Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

Post by Juubi Karakuchi »

I was under the impression that a formal referendum in Northern Ireland would be needed.
Section 1. Status of Northern Ireland.

It is hereby declared that Northern Ireland in its entirety remains part of the United Kingdom and shall not cease to be so without the consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland voting in a poll held for the purposes of this section in accordance with Schedule 1.
But if the wish expressed by a majority in such a poll is that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland, the Secretary of State shall lay before Parliament such proposals to give effect to that wish as may be agreed between Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and the Government of Ireland.
[…]

Schedule 1

The Secretary of State may by order direct the holding of a poll for the purposes of section 1 on a date specified in the order.
Subject to paragraph 3, the Secretary of State shall exercise the power under paragraph 1 if at any time it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland.
The Secretary of State shall not make an order under paragraph 1 earlier than seven years after the holding of a previous poll under this Schedule.[18]
From the Northern Ireland Act of 1998, emphasis mine. The wording seems to imply that a poll has to be held. But interestingly, all that is needed is for the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to believe that it will pass. The current incumbent is Brandon "specific and limited way" Lewis.

That said, it seems quite plausible that the UK government is trying to get rid of Northern Ireland. They actually have a good practical reason for doing so; to end the border issue once and for all. But for all that, I fear it may be giving the government too much credit. The simplest explanation is that the government is every bit as incompetent and small-minded as they appear. That Bojo signed the WA without even reading it, and actually believed that he could negotiate changes afterward. That the government badly misunderstood what was being asked of it, and greatly overestimated the willingness of Ireland and the EU to bow to its wishes.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

Post by His Divine Shadow »

Jeremy Corbyn saved Keir Starmer from a big mistake i 2015:
https://twitter.com/jrc1921/status/1458147769869242369
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

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Ten days that turned Boris Johnson from election winner to political liability

Ceaseless scandals, not least the latest Jennifer Arcuri revelations, have got leadership rivals circling and Labour upbeat at last

Toby Helm & Michael Savage
Sun 14 Nov 2021 07.00 GMT

Two weeks ago it was difficult to find a single Labour MP who genuinely thought their party was in with a chance of winning the next election. The mood was one of quiet resignation at the prospect of a fifth consecutive defeat. The media had also largely written off Keir Starmer.

A fortnight of Tory sleaze stories later, with Boris Johnson having been at the centre of many of them, it all looks very different.

“Everything we said, prior to the Owen Paterson fiasco, appeared to be dying in a giant void,” says the shadow cabinet member Charlie Falconer.

“Now the goal for Labour is standing open and unguarded. Suddenly it seems like everybody in the media is after stories about how terrible this government is.”

A golden rule of spin doctors, often attributed to Alastair Campbell (though he denies being the originator), is that if one particularly bad story is still plastered over the front pages nine days after it first broke, then the person at the centre of the storm will be in terminal trouble.

Saturday was the 10th day since the Paterson fiasco, in which Johnson tried to save his friend’s career, despite the latter’s “egregious” breaches of Commons rules.

And the sleaze stories were still coming from left and right, thick and fast.

The Guardian front page headline was “PM’s holiday villa linked to Goldsmith tax evasion case”, while the Daily Mail had a poll that was such bad news for the Conservatives that the paper splashed it across the front. “After a week of sleaze Labour race ahead of Tories by SIX points”, the Mail said. Embarrassingly for Johnson, this was all on the concluding weekend of the Cop26 climate summit – at which he had hoped to pose as a global saviour.

Today, on it goes, with the Observer’s extraordinary revelations about Jennifer Arcuri’s diary of her affair with Johnson when he was London mayor. His ex-lover’s apparently contemporaneous notes show he overruled advice from his own officials in order to further her business interests, and their relationship.

A poll for this newspaper by Opinium today also gives Labour a lead – for the first time since January – and shows Johnson’s personal ratings plumbing new depths.

Now it is the mood inside the Tory party that is depressed, and very sour.

Much of the 2019 intake – including those who won former Labour seats in the north and Midlands because voters liked Johnson’s upbeat political celebrity brand much more than that of Jeremy Corbyn – are furious at being ordered to vote to save Paterson for no reason, only then to be blamed for doing so by their constituents.

Frustration at the government’s antics extends right across the Conservative parliamentary party. A Tory MP who won his seat in 2010 said: “Our intake is also pretty pissed off with him because he recently promoted the 2019 intake to jobs ahead of us because they were from the ‘red wall’ seats, when we had been waiting for years. And now this. We are not a happy united team.”

Asked on Saturday how bad it was for the prime minister – and if Johnson might be on the way out – a former cabinet minister put it this way: “It is bad. It is certainly the worst crisis he has faced. But it is not unrecoverable.”

What Johnson needed to do, he said, was put time into rebuilding personal relations with his MPs, something he was not very good at.

Inevitably, with the Tories imploding, there is early talk of rivals manoeuvring for Johnson’s job.

Last week Rishi Sunak distanced himself deliberately from the Paterson mess, saying the party had to do better, though Sunak’s own backing among the Tory grassroots has dropped off since his big-state, high-tax budget.

From the right, supporters of the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, are said to be out in the field, canvassing away. “They are not very subtle,” says one senior Tory, who had seen some lobbying first-hand.

Other names seen as potentially interested and possibly in the frame if things get even worse for Johnson are Jeremy Hunt and the ex-chief whip Mark Harper.

Labour meanwhile is finding its voice, with its deputy leader, Angela Rayner, and chair of the standards committee, Chris Bryant, leading the anti-sleaze charge. If Starmer can win the trust of the electorate his MPs know things could really begin to look up. “Keir now needs to take the ball and run with it,” said one frontbencher.

For Johnson there is no end to the trouble in sight. The Arcuri revelations are explosive. The parliamentary standards commissioner, Kathryn Stone, is still considering an inquiry into the refurbishment of the Downing Street flat. And on Wednesday, Johnson will appear before the Commons liaison committee to answer questions from senior MPs on sleaze and trust in politics, in what promises to be a highly uncomfortable session in front of TV cameras.

Soon the prime minister will have to act to limit second jobs for MPs, which are feeding a daily production line for sleaze stories. But doing so will bring more political problems for the man who himself earned £1.6m as a backbencher from outside work. “He can’t win with his MPs,” said a former minister. “Whatever he does to limit second jobs he will anger huge numbers of us [who have them].”

In the space of less than a fortnight, Boris Johnson has gone from being viewed as winner both at Westminster and in the country, to being seen as something of a political liability by his own MPs.

Another former minister described him as “a publicity phenomenon, which is how he got the 80-seat majority”. Now that people had begun to see through the act, he suggested, that could be that.

“He’s squandering that,” the former minister added. “He looks dodgy. It’s like having a drift in the ceiling and you think, oh, I can live with that for a bit. And the whole fucking ceiling comes down and you think, I wish I’d dealt with that.

“Voters don’t seem to care, then suddenly, it all catches up with you. The troubles with the economy are going to mount up. Levelling up is a slogan and not a policy. Global Britain is a slogan and not a policy. He just looks shallow.”

Another influential Tory was equally doom laden. “Boris has forgotten what being a Conservative means. It started with ‘parking tanks on Labour lawns’, as a bit of a PR exercise – which was clever, strategic stuff. But it’s gone to his head, he’s bought into his own PR, and he’s now a leader that’s lost his way and forgotten the sound Conservative principles that got him elected as the party’s leader in the first place.

“That, combined with his seeming inability to put a strong team of advisers around him, or to empower ministers to go out and deliver for him as they all want to, and you’ve got a toxic mix of havoc and shambles in No 10 that will drive this country into the ground if MPs don’t start doing something about it.”
Bojo's mojo ain't what it used to be.

Is he finished? Well, quite possibly. Bojo's selling point was always his public popularity, and that seems to be on the wane. Whatever trust or goodwill he ever had with the MPs has also taken a serious beating; and the print media has largely turned on him. If they really are sick of Bojo, then the only protection he has left is the Tory membership.

As for future general election, the polls - or at least some of them - are predicting a hung parliament (http://www.electionpolling.co.uk/polls/general-election); with the Tories losing 78 seats and left with 287, Labour gaining 76 for a total of 268, Lib-Dems gaining 9 for a total of 19 and the SNP gaining 5 for a total of 52. If Starmer wants to be Prime Minister, he's going to have to countenance voting reform (Lib-Dem) or Scottish independence (SNP) under this scenario.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

Post by Bedlam »

Although they don't need to hold an election until 2024 at the latest, even if a Boris gets the chop the new PM can choose to hold on for a year or two hope that things look better for them then.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

Post by Crazedwraith »

Who do they have that's better than BoJo? Rees Mogg PM? Priti Patel PM?

I imagine if he can just hold on long enough he'll bounce back tbh.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

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The only honest answer I can give is ask me again this time next year. Polls tend to move slowly and gently, a few per cent here and there over many months; aside from big, loud events like this one.

If the polls stay low, or go lower and stay there, then Bojo's premiership will probably not survive 2022. It's always possible that he can find a way back, but I'm not at all sure how. From the looks of things, the plan is to stir up conflict with the EU; which will be popular with some, but will not do the economy any favours.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

Post by LaCroix »

Boris has (as expected with the comfy majority his party has) survived a no confidence motion.

2 things that stood out:

1. Boris Johnson is now officially recognized a liar.
He was repeatedly called a liar, each time with specific instances an proof. Therefore, there was no call to order, not withdrawal demanded, and the speaking MP was not sent out of the chamber for dishonorable conduct. Thus, the recor now officially states the Boris Johnson has repeatedly been lying to parliament, and is therefor a known liar. This will become handy for the next election (maybe - see my next point)

2. No one stood to give a speech in defence of him as people tore into him. As in, nobody wanted to be on the record talking good about him or even defending him. Even when he was again and again called a liar. There is blood in the water - such a thing only occurs if his days are limited.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

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LaCroix wrote: 2021-12-01 08:05am Boris has (as expected with the comfy majority his party has) survived a no confidence motion.

2 things that stood out:

1. Boris Johnson is now officially recognized a liar.
He was repeatedly called a liar, each time with specific instances an proof. Therefore, there was no call to order, not withdrawal demanded, and the speaking MP was not sent out of the chamber for dishonorable conduct. Thus, the recor now officially states the Boris Johnson has repeatedly been lying to parliament, and is therefor a known liar. This will become handy for the next election (maybe - see my next point)

2. No one stood to give a speech in defence of him as people tore into him. As in, nobody wanted to be on the record talking good about him or even defending him. Even when he was again and again called a liar. There is blood in the water - such a thing only occurs if his days are limited.
Or maybe conservatives simply don’t care.

The election is years away, voters’ memories are short, and the conservative electorate is much more interested in owning the Libs than things like facts or good government. “Ya he lies, so what? He’s screwing with d’em libs and their socialist agenda, that’s what we elected him for.”
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

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Tribble wrote: 2021-12-01 10:05am Or maybe conservatives simply don’t care.

The election is years away, voters’ memories are short, and the conservative electorate is much more interested in owning the Libs than things like facts or good government. “Ya he lies, so what? He’s screwing with d’em libs and their socialist agenda, that’s what we elected him for.”
It depends what you mean by Conservatives. If you mean the members, then you may well be right. If they still support him, then challenging him is pointless; as they'll just vote him back in.

As for the voters, that's where things get tricky. The polls are fluctuating, but it generally looks like the Tories have dropped off a bit, and/or Labour has finally caught up a bit. The same polling shows 60-70 seats flipping from Tory to Labour, including all of the Red Wall seats. That said, some of those seats require a swing of less than 1%, so holding them was always going to be tricky.

A broader way to look at it is via the North-South divide. Ever since the 19th century, the south of England - south of the Trent, east of the Severn - has tended to vote Tory, while the rest voted Liberal, with Labour taking over in the 1920s. The reason, as far as I can tell, is cultural; southerners for some reason tend to feel some kind of kinship with the Tories, or feel represented by them, while others do not. Tony Blair got ahead by convincing southerners that he was one of them deep down, while stretching his base's trust to the limit. Bojo ultimately tried the same ploy in 2019, this time playing on English nationalism; or at least, a sense of grievance that often fuels English nationalism.

If this is true, then what we're seeing is the old north-south divide reasserting itself once again; this time after the 2019 Bojo blip. Northern voters took a punt on Bojo in the hope of levelling up, but ultimately he hasn't delivered; so they're going back to Labour, whether because of Starmer or in spite of him.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

Post by Crazedwraith »

Bojo's majority failed him on the latest covid restrictions. Over 100 rebels and it was only passed because labour supported them.

Strange times.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

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Crazedwraith wrote: 2021-12-14 06:59pm Bojo's majority failed him on the latest covid restrictions. Over 100 rebels and it was only passed because labour supported them.

Strange times.
Not that strange considering the Tories rebels can get the support from the people that hated new restriction/Boris' chirstmas party debacle while knowing the law would pass anyway because Labour can't afford to vote against the Government's latest measures

They get to play the rebels and be the government at the same time! And that is seen as likely to help them secure power in the next election.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

Post by Crazedwraith »

Lib Dem have taken a tory safe seat in a by election a swing about 28,000 votes as I understand it.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

Post by Juubi Karakuchi »

I can confirm that the Lib Dems have taken the North Shropshire seat; which has been Tory for the better part of two hundred years. The newspapers aren't saying much; either because they couldn't get a print out in time (the result was announced early in the morning) or because they're playing it down. Plenty in the Guardian and Independent though, and a lot of speculation online.

Bojo is like-as-not finished; it's just a question of when. I'm thinking that the Tories will let him stay on for a while longer, with the local elections in May as his last chance. It all depends on how much support he still has among the members and donors; some of whom are ex-UKIP entryists and similar. If it's a majority, or a big enough minority to cause serious trouble, then the MPs may be reluctant to force the issue just yet.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

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Not gonna lie, I'm glad it went to the Lib Dems, as they are Labour are worse than useless right now.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

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EnterpriseSovereign wrote: 2021-12-17 05:31pm Not gonna lie, I'm glad it went to the Lib Dems, as they are Labour are worse than useless right now.
There seems to have been an unofficial agreement between Labour and the Lib Dems to let them have the seat rather than split the anti tory vote to much.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

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Bedlam wrote: 2021-12-17 06:48pm
EnterpriseSovereign wrote: 2021-12-17 05:31pm Not gonna lie, I'm glad it went to the Lib Dems, as they are Labour are worse than useless right now.
There seems to have been an unofficial agreement between Labour and the Lib Dems to let them have the seat rather than split the anti tory vote to much.
Smart move if that's the case, and because they had nothing to lose the Lib Dems were the only party to officially oppose Brexit in the last election.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

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Boris Johnson a drag on Tories and Sunak would do better, poll shows
Exclusive: Party would be 60 seats worse off under current PM than chancellor, Opinium survey finds
Analysis: Tories face leadership dilemma as polls show Boris Johnson’s appeal flatlining
Jamie Grierson
Mon 27 Dec 2021 19.00 GMT


Boris Johnson is “a significant drag on Tory fortunes”, according to a poll that tested the Conservative party’s chances at the next election with different leaders at the helm.

The current chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has a much better chance of challenging Keir Starmer’s Labour than the incumbent prime minister, according to the poll by Opinium shared exclusively with the Guardian.

The research found the party would be 60 seats worse off under Johnson, compared with Sunak. However, other potential leadership rivals the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, and the levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, fared worse than Johnson, with the former estimated to lose 40 more seats and the latter 70 seats more.

The pollster found 39% of people asked intended to vote Labour at the next election, seven points ahead of the Conservatives on 32%.

But when Johnson’s name was added to the voting intention question, Tory support dipped below 30%, and Labour’s lead increased from seven to 12%.

Sunak emerged as by far the most attractive successor, with Labour maintaining its lead but by just three points if the chancellor was to take over as leader.

The nine-point difference between a 12-point and three-point lead was worth about 60 seats that Tories would lose with Johnson but retain with Sunak, the polling suggested.

Commenting on the findings, Peter Kellner, the former president of the YouGov opinion polling organisation, said: “It might be expected that simply reminding voters of the names of the two main party leaders would make little difference to voting intentions.

“The fact that it shifts the party lead by five points suggests that Johnson is now a significant drag on Tory fortunes.”

Voters were asked: “Please imagine that at the next election [NAME] was leader of the Conservative party and Keir Starmer was the leader of the Labour party. Who do you think you would vote for?”

As well as Johnson, Opinium asked people how they would vote under three further scenarios: if Sunak, Liz Truss or Michael Gove led the Tories – and in each scenario assumed that Starmer remained Labour’s leader.

Truss is far less popular with the wider public than with Conservative activists, the polling suggests.

The latest survey of party members conducted by the Conservative Home website showed her as their favourite successor to Johnson, with Sunak second.

However, Opinium’s figures suggest that she would do even worse than Johnson, and far worse than Sunak, and lead the Tories to a crushing 16-point defeat.

Gove, however, would do worse again, according to the poll. With him as leader, the Tories would lag Labour by 18 points.

Kellner added: “As with all such polls, the numbers may change. Truss could reasonably argue that she is not yet as well known as Sunak; were she to be elected party leader, she would have ample opportunity to burnish her image.

“In contrast, Sunak might face a difficult spring, as living standards fall, with inflation outstripping pay, and tax rises coming in April.

“Even so, the gulf between Sunak and Truss is currently big enough to make the choice of Truss as leader a clear electoral risk.”

The seat predictions are based on a uniform swing, that is, they take no account of local factors, tactical voting or boundary changes and should be regarded as a broad guide, not a precise projection.

The research showed Johnson projected to win 203 seats, compared with 263 under Sunak, 162 under Truss and 136 if the party were led by Gove. The Conservative party currently holds 361 seats; 326 are needed to form a majority government.

The poor polling for Johnson, which also includes a poll commissioned by the Sunday Times showing on Sunday Labour surging to an eight-point lead over the Tories, comes after a torrid period of sleaze scandals for Johnson and his party.

The Owen Paterson lobbying scandal that ultimately led to the Tories losing a seat they had held for 200 years at a byelection, the refurbishment of the prime minister’s Downing Street flat and various claims of lockdown parties in Whitehall and No 10 have all damaged Johnson and the Conservatives’ reputation, against a backdrop of surging Covid cases and the prospect of more restrictions nearly two years into the pandemic.
So...Bojo is just about finished. That much seems obvious. What interested me is how the leadership contenders might perform in his place.

Gove being a non-starter does not surprise me; he's been spoiled goods for years. The two main contenders seem to be Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss; with Sunak stronger among the wider vote, and Truss stronger among Tory members. I could not help but notice that Truss is taking a hard line on Northern Ireland, even though Frost looked like he was backing down just before he skedaddled.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

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Boris Johnson urged to resign after admitting he attended Downing Street lockdown party.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been urged to resign by senior Conservatives after he admitted to attending a lockdown-breaking party in May 2020.

The prime minister apologised for attending the event and said he regretted it "very much", but defended himself by claiming to think he was at a work event.

"I believed implicitly that this was a work event. With hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside. I should have found some other way to thank them," he said.

But saying sorry wasn't enough for some Tories, including Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross and veteran MP Sir Roger Gale, who have both called on the prime minister to resign.

Mr Ross said the PM must quit, telling reporters: "I said yesterday if the Prime Minister attended this gathering, party, event in Downing Street on May 20 then he could not continue as prime minister. So regretfully I have to say his position is no longer tenable."

The Scot said Mr Johnson's apology implies "acceptance from the prime minister that it was wrong and therefore, I don't want to be in this position, but I am in this position now, where I don't think he can continue as leader of the Conservatives".

"Enough is enough," Sir Roger said, telling ITV News that a "red line has been crossed, the information given at the Despatch Box was not correct and when its time to go, either people go voluntarily and with dignity... or the 1922 Committee will have to take action".

William Wragg, chairman of the Public Affairs and Constitutional Affairs Committee also called on the PM to quit.

He told BBC Radio 4's PM programme that: "A series of unforced errors are deeply damaging to the perception of the party. The prime minister's position is untenable."

Several Tory Members of the Scottish Parliament have also called on Mr Johnson to quit.


Which Tory MPs have called on Boris Johnson to resign?

Douglas Ross

Sir Roger Gale

William Wragg

To remove a party leader, 15% of Tory MPs must submit letters of no confidence to the 1992 Committee - effectively the HR department of the Conservative Party - which would then trigger a secret ballot.

If 50% of Tory MPs back the PM in the ballot he will remain party leader, if he fails to secure a majority he will be removed.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

Post by Crazedwraith »

I really doubt BoJo's ever going to resign.

I wonder what the likelihood of getting enough letters of no confidence is.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

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15% is about 45-50, so I'd say doubtful unless he does something else massively stupid while this latest cockup is still being talked about in the news.

But on the other hand, he did have 100 or so MP's vote against him on a Covid vote before Christmas, and he is BoJo so the odds of him doing something stupid in the next week are pretty high.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

Post by Juubi Karakuchi »

Bojo's position is looking rather shaky. Rees-Mogg has stuck by him, to the point of directly retorting to Bojo's critics. But the entire Scottish Tory Party has denounced him, and allegedly will not be inviting him to their conference. This is the first time this has ever happened.

It is also being put about that Bojo will resign if Sue Grey's inquiry finds him guilty; though I confess I'm not sure whether he will. It would be the wise thing to do under the circumstances, or it may be that he just can't bear the humiliation of being slung out. That said, this is supposedly his dream job since childhood, and his post-premiership existence may not be all that pleasant; depending on what one hears.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

Post by Zaune »

What does it say about us that the scandal that's finally looking like it will undo the Tories is not the blatant mismanagement of the EU referendum and everything that came after it, chronic underfunding of all our public services and infrastructure programs or even most aspects of their handling of the pandemic, but having a piss-up in the basement at Number 10 while there was a state funeral on? Which is admittedly an appallingly crass and insensitive act even by Johnson's standards, but still.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

Post by Crazedwraith »

An old saying about Straws and Camel's backs comes to mind. I reckon people are more pissed about the lockdown parties.

Still I'm going to make the prediction Johnson will weather this. I hope to proven wrong.
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Re: Brexit and not very united kingdom politics II

Post by Juubi Karakuchi »

Zaune wrote: 2022-01-15 04:50am What does it say about us that the scandal that's finally looking like it will undo the Tories is not the blatant mismanagement of the EU referendum and everything that came after it, chronic underfunding of all our public services and infrastructure programs or even most aspects of their handling of the pandemic, but having a piss-up in the basement at Number 10 while there was a state funeral on? Which is admittedly an appallingly crass and insensitive act even by Johnson's standards, but still.
As Hannah Arendt once said, people hate hypocrisy a lot more than they hate injustice.

I would also put it down to a desperate emotional investment in what Bojo represented. His whole persona represented a complete rejection of the nineties politician represented by Blair; a type that a lot of the British public had grown to hate. They were sick of 'grey' or 'beige' politicians, obsessed with spin and image yet seemingly having no substance; and even more hateful of nineties managerialism, with its endless meetings and bureaucracy.

Bojo consciously tapped into this mindset, and not just with his persona. Ramming that digger through the boxes represented the deeper hope behind it; that he would cut through the BS, push aside opposition, ignore the complexity, and get stuff done. Hence the vaccine bounce, where for a brief time it looked like his style - and Brexit in general - might just pay off. He seemed to be a latter-day Mr Micawber; an incompetent buffoon whose heart was nevertheless in the right place, and who would sort it all out eventually.

Except it didn't, and he wasn't. Vaccination hasn't ended Covid - at least not yet - and Brexit problems continue to pile up. That sort of thing irritates people, and maybe even makes them angry; but that's practically the default state in British politics. The lockdown parties have infuriated them, and not just because of the hypocrisy. Bojo has ruined his own image, exposing himself not as a good-natured bumbler, but as an incompetent fraud; not a Micawber, but a Uriah Heep. For some it's personal; they liked him, and even trusted him. For the rest, it's just a crossing of the line from merely annoying to outright infuriating.
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