How Boris is a member of the new PM’s cabinet?

I thought to sit in the house of commons you had to be an elected mp, then the pm could make up their cabinet from those people had elected?

Clearly I’ve got a lot of learning to do!

He is MP for Uxbridge and South ruislip

http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/commons/boris-johnson/1423

He is an MP.

I know, **** insane isn’t it.

Him being an MP, that is.

Wow.

and iirc you don’t have to be an MP to be a member of cabinet, there are several Lords who hold / have held cabinet posts and occasionally other individuals. But of course to hold the key positions and be able to attend the HoC and partake in debates, questions etc. then practically you need to be.

I suspect that it’s a poisoned chalice; he’ll not last long.

“Recently the Cabinet has been made up almost entirely of members of the House of Commons. The Leader of the House of Lords is necessarily a member of the House of Lords. The Lord Chancellor was, until recently, always a member of the House of Lords, though the current holder is a member of the House of Commons. Otherwise it is now rare for a peer to sit in the Cabinet. Until the re-appointment to the cabinet of Lord Mandelson on 3 October 2008, the former Leader of the Lords, Lady Amos, was the last peer to sit in any other Cabinet post, as Secretary of State for International Development from May to October 2003. Before then, the last Secretary of State for a major department drawn from the Lords was Lord Young of Graffham, serving between 1985 and 1989 as Secretary of State for Employment until 1987 and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry until 1989. The number of junior ministers who are peers has increased since 1997.

Occasionally cabinet members are selected from outside the Houses of Parliament and if necessary granted a peerage. Harold Wilson appointed Frank Cousins and Patrick Gordon Walker to the 1964 cabinet despite their not being MPs at the time. On 3 October 2008 Peter Mandelson, at the time of appointment not a member of either House, became Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and was immediately made a life peer. During the First World War, the South African politician Jan Smuts served in Lloyd George’s War Cabinet without ever becoming a member of either house of the British parliament.

There are some 100 junior members of the Government who are not members of the Cabinet, including Ministers of State and Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State; and unpaid Parliamentary Private Secretaries are in practice apprentice ministers on the payroll vote. Some of them may be Privy Counsellors, or may be appointed to the Privy Council as a mark of distinction, without becoming Cabinet ministers. Equally, some junior ministers below Cabinet level may be invited to all Cabinet meetings as a matter of course. The Attorney General for England and Wales together with the chair of the governing political party, are customarily included, and other members of the Government can be invited at the Prime Minister’s discretion, either regularly or ad hoc.”

It is pretty much “You’ve been a very naughty boy, now tell all the nice diplomats what you’ve done and say sorry”.

He is an MP knobber

Boris Johnson. I kind of get the joke, although I can’t say I find it funny.

What concerns me is that foreign politicians and their electorates won’t get the joke. Or even see the point of it.

“Oh yes, haha, I’ve just said something really stupid but isn’t it funny just like the way my hair sticks up” is unlikely to have much value abroad where they are not looking for an entertaining politician to vote for .

So while his ‘silliness’ will continue to make those in the UK who think it’s all hilariously funny laugh, foreign media and the wider foreign public are simply likely to conclude that Brits are a bunch of halfwit muppets.

Although one way of looking at it is to say who cares what foreigners think. But that’s not exactly very constructive and helpful when you are trying to establish good bilateral relations.

ernie_lynch – Member

Boris Johnson. I kind of get the joke, although I can’t say I find it funny.

What concerns me is that foreign politicians and their electorates won’t get the joke. Or even see the point of it.

“Oh yes, haha, I’ve just said something really stupid but isn’t it funny just like the way my hair sticks up” is unlikely to have much value abroad where they are not looking for an entertaining politician to vote for .

So while his ‘silliness’ will continue to make those in the UK who think it’s all hilariously funny laugh, foreign media and the wider foreign public are simply likely to conclude that Brits are a bunch of halfwit muppets.

Although one way of looking at it is say who cares what foreigners think. But that’s not exactly very constructive and helpful when you are trying to establish good bilateral relations.

Spot on, my opposite numbers in our company based all over the world are having a good laugh/wonder at our political melt down & the possible final outcome!

Lets judge him on his record shall we. My view is he will be an outstanding foreign secretary and perfect for the outward looking truely international reach on which we can now focus. He was a popular and successful London mayor and a superbly effective Leave campaigner who foight a clean campaign and avoided the personal insults being thrown around by others.

He will have a very strong case when it comes to the being next leader of the Conseratives beyond 2020

He’ll do as much for our international reputation as George Bush did for the US – in fact, Dubya was better – he wasn’t a raving racist nutbag.

The people who say that he’ll be great in the capacity and the same kinds of people, as the types of Americans who’d shout “USA USA USA” repeatedly back in the noughties and not give a flying crap about what the rest of the world thinks of them.

Jamby, you really really are on copious amounts of acid if you think that Boris will come out of this looking like PM material.

Lets judge him on his record shall we. My view is he will be an outstanding foreign secretary and perfect for the outward looking truely international reach on which we can now focus.

Definitely definitely trolling

By international reach you mean he has offended folk throughout the world with his clumsy casual racism?

Whatever anyone thinks of Boris, whatever your politics, diplomatic is not amongst the words used to describe him.
Only Prince Phillip comes close to Boris in casually being a racist **** wit

Jamby dont be so blatant with the trolls it ruins the fun

Lets judge him on his record shall we.

i agree with the French – he lied a lot (actually pretty much the whole time) during the referendum – c’est tout est c’est facile – il est fou

What concerns me is that foreign politicians and their electorates won’t get the joke. Or even see the point of it.

True – even th Machiavellian Italians might need some guidance with the nuances

“Oh yes, haha, I’ve just said something really stupid but isn’t it funny just like the way my hair sticks up” is unlikely to have much value abroad where they are not looking for an entertaining politician to vote for

let’s swap a fool for a badly dressed, unshaven protestor who cannot hold the confidence of his closest colleagues and is at best lukewarm on the EU – he will go down a storm…. 😉

I think the funniest thing is that people actually think he’s a idiot.

I think we’ll see a more serious Boris, now he’s gone and got himself a real job.

No, even Corbyn is more statesmen like.

La nomination de cet eurosceptique haut en couleur et très peu diplomate est en effet accueillie avec perplexité, voire consternation, notamment dans les chancelleries européennes. L’ancien maire de Londres, adepte de la bourde et de la provocation, n’a-t-il pas, lors de la campagne référendaire, comparé les buts de l’UE avec les visées d’Adolf Hitler et de Napoléon ? Surtout, l’homme à la tignasse platine ébouriffée n’a jamais occupé de poste ministériel.

Le Monde aujourd’hui

In the days after the referendum I heard a woman on a Radio 2 phone in describe Boris as a “man of the people” 😯

Seosamh….

Someone with such a proven record of being a bullshitter
especially the lies he pumped out in the referendum?
He doesnt stand a chance

Theres no way his bumbling buffoon act will wash with his foreign counterparts

even his own staff are incredulous
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p041fpnc?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=thetodayprogramme&ns

what did Thersa May say about him alast week

“Boris negotiated in Europe. I seem to remember last time he did a deal with the Germans, he came back with three nearly-new water cannon”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/this-is-what-theresa-may-had-to-say-about-boris-johnson-only-a-few-days-ago-a7135481.html

heres the worlds reaction to Borris new job
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/15/world/europe/boris-johnson-uk-foreign-secretary.html?ref=europe

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/14/french-foreign-minister-boris-johnson-is-a-liar-with-his-back-against-the-wall

Hollande: Bonjour mon amis Jerome. Dit-moi. Ou est-ce que vous achete votre veste marron? Et votre cravat? Oh, pardonnez-moi, vous ne portez pas de cravats…..un peu de Puligny Montrachet peut-etre? Quoi, “un ‘alf of mild”….que est-ce que c’est “le mild”

She was referring to Mr Johnson’s controversial decision to buy three used water cannons from the German federal police as London Mayor last year for £218,205.

He claimed the money was well spent because it saved the city the £2.3m cost to order them new – but this did not impress Ms May who blocked their use by any English or Welsh police force as Home Secretary.

LOL’d so hard at this.

I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that May is going to be up there with Mandleson etc, as one of the best political operators of the 21st century.

The peoples I know who knew him when he was young, and who have dealt with him at work, don’t rate him.

I was having a curry with a civil servant last night who said the same thing – didn’t know the brief, often late, carried by juniors – time to be caught out unless Sir Humphrey comes to the rescue

It is pretty much “You’ve been a very naughty boy, now tell all the nice diplomats what you’ve done and say sorry”.

It’s a shame we don’t have many ex-diplomats in politics these day, just these professional politicians.

I think the funniest thing is that people actually think he’s a idiot.

This.

I read ‘Just Boris’ by Sonia Purnell a couple of years ago.

If Purnell’s account is correct:

– He’s pro EU, in spite of his trademark anti-EU articles.
– He’s ****ing clever. (King’s Scholarship to Eton; 2:1 from Balliol)
– He’s ruthlessly out for himself and uses people shamelessly.

I was having a curry with a civil servant last night who said the same thing – didn’t know the brief, often late, carried by juniors – time to be caught out unless Sir Humphrey comes to the rescue

I’ve heard Portillo and Ken Clarke both express the view that he was simply not capable of being PM. I got the feeling they meant ‘doing the day to day job’. That’s consistent with your Civil Servant buddy.

I have a sneaking position his chief task as FS is going to be to explain to the public why ‘leaving the EU’ is not feasable in spite of the Referendum and then resigning. I can imagine him being quite good at that. (Seriously)

I heard Boris once described as, “Whilst everyone is laughing at the fool, the foolish don’t yet realise they being fooled by the fool”

A very astute actor, acting the politician.

Beware.

At least he pays his taxes (more in one year than most will pay in a lifetime). I doubt he’ll try to get the treasury to bankroll a hairdresser to the tune of 10,000 euros a month either but he has got a reputation for infidelity so may find some common ground with the French president after all 😉

Johnson is most famous for being a gaffe prone politician. I’m not sure why so many people assume that his gaffes are deliberate.

Obviously it is very much in his interest that it should be seen in that way – what other politician can rely on people assuming that every time they say or do something really stupid it’s all just a big act? I’m sure some politicians would give their right arm for a perpetual trump card like that.

I know of no other politician who has issued as many groveling and humiliated apologies as Johnson, is that also all part of his carefully choreographed buffoonery act?

IMO the people being fooled are those who think it’s all an act – that is exactly what Johnson wants you to think, obviously.

BTW I don’t think Johnson is an idiot, far from it, the man is clearly highly knowledgeable and articulate. But I do think that his constant headline-grabbing gaffes are down to his appalling lack of judgement.

And Michael Gove done him like a kipper………so clever, but not very smart.

2:1 from Gayliol means that he’s a genius?

I roundly **** destroyed my mate who got a 2:1 from Sodham at GCSE level – he barely got a couple of As and a D in Maths!

It doesn’t prove anything other than he’s an idiot savant.

I know of no other politician who has issued as many groveling and humiliated apologies as Johnson

A significant chunk of the population would think an expert apologiser who is also a brexiteer is the perfect FS. When the time comes he can employ his talent for apologies to explain to the 52pc that Brexit isn’t feasible and, in spite of the referendum, can’t happen.

He’s uniquely able to do that and pull it off.

I imagined him doing that as PM, and I can still imagine him doing that as FS.

I’m convinced that’s why he’s in this job.

I think the funniest thing is that people actually think he’s a idiot.

@seaso yup agree totally. He won academic scholarships to Eton and Oxford, extremely smart. He is an outstanding speaker, very charismatic.

He is very popular with Tories and centrist voters from Lib Dem and Labour. He is a fluent French speaker and gives media interviews in French. It matters not Hollande and the socialists don’t like him, come 2017 he’ll be dealing with Sarkozy or Le Penn.

[video]https://youtu.be/bQGVBglqKjY[/video]

He is a fluent French speaker and gives media interviews in French.

FFS you can teach a 3 year old child to speak French.

– He’s pro EU, in spite of his trademark anti-EU articles.
– He’s ****ing clever. (King’s Scholarship to Eton; 2:1 from Balliol)
– He’s ruthlessly out for himself and uses people shamelessly.

Boris is one of those persuasive people who find it easy to convince people of their genius, without having done any of the graft. He’s a charismatic chancer who is only out for himself. And he’s no doubt very clever. But I’m guessing that he won’t be able to pull off the act all the time in one of the great offices of state.

To be fair, we don’t need king muppet in a Great Office of State to manage that at the moment.

Foreign Secretary humiliated before the worlds press, hounded for lying during Brexit campaign, trying to racially slur Obama etc and getting Egypt and Turkey mixed up!

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/19/boris-johnson-grilled-past-outright-lies-uneasy-press-conference-john-kerry?CMP=fb_gu

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36831052