After making such a fuss over all the Crown Office/Salmond stuff, and sticking the head above the parapet on Johnson, Ross is going to have CSU the Tories up here.
It's been a catastrophic few weeks for Whitehall/Westminster/UK establishment. It's basically Washington down there; just need them to appoint JRM to the Supreme Court and it's over.
(Labour have to be careful over the boundary changes. If they claim gerrymandering on them then the UK is finished as a sane democracy)
But if the SCUP split they've lost half the battle in pretending that the UK is a single polity.They havce basically admitted, in the most brutal fashion, that that is simply not true.
Labour, in contrast, remain a single GB-wide party (possibly UK wide, tecnnically) and will be left as the sole true Unionists, Ms Ballantyne's lot aside.
You're right. It's interesting that Murdo Fraser is so keen though, he's a proper old fashioned Tory (or at least sounds/looks like one).
I noticed that Sturgeon went along with Met corruption on twitter. Feeling very confident, particularly given her past as solicitor and the record Police Scotland.
Mr Fraser is certainly an old fashioned one in such things as this tweet:
And more seriously he did want to go back to the old days of the Unionist Party being independent of London. Only to get a knee in the goolies in the leadership election when Ms Davidson won.
What a roaster.
I'm still wondering what the SCUP should do if Mr Johnson can carry on with his limpet impersonation for the next 2-3 years. And I just can't decide (partly cos we don't know about the cash and property). One thing for sure, some of the MPs have screwed the pooch in terms of patronage under the JOhnson regime (but others have remained loyal AFAIK).
One sort of semirational thing would be to fib and adopt one policy in Holyrood and another in Westminster and hope nobody noticed. That is already happening to some extent de facto in terms of pro- and anti-Johnsonism.
The other point is that IIRC the boundary changes don't make that much difference in Scotland anyway. Or am I misremembering? So that's another problem for Labour.
New York is bigger but London is better, according to the CIty of London. Specifically they think London is more innovative and has a more conducive regulatory environment than New York. Funnily I agree with them, although not clear how they quantify that.
Nevertheless markets are what count at the end of the day and Brexit is slowly killing the City as a world centre on that. London is now outside of the main European market which reduces its credibility on the global scale. To be fair, the City of London recognise the problem in the report, although you would never guess it from Guido's (and (yours!) crowing about "despite Brexit"
The fact that the Met have said this afternoon that they are not interested in allegations of perverting the course of justice or corruption and misconduct in public office (alleged deletion of WhatsApp material) is alarming and ludicrous. These are serious allegations with potential custodial penalties, should they not be investigated alongside breaches of Covid rules?
Who in the top tier of the current Tory Cabinet is more One Nation than Boris economically? Nobody. Sunak and Patel and Zahawi and Raab and Rees Mogg were all Leavers, Truss was a Remainer but is going hard to show she is even more of a Brexiteer than the Brexiteers.
Of the other leadership contenders Hunt and Tugendhat were both Remainers and are unlikely to ever win the party membership vote. So expect the Tories to move even further to the right once Boris goes
It might help your analysis if, like the rest of us, you moved on from the divide of 2016.
Boris Johnson, who once promised "Thatcherism on steroids" is One Nation economically? I do agree on his social liberal credentials but economically, he would be a tax cutting Thatcherite if he could but Covid has forced him, in order to remain a populist, to become a high tax and spend social democrat.
You can see poor old Rishi Sunak wanting to show his tax cutting credentials but instead he has to oversee one of the biggest tax rises for decades. I'd have sympathy but I don't.
As and when interest rates rise (which they will), we'll see the same old debate about debt and deficit and in time the cost of servicing the enormous debt will become an issue as well.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
That's like claiming that Anthony Eden was a global tital for Suez. And a brain-dead swede with its leaves cut off would recognide Mr Johnson. He’s taken so much care over his image that of course anyone would recognise him. Doesn't mean they rate him.
The fact that the Met have said this afternoon that they are not interested in allegations of perverting the course of justice or corruption and misconduct in public office (alleged deletion of WhatsApp material) is alarming and ludicrous. These are serious allegations with potential custodial penalties, should they not be investigated alongside breaches of Covid rules?
Christ, they've asked for full redaction because they know they'll have to charge people with misconduct if the evidence is made public.
That's what's really going on here. The Hillsborough playbook.
Cressida Dick’s intervention today reminds me of James Comey’s deranged announcement that he would be re-opening the investigation into Hilary Clinton’s emails, eleven days before the 2016 election.
It’s quite possible Comey cost Clinton the election, and it’s quite possible Dick has got the lying sack of shit off the hook.
The whole thing is a disgrace and none more so than Cressida Dick's bungling of it
As a legal expert has just said on Sky she should have called the investigation the minute it was alleged
It seems the pressure is coming from civil service unions who are trying to redact their junior members names, but why when it is only a FPN
It should be published in full and I have become more angry as the day has gone by
He will have to work with the Dick when he becomes PM. Smart work
I would think that retirement for her (and quite possibly every other Met officer above the rank of sergeant) would be pretty high up his agenda if he ever makes it that far.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
That's like claiming that Anthony Eden was a global tital for Suez. And a brain-dead swede with its leaves cut off would recognide Mr Johnson. He’s taken so much care over his image that of course anyone would recognise him. Doesn't mean they rate him.
He will have to work with the Dick when he becomes PM. Smart work
Also, its reasonably sensible to wait to see what the (redacted) report says before claiming a stitch up. It might still say Boris is a big fat liar liar pants on fire, then you look a total tool if you called it a stitch up.
If it doesn't, and it is more like a game of wordle, then its reasonable to hold it up to the camera and say look this is nonsense, total stitch up.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
Brexit was done the moment Theresa triggered Article 50. Boris merely cobbled together a crap trade deal.
Yup. The claim that Johnson is a genius of state-craft for "getting Brexit done" is preposterous because of (a) his sabotage of May actually getting Brexit done; (b) his "getting Brexit done" involved a deal with the EU so bad he pretends he never agreed to it; (c) the fact he is trying to change it all shows it isn't, in fact "done"
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
That's like claiming that Anthony Eden was a global tital for Suez. And a brain-dead swede with its leaves cut off would recognide Mr Johnson. He’s taken so much care over his image that of course anyone would recognise him. Doesn't mean they rate him.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
That reminds me of the characterisation of LBJ in Robert Caro's biographies. That instinctive understanding of power. While reading them, inevitably I applied them to our own times and leaders and had a slight fear our own Johnson had similar instincts. The difference is that, as Caro points out, LBJ had threads of darkness and threads of gold running through him. I'm not sure where BJ's threads of gold are. Perhaps, subsumed to his ambition, as LBJ's always were, save for when his better nature aligned with what was politically expedient.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
What do you mean by he got Brexit done? Once he won the election it was always done. A cactus could claim that. What matters is what done means. Are you happy with the deal he got done is what counts. What he got done isn't good even for Brexiters.
He will have to work with the Dick when he becomes PM. Smart work
Also, its reasonably sensible to wait to see what the (redacted) report says before saying stitch up. It might still say Boris is a big fat liar liar pants on fire, then you look a total tool if you called it a stitch up.
Maybe, but from afar it looks alternately farcical and corrupt .
It stinks like my two-year-old’s nappies yesterday after a particularly bad “poo-nami”. It had gone all up his back, and I had to strip him off and put him in the shower for a thorough rinsing.
He will have to work with the Dick when he becomes PM. Smart work
Also, its reasonably sensible to wait to see what the (redacted) report says before saying stitch up. It might still say Boris is a big fat liar liar pants on fire, then you look a total tool if you called it a stitch up.
Maybe, but from afar it looks alternately farcical and corrupt .
It stinks like my two-year-old’s nappies yesterday after a particularly bad “poo-nami”. It had gone all up his back, and I had to strip him off and put him in the shower for a thorough rinsing.
Something similar is needed in Whitehall.
Plenty of time to make those observations when it is published. I think too often politicians rush to scream outrage at a camera when they don't even know the facts yet, and you can easily end up looking like a twat.
It also plays into the narrative Starmer is trying to build, I am solid, sensible, quite boring, and did I tell you I used to be a lawyer, so I work with facts etc, not like the blusterer over there.
After making such a fuss over all the Crown Office/Salmond stuff, and sticking the head above the parapet on Johnson, Ross is going to have CSU the Tories up here.
It's been a catastrophic few weeks for Whitehall/Westminster/UK establishment. It's basically Washington down there; just need them to appoint JRM to the Supreme Court and it's over.
(Labour have to be careful over the boundary changes. If they claim gerrymandering on them then the UK is finished as a sane democracy)
But if the SCUP split they've lost half the battle in pretending that the UK is a single polity.They havce basically admitted, in the most brutal fashion, that that is simply not true.
Labour, in contrast, remain a single GB-wide party (possibly UK wide, tecnnically) and will be left as the sole true Unionists, Ms Ballantyne's lot aside.
You're right. It's interesting that Murdo Fraser is so keen though, he's a proper old fashioned Tory (or at least sounds/looks like one).
I noticed that Sturgeon went along with Met corruption on twitter. Feeling very confident, particularly given her past as solicitor and the record Police Scotland.
Mr Fraser is certainly an old fashioned one in such things as this tweet:
And more seriously he did want to go back to the old days of the Unionist Party being independent of London. Only to get a knee in the goolies in the leadership election when Ms Davidson won.
What a roaster.
I'm still wondering what the SCUP should do if Mr Johnson can carry on with his limpet impersonation for the next 2-3 years. And I just can't decide (partly cos we don't know about the cash and property). One thing for sure, some of the MPs have screwed the pooch in terms of patronage under the JOhnson regime (but others have remained loyal AFAIK).
One sort of semirational thing would be to fib and adopt one policy in Holyrood and another in Westminster and hope nobody noticed. That is already happening to some extent de facto in terms of pro- and anti-Johnsonism.
The other point is that IIRC the boundary changes don't make that much difference in Scotland anyway. Or am I misremembering? So that's another problem for Labour.
I think you are attributing them more honour than they are deserving of. I suspect they will do very little other than hoping no-one mentions it, and waffling something about "unity" or "frank discussions" if it does come up.
I did note the other day that I got a leaflet through the door from a West of Scotland region Conservative MSP, although you had to work EXTREMELY hard to find any mention of the word conservative on it at all. I think if it wasn't for the fact the MSP in question had the word in his facebook profile (or whatever it was) you would not have been able to tell at all, but to be fair I did not scan every single word of text.
But I think that is essentially the template for what they will do - don't mention it and hope no-one's remembered to bring it up or look for it.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
That's like claiming that Anthony Eden was a global tital for Suez. And a brain-dead swede with its leaves cut off would recognide Mr Johnson. He’s taken so much care over his image that of course anyone would recognise him. Doesn't mean they rate him.
If I was talking about another Scot I'd call it a neep ... but yes, it is ambiguous. Let's call it a kohl-rabi to eliminate any issue.
Remind me of the difference. Neep, swede, turnip.
Swede = large, coarse yellow fleshed, = neep. Boiled and mashed and eaten in e.g. clapshot or served with haggis and mashed tatties. Or boiled with potatoes, carrots and shank of lamb and eaten with bread. Or in meat stew.
Turnip - small, white/translucent flesh with purple dorsal skin. Used in chunks lamb stew in spring/summer with peas. Or chopped up as a local analogue for daikon radish in stirfry.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
What do you mean by he got Brexit done? Once he won the election it was always done. A cactus could claim that. What matters is what done means. Are you happy with the deal he got done is what counts. What he got done isn't good even for Brexiters.
It is, it ended free movement and enabled us to do our own trade deals as Leavers promised while still having a trade deal with the EU
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
That's like claiming that Anthony Eden was a global tital for Suez. And a brain-dead swede with its leaves cut off would recognide Mr Johnson. He’s taken so much care over his image that of course anyone would recognise him. Doesn't mean they rate him.
He will have to work with the Dick when he becomes PM. Smart work
I would think that retirement for her (and quite possibly every other Met officer above the rank of sergeant) would be pretty high up his agenda if he ever makes it that far.
You think Johnson wont have thrown her over the side long before Sunak becomes PM?
She and the entire Met is just the latest in the long list of collateral damage in order to keep the world king show on the road.
After making such a fuss over all the Crown Office/Salmond stuff, and sticking the head above the parapet on Johnson, Ross is going to have CSU the Tories up here.
It's been a catastrophic few weeks for Whitehall/Westminster/UK establishment. It's basically Washington down there; just need them to appoint JRM to the Supreme Court and it's over.
(Labour have to be careful over the boundary changes. If they claim gerrymandering on them then the UK is finished as a sane democracy)
But if the SCUP split they've lost half the battle in pretending that the UK is a single polity.They havce basically admitted, in the most brutal fashion, that that is simply not true.
Labour, in contrast, remain a single GB-wide party (possibly UK wide, tecnnically) and will be left as the sole true Unionists, Ms Ballantyne's lot aside.
You're right. It's interesting that Murdo Fraser is so keen though, he's a proper old fashioned Tory (or at least sounds/looks like one).
I noticed that Sturgeon went along with Met corruption on twitter. Feeling very confident, particularly given her past as solicitor and the record Police Scotland.
Mr Fraser is certainly an old fashioned one in such things as this tweet:
And more seriously he did want to go back to the old days of the Unionist Party being independent of London. Only to get a knee in the goolies in the leadership election when Ms Davidson won.
What a roaster.
I'm still wondering what the SCUP should do if Mr Johnson can carry on with his limpet impersonation for the next 2-3 years. And I just can't decide (partly cos we don't know about the cash and property). One thing for sure, some of the MPs have screwed the pooch in terms of patronage under the JOhnson regime (but others have remained loyal AFAIK).
One sort of semirational thing would be to fib and adopt one policy in Holyrood and another in Westminster and hope nobody noticed. That is already happening to some extent de facto in terms of pro- and anti-Johnsonism.
The other point is that IIRC the boundary changes don't make that much difference in Scotland anyway. Or am I misremembering? So that's another problem for Labour.
I think you are attributing them more honour than they are deserving of. I suspect they will do very little other than hoping no-one mentions it, and waffling something about "unity" or "frank discussions" if it does come up.
I did note the other day that I got a leaflet through the door from a West of Scotland regions Conservative MSP, although you had to work EXTREMELY hard to find any mention of the ford conservative on it at all. I think if it wasn't for the fact the MSP in question had the word in his facebook profile (or whatever it was) you would not have ben able to tell at all, but to be fair I did not scan every single word of text.
But I think that is essentially the template for what they will do - don't mention it and hope no-one's remembered to bring it up or look for it.
Did they mention independence and referenda at all? If not, like my Lothians one, it is a huge policy change - in recent years they didn't use the C word in anything other than electron microscope readable size either, bujt it was all 'Ruthie Party Says No tto Indy" with a few words tacked on about other things. Now it's like a LD local election leaflet with the wrong colour.
Who in the top tier of the current Tory Cabinet is more One Nation than Boris economically? Nobody. Sunak and Patel and Zahawi and Raab and Rees Mogg were all Leavers, Truss was a Remainer but is going hard to show she is even more of a Brexiteer than the Brexiteers.
Of the other leadership contenders Hunt and Tugendhat were both Remainers and are unlikely to ever win the party membership vote. So expect the Tories to move even further to the right once Boris goes
It might help your analysis if, like the rest of us, you moved on from the divide of 2016.
Boris Johnson, who once promised "Thatcherism on steroids" is One Nation economically? I do agree on his social liberal credentials but economically, he would be a tax cutting Thatcherite if he could but Covid has forced him, in order to remain a populist, to become a high tax and spend social democrat.
You can see poor old Rishi Sunak wanting to show his tax cutting credentials but instead he has to oversee one of the biggest tax rises for decades. I'd have sympathy but I don't.
As and when interest rates rise (which they will), we'll see the same old debate about debt and deficit and in time the cost of servicing the enormous debt will become an issue as well.
No, Boris is a low tax and high spend populist ideologically, not a social democrat.
Hence he has kept income tax and inheritance tax low and is even rumoured to want to scrap the NI rise while pouring money into the NHS.
Boris is a Keynesian and of the George W Bush Cheney school that deficits do not matter (much to the annoyance of McCain).
He is not a fiscal conservative like Cameron and Osborne or even May and Hammond were
Cressida Dick’s intervention today reminds me of James Comey’s deranged announcement that he would be re-opening the investigation into Hilary Clinton’s emails, eleven days before the 2016 election.
It’s quite possible Comey cost Clinton the election, and it’s quite possible Dick has got the lying sack of shit off the hook.
The whole thing is a disgrace and none more so than Cressida Dick's bungling of it
As a legal expert has just said on Sky she should have called the investigation the minute it was alleged
It seems the pressure is coming from civil service unions who are trying to redact their junior members names, but why when it is only a FPN
It should be published in full and I have become more angry as the day has gone by
I think there is a difference between redacting a few junior names (a long standing whitehall thing) and burying the whole report in enough concrete to deal with Chernobyl as the Met seem to want.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
That's like claiming that Anthony Eden was a global tital for Suez. And a brain-dead swede with its leaves cut off would recognide Mr Johnson. He’s taken so much care over his image that of course anyone would recognise him. Doesn't mean they rate him.
If I was talking about another Scot I'd call it a neep ... but yes, it is ambiguous. Let's call it a kohl-rabi to eliminate any issue.
Remind me of the difference. Neep, swede, turnip.
Swede = large, coarse yellow fleshed, = neep. Boiled and mashed and eaten in e.g. clapshot or served with haggis and mashed tatties. Or boiled with potatoes, carrots and shank of lamb and eaten with bread. Or in meat stew.
Turnip - small, white/translucent flesh with purple dorsal skin. Used in chunks lamb stew in spring/summer with peas. Or chopped up as a local analogue for daikon radish in stirfry.
He will have to work with the Dick when he becomes PM. Smart work
Also, its reasonably sensible to wait to see what the (redacted) report says before saying stitch up. It might still say Boris is a big fat liar liar pants on fire, then you look a total tool if you called it a stitch up.
Maybe, but from afar it looks alternately farcical and corrupt .
It stinks like my two-year-old’s nappies yesterday after a particularly bad “poo-nami”. It had gone all up his back, and I had to strip him off and put him in the shower for a thorough rinsing.
Something similar is needed in Whitehall.
Those were the days! Grandkids to look forward to I guess...
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
Brexit was done the moment Theresa triggered Article 50. Boris merely cobbled together a crap trade deal.
Yup. The claim that Johnson is a genius of state-craft for "getting Brexit done" is preposterous because of (a) his sabotage of May actually getting Brexit done; (b) his "getting Brexit done" involved a deal with the EU so bad he pretends he never agreed to it; (c) the fact he is trying to change it all shows it isn't, in fact "done"
That all may be true but I think misses some important elements. He is not a genius, but however he managed it he did break the deadlock which had caused the government and parliament to essentially be unable to function for around 10 months. Yes he was part of why it was deadlocked, but there was stuff on all sides causing that, from Brexit headbangers to those seeking to reverse direction completely.
He may not have got it done, but he did get it through, and while as you note he himself by his actions is repudiating part of how he managed that, he did still manage it and that is not nothing, as political accomplishments go. It's just not as enduring an accomplishment as he is trying to make it out.
Who in the top tier of the current Tory Cabinet is more One Nation than Boris economically? Nobody. Sunak and Patel and Zahawi and Raab and Rees Mogg were all Leavers, Truss was a Remainer but is going hard to show she is even more of a Brexiteer than the Brexiteers.
Of the other leadership contenders Hunt and Tugendhat were both Remainers and are unlikely to ever win the party membership vote. So expect the Tories to move even further to the right once Boris goes
It might help your analysis if, like the rest of us, you moved on from the divide of 2016.
Boris Johnson, who once promised "Thatcherism on steroids" is One Nation economically? I do agree on his social liberal credentials but economically, he would be a tax cutting Thatcherite if he could but Covid has forced him, in order to remain a populist, to become a high tax and spend social democrat.
You can see poor old Rishi Sunak wanting to show his tax cutting credentials but instead he has to oversee one of the biggest tax rises for decades. I'd have sympathy but I don't.
As and when interest rates rise (which they will), we'll see the same old debate about debt and deficit and in time the cost of servicing the enormous debt will become an issue as well.
No, Boris is a low tax and high spend populist ideologically, not a social democrat.
Hence he has kept income tax and inheritance tax low and is even rumoured to want to scrap the NI rise while pouring money into the NHS
His “ideology” is merely whatever seems best for himself moment to moment.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
That reminds me of the characterisation of LBJ in Robert Caro's biographies. That instinctive understanding of power. While reading them, inevitably I applied them to our own times and leaders and had a slight fear our own Johnson had similar instincts. The difference is that, as Caro points out, LBJ had threads of darkness and threads of gold running through him. I'm not sure where BJ's threads of gold are. Perhaps, subsumed to his ambition, as LBJ's always were, save for when his better nature aligned with what was politically expedient.
LBJ was an interesting blend of bruiser and moral imperative. Impressive figure for an accidental president.
He will have to work with the Dick when he becomes PM. Smart work
Also, its reasonably sensible to wait to see what the (redacted) report says before saying stitch up. It might still say Boris is a big fat liar liar pants on fire, then you look a total tool if you called it a stitch up.
Maybe, but from afar it looks alternately farcical and corrupt .
It stinks like my two-year-old’s nappies yesterday after a particularly bad “poo-nami”. It had gone all up his back, and I had to strip him off and put him in the shower for a thorough rinsing.
Something similar is needed in Whitehall.
Those were the days! Grandkids to look forward to I guess...
Actually you hand them back before that happens !!!!!!!
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
Brexit was done the moment Theresa triggered Article 50. Boris merely cobbled together a crap trade deal.
Nope, it was only done when Boris got the majority needed to get Brexit through Parliament
Nope. Brexit was inevitable regardless of what parliament did, unless you think the EU was going to agree to a never ending succession of extensions.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
That's like claiming that Anthony Eden was a global tital for Suez. And a brain-dead swede with its leaves cut off would recognide Mr Johnson. He’s taken so much care over his image that of course anyone would recognise him. Doesn't mean they rate him.
If I was talking about another Scot I'd call it a neep ... but yes, it is ambiguous. Let's call it a kohl-rabi to eliminate any issue.
Remind me of the difference. Neep, swede, turnip.
Swede = large, coarse yellow fleshed, = neep. Boiled and mashed and eaten in e.g. clapshot or served with haggis and mashed tatties. Or boiled with potatoes, carrots and shank of lamb and eaten with bread. Or in meat stew.
Turnip - small, white/translucent flesh with purple dorsal skin. Used in chunks lamb stew in spring/summer with peas. Or chopped up as a local analogue for daikon radish in stirfry.
"Swede" is an abbreviation of the original name, Swedish turnip.
Actually picked some turnips from the garden today but they were disappointingly small. Had to go all the way to Waitrose for an 80p Swede.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
Brexit was done the moment Theresa triggered Article 50. Boris merely cobbled together a crap trade deal.
Nope, it was only done when Boris got the majority needed to get Brexit through Parliament
Nope. Brexit was inevitable regardless of what parliament did, unless you think the EU was going to agree to a never ending succession of extensions.
It did agree that under May
It says something when Theresa May looks the states person tonight after her article
After making such a fuss over all the Crown Office/Salmond stuff, and sticking the head above the parapet on Johnson, Ross is going to have CSU the Tories up here.
It's been a catastrophic few weeks for Whitehall/Westminster/UK establishment. It's basically Washington down there; just need them to appoint JRM to the Supreme Court and it's over.
(Labour have to be careful over the boundary changes. If they claim gerrymandering on them then the UK is finished as a sane democracy)
But if the SCUP split they've lost half the battle in pretending that the UK is a single polity.They havce basically admitted, in the most brutal fashion, that that is simply not true.
Labour, in contrast, remain a single GB-wide party (possibly UK wide, tecnnically) and will be left as the sole true Unionists, Ms Ballantyne's lot aside.
You're right. It's interesting that Murdo Fraser is so keen though, he's a proper old fashioned Tory (or at least sounds/looks like one).
I noticed that Sturgeon went along with Met corruption on twitter. Feeling very confident, particularly given her past as solicitor and the record Police Scotland.
Mr Fraser is certainly an old fashioned one in such things as this tweet:
And more seriously he did want to go back to the old days of the Unionist Party being independent of London. Only to get a knee in the goolies in the leadership election when Ms Davidson won.
What a roaster.
I'm still wondering what the SCUP should do if Mr Johnson can carry on with his limpet impersonation for the next 2-3 years. And I just can't decide (partly cos we don't know about the cash and property). One thing for sure, some of the MPs have screwed the pooch in terms of patronage under the JOhnson regime (but others have remained loyal AFAIK).
One sort of semirational thing would be to fib and adopt one policy in Holyrood and another in Westminster and hope nobody noticed. That is already happening to some extent de facto in terms of pro- and anti-Johnsonism.
The other point is that IIRC the boundary changes don't make that much difference in Scotland anyway. Or am I misremembering? So that's another problem for Labour.
I think you are attributing them more honour than they are deserving of. I suspect they will do very little other than hoping no-one mentions it, and waffling something about "unity" or "frank discussions" if it does come up.
I did note the other day that I got a leaflet through the door from a West of Scotland regions Conservative MSP, although you had to work EXTREMELY hard to find any mention of the ford conservative on it at all. I think if it wasn't for the fact the MSP in question had the word in his facebook profile (or whatever it was) you would not have ben able to tell at all, but to be fair I did not scan every single word of text.
But I think that is essentially the template for what they will do - don't mention it and hope no-one's remembered to bring it up or look for it.
Did they mention independence and referenda at all? If not, like my Lothians one, it is a huge policy change - in recent years they didn't use the C word in anything other than electron microscope readable size either, bujt it was all 'Ruthie Party Says No tto Indy" with a few words tacked on about other things. Now it's like a LD local election leaflet with the wrong colour.
I had another look as it was sitting in the recycling pile.
You're right, no mention of independence or referenda - island communities, local roads, boosting police numbers, standing up for the NHS and local shops and all that jazz. [We're also supposed to be impressed because the MSP in question has asked X questions and attended Y committees and has visited "multiple businesses".] The only mention it gets is on the return "sixty second survey" form/slip where one of the 5 questions is "do you support a second referendum on Scottish independence".
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been enough but she's been allowed to continue and cause mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Personally, I think Boris’s “Brexit” was a feat of genius, one which I completely attribute to Dominic Cummings.
He managed to leap over the Northern Ireland hurdle by signing up to something he had no intention of honouring, and then gaslit most of the country into believing it was an “oven ready deal”.
He then sold the fisherman, and various other parties, up the river in order to close a relatively shabby trade deal which at least managed to avoid the catastrophic “no deal” he had successfully terrified us all with.
It was a supreme act of political strategy cum charlatanism. Machiavelli meets Charlie Chaplin.
But; it was all Dom.
On his own, Boris can barely tie his own shoelaces although he does - as others have pointed out - understand power.
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
What do you mean by he got Brexit done? Once he won the election it was always done. A cactus could claim that. What matters is what done means. Are you happy with the deal he got done is what counts. What he got done isn't good even for Brexiters.
It is, it ended free movement and enabled us to do our own trade deals as Leavers promised while still having a trade deal with the EU
You said this yesterday. It is nonsense re the trade deals. You have to compare what we gain compared to what we lose. It is difficult to identify any gains even ignoring the losses re EU trade. In addition there are all the other non financial losses or more abstract financial losses. I personally have lost several freedoms I used to enjoy, no gains. And the campaign I am involved in has had set backs because of the loss of the ECJ. FYI the Government is proposing to reverse a decision by the ECJ which protected the very poorest pensioners whose company pensions collapsed.
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
We do not agree often but Cressida Dick is utterly incompetent and it is time for her to go
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
That reminds me of the characterisation of LBJ in Robert Caro's biographies. That instinctive understanding of power. While reading them, inevitably I applied them to our own times and leaders and had a slight fear our own Johnson had similar instincts. The difference is that, as Caro points out, LBJ had threads of darkness and threads of gold running through him. I'm not sure where BJ's threads of gold are. Perhaps, subsumed to his ambition, as LBJ's always were, save for when his better nature aligned with what was politically expedient.
LBJ was an interesting blend of bruiser and moral imperative. Impressive figure for an accidental president.
Indeed. He doesn't get much coverage compared to the 2 who bookend him. Given a Vietnam hospital pass. I find him a fascinating figure. Much more nuanced and interesting than any other "modern" President.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
That's like claiming that Anthony Eden was a global tital for Suez. And a brain-dead swede with its leaves cut off would recognide Mr Johnson. He’s taken so much care over his image that of course anyone would recognise him. Doesn't mean they rate him.
If I was talking about another Scot I'd call it a neep ... but yes, it is ambiguous. Let's call it a kohl-rabi to eliminate any issue.
Remind me of the difference. Neep, swede, turnip.
A neep is a turnip, usually a swede, which I see from Google is officially rutabaga. While a turnip might be a swede or another species, Brassica rapa. (bak choi is also brassica rapa) Kohlrabi according to Google is actually a form of cabbage. It's all very mixed up.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
What do you mean by he got Brexit done? Once he won the election it was always done. A cactus could claim that. What matters is what done means. Are you happy with the deal he got done is what counts. What he got done isn't good even for Brexiters.
It is, it ended free movement and enabled us to do our own trade deals as Leavers promised while still having a trade deal with the EU
Don't tell me, Johnson also solved the worlds covid problem by a single bound. I suppose its on a par with Hitler building the autobahn, mussolini getting the trains to run on time and Fred west building some good conservatories.
He will have to work with the Dick when he becomes PM. Smart work
Also, its reasonably sensible to wait to see what the (redacted) report says before saying stitch up. It might still say Boris is a big fat liar liar pants on fire, then you look a total tool if you called it a stitch up.
Maybe, but from afar it looks alternately farcical and corrupt .
It stinks like my two-year-old’s nappies yesterday after a particularly bad “poo-nami”. It had gone all up his back, and I had to strip him off and put him in the shower for a thorough rinsing.
Something similar is needed in Whitehall.
Those were the days! Grandkids to look forward to I guess...
Actually you hand them back before that happens !!!!!!!
Your experience and skilful advice is much appreciated!
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
What do you mean by he got Brexit done? Once he won the election it was always done. A cactus could claim that. What matters is what done means. Are you happy with the deal he got done is what counts. What he got done isn't good even for Brexiters.
It is, it ended free movement and enabled us to do our own trade deals as Leavers promised while still having a trade deal with the EU
Don't tell me, Johnson also solved the worlds covid problem by a single bound. I suppose its on a par with Hitler building the autobahn, mussolini getting the trains to run on time and Fred west building some good conservatories.
Ah yes, he’s no different from two murderous dictators or a serial killer.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
What do you mean by he got Brexit done? Once he won the election it was always done. A cactus could claim that. What matters is what done means. Are you happy with the deal he got done is what counts. What he got done isn't good even for Brexiters.
It is, it ended free movement and enabled us to do our own trade deals as Leavers promised while still having a trade deal with the EU
Don't tell me, Johnson also solved the worlds covid problem by a single bound. I suppose its on a par with Hitler building the autobahn, mussolini getting the trains to run on time and Fred west building some good conservatories.
Ah yes, he’s no different from two murderous dictators or a serial killer.
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
You think she should have gone ages ago? I say she should never have been appointed!
That said, who was the last half decent Commissioner? It's not a role that people tend to excel in.
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been enough but she's been allowed to continue and cause mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
It doesn't take a genius to work out why Dick keeps her role. Double O 0.000001.
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
You think she should have gone ages ago? I say she should never have been appointed!
That said, who was the last half decent Commissioner? It's not a role that people tend to excel in.
Well no I don't think she should have been, but then remember there was a whole load of politics about it.
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
Why should she go?
One of the people in charge of child care in Rotherham, who was part of the ongoing coverup and inaction over a number of years, went on to a bigger and better job. In child protection. When it was suggested by a minister that this person not receive a reference in connection with such a job application, this was branded as obscenely vindictive.
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
You think she should have gone ages ago? I say she should never have been appointed!
That said, who was the last half decent Commissioner? It's not a role that people tend to excel in.
The Met itself should be dismembered.
It should be re-focused on crime in Greater London, answerable to the London Mayor, and it’s national functions bestowed on a new body, answerable to the Home Secretary.
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
You think she should have gone ages ago? I say she should never have been appointed!
That said, who was the last half decent Commissioner? It's not a role that people tend to excel in.
Commissioner Gordon was a role Neil Hamilton excelled in (1970s Batman)
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
What do you mean by he got Brexit done? Once he won the election it was always done. A cactus could claim that. What matters is what done means. Are you happy with the deal he got done is what counts. What he got done isn't good even for Brexiters.
It is, it ended free movement and enabled us to do our own trade deals as Leavers promised while still having a trade deal with the EU
Don't tell me, Johnson also solved the worlds covid problem by a single bound. I suppose its on a par with Hitler building the autobahn, mussolini getting the trains to run on time and Fred west building some good conservatories.
Ah yes, he’s no different from two murderous dictators or a serial killer.
Jesus.
Diehard Remainers will never forgive Boris for defeating them in 2016 and leftwingers will never forgive Boris for crushing Corbyn Labour in 2019.
They despise him because he beat them without mercy
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
Why should she go?
One of the people in charge of child care in Rotherham, who was part of the ongoing coverup and inaction over a number of years, went on to a bigger and better job. In child protection. When it was suggested by a minister that this person not receive a reference in connection with such a job application, this was branded as obscenely vindictive.
As an employer, I have this funny out dated notion about people who work for me being actually good at their job ;-)
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
You think she should have gone ages ago? I say she should never have been appointed!
That said, who was the last half decent Commissioner? It's not a role that people tend to excel in.
Commissioner Gordon was a role Neil Hamilton excelled in (1970s Batman)
Really? That's amazing considering how shit he was while heading up UKIP.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
What do you mean by he got Brexit done? Once he won the election it was always done. A cactus could claim that. What matters is what done means. Are you happy with the deal he got done is what counts. What he got done isn't good even for Brexiters.
It is, it ended free movement and enabled us to do our own trade deals as Leavers promised while still having a trade deal with the EU
Don't tell me, Johnson also solved the worlds covid problem by a single bound. I suppose its on a par with Hitler building the autobahn, mussolini getting the trains to run on time and Fred west building some good conservatories.
Ah yes, he’s no different from two murderous dictators or a serial killer.
Jesus.
Diehard Remainers will never forgive Boris for defeating them in 2016 and leftwingers will never forgive Boris for crushing Corbyn Labour in 2019.
They despise him because he beat them without mercy
I like Boris. I think many Corbynites were Brexiteers and despise the ultra Remoaners like SKS and Cooper
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
You think she should have gone ages ago? I say she should never have been appointed!
That said, who was the last half decent Commissioner? It's not a role that people tend to excel in.
The Met itself should be dismembered.
It should be re-focused on crime in Greater London, answerable to the London Mayor, and it’s national functions bestowed on a new body, answerable to the Home Secretary.
One thing that is a consolation, it appears to have united us all across the political spectrum that this is wrong and inexcusable
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been enough but she's been allowed to continue and cause mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been enough but she's been allowed to continue and cause mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
It doesn't take a genius to work out why Dick keeps her role. Double O 0.000001.
I believe she keeps her role because she is thought to be improving issues inside the Met which are of concern to the Home Office etc but not politically salient so we don’t really hear about them.
The widespread assumption that she worked for the security services doesn’t have much to do with it, I think - unless it is thought that the Met’s main issue is combating domestic terrorism.
Personally, I think Boris’s “Brexit” was a feat of genius, one which I completely attribute to Dominic Cummings.
He managed to leap over the Northern Ireland hurdle by signing up to something he had no intention of honouring, and then gaslit most of the country into believing it was an “oven ready deal”.
He then sold the fisherman, and various other parties, up the river in order to close a relatively shabby trade deal which at least managed to avoid the catastrophic “no deal” he had successfully terrified us all with.
It was a supreme act of political strategy cum charlatanism. Machiavelli meets Charlie Chaplin.
But; it was all Dom.
On his own, Boris can barely tie his own shoelaces although he does - as others have pointed out - understand power.
Without Boris as frontman Leave would not have won in 2016 and the Tories would not have won a landslide in 2019. Dom needed Boris too
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
What do you mean by he got Brexit done? Once he won the election it was always done. A cactus could claim that. What matters is what done means. Are you happy with the deal he got done is what counts. What he got done isn't good even for Brexiters.
It is, it ended free movement and enabled us to do our own trade deals as Leavers promised while still having a trade deal with the EU
Don't tell me, Johnson also solved the worlds covid problem by a single bound. I suppose its on a par with Hitler building the autobahn, mussolini getting the trains to run on time and Fred west building some good conservatories.
Ah yes, he’s no different from two murderous dictators or a serial killer.
Jesus.
Diehard Remainers will never forgive Boris for defeating them in 2016 and leftwingers will never forgive Boris for crushing Corbyn Labour in 2019.
They despise him because he beat them without mercy
I like Boris
I don't. He's a sociopath. But he's far more my kind of Tory than any of the other leaders I've endured.
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
You think she should have gone ages ago? I say she should never have been appointed!
That said, who was the last half decent Commissioner? It's not a role that people tend to excel in.
The Met itself should be dismembered.
It should be re-focused on crime in Greater London, answerable to the London Mayor, and it’s national functions bestowed on a new body, answerable to the Home Secretary.
One thing that is a consolation, it appears to have united us all across the political spectrum that this is wrong and inexcusable
Indeed. Diane Abbot and Clifton-Brown just agreed on Newsnight that for the first time ever they were in agreement on this issue.
Personally, I think Boris’s “Brexit” was a feat of genius, one which I completely attribute to Dominic Cummings.
He managed to leap over the Northern Ireland hurdle by signing up to something he had no intention of honouring, and then gaslit most of the country into believing it was an “oven ready deal”.
He then sold the fisherman, and various other parties, up the river in order to close a relatively shabby trade deal which at least managed to avoid the catastrophic “no deal” he had successfully terrified us all with.
It was a supreme act of political strategy cum charlatanism. Machiavelli meets Charlie Chaplin.
But; it was all Dom.
On his own, Boris can barely tie his own shoelaces although he does - as others have pointed out - understand power.
Without Boris as frontman Leave would not have won in 2016 and the Tories would not have won a landslide in 2019. Dom needed Boris too
Yes, but I was talking about the mechanics of delivering Brexit rather than the electoral success per se.
Having said that, it is often said that Boris is a great campaigner, but I don’t think even that’s true. He spent most of 2019 hiding in a fridge and refusing interviews lest he commit a gaffe.
Like Trump, though, Boris is “box office”. He generates media attention even when he’s not doing anything of substance (which is 90% of the time).
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
Brexit was done the moment Theresa triggered Article 50. Boris merely cobbled together a crap trade deal.
Yup. The claim that Johnson is a genius of state-craft for "getting Brexit done" is preposterous because of (a) his sabotage of May actually getting Brexit done; (b) his "getting Brexit done" involved a deal with the EU so bad he pretends he never agreed to it; (c) the fact he is trying to change it all shows it isn't, in fact "done"
That all may be true but I think misses some important elements. He is not a genius, but however he managed it he did break the deadlock which had caused the government and parliament to essentially be unable to function for around 10 months. Yes he was part of why it was deadlocked, but there was stuff on all sides causing that, from Brexit headbangers to those seeking to reverse direction completely.
He may not have got it done, but he did get it through, and while as you note he himself by his actions is repudiating part of how he managed that, he did still manage it and that is not nothing, as political accomplishments go. It's just not as enduring an accomplishment as he is trying to make it out.
Really it isn't a great achievement. Brexit was done in 2016 with the referendum. That the UK would leave the EU in short order was never in doubt, to me at least. Technically Brexit was "done" by the simple method of sending a letter to the EU Commission in Brussels. Maybe there was a certain political achievement in winning a majority in an election after which he had a free hand to do what wants.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
That's like claiming that Anthony Eden was a global tital for Suez. And a brain-dead swede with its leaves cut off would recognide Mr Johnson. He’s taken so much care over his image that of course anyone would recognise him. Doesn't mean they rate him.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
What do you mean by he got Brexit done? Once he won the election it was always done. A cactus could claim that. What matters is what done means. Are you happy with the deal he got done is what counts. What he got done isn't good even for Brexiters.
It is, it ended free movement and enabled us to do our own trade deals as Leavers promised while still having a trade deal with the EU
Don't tell me, Johnson also solved the worlds covid problem by a single bound. I suppose its on a par with Hitler building the autobahn, mussolini getting the trains to run on time and Fred west building some good conservatories.
Ah yes, he’s no different from two murderous dictators or a serial killer.
Jesus.
Diehard Remainers will never forgive Boris for defeating them in 2016 and leftwingers will never forgive Boris for crushing Corbyn Labour in 2019.
They despise him because he beat them without mercy
I like Boris. I think many Corbynites were Brexiteers and despise the ultra Remoaners like SKS and Cooper
I agree Corbynites hated Cameron and Osborne more than Boris over austerity.
It is upper middle class diehard Remainers, over represented here, who truly despise Boris and always have done
Has anybody mentioned that Ms Dick is another graduate of that dump in Oxford, with a degree in Agriculture and Forest Sciences....isn't that the sort of degree specially designed for the rowers?
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
Brexit was done the moment Theresa triggered Article 50. Boris merely cobbled together a crap trade deal.
Yup. The claim that Johnson is a genius of state-craft for "getting Brexit done" is preposterous because of (a) his sabotage of May actually getting Brexit done; (b) his "getting Brexit done" involved a deal with the EU so bad he pretends he never agreed to it; (c) the fact he is trying to change it all shows it isn't, in fact "done"
That all may be true but I think misses some important elements. He is not a genius, but however he managed it he did break the deadlock which had caused the government and parliament to essentially be unable to function for around 10 months. Yes he was part of why it was deadlocked, but there was stuff on all sides causing that, from Brexit headbangers to those seeking to reverse direction completely.
He may not have got it done, but he did get it through, and while as you note he himself by his actions is repudiating part of how he managed that, he did still manage it and that is not nothing, as political accomplishments go. It's just not as enduring an accomplishment as he is trying to make it out.
Really it isn't a great achievement. Brexit was done in 2016 with the referendum. That the UK would leave the EU in short order was never in doubt, to me at least. Technically Brexit was "done" by the simple method of sending a letter to the EU Commission in Brussels. Maybe there was a certain political achievement in winning a majority in an election after which he had a free hand to do what wants.
It may not have been in doubt to you, but it certainly was in parliament, at the least on the form it would take. But being a great achievement wasn't really the point, it was still an achievement. I think Boris is awful enough as a PM that it is possible to acknowledge his political successes, even if many of us think they cause him many a problem now.
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
You think she should have gone ages ago? I say she should never have been appointed!
That said, who was the last half decent Commissioner? It's not a role that people tend to excel in.
The Met itself should be dismembered.
It should be re-focused on crime in Greater London, answerable to the London Mayor, and it’s national functions bestowed on a new body, answerable to the Home Secretary.
One thing that is a consolation, it appears to have united us all across the political spectrum that this is wrong and inexcusable
I believe that we have learned something about the psychology of the Parliamentary Conservative Party this week. They have realised that their fate is tied to Boris, however much they hate him and however absurd he becomes. They are unlikely to depose him for the following reasons.
Firstly, there is no successor with anything like Boris's charisma. It is easy to forget in the fog of events that Johnson reinvented the conservative party. The alliance on which his 2019 majority is based - the wealthy southern base and the 'red wall' was largely a product of his political style. There would be no credible 'continuity Boris' option in any leadership election. And no obvious alternative strategy to sustain a parliamentary majority, at present at least.
Secondly, the party descended in to freefall in early 2019 due to uncertainty of direction leading to catastrophic election results. This was an existential crisis that is haunting MPs to a greater degree than we perhaps acknowledge. Something they want to avoid repeating. However bad partygate and cakegate get, it is not an existential crisis such that would prompt the type of action that bought Boris in to power in the first place.
All the lies etc are just priced in. As he has probably got away with partygate, he can get away with anything he wants; just as long as he doesn't stray in to serious criminality. It will be the voters who ultimately decide the fate of him, and his version of the conservative party.
There are rare occasions on here when you come across a contribution that hits the nail firmly on the head and this is one of those said occasions.
In truth, Johnson has redefined the party through his victory as much as Margaret Thatcher did through hers. Ultimately, of course, that didn't save her when the headwinds became personal and the Party knew she would drag them all to disaster (obviously, no one foresaw the true catastrophe waiting down the road).
The other truth is pale imitations get nowhere - a change of leader isn't just in name only. The next Conservative leader will likely be the polar opposite of Boris Johnson in terms of character and temperament if not necessarily policy. Trying to out-Boris Boris is a non-starter.
Longer term, what is the Conservative Party going to look like post-Boris? It's clear Sunak is in the mould of watered down Thatcherism and he clearly worships at the altar of the Laffer Curve even if public services will do badly under him. I don't know (genuinely) what Truss represents but if I listen to some of the 2019 intake, I don't hear the zeal of the Johnsonian convert - what I hear is One Nation Conservatism which never seems to go out of fashion and will make another comeback once this lot have gone.
At this rate, it will look something like the Liberal Democrats. At least in terms of numbers of seats...
Except that the number of Liberal Democrat seats is going up, while the number of Conservative seats is going down. Not quite crossover yet, but at the present rate of progress.......
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
You think she should have gone ages ago? I say she should never have been appointed!
That said, who was the last half decent Commissioner? It's not a role that people tend to excel in.
The Met itself should be dismembered.
It should be re-focused on crime in Greater London, answerable to the London Mayor, and it’s national functions bestowed on a new body, answerable to the Home Secretary.
One thing that is a consolation, it appears to have united us all across the political spectrum that this is wrong and inexcusable
Indeed. Diane Abbot and Clifton-Brown just agreed on Newsnight that for the first time ever they were in agreement on this issue.
The problem with that plan is that the same people will be in the new Police Farces.
Why do you think bringing in that American cop was mooted as a plan all those years ago?
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
What do you mean by he got Brexit done? Once he won the election it was always done. A cactus could claim that. What matters is what done means. Are you happy with the deal he got done is what counts. What he got done isn't good even for Brexiters.
It is, it ended free movement and enabled us to do our own trade deals as Leavers promised while still having a trade deal with the EU
Don't tell me, Johnson also solved the worlds covid problem by a single bound. I suppose its on a par with Hitler building the autobahn, mussolini getting the trains to run on time and Fred west building some good conservatories.
Ah yes, he’s no different from two murderous dictators or a serial killer.
Jesus.
He's not even three years into his tenure... give him time.
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
You think she should have gone ages ago? I say she should never have been appointed!
That said, who was the last half decent Commissioner? It's not a role that people tend to excel in.
The Met itself should be dismembered.
It should be re-focused on crime in Greater London, answerable to the London Mayor, and it’s national functions bestowed on a new body, answerable to the Home Secretary.
One thing that is a consolation, it appears to have united us all across the political spectrum that this is wrong and inexcusable
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
That reminds me of the characterisation of LBJ in Robert Caro's biographies. That instinctive understanding of power. While reading them, inevitably I applied them to our own times and leaders and had a slight fear our own Johnson had similar instincts. The difference is that, as Caro points out, LBJ had threads of darkness and threads of gold running through him. I'm not sure where BJ's threads of gold are. Perhaps, subsumed to his ambition, as LBJ's always were, save for when his better nature aligned with what was politically expedient.
LBJ was an interesting blend of bruiser and moral imperative. Impressive figure for an accidental president.
Indeed. He doesn't get much coverage compared to the 2 who bookend him. Given a Vietnam hospital pass. I find him a fascinating figure. Much more nuanced and interesting than any other "modern" President.
He has a claim to be the greatest president of the modern era to be honest.
Who else has the achievement of the civil rights act rammed through congress?
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
What do you mean by he got Brexit done? Once he won the election it was always done. A cactus could claim that. What matters is what done means. Are you happy with the deal he got done is what counts. What he got done isn't good even for Brexiters.
It is, it ended free movement and enabled us to do our own trade deals as Leavers promised while still having a trade deal with the EU
Don't tell me, Johnson also solved the worlds covid problem by a single bound. I suppose its on a par with Hitler building the autobahn, mussolini getting the trains to run on time and Fred west building some good conservatories.
Ah yes, he’s no different from two murderous dictators or a serial killer.
Jesus.
Diehard Remainers will never forgive Boris for defeating them in 2016 and leftwingers will never forgive Boris for crushing Corbyn Labour in 2019.
They despise him because he beat them without mercy
I like Boris
I don't. He's a sociopath. But he's far more my kind of Tory than any of the other leaders I've endured.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
Brexit was done the moment Theresa triggered Article 50. Boris merely cobbled together a crap trade deal.
Yup. The claim that Johnson is a genius of state-craft for "getting Brexit done" is preposterous because of (a) his sabotage of May actually getting Brexit done; (b) his "getting Brexit done" involved a deal with the EU so bad he pretends he never agreed to it; (c) the fact he is trying to change it all shows it isn't, in fact "done"
That all may be true but I think misses some important elements. He is not a genius, but however he managed it he did break the deadlock which had caused the government and parliament to essentially be unable to function for around 10 months. Yes he was part of why it was deadlocked, but there was stuff on all sides causing that, from Brexit headbangers to those seeking to reverse direction completely.
He may not have got it done, but he did get it through, and while as you note he himself by his actions is repudiating part of how he managed that, he did still manage it and that is not nothing, as political accomplishments go. It's just not as enduring an accomplishment as he is trying to make it out.
Really it isn't a great achievement. Brexit was done in 2016 with the referendum. That the UK would leave the EU in short order was never in doubt, to me at least. Technically Brexit was "done" by the simple method of sending a letter to the EU Commission in Brussels. Maybe there was a certain political achievement in winning a majority in an election after which he had a free hand to do what wants.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
That's like claiming that Anthony Eden was a global tital for Suez. And a brain-dead swede with its leaves cut off would recognide Mr Johnson. He’s taken so much care over his image that of course anyone would recognise him. Doesn't mean they rate him.
If I was talking about another Scot I'd call it a neep ... but yes, it is ambiguous. Let's call it a kohl-rabi to eliminate any issue.
Remind me of the difference. Neep, swede, turnip.
Neep = Swede = Turnip(but only if you are Scottish not if you are English)
Swede = a turnip when bought by someone middle class.
I better not show my wife that post. She calls a Swede a Turnip and is Scottish and although middle class now I guess wasn't when young and would definitely not admit it. It was years before we realised we were talking about the same thing.
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
What do you mean by he got Brexit done? Once he won the election it was always done. A cactus could claim that. What matters is what done means. Are you happy with the deal he got done is what counts. What he got done isn't good even for Brexiters.
It is, it ended free movement and enabled us to do our own trade deals as Leavers promised while still having a trade deal with the EU
Don't tell me, Johnson also solved the worlds covid problem by a single bound. I suppose its on a par with Hitler building the autobahn, mussolini getting the trains to run on time and Fred west building some good conservatories.
Ah yes, he’s no different from two murderous dictators or a serial killer.
Jesus.
Diehard Remainers will never forgive Boris for defeating them in 2016 and leftwingers will never forgive Boris for crushing Corbyn Labour in 2019.
They despise him because he beat them without mercy
Without mercy? It's not the 14th century, and he's not your King.
As Ronald Bilius Weasley, minister in Walpole's cabinet, once said: "You need to sort out your priorities!"
For all the clown image, the one thing that Boris has always understood- intuitively and brilliantly- is power. How to gain it and how to keep it. It's why some hate and fear him, and why others are happy to be the Number 2 to his Number 1.
Of course one of his first acts was to get rid of anyone with the potential to depose him.
Indeed, only 3 Tory leaders and Tory PMs since WW2 have been global titans, Churchill, Thatcher and Boris.
Boris in 2019 also won the third biggest Tory majority after Thatcher and Macmillan in the last 70 years
Mr Johnson a global titan?! You mean, competing with Mr Chaplin and Monsieur Hulot?
He got Brexit done, the biggest policy change of any Tory PM after Thatcher's economic reforms and winning the Cold War and Churchill's winning world war 2.
Boris is also probably the most recognised western world leader after the POTUS and he is still far more charismatic and dynamic than Biden
Brexit was done the moment Theresa triggered Article 50. Boris merely cobbled together a crap trade deal.
Yup. The claim that Johnson is a genius of state-craft for "getting Brexit done" is preposterous because of (a) his sabotage of May actually getting Brexit done; (b) his "getting Brexit done" involved a deal with the EU so bad he pretends he never agreed to it; (c) the fact he is trying to change it all shows it isn't, in fact "done"
That all may be true but I think misses some important elements. He is not a genius, but however he managed it he did break the deadlock which had caused the government and parliament to essentially be unable to function for around 10 months. Yes he was part of why it was deadlocked, but there was stuff on all sides causing that, from Brexit headbangers to those seeking to reverse direction completely.
He may not have got it done, but he did get it through, and while as you note he himself by his actions is repudiating part of how he managed that, he did still manage it and that is not nothing, as political accomplishments go. It's just not as enduring an accomplishment as he is trying to make it out.
Really it isn't a great achievement. Brexit was done in 2016 with the referendum. That the UK would leave the EU in short order was never in doubt, to me at least. Technically Brexit was "done" by the simple method of sending a letter to the EU Commission in Brussels. Maybe there was a certain political achievement in winning a majority in an election after which he had a free hand to do what wants.
It may not have been in doubt to you, but it certainly was in parliament, at the least on the form it would take. But being a great achievement wasn't really the point, it was still an achievement. I think Boris is awful enough as a PM that it is possible to acknowledge his political successes, even if many of us think they cause him many a problem now.
I concede the important point that a lot of people think it was a great achievement.
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
You think she should have gone ages ago? I say she should never have been appointed!
That said, who was the last half decent Commissioner? It's not a role that people tend to excel in.
The Met itself should be dismembered.
It should be re-focused on crime in Greater London, answerable to the London Mayor, and it’s national functions bestowed on a new body, answerable to the Home Secretary.
One thing that is a consolation, it appears to have united us all across the political spectrum that this is wrong and inexcusable
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
You think she should have gone ages ago? I say she should never have been appointed!
That said, who was the last half decent Commissioner? It's not a role that people tend to excel in.
Commissioner Gordon was a role Neil Hamilton excelled in (1970s Batman)
Really? That's amazing considering how shit he was while heading up UKIP.
Commissioner Gordon had the Bat Phone
Commissioner Dick the Fat Phone by the looks of it
After making such a fuss over all the Crown Office/Salmond stuff, and sticking the head above the parapet on Johnson, Ross is going to have CSU the Tories up here.
It's been a catastrophic few weeks for Whitehall/Westminster/UK establishment. It's basically Washington down there; just need them to appoint JRM to the Supreme Court and it's over.
(Labour have to be careful over the boundary changes. If they claim gerrymandering on them then the UK is finished as a sane democracy)
But if the SCUP split they've lost half the battle in pretending that the UK is a single polity.They havce basically admitted, in the most brutal fashion, that that is simply not true.
Labour, in contrast, remain a single GB-wide party (possibly UK wide, tecnnically) and will be left as the sole true Unionists, Ms Ballantyne's lot aside.
You're right. It's interesting that Murdo Fraser is so keen though, he's a proper old fashioned Tory (or at least sounds/looks like one).
I noticed that Sturgeon went along with Met corruption on twitter. Feeling very confident, particularly given her past as solicitor and the record Police Scotland.
Mr Fraser is certainly an old fashioned one in such things as this tweet:
And more seriously he did want to go back to the old days of the Unionist Party being independent of London. Only to get a knee in the goolies in the leadership election when Ms Davidson won.
What a roaster.
I'm still wondering what the SCUP should do if Mr Johnson can carry on with his limpet impersonation for the next 2-3 years. And I just can't decide (partly cos we don't know about the cash and property). One thing for sure, some of the MPs have screwed the pooch in terms of patronage under the JOhnson regime (but others have remained loyal AFAIK).
One sort of semirational thing would be to fib and adopt one policy in Holyrood and another in Westminster and hope nobody noticed. That is already happening to some extent de facto in terms of pro- and anti-Johnsonism.
The other point is that IIRC the boundary changes don't make that much difference in Scotland anyway. Or am I misremembering? So that's another problem for Labour.
I think you are attributing them more honour than they are deserving of. I suspect they will do very little other than hoping no-one mentions it, and waffling something about "unity" or "frank discussions" if it does come up.
I did note the other day that I got a leaflet through the door from a West of Scotland regions Conservative MSP, although you had to work EXTREMELY hard to find any mention of the ford conservative on it at all. I think if it wasn't for the fact the MSP in question had the word in his facebook profile (or whatever it was) you would not have ben able to tell at all, but to be fair I did not scan every single word of text.
But I think that is essentially the template for what they will do - don't mention it and hope no-one's remembered to bring it up or look for it.
Did they mention independence and referenda at all? If not, like my Lothians one, it is a huge policy change - in recent years they didn't use the C word in anything other than electron microscope readable size either, bujt it was all 'Ruthie Party Says No tto Indy" with a few words tacked on about other things. Now it's like a LD local election leaflet with the wrong colour.
I had another look as it was sitting in the recycling pile.
You're right, no mention of independence or referenda - island communities, local roads, boosting police numbers, standing up for the NHS and local shops and all that jazz. [We're also supposed to be impressed because the MSP in question has asked X questions and attended Y committees and has visited "multiple businesses".] The only mention it gets is on the return "sixty second survey" form/slip where one of the 5 questions is "do you support a second referendum on Scottish independence".
Thanks. That does confirm it. But why? It's very odd. They could be LDs for all one knows.
Surely Cressida Dick now has to go. She's presided over more cock-ups than someone in her position should be allowed. Killing a completely innocent Brazilian commuter should have been it but she's been allowed to continue and she's caused mayhem with whatever she's touched. I'm surprised Sue Grey doesn't resign. She's been humiliated
Only now has to go...should have happened ages ago.
You think she should have gone ages ago? I say she should never have been appointed!
That said, who was the last half decent Commissioner? It's not a role that people tend to excel in.
Glancing at the list on Wikipedia, it may have been Sir Charles Rowan:
Comments
One sort of semirational thing would be to fib and adopt one policy in Holyrood and another in Westminster and hope nobody noticed. That is already happening to some extent de facto in terms of pro- and anti-Johnsonism.
The other point is that IIRC the boundary changes don't make that much difference in Scotland anyway. Or am I misremembering? So that's another problem for Labour.
Nevertheless markets are what count at the end of the day and Brexit is slowly killing the City as a world centre on that. London is now outside of the main European market which reduces its credibility on the global scale. To be fair, the City of London recognise the problem in the report, although you would never guess it from Guido's (and (yours!) crowing about "despite Brexit"
Boris Johnson, who once promised "Thatcherism on steroids" is One Nation economically? I do agree on his social liberal credentials but economically, he would be a tax cutting Thatcherite if he could but Covid has forced him, in order to remain a populist, to become a high tax and spend social democrat.
You can see poor old Rishi Sunak wanting to show his tax cutting credentials but instead he has to oversee one of the biggest tax rises for decades. I'd have sympathy but I don't.
As and when interest rates rise (which they will), we'll see the same old debate about debt and deficit and in time the cost of servicing the enormous debt will become an issue as well.
That's what's really going on here. The Hillsborough playbook.
Remember, Johnson managed to remove Sir Ian Blair very quickly when he became mayor.
As a legal expert has just said on Sky she should have called the investigation the minute it was alleged
It seems the pressure is coming from civil service unions who are trying to redact their junior members names, but why when it is only a FPN
It should be published in full and I have become more angry as the day has gone by
If it doesn't, and it is more like a game of wordle, then its reasonable to hold it up to the camera and say look this is nonsense, total stitch up.
It stinks like my two-year-old’s nappies yesterday after a particularly bad “poo-nami”. It had gone all up his back, and I had to strip him off and put him in the shower for a thorough rinsing.
Something similar is needed in Whitehall.
It also plays into the narrative Starmer is trying to build, I am solid, sensible, quite boring, and did I tell you I used to be a lawyer, so I work with facts etc, not like the blusterer over there.
I did note the other day that I got a leaflet through the door from a West of Scotland region Conservative MSP, although you had to work EXTREMELY hard to find any mention of the word conservative on it at all. I think if it wasn't for the fact the MSP in question had the word in his facebook profile (or whatever it was) you would not have been able to tell at all, but to be fair I did not scan every single word of text.
But I think that is essentially the template for what they will do - don't mention it and hope no-one's remembered to bring it up or look for it.
Turnip - small, white/translucent flesh with purple dorsal skin. Used in chunks lamb stew in spring/summer with peas. Or chopped up as a local analogue for daikon radish in stirfry.
She and the entire Met is just the latest in the long list of collateral damage in order to keep the world king show on the road.
Sickening.
Hence he has kept income tax and inheritance tax low and is even rumoured to want to scrap the NI rise while pouring money into the NHS.
Boris is a Keynesian and of the George W Bush Cheney school that deficits do not matter (much to the annoyance of McCain).
He is not a fiscal conservative like Cameron and Osborne or even May and Hammond were
Grandkids to look forward to I guess...
He may not have got it done, but he did get it through, and while as you note he himself by his actions is repudiating part of how he managed that, he did still manage it and that is not nothing, as political accomplishments go. It's just not as enduring an accomplishment as he is trying to make it out.
Actually picked some turnips from the garden today but they were disappointingly small. Had to go all the way to Waitrose for an 80p Swede.
Reckon they are way more important for public opinion than papers, news at 10, radio etc.
You're right, no mention of independence or referenda - island communities, local roads, boosting police numbers, standing up for the NHS and local shops and all that jazz. [We're also supposed to be impressed because the MSP in question has asked X questions and attended Y committees and has visited "multiple businesses".] The only mention it gets is on the return "sixty second survey" form/slip where one of the 5 questions is "do you support a second referendum on Scottish independence".
He managed to leap over the Northern Ireland hurdle by signing up to something he had no intention of honouring, and then gaslit most of the country into believing it was an “oven ready deal”.
He then sold the fisherman, and various other parties, up the river in order to close a relatively shabby trade deal which at least managed to avoid the catastrophic “no deal” he had successfully terrified us all with.
It was a supreme act of political strategy cum charlatanism. Machiavelli meets Charlie Chaplin.
But; it was all Dom.
On his own, Boris can barely tie his own shoelaces although he does - as others have pointed out - understand power.
And by the way, it is Sue Gray not Grey
I find him a fascinating figure. Much more nuanced and interesting than any other "modern" President.
Jesus.
To my mind she has undermined democracy, and in the public interest the report should be published in full and ignore her
That said, who was the last half decent Commissioner? It's not a role that people tend to excel in.
Double O 0.000001.
One of the people in charge of child care in Rotherham, who was part of the ongoing coverup and inaction over a number of years, went on to a bigger and better job. In child protection. When it was suggested by a minister that this person not receive a reference in connection with such a job application, this was branded as obscenely vindictive.
It should be re-focused on crime in Greater London, answerable to the London Mayor, and it’s national functions bestowed on a new body, answerable to the Home Secretary.
They despise him because he beat them without mercy
Either that or 54 blacked out pages of nothing.
Gray should just post the whole thing on line and live with the consequences.
The widespread assumption that she worked for the security services doesn’t have much to do with it, I think - unless it is thought that the Met’s main issue is combating domestic terrorism.
But he's far more my kind of Tory than any of the other leaders I've endured.
Having said that, it is often said that Boris is a great campaigner, but I don’t think even that’s true. He spent most of 2019 hiding in a fridge and refusing interviews lest he commit a gaffe.
Like Trump, though, Boris is “box office”. He generates media attention even when he’s not doing anything of substance (which is 90% of the time).
It is upper middle class diehard Remainers, over represented here, who truly despise Boris and always have done
Why do you think bringing in that American cop was mooted as a plan all those years ago?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bratton
Who else has the achievement of the civil rights act rammed through congress?
As Ronald Bilius Weasley, minister in Walpole's cabinet, once said: "You need to sort out your priorities!"
Commissioner Dick the Fat Phone by the looks of it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commissioner_of_Police_of_the_Metropolis