped with Covid patients, lorry drivers getting used to spending longer waiting for Godo, businesses wasting millions of pounds dealing with “non-tariff barriers” that he claimed he’d negotiated to fully avoid, nevermind all the new tariffs being paid under his “tariff free” deal ]
Look, look over there, a squirrel!
Boris announces there's a good chance of a Covid rule change ~6 weeks in advance, days before the elections this week, while he is still in the hot seat about his own finances/actions...
One metre + social distancing to end on 21st June.
Hmm… that’ll change my summer plans… we’ll wait to see the results of that change, rather than visit where we had intended to on the assumption social distancing would still be in operation. I’m going no where near anywhere touristy and indoors if everyone has been told social distancing can be dropped already… especially if paired with increased international travel. The odds on no winter wave of a new variant change drastically if they take this step.
Saw that headline in MoS while at my parent's yesterday. My mum just said "Don't destroy the paper, dad hasn't read it yet.".
At least I've managed to get mum to realise that stories like this DO matter but dad still thinks it's a conspiracy to overthrow the PM and install someone to destroy this country. I've tried explaining to him that he's a step behind but he won't have any of it.
As for the 21st June thing, that will become a promised date by the end of next week and if there are any backtracks on it then he'll have to find a suitable scapegoat to lay the blame on.
21st of June was always the pot of gold at the end of the road map? I thought he was just repeating what was already out there - possibly because some experts have been casting doubt this weekend
Sort of… the social distancing (that is the keeping a physical gap between people measures, rather than places being closed) part of “step 4” was always very vague, and suggested to me that other mitigations would be needed to enable it to end. Perhaps the mitigations will be announced after the local elections (or not at all). Who knows…?
Review of social distancing
Finally, before Step 4 begins, the government will complete a review of social distancing and other long-term measures that have been put in place to cut transmission. This will inform decisions on the timing and circumstances under which the rules on 1 metre plus, the wearing of face coverings and other measures may be lifted. This will also inform guidance on working from home – which should continue wherever possible until this review is complete.
Ah Freedom day 🙂
Picking a bunfight with Cummings 3 weeks before an election really was a daft idea
https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1389248422100733959?s=19
So... regards social distancing, I seem to have missed the WHO announcements that the initial assumptions for transmission of SARS-CoV2 were all wrong....
i hope someone has told the virus, otherwise we could have a repeat of the repeat (I mean just look to the America’s to see how that works out).
And let’s open up international travel wide again while we’re at it. I mean what have we got to lose?
Are you guys going to use the local council elections to back Boris or give him a bloody nose?
if that materializes ^ given the vaccine bounce, the tory grandees will not be happy.
21st of June was always the pot of gold at the end of the road map?
With lots of caveats about the stages we had to get through successfully first before we got there, remember Boris said he would now follow the science and the dates were movable. Now that it's getting close to the crunch date and the scientists are mentioning more caution and putting that date in jeopardy he's reverted to type and just mentioning the date, no mention of the caveats and science any more. As metalheart has said above:
So… regards social distancing, I seem to have missed the WHO announcements that the initial assumptions for transmission of SARS-CoV2 were all wrong….
i hope someone has told the virus, otherwise we could have a repeat of the repeat (I mean just look to the America’s to see how that works out).
And let’s open up international travel wide again while we’re at it. I mean what have we got to lose?
Repeating the same mistakes as last time. The man is a danger to the country and is in no fit state to be PM.
Boris said he would now follow the science and the dates were movable. Now that it’s getting close to the crunch date and the scientists are mentioning more caution and putting that date in jeopardy he’s reverted to type and just mentioning the date, no mention of the caveats and science any more
He's certainly predictable....
With lots of caveats about the stages we had to get through successfully first before we got there, remember Boris said he would now follow the science and the dates were movable. Now that it’s getting close to the crunch date and the scientists are mentioning more caution and putting that date in jeopardy he’s reverted to type and just mentioning the date, no mention of the caveats and science any more.
He'll be busy getting his close acolytes to draw up a list of scapegoats and excuses too - it's not all feet up and shagging on the sofa when it comes to self-preservation - some things are worth putting a bit of effort into.
🙄
if that materializes ^ given the vaccine bounce, the tory grandees will not be happy.
Particularly as the lucid ones know we are on borrowed time with the 'vaccine bounce'. The rest of Europe will come roaring past in their recovery when our tiny head start is gone. Not to mention that relaxing the rules too quickly could actually set us back in itself.
If the vaccine rollout falters in any way then we can expect it'll be quietly renamed the 'NHS vaccination programme"
If there's any fuss whatsoever then the govt can deploy a culture war countermeasure, I'm sure there's quite a few in the bomb bay, perhaps a Lancaster bomber flypast for some reason or tax exemptions for British Bulldog owners. A terrorist attack would be nice
I suspect plenty of rumours of Johnson planning to relax restrictions in the run up to the local elections
If there’s any fuss whatsoever then the govt can deploy a culture war countermeasure, I’m sure there’s quite a few in the bomb bay, perhaps a Lancaster bomber flypast for some reason or tax exemptions for British Bulldog owners.
It's so ****ing predictable. It is just depressing. But it gets worse when you realise how many dickheads will fall for this shit. And even worse when you realise that many of them aren't convinced at all, but are just doubling down in the hope that they'll eventually get a government that will really pander to their nasty prejudices.
What a nasty little country we have become.
Has anyone seen evidence of the startup Arcuri paying back the loans to the taxpayer? The ST reported that the money whizzed out of the company account like greased lightning, whilst she was closely associated with BJ. She is also being pursued for unpaid student loans. Why is this not a story? And what's a truly pneumatic American doing draped in union flags? I guess they wanted to have a laugh and say a very very big thank you. Anyone would squeeze into a jingo bikini for that sort of money.
Her twitter account which seems legit?
Is a Qanon swamp of nonsense
Meanwhile inspite of all the corruption Johnson doing well in hartlepool 🙄
https://twitter.com/Survation/status/1389457465641742339?s=19
Monkey hanging idiots
Monkey hanging idiots
Monkey hanging idiots who still think they are 'part of something' and 'sticking it to the elite'.
Let them eat cake.