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

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

I thought the app had been ditched into the long grass; the Department of Health have said it's 'coming in the next few weeks'

Shaping up to be a(nother) shambles already.......

With how inept the Gov. response has been, we may have been better off pursuing herd immunity to begin with. It would have been a terrible strategy if the government had basic competence, but what we seem to be heading towards is a situation where the same number of people die and we also get massive economic turmoil and authoritarian reforms.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Herd immunity is still a terrible policy, if that just means "letting things take their course".

I agree, but what I meant was that the government response was proving so inept that it might do little other than let the virus take its course while simultaneously putting massive stress on livelihoods. Flattening the curve to keep hospital capacity up is of little benefit if most of the spare capacity has gone unused while victims have been left to die in locked down care homes.

The hands off approach might be the only one they don't bugger up the implementation of, though it would be pretty terrible even if it was done "correctly".

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

His ego would likely too big for either SF or the SDLP.

Some sort of People Before Profit style personal vehicle?

PBP for sure given their Trot wing.

I've thought Galloway's best bet since 2015 was to wait out the five years in which he would not be allowed to join Labour and then sign up and take advantage of his friendships with Corbyn and co. His grift has been pathetic and this window of opportunity has probably now gone given the direction of the Labour Party, but it's still his best bet given how dire his recent independent runs have been. The only other realistic pathway to a Galloway comeback that I see is Labour supporting another unpopular war abroad (with British troops on the ground).

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

The school meals issue does seem to be a rather odd hill for the Tories to choose to die on.

So does the "Let undercover cops murder people," bill, but that hasn't stopped them.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

If Johnson goes down, I can’t imagine anyone would really want to hold a title as cursed as the Conservative’s Leader.

A person who couldn't otherwise have a good chance at winning the premiership within the remaining window of their political career would go for it and there are several of those in the Tory Party.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

BoJo seems to have thrown Trump under the bus. Which is something.

Poor foreign policy. Trump holds grudges and may be back in four years' time.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Gender critical feminists have ruffled feathers ober a gender 'self-ID' question on the Census. Despite the fact that nearly all census questions are self-id.

They have ruffled feathers over a sex question becoming self-ID after Twitterati outcry, despite a gender self-ID option also being available on the census. The presence and proper use of both would have produced better data.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

On the Martin Bashir/Diana thing, I do think that much of the coverage of it is slightly unfair (although entirely predictable from the Tory side). Yes, the BBC clearly failed here, but let’s not pretend that it is anywhere near this country’s biggest problem as far as dishonest journalism is concerned. It is quite possible that the Beeb will end up suffering greater consequences for this than the Murdoch press and tabloids ever did for phone-hacking.

It is partly about double standards regarding the BBC and the Murdoch press, but in this case the Diana Factor is pretty significant, too. Decades on, a pretty large chunk of the population and the press have a bizarre fixation on her.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

A "unity" candidate was a non-runner as soon as Paterson announced he wouldn't be standing in any byelection, simple as. But of course #FBPEers have history for this sort of thing - hence all the weird and wonderful "National" governments proposed in the spring/summer of 2019.

Goodness that brings back memories.  Remember the all-woman cabinet? 

The proposal involving Caroline Lucas - which was explicitly argued for on the grounds that "Brexit would be solved with a woman in charge" - was wheatfield gold.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Williamson is now the numbers man for Jeremy Hunt, according to the Mirror. Probably tabloid gossip to some extent, but just about the only thing Williamson is good at is Tory parliamentary arithmetic - he was a pretty good Chief Whip and ran the campaigns of both May and Johnson.

Who the heck is going to prefer Jeremy Hunt (a man most known for an unfortunate rhyme with his name) over Boris ?

Hunt ran a pretty competent leadership campaign with an attractive pitch on social care and (as BoJo once could) can present himself as an outsider while remaining prominent because of his Health & Social Care committee chairmanship.

He’s probably too much of a wet to win (and a challenge looks really unlikely in the short-to-medium term), but he has gone with the party’s flow on Brexit and should not be dismissed out of hand.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Williamson is now the numbers man for Jeremy Hunt, according to the Mirror. Probably tabloid gossip to some extent, but just about the only thing Williamson is good at is Tory parliamentary arithmetic - he was a pretty good Chief Whip and ran the campaigns of both May and Johnson.

Who the heck is going to prefer Jeremy Hunt (a man most known for an unfortunate rhyme with his name) over Boris ?

Hunt ran a pretty competent leadership campaign with an attractive pitch on social care and (as BoJo once could) can present himself as an outsider while remaining prominent because of his Health & Social Care committee chairmanship.

He’s probably too much of a wet to win (and a challenge looks really unlikely in the short-to-medium term), but he has gone with the party’s flow on Brexit and should not be dismissed out of hand.

Wasn't he pretty aggressive about NHS cost-cutting ? will that really play well with the electorate around now?

He got a bad rap over the “reorganisation” of the NHS, but that’s not going to be nearly as much of a problem in a leadership election as it will be for him in a general election.

The passage of a decade may shield him, to an extent, from effective criticism, but I think it will be a problem for him should he ever become leader.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

The idea that someone with a buffoon act and an irritatingly affected upper class accent is "quintessentially English" is part of what is so embarrassing.

And dangerous. As an English fool, I rely on my accent to sound competent to foreigners. BoJo leaning into the stupidity makes it harder for the rest of us slackers and con artists.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

A big issue is that there are not too many capable people in the cabinet able to take over and sort out the mess. Johnson has created a mess and broken a lot of trust with his supporters and voters. Several current cabinet members want to become leader (but none are viewed as being particularly talented) and it is believed that the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and the Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, are both reported to be 'on manoeuvres' to court back bench MPs.

Tbh if I were Liz or Rishi I'm not sure I'd want to take over at this point in time only to be captain of a sinking ship.

A “poisoned chalice” premiership is better than no premiership at all. Political windows are narrow and can close quickly; becoming PM without having to lead the party into a general election beforehand is a great opportunity.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Who is in the run to become the next PM?

Can't rule out that he decides to run in the leadership election.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

https://www.twitter.com/PedderSophie/status/1544962473815580673