I think this might bring down Boris if he doesn't sack big Dom. I have non-political friends who voted for Boris that are absolutely seething with rage having missed funerals, not seen nieces and nephews, one hasn't held his newborn daughter because he works on grid maintenance where social distancing isn't possible.
All of them backed Boris as a straight shooter who wasn't like other politicians. Tbh, even if Boris sacks Dom and has a damascene conversion it has mortally wounded his premiership.
Among reliably Tory friends I have the situation is worse.
The press conference was an absolute disaster. If he wanted to support Cummings it was always going to be tricky but he made so many mistakes.
The first minute he spelt out eloquently exactly why what Cummings had done was making everyone angry. It was the most coherent part of his speech by far. But he never even began to tear that argument down.
He said Ive had a long chat and Ive decided its ok but I cant tell you if he went to the castle. Really?
And topped it off by saying that the public who were angry with Cummings were just confused.
Can’t believe they made Scott set his alarm AGAIN on a Bank Holiday to post tweets in a doomed cause.
Tough break Scott.
And yet there you are also.
Bank Holiday or not, its not like we can all jet off on our city breaks, go the races, watch our football team, enjoy the pub or a favourite restaurant or anything.
Sky gets spain situation wrong again. Most of the country has had bar terraces open for two weeks now 50% capacity 2m distancing, table service only. Today half the country goes to phase two where restaurants and bars can open indoors with the above conditions. More retail outlets will be open commercial centers etc at 40% capacity etc etc just annoying Sky over simplify it. If you break the rules you get fined the one thing they are losing control of is inter province travel which is banned as more and more second homers turn up from Madrid and Murcia which is a concern. We’re still in phase 1 Valencia but can get a meal and drink out if I want.
Sky gets spain situation wrong again. Most of the country has had bar terraces open for two weeks now 50% capacity 2m distancing, table service only. Today half the country goes to phase two where restaurants and bars can open indoors with the above conditions. More retail outlets will be open commercial centers etc at 40% capacity etc etc just annoying Sky over simplify it. If you break the rules you get fined the one thing they are losing control of is inter province travel which is banned as more and more second homers turn up from Madrid and Murcia which is a concern. We’re still in phase 1 Valencia but can get a meal and drink out if I want.
All sounds sensible. Outdoor restaurants seem fine to me as long as we are not packed in like sardines.
@Andy_Cooke I'm wondering if it'll make parents keep their kids away from school "Doing the best for my family", who could criticise them ?
I think, to be honest, that has always been factored in. Indeed, it's rather helpful if the numbers attending are down.
The MUCH more worrying incentive effect is if we need to go back to a more draconian situation due to a second wave, plus the more general distancing guidance.
If we get a second wave, as is entirely possible, the Government will ask for some form of lockdown or lesser restrictions. Getting the public to go along with that when they've established that the rules aren't enforced equally will be very difficult.
The result of that will be increased deaths, as well as economic damage.
And it's just plain stupid. If the PM wanted to stand behind Cummings then the inquiry was the way to go (I thought that'd be what he said). Pretending this is all closed is nonsense. If it were just leftwing papers that might be a line that would work. But rightwing media and, more importantly, numbers of Conservative MPs are calling for Grima Wormtongue's removal.
An 80 seat majority means the Conservative Government is safe. It does not mean the Conservative Prime Minister is safe.
What keeps him safe is the fact that there's no obvious alternative.
Gove, Sunak, Hunt
Raab even.
Sunak is an unproven lightweight with terrible judgement who has only been popular when giving away unaffordable amounts of money. He may be ready in a decade or two.
Hunt and Raab has made plenty of errors of judgement of their own.
Gove is the only vaguely plausible one, but has a list of enemies even longer than Boris.
They're all plausible alternatives. Normally I wouldn't include someone as recently promoted as Sunak but he's dealing with possibly the sharpest recession ever so it's quite the blooding, and Raab hardly inspired confidence when the PM was hospitalised but they're all plausible alternatives. I've got £10 on Steve Baker in this market at 100-1 too, which looks more plausible this week than it did last.
If we get a second wave, as is entirely possible, the Government will ask for some form of lockdown or lesser restrictions. Getting the public to go along with that when they've established that the rules aren't enforced equally will be very difficult.
The result of that will be increased deaths, as well as economic damage.
And it's just plain stupid. If the PM wanted to stand behind Cummings then the inquiry was the way to go (I thought that'd be what he said). Pretending this is all closed is nonsense. If it were just leftwing papers that might be a line that would work. But rightwing media and, more importantly, numbers of Conservative MPs are calling for Grima Wormtongue's removal.
An 80 seat majority means the Conservative Government is safe. It does not mean the Conservative Prime Minister is safe.
What keeps him safe is the fact that there's no obvious alternative.
Gove, Sunak, Hunt
Raab even.
Sunak is an unproven lightweight with terrible judgement who has only been popular when giving away unaffordable amounts of money. He may be ready in a decade or two.
Hunt and Raab has made plenty of errors of judgement of their own.
Gove is the only vaguely plausible one, but has a list of enemies even longer than Boris.
They're all plausible alternatives. Normally I wouldn't include someone as recently promoted as Sunak but he's dealing with possibly the sharpest recession ever so it's quite the blooding, and Raab hardly inspired confidence when the PM was hospitalised but they're all plausible alternatives. I've got £10 on Steve Baker in this market at 100-1 too, which looks more plausible this week than it did last.
Sunak is bright enough to know that now is probably his best chance to become PM, once this has settled down the chancellor is going to have some awful decisions to make
He would be mad not to go for it and actually could possibly get it without a vote given current circumstances.
On topic - I do think Covid 19 has destroyed Boris's mental capabilities.
@Andy_Cooke I'm wondering if it'll make parents keep their kids away from school "Doing the best for my family", who could criticise them ?
I think, to be honest, that has always been factored in. Indeed, it's rather helpful if the numbers attending are down.
The MUCH more worrying incentive effect is if we need to go back to a more draconian situation due to a second wave, plus the more general distancing guidance.
We won't be able to lock down again - that option went at 17:01 yesterday.
On the plus side, the level of sheer fury about all this might actually mean that people will follow the rules after all and avoid a second spike. I wasn’t expecting quite this level of vitriol from everyone - it’s the sort of thing I associate with an angry attitude of: “Well, I’m going to do the right thing even if these arseholes play fast and loose” Which ends up making them angrier - as if they’re having to clean up after the mess from the spoilt brats.
The end of lock-up - yes, we've been locked up, why use a more confusing word? - might be the right result for the wrong reasons
Professor Karol Sikora, an oncologist, thinks that if normal healthcare doesn't return PDQ there could be 50,000 extra cancer deaths. Professor Hendrik Streeck, a virologist, considers that COVID-19 is about as risky as a bad flu year. Some people go lower than that.
The government went overnight from 'no worse than normal flu' to 'we're all going to die' and it seems that at no point did it seek a second opinion on the quality of the modelling
As I said yesterday evening, history will record this weekend as the moment Johnson lost 2024.
Remember @DavidHerdson’s very acute article last week. If Boris Johnson looks like a loser, he’ll be given the heave-ho. And this failure is a very personal one. Sir Keir needs to think not just about how he’ll fight Boris Johnson but how he’d fight any successor.
@Andy_Cooke I'm wondering if it'll make parents keep their kids away from school "Doing the best for my family", who could criticise them ?
I think, to be honest, that has always been factored in. Indeed, it's rather helpful if the numbers attending are down.
The MUCH more worrying incentive effect is if we need to go back to a more draconian situation due to a second wave, plus the more general distancing guidance.
We won't be able to lock down again - that option went at 17:01 yesterday.
Yep, we are now entering or reentering the herd immunity stage of the campaign against the virus.
The red wall stuck with Labour for a long time, they chanced it on a new kind of Tory in Boris Johnson. Now he's pissed them off and so they will have no qualms with going back to Labour, now Labour looks competent and not terrifying anymore.
Couldn't really think of a worse political mistake, possibly as approval trashing as Iraq.
I think this might bring down Boris if he doesn't sack big Dom. I have non-political friends who voted for Boris that are absolutely seething with rage having missed funerals, not seen nieces and nephews, one hasn't held his newborn daughter because he works on grid maintenance where social distancing isn't possible.
All of them backed Boris as a straight shooter who wasn't like other politicians. Tbh, even if Boris sacks Dom and has a damascene conversion it has mortally wounded his premiership.
Among reliably Tory friends I have the situation is worse.
Can’t believe they made Scott set his alarm AGAIN on a Bank Holiday to post tweets in a doomed cause.
Tough break Scott.
And yet there you are also.
Bank Holiday or not, its not like we can all jet off on our city breaks, go the races, watch our football team, enjoy the pub or a favourite restaurant or anything.
I think I might make a daytrip to some Durham beauty spots...
They had good will, now the votes will go back to Labour.
Wait until those voters see the results of the lockdown on their jobs and the jobs of their friends. That vote will be labour once again until the end of days.
We must not understate that although some converted red to blue seats have massive Tory majorities, others are very marginal.
The top 60 or so Labour target seats have majorities under 7000. That's not exactly a lot of people to piss off before the Tory majority gets torpedoed.
Watching Gavin Williamson squirm on BBC this morning my wife and I were both struck by the thought that if Boris had come out on Sunday evening and started his press conference with 'I've heard what Cummings had to say and I've given him a stern talking to about never doing such a damn fool thing again. He's risked all that that we're trying to do!" we'd be talking about something completely different this morning!
There are many, many, many people who have made desperately difficult personal sacrifices to support the national effort against the Coronavirus. Ill and lonely relatives not visited. Funerals not attended. Weddings cancelled. Jobs furloughed. Huge childcare challenges faced.
There are still those who are following the chain of logic of:
1: There is a controversy involving Cummings 2: Cummings was the architect of Leave 3: Ergo it’s all a conspiracy by Remainers 4: Hold the line.
The possibility that there might actually be a non-Brexit related controversy involving Cummings hasn’t yet penetrated. That the Mail, plus many prominent Brexiteers have lambasted him over this might be a clue that, you know, this is about something he’s actually done - would require a big shift in outlook.
I swear if Cummings was to shoot someone in the street shouting "I'm glad I Domminic Cummings kill him" there would be people on here posting "prosecuting Dominic Cummings would just be giving in to the left wing anti-Brexit hate mob"
Message fromy dad (member for 34 years) - "if Boris doesn't sack Dom by the end of today I'll be resigning my membership as well, can't be one rule for us and another for them, we've never been about that as a party".
Never thought I'd see the day, he's legitimately the most solidly Conservative person I know.
This issue reaches way, way beyond the left/right or leave/remain divide. I've honestly never seen anything like it.
I doubt this is the end of Boris or the Tories. They have just under four years to recover. However, that said, the opportunities to impress or win over the public will be few and far between. The memory of the crisis when the Tories looked after their own before the public will be hard to shift.
I thought yesterday's press conference was a masterclass in pouring petrol on a media fire, but this morning's media round suggests they can do better...
'Amanda Hopgood, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Durham County Council, said "a number of local residents have reported seeing Dominic Cummings on several occasions in April and May".'
They're under-preparing the MPs on the media on purpose. Presumably they think if we don't know the answers the issue will just go away. The arrogance continues.
At some point we have to say that Dom just got lucky with his past performances. There simply is no way for a sensible person to cock up the PR response this badly.
I guess that a huge number of Tory MPs felt the poll tax was right in principle, but that it was politically foolish and damaging to press ahead against such strong opposition.
The difference here is that these MPs are getting gut-wrenching messages from constituents, and have very often made personal sacrifices themselves. So it isn't just politically damaging - they realise their constituents are right, and feel it viscerally themselves in many cases.
Can’t believe they made Scott set his alarm AGAIN on a Bank Holiday to post tweets in a doomed cause.
Tough break Scott.
What doomed cause is this? I'm genuinely baffled by that term!
To get Dom - in revenge for Brexit.
That’s all this is about - in the end.
Bollocks.
Any person with a half a brain cell knows what this is about, to deny it is childish.
Tom Harwood just gave the true account of what is happening
Hahahahaha.
Tom Harwood, who spends 99% of his time complaining about Labour activists on the BBC and how Owen Jones isn't a real journalist, yet goes out as the spokesman for Boris Johnson on every event? That Tom Harwood?
There are still those who are following the chain of logic of:
1: There is a controversy involving Cummings 2: Cummings was the architect of Leave 3: Ergo it’s all a conspiracy by Remainers 4: Hold the line.
The possibility that there might actually be a non-Brexit related controversy involving Cummings hasn’t yet penetrated. That the Mail, plus many prominent Brexiteers have lambasted him over this might be a clue that, you know, this is about something he’s actually done - would require a big shift in outlook.
I swear if Cummings was to shoot someone in the street shouting "I'm glad I Domminic Cummings kill him" there would be people on here posting "prosecuting Dominic Cummings would just be giving in to the left wing anti-Brexit hate mob"
Why haven't they gone after Stephen Kinnock with the same zeal? Or Tahir Ali?
There are still those who are following the chain of logic of:
1: There is a controversy involving Cummings 2: Cummings was the architect of Leave 3: Ergo it’s all a conspiracy by Remainers 4: Hold the line.
The possibility that there might actually be a non-Brexit related controversy involving Cummings hasn’t yet penetrated. That the Mail, plus many prominent Brexiteers have lambasted him over this might be a clue that, you know, this is about something he’s actually done - would require a big shift in outlook.
I swear if Cummings was to shoot someone in the street shouting "I'm glad I Domminic Cummings kill him" there would be people on here posting "prosecuting Dominic Cummings would just be giving in to the left wing anti-Brexit hate mob"
Count me in the 48% who loathe Cummings and all his works, and see Johnson as a fat winding. It is nice to see the scales fall from the eyes of so many of the 52% though.
This government has 4 years of unpopular decisions to get through, indeed the next 4 moths will be a hell of a challenge. More of the sort of contemptuous waffle that we saw last evening should ensure a 97 like result for Starmer if he plays his cards right. So far he has played them very well indeed.
I dont think the technical problems helped the PM at all. It made him look hesitant, embarrassed and out of control of the situation, which are 3 things he normally avoids appearing.
On a psychological level, there is a quite interesting angle to this.
Boris Johnson's sun, around which all else revolves, is the ambition of Boris Johnson. He must be aware how much damage this is doing to him and his government. Yet he still values Dominic Cummings enough to keep him on despite the severe and ongoing harm.
Can’t believe they made Scott set his alarm AGAIN on a Bank Holiday to post tweets in a doomed cause.
Tough break Scott.
What doomed cause is this? I'm genuinely baffled by that term!
To get Dom - in revenge for Brexit.
That’s all this is about - in the end.
Bollocks.
Any person with a half a brain cell knows what this is about, to deny it is childish.
Tom Harwood just gave the true account of what is happening
If you are right, then someone, somewhere is an utter political genius. Use the fact that the Tories are anxious and obsessive about Brexit to blindside them to catastrophic political damage.
No one is that clever. This is a total fiasco dreamt up in the number 10 bubble.
Can’t believe they made Scott set his alarm AGAIN on a Bank Holiday to post tweets in a doomed cause.
Tough break Scott.
What doomed cause is this? I'm genuinely baffled by that term!
To get Dom - in revenge for Brexit.
That’s all this is about - in the end.
Bollocks.
Any person with a half a brain cell knows what this is about, to deny it is childish.
Tom Harwood just gave the true account of what is happening
Hahahahaha.
Tom Harwood, who spends 99% of his time complaining about Labour activists on the BBC and how Owen Jones isn't a real journalist, yet goes out as the spokesman for Boris Johnson on every event? That Tom Harwood?
You have lost the plot.
That's the one, the person that speaks more common sense than most journalists put together
Can’t believe they made Scott set his alarm AGAIN on a Bank Holiday to post tweets in a doomed cause.
Tough break Scott.
What doomed cause is this? I'm genuinely baffled by that term!
To get Dom - in revenge for Brexit.
That’s all this is about - in the end.
Bollocks.
Any person with a half a brain cell knows what this is about, to deny it is childish.
Tom Harwood just gave the true account of what is happening
Hahahahaha.
Tom Harwood, who spends 99% of his time complaining about Labour activists on the BBC and how Owen Jones isn't a real journalist, yet goes out as the spokesman for Boris Johnson on every event? That Tom Harwood?
You have lost the plot.
Bit rich coming from you given your capabilities at prediction.
There are still those who are following the chain of logic of:
1: There is a controversy involving Cummings 2: Cummings was the architect of Leave 3: Ergo it’s all a conspiracy by Remainers 4: Hold the line.
The possibility that there might actually be a non-Brexit related controversy involving Cummings hasn’t yet penetrated. That the Mail, plus many prominent Brexiteers have lambasted him over this might be a clue that, you know, this is about something he’s actually done - would require a big shift in outlook.
I swear if Cummings was to shoot someone in the street shouting "I'm glad I Domminic Cummings kill him" there would be people on here posting "prosecuting Dominic Cummings would just be giving in to the left wing anti-Brexit hate mob"
Why haven't they gone after Stephen Kinnock with the same zeal? Or Tahir Ali?
Neither of them tried to cover it up and both said sorry. Jenrick had reasonable excuse and only the really hard left attacked him. Ferguson and Calderwood both did the crime and got the sack, and Matt Hancock wouldn't have lasted two seconds if he'd done as Cummings had. Backbenchers will be remembering how Javid was treated, Cummings was never much liked but he's always been effective in the past. Now he's the story and it's not going anywhere.
This is even worse. Everyone was in this together: a united, countrywide, visceral, emotional, spiritual joint energy.
Boris & Cummings just pissed all over that.
The fury and hurt from young to old is tangible and real. This won't be forgotten in a long, long, time.
I've never known such anger about politics amongst people I have spoken to in last day or so. Small sample obviously, but can't imagine why anyone else would be different.
The hit on the opinion poll Conservative ratings may be a long slide as happened following Black Wednesday: it took 6 months for the full polling scale to show. I expect Labour to take the lead in the next 3 months.
On a psychological level, there is a quite interesting angle to this.
Boris Johnson's sun, around which all else revolves, is the ambition of Boris Johnson. He must be aware how much damage this is doing to him and his government. Yet he still values Dominic Cummings enough to keep him on despite the severe and ongoing harm.
Can Johnson actually go the toilet without Cummings's help?
On a psychological level, there is a quite interesting angle to this.
Boris Johnson's sun, around which all else revolves, is the ambition of Boris Johnson. He must be aware how much damage this is doing to him and his government. Yet he still values Dominic Cummings enough to keep him on despite the severe and ongoing harm.
I think its a simple practical level. The PM knows he cannot control his cabinet without Cummings.
There are still those who are following the chain of logic of:
1: There is a controversy involving Cummings 2: Cummings was the architect of Leave 3: Ergo it’s all a conspiracy by Remainers 4: Hold the line.
The possibility that there might actually be a non-Brexit related controversy involving Cummings hasn’t yet penetrated. That the Mail, plus many prominent Brexiteers have lambasted him over this might be a clue that, you know, this is about something he’s actually done - would require a big shift in outlook.
I swear if Cummings was to shoot someone in the street shouting "I'm glad I Domminic Cummings kill him" there would be people on here posting "prosecuting Dominic Cummings would just be giving in to the left wing anti-Brexit hate mob"
Why haven't they gone after Stephen Kinnock with the same zeal? Or Tahir Ali?
Perhaps because:
1) neither was at the centre of government 2) neither was carrying the deadly viruses with them on their visit.
On a psychological level, there is a quite interesting angle to this.
Boris Johnson's sun, around which all else revolves, is the ambition of Boris Johnson. He must be aware how much damage this is doing to him and his government. Yet he still values Dominic Cummings enough to keep him on despite the severe and ongoing harm.
Boris has no ambition. He became PM, he won a majority bigger than Dave’s, he delivered Brexit. He is done. He now wants to sell his memoirs for £££s.
Can’t believe they made Scott set his alarm AGAIN on a Bank Holiday to post tweets in a doomed cause.
Tough break Scott.
What doomed cause is this? I'm genuinely baffled by that term!
To get Dom - in revenge for Brexit.
That’s all this is about - in the end.
Bollocks.
Any person with a half a brain cell knows what this is about, to deny it is childish.
Tom Harwood just gave the true account of what is happening
What, because nobody could seriously mind about tens of thousands of unnecessary, and unnecessarily unpleasant, deaths? It must be a pretext? You sound like Labour party members saying the antisemitism claims were really about something else because, let's face it, lads, nobody seriously objects to having a bit of a laugh at the expense of the the four-by-twos. Some things are about what they look as if they are about.
On a psychological level, there is a quite interesting angle to this.
Boris Johnson's sun, around which all else revolves, is the ambition of Boris Johnson. He must be aware how much damage this is doing to him and his government. Yet he still values Dominic Cummings enough to keep him on despite the severe and ongoing harm.
I think its a simple practical level. The PM knows he cannot control his cabinet without Cummings.
Possibly not, given the way Cummings is taking the piss.
Excellent advice indeed for those people who seem to think there's an election this year. Or next year. Or the year after that. Or the year after that.
Comments
Looking forward to the next round of polling.
The first minute he spelt out eloquently exactly why what Cummings had done was making everyone angry. It was the most coherent part of his speech by far. But he never even began to tear that argument down.
He said Ive had a long chat and Ive decided its ok but I cant tell you if he went to the castle. Really?
And topped it off by saying that the public who were angry with Cummings were just confused.
Starmer 7/4
Sunak 9/2 (lengthening)
Gove 12/1 (shortening)
Raab 20/1 (lengthening)
Hancock 25/1 (shortening)
...
Moran 125/1
Best prices - Next FM
Forbes 6/1
Robertson 10/1
Swinney 10/1
...
Leonard 20/1
...
Carlaw 25/1
...
Rennie 100/1
If you break the rules you get fined the one thing they are losing control of is inter province travel which is banned as more and more second homers turn up from Madrid and Murcia which is a concern. We’re still in phase 1 Valencia but can get a meal and drink out if I want.
The MUCH more worrying incentive effect is if we need to go back to a more draconian situation due to a second wave, plus the more general distancing guidance.
"Look. all the plebs love me. There is no crisis..."
He would be mad not to go for it and actually could possibly get it without a vote given current circumstances.
On topic - I do think Covid 19 has destroyed Boris's mental capabilities.
Now all I need is for them to start allowing foreigners to enter the country...
They had good will, now the votes will go back to Labour.
https://twitter.com/geoffshadbold/status/1264816199814316032?s=21
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2020/05/19/the-mad-modellers-of-lockdown/
Professor Karol Sikora, an oncologist, thinks that if normal healthcare doesn't return PDQ there could be 50,000 extra cancer deaths. Professor Hendrik Streeck, a virologist, considers that COVID-19 is about as risky as a bad flu year. Some people go lower than that.
The government went overnight from 'no worse than normal flu' to 'we're all going to die' and it seems that at no point did it seek a second opinion on the quality of the modelling
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/05/16/neil-fergusons-imperial-model-could-devastating-software-mistake/
Impressive.
And he's still got the screwed economy to come.
https://twitter.com/BBCPhilipSim/status/1264817838654738432?s=20
It would take a heart of stone etc...
Couldn't really think of a worse political mistake, possibly as approval trashing as Iraq.
This presumably includes the poll tax.
https://twitter.com/nickeardleybbc/status/1264822040042917896
https://twitter.com/bbcphilipsim/status/1264820134587310080?s=21
The top 60 or so Labour target seats have majorities under 7000. That's not exactly a lot of people to piss off before the Tory majority gets torpedoed.
Journalists should just turn up.
How desperately out of touch.
There are many, many, many people who have made desperately difficult personal sacrifices to support the national effort against the Coronavirus. Ill and lonely relatives not visited. Funerals not attended. Weddings cancelled. Jobs furloughed. Huge childcare challenges faced.
Dan Hodges is full of ****.
I now am sure the Government's PR has always been dreadful, it's just that Labour's was worse.
Yet.
Never thought I'd see the day, he's legitimately the most solidly Conservative person I know.
This issue reaches way, way beyond the left/right or leave/remain divide. I've honestly never seen anything like it.
Looking worse by the hour.
Better to say you don't know rather than talking rubbish that will fall apart.
You are Dominic Cummings and I claim my €10.
At some point we have to say that Dom just got lucky with his past performances. There simply is no way for a sensible person to cock up the PR response this badly.
Tom Harwood just gave the true account of what is happening
The difference here is that these MPs are getting gut-wrenching messages from constituents, and have very often made personal sacrifices themselves. So it isn't just politically damaging - they realise their constituents are right, and feel it viscerally themselves in many cases.
Tom Harwood, who spends 99% of his time complaining about Labour activists on the BBC and how Owen Jones isn't a real journalist, yet goes out as the spokesman for Boris Johnson on every event? That Tom Harwood?
You have lost the plot.
This government has 4 years of unpopular decisions to get through, indeed the next 4 moths will be a hell of a challenge. More of the sort of contemptuous waffle that we saw last evening should ensure a 97 like result for Starmer if he plays his cards right. So far he has played them very well indeed.
Ladbrokes 6/4 go, 1/2 stay
PP/Betfair 11/10 go, 4/6 stay
Boris & Cummings just pissed all over that.
The fury and hurt from young to old is tangible and real. This won't be forgotten in a long, long, time.
Boris Johnson's sun, around which all else revolves, is the ambition of Boris Johnson. He must be aware how much damage this is doing to him and his government. Yet he still values Dominic Cummings enough to keep him on despite the severe and ongoing harm.
No one is that clever. This is a total fiasco dreamt up in the number 10 bubble.
Backbenchers will be remembering how Javid was treated, Cummings was never much liked but he's always been effective in the past. Now he's the story and it's not going anywhere.
The hit on the opinion poll Conservative ratings may be a long slide as happened following Black Wednesday: it took 6 months for the full polling scale to show. I expect Labour to take the lead in the next 3 months.
1) neither was at the centre of government
2) neither was carrying the deadly viruses with them on their visit.
https://twitter.com/MonarchyUK/status/1195825963298365444
'Cos there isn't