UK General Discussion:The Rt. Hon Alex Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, Populist Hero

[Statilius the Epicurean]

I didn’t see anyone mention the magic word of defence cuts! The reality is that even 20 years ago our military would have struggled to carry out a large-scale evacuation mission without the US and I’m certain that with the current capacity we are not able to do anything close to it.

Right, exactly. Defence cuts under austerity have been the main factor in our declining international influence and no-one wants to discuss it. The Tories because it makes them look bad and Labour because they probably don't actually want to reverse them. 

[afleitch]

A lot of MP’s remain severely deluded (or maybe wilfully blind), both in general about Britain’s level of influence in the world and in particular over Britain’s level of influence in Afghanistan and over US policy there.

The tenor of the debate in Parliament was baffling. It was as if MPs thought that we were the United States. I don't understand where such delusion like the idea that we could have prevented the fall of the Afghan government comes from, doesn't Parliament understand our own capabilities, constraints and history? Don't MPs remember that the British operation in Afghanistan ended in 2014 and basically no-one complained? I hope it isn't what I suspect and MPs are upset at what they've seen on social media and are using the government as a proxy for pretending they're in the US Congress and lambasting Biden, because that's the only way I can make sense of what was not a sensible or coherent debate about UK foreign policy.

The answer is. No. They don't.

What we are capable of is offering refuge. Our humanitarian response will always have more weight than our military one. But we have a parliament of arm chair generals and anti-asylum/immigration idpols.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/19/former-mp-jared-omara-charged-with-seven-counts-of-fraud

Lmao, Jared. Also, im pretty sure his co-defendent is the guy who resigned via hacking Jared's twitter feed.

[CumbrianLefty]

You want to feel sorry for him, but he doesn't help himself.

[Blair]

Am I the only one baffled by the cult of Rory Stewart?

He’s certainly better than the average lobby fodder but I’m baffled about how his stock is so high- is it just the FBPEtis?

[NewYorkExpress]

Dominic Raab was literally vacationing in Crete when Kabul fell.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is facing growing calls to resign following his alleged failure to help evacuate interpreters, who had worked for Britain, as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban while he vacationed last week on the Greek island of Crete.

Raab reportedly did not make a crucial phone call to his Afghan counterpart that could have supported the interpreters in their efforts to leave the country as it was descending into violent chaos. Britain’s top diplomat had been advised to make the call on Friday, Aug. 13, according to British media. He returned home Sunday, the day Kabul was taken over by the Taliban.

The Foreign Office said the call had been delegated to a junior minister but later told the BBC that it “was not possible to arrange a call” before the Western-backed Afghan government collapsed due to the “rapidly changing situation.”

https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1428252550684418048

https://twitter.com/lisanandy/status/1428292534984396805

[CumbrianLefty]

Hilarious procession of Tory backbench MPs tweeting literally identical expressions of support for him.

[Alcibiades]

Hilarious procession of Tory backbench MPs tweeting literally identical expressions of support for him.

Reminiscent of when they all sent the exact same letter in response to constituents complaining about Cummings’ trip to Barnard Castle. It seems that the government can coordinate certain things, just not the ones that matter.

[NewYorkExpress]

Tony Blair attacks the United States's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Tony Blair, the British prime minister who deployed troops to Afghanistan 20 years ago after the 9/11 attacks, says the U.S. decision to withdraw from the country has “every Jihadist group round the world cheering.”

In a lengthy essay posted on his website late Saturday, the former Labour Party leader said the sudden and chaotic pullout that allowed the Taliban to reclaim power risked undermining everything that had been achieved in Afghanistan over the past two decades, including advances in living standards and the education of girls.

“The abandonment of Afghanistan and its people is tragic, dangerous, unnecessary, not in their interests and not in ours,” said Blair who served as prime minister during 1997-2007, a period that also saw him back the U.S.-led war in Iraq in 2003.

“The world is now uncertain of where the West stands because it is so obvious that the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan in this way was driven not by grand strategy but by politics,” he added.



Blair also accused U.S. President Joe Biden of being “in obedience to an imbecilic political slogan about ending ‘the forever wars’, as if our engagement in 2021 was remotely comparable to our commitment 20 or even 10 years ago.”

[No War, but the War on Christmas]

Tony Blair attacks the United States's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Tony Blair, the British prime minister who deployed troops to Afghanistan 20 years ago after the 9/11 attacks, says the U.S. decision to withdraw from the country has “every Jihadist group round the world cheering.”

In a lengthy essay posted on his website late Saturday, the former Labour Party leader said the sudden and chaotic pullout that allowed the Taliban to reclaim power risked undermining everything that had been achieved in Afghanistan over the past two decades, including advances in living standards and the education of girls.

“The abandonment of Afghanistan and its people is tragic, dangerous, unnecessary, not in their interests and not in ours,” said Blair who served as prime minister during 1997-2007, a period that also saw him back the U.S.-led war in Iraq in 2003.

“The world is now uncertain of where the West stands because it is so obvious that the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan in this way was driven not by grand strategy but by politics,” he added.



Blair also accused U.S. President Joe Biden of being “in obedience to an imbecilic political slogan about ending ‘the forever wars’, as if our engagement in 2021 was remotely comparable to our commitment 20 or even 10 years ago.”

Then you foot the bill and send your young Tony.

[CumbrianLefty]

Genuine question, did Blair ever criticise POTUS Trump as vehemently as he has Biden here?

For *anything*??

(and, yet again, its actually Trump's deal that his successor has implemented)

[Geoffrey Howe]

I imagine so, it would have just seemed like a fairly obvious thing to do.

[Angel of Death]

Genuine question, did Blair ever criticise POTUS Trump as vehemently as he has Biden here?

Blair [...] still punches hardest when he’s hitting to his left.

[Blair]

I imagine so, it would have just seemed like a fairly obvious thing to do.

He avoided explicitly criticising Trump with some babble about it being inappropriate to criticise the US President- I think it was in the Alastair Campbell interview where even Campbell seemed rather miffed by it.

Much like Cameron he’s rather degraded himself through not having a job that keeps him locked in say a bunker.

[Suburbia]

Blair should be ashamed for his role in all of the neoliberal-neoconservative reign of the 2000s.....there is nothing wrong with centrism but Blair's inability to realize that the Western imperialism of the ME has been nothing but catastrophic, period.

Does Blair still live in Sedgefield?

[Lord Halifax]

What would we do without bronz4141?

We would have to upgrade to silver5252.

[Suburbia]

What would we do without bronz4141?

It's the cold plain truth

[Blair]

Of course this is the row we’re having.

https://mobile.twitter.com/LBC/status/1430068701135609856?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle...
 

[CumbrianLefty]

I imagine so, it would have just seemed like a fairly obvious thing to do.

But doesn't look like he did.

Tbh viewing Sanders as far more dangerous than Trump is late period Blair all over.

[Conservatopia]

I went to see Geronimo this afternoon.

Revolution of our times.

[Suburbia]

The thing is that Labor can win with a Blair charisma without all of his centrist policies.....

Remember, Blair's 1997 and 2001 landslides were historic....

If Labor doesn't control Britain by 2030 Britain will break up and the Empire will really be dead.

[gerritcole]

The thing is that Labor can win with a Blair charisma without all of his centrist policies.....

Remember, Blair's 1997 and 2001 landslides were historic....

If Labor doesn't control Britain by 2030 Britain will break up and the Empire will really be dead.

the empire has been dead since 1947

[Suburbia]

The thing is that Labor can win with a Blair charisma without all of his centrist policies.....

Remember, Blair's 1997 and 2001 landslides were historic....

If Labor doesn't control Britain by 2030 Britain will break up and the Empire will really be dead.

the empire has been dead since 1947

The Empire is still strong, but not as influential as it was in the 1940s and 1950s......once Britain has top notch singers, athletes, etc. Britain will always be relevant, even if Brexit has happened

[YL]

Some of us have speculated before that the relatively better result for Remain in Merseyside compared with other working class areas may have had something to do with not reading a certain poisonous tabloid.  Now someone has written a paper on the idea:

https://twitter.com/FlorianFoos/status/1430859163614203904

[CumbrianLefty]

Now all we need is to get the rest of the country to boycott it