We can take one comfort from current events: those taking Boris's shilling have no future role in Conservative government.
Those saying the next leader and PM has to come from outside Cabinet are right - certainly in the Cabinet as it is constituted tonight.
A majority of 70-odd allows the new PM to clean out the Augean stables.
Up to Tory members to decide if one of Johnson's Cabinet gets to the final 2
Utter nonsense
It is conservative mps who will decide the final 2 not members
You need a rest if you cannot get this basic fact right
And if Tory MPs put one of Johnson's Cabinet or Ministers eg Wallace, Truss or Mordaunt in the final 2 then members will decide if they become next leader or not even if say Sunak or Hunt tops the MPs ballot
I really didn’t think he would go full on Trump but he has. This is damaging stuff.
There are certain people who reach positions of power in democracies, who demonstrate through their behaviour that given the chance they would take the country into dictatorship. He’s the first British PM I’ve seen this trait in. Trump had it. Clearly Orban, Erdogan and other managed democrats do. Indira Gandhi. De Gaulle got close. But most others ultimately go when asked.
Sorry, but it's been obvious since autumn 2019 at the very latest. Anyone who didn't realise it by that point was not paying attention at all.
You all should not have voted for him. Corbyn and Brexit are not a good enough excuse.
I am probably in a minority of one. But I voted for labour in 2019, and actually regret not voting for Boris. Looking back, the danger was always infinetly greater with Corbyn than Boris. That is still true today. Can you imagine dealing with the situation in Ukraine with Corbyn as PM? There are far bigger issues than this 'trump lite' act of not leaving office when the game is probably up. The problems with lying etc are not good, but there is a much bigger picture.
Yes, the bigger picture is you didn't have to vote for either of them. If you voted for Corbyn, you were a numpty.
James Forsyth @JGForsyth · 9m Tories now heading to a rule change and a no confidence ballot. But some think that could be cathartic for the party, that a heavy defeat for Johnson could make it easier to bring the party back together
Seems everyone is hoping that someone else will do the dirty deed
Shehab Khan ITV @ShehabKhan · 8m Cabinet clearly don’t want to move just yet.
1922 sources tell me they ideally wanted cabinet to move and sort this so they wouldn’t have to change the rules (obviously not a great look to do that).
Boris Johnson’s position right now is to try and call everyone’s bluff.
James Forsyth @JGForsyth · 9m Tories now heading to a rule change and a no confidence ballot. But some think that could be cathartic for the party, that a heavy defeat for Johnson could make it easier to bring the party back together
Westminster bars have done good business tonight. Anyway, good impartial commentary from the best man of the leading candidate to replace the PM as leader of our definitely not a Banana Republic.
Someone on Twitter has just asked if Oryx (the guy who verifies the Russian and Ukrainian military losses) can do a separate overview of the losses of British ministers in the current crisis
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
He didn't. If I recall correctly, he lost his nerve, contemplated resigning, then after the leadership votes were over he seemed to tacitly support BJ indirectly by defending BJ's policies when people criticised them.
Recently he has claimed that he want Boris gone
General election, 2019. Every single one of you who voted Conservative is complicit in this and should apologise.
Labour gave us the choice of Boris or Corbyn after Corbyn had already been rejected once. Should Labour apologise for sending Corbyn out to bat again?
The attempts to blame Labour for this are plain weird. If you didn’t like Boris and Corbyn there were other choices such as spoiling the ballot.
If you voted Conservative you own part of this.
Nah. We didn't dare vote Monster Raving Loony or, more obscurely, LibDem and thereby let Corbyn into No. 10.
Tonight that attitude has proven to be foolish.
Not at all. I couldn't countenance Corbyn being PM of the UK. As @biggles said, knowing all that has happened (and not knowing how everyone else might vote, @Farooq ) I would vote the same way again.
Boris cited his mandate tonight as the reason to stay. That means you.
Yes and he is of course wrong.
Can’t be much fun being part of Boris’ figleaf.
Interesting to note that you, as well as @HYUFD, are choosing to believe what Boris says.
At least I never voted for the bugger. He was demonstrably unsuited to be pm.
OF COURSE HE WAS DEMONSTRABLY UNSUITED TO BE PM.
But he wasn't Corbyn.
Go back to my earliest posts on the subject and you will find me violently agreeing with you.
But he wasn't Corbyn so I voted for him.
Foolish.
Corbyn would let Ukraine twist in the wind.
Voting for anybody supporting THAT would have been foolish.
If you don’t like Corbyn don’t vote for him, but that never meant you had to vote forBoris.
You do know how general elections, and in particular general elections in the UK work, don't you?
If Starmer vonc , decent Tories should now vote for it. An impossible, painful position, but the right thing to do.
Parliament doesn't sit on Fridays. If he VONCed tomorrow, it would not be voted upon until Monday. A lot of damage can be done between now and then.
Speaker and House can call a sitting.
As I have said a lot earlier - only a full vote of House will now end this.
British Trump is now attempting a coup and he must be stopped.
Then someone (who? Brady?) needs to call Starmer tonight and get him onside. Parliamentary VONC has to be called for tomorrow, and the Conservatives need to be whipped to support the opposition.
Deal with the fallout, and whether a GE follows AFTERWARDS.
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
Nothing changes the hard fact that in 2019 there were two possible governments. That led by Jezza and that led by Boris. The tragedy of subsequent events does not alter at all the rational conviction that of that choice on that day Jezza was the more sub-optimal.
The rational decision was to do what I did and spoil your ballot. If you could not bring yourself to vote for one of the smaller parties either that is.
When you have two unacceptable choices, picking either one is not the logical action. refusing to pick either is the only sensible choice.
Of course this is based on the premise that both Johnson and Corbyn were as bad as each other. I know a lot of people didn't think that at the time which is why I will not berate them in the way Farooq does. But for me it seemed inevitable that where we are now was where we end up with Johnson in charge (generally rather than specifically) so the only sensible choice was to abstain.
Abstaining doesn't mean a decision won't be made. It means you can have no complaints whatsoever about the result.
It does mean that neither will be able to claim you as part of their “mandate”. I’m with Richard on this.
Someone on Twitter has just asked if Oryx (the guy who verifies the Russian and Ukrainian military losses) can do a separate overview of the losses of British ministers in the current crisis
I asked one of the Covid-19 stats guys to calculate the R-rate for ministerial resignations.
At that point even I would say he would have to go but we are not there yet
Do you think he should hang on?
Until the 1922 change the rules and he loses a VONC happens yes.
If both those events occur then at the point he should go
Don't you think what he's doing lacks dignity? I just had a text from a friend saying they're laughing at him on Israeli radio and their ex leader is on trial for corruption.
They are DEEEP into the wine suitcase in No 10 tonight
James Duddridge argues to @julie_etch on News at Ten that in another two weeks Boris Johnson will have rebuilt his support among the party because MPs will see the changes he’s made. Problem is he’s promised those changes before. https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1544795399382335488
We can take one comfort from current events: those taking Boris's shilling have no future role in Conservative government.
Those saying the next leader and PM has to come from outside Cabinet are right - certainly in the Cabinet as it is constituted tonight.
A majority of 70-odd allows the new PM to clean out the Augean stables.
Up to Tory members to decide if one of Johnson's Cabinet gets to the final 2
Utter nonsense
It is conservative mps who will decide the final 2 not members
You need a rest if you cannot get this basic fact right
And if Tory MPs put one of Johnson's Cabinet or Ministers eg Wallace, Truss or Mordaunt in the final 2 then members will decide if they become next leader or not even if say Sunak or Hunt tops the MPs ballot
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
He didn't. If I recall correctly, he lost his nerve, contemplated resigning, then after the leadership votes were over he seemed to tacitly support BJ indirectly by defending BJ's policies when people criticised them.
Recently he has claimed that he want Boris gone
General election, 2019. Every single one of you who voted Conservative is complicit in this and should apologise.
Labour gave us the choice of Boris or Corbyn after Corbyn had already been rejected once. Should Labour apologise for sending Corbyn out to bat again?
The attempts to blame Labour for this are plain weird. If you didn’t like Boris and Corbyn there were other choices such as spoiling the ballot.
If you voted Conservative you own part of this.
Nah. We didn't dare vote Monster Raving Loony or, more obscurely, LibDem and thereby let Corbyn into No. 10.
Tonight that attitude has proven to be foolish.
Not at all. I couldn't countenance Corbyn being PM of the UK. As @biggles said, knowing all that has happened (and not knowing how everyone else might vote, @Farooq ) I would vote the same way again.
Boris cited his mandate tonight as the reason to stay. That means you.
Yes and he is of course wrong.
Can’t be much fun being part of Boris’ figleaf.
Interesting to note that you, as well as @HYUFD, are choosing to believe what Boris says.
At least I never voted for the bugger. He was demonstrably unsuited to be pm.
OF COURSE HE WAS DEMONSTRABLY UNSUITED TO BE PM.
But he wasn't Corbyn.
Go back to my earliest posts on the subject and you will find me violently agreeing with you.
But he wasn't Corbyn so I voted for him.
Foolish.
Corbyn would let Ukraine twist in the wind.
Voting for anybody supporting THAT would have been foolish.
If you don’t like Corbyn don’t vote for him, but that never meant you had to vote forBoris.
You do know how general elections, and in particular general elections in the UK work, don't you?
Yes thanks.
I am completely in the clear.
Those who voted for Boris are responsible.
No wriggling out.
I am responsible for keeping the person you supported for PM out. Yes. And very happy I did so.
So, here's a theory of 2 + 2 making 5. But bear with me.
Why doesn't Boris want to quit? When it's obvious that he should.
1. We all know that Carrie wields significant power. Cf the wallpaper, the Cummings debacle, the Abba parties at number 10, etc.
2. We can surmise that Carrie is attracted to power. The BJ incident, etc.
3. The twitter rumours about Carrie and Boris's relationship being on the rocks. Carrie thinking of leaving him for a much richer man, etc. Even if it's not true, the fact is it must be in Boris's head. What happens when he's no longer PM? Does the aphrodisiac wear off?
4. Assume that Boris is competing for the affections of his wife with a man (or men) much richer than he is. What Boris has is power. He can't compete, financially, but he is the PM.
5. So what if he's not the PM? He loses everything. Not just his job, but his wife, family, his - dare I go a bit SeanT - his sexual obsession.
Therefore. He clings on to power by his final fingertip, because it is all he has going for him. For the thing he really wants, which is his wife's affection.
As I say, it is a 2 + 2 = 5 analysis, but it fits with what we know, and explains the bizarre behaviour. Anyone else would see the writing on the wall and go. So why is Boris so keen to cling on to power? To understand a person, understand their objectives, their passions, their obsessions. If Carrie is Boris's obsession, then clinging on to power is his only choice.
Or. He's a sociopath.
Or, to quote from Ayn Rand (who was also a sociopath), "tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy of life".
For every action there must be a motivation. I am struggling to find one that fits with the available data, given the writing is on the wall. For Boris to be behaving the way he is, he must be afraid of losing something very valuable to him. You could argue it's the job, but he's already lost that, anyone can see that. So what is he afraid of losing? Not money, since he'll earn more as a post-PM. It's power. He is afraid of losing power. I'm proposing one possible reason why he's so afraid of losing power and continuing to deny reality when it's staring him in the face.
Despite becoming chancellor yesterday, Zahawi has been preparing a Crosby-approved plan to become prime minister behind the scenes, which includes cutting corporation tax and VAT and looking at stamp duty.
He is understood to be ready to activate the campaign immediately “if shit hits the fan” and the small team had been preparing a resignation letter centred on trust had he not been made chancellor.
So, here's a theory of 2 + 2 making 5. But bear with me.
Why doesn't Boris want to quit? When it's obvious that he should.
1. We all know that Carrie wields significant power. Cf the wallpaper, the Cummings debacle, the Abba parties at number 10, etc.
2. We can surmise that Carrie is attracted to power. The BJ incident, etc.
3. The twitter rumours about Carrie and Boris's relationship being on the rocks. Carrie thinking of leaving him for a much richer man, etc. Even if it's not true, the fact is it must be in Boris's head. What happens when he's no longer PM? Does the aphrodisiac wear off?
4. Assume that Boris is competing for the affections of his wife with a man (or men) much richer than he is. What Boris has is power. He can't compete, financially, but he is the PM.
5. So what if he's not the PM? He loses everything. Not just his job, but his wife, family, his - dare I go a bit SeanT - his sexual obsession.
Therefore. He clings on to power by his final fingertip, because it is all he has going for him. For the thing he really wants, which is his wife's affection.
As I say, it is a 2 + 2 = 5 analysis, but it fits with what we know, and explains the bizarre behaviour. Anyone else would see the writing on the wall and go. So why is Boris so keen to cling on to power? To understand a person, understand their objectives, their passions, their obsessions. If Carrie is Boris's obsession, then clinging on to power is his only choice.
James Forsyth @JGForsyth · 9m Tories now heading to a rule change and a no confidence ballot. But some think that could be cathartic for the party, that a heavy defeat for Johnson could make it easier to bring the party back together
Despite becoming chancellor yesterday, Zahawi has been preparing a Crosby-approved plan to become prime minister behind the scenes, which includes cutting corporation tax and VAT and looking at stamp duty.
He is understood to be ready to activate the campaign immediately “if shit hits the fan” and the small team had been preparing a resignation letter centred on trust had he not been made chancellor.
I really didn’t think he would go full on Trump but he has. This is damaging stuff.
There are certain people who reach positions of power in democracies, who demonstrate through their behaviour that given the chance they would take the country into dictatorship. He’s the first British PM I’ve seen this trait in. Trump had it. Clearly Orban, Erdogan and other managed democrats do. Indira Gandhi. De Gaulle got close. But most others ultimately go when asked.
Sorry, but it's been obvious since autumn 2019 at the very latest. Anyone who didn't realise it by that point was not paying attention at all.
You all should not have voted for him. Corbyn and Brexit are not a good enough excuse.
I am probably in a minority of one. But I voted for labour in 2019, and actually regret not voting for Boris. Looking back, the danger was always infinetly greater with Corbyn than Boris. That is still true today. Can you imagine dealing with the situation in Ukraine with Corbyn as PM? There are far bigger issues than this 'trump lite' act of not leaving office when the game is probably up. The problems with lying etc are not good, but there is a much bigger picture.
Yes, the bigger picture is you didn't have to vote for either of them. If you voted for Corbyn, you were a numpty.
We can take one comfort from current events: those taking Boris's shilling have no future role in Conservative government.
Those saying the next leader and PM has to come from outside Cabinet are right - certainly in the Cabinet as it is constituted tonight.
A majority of 70-odd allows the new PM to clean out the Augean stables.
Up to Tory members to decide if one of Johnson's Cabinet gets to the final 2
Utter nonsense
It is conservative mps who will decide the final 2 not members
You need a rest if you cannot get this basic fact right
And if Tory MPs put one of Johnson's Cabinet or Ministers eg Wallace, Truss or Mordaunt in the final 2 then members will decide if they become next leader or not even if say Sunak or Hunt tops the MPs ballot
So you accept you got it wrong in the first place
I didn't, I said 'up to Tory members to decide if one of them gets to the final 2' ie Tory members will decide if MPs put one of them in the final 2
I really didn’t think he would go full on Trump but he has. This is damaging stuff.
There are certain people who reach positions of power in democracies, who demonstrate through their behaviour that given the chance they would take the country into dictatorship. He’s the first British PM I’ve seen this trait in. Trump had it. Clearly Orban, Erdogan and other managed democrats do. Indira Gandhi. De Gaulle got close. But most others ultimately go when asked.
Sorry, but it's been obvious since autumn 2019 at the very latest. Anyone who didn't realise it by that point was not paying attention at all.
You all should not have voted for him. Corbyn and Brexit are not a good enough excuse.
I am probably in a minority of one. But I voted for labour in 2019, and actually regret not voting for Boris. Looking back, the danger was always infinetly greater with Corbyn than Boris. That is still true today. Can you imagine dealing with the situation in Ukraine with Corbyn as PM? There are far bigger issues than this 'trump lite' act of not leaving office when the game is probably up. The problems with lying etc are not good, but there is a much bigger picture.
Yes, the bigger picture is you didn't have to vote for either of them. If you voted for Corbyn, you were a numpty.
3. The twitter rumours about Carrie and Boris's relationship being on the rocks. Carrie thinking of leaving him for a much richer man, etc. Even if it's not true, the fact is it must be in Boris's head. What happens when he's no longer PM? Does the aphrodisiac wear off?
4. Assume that Boris is competing for the affections of his wife with a man (or men) much richer than he is. What Boris has is power. He can't compete, financially, but he is the PM.
...
Wouldn't that require a group of extremely rich blokes who are willing to pay a lot of money just to get some sociopathic thrill from shagging the wife of Boris Johnson ?
This sounds like the sort of thing SeanT should be commenting upon.
So, here's a theory of 2 + 2 making 5. But bear with me.
Why doesn't Boris want to quit? When it's obvious that he should.
1. We all know that Carrie wields significant power. Cf the wallpaper, the Cummings debacle, the Abba parties at number 10, etc.
2. We can surmise that Carrie is attracted to power. The BJ incident, etc.
3. The twitter rumours about Carrie and Boris's relationship being on the rocks. Carrie thinking of leaving him for a much richer man, etc. Even if it's not true, the fact is it must be in Boris's head. What happens when he's no longer PM? Does the aphrodisiac wear off?
4. Assume that Boris is competing for the affections of his wife with a man (or men) much richer than he is. What Boris has is power. He can't compete, financially, but he is the PM.
5. So what if he's not the PM? He loses everything. Not just his job, but his wife, family, his - dare I go a bit SeanT - his sexual obsession.
Therefore. He clings on to power by his final fingertip, because it is all he has going for him. For the thing he really wants, which is his wife's affection.
As I say, it is a 2 + 2 = 5 analysis, but it fits with what we know, and explains the bizarre behaviour. Anyone else would see the writing on the wall and go. So why is Boris so keen to cling on to power? To understand a person, understand their objectives, their passions, their obsessions. If Carrie is Boris's obsession, then clinging on to power is his only choice.
Or. He's a sociopath.
This. If there is a sociopath spectrum, Boris is on it at least with one boot.
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
He didn't. If I recall correctly, he lost his nerve, contemplated resigning, then after the leadership votes were over he seemed to tacitly support BJ indirectly by defending BJ's policies when people criticised them.
Recently he has claimed that he want Boris gone
General election, 2019. Every single one of you who voted Conservative is complicit in this and should apologise.
Labour gave us the choice of Boris or Corbyn after Corbyn had already been rejected once. Should Labour apologise for sending Corbyn out to bat again?
The attempts to blame Labour for this are plain weird. If you didn’t like Boris and Corbyn there were other choices such as spoiling the ballot.
If you voted Conservative you own part of this.
Nah. We didn't dare vote Monster Raving Loony or, more obscurely, LibDem and thereby let Corbyn into No. 10.
Tonight that attitude has proven to be foolish.
Not at all. I couldn't countenance Corbyn being PM of the UK. As @biggles said, knowing all that has happened (and not knowing how everyone else might vote, @Farooq ) I would vote the same way again.
Boris cited his mandate tonight as the reason to stay. That means you.
Yes and he is of course wrong.
Can’t be much fun being part of Boris’ figleaf.
Interesting to note that you, as well as @HYUFD, are choosing to believe what Boris says.
At least I never voted for the bugger. He was demonstrably unsuited to be pm.
OF COURSE HE WAS DEMONSTRABLY UNSUITED TO BE PM.
But he wasn't Corbyn.
Go back to my earliest posts on the subject and you will find me violently agreeing with you.
But he wasn't Corbyn so I voted for him.
Foolish.
Corbyn would let Ukraine twist in the wind.
Voting for anybody supporting THAT would have been foolish.
If you don’t like Corbyn don’t vote for him, but that never meant you had to vote forBoris.
You do know how general elections, and in particular general elections in the UK work, don't you?
Yes thanks.
I am completely in the clear.
Those who voted for Boris are responsible.
No wriggling out.
You are a Corbynite
Was GE 2019 a huge triumph or a massive defeat for Corbynism?
Do massive defeats typically attract effusive praise or severe blame?
If it had been a huge triumph would we have the problem we now have?
So, here's a theory of 2 + 2 making 5. But bear with me.
Why doesn't Boris want to quit? When it's obvious that he should.
1. We all know that Carrie wields significant power. Cf the wallpaper, the Cummings debacle, the Abba parties at number 10, etc.
2. We can surmise that Carrie is attracted to power. The BJ incident, etc.
3. The twitter rumours about Carrie and Boris's relationship being on the rocks. Carrie thinking of leaving him for a much richer man, etc. Even if it's not true, the fact is it must be in Boris's head. What happens when he's no longer PM? Does the aphrodisiac wear off?
4. Assume that Boris is competing for the affections of his wife with a man (or men) much richer than he is. What Boris has is power. He can't compete, financially, but he is the PM.
5. So what if he's not the PM? He loses everything. Not just his job, but his wife, family, his - dare I go a bit SeanT - his sexual obsession.
Therefore. He clings on to power by his final fingertip, because it is all he has going for him. For the thing he really wants, which is his wife's affection.
As I say, it is a 2 + 2 = 5 analysis, but it fits with what we know, and explains the bizarre behaviour. Anyone else would see the writing on the wall and go. So why is Boris so keen to cling on to power? To understand a person, understand their objectives, their passions, their obsessions. If Carrie is Boris's obsession, then clinging on to power is his only choice.
The power itself is the obsession.
I'm not sure that's true. Boris strikes me as a lot of things, but power mad is not one of them. Power mad people tend to be control freaks, while Boris is clearly lackadaisical in all he does. He enjoys the trappings of power, but is lazy and doesn't care to do the work.
Even clinging on as much as he is now strikes me as antithetical to what we know about Boris. He always picks the easy option. Surely, as a lazy person, he would resign and take the money on the speaking circuit, etc. The option he's picked today is the hard option. So we have to ask ourselves, why is he choosing it?
So, here's a theory of 2 + 2 making 5. But bear with me.
Why doesn't Boris want to quit? When it's obvious that he should.
1. We all know that Carrie wields significant power. Cf the wallpaper, the Cummings debacle, the Abba parties at number 10, etc.
2. We can surmise that Carrie is attracted to power. The BJ incident, etc.
3. The twitter rumours about Carrie and Boris's relationship being on the rocks. Carrie thinking of leaving him for a much richer man, etc. Even if it's not true, the fact is it must be in Boris's head. What happens when he's no longer PM? Does the aphrodisiac wear off?
4. Assume that Boris is competing for the affections of his wife with a man (or men) much richer than he is. What Boris has is power. He can't compete, financially, but he is the PM.
5. So what if he's not the PM? He loses everything. Not just his job, but his wife, family, his - dare I go a bit SeanT - his sexual obsession.
Therefore. He clings on to power by his final fingertip, because it is all he has going for him. For the thing he really wants, which is his wife's affection.
As I say, it is a 2 + 2 = 5 analysis, but it fits with what we know, and explains the bizarre behaviour. Anyone else would see the writing on the wall and go. So why is Boris so keen to cling on to power? To understand a person, understand their objectives, their passions, their obsessions. If Carrie is Boris's obsession, then clinging on to power is his only choice.
I don't think his behaviour is bizarre. To me it was pretty obvious that he wouldn't just resign in the manner of previous PM's when their time is up. I think it just isn't his style to resign; he just fights stuff out, disregards conventions etc, as we've seen over and over again. This performance is all in line with what we know about Boris.
3. The twitter rumours about Carrie and Boris's relationship being on the rocks. Carrie thinking of leaving him for a much richer man, etc. Even if it's not true, the fact is it must be in Boris's head. What happens when he's no longer PM? Does the aphrodisiac wear off?
4. Assume that Boris is competing for the affections of his wife with a man (or men) much richer than he is. What Boris has is power. He can't compete, financially, but he is the PM.
...
Wouldn't that require a group of extremely rich blokes who are willing to pay a lot of money just to get some sociopathic thrill of shagging the wife of Boris Johnson ?
This sounds like the sort of thing SeanT should be commenting upon.
It’s one particular rich man - a former MP who lost his seat in the 2019 election..
Despite becoming chancellor yesterday, Zahawi has been preparing a Crosby-approved plan to become prime minister behind the scenes, which includes cutting corporation tax and VAT and looking at stamp duty.
He is understood to be ready to activate the campaign immediately “if shit hits the fan” and the small team had been preparing a resignation letter centred on trust had he not been made chancellor.
So, here's a theory of 2 + 2 making 5. But bear with me.
Why doesn't Boris want to quit? When it's obvious that he should.
1. We all know that Carrie wields significant power. Cf the wallpaper, the Cummings debacle, the Abba parties at number 10, etc.
2. We can surmise that Carrie is attracted to power. The BJ incident, etc.
3. The twitter rumours about Carrie and Boris's relationship being on the rocks. Carrie thinking of leaving him for a much richer man, etc. Even if it's not true, the fact is it must be in Boris's head. What happens when he's no longer PM? Does the aphrodisiac wear off?
4. Assume that Boris is competing for the affections of his wife with a man (or men) much richer than he is. What Boris has is power. He can't compete, financially, but he is the PM.
5. So what if he's not the PM? He loses everything. Not just his job, but his wife, family, his - dare I go a bit SeanT - his sexual obsession.
Therefore. He clings on to power by his final fingertip, because it is all he has going for him. For the thing he really wants, which is his wife's affection.
As I say, it is a 2 + 2 = 5 analysis, but it fits with what we know, and explains the bizarre behaviour. Anyone else would see the writing on the wall and go. So why is Boris so keen to cling on to power? To understand a person, understand their objectives, their passions, their obsessions. If Carrie is Boris's obsession, then clinging on to power is his only choice.
Or. He's a sociopath.
Or, to quote from Ayn Rand (who was also a sociopath), "tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy of life".
For every action there must be a motivation. I am struggling to find one that fits with the available data, given the writing is on the wall. For Boris to be behaving the way he is, he must be afraid of losing something very valuable to him. You could argue it's the job, but he's already lost that, anyone can see that. So what is he afraid of losing? Not money, since he'll earn more as a post-PM. It's power. He is afraid of losing power. I'm proposing one possible reason why he's so afraid of losing power and continuing to deny reality when it's staring him in the face.
But. If he knows he's lost his job he knows he's lost his power, doesn't he? I mean. A few days. He's 59. He's a sad little boy who needs a hug.
Sacking Gove is a petty act of vindictive revenge... The last act of possibly the worst man to hold the office of Prime Minister. The damage to the Conservatives is severe, one wonders if a vicious and untrammelled leadership election might risk the party actually falling apart.
A certain amount of Karma for the Conservatives here, after all they did know the guy was a wrong un. "Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad"
Lord North’s ghost is resting easy tonight knowing that he is no longer the worst ever Prime Minister.
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
Nothing changes the hard fact that in 2019 there were two possible governments. That led by Jezza and that led by Boris. The tragedy of subsequent events does not alter at all the rational conviction that of that choice on that day Jezza was the more sub-optimal.
The rational decision was to do what I did and spoil your ballot. If you could not bring yourself to vote for one of the smaller parties either that is.
When you have two unacceptable choices, picking either one is not the logical action. refusing to pick either is the only sensible choice.
Of course this is based on the premise that both Johnson and Corbyn were as bad as each other. I know a lot of people didn't think that at the time which is why I will not berate them in the way Farooq does. But for me it seemed inevitable that where we are now was where we end up with Johnson in charge (generally rather than specifically) so the only sensible choice was to abstain.
I do not understand this at all. My ballot paper in 2019 had five options for Bootle. I did not pick Labour or the Conservatives. No one was forced to pick between the two. Everyone had more than two choices.
If people thought Johnson is bad but Corbyn is worse, so I'll vote Johnson, they clearly weren't looking at their ballot paper properly.
3. The twitter rumours about Carrie and Boris's relationship being on the rocks. Carrie thinking of leaving him for a much richer man, etc. Even if it's not true, the fact is it must be in Boris's head. What happens when he's no longer PM? Does the aphrodisiac wear off?
4. Assume that Boris is competing for the affections of his wife with a man (or men) much richer than he is. What Boris has is power. He can't compete, financially, but he is the PM.
...
Wouldn't that require a group of extremely rich blokes who are willing to pay a lot of money just to get some sociopathic thrill from shagging the wife of Boris Johnson ?
This sounds like the sort of thing SeanT should be commenting upon.
I won't repeat the twitter rumours here for legal reasons but it's not hard to find the specifics of the extremely rich bloke(s).
I really didn’t think he would go full on Trump but he has. This is damaging stuff.
There are certain people who reach positions of power in democracies, who demonstrate through their behaviour that given the chance they would take the country into dictatorship. He’s the first British PM I’ve seen this trait in. Trump had it. Clearly Orban, Erdogan and other managed democrats do. Indira Gandhi. De Gaulle got close. But most others ultimately go when asked.
Sorry, but it's been obvious since autumn 2019 at the very latest. Anyone who didn't realise it by that point was not paying attention at all.
You all should not have voted for him. Corbyn and Brexit are not a good enough excuse.
You don’t get the point of wanting Brexit. Anything and everything domestic (including all this Boris crap) is reversible. The EU’s actions were not.
Demonstrably, EU membership was and is reversible.
My words were imprecise. EU law was not reversible other by leaving. So as you say, we had to leave. And we did.
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
Nothing changes the hard fact that in 2019 there were two possible governments. That led by Jezza and that led by Boris. The tragedy of subsequent events does not alter at all the rational conviction that of that choice on that day Jezza was the more sub-optimal.
The rational decision was to do what I did and spoil your ballot. If you could not bring yourself to vote for one of the smaller parties either that is.
When you have two unacceptable choices, picking either one is not the logical action. refusing to pick either is the only sensible choice.
Of course this is based on the premise that both Johnson and Corbyn were as bad as each other. I know a lot of people didn't think that at the time which is why I will not berate them in the way Farooq does. But for me it seemed inevitable that where we are now was where we end up with Johnson in charge (generally rather than specifically) so the only sensible choice was to abstain.
Abstaining doesn't mean a decision won't be made. It means you can have no complaints whatsoever about the result.
No but it does mean you are not responsible and can justifiably attack both sides. As I said I know that people like yourself considered Corbyn the bigger threat and so voted accordingly. That is sensible based on your perceptions. My perception was that both were equally dangerous for the democracy and well being of this country if in perhaps slightly different ways. Hence the reason I refused to vote for either.
2019 was an election where we were going to lose no matter which side won.
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
Nothing changes the hard fact that in 2019 there were two possible governments. That led by Jezza and that led by Boris. The tragedy of subsequent events does not alter at all the rational conviction that of that choice on that day Jezza was the more sub-optimal.
The rational decision was to do what I did and spoil your ballot. If you could not bring yourself to vote for one of the smaller parties either that is.
When you have two unacceptable choices, picking either one is not the logical action. refusing to pick either is the only sensible choice.
Of course this is based on the premise that both Johnson and Corbyn were as bad as each other. I know a lot of people didn't think that at the time which is why I will not berate them in the way Farooq does. But for me it seemed inevitable that where we are now was where we end up with Johnson in charge (generally rather than specifically) so the only sensible choice was to abstain.
I do not understand this at all. My ballot paper in 2019 had five options for Bootle. I did not pick Labour or the Conservatives. No one was forced to pick between the two. Everyone had more than two choices.
If people thought Johnson is bad but Corbyn is worse, so I'll vote Johnson, they clearly weren't looking at their ballot paper properly.
So you wasted your vote.
At every election I have the choice of 2 parties - either of the ones with a chance of winning the seat. Voting Lib Dem or green round here is a waste of a vote, do you end up voting for the least worst of the main parties.
Despite becoming chancellor yesterday, Zahawi has been preparing a Crosby-approved plan to become prime minister behind the scenes, which includes cutting corporation tax and VAT and looking at stamp duty.
He is understood to be ready to activate the campaign immediately “if shit hits the fan” and the small team had been preparing a resignation letter centred on trust had he not been made chancellor.
Not necessarily. Zahawi has maybe a week in 11 Downing Street it seems during which he can cut taxes ostentatiously to shore up the PM, but in reality showing himself as the real tax cutter unlike Sunak before him, catapulting him up in many members estimations for the leadership race.
Seems everyone is hoping that someone else will do the dirty deed
Shehab Khan ITV @ShehabKhan · 8m Cabinet clearly don’t want to move just yet.
1922 sources tell me they ideally wanted cabinet to move and sort this so they wouldn’t have to change the rules (obviously not a great look to do that).
Boris Johnson’s position right now is to try and call everyone’s bluff.
None of these people should be bluffing, that seems to be the problem.
Despite becoming chancellor yesterday, Zahawi has been preparing a Crosby-approved plan to become prime minister behind the scenes, which includes cutting corporation tax and VAT and looking at stamp duty.
He is understood to be ready to activate the campaign immediately “if shit hits the fan” and the small team had been preparing a resignation letter centred on trust had he not been made chancellor.
So, here's a theory of 2 + 2 making 5. But bear with me.
Why doesn't Boris want to quit? When it's obvious that he should.
1. We all know that Carrie wields significant power. Cf the wallpaper, the Cummings debacle, the Abba parties at number 10, etc.
2. We can surmise that Carrie is attracted to power. The BJ incident, etc.
3. The twitter rumours about Carrie and Boris's relationship being on the rocks. Carrie thinking of leaving him for a much richer man, etc. Even if it's not true, the fact is it must be in Boris's head. What happens when he's no longer PM? Does the aphrodisiac wear off?
4. Assume that Boris is competing for the affections of his wife with a man (or men) much richer than he is. What Boris has is power. He can't compete, financially, but he is the PM.
5. So what if he's not the PM? He loses everything. Not just his job, but his wife, family, his - dare I go a bit SeanT - his sexual obsession.
Therefore. He clings on to power by his final fingertip, because it is all he has going for him. For the thing he really wants, which is his wife's affection.
As I say, it is a 2 + 2 = 5 analysis, but it fits with what we know, and explains the bizarre behaviour. Anyone else would see the writing on the wall and go. So why is Boris so keen to cling on to power? To understand a person, understand their objectives, their passions, their obsessions. If Carrie is Boris's obsession, then clinging on to power is his only choice.
The power itself is the obsession.
I'm not sure that's true. Boris strikes me as a lot of things, but power mad is not one of them. Power mad people tend to be control freaks, while Boris is clearly lackadaisical in all he does. He enjoys the trappings of power, but is lazy and doesn't care to do the work.
Even clinging on as much as he is now strikes me as antithetical to what we know about Boris. He always picks the easy option. Surely, as a lazy person, he would resign and take the money on the speaking circuit, etc. The option he's picked today is the hard option. So we have to ask ourselves, why is he choosing it?
Just because he is too lackadaisical to weild power effectively doesn't mean that he isn't motivated by a desire to dominate and impose his will. He is the classic product of an unhappy and unstable childhood, a deeply damaged man. Very dangerous to let him anywhere near power.
The @Telegraph report the whips’ office have crunched the numbers and worked out Boris Johnson would get just 65 confidence votes out of nearly 360 Tory MPs
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
He didn't. If I recall correctly, he lost his nerve, contemplated resigning, then after the leadership votes were over he seemed to tacitly support BJ indirectly by defending BJ's policies when people criticised them.
Recently he has claimed that he want Boris gone
General election, 2019. Every single one of you who voted Conservative is complicit in this and should apologise.
Labour gave us the choice of Boris or Corbyn after Corbyn had already been rejected once. Should Labour apologise for sending Corbyn out to bat again?
The attempts to blame Labour for this are plain weird. If you didn’t like Boris and Corbyn there were other choices such as spoiling the ballot.
If you voted Conservative you own part of this.
Nah. We didn't dare vote Monster Raving Loony or, more obscurely, LibDem and thereby let Corbyn into No. 10.
Tonight that attitude has proven to be foolish.
Not at all. I couldn't countenance Corbyn being PM of the UK. As @biggles said, knowing all that has happened (and not knowing how everyone else might vote, @Farooq ) I would vote the same way again.
Boris cited his mandate tonight as the reason to stay. That means you.
Yes and he is of course wrong.
Can’t be much fun being part of Boris’ figleaf.
Interesting to note that you, as well as @HYUFD, are choosing to believe what Boris says.
At least I never voted for the bugger. He was demonstrably unsuited to be pm.
OF COURSE HE WAS DEMONSTRABLY UNSUITED TO BE PM.
But he wasn't Corbyn.
Go back to my earliest posts on the subject and you will find me violently agreeing with you.
But he wasn't Corbyn so I voted for him.
Foolish.
Corbyn would let Ukraine twist in the wind.
Voting for anybody supporting THAT would have been foolish.
That's simply untrue. Corbyn would have supplied weapons and stood up against the real aggressor: the US's scrooge, Ukraine.
I really didn’t think he would go full on Trump but he has. This is damaging stuff.
There are certain people who reach positions of power in democracies, who demonstrate through their behaviour that given the chance they would take the country into dictatorship. He’s the first British PM I’ve seen this trait in. Trump had it. Clearly Orban, Erdogan and other managed democrats do. Indira Gandhi. De Gaulle got close. But most others ultimately go when asked.
Sorry, but it's been obvious since autumn 2019 at the very latest. Anyone who didn't realise it by that point was not paying attention at all.
You all should not have voted for him. Corbyn and Brexit are not a good enough excuse.
I am probably in a minority of one. But I voted for labour in 2019, and actually regret not voting for Boris. Looking back, the danger was always infinetly greater with Corbyn than Boris. That is still true today. Can you imagine dealing with the situation in Ukraine with Corbyn as PM? There are far bigger issues than this 'trump lite' act of not leaving office when the game is probably up. The problems with lying etc are not good, but there is a much bigger picture.
Yes, the bigger picture is you didn't have to vote for either of them. If you voted for Corbyn, you were a numpty.
It's Farooq's fault everyone.
Corbyn was fucking useless, his supporters trebly so, and had that not been the case we would not be where we are now. Plenty of blame to go round,, and definitely no shortage for lefty fannies who effectively arranged for phatboi to be elected unopposed.
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
Nothing changes the hard fact that in 2019 there were two possible governments. That led by Jezza and that led by Boris. The tragedy of subsequent events does not alter at all the rational conviction that of that choice on that day Jezza was the more sub-optimal.
The rational decision was to do what I did and spoil your ballot. If you could not bring yourself to vote for one of the smaller parties either that is.
When you have two unacceptable choices, picking either one is not the logical action. refusing to pick either is the only sensible choice.
Of course this is based on the premise that both Johnson and Corbyn were as bad as each other. I know a lot of people didn't think that at the time which is why I will not berate them in the way Farooq does. But for me it seemed inevitable that where we are now was where we end up with Johnson in charge (generally rather than specifically) so the only sensible choice was to abstain.
I do not understand this at all. My ballot paper in 2019 had five options for Bootle. I did not pick Labour or the Conservatives. No one was forced to pick between the two. Everyone had more than two choices.
If people thought Johnson is bad but Corbyn is worse, so I'll vote Johnson, they clearly weren't looking at their ballot paper properly.
As I said it is game theoretical. If you could rely on everyone who hitherto supported Labour or the Conservatives not to vote for Corbyn or Johnson then yes you are right. But you couldn't so no you are wrong.
I really didn’t think he would go full on Trump but he has. This is damaging stuff.
There are certain people who reach positions of power in democracies, who demonstrate through their behaviour that given the chance they would take the country into dictatorship. He’s the first British PM I’ve seen this trait in. Trump had it. Clearly Orban, Erdogan and other managed democrats do. Indira Gandhi. De Gaulle got close. But most others ultimately go when asked.
Sorry, but it's been obvious since autumn 2019 at the very latest. Anyone who didn't realise it by that point was not paying attention at all.
You all should not have voted for him. Corbyn and Brexit are not a good enough excuse.
You don’t get the point of wanting Brexit. Anything and everything domestic (including all this Boris crap) is reversible. The EU’s actions were not.
Demonstrably, EU membership was and is reversible.
My words were imprecise. EU law was not reversible other by leaving. So as you say, we had to leave. And we did.
Well, no, we didn't have to. Demonstrably many people in many countries are happy to be in the EU.
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
He didn't. If I recall correctly, he lost his nerve, contemplated resigning, then after the leadership votes were over he seemed to tacitly support BJ indirectly by defending BJ's policies when people criticised them.
Recently he has claimed that he want Boris gone
General election, 2019. Every single one of you who voted Conservative is complicit in this and should apologise.
Labour gave us the choice of Boris or Corbyn after Corbyn had already been rejected once. Should Labour apologise for sending Corbyn out to bat again?
The attempts to blame Labour for this are plain weird. If you didn’t like Boris and Corbyn there were other choices such as spoiling the ballot.
If you voted Conservative you own part of this.
Nah. We didn't dare vote Monster Raving Loony or, more obscurely, LibDem and thereby let Corbyn into No. 10.
Tonight that attitude has proven to be foolish.
Not at all. I couldn't countenance Corbyn being PM of the UK. As @biggles said, knowing all that has happened (and not knowing how everyone else might vote, @Farooq ) I would vote the same way again.
Boris cited his mandate tonight as the reason to stay. That means you.
Yes and he is of course wrong.
Can’t be much fun being part of Boris’ figleaf.
Interesting to note that you, as well as @HYUFD, are choosing to believe what Boris says.
At least I never voted for the bugger. He was demonstrably unsuited to be pm.
OF COURSE HE WAS DEMONSTRABLY UNSUITED TO BE PM.
But he wasn't Corbyn.
Go back to my earliest posts on the subject and you will find me violently agreeing with you.
But he wasn't Corbyn so I voted for him.
Foolish.
Corbyn would let Ukraine twist in the wind.
Voting for anybody supporting THAT would have been foolish.
If you don’t like Corbyn don’t vote for him, but that never meant you had to vote forBoris.
You do know how general elections, and in particular general elections in the UK work, don't you?
Yes thanks.
I am completely in the clear.
Those who voted for Boris are responsible.
No wriggling out.
You are a Corbynite
Was GE 2019 a huge triumph or a massive defeat for Corbynism?
Do massive defeats typically attract effusive praise or severe blame?
If it had been a huge triumph would we have the problem we now have?
The @Telegraph report the whips’ office have crunched the numbers and worked out Boris Johnson would get just 65 confidence votes out of nearly 360 Tory MPs
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
He didn't. If I recall correctly, he lost his nerve, contemplated resigning, then after the leadership votes were over he seemed to tacitly support BJ indirectly by defending BJ's policies when people criticised them.
Recently he has claimed that he want Boris gone
General election, 2019. Every single one of you who voted Conservative is complicit in this and should apologise.
Labour gave us the choice of Boris or Corbyn after Corbyn had already been rejected once. Should Labour apologise for sending Corbyn out to bat again?
The attempts to blame Labour for this are plain weird. If you didn’t like Boris and Corbyn there were other choices such as spoiling the ballot.
If you voted Conservative you own part of this.
Nah. We didn't dare vote Monster Raving Loony or, more obscurely, LibDem and thereby let Corbyn into No. 10.
Tonight that attitude has proven to be foolish.
Not at all. I couldn't countenance Corbyn being PM of the UK. As @biggles said, knowing all that has happened (and not knowing how everyone else might vote, @Farooq ) I would vote the same way again.
Boris cited his mandate tonight as the reason to stay. That means you.
Yes and he is of course wrong.
Can’t be much fun being part of Boris’ figleaf.
Interesting to note that you, as well as @HYUFD, are choosing to believe what Boris says.
At least I never voted for the bugger. He was demonstrably unsuited to be pm.
OF COURSE HE WAS DEMONSTRABLY UNSUITED TO BE PM.
But he wasn't Corbyn.
Go back to my earliest posts on the subject and you will find me violently agreeing with you.
But he wasn't Corbyn so I voted for him.
Foolish.
Corbyn would let Ukraine twist in the wind.
Voting for anybody supporting THAT would have been foolish.
That does happen to be the policy of most of the world.
The @Telegraph report the whips’ office have crunched the numbers and worked out Boris Johnson would get just 65 confidence votes out of nearly 360 Tory MPs
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
He didn't. If I recall correctly, he lost his nerve, contemplated resigning, then after the leadership votes were over he seemed to tacitly support BJ indirectly by defending BJ's policies when people criticised them.
Recently he has claimed that he want Boris gone
General election, 2019. Every single one of you who voted Conservative is complicit in this and should apologise.
Labour gave us the choice of Boris or Corbyn after Corbyn had already been rejected once. Should Labour apologise for sending Corbyn out to bat again?
The attempts to blame Labour for this are plain weird. If you didn’t like Boris and Corbyn there were other choices such as spoiling the ballot.
If you voted Conservative you own part of this.
Nah. We didn't dare vote Monster Raving Loony or, more obscurely, LibDem and thereby let Corbyn into No. 10.
Tonight that attitude has proven to be foolish.
Not at all. I couldn't countenance Corbyn being PM of the UK. As @biggles said, knowing all that has happened (and not knowing how everyone else might vote, @Farooq ) I would vote the same way again.
Boris cited his mandate tonight as the reason to stay. That means you.
Yes and he is of course wrong.
Can’t be much fun being part of Boris’ figleaf.
Interesting to note that you, as well as @HYUFD, are choosing to believe what Boris says.
At least I never voted for the bugger. He was demonstrably unsuited to be pm.
OF COURSE HE WAS DEMONSTRABLY UNSUITED TO BE PM.
But he wasn't Corbyn.
Go back to my earliest posts on the subject and you will find me violently agreeing with you.
But he wasn't Corbyn so I voted for him.
Foolish.
Corbyn would let Ukraine twist in the wind.
Voting for anybody supporting THAT would have been foolish.
If you don’t like Corbyn don’t vote for him, but that never meant you had to vote forBoris.
You do know how general elections, and in particular general elections in the UK work, don't you?
Yes thanks.
I am completely in the clear.
Those who voted for Boris are responsible.
No wriggling out.
You are a Corbynite
Was GE 2019 a huge triumph or a massive defeat for Corbynism?
Do massive defeats typically attract effusive praise or severe blame?
If it had been a huge triumph would we have the problem we now have?
How hard is this stuff, really?
If you voted for Boris it's your fault.
Everything else is irrelevant excuse making
xx
If you arranged for the opposition to him to be a drooling antisemite, you are complicit ❤
I really didn’t think he would go full on Trump but he has. This is damaging stuff.
There are certain people who reach positions of power in democracies, who demonstrate through their behaviour that given the chance they would take the country into dictatorship. He’s the first British PM I’ve seen this trait in. Trump had it. Clearly Orban, Erdogan and other managed democrats do. Indira Gandhi. De Gaulle got close. But most others ultimately go when asked.
Sorry, but it's been obvious since autumn 2019 at the very latest. Anyone who didn't realise it by that point was not paying attention at all.
You all should not have voted for him. Corbyn and Brexit are not a good enough excuse.
I am probably in a minority of one. But I voted for labour in 2019, and actually regret not voting for Boris. Looking back, the danger was always infinetly greater with Corbyn than Boris. That is still true today. Can you imagine dealing with the situation in Ukraine with Corbyn as PM? There are far bigger issues than this 'trump lite' act of not leaving office when the game is probably up. The problems with lying etc are not good, but there is a much bigger picture.
Yes, the bigger picture is you didn't have to vote for either of them. If you voted for Corbyn, you were a numpty.
It's Farooq's fault everyone.
Corbyn was fucking useless, his supporters trebly so, and had that not been the case we would not be where we are now. Plenty of blame to go round,, and definitely no shortage for lefty fannies who effectively arranged for phatboi to be elected unopposed.
Nah. If you vote for it, you own it. I understand why you want to wriggle out of it and you have my sympathy. But a small part of this is yours.
3. The twitter rumours about Carrie and Boris's relationship being on the rocks. Carrie thinking of leaving him for a much richer man, etc. Even if it's not true, the fact is it must be in Boris's head. What happens when he's no longer PM? Does the aphrodisiac wear off?
4. Assume that Boris is competing for the affections of his wife with a man (or men) much richer than he is. What Boris has is power. He can't compete, financially, but he is the PM.
...
Wouldn't that require a group of extremely rich blokes who are willing to pay a lot of money just to get some sociopathic thrill of shagging the wife of Boris Johnson ?
This sounds like the sort of thing SeanT should be commenting upon.
It’s one particular rich man - a former MP who lost his seat in the 2019 election..
Defenstrate, eject him from the party and make it clear he will never be ennobled nor given honours. He will not enrich himself on the public purse for a single day beyond his loss of his seat. Make him, to the establishment and politics of the UK, a non person. I hope Gove utterly buries him.
Despite becoming chancellor yesterday, Zahawi has been preparing a Crosby-approved plan to become prime minister behind the scenes, which includes cutting corporation tax and VAT and looking at stamp duty.
He is understood to be ready to activate the campaign immediately “if shit hits the fan” and the small team had been preparing a resignation letter centred on trust had he not been made chancellor.
Not necessarily. Zahawi has maybe a week in 11 Downing Street it seems during which he can cut taxes ostentatiously to shore up the PM, but in reality showing himself as the real tax cutter unlike Sunak before him, catapulting him up in many members estimations for the leadership race.
The speedy tax cutting budget is, I think, something that a lot of people are missing out the possible significance of. If its shoe horned in before Boris goes, his successor is stuck with it. Can you imagine sometime in August a new leader & chancellor saying, 'nah we are reversing all of that'. Not happening.
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
Nothing changes the hard fact that in 2019 there were two possible governments. That led by Jezza and that led by Boris. The tragedy of subsequent events does not alter at all the rational conviction that of that choice on that day Jezza was the more sub-optimal.
The rational decision was to do what I did and spoil your ballot. If you could not bring yourself to vote for one of the smaller parties either that is.
When you have two unacceptable choices, picking either one is not the logical action. refusing to pick either is the only sensible choice.
Of course this is based on the premise that both Johnson and Corbyn were as bad as each other. I know a lot of people didn't think that at the time which is why I will not berate them in the way Farooq does. But for me it seemed inevitable that where we are now was where we end up with Johnson in charge (generally rather than specifically) so the only sensible choice was to abstain.
I do not understand this at all. My ballot paper in 2019 had five options for Bootle. I did not pick Labour or the Conservatives. No one was forced to pick between the two. Everyone had more than two choices.
If people thought Johnson is bad but Corbyn is worse, so I'll vote Johnson, they clearly weren't looking at their ballot paper properly.
So you wasted your vote.
At every election I have the choice of 2 parties - either of the ones with a chance of winning the seat. Voting Lib Dem or green round here is a waste of a vote, do you end up voting for the least worst of the main parties.
Too late to make the papers, nobody will even register his departure.
I assume that's the name Sam Coates was referring to, so presumably he has been intending to resign for at least a few hours. But as you say he's picked the most pointless moment to announce it.
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
Nothing changes the hard fact that in 2019 there were two possible governments. That led by Jezza and that led by Boris. The tragedy of subsequent events does not alter at all the rational conviction that of that choice on that day Jezza was the more sub-optimal.
The rational decision was to do what I did and spoil your ballot. If you could not bring yourself to vote for one of the smaller parties either that is.
When you have two unacceptable choices, picking either one is not the logical action. refusing to pick either is the only sensible choice.
Of course this is based on the premise that both Johnson and Corbyn were as bad as each other. I know a lot of people didn't think that at the time which is why I will not berate them in the way Farooq does. But for me it seemed inevitable that where we are now was where we end up with Johnson in charge (generally rather than specifically) so the only sensible choice was to abstain.
I do not understand this at all. My ballot paper in 2019 had five options for Bootle. I did not pick Labour or the Conservatives. No one was forced to pick between the two. Everyone had more than two choices.
If people thought Johnson is bad but Corbyn is worse, so I'll vote Johnson, they clearly weren't looking at their ballot paper properly.
I went and voted. My vote was to spoil my ballot. No one else on the ballot was worthy of support. Saying none of the above is as much a choice as picking any one candidate. And in many cases is by far the most sensible choice.
At every election I have the choice of 2 parties - either of the ones with a chance of winning the seat. Voting Lib Dem or green round here is a waste of a vote, do you end up voting for the least worst of the main parties.
Personally, your first comment is a disgrace. How should I vote in Bootle? Come on. Tell me?!
Labour? They're going to get a MAJORITY greater than most MPs vote. Anyone else? They're going to lose their deposit.
Please solve the problem for me. AND NO, I DO NOT ACCEPT MOVING HOUSE.
And no, I do not accept I waste my vote. How very dare you.............
I really didn’t think he would go full on Trump but he has. This is damaging stuff.
There are certain people who reach positions of power in democracies, who demonstrate through their behaviour that given the chance they would take the country into dictatorship. He’s the first British PM I’ve seen this trait in. Trump had it. Clearly Orban, Erdogan and other managed democrats do. Indira Gandhi. De Gaulle got close. But most others ultimately go when asked.
Sorry, but it's been obvious since autumn 2019 at the very latest. Anyone who didn't realise it by that point was not paying attention at all.
You all should not have voted for him. Corbyn and Brexit are not a good enough excuse.
I am probably in a minority of one. But I voted for labour in 2019, and actually regret not voting for Boris. Looking back, the danger was always infinetly greater with Corbyn than Boris. That is still true today. Can you imagine dealing with the situation in Ukraine with Corbyn as PM? There are far bigger issues than this 'trump lite' act of not leaving office when the game is probably up. The problems with lying etc are not good, but there is a much bigger picture.
Yes, the bigger picture is you didn't have to vote for either of them. If you voted for Corbyn, you were a numpty.
It's Farooq's fault everyone.
Corbyn was fucking useless, his supporters trebly so, and had that not been the case we would not be where we are now. Plenty of blame to go round,, and definitely no shortage for lefty fannies who effectively arranged for phatboi to be elected unopposed.
But Corbyn was begat by Miliband. And Miliband was beget by Iraq. And Iraq was begat by Blair/Campbell. And Blair/Campbell were begat by Thatcher/Murdoch
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
He didn't. If I recall correctly, he lost his nerve, contemplated resigning, then after the leadership votes were over he seemed to tacitly support BJ indirectly by defending BJ's policies when people criticised them.
Recently he has claimed that he want Boris gone
General election, 2019. Every single one of you who voted Conservative is complicit in this and should apologise.
Labour gave us the choice of Boris or Corbyn after Corbyn had already been rejected once. Should Labour apologise for sending Corbyn out to bat again?
The attempts to blame Labour for this are plain weird. If you didn’t like Boris and Corbyn there were other choices such as spoiling the ballot.
If you voted Conservative you own part of this.
Nah. We didn't dare vote Monster Raving Loony or, more obscurely, LibDem and thereby let Corbyn into No. 10.
Tonight that attitude has proven to be foolish.
Not at all. I couldn't countenance Corbyn being PM of the UK. As @biggles said, knowing all that has happened (and not knowing how everyone else might vote, @Farooq ) I would vote the same way again.
Boris cited his mandate tonight as the reason to stay. That means you.
Yes and he is of course wrong.
Can’t be much fun being part of Boris’ figleaf.
Interesting to note that you, as well as @HYUFD, are choosing to believe what Boris says.
At least I never voted for the bugger. He was demonstrably unsuited to be pm.
OF COURSE HE WAS DEMONSTRABLY UNSUITED TO BE PM.
But he wasn't Corbyn.
Go back to my earliest posts on the subject and you will find me violently agreeing with you.
But he wasn't Corbyn so I voted for him.
Foolish.
Corbyn would let Ukraine twist in the wind.
Voting for anybody supporting THAT would have been foolish.
That does happen to be the policy of most of the world.
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
He didn't. If I recall correctly, he lost his nerve, contemplated resigning, then after the leadership votes were over he seemed to tacitly support BJ indirectly by defending BJ's policies when people criticised them.
Recently he has claimed that he want Boris gone
General election, 2019. Every single one of you who voted Conservative is complicit in this and should apologise.
Labour gave us the choice of Boris or Corbyn after Corbyn had already been rejected once. Should Labour apologise for sending Corbyn out to bat again?
The attempts to blame Labour for this are plain weird. If you didn’t like Boris and Corbyn there were other choices such as spoiling the ballot.
If you voted Conservative you own part of this.
Nah. We didn't dare vote Monster Raving Loony or, more obscurely, LibDem and thereby let Corbyn into No. 10.
Tonight that attitude has proven to be foolish.
Not at all. I couldn't countenance Corbyn being PM of the UK. As @biggles said, knowing all that has happened (and not knowing how everyone else might vote, @Farooq ) I would vote the same way again.
Boris cited his mandate tonight as the reason to stay. That means you.
Yes and he is of course wrong.
Can’t be much fun being part of Boris’ figleaf.
Interesting to note that you, as well as @HYUFD, are choosing to believe what Boris says.
At least I never voted for the bugger. He was demonstrably unsuited to be pm.
OF COURSE HE WAS DEMONSTRABLY UNSUITED TO BE PM.
But he wasn't Corbyn.
Go back to my earliest posts on the subject and you will find me violently agreeing with you.
But he wasn't Corbyn so I voted for him.
Foolish.
Corbyn would let Ukraine twist in the wind.
Voting for anybody supporting THAT would have been foolish.
If you don’t like Corbyn don’t vote for him, but that never meant you had to vote forBoris.
You do know how general elections, and in particular general elections in the UK work, don't you?
Yes thanks.
I am completely in the clear.
Those who voted for Boris are responsible.
No wriggling out.
You are a Corbynite
Was GE 2019 a huge triumph or a massive defeat for Corbynism?
Do massive defeats typically attract effusive praise or severe blame?
If it had been a huge triumph would we have the problem we now have?
How hard is this stuff, really?
If you voted for Boris it's your fault.
Everything else is irrelevant excuse making
xx
I voted for and supported Boris in 2019, and if I had a Tardis knowing then what I know now . . . I'd do the same thing all over again.
He was right person to get rid of Corbyn, and the right person to get Brexit done. But that's over now, its time for him to go.
Sometimes you need a Nixon to go to China, but once he's been to China, you don't need to keep the Nixon. Especially post -gate. Our unwritten constitution is great for the ruthlessness with which our MPs in Parliament can oust PMs.
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
He didn't. If I recall correctly, he lost his nerve, contemplated resigning, then after the leadership votes were over he seemed to tacitly support BJ indirectly by defending BJ's policies when people criticised them.
Recently he has claimed that he want Boris gone
General election, 2019. Every single one of you who voted Conservative is complicit in this and should apologise.
Labour gave us the choice of Boris or Corbyn after Corbyn had already been rejected once. Should Labour apologise for sending Corbyn out to bat again?
The attempts to blame Labour for this are plain weird. If you didn’t like Boris and Corbyn there were other choices such as spoiling the ballot.
If you voted Conservative you own part of this.
Nah. We didn't dare vote Monster Raving Loony or, more obscurely, LibDem and thereby let Corbyn into No. 10.
Tonight that attitude has proven to be foolish.
Not at all. I couldn't countenance Corbyn being PM of the UK. As @biggles said, knowing all that has happened (and not knowing how everyone else might vote, @Farooq ) I would vote the same way again.
Boris cited his mandate tonight as the reason to stay. That means you.
Yes and he is of course wrong.
Can’t be much fun being part of Boris’ figleaf.
Interesting to note that you, as well as @HYUFD, are choosing to believe what Boris says.
At least I never voted for the bugger. He was demonstrably unsuited to be pm.
OF COURSE HE WAS DEMONSTRABLY UNSUITED TO BE PM.
But he wasn't Corbyn.
Go back to my earliest posts on the subject and you will find me violently agreeing with you.
But he wasn't Corbyn so I voted for him.
Foolish.
Corbyn would let Ukraine twist in the wind.
Voting for anybody supporting THAT would have been foolish.
That does happen to be the policy of most of the world.
But thankfully, not those with the weapons and will to prevent it.
3. The twitter rumours about Carrie and Boris's relationship being on the rocks. Carrie thinking of leaving him for a much richer man, etc. Even if it's not true, the fact is it must be in Boris's head. What happens when he's no longer PM? Does the aphrodisiac wear off?
4. Assume that Boris is competing for the affections of his wife with a man (or men) much richer than he is. What Boris has is power. He can't compete, financially, but he is the PM.
...
I wonder what the Johnson ministry would have been like if he'd stayed with Marina?
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
Nothing changes the hard fact that in 2019 there were two possible governments. That led by Jezza and that led by Boris. The tragedy of subsequent events does not alter at all the rational conviction that of that choice on that day Jezza was the more sub-optimal.
The rational decision was to do what I did and spoil your ballot. If you could not bring yourself to vote for one of the smaller parties either that is.
When you have two unacceptable choices, picking either one is not the logical action. refusing to pick either is the only sensible choice.
Of course this is based on the premise that both Johnson and Corbyn were as bad as each other. I know a lot of people didn't think that at the time which is why I will not berate them in the way Farooq does. But for me it seemed inevitable that where we are now was where we end up with Johnson in charge (generally rather than specifically) so the only sensible choice was to abstain.
I do not understand this at all. My ballot paper in 2019 had five options for Bootle. I did not pick Labour or the Conservatives. No one was forced to pick between the two. Everyone had more than two choices.
If people thought Johnson is bad but Corbyn is worse, so I'll vote Johnson, they clearly weren't looking at their ballot paper properly.
Yeah. Precious few had the.option of voting for Johnson or Corbyn. No one had the choice of either. That's a slippery slope to Boris' 14 million vote mandate.
The @Telegraph report the whips’ office have crunched the numbers and worked out Boris Johnson would get just 65 confidence votes out of nearly 360 Tory MPs
The @Telegraph report the whips’ office have crunched the numbers and worked out Boris Johnson would get just 65 confidence votes out of nearly 360 Tory MPs
I really didn’t think he would go full on Trump but he has. This is damaging stuff.
There are certain people who reach positions of power in democracies, who demonstrate through their behaviour that given the chance they would take the country into dictatorship. He’s the first British PM I’ve seen this trait in. Trump had it. Clearly Orban, Erdogan and other managed democrats do. Indira Gandhi. De Gaulle got close. But most others ultimately go when asked.
Sorry, but it's been obvious since autumn 2019 at the very latest. Anyone who didn't realise it by that point was not paying attention at all.
You all should not have voted for him. Corbyn and Brexit are not a good enough excuse.
I am probably in a minority of one. But I voted for labour in 2019, and actually regret not voting for Boris. Looking back, the danger was always infinetly greater with Corbyn than Boris. That is still true today. Can you imagine dealing with the situation in Ukraine with Corbyn as PM? There are far bigger issues than this 'trump lite' act of not leaving office when the game is probably up. The problems with lying etc are not good, but there is a much bigger picture.
Yes, the bigger picture is you didn't have to vote for either of them. If you voted for Corbyn, you were a numpty.
It's Farooq's fault everyone.
Corbyn was fucking useless, his supporters trebly so, and had that not been the case we would not be where we are now. Plenty of blame to go round,, and definitely no shortage for lefty fannies who effectively arranged for phatboi to be elected unopposed.
The @Telegraph report the whips’ office have crunched the numbers and worked out Boris Johnson would get just 65 confidence votes out of nearly 360 Tory MPs
The @Telegraph report the whips’ office have crunched the numbers and worked out Boris Johnson would get just 65 confidence votes out of nearly 360 Tory MPs
We can take one comfort from current events: those taking Boris's shilling have no future role in Conservative government.
Those saying the next leader and PM has to come from outside Cabinet are right - certainly in the Cabinet as it is constituted tonight.
A majority of 70-odd allows the new PM to clean out the Augean stables.
Up to Tory members to decide if one of Johnson's Cabinet gets to the final 2
Utter nonsense
It is conservative mps who will decide the final 2 not members
You need a rest if you cannot get this basic fact right
And if Tory MPs put one of Johnson's Cabinet or Ministers eg Wallace, Truss or Mordaunt in the final 2 then members will decide if they become next leader or not even if say Sunak or Hunt tops the MPs ballot
So you accept you got it wrong in the first place
I didn't, I said 'up to Tory members to decide if one of them gets to the final 2' ie Tory members will decide if MPs put one of them in the final 2
Despite becoming chancellor yesterday, Zahawi has been preparing a Crosby-approved plan to become prime minister behind the scenes, which includes cutting corporation tax and VAT and looking at stamp duty.
He is understood to be ready to activate the campaign immediately “if shit hits the fan” and the small team had been preparing a resignation letter centred on trust had he not been made chancellor.
We can take one comfort from current events: those taking Boris's shilling have no future role in Conservative government.
Those saying the next leader and PM has to come from outside Cabinet are right - certainly in the Cabinet as it is constituted tonight.
A majority of 70-odd allows the new PM to clean out the Augean stables.
Up to Tory members to decide if one of Johnson's Cabinet gets to the final 2
Utter nonsense
It is conservative mps who will decide the final 2 not members
You need a rest if you cannot get this basic fact right
And if Tory MPs put one of Johnson's Cabinet or Ministers eg Wallace, Truss or Mordaunt in the final 2 then members will decide if they become next leader or not even if say Sunak or Hunt tops the MPs ballot
So you accept you got it wrong in the first place
'up to Tory members to decide, if one of them gets to the final 2' … ie Tory members will decide if MPs put one of them in the final 2
Could have used a comma there, HYUFD - see my edit above. You would have made yourself clearer.
Despite becoming chancellor yesterday, Zahawi has been preparing a Crosby-approved plan to become prime minister behind the scenes, which includes cutting corporation tax and VAT and looking at stamp duty.
He is understood to be ready to activate the campaign immediately “if shit hits the fan” and the small team had been preparing a resignation letter centred on trust had he not been made chancellor.
Not necessarily. Zahawi has maybe a week in 11 Downing Street it seems during which he can cut taxes ostentatiously to shore up the PM, but in reality showing himself as the real tax cutter unlike Sunak before him, catapulting him up in many members estimations for the leadership race.
The speedy tax cutting budget is, I think, something that a lot of people are missing out the possible significance of. If its shoe horned in before Boris goes, his successor is stuck with it. Can you imagine sometime in August a new leader & chancellor saying, 'nah we are reversing all of that'. Not happening.
A emergency Finance Bill would need to pass the House surely?
I really didn’t think he would go full on Trump but he has. This is damaging stuff.
There are certain people who reach positions of power in democracies, who demonstrate through their behaviour that given the chance they would take the country into dictatorship. He’s the first British PM I’ve seen this trait in. Trump had it. Clearly Orban, Erdogan and other managed democrats do. Indira Gandhi. De Gaulle got close. But most others ultimately go when asked.
Sorry, but it's been obvious since autumn 2019 at the very latest. Anyone who didn't realise it by that point was not paying attention at all.
You all should not have voted for him. Corbyn and Brexit are not a good enough excuse.
I am probably in a minority of one. But I voted for labour in 2019, and actually regret not voting for Boris. Looking back, the danger was always infinetly greater with Corbyn than Boris. That is still true today. Can you imagine dealing with the situation in Ukraine with Corbyn as PM? There are far bigger issues than this 'trump lite' act of not leaving office when the game is probably up. The problems with lying etc are not good, but there is a much bigger picture.
Yes, the bigger picture is you didn't have to vote for either of them. If you voted for Corbyn, you were a numpty.
It's Farooq's fault everyone.
Corbyn was fucking useless, his supporters trebly so, and had that not been the case we would not be where we are now. Plenty of blame to go round,, and definitely no shortage for lefty fannies who effectively arranged for phatboi to be elected unopposed.
Nah. If you vote for it, you own it. I understand why you want to wriggle out of it and you have my sympathy. But a small part of this is yours.
Exactly. A small part of this is ours. A fucking humongous part of it is yours and the Labour Party's.
The @Telegraph report the whips’ office have crunched the numbers and worked out Boris Johnson would get just 65 confidence votes out of nearly 360 Tory MPs
As stated before I registered a Conservative protest vote against Corbyn in the safe Labour seat of Huddersfield in 2019.
I contributed to Boris's vote share, but felt no risk I would be contributing to his MP count or majority, which turned out correct.
I had come to the conclusion, having gone LD in 2017 when there was a slight chance of a May landslide taking HD, that my vote hadn't been strong enough, and that taking an extra one off of the Labour majority by backing 2nd place, I was doing the most I could to get rid of Corbyn and aid the cause of a Social Democratic party of power.
My GE19 vote was delivered, not by Brexit, but by the election of SKS as leader.
In the Red Wall and marginals, in Uxbridge, my vote would certainly have been different.
So, here's a theory of 2 + 2 making 5. But bear with me.
Why doesn't Boris want to quit? When it's obvious that he should.
1. We all know that Carrie wields significant power. Cf the wallpaper, the Cummings debacle, the Abba parties at number 10, etc.
2. We can surmise that Carrie is attracted to power. The BJ incident, etc.
3. The twitter rumours about Carrie and Boris's relationship being on the rocks. Carrie thinking of leaving him for a much richer man, etc. Even if it's not true, the fact is it must be in Boris's head. What happens when he's no longer PM? Does the aphrodisiac wear off?
4. Assume that Boris is competing for the affections of his wife with a man (or men) much richer than he is. What Boris has is power. He can't compete, financially, but he is the PM.
5. So what if he's not the PM? He loses everything. Not just his job, but his wife, family, his - dare I go a bit SeanT - his sexual obsession.
Therefore. He clings on to power by his final fingertip, because it is all he has going for him. For the thing he really wants, which is his wife's affection.
As I say, it is a 2 + 2 = 5 analysis, but it fits with what we know, and explains the bizarre behaviour. Anyone else would see the writing on the wall and go. So why is Boris so keen to cling on to power? To understand a person, understand their objectives, their passions, their obsessions. If Carrie is Boris's obsession, then clinging on to power is his only choice.
The power itself is the obsession.
I'm not sure that's true. Boris strikes me as a lot of things, but power mad is not one of them. Power mad people tend to be control freaks, while Boris is clearly lackadaisical in all he does. He enjoys the trappings of power, but is lazy and doesn't care to do the work.
Even clinging on as much as he is now strikes me as antithetical to what we know about Boris. He always picks the easy option. Surely, as a lazy person, he would resign and take the money on the speaking circuit, etc. The option he's picked today is the hard option. So we have to ask ourselves, why is he choosing it?
I genuinely feel really sorry for decent, hard-working, party members and followers who must be gutted by what is going on.
Fuck him, he voted for this prick
He didn't. If I recall correctly, he lost his nerve, contemplated resigning, then after the leadership votes were over he seemed to tacitly support BJ indirectly by defending BJ's policies when people criticised them.
Recently he has claimed that he want Boris gone
General election, 2019. Every single one of you who voted Conservative is complicit in this and should apologise.
Labour gave us the choice of Boris or Corbyn after Corbyn had already been rejected once. Should Labour apologise for sending Corbyn out to bat again?
The attempts to blame Labour for this are plain weird. If you didn’t like Boris and Corbyn there were other choices such as spoiling the ballot.
If you voted Conservative you own part of this.
Nah. We didn't dare vote Monster Raving Loony or, more obscurely, LibDem and thereby let Corbyn into No. 10.
Tonight that attitude has proven to be foolish.
Not at all. I couldn't countenance Corbyn being PM of the UK. As @biggles said, knowing all that has happened (and not knowing how everyone else might vote, @Farooq ) I would vote the same way again.
Boris cited his mandate tonight as the reason to stay. That means you.
Yes and he is of course wrong.
Can’t be much fun being part of Boris’ figleaf.
Interesting to note that you, as well as @HYUFD, are choosing to believe what Boris says.
At least I never voted for the bugger. He was demonstrably unsuited to be pm.
OF COURSE HE WAS DEMONSTRABLY UNSUITED TO BE PM.
But he wasn't Corbyn.
Go back to my earliest posts on the subject and you will find me violently agreeing with you.
But he wasn't Corbyn so I voted for him.
Foolish.
Corbyn would let Ukraine twist in the wind.
Voting for anybody supporting THAT would have been foolish.
That's simply untrue. Corbyn would have supplied weapons and stood up against the real aggressor: the US's scrooge, Ukraine.
The @Telegraph report the whips’ office have crunched the numbers and worked out Boris Johnson would get just 65 confidence votes out of nearly 360 Tory MPs
Of course Corbyn then spent four more years in office. Boris will be lucky to get four more days.
65 MPs though is the difference between the Tory majority in the Commons and not.
If Boris lost they would need to commit to support the new Tory leader as PM to avoid a general election
Why wouldn't they ?
We are in uncharted territory, it depends how Boris fanatical they are. Not completely impossible Boris could instantly form his own populist party, some of them defect to it and vote for a general election with the opposition
Comments
Shehab Khan ITV
@ShehabKhan
·
8m
Cabinet clearly don’t want to move just yet.
1922 sources tell me they ideally wanted cabinet to move and sort this so they wouldn’t have to change the rules (obviously not a great look to do that).
Boris Johnson’s position right now is to try and call everyone’s bluff.
I am completely in the clear.
Those who voted for Boris are responsible.
No wriggling out.
Deal with the fallout, and whether a GE follows AFTERWARDS.
I’m with Richard on this.
But I am not an expert and could be wrong.
(NSFW)
https://twitter.com/oryxspioenkop/status/1544787275959115776
For every action there must be a motivation. I am struggling to find one that fits with the available data, given the writing is on the wall. For Boris to be behaving the way he is, he must be afraid of losing something very valuable to him. You could argue it's the job, but he's already lost that, anyone can see that. So what is he afraid of losing? Not money, since he'll earn more as a post-PM. It's power. He is afraid of losing power. I'm proposing one possible reason why he's so afraid of losing power and continuing to deny reality when it's staring him in the face.
https://twitter.com/Geri_E_L_Scott/status/1544797893135056896/photo/1
Despite becoming chancellor yesterday, Zahawi has been preparing a Crosby-approved plan to become prime minister behind the scenes, which includes cutting corporation tax and VAT and looking at stamp duty.
He is understood to be ready to activate the campaign immediately “if shit hits the fan” and the small team had been preparing a resignation letter centred on trust had he not been made chancellor.
More in @thetimes tomorrow.
RichardSimon, it profit a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. . . but for Wales!"This sounds like the sort of thing SeanT should be commenting upon.
Was GE 2019 a huge triumph or a massive defeat for Corbynism?
Do massive defeats typically attract effusive praise or severe blame?
If it had been a huge triumph would we have the problem we now have?
How hard is this stuff, really?
Even clinging on as much as he is now strikes me as antithetical to what we know about Boris. He always picks the easy option. Surely, as a lazy person, he would resign and take the money on the speaking circuit, etc. The option he's picked today is the hard option. So we have to ask ourselves, why is he choosing it?
I think it just isn't his style to resign; he just fights stuff out, disregards conventions etc, as we've seen over and over again. This performance is all in line with what we know about Boris.
I mean. A few days.
He's 59. He's a sad little boy who needs a hug.
My ballot paper in 2019 had five options for Bootle. I did not pick Labour or the Conservatives.
No one was forced to pick between the two. Everyone had more than two choices.
If people thought Johnson is bad but Corbyn is worse, so I'll vote Johnson, they clearly weren't looking at their ballot paper properly.
2019 was an election where we were going to lose no matter which side won.
At every election I have the choice of 2 parties - either of the ones with a chance of winning the seat. Voting Lib Dem or green round here is a waste of a vote, do you end up voting for the least worst of the main parties.
Too late to make the papers, nobody will even register his departure.
https://twitter.com/timd_IFG/status/1544640427973812226/photo/1
Nothing in between.
I am reserving judgement which till we have more evidence.
https://twitter.com/mrmkimber/status/1544799547658047489?s=21&t=NSean3Rc3lWFcIt0a6lFAA
Everything else is irrelevant excuse making
xx
Of course Corbyn then spent four more years in office. Boris will be lucky to get four more days.
I hope Gove utterly buries him.
People just aren’t willing to risk their reputations
Some of those approached are already considering quitting themselves
https://twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1544799934276423687
How should I vote in Bootle? Come on. Tell me?!
Labour? They're going to get a MAJORITY greater than most MPs vote.
Anyone else? They're going to lose their deposit.
Please solve the problem for me.
AND NO, I DO NOT ACCEPT MOVING HOUSE.
And no, I do not accept I waste my vote.
How very dare you.............
Steven Swinford
@Steven_Swinford
·
3m
Told Boris Johnson is struggling to persuade people to replace key Cabinet roles and tonight
People just aren’t willing to risk their reputations
Some of those approached are already considering quitting themselves
And Miliband was beget by Iraq.
And Iraq was begat by Blair/Campbell.
And Blair/Campbell were begat by Thatcher/Murdoch
He was right person to get rid of Corbyn, and the right person to get Brexit done. But that's over now, its time for him to go.
Sometimes you need a Nixon to go to China, but once he's been to China, you don't need to keep the Nixon. Especially post -gate. Our unwritten constitution is great for the ruthlessness with which our MPs in Parliament can oust PMs.
Precious few had the.option of voting for Johnson or Corbyn.
No one had the choice of either.
That's a slippery slope to Boris' 14 million vote mandate.
If Boris lost they would need to commit to support the new Tory leader as PM to avoid a general election
Stop wriggling
Examine your conscience deep down you know it.
Naughty corner with Farooq and TOPPING for you.
You would have made yourself clearer.
I contributed to Boris's vote share, but felt no risk I would be contributing to his MP count or majority, which turned out correct.
I had come to the conclusion, having gone LD in 2017 when there was a slight chance of a May landslide taking HD, that my vote hadn't been strong enough, and that taking an extra one off of the Labour majority by backing 2nd place, I was doing the most I could to get rid of Corbyn and aid the cause of a Social Democratic party of power.
My GE19 vote was delivered, not by Brexit, but by the election of SKS as leader.
In the Red Wall and marginals, in Uxbridge, my vote would certainly have been different.
I thought you were a rational human being.