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

[Farmlands]

https://www.ft.com/content/c7f5a8bc-eb0e-45e5-a080-bbfd6d317def

Boris Johnson's approval ratings have risen by 25 points in reaction to his response on the coronavirus outbreak, more than any other polled leader. I find it that incredibly remarkable, since I don't think his response has been particularly outstanding in any form, but the British public seems to disagree.

[Farmlands]

It's still very much a political move by the police, whose policy so far had consistently been one of not retroactively pursuing Covid-related breaches.

[Farmlands]

His latest crime is to have criticised Nato’s over-aggressive eastward expansion, while supporting a negotiated solution to the Ukraine-Russia conflict. You can disagree or agree with Corbyn. I am not an expert on Russia or Ukraine, but these views do not strike me as either treacherous or unreasonable.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/russia-ukraine-war-jeremy-corbyn-right-putin-oligarchs

It's right there in the article that he again immediately turned to criticize NATO/opposing British politicians for Russian aggression, just like in 2018 with the Skripal poisonings. And given his noted pacifism, I doubt there'd be any machinery going Ukraine's way.

One of the most fortunate consequences of the 2019 election is that Britain had Boris to be at the helm of the UK's response to this war, as opposed to Corbyn, which would've been an unmitigated disaster for the West and our PR.

[Farmlands]

The extremely senior position of Seumas Milne in his leadership team does rather argue against that thesis, even if the remarks about the Conservative Party's interesting relationship to Russian money are perfectly valid in their own right. Most of the rest of the article heavily distorts the historical record, and does so in an especially laughable manner over the Skripal Affair. But he's an irrelevance now and so, frankly, is Peter Oborne.

Oh, absolutely. It's long been known how much the Russian oligarchy has benefited from their dealings in the United Kingdom. But I can't agree that the issue on its own, especially now given the sanctions imposed, is comparable to Corbyn's consistent poor response to Putin's actions.