I read an interesting article about what other foreign diplomats thought of Boris when dealing with him during his time as Foreign Secretary.

They thought he was totally useless.

The opinion of all the civil servants at the Foreign Office was that he was lazy, with absolutely no curiosity, no interest in detail, wouldn’t even bother to read his briefing notes. His approach to everything was to ‘just wing it’.

Great if you’re Boris, not so great if you’re Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

^^ Yep, good points here but none of this posturing occurs in a vacuum, many people do put two and two together.

Despite his buffoonery, Boris is actually quite a good business man

How on earth do you come to that conclusion?

was that he was lazy, with absolutely no curiosity, no interest in detail, wouldn’t even bother to read his briefing notes. His approach to everything was to ‘just wing it’.

Sounds like you are describing Trump

He’s pretty much identical in all his character traits to Trump, and he’s playing exactly the same cards to get himself into number 10

Sounds like you are describing Trump

He’s the british incarnation of Trump. Remember how we all laughed when Trump got elected? At least trump got elected against the wishes of his party. This will be the final nail in the coffin of the tories. First they gave us brexit to solve an internal argument, then they compound that by failing to deliver it, now they’re going to impose an incompetent idiot as PM who will take us out with no deal (or not, as I think will happen). They’re finished after this.

I can’t remember which one of Gordon Browns aids it was who wrote about him. He said that he spent all those years plotting against Blair to get into number ten. Expanded all that effort, was constantly undermining him and felt a sense of entitlement to the top job

When he finally got it they all waited expectantly for him to detail all the things he was going to do now he was in the top job …. and waited …and waited

Nothing. He had no plan. No philosophy. Absolutely nothing. His entire motivation was just that he wanted to be PM. And look how long he lasted. He staggered from one disaster to the next.

Given that Boris led the Brexit campaign that we all now know had absolutely no substance, ‘not even a sketch of a plan’, I imagine that when he gets the top job it’ll be Gordon Brown x 1000

All his ego wants is for him to be able to play at being Winston Churchill for a bit. When faced with the reality and the responsibility of being PM I imagine that he’ll unravel at a terrifying pace

All very amusing it will be to watch, but its hardly what this country needs right now

All his ego wants is for him to be able to play at being Winston Churchill for a bit.

Hence the no deal bravado. You can’t be a Churchillian messiah without a national emergency to rescue us from.

but its hardly what this country needs right now

Maybe it is? I’ve always said the people get the government they deserve. The only hope is that it wakes people up to how they’re being shafted. I very much doubt that will happen though.

I’m just hoping that Gove will knife him with some horrific revelation right at the last minute, hence Gove’s recent clear the air drugs confessions. It’ll have to be something absolutely amazing given that Cameron got away with skull-****ing a dead pig.

I’d be happier if he just knifed him though.

What really, really pisses me off are the Labour Party. Where are they when we need them? I can see the logic of letting the Tories burn the place down and Labour can then start again from the ashes, but in the national interest wouldn’t it be better to take the matches off the children in the first place?

What really, really pisses me off are the Labour Party. Where are they when we need them?

the Labour Party. Where are they when we need them?

Attending the national kebab awards dinner.
Doing a bit of gardening.
Catching up on the crossword.
Maybe simply having a mid afternoon snooze.

edit, binners beat me to it.

They’ve decided to take a leaf out of the Brexiteers book. If they’re going to deliver Disaster Capitalism, why don’t we opt for delivering Disaster Socialism?

the Labour Party. Where are they when we need them?

There are some great, vocal, useful people in Labour, some of them are good MPs who work hard for their constituencies and for the UK as a whole.

Unfortunately they’re lead by a Man who is a devout Leaver, so the more Euroskeptic PM we get the better and also is willing to let us all suffer under Trump-Lite because he thinks it gives him the best chance of an early GE and winning, despite what the Polls say.

If I were a Labour MP or Member I’d be thinking very hard about whether I wanted Labour to be in Government to affect change or not. If I were an MP I’d be very seriously considering how bad the leadership would allow things to get to try to ‘wake the public up’ to how terrible capitalism is so they’ll vote for a proper old-school Socialist as PM.

Max Hastings on Boris:

It was true that I employed Boris through years during which he showed himself a dazzlingly entertaining journalist. But the joke went tragically wrong when Theresa May put him in the cabinet.…….

He is a man of remarkable gifts, flawed by an absence of conscience, principle or scruple. It has been a misfortune for Britain that through two years when diplomacy has been critically important we have been represented abroad by a jester.

The whole point of Boris Johnson as PM is that he’s a bumbling idiot that will lurch chaotically from crisis to crisis. That’s exactly what Trump has done so well and I daresay exactly the sort of thing that Steve Bannon wants.

The fact that a once respected broadsheet newspaper has become little more than a Barclay brothers funded Boris Johnson op ed platform aimed squarely at Tory grandees should alarm anyone who cares about the state of the media. The Conservatives find themselves in an existential battle for relevance, they appear to have become a victim of their own success from 1980s and cannot offer anything of substance that’s new that could possibly appeal to anyone but the over 65s who seem to want to cut taxes and simultaneously ensure that their bins are collected weekly.

they are the “I’m alright, Jack” party for an “I’m alright, Jack” country they seem well suited.

I watched the Letterman series on Netflix the other night (spoiler – don’t watch the Lewis Hamilton one, he’s a dick and it’s rubbish). However the Jay-Z one is really good. Aside from coming across as very well spoken and just generally a nice guy, he made some valid points about Trump following a rant from Letterman on how terrible Trump is. Crux of this was that Trump being in power is a good thing as it exposes what the ‘government’ is really like. Previously you’d have a load of posh folk trained in the art of deception saying one thing (more money for everyone) whilst doing another (more money for me and my mates). With Trump, he’s just as corrupt as the others (if not more so) but he’s blatant about it. It’s apparent to everyone that he’s a ‘bad man’ (Letterman made the point that if you have to discuss if someone is racist, then he’s probably racist) and that change is needed. The result being a much higher turn out for voting next time which hopefully will bring about some proper change.

I think in the UK right now, you have your hardened socialists voting, your retiree Daily Mail readers voting and probably some idiot right wing loons voting. The majority don’t bother because they either aren’t interested or feel that the voting won’t make a difference. Stick Boris in power, what everything go to shit and I think you’ll see much bigger turnouts come elections with hopefully some more sensible results.

For the record, I rank Boris up there with Piers Morgan on the list of people I’d like to fire into space…

A Jester! That does seem apt.
The really annoying thing is you know that Boris and all his mates have tons of cash so no deal / deal / **** box no 7 please Noel… Whatever happens is not gonna make one blind bit of difference to their lives or outlook. It’s like a game to them where the only outcome will be… they might have to release funds from that other fund or sell off that asset instead of that one. 😡

Max Hastings on Boris:

The reference to being a “dazzlingly entertaining journalist” covers his time as EU correspondence where sadly he spent more time being “entertaining” than bothering with facts which would have required him to do his job properly.
Not that surprising though considering he got the job at the telegraph after being sacked for being a liar from the times.

anyone seen the Jonathan Lis Twitter thread:

OK, everyone. I think it’s time I told my Boris Johnson story. It’s a story about the time as foreign secretary where Johnson committed a straightforward resigning offence, got caught out, then got away with it.

Thread.

— Jonathan Lis (@jonlis1) June 13, 2019

the revelation that as foreign sec, BJ confided to at least 4 european diplomats that he supported freedom of movement.

The way it was buried, If Lis is to be believed, shows how slickly efficient his media supporters can react. With such a reckless, loose buffoon surely its the tip of the iceberg but if he’s Bannon’s guy then does it matter?

the way BJ is being handled feels like a right wing coup happening in front of our eyes

Boris will prove popular with Tory voters and he will still prove popular if we no deal brexit. He will slash tax rates to the middle classes, privatise more of the NHS, reduce NI rates and increase defence spending. These will prove wildly popular with around 35 to 40 percent the population, whilst the left will be stuck squabbling over whether they should enter a pact with the lib Dems.

The demise of the Tories is grossly overexagerated, Boris will get reelected if we have a hard brexit followed by a GE, we will have the Tories in power for another decade.

Johnson is not the buffoon he appears. He is a calculating self promoter. Everything he does is deliberate and intended to ease his route to power. He cares nothing for anything else

“the way BJ is being handled feels like a right wing coup happening in front of our eyes”

Why are you suprised at that?

If anyone saw channel 4 news last night with the elderly, comfortably off, white, male members of the Tory party being interviewed about Boris, they listed his various statements about letterboxes, bank-robbers, picaninnies and watermelon smiles and they all just shrugged and bid the ‘oh well… that’s Boris’ thing.

Boris knows his audience and he doesn’t mind offending other people as long as he’s playing to his base, who will be nodding along with him as he’s reflecting their attitudes and opinions

Agree TJ.

For that reason he will totally outflank Corbyn, when PM.

yep – put Boris to the party members and its a done deal.

I notice he has pussied out of the C4 debate. Not that I was going to watch it but it just adds to the carefully managed and well funded campaign that has been swung underneath him.

Just like the one that was swung underneath Cameron.

After he appeared on the last leg, adam hills described him as completely calculated. He purposely ruffled his hair, had a persona for the cameras and was clearly working to a script and agenda.

I think we should get politicians to debate whilst drunk to see what they are really like!

Given he won’t be doing the Channel 4 debate, suggestions please of what he could be represented by?

1. Tub of lard (an old favourite)

2. Golden toilet

The “public” has no say in it. It will be decided by about .3 percent of the population. Whoever they choose from the current nominees is guaranteed the “top job” until a general election is called. Due to the Fixed Term Parliament Act that could be 2022

Those voting for the next Tory leader will no doubt be looking on who the public will vote for in the next GE – and someone being so blatant as promising tax cuts to the wealthy will not get too much backing.

Boris is not even the best of the bad bunch.

people always ask me the same question, they say, ‘Is Boris a very very clever man pretending to be an idiot?’ And I always say, ‘No.’

The demise of the Tories is grossly overexagerated, Boris will get reelected if we have a hard brexit followed by a GE, we will have the Tories in power for another decade.

I hope you are not making the assumption that after a hard brexit the issue will simply go away. The tories will still need voters who want to remain in the EU for them to win a GE. Attitudes have hardened, and no matter what manifesto the party’s bring forward for a GE, it will be fought over Brexit.

As for the demise of the party, there are a number of remainer tory MP’s who are backing Johnson to be PM on the assumption that they can make him compromise when it comes to Hard Brexit. Its delusional at best.

[watch] everything go to shit and I think you’ll see much bigger turnouts come elections with hopefully some more sensible results.

Anyone who thinks from bad, things get better [more moderate], has a very poor grasp of history. (or a an ends justify the means stand point that would make even me blanche).

To dismiss Boris as a poundshop Trump I think is severely underestimating him.

Unlike Trump, Boris is quite clever, incredibly articulate and generally comes across as a loveable rogue. A wolf in sheep’s clothing.

He’ll get the backing of a good deal of tories and the working classes alike. Whereas Trump just repeats lies until they’re believed, Boris is a masterful bullshitter. The political equivalent of a magician. And unless the media turn on him, most people won’t know it’s a trick. He’s a dangerous man.

So basically he’s Keyser Söze?

OK I accept he will almost inevitably end up in the final two and is then highly likely to end up PM in the short term at least. And I understand the Tories’ logic for fighting fire with fire when it comes to the threat from Farage.

I think almost all the character assessments offered here are probably true of him too… dangerous, vain, obsessed with power, a buffoon (deffo), wily operator, clever (superficially), lazy, poor judgment, amoral, a nasty piece of work and a colossal bell end (in case nobody mentioned that one).

Boris is quite clever

No he really isn’t, he is of the breed of classically educated posh **** that people often mistake for intelligent because he knows a bit of Latin. He is of course full of self belief and takes credit for every fortune that an extremely lucky life has granted him.

What really, really pisses me off are the Labour Party. Where are they when we need them?

What would you have them do? I know what I’d like. I’d like all labour MPs to be promoting and advertising the massively popular policies they presented at the last election, and debating how they can be updated for the next one. So why aren’t they doing that?

Boris is quite clever

The thinking mans idiot

The idiots thinking man

What would you have them do?

Anything at all would be a start.

Opposition – resistance or dissent, expressed in action or argument.
“there was considerable opposition to the proposal”
synonyms:resistance, hostility, antagonism, antipathy, enmity, objection, dissent, criticism, defiance, non-compliance, obstruction, obstructiveness, counteraction;

More
a group of opponents, especially in sport, business, or politics.
noun: the opposition
“the home team made short work of the opposition”
synonyms: opponents, opposing side, other side, other team, competition, competitors, opposers, rivals, adversaries, antagonists, enemies; literaryfoes
“the home team made short work of the opposition”

BRITISH
the principal parliamentary party opposed to that in office.
noun: Opposition; noun: the Opposition
“the leader of the Opposition”

Still… lots to be done on the allotment with all this recent rain

And to be fair to Corbyn, he’s said he’ll be happy to discuss any matters arising between now and then at the party conference in September, so job jobbed really.

Anyway… these runner beans aren’t going to plant themselves….

Oh, I forgot to list probably his clearest defining feature – opportunist.

Unfortunately he’s finally found his big opportunity representing a particularly unpleasant and destructive segment of the Tory party’s support base.