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Johnny Mercer has given so much ammunition to critics of Boris Johnson – politicalbetting.com
Johnny Mercer has given so much ammunition to critics of Boris Johnson – politicalbetting.com
Johnny Mercer, former defence minister, tells @tnewtondunn that ''almost nobody tells the truth'' in this government and that it's the "most distrustful, awful environment I've ever worked in government".Listen ? https://t.co/50SQDjPybb@JPonpolitics | @JohnnyMercerUK pic.twitter.com/d9IfP6F1QZ
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However, I do not see it on the horizon yet
Indeed for everything being thrown at him on sleaze he just seems to be teflon coated
And on interesting news from last night Independence seems to be on the slide
https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1384997052468301826?s=19
Although he has lifted the lid on what some in PB suspect and others in PB are determined to ignore.
Transparency International UK said a “seriously flawed” arrangement, whereby companies bidding for contracts were prioritised if they were referred into a “VIP lane” by their political connections, had “damaged trust in the integrity of the pandemic response”.
The group said Boris Johnson’s government must urgently disclose the identities of companies awarded public money through the VIP lane, which was set up by the Cabinet Office and the Department of Health and Social Care in the early days of the pandemic.
On last night’s @Peston show. I’m not good enough to be PM yet. I’ll be with @BorisJohnson, campaigning together, trying to unite the party and the Nation, and govern from the centre in a modern, compassionate, optimistic manner 🇬🇧👇 https://twitter.com/JohnnyMercerUK/status/1131470315748495360/video/1
Trade experts said the reported comments about the Australian trade minister, Dan Tehan, by allies of Liz Truss were “bizarre” and “an unfortunate but serious setback for what should have been friendly negotiations”.
The Australian government opted not to return fire on the undiplomatic comments on Wednesday, with Tehan declining to respond.
But Dr Jeffrey Wilson, the research director of the Perth USAsia Centre at the University of Western Australia, said the reported remarks would “damage trust between the ministers, which is essential if they are to work together to direct and shape the progress of the negotiating teams”.
“This ‘backgrounding’ – which includes unprovoked ad hominem directed against the Australian trade minister – is bizarre,” Wilson told the Guardian.
“In nearly 20 years working on trade negotiations, I have never seen personal attacks deployed as a negotiating tactic. It is an unfortunate but serious setback for what should have been friendly negotiations.”
Thanks to @mcaruanagalizia and the @daphnefdtn who obtained the leak and shared it with the Guardian and others.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/22/revealed-residency-loophole-in-malta-cash-for-passports-scheme?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
But it will be reported as 1/5 “potentially corrupt” or something which is unhelpful because if you devalue the term “corruption” in the public mind the really bad stuff will skip past without people caring
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56828173
The example given in their complaint, is that the search engine deliberately made it difficult to find Piers Morgan's columns on the ex-royal story of a few weeks ago, instead referring people to many other secondary sources of Morgan's words.
Great news for the lawyers, if not for the rest of us.
Pathetic and childish perhaps but hardly an “unprovoked attack”
[First round]
Street (CON): 45% (+3)
Byrne (LAB): 38% (-3)
Caudwell (GRN): 8% (+3)
Wilkinson (LD): 4% (-2)
[Second round]
Street (CON): 52% (+2)
Byrne (LAB): 48% (-2)
Saw this on the previous thread. Obviously still quite close but slightly ahead of the final performance last time. Overall seems broadly in line with current polling with maybe the WM slightly trending further to the blues.
Ed: FFS.
And I detest London.
But, he could become the new Sarah Woolaston and a media darling.
Boris Johnson is a proven liar, so it shouldn't shock anyone that one of his own ministers has quit because one of his pledges was yet another lie. Why it could matter is what the lie was about. In the red wall the armed forces and patriotism are pretty popular.
Not only is it foolhardy to make pledges to protect veterans that turn out to be yet another lie, it really is to do so about NI. People seem to not have noticed that the PM has cast NI adrift from the UK. They will eventually, and reminding people of the debt of honour that UK governments owe to our "brave boys" who fought a long conflict over there to defend UK interests.
Free money when he comes out with policies like these!
Why wouldn't they?
Boris Johnson must appear before the Liaison Committee immediately - and there should be a thorough investigation into his conduct.
https://www.itv.com/news/2021-04-21/labour-demands-probe-into-johnsons-conduct-in-cronyism-row
I understand a UK trade deal with New Zealand is imminent.
Effectively they can destroy other businesses if they resist their fees and charges
Google have virtually all the market. I have to actively think hard to remember Yahoo and Bing - and I'd have to research any others.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9497923/British-diet-white-bread-butter-chocolate-sending-early-grave-researchers-say.html
There’s nothing that is new in that study, and the value of the research is undermined entirely by the closing sentences of the article.
Edit: having read it now the research is worth less than zero. But the Mail still created a dramatic headline... masters of the art
Mr. Charles, they can sod off if they think I'm not eating chocolate any more.
Personally, I think it is well past time that we had some serious anti-trust legislation and litigation directed at the mega companies the US has produced. I agree with @Charles that Google should be regulated as a utility as should other internet platforms such as Facebook. Also the "market" created by Amazon which gives them absurd power over the businesses who trade there.
I was approached by lots of people looking for help and access on PPE. I took a blanket approach of not responding to any of them because I didn’t have the time to sort the serious ones from the chancers. But if someone I knew well and trusted had approached me then sure, why not refer them on.
Ultimately it’s a question of judgement
Maybe they have to clear it past Beijing first.
With the latter, you already have a pre-existing basis for agreement. On the former, lots of vested interests to break down & get past.
Boris is popular and seems immune to the accusations of sleaze
However, his end will either be swift, or long and hard, it cannot be both
For now though we have one of our greatest PMs of all time and that you continue to underestimate "the clown" is icing on the cake.
https://twitter.com/AngusRobertson/status/1385110629107765249?s=19
However, those seeking his fall may have some time to wait
Had some weight fall off a year or so ago and started eating more less because I want to and more because I like not being able to see all my ribs.
Edit but don't believe her answer of course.
You've now been supporting him for a long time, and a repeat of the same ending looks a pretty good bet to me
Brexit LIVE: Fury as Liz Truss 'disrespects' Australian trade chief - talks on brink
https://twitter.com/otto_english/status/1384994402477744129?s=21
Eventually, BoJo will let lots of people down and they will dislike him. That's already baked in. Partly because of his character as shown by his CV. But also because of the nature of his promises.
But the fact that he's a known rogue strengthens his position until then. Everyone who put him in power did so with full knowledge of who he is and what he is like. They've complicit. Hence the contorted justifications, airbrushing of history or attempts to change the subject. Anything to avoid acknowledging a mistake.
It's what schoolboy gang leaders do. Make the minions complicit and they become more loyal. And they do it because it works.
It won't work forever, and the collapse will make Black Wednesday look like a convent picnic, but until then it will look very stable, potentially for a long time.
Firstly, we have the example of the purged rebels in 2019. I think that this event blew a massive hole in our constitution, which we have not yet fully appreciated. It increases the power of the party leaders over their MPs to an intolerable level.
Secondly, we have the electoral success of 2019. Until Johnson trounces Starmer in 2023 we can't be sure how much was due to Brexit, Corbyn or Johnson, of course, but it's still a factor in his favour.
Thirdly, enough people, enough of the time, are willing to be fooled by the Boris bonhomie of his personal reality distortion bubble. Lies and broken promises that would mortally wound anyone else can, mostly, be waved away. Mercer is an exception, not the rule.
Fourthly, Johnson delivered The Jab. I do not think there is any precedent for a government delivering on a policy so successfully and so universally popular as the vaccination program. I have loads of criticisms of Johnson's handling of Covid, but if he goes ahead with the June 21st unlocking, then Covid largely becomes a foreign news story, and Johnson becomes someone who gets things done and keeps people safe - a powerful pair of attributes.
Fifthly, there is a sense that he is England's national champion. The thing about national identity is that it's not chosen. One doesn't decide to be English. Identity politics trumps many of the normal rules of politics because any criticism of Johnson becomes by extension a criticism of the nation and of the people of that nation. This might even save him were the Scots to vote for independence.
Sixthly, he is not encumbered by any ideological principle. There is no such thing as Borisism, except for a series of bon mots, that opposition to him might define itself against. He is for popular things and against unpopular things.
Inevitably, Johnson's leadership will come to an end. Eventually. But I think his position is uniquely strong in the history of British Prime Ministers since at least the Great Reform Act. He has the job for as long as he wants it.
I suggested during the campaign that supporters of both sides will need to reverse ferret as a Conservative government enacted measures that supporters had previously condemned and opponents had campaigned for but that did not happen. It just matters he has won. The football supporters view of politics: the blue team won; the red team lost.
But it may be that Boris retires before he is pushed.
Mercer raises the question of Boris's integrity. Can his word be relied on? No, of course not. Does Boris lie? I'm not sure. It often seems more that Boris is careless of whether any statement is true or false provided it helps him win; then it can be discarded, again without reference to truth or falsehood.
Peter Oborne's book, The Assault on Truth: Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and the Emergence of a New Moral Barbarism, takes a different view. Perhaps Oborne is right. Here is its, presumably sympathetic to the Prime Minister, ConHome review:
https://www.conservativehome.com/highlights/2021/02/oborne-condemns-johnson-as-a-liar-and-cannot-understand-why-many-voters-believe-the-pm-is-telling-the-truth.html
ETA The Guardian, presumably less sympathetic. You can google for the Mail's review (or can you?).
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/03/the-assault-on-truth-by-peter-oborne-review-boris-johnsons-lies
I am not unsympathetic to his aims although the whole idea of giving servicemen immunity for alleged abuses when on active duty is inevitably controversial and applying it to NI particularly so. This is not a fight that Boris has felt able to have in the last year when there have been one or two other things looking for his attention.
Of course if you strongly believe in this, like Mercer clearly does, that is frustrating. Ideally, Boris will respond to this resignation by pushing this agenda forward which means that he will have achieved his objective at some personal cost and kudos to him but the personal attacks on colleagues are unproductive and quite possibly inimical to that objective.
SNP 38 (-2)
Conservative 23 (+2)
Labour 17 (-1)
Green 7 (-2)
LD 5 (-1)
Other 8 (+2)
16-20 April
Savanta ComRes
(chg from 2-7 April)
Where’s this leave us?