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

[Filuwaúrdjan]

https://twitter.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1468594374774820873

As a general rule it's best not to put much stock in snap polls or ComRes, but, er, all the same...

[afleitch]

I don't know if I want him to go; I'm concerned aboutwhat ghoul will follow him.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

I don't know if I want him to go; I'm concerned aboutwhat ghoul will follow him.

[Boobs]

SHOCKING revelation from Allegra Stratton: Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s vulgar and abusive nicknames for Home Secretary Priti Patel:

- “Scary Tits”
- “Mugsy”
- “Fatty”
- “The sh**ts”
- “Tragic Big Nose Tits”
- “The Pasty”
- “Posh Pussy”

Priti Patel at PMQs: “Is that all you’ve got? Do you seriously have nothing better to do than come and attack a woman? Are you the head of a nursery? Is that what you do? You are a child. You are a child. You are a child.”

[Cassius]

Poor old Matty Hancock was in essence forced to hand in the towel over less than this.

Half a chance that Bo Jo will be out within hours, a full chance that the polls will show another significant shift towards Labour.

Really, you think he'll have to go because of this ?

He was genuinely awful - even pathetic - at PMQs today, if only he wasn't such a totally disreputable human being in every possible way you might even have felt a bit of sympathy for him.

But as if to show his sheer brass neck even now, Johnson is making an announcement on incoming Covid restrictions shortly. I wonder what most journalists will want to ask him about?

Do PMQ's even matter much ? I thought it was a political cliche that they don't matter.

Whilst, generally speaking, the electorate don’t tend to pay them much mind, they do matter to the MP’s in each party. To take an example, one of the key things that undermined the leadership of Iain Duncan-Smith (who led the Tories from 2001-2003 before being dumped mid term) were his woeful performances at the PMQ’s, in comparison to his predecessor and successor, both of whom, whilst they weren’t much more electorally successful, could at least, occasionally, get Blair on the ropes at PMQ’s. Turning in consistently bad PMQ’s performances is pretty embarrassing for those MP’s on your side of the bench, and that can combine with wider concerns to undermine a leadership.

[Blair]

If I had a pound for every hack crying about Stratton….

[Angel of Death]

I don't know if I want him to go; I'm concerned aboutwhat ghoul will follow him.

And when he does go, the Tories will get to reset the clock once again with the English electorate.

[CumbrianLefty]

I don't know if I want him to go; I'm concerned aboutwhat ghoul will follow him.

And when he does go, the Tories will get to reset the clock once again with the English electorate.

That trick always works, until the time it doesn't.

[afleitch]

Well, it'll be off the front pages tomorrow now anyway.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I don't know if I want him to go; I'm concerned aboutwhat ghoul will follow him.

And when he does go, the Tories will get to reset the clock once again with the English electorate.

That trick always works, until the time it doesn't.

Frankly after a certain point you're left floundering in the same situation as New Zealand Labour in the early 1990s. One of Johnson's main plus points for his party has been that while he has rarely been popular (except for when he nearly died of the Rona) as such, he does have an electoral fan club* that is personal and probably not transferrable to others and an image - which he has always been good at exploiting - of very much not being a generic Tory, even though he is very much a Tory.

_{*It isn't big, but it doesn't have to be to be a boon given FPTP. Blair had a similar following.}

[afleitch]

I don't know if I want him to go; I'm concerned aboutwhat ghoul will follow him.

And when he does go, the Tories will get to reset the clock once again with the English electorate.

That trick always works, until the time it doesn't.

Frankly after a certain point you're left floundering in the same situation as New Zealand Labour in the early 1990s. One of Johnson's main plus points for his party has been that while he has rarely been popular (except for when he nearly died of the Rona) as such, he does have an electoral fan club* that is personal and probably not transferrable to others and an image - which he has always been good at exploiting - of very much not being a generic Tory, even though he is very much a Tory.

_{*It isn't big, but it doesn't have to be to be a boon given FPTP. Blair had a similar following.}

What's worse is that Brexit Boris' fan club know he's a sh-t. They go cold on him when he's being halfway competent, which at the same time makes his Mayor Boris fan club warm to him again.

[Blair]

I don't know if I want him to go; I'm concerned aboutwhat ghoul will follow him.

And when he does go, the Tories will get to reset the clock once again with the English electorate.

That trick always works, until the time it doesn't.

Frankly after a certain point you're left floundering in the same situation as New Zealand Labour in the early 1990s. One of Johnson's main plus points for his party has been that while he has rarely been popular (except for when he nearly died of the Rona) as such, he does have an electoral fan club* that is personal and probably not transferrable to others and an image - which he has always been good at exploiting - of very much not being a generic Tory, even though he is very much a Tory.

_{*It isn't big, but it doesn't have to be to be a boon given FPTP. Blair had a similar following.}

Wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy but if you listen to LBC you do see this come out from some people- he has a strong and devoted fan base who are happy to overlook quite a lot.

Liz Truss v much appears to be appealing to this rather than say obsessing over what will go down well in [insert generic marginal]

[Blair]

It’s also been overlooked but the polling situation appears to not exactly getting better for the Government.

[YL]

Well, it'll be off the front pages tomorrow now anyway.

Nope.

The Sun: "Do as I say, not as I Christmas Do"
Daily Mail: "One rule for them, new rules for the rest of us"
Daily Telegraph: "Don't go to work, but do go to parties"

Yes, that's the Sun, the Mail and the Telegraph.

https://twitter.com/TmorrowsPapers/status/1468724571876597764

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

And if the news couldn't get worse.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/tory-party-shaun-bailey-hq-december-allegra-stratton-boris-johnson-b970845.html

[afleitch]

Well, it'll be off the front pages tomorrow now anyway.

Nope.

The Sun: "Do as I say, not as I Christmas Do"
Daily Mail: "One rule for them, new rules for the rest of us"
Daily Telegraph: "Don't go to work, but do go to parties"

Yes, that's the Sun, the Mail and the Telegraph.

https://twitter.com/TmorrowsPapers/status/1468724571876597764

Pleased to be proven wrong.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Well, it'll be off the front pages tomorrow now anyway.

Nope.

The Sun: "Do as I say, not as I Christmas Do"
Daily Mail: "One rule for them, new rules for the rest of us"
Daily Telegraph: "Don't go to work, but do go to parties"

Yes, that's the Sun, the Mail and the Telegraph.

https://twitter.com/TmorrowsPapers/status/1468724571876597764

When your major backers are all lockdown sceptics to a greater or lesser degree, increasing restrictions does run the risk of pissing them off too.

[CumbrianLefty]

It’s also been overlooked but the polling situation appears to not exactly getting better for the Government.

We may, finally, have "crossover".

[Conservatopia]

The PM has pulled a last ditch effort to distract the nation by having his wife give birth a baby girl.

Muh dead cat!!

[EastAnglianLefty]

https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1468892847835340806?s=20

This would appear to be prima facie evidence that Johnson lied to Lord Geidt (and also to Parliament.) Were Lord Geidt to state that Johnson had misled him, that would likely make his position untenable.

Then again, half the reason Geidt was picked is that he's a former royal flunkey who could be relied upon not to develop a spine.

[Blair]

The thing I am loving is anybody in the Conservative party who is surprised by this.

This was how he was as Mayor and how he was as foreign secretary. Brexit and COVID gave him very good cover.

[CumbrianLefty]

The PM has pulled a last ditch effort to distract the nation by having his wife give birth a baby girl.

Muh dead cat!!

Well the word "induced" is being used ironically rather a bit.

And be honest, you wouldn't put it past him would you?

[Conservatopia]

This time it really does seem different.  Even the most pro-Boris people amongst my friends think that he should go.  Although predictably they put most of the blame on Carrie.

I think we need a new PM too but that's not news because I've never been a fan.

[Blair]

Things can only can better... Jokes aside it's interesting to see what reaction this causes- this downing street is much like the Brown one in that it's obsessed with the day-to-day news coverage & well these things all tend to spiral quickly.

Normally Christmas would be a welcome break...

https://twitter.com/Survation/status/1469005412339007489

[RFK Jr.’s Brain Worm]

I’m hoping that the next conservative PM pulls a Theresa May and calls an election only to uhh… not get their desired results.