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

[Kingpoleon]

SNP don't count, then?

Even the SNP is better than Labour or Johnson.

[afleitch]

My gut feeling is that the generally obedient British public will tear the Tories to pieces when business resumes. Unfortunately for the public, they just gave them a five year mandate.

[afleitch]

SNP don't count, then?

Even the SNP is better than Labour or Johnson.

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[Antonio the Sixth]

West Wing-itis is indeed a serious affliction of the political class in this country.

Why? It is such an overrated show. Borgen any day over it.

I don't think those shows are as different as people love to say they are. Like sure, if you want to look at a few specific plot points Borgen is a little more grounded, but their basic vision of politics is really the same.

I say this as someone who's been a fan of both and now feels he's outgrown them.

[Tintrlvr]

SNP don't count, then?

Even the SNP is better than Labour or Johnson.

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It's not exactly high praise...

[CumbrianLefty]

Seems the government* is now trying to start a war with unions to distract from its virus failings.

(*admittedly mostly not on the record at the moment, using their reliable media proxies and so on)

[CumbrianLefty]

Oh dear, looks like Cummings has been a bit of a naughty boy.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The defences are amusingly craven.

[Silent Hunter]

At least the scientist could recently claim that he's got immunity.

[CumbrianLefty]

"Our Dom" got it as well didn't he?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

"Our Dom" got it as well didn't he?

At the time of his Great Journey his illness was in its early stages, which is when the virus is at its most infectious...

[CumbrianLefty]

The defences are amusingly craven.

Some come across as less than sincere as well, who knows what is currently happening off the record?

[EastAnglianLefty]

After a day spent trying to scrabble together a defence for Cummings, it's just been blown apart by news that he broke quarantine whilst in Durham, and then went back up there after he'd been back to London. This really is the gift that keeps on giving.

[Silent Hunter]

He's going to get what's Cummings to him.

[brucejoel99]

If he gets fired for this, then I'll eat Paddy Ashdown's hat. These are the actions of a guy who knows that he can do whatever he wants because he's already got the PM purring like a goddamn kitten in his lap. Watch everybody else who's been fired for a lot less than that raise their palms to the sky in a mighty call of "what the ACTUAL f**k!?" as nothing happens to him.

[CumbrianLefty]

Thing is, this government has no "plan B" in these situations. Its just tough it out come what may, however much you insult the intelligence of everybody in doing so.

[Blair]

The baffling thing is that the defences put out by the Cabinet don't read like comments from a Government- 'he was putting his kid first' 'how dare you blame him for looking after his child' are all political election responses rather than a Government dealing with a national crisis response.

The Ministers are pretty much admitting that he broke the rules; because if they thought he hadn't they would have said that.

Of course if this was a Government Minister or a civil servant they'd be sacked; but Cumming has this weird Rasputin like repuation in some parts of the Tory Party, and thus parts of it are convinced they'll fall apart without him. I've always felt his repuatation has been overhyped but this saga is really showing us a lot about how this Government operates (including the craven cabinet made up of B-list Brexiters; who've been sidelined throughout this whole saga)

I expect more Tory MPs will come out against him; cummings is hated funnily enough by some of the ERG & the longer this carries on the longer the smell will stick to the party...

[CumbrianLefty]

In my mythology of much of the Tory party and indeed the right more generally, Cummings is the person who brought about both the EU referendum result and the first big Tory majority for a third of a century. Given that, its maybe not so surprising that they are terrified of a future without him.

[Blair]

I wish I posted it this morning when I predicted it but Peston is now reporting they're considering a cabinet office enquiry.

They're useless chocolate teapot investigations; for those not familar with them they're where the Government takes 3 months to investigate & then clears said offical/minister without releasing a report. (or in previously hilarous displays clears the Minister after they were sacked)

It would be hard to see how that would work this time because there is no element of doubt involded... what can they investigate?

It's starting to look quite difficult for the Government, especially with a bank holiday where people are more especially likely to email their MPs... I've kept off twitter but a fair few commentators on the right are not happy

[EastAnglianLefty]

Johnson is currently doing the daily press conference himself, whereas ordinarily they're farmed out to a minor Cabinet minister. Defending Cummings to the hilt and insisting that any parent would understand. This seems to be a line deliberately designed to piss off anybody in the country who has had a medical emergency in the family in the past month.

[Zinneke]

https://twitter.com/samisam147/status/1264231271405944839


ukpol Twitter absolutely on fire tonight

https://twitter.com/IvoGraham/status/1264613114995245058

[brucejoel99]

Johnson is currently doing the daily press conference himself, whereas ordinarily they're farmed out to a minor Cabinet minister. Defending Cummings to the hilt and insisting that any parent would understand. This seems to be a line deliberately designed to piss off anybody in the country who has had a medical emergency in the family in the past month.

Honest to god, having watched that, he's done himself no favors at all: starts off by vocalizing what millions are thinking (that it's one rule for them & another for us) & seems like he might actually call out Cummings on it before basically just confirming that the rules don't apply.

The Tories have handled this so appallingly that Labour now has every right to exploit it to the hilt. Cummings could've resigned or been fired & Starmer would've had little to say about it but "good." Now, it's a fair target & I hope that it accordingly hurts the Tories.

Until then, though, Dominic Cummings "could stand in the middle of Durham & shoot somebody & [he] wouldn't lose any prime ministerial backing."

Better yet: "I don't even wait to see if I'm symptomatic. And when you're Dominic Cummings, they let you do it. You can do anything. Drive across the country during a lockdown to visit your parents. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything." - Dominic Cummings

[Blair]

There isn't PMQs this week... which I actually think might harm the Government as it means the scandal will just continue to brew. With scandals so bad as this PMQs often allows the Government a form of blood letting or the opposition are perceived to mess it up (with the response often being 'oh that could have gone a lot worse)

A long linkering bank holiday where no-one has anything else to talk about however..

[Blair]

Something that hasn't been mentioned is that this has been genuinely good weekend for the British Press; and a welcome contrast to the ineptitude of the American political press.

Although there has been one senior BBC reporter who has managed to debase themselves even further...

[Silent Hunter]

The front page of the Daily Mail for tomorrow is deeply bad for the government. When you've lost *them* as a Tory, you're toast.