Punters backing Sunak are ignoring that there isn’t a vacancy – politicalbetting.com
Ladbrokes have just reported that 63% of the next PM bets they’ve laid this week have been on the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak. He’s now a very tight favourite in the betting.
There is probably going to be a VONC next week, with the final letters going in to Sir Graham after the Gray report is published, likely on Monday. However for now Boris should probably scrape home.
If the local elections in May see heavy Tory losses and the polls are still bad, then the 1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board. At that point Boris is more likely to lose it. There would then be a leadership election which Sunak would probably win to become next PM. Assuming Tory MPs can concoct a Sunak v Hunt runoff, thus keeping Truss off the ballot paper. Truss polls well with members but terribly with the public overall
I think Boris Johnson will be gone, from today's Times.
Reynolds, two well-placed sources say, has been candid with Gray. “Reynolds is not willing to be the fall guy in all of this,” one government source said. “He’s talking and making his position very clear.”
Nowhere does Mike say that Johnson is nailed in until 2024, nor does he come anywhere near to that sentiment.
He says, 'the chances are' and that therefore he 'surely would make it to the next general election'. There is nothing definite about those statements. It's a cautious and objective balance of probabilities.
I'd say it's 60:40 Johnson will survive to 2024. That's a shift from my 70:30 yesterday.
Nowhere does Mike say that Johnson is nailed in until 2024, nor does he come anywhere near to that sentiment.
He says, 'the chances are' and that therefore he 'surely would make it to the next general election'. There is nothing definite about those statements. It's a cautious and objective balance of probabilities.
I'd say it's 60:40 Johnson will survive to 2024. That's a shift from my 70:30 yesterday.
I think he's gone next Tuesday.
Given my track record, mortgage your house to the hilt and back him to survive in office until 2031.
So, they have the right not to get vaccinated. But then I think patients should have the right to refuse to be treated by a doctor or nurse who’s not been vaccinated. Personally, I’d like to know, because I wouldn’t want to trust the clinical judgements of someone who wasn’t.
So, they have the right not to get vaccinated. But then I think patients should have the right to refuse to be treated by a doctor or nurse who’s not been vaccinated. Personally, I’d like to know, because I wouldn’t want to trust the clinical judgements of someone who wasn’t.
Well exactly. I have a bit of sympathy for those in the wider community who are confronted by anti-vax propaganda and don't have the ability to read scientific journals and can thus be brain washed, but these people are bloody supposedly be trained to understand science.
The knobhead who confronted Javid admitted that despite thinking he has had COVID, never tested positive, there were many months between being able to get the jab and having an antibody test which he says confirms he has had COVID as some point.
So all the BS he was pushing of I am not an antivaxxer, I have just had COVID, so I don't need it, he didn't take the vaccine even when he had no idea he had ever had COVID.
Nowhere does Mike say that Johnson is nailed in until 2024, nor does he come anywhere near to that sentiment.
He says, 'the chances are' and that therefore he 'surely would make it to the next general election'. There is nothing definite about those statements. It's a cautious and objective balance of probabilities.
I'd say it's 60:40 Johnson will survive to 2024. That's a shift from my 70:30 yesterday.
Yes, sorry, that was shorthand intended for the consumption of the quicker witted.
I agree that Sunak is too short. It takes too little account of both no vacancy and the chance that 'anyone but a current minister' could be the right choice; ie Hunt, Tugendhat or AN Other. And Starmer at about 10/1 is value.
I agree that Sunak is too short. It takes too little account of both no vacancy and the chance that 'anyone but a current minister' could be the right choice; ie Hunt, Tugendhat or AN Other. And Starmer at about 10/1 is value.
With that, and the risk of an interim PM, he is rubbish value. Mind you I wouldn't wanna be laying him either.
I agree that Sunak is too short. It takes too little account of both no vacancy and the chance that 'anyone but a current minister' could be the right choice; ie Hunt, Tugendhat or AN Other. And Starmer at about 10/1 is value.
So, they have the right not to get vaccinated. But then I think patients should have the right to refuse to be treated by a doctor or nurse who’s not been vaccinated. Personally, I’d like to know, because I wouldn’t want to trust the clinical judgements of someone who wasn’t.
Well exactly. I have a bit of sympathy for those in the wider community who are confronted by anti-vax propaganda and don't have the ability to read scientific journals and can thus be brain washed, but these people are bloody supposedly be trained to understand science.
The knobhead who confronted Javid admitted that despite thinking he has had COVID, never tested positive, there were many months between being able to get the jab and having an antibody test which he says confirms he has had COVID as some point.
So all the BS he was pushing of I am not an antivaxxer, I have just had COVID, so I don't need it, he didn't take the vaccine even when he had no idea he had ever had COVID.
Repost from this morning -
COVID - Thanks to the stupidity of large numbers of Americans on not getting vaccinated we have new data...
- Vaccines (and especially boosters) do have an effect on infections rates. A substantial one. So the argument that vaccination does nothin for infection rates turns out to be garbage. - Massive effects on showing up at A&E - Massive effects on hospitalisation
Please light a candle for all the fucking morons who died to give us this data.
There is probably going to be a VONC next week, with the final letters going in to Sir Graham after the Gray report is published, likely on Monday. However for now Boris should probably scrape home.
If the local elections in May see heavy Tory losses and the polls are still bad, then the 1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board. At that point Boris is more likely to lose it. There would then be a leadership election which Sunak would probably win to become next PM. Assuming Tory MPs can concoct a Sunak v Hunt runoff, thus keeping Truss off the ballot paper. Truss polls well with members but terribly with the public overall
All seems a bit farcical to me. If '1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board' then surely 1992 and the party board ultimately have the power to select the leader no matter what. So why not simply give them the power to do it and dispense with the other stuff, which they can overrule anyway.
There is probably going to be a VONC next week, with the final letters going in to Sir Graham after the Gray report is published, likely on Monday. However for now Boris should probably scrape home.
If the local elections in May see heavy Tory losses and the polls are still bad, then the 1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board. At that point Boris is more likely to lose it. There would then be a leadership election which Sunak would probably win to become next PM. Assuming Tory MPs can concoct a Sunak v Hunt runoff, thus keeping Truss off the ballot paper. Truss polls well with members but terribly with the public overall
All seems a bit farcical to me. If '1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board' then surely 1992 and the party board ultimately have the power to select the leader no matter what. So why not simply give them the power to do it and dispense with the other stuff, which they can overrule anyway.
The operation to save Boris Johnson is well underway - he’s determined to stay no matter what Gray finds
‘The PM is literally the most competitive person imaginable
‘He wants to outlast Dave [Cameron]. He won’t accept the last Etonian PM having survived longer than him’
Hell, as things stand, the last PM from Wheatley Park Comprehensive (OK, it was Holton Park Girls' Grammar School when she arrived) ought to be on track to survive longer than him. That Friends of Boris are more concerned with intra-Etonian rivalries is one of those minor but very revealing comments.
In the meantime, whoever deposes Boris has to have the power to do so. The voters have that power, but not until 2024. In the meantime, it all depends on whether Boris can bluff, blag, bluster and bully his MPs into continuing to support him.
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
There is probably going to be a VONC next week, with the final letters going in to Sir Graham after the Gray report is published, likely on Monday. However for now Boris should probably scrape home.
If the local elections in May see heavy Tory losses and the polls are still bad, then the 1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board. At that point Boris is more likely to lose it. There would then be a leadership election which Sunak would probably win to become next PM. Assuming Tory MPs can concoct a Sunak v Hunt runoff, thus keeping Truss off the ballot paper. Truss polls well with members but terribly with the public overall
All seems a bit farcical to me. If '1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board' then surely 1992 and the party board ultimately have the power to select the leader no matter what. So why not simply give them the power to do it and dispense with the other stuff, which they can overrule anyway.
The country is more important than Boris
(whispers) Are you going to tell him? Not sure I fancy the job myself.
There is probably going to be a VONC next week, with the final letters going in to Sir Graham after the Gray report is published, likely on Monday. However for now Boris should probably scrape home.
If the local elections in May see heavy Tory losses and the polls are still bad, then the 1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board. At that point Boris is more likely to lose it. There would then be a leadership election which Sunak would probably win to become next PM. Assuming Tory MPs can concoct a Sunak v Hunt runoff, thus keeping Truss off the ballot paper. Truss polls well with members but terribly with the public overall
All seems a bit farcical to me. If '1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board' then surely 1992 and the party board ultimately have the power to select the leader no matter what. So why not simply give them the power to do it and dispense with the other stuff, which they can overrule anyway.
The country is more important than Boris
Fine. But if the Tory grandees can select the leader - simply by rewriting the rules when those rules keep the leader in place - then just give them the power to do it and dispense with the pretence. Just return to the Men in Grey Suits.
There is probably going to be a VONC next week, with the final letters going in to Sir Graham after the Gray report is published, likely on Monday. However for now Boris should probably scrape home.
If the local elections in May see heavy Tory losses and the polls are still bad, then the 1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board. At that point Boris is more likely to lose it. There would then be a leadership election which Sunak would probably win to become next PM. Assuming Tory MPs can concoct a Sunak v Hunt runoff, thus keeping Truss off the ballot paper. Truss polls well with members but terribly with the public overall
All seems a bit farcical to me. If '1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board' then surely 1992 and the party board ultimately have the power to select the leader no matter what. So why not simply give them the power to do it and dispense with the other stuff, which they can overrule anyway.
Because that would take the decision out of the hands of the MPs. As things stand, and with the proposed changes, a majority of the MPs need to vote against the leader in order to depose them.
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
You had me interested there for minute, but it appears they were not wearing their uniforms at the time they threw them.
I'm on Sine Die Johnson, living until aged 110, giving us 55 more years of the World King. Thankfully I will be long departed from his Mad Max dystopian nightmare by then.
The operation to save Boris Johnson is well underway - he’s determined to stay no matter what Gray finds
‘The PM is literally the most competitive person imaginable
‘He wants to outlast Dave [Cameron]. He won’t accept the last Etonian PM having survived longer than him’
Hell, as things stand, the last PM from Wheatley Park Comprehensive (OK, it was Holton Park Girls' Grammar School when she arrived) ought to be on track to survive longer than him. That Friends of Boris are more concerned with intra-Etonian rivalries is one of those minor but very revealing comments.
In the meantime, whoever deposes Boris has to have the power to do so. The voters have that power, but not until 2024. In the meantime, it all depends on whether Boris can bluff, blag, bluster and bully his MPs into continuing to support him.
Yes, as a hopeful leftie I was thinking what would be most injurious to Boris? For a long time I've thought it would be losing his seat on the night the tories take a trouncing.
But I actually think the ultimate crushing of the Boris Johnson ego would be defenestration at the hands of his own MPs and being booted out of Downing Street.
'That' picture of Margaret Thatcher is one of the most iconic in C20th politics.
Tony Blair, whose ego must match Boris Johnson's, managed to exit stage left (almost literally from the House of Commons) before an irate electorate had the chance to give him the boot. Dave Cameron in a way did something similar.
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
He is perfectly capable of convincing himself that he meant something different to what he said and therefore didn’t actually lie and therefore doesn’t need to step down. A few weeks ago I thought he might fancy stepping down to make some money but the behaviour since from him and his outriders suggests differently. The only thing that would make him stand down is if his abacus showed 250-300 MPs due to vote against him.
There is probably going to be a VONC next week, with the final letters going in to Sir Graham after the Gray report is published, likely on Monday. However for now Boris should probably scrape home.
If the local elections in May see heavy Tory losses and the polls are still bad, then the 1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board. At that point Boris is more likely to lose it. There would then be a leadership election which Sunak would probably win to become next PM. Assuming Tory MPs can concoct a Sunak v Hunt runoff, thus keeping Truss off the ballot paper. Truss polls well with members but terribly with the public overall
All seems a bit farcical to me. If '1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board' then surely 1992 and the party board ultimately have the power to select the leader no matter what. So why not simply give them the power to do it and dispense with the other stuff, which they can overrule anyway.
The country is more important than Boris
Fine. But if the Tory grandees can select the leader - simply by rewriting the rules when those rules keep the leader in place - then just give them the power to do it and dispense with the pretence. Just return to the Men in Grey Suits.
This is overblown. However often MPs can vote on their leader the decision still rests with them, as it did before.
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-mid 19th century. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
There is probably going to be a VONC next week, with the final letters going in to Sir Graham after the Gray report is published, likely on Monday. However for now Boris should probably scrape home.
If the local elections in May see heavy Tory losses and the polls are still bad, then the 1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board. At that point Boris is more likely to lose it. There would then be a leadership election which Sunak would probably win to become next PM. Assuming Tory MPs can concoct a Sunak v Hunt runoff, thus keeping Truss off the ballot paper. Truss polls well with members but terribly with the public overall
All seems a bit farcical to me. If '1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board' then surely 1992 and the party board ultimately have the power to select the leader no matter what. So why not simply give them the power to do it and dispense with the other stuff, which they can overrule anyway.
As Tory MPs as a whole would still need to have the final vote in any VONC, even if a second VONC was to be allowed in less than a year after the first by the 1922 and party board.
Tory members would then have the final say in any subsequent leadership election if that VONC was lost once Tory MPs had whittled it down to 2 candidates
So, they have the right not to get vaccinated. But then I think patients should have the right to refuse to be treated by a doctor or nurse who’s not been vaccinated. Personally, I’d like to know, because I wouldn’t want to trust the clinical judgements of someone who wasn’t.
Well exactly. I have a bit of sympathy for those in the wider community who are confronted by anti-vax propaganda and don't have the ability to read scientific journals and can thus be brain washed, but these people are bloody supposedly be trained to understand science.
The knobhead who confronted Javid admitted that despite thinking he has had COVID, never tested positive, there were many months between being able to get the jab and having an antibody test which he says confirms he has had COVID as some point.
So all the BS he was pushing of I am not an antivaxxer, I have just had COVID, so I don't need it, he didn't take the vaccine even when he had no idea he had ever had COVID.
Repost from this morning -
COVID - Thanks to the stupidity of large numbers of Americans on not getting vaccinated we have new data...
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-1800ish. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
Is that why so many Scottish naval officers ended up working for the Russian navy around then (like the guy who founded Sevastopol Thomas MacKenzie's father, and his wife's grandfather Thomas Gordon)?
There is probably going to be a VONC next week, with the final letters going in to Sir Graham after the Gray report is published, likely on Monday. However for now Boris should probably scrape home.
If the local elections in May see heavy Tory losses and the polls are still bad, then the 1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board. At that point Boris is more likely to lose it. There would then be a leadership election which Sunak would probably win to become next PM. Assuming Tory MPs can concoct a Sunak v Hunt runoff, thus keeping Truss off the ballot paper. Truss polls well with members but terribly with the public overall
All seems a bit farcical to me. If '1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board' then surely 1992 and the party board ultimately have the power to select the leader no matter what. So why not simply give them the power to do it and dispense with the other stuff, which they can overrule anyway.
As Tory MPs as a whole would still need to have the final vote in any VONC
Is that an immutable requirement of the Tory constitution or could, in theory, the 1922 Committee abolish it as a requirement if they chose?
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-1800ish. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
Currently the subject of debate as to his involvement in slavery vs abolition. I have not been following that debate but I get the impression that his statue might have been bothered by now if it weren't for the fact it is up something the size of Nelson's Column. Outside his former palazzo, too, now a ****-you bank branch (in the background here) which would turn at least one PBer green with envy.
The tournament debutants play hosts and five-time champions Cameroon in Yaounde on Monday, but their camp has been hit by 12 positive Covid cases including coach Amir Abdou.
The operation to save Boris Johnson is well underway - he’s determined to stay no matter what Gray finds
‘The PM is literally the most competitive person imaginable
‘He wants to outlast Dave [Cameron]. He won’t accept the last Etonian PM having survived longer than him’
Hell, as things stand, the last PM from Wheatley Park Comprehensive (OK, it was Holton Park Girls' Grammar School when she arrived) ought to be on track to survive longer than him. That Friends of Boris are more concerned with intra-Etonian rivalries is one of those minor but very revealing comments.
In the meantime, whoever deposes Boris has to have the power to do so. The voters have that power, but not until 2024. In the meantime, it all depends on whether Boris can bluff, blag, bluster and bully his MPs into continuing to support him.
Yes, as a hopeful leftie I was thinking what would be most injurious to Boris? For a long time I've thought it would be losing his seat on the night the tories take a trouncing.
But I actually think the ultimate crushing of the Boris Johnson ego would be defenestration at the hands of his own MPs and being booted out of Downing Street.
'That' picture of Margaret Thatcher is one of the most iconic in C20th politics.
Tony Blair, whose ego must match Boris Johnson's, managed to exit stage left (almost literally from the House of Commons) before an irate electorate had the chance to give him the boot. Dave Cameron in a way did something similar.
Boris is the most left wing Tory leader in recent times. Any replacement would be more rightwing. Sharper lefties (eg, BJO) get this.
Forget the personalities, the game of politics is all about shifting the Overton window in your direction.
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-mid 19th century. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
At least there's no danger of Edinburgh putting up a monument to Johnston. Glasgow should definitely have this carved in stone somewhere though.
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-1800ish. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
Is that why so many Scottish naval officers ended up working for the Russian navy around then (like the guy who founded Sevastopol Thomas MacKenzie's father, and his wife's grandfather Thomas Gordon)?
Don't think so - more that the French unsportingly lost the war so zero prospect of promotion in a hugely expanded officer corps unless you went off and found yourself another war.
Edit: indeed almost zero prospect of any jobs at all, unless you had connections: so sitting "onm the beach" with "half-pay" (not quite that much of a reduction, but still).
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
The operation to save Boris Johnson is well underway - he’s determined to stay no matter what Gray finds
‘The PM is literally the most competitive person imaginable
‘He wants to outlast Dave [Cameron]. He won’t accept the last Etonian PM having survived longer than him’
Hell, as things stand, the last PM from Wheatley Park Comprehensive (OK, it was Holton Park Girls' Grammar School when she arrived) ought to be on track to survive longer than him. That Friends of Boris are more concerned with intra-Etonian rivalries is one of those minor but very revealing comments.
In the meantime, whoever deposes Boris has to have the power to do so. The voters have that power, but not until 2024. In the meantime, it all depends on whether Boris can bluff, blag, bluster and bully his MPs into continuing to support him.
Yes, as a hopeful leftie I was thinking what would be most injurious to Boris? For a long time I've thought it would be losing his seat on the night the tories take a trouncing.
But I actually think the ultimate crushing of the Boris Johnson ego would be defenestration at the hands of his own MPs and being booted out of Downing Street.
'That' picture of Margaret Thatcher is one of the most iconic in C20th politics.
Tony Blair, whose ego must match Boris Johnson's, managed to exit stage left (almost literally from the House of Commons) before an irate electorate had the chance to give him the boot. Dave Cameron in a way did something similar.
Boris is the most left wing Tory leader in recent times. Any replacement would be more rightwing. Sharper lefties (eg, BJO) get this.
Forget the personalities, the game of politics is all about shifting the Overton window in your direction.
Economically Boris is certainly left of Cameron, May and arguably even Blair. Only Brown of post 2000 PMs has been more economically leftwing than Boris.
Socially however Boris is the most culturally conservative PM we have had since Thatcher and he is also the most Eurosceptic PM since Thatcher, obviously since he implemented Brexit
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-1800ish. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
Is that why so many Scottish naval officers ended up working for the Russian navy around then (like the guy who founded Sevastopol Thomas MacKenzie's father, and his wife's grandfather Thomas Gordon)?
Quite a history of Scots in Russia. Lermontov is a Russification of Learmonth.
There is probably going to be a VONC next week, with the final letters going in to Sir Graham after the Gray report is published, likely on Monday. However for now Boris should probably scrape home.
If the local elections in May see heavy Tory losses and the polls are still bad, then the 1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board. At that point Boris is more likely to lose it. There would then be a leadership election which Sunak would probably win to become next PM. Assuming Tory MPs can concoct a Sunak v Hunt runoff, thus keeping Truss off the ballot paper. Truss polls well with members but terribly with the public overall
All seems a bit farcical to me. If '1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board' then surely 1992 and the party board ultimately have the power to select the leader no matter what. So why not simply give them the power to do it and dispense with the other stuff, which they can overrule anyway.
As Tory MPs as a whole would still need to have the final vote in any VONC
Is that an immutable requirement of the Tory constitution or could, in theory, the 1922 Committee abolish it as a requirement if they chose?
The 1922 Committee could not change the VONC rules and certainly not abolish the VONC mechanism without the party board agreeing too, the 1922 cannot change the leadership election rules without agreement from the National Party Convention as well as the party board as well
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
Send it back.
True
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-mid 19th century. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
At least there's no danger of Edinburgh putting up a monument to Johnston. Glasgow should definitely have this carved in stone somewhere though.
I like the deliberate misspell but why 'still'? Was he ever not?
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
Send it back.
True
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-1800ish. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
Is that why so many Scottish naval officers ended up working for the Russian navy around then (like the guy who founded Sevastopol Thomas MacKenzie's father, and his wife's grandfather Thomas Gordon)?
Don't think so - more that the French unsportingly lost the war so zero prospect of promotion in a hugely expanded officer corps unless you went off and found yourself another war.
Edit: indeed almost zero prospect of any jobs at all, unless you had connections: so sitting "onm the beach" with "half-pay" (not quite that much of a reduction, but still).
All the lucrative jobs in the anti-slavery stuff were filled faster than tramps on chips.
There were some interesting (and lucrative) jobs around the world - South America and Greece for starters...
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
Send it back.
True
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
An interesting scenario, as it would only require 37 conservatives to vote for it (assuming all opposition MPs do) as opposed to 50% of them in a VoNC. I suspect however that conservatives would prefer not to give the opposition any kind of victory. Maybe if the motion was moved by a conservative that would be enough of a fig leaf.
I really am sick and tired of all this. It's the Financial Times for goodness sake. Who is the first expert they quote? Deepti Gurdasani the well known covid hysteric and advocate for zero covid. At the end we get something from Christina Pagel (never to be left out of any discussion). I admit that most FT readers are not fans of Johnson and even less so the backbenchers pulling him away from restrictions but it's a lazy appeal to your readers' prejudices.
I do hope that attitudes are now shifting among my centre-left fellow travellers. Many of the comments underneath clearly do not support the article's intention. I spent Christmas with close relatives with three young children. They aren't ideological people and Johnson probably just makes them groan but they're concerned for their children's futures and wondering why there was such reluctance to mention that omicron was milder when all the evidence started to point that way. They were worried about the impact of covid on their children's mental health, both the fear of the disease and the impact of restrictions. They were even a bit concerned about the possible weakening of their general immunity due to the lack of social contact over the last two years.
If people want to persist with masks and work from home mandates, fine. But please tell me when exactly you would remove such things? What would it take for them to withdraw ALL restrictions. If they don't really believe in going to back to the 'old' normal, i.e in person teaching at universities, cinemas theatres and schools without face mask mandates, 'passports' of various kinds, then please say so. At the moment such people just seem to be saying 'no'. At least zero covid was a strategy even if it was implausible.
Most of all I'm sick and tired of those 'experts' who display no humility even when outside their own specialist area of interest, never engage in debate with eminent academics who disagree with them and resort to straw man or indirect arguments. I do want to mention some exceptions. Tim Spector with the Zoe app. Raghib Ali, a Cambridge epidemiologist and frontline doctor and John Campbell of youtube fame. It would be nice if the mainstream media called on him to provide some of his calm, unbiased interpretation of the data. Maybe calling upon someone who lives in the rural north of England isn't really considered the done thing at the BBC, Sky or Channel 4. In a sane world such people would at least be rewarded for their coverage of the pandemic whereas the aforementioned doomsayers would disappear into the ether after the Warholian fifteen minutes are up. We can always hope.
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-1800ish. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
Is that why so many Scottish naval officers ended up working for the Russian navy around then (like the guy who founded Sevastopol Thomas MacKenzie's father, and his wife's grandfather Thomas Gordon)?
Quite a history of Scots in Russia. Lermontov is a Russification of Learmonth.
Quite a few settled on the Baltic and effectively became part of the Baltic German ethnic group. The Barclay de Tolly family was descended from Scots and the famous general was born in Courland and grew up in Livonia (now Estonia - he has a statue in Tartu).
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-mid 19th century. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
At least there's no danger of Edinburgh putting up a monument to Johnston. Glasgow should definitely have this carved in stone somewhere though.
I like the deliberate misspell but why 'still'? Was he ever not?
The original (spelled correctly) was 'Boris Johnson is a pure fanny' but the owner of the billboard painted it out. With the tenacity born of generations of contempt for Tories the artist returned..
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-1800ish. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
Is that why so many Scottish naval officers ended up working for the Russian navy around then (like the guy who founded Sevastopol Thomas MacKenzie's father, and his wife's grandfather Thomas Gordon)?
A job is a job. Since the Middle Ages, and before, Scots and their families have earned good money in the Baltic countries (Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Germany etc). Not just work, but emigration and immigration. Poland, Sweden and Russia in particular have a rich Scottish heritage.
All crises in the home country encouraged further waves of activity. The Union was one such crisis, as was the Jacobite rising, the Killing Times and the fall of Dundas.
A bookmaker received around $420,000 (£310,000) worth of bets on a controversial yellow card received by an Arsenal player in a Premier League fixture this season, and flagged it to the international betting watchdog over “manipulation” concerns, The Athletic can reveal.
As The Athletic reported earlier in the week, the Football Association is currently looking into an incident from this season which involved an Arsenal player being booked. Concerns were raised about suspicious betting patterns.
There is no formal FA investigation at this stage.
It has now come to light that correspondence took place between a bookmaker — based outside the UK — and the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) about the incident before The Athletic revealed the FA was looking it.
The emails detail how multiple bets of around $420,000 worth of cryptocurrency were placed on the player in question to get a yellow card — which then happened.
This should have led to winnings of over $1 million (£738,000), but the huge bets placed on the yellow card aroused suspicions at the bookmaker, and an internal investigation concluded the market may have been subject to manipulation.
This led the bookmaker to flag the issue to the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA). Bookmakers are required to report to authorities when they spot suspicious incidents. Multiple gambling industry insiders have told The Athletic that the pattern of betting surrounding the player being shown a yellow card during the match was highly unusual.
Some betting patterns, such as on gambling “exchanges” where individuals bet with each other rather than against a bookmaker’s own odds, can be viewed publicly.
But most money gambled around the world is gambled on sportsbooks where the data is kept private, and it is never made public how much money is wagered on a particular outcome.
The correspondence seen by The Athletic reveals that for one bookmaker, a huge sum of money was staked on this yellow card, which arose suspicions serious enough for the company to raise concerns to the IBIA.
The bookmaker in question is not a member of the IBIA, but chose to make a voluntary disclosure.
The IBIA works closely with sporting authorities including the FA, sharing information about suspicious betting activity.
There is probably going to be a VONC next week, with the final letters going in to Sir Graham after the Gray report is published, likely on Monday. However for now Boris should probably scrape home.
If the local elections in May see heavy Tory losses and the polls are still bad, then the 1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board. At that point Boris is more likely to lose it. There would then be a leadership election which Sunak would probably win to become next PM. Assuming Tory MPs can concoct a Sunak v Hunt runoff, thus keeping Truss off the ballot paper. Truss polls well with members but terribly with the public overall
Is your seat up in May? I sincerely hope you lose, if so.
No it isn't, I am not standing in May for district and my town council seat is next up in 2023
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-1800ish. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
Is that why so many Scottish naval officers ended up working for the Russian navy around then (like the guy who founded Sevastopol Thomas MacKenzie's father, and his wife's grandfather Thomas Gordon)?
Quite a history of Scots in Russia. Lermontov is a Russification of Learmonth.
Quite a few settled on the Baltic and effectively became part of the Baltic German ethnic group. The Barclay de Tolly family was descended from Scots and the famous general was born in Courland and grew up in Livonia (now Estonia - he has a statue in Tartu).
Industrialists too. I used to walk past this Edinburgh plaque daily. Finland was part of the Tsarist empire then so I suppose it counts.
The emails detail how multiple bets of around $420,000 worth of cryptocurrency were placed on the player in question to get a yellow card — which then happened.
There is probably going to be a VONC next week, with the final letters going in to Sir Graham after the Gray report is published, likely on Monday. However for now Boris should probably scrape home.
If the local elections in May see heavy Tory losses and the polls are still bad, then the 1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board. At that point Boris is more likely to lose it. There would then be a leadership election which Sunak would probably win to become next PM. Assuming Tory MPs can concoct a Sunak v Hunt runoff, thus keeping Truss off the ballot paper. Truss polls well with members but terribly with the public overall
All seems a bit farcical to me. If '1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board' then surely 1992 and the party board ultimately have the power to select the leader no matter what. So why not simply give them the power to do it and dispense with the other stuff, which they can overrule anyway.
As Tory MPs as a whole would still need to have the final vote in any VONC
Is that an immutable requirement of the Tory constitution or could, in theory, the 1922 Committee abolish it as a requirement if they chose?
The 1922 Committee could not change the VONC rules and certainly not abolish the VONC mechanism without the party board agreeing too, the 1922 cannot change the leadership election rules without agreement from the National Party Convention as well as the party board as well
In that case I think my points stands: if the 1922 Committee and the board want to get rid of a leader they can by simply rewriting the rules if those rules protect the leader. The Men in Grey Suits have the ultimate say.
I really am sick and tired of all this. It's the Financial Times for goodness sake. Who is the first expert they quote? Deepti Gurdasani the well known covid hysteric and advocate for zero covid. At the end we get something from Christina Pagel (never to be left out of any discussion). I admit that most FT readers are not fans of Johnson and even less so the backbenchers pulling him away from restrictions but it's a lazy appeal to your readers' prejudices.
I do hope that attitudes are now shifting among my centre-left fellow travellers. Many of the comments underneath clearly do not support the article's intention. I spent Christmas with close relatives with three young children. They aren't ideological people and Johnson probably just makes them groan but they're concerned for their children's futures and wondering why there was such reluctance to mention that omicron was milder when all the evidence started to point that way. They were worried about the impact of covid on their children's mental health, both the fear of the disease and the impact of restrictions. They were even a bit concerned about the possible weakening of their general immunity due to the lack of social contact over the last two years.
If people want to persist with masks and work from home mandates, fine. But please tell me when exactly you would remove such things? What would it take for them to withdraw ALL restrictions. If they don't really believe in going to back to the 'old' normal, i.e in person teaching at universities, cinemas theatres and schools without face mask mandates, 'passports' of various kinds, then please say so. At the moment such people just seem to be saying 'no'. At least zero covid was a strategy even if it was implausible.
Most of all I'm sick and tired of those 'experts' who display no humility even when outside their own specialist area of interest, never engage in debate with eminent academics who disagree with them and resort to straw man or indirect arguments. I do want to mention some exceptions. Tim Spector with the Zoe app. Raghib Ali, a Cambridge epidemiologist and frontline doctor and John Campbell of youtube fame. It would be nice if the mainstream media called on him to provide some of his calm, unbiased interpretation of the data. Maybe calling upon someone who lives in the rural north of England isn't really considered the done thing at the BBC, Sky or Channel 4. In a sane world such people would at least be rewarded for their coverage of the pandemic whereas the aforementioned doomsayers would disappear into the ether after the Warholian fifteen minutes are up. We can always hope.
Well said
Fries my brain, too. It would be nice if just one of these self-appointed Guardians of the Zero Covid Flame ever said Ooops, yes, got that totally wrong, I’ll shut the fuck up for a bit, apologies everyone, I’m an idiot
Because they have been wrong many times (and sometimes maybe right). Trouble is they are professionally invested in the Lockdown Narrative, it has won them attention, followers, fame, probably money and work. So they can’t back down.
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-1800ish. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
Is that why so many Scottish naval officers ended up working for the Russian navy around then (like the guy who founded Sevastopol Thomas MacKenzie's father, and his wife's grandfather Thomas Gordon)?
Quite a history of Scots in Russia. Lermontov is a Russification of Learmonth.
Quite a few settled on the Baltic and effectively became part of the Baltic German ethnic group. The Barclay de Tolly family was descended from Scots and the famous general was born in Courland and grew up in Livonia (now Estonia - he has a statue in Tartu).
Yes, there was a Nowe Szkoty/Neu Schottland quarter in Danzig. Gdansk is deffo on my list if travel gets back to normal in the next couple of years.
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
Send it back.
True
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
Send it back.
True
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
I find it difficult to believe that a significant chunk of Tory MPs actually want Bozo as PM.
All I can think is that a lash-up of 'Not Rishi', 'Not The Truss' and other assorted factions who are against one or other of the potential replacements dare not replace the Buffoon because the replacement might not be their chosen one.
Plus there's a few on the front bench who know that as soon as Bozo goes, they'll be next out.
Let the open wound that is the Tory Party fester away until the next election. The longer this goes on, the more it plays into Labour's hands.
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-mid 19th century. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
At least there's no danger of Edinburgh putting up a monument to Johnston. Glasgow should definitely have this carved in stone somewhere though.
I like the deliberate misspell but why 'still'? Was he ever not?
Nod to the K--ts who recorded BJ Is a F C and then BJ is still a F C
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-1800ish. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
Is that why so many Scottish naval officers ended up working for the Russian navy around then (like the guy who founded Sevastopol Thomas MacKenzie's father, and his wife's grandfather Thomas Gordon)?
A job is a job. Since the Middle Ages, and before, Scots and their families have earned good money in the Baltic countries (Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Germany etc). Not just work, but emigration and immigration. Poland, Sweden and Russia in particular have a rich Scottish heritage.
All crises in the home country encouraged further waves of activity. The Union was one such crisis, as was the Jacobite rising, the Killing Times and the fall of Dundas.
The English got about a bit too! The chap who made Sevastopol accessible to large ships, and redesigned much if the city, in the 19C was English engineer John Upton. One of his sons was captured by the British in the Crimean War.
The Russ/Scot who founded the city Thomas MacKenzie had a son who joined the British navy.
Comments
If the local elections in May see heavy Tory losses and the polls are still bad, then the 1922 may enable a second VONC to be held by amending the rules in consultation with the party board. At that point Boris is more likely to lose it. There would then be a leadership election which Sunak would probably win to become next PM. Assuming Tory MPs can concoct a Sunak v Hunt runoff, thus keeping Truss off the ballot paper. Truss polls well with members but terribly with the public overall
Last thread punters have it right bojo odds on to go this year
This thread nailed in position till 2024
Reynolds, two well-placed sources say, has been candid with Gray. “Reynolds is not willing to be the fall guy in all of this,” one government source said. “He’s talking and making his position very clear.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/poisonous-atmosphere-spreads-through-no-10-nest-of-adders-f5wg9pq6m
Then again, like breaking international agreements & law, he might defend it as “breaking the laws and ministerial code in a limited way”
I think great political betting is about distancing oneself and observing as objectively and dispassionately as possible.
Johnson is not giving up without a fight, that's for sure.
Staff throw their uniforms at the police outside Downing Street.
https://twitter.com/SubjectAccesss/status/1484907250821046273?s=20
It's just in the PM's skull, not his office.
He says, 'the chances are' and that therefore he 'surely would make it to the next general election'. There is nothing definite about those statements. It's a cautious and objective balance of probabilities.
I'd say it's 60:40 Johnson will survive to 2024. That's a shift from my 70:30 yesterday.
Given my track record, mortgage your house to the hilt and back him to survive in office until 2031.
The knobhead who confronted Javid admitted that despite thinking he has had COVID, never tested positive, there were many months between being able to get the jab and having an antibody test which he says confirms he has had COVID as some point.
So all the BS he was pushing of I am not an antivaxxer, I have just had COVID, so I don't need it, he didn't take the vaccine even when he had no idea he had ever had COVID.
The only thing saving him (I think) is a Russian invasion on Ukraine
@Steven_Swinford
The operation to save Boris Johnson is well underway - he’s determined to stay no matter what Gray finds
‘The PM is literally the most competitive person imaginable
‘He wants to outlast Dave [Cameron]. He won’t accept the last Etonian PM having survived longer than him’
@Steven_Swinford
·
2h
Boris Johnson allies furious over 1922 committee proposals to change rules to allow 2 confidence votes in year
‘It would be incredibly cynical, a manipulation of process
‘If they get rid of 12-month rule they will no longer be seen as fit for purpose. It would be end of 1922’
@JenGriffinFNC
10m
@LucasFoxNews reports US officials now say Kiev is in Russia’s crosshairs after Russian fighter jets and S400 anti aircraft missile systems arrive in Belarus. First US shipment of 200,000 lbs of ammo arrived in Ukraine last night. More to come: US officials.
https://twitter.com/JenGriffinFNC/status/1484915648291610629
https://twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1484883012600963072
Impeachment?
COVID - Thanks to the stupidity of large numbers of Americans on not getting vaccinated we have new data...
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/01/unvaccinated-5x-more-likely-to-get-omicron-than-those-boosted-cdc-reports/
- Vaccines (and especially boosters) do have an effect on infections rates. A substantial one. So the argument that vaccination does nothin for infection rates turns out to be garbage.
- Massive effects on showing up at A&E
- Massive effects on hospitalisation
Please light a candle for all the fucking morons who died to give us this data.
In the meantime, whoever deposes Boris has to have the power to do so. The voters have that power, but not until 2024. In the meantime, it all depends on whether Boris can bluff, blag, bluster and bully his MPs into continuing to support him.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_in_the_United_Kingdom
But I actually think the ultimate crushing of the Boris Johnson ego would be defenestration at the hands of his own MPs and being booted out of Downing Street.
'That' picture of Margaret Thatcher is one of the most iconic in C20th politics.
Tony Blair, whose ego must match Boris Johnson's, managed to exit stage left (almost literally from the House of Commons) before an irate electorate had the chance to give him the boot. Dave Cameron in a way did something similar.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/01/22/god-save-queen-trends-twitter-ukrainians-celebrate-british-arms/
Proud to be British this evening 🇬🇧 🇺🇦
In fact very similar post. Hmmm..
https://twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1484883012600963072
Heartening stuff for bojo is toasters
Tory members would then have the final say in any subsequent leadership election if that VONC was lost once Tory MPs had whittled it down to 2 candidates
Cases - pretty flat overall. BUT cases are falling in the 15+ groups. The unvaccinated children are flattening a continuing fall
Admissions - Down
MV Beds - Down
In Hospital - Down
Deaths - flat
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.9542988,-3.1933972,3a,90y,76.2h,93.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sGx89Qbb_mqkz0sm7sykJUA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dundas_House
The tournament debutants play hosts and five-time champions Cameroon in Yaounde on Monday, but their camp has been hit by 12 positive Covid cases including coach Amir Abdou.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/60097828
Forget the personalities, the game of politics is all about shifting the Overton window in your direction.
You?
Edit: indeed almost zero prospect of any jobs at all, unless you had connections: so sitting "onm the beach" with "half-pay" (not quite that much of a reduction, but still).
Send it back.
Socially however Boris is the most culturally conservative PM we have had since Thatcher and he is also the most Eurosceptic PM since Thatcher, obviously since he implemented Brexit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Russians
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
There were some interesting (and lucrative) jobs around the world - South America and Greece for starters...
I really am sick and tired of all this. It's the Financial Times for goodness sake. Who is the first expert they quote? Deepti Gurdasani the well known covid hysteric and advocate for zero covid. At the end we get something from Christina Pagel (never to be left out of any discussion). I admit that most FT readers are not fans of Johnson and even less so the backbenchers pulling him away from restrictions but it's a lazy appeal to your readers' prejudices.
I do hope that attitudes are now shifting among my centre-left fellow travellers. Many of the comments underneath clearly do not support the article's intention. I spent Christmas with close relatives with three young children. They aren't ideological people and Johnson probably just makes them groan but they're concerned for their children's futures and wondering why there was such reluctance to mention that omicron was milder when all the evidence started to point that way. They were worried about the impact of covid on their children's mental health, both the fear of the disease and the impact of restrictions. They were even a bit concerned about the possible weakening of their general immunity due to the lack of social contact over the last two years.
If people want to persist with masks and work from home mandates, fine. But please tell me when exactly you would remove such things? What would it take for them to withdraw ALL restrictions. If they don't really believe in going to back to the 'old' normal, i.e in person teaching at universities, cinemas theatres and schools without face mask mandates, 'passports' of various kinds, then please say so. At the moment such people just seem to be saying 'no'. At least zero covid was a strategy even if it was implausible.
Most of all I'm sick and tired of those 'experts' who display no humility even when outside their own specialist area of interest, never engage in debate with eminent academics who disagree with them and resort to straw man or indirect arguments. I do want to mention some exceptions. Tim Spector with the Zoe app. Raghib Ali, a Cambridge epidemiologist and frontline doctor and John Campbell of youtube fame. It would be nice if the mainstream media called on him to provide some of his calm, unbiased interpretation of the data. Maybe calling upon someone who lives in the rural north of England isn't really considered the done thing at the BBC, Sky or Channel 4. In a sane world such people would at least be rewarded for their coverage of the pandemic whereas the aforementioned doomsayers would disappear into the ether after the Warholian fifteen minutes are up. We can always hope.
All crises in the home country encouraged further waves of activity. The Union was one such crisis, as was the Jacobite rising, the Killing Times and the fall of Dundas.
As The Athletic reported earlier in the week, the Football Association is currently looking into an incident from this season which involved an Arsenal player being booked. Concerns were raised about suspicious betting patterns.
There is no formal FA investigation at this stage.
It has now come to light that correspondence took place between a bookmaker — based outside the UK — and the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) about the incident before The Athletic revealed the FA was looking it.
The emails detail how multiple bets of around $420,000 worth of cryptocurrency were placed on the player in question to get a yellow card — which then happened.
This should have led to winnings of over $1 million (£738,000), but the huge bets placed on the yellow card aroused suspicions at the bookmaker, and an internal investigation concluded the market may have been subject to manipulation.
This led the bookmaker to flag the issue to the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA). Bookmakers are required to report to authorities when they spot suspicious incidents. Multiple gambling industry insiders have told The Athletic that the pattern of betting surrounding the player being shown a yellow card during the match was highly unusual.
Some betting patterns, such as on gambling “exchanges” where individuals bet with each other rather than against a bookmaker’s own odds, can be viewed publicly.
But most money gambled around the world is gambled on sportsbooks where the data is kept private, and it is never made public how much money is wagered on a particular outcome.
The correspondence seen by The Athletic reveals that for one bookmaker, a huge sum of money was staked on this yellow card, which arose suspicions serious enough for the company to raise concerns to the IBIA.
The bookmaker in question is not a member of the IBIA, but chose to make a voluntary disclosure.
The IBIA works closely with sporting authorities including the FA, sharing information about suspicious betting activity.
https://theathletic.com/3085772/2022/01/22/bookmaker-flagged-420000-bet-on-controversial-arsenal-yellow-card-to-watchdog/
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2132021
Fries my brain, too. It would be nice if just one of these self-appointed Guardians of the Zero Covid Flame ever said Ooops, yes, got that totally wrong, I’ll shut the fuck up for a bit, apologies everyone, I’m an idiot
Because they have been wrong many times (and sometimes maybe right). Trouble is they are professionally invested in the Lockdown Narrative, it has won them attention, followers, fame, probably money and work. So they can’t back down.
It is corrupt and they are wankers
Aren’t you meant to be sailing around Cape Verde?
All I can think is that a lash-up of 'Not Rishi', 'Not The Truss' and other assorted factions who are against one or other of the potential replacements dare not replace the Buffoon because the replacement might not be their chosen one.
Plus there's a few on the front bench who know that as soon as Bozo goes, they'll be next out.
Let the open wound that is the Tory Party fester away until the next election. The longer this goes on, the more it plays into Labour's hands.
The Russ/Scot who founded the city Thomas MacKenzie had a son who joined the British navy.