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

[Lechasseur]

Harry and Meaghan?

Hello.

Lol at that being news , anyway the real monarch of the UK now is Boris Johnson, just like how it was Blair from 1997-2005 and Thatcher was in the 1980s

Well...yeah, a British PM with a strong majority can do to the country essentially whatever the hell he or she likes, to a point that even US Presidents with pronounced authoritarian leanings like FDR or Trump could only dream of, but to say that that constitutes being "the real monarch" shows a pretty off-base understanding of what the British monarchy is (ostensibly) there for.

Exactly

[Lechasseur]

"Scottish Labour is considering backing a second independence referendum in a dramatic reversal of policy by the party leader, Richard Leonard.

Party sources have told the Guardian that Leonard will raise that possibility at Labour’s Scottish executive committee on Saturday, where it could also discuss demands for it to split formally from the UK Labour party."

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/09/scottish-labour-could-back-independence-referendum-indyref2

This surely can't have majority support in what remains of Scottish Labour, can it?

The party is probably still split, but I would say there is a loud faction who's identity is Unionist first, Labour second who won't be too enthusiastic.

Sounds like political suicide to me

Like what do they have to gain by becoming an SNP clone? If anything I imagine you have more left wing voters in Scotland than pro independance voters.

If they become pro independance they may as well dissolve and merge with the SNP because I dont see how they'd be relevant in the slightest

They'd probably lose whatever votes they still have to the SNP (left-wingers first) and Tories (unionists first)

[Lechasseur]

Bad move the independence vote is for the SNP regardless while English voters will react badly to Labour' position here (and even if Labour gains votes in Scotland it is not worth losing votes in marginals against the Tories in England).

Exactly

But like I said above, I think they lose their votes in Scotland too at that point.

This makes zero sense for them to do

[Lechasseur]

Good. This is the SNP's price, and Labour must be ready to pay it.

Tbh I think people knowing that was one of the factors that caused labour to suffer it's worst defeat since the 1930s

[Lechasseur]

Harry and Meaghan?

Hello.

Major upheavals coming for the British monarchy in the next few years, almost inevitably. At a time of more general instability, even some not enthusiastic about the institution will view that with some concern.

Which type of upheavals are you thinking of?

[Lechasseur]

"Scottish Labour is considering backing a second independence referendum in a dramatic reversal of policy by the party leader, Richard Leonard.

Party sources have told the Guardian that Leonard will raise that possibility at Labour’s Scottish executive committee on Saturday, where it could also discuss demands for it to split formally from the UK Labour party."

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/09/scottish-labour-could-back-independence-referendum-indyref2

This surely can't have majority support in what remains of Scottish Labour, can it?

The party is probably still split, but I would say there is a loud faction who's identity is Unionist first, Labour second who won't be too enthusiastic.

Sounds like political suicide to me

Like what do they have to gain by becoming an SNP clone? If anything I imagine you have more left wing voters in Scotland than pro independance voters.

If they become pro independance they may as well dissolve and merge with the SNP because I dont see how they'd be relevant in the slightest

They'd probably lose whatever votes they still have to the SNP (left-wingers first) and Tories (unionists first)

The SNP is a broad tent centrist party with a heterogenous voter coalition, if Labour becomes neutral on independence they can hope to get a lot of the left wingers that have defected to the SNP back.

The SNP strikes me as pretty left-wing already, not sure how much further to the left Labour could go to break SNP dominance.

[Lechasseur]

Even if he does get through it, it might put his longer term political future in serious doubt.

How so?

[Lechasseur]

Boris Johnson is out of intensive care and has been transferred to a different service within the hospital for monitoring

[Lechasseur]

Boris Johnson is now out of the hospital

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-politics-52262012