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

[Bakersfield Uber Alles]

Hoping that Johnson makes a full recovery over the next few weeks.

If, God forbid, something happens, Boris will go down as Martyr of epic proportions for the British right and much of British Society as a whole. He will have been martyred with a 25+% lead in the polls, Britain having left the European Union, a Landslide Majority, upended much of Conservative economic philosophy and turned British politics in an unprecedented way towards populism. In one year. Justified or not, his legacy would be seen as Overshadowing every Conservative Prime Minister since Churchill, including Thatcher.

But, it looks like he will be okay. I wish him well.

It would seem similar to James K. Polk. Did everything he wanted and then died three months after leaving office.

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I don't think Gove would even be considered....he looks like a cartoon character

He looks like he walked out of Madame Tussaud’s on a hot day.

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Is it true that British Evangelicals tend to vote liberal democrat ?

I grew up in a UK evangelical household, which was typically Lib-Dem (occasionally Tory in certain constituencies). It was pretty common in our congregation too.

I know things are a little more fractured now, but that was certainly the state of affairs in the 00s and the coalition years.

As a disclaimer, most of that time was in Scotland, where tactical voting has become more common, and we lived in a LibDem-SNP marginal seat.

Was there any particular reason for this ? Seems odd given that the libdem don't seem aligned to evangelicals on any particular issue and the electoral behaviour of their American brethren

Not really an explanation for why evangelicals vote Lib Dem, but it should be pointed out that the Lib Dems’ former leader, Tim Farron, is very much evangelical.

[Bakersfield Uber Alles]

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

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98 Tory rebels on one of the Covid votes tonight. That must be close to half the non-payroll votes. Haven't heard of any resignations yet.

Not sure who the rebels are, but believe Andrew Rosindell (Con, Romford) is one of them.

List here: https://votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Commons/Division/1182#noes

Seems like a mix of wings of the party.

Notable Tory No votes:
- David Davies
- Karen Bradley (NI Secretary under May)
- Ian Duncan Smith
- Liam Fox
- Chris Grayling
- Andrea Leadsom
- Esther McVey (DWP Secretary under May)
- Theresa Villiers (NI Secretary under Cameron, former DEFRA Secretary under Boris)

Other notable No votes:
- 6 (out of 8 total) DUP MPs
- 10 (out of 12 total) Lib Dem MPs
- Caroline Lucas (Green)
- Jeremy Corbyn
- Diane Abbott
- Rebecca Long-Bailey (Corbyn protege)

Interesting (and rather disappointing) that the Lib Dems voted no.

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Had to change my username for this. Fans of Tropic Thunder will enjoy.

Knives will be out for Boris.

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I have it on good authority that the new party will be called Red Enthusiasts Support Palestinian Equality and Control of Territory.

Or “Respect” for short.

^{Source: made it up}

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This is just another of those stupid stories written for people who are interested in politics but don't have a clue.

A couple of months ago it was two Labour MPs about to defect to the Tories.
Last month it was some Tories ready to defect to Reform UK.
Last week it was a group of Red Wall Tories planning on defecting to Labour.
This week it's Corbyn starting a new party.

Next week we can look forward to Layla Moran joining the Ulster Unionists or some such nonsense.

Nah, it will be about Tories planning to run a serious campaign in Northern Ireland.

Tories run a serious NI campaign.

2024(?) Results: 2% and UUP gets no seats because of it.

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https://twitter.com/electionmapsuk/status/1481397556655669251?s=21

Ooof

Obvious caveat about needing more polls, but here’s one that’ll look bad.

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I wish Peter Mannion would be a real person in the midst of all this, sent out to defend the Johnson government on the radio...

Instead we get Michael Fabricant

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Incidentally, if Johnson were to repeat a certain lie outside the Commons chamber, he would almost certainly face a libel suit which, were it to happen, he would certainly lose and would certainly have to pay extremely heavy damages.

He has since followed up by suggesting that the opposition frontbench are habitual drug takers. Certainly not flailing at all.

Did Michael Gove jump ship without anyone knowing?

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Entertaining knockabout in the Commons on the Gray Report.

…

Theresa May then gets up and gives one to BJ.

https://twitter.com/newstatesman/status/1488187762012561414?s=21

Give him one? More like ripped him a new one.

[Bakersfield Uber Alles]

At risk of going to the Tower am I the only one who thought the recent announcement from the Queen was rather a sign of where they expect things to be going over the next year or two...

It has been widely reported in the past but I can't help but wonder if it was done to avoid the rather unseemly chance of it being done right at the last minute.

Tbh, when you’re her age, just about anything can kill you. Probably better to issue such a proclamation sooner rather than later, but I don’t think it’s really a sign of anything imminent regarding her health.

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https://twitter.com/LBC/status/1505698230692200448
What could be the political advantage of doing this ?

Ask Robert Muldoon:

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Its true what some say, many in the government have come to believe the army of Twitter bots who push their propaganda there in some way equate to "the British people".

They’re huffing their own farts. You love to see it. Wouldn’t be the first time a British leader got complacent because they overestimated their support.

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I don't really have much knowledge about British politics, so apologies--but what does a scenario where Labour has to rely on the SNP and/or Plaid to stay in government look like in practice? Would they form a formal coalition?

I think it's very unlikely that Labour would form a formal coalition with the SNP, and Plaid would have too few seats to make much difference.  How stable a Labour minority which was dependent on the SNP to stay in power would be I don't know, but it could well be suggested to the SNP that bringing Labour down and allowing the Tories back might be very toxic to much of their Central Belt base.

Formal coalition would be more likely with the Lib Dems, but even there it's not at all clear that they'd go for it.

Isn’t Plaid in line to get screwed by the boundary review? Speaking of them, what sort of concessions would Labour have to make to get them to prop up a minority government?

[Bakersfield Uber Alles]

Honestly from what I can see BoJo is only still in place because he can act as a sponge for the coming economic hardship and they get rid of him just before the GE to run a clean candidate. They cannot seriously be thinking that with his approval ratings he can lead them into a GE. May also lasted because everyone wanted her to pick up all the dung thrown at the political class for Brexit.

If this has been their plan all along (not that it is, given the aforementioned lack of anybody in government who manages to command more confidence with the party or public than BoJo, even after everything), then they really shouldn't have scrapped the FTPA to give BoJo the right to call a snap election whenever he feels like it. If nothing else, BoJo has always been a pointlessly antagonistic chancer with no interest in anything - let alone a greater good for the Tories - beyond looking after BoJo, & if he thinks that a 1922 VoNC that he'd lose is about to be called, then there's quite literally nothing stopping him from just going to the Palace & advising HM that it's time to drop the writs. Even if the Tories are wayyy behind in the polls at the time, the party's forced into an election at that point & would have to accept their bad leader over no leader at all. Either way, it's a win/win for him: once he reaches the end of the line for his parliamentary party support, he has nothing left to lose, so either the Tories lose a GE & nothing is his problem anymore or, if by some miracle, he managed to pull another win out of his ass, he'd be instantly safe from a 1922 VoNC because they wouldn't dare to try & kick a PM who just somehow managed to win them another election out.

People always called Cameron “The Gambler,” but wow, that would be something to see. I don’t think he’d pull out the win though (much like Cameron).

[Bakersfield Uber Alles]

Honestly, assuming things go badly for his successor, I wouldn't be surprised at all if he resurfaces after the next GE for a comeback special.

Some variation on 'doing a Kevin Rudd' is not impossible, no...

Strangely I've had some thoughts, given the state of the available alternatives, that could end up applying to Theresa May.

Slow and Steady Strong and Stable wins the race

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https://twitter.com/nicholaswatt/status/1533889858615255041?s=20&t=xLegb-N6s...

But is that PM ally also a Tory MP?

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I could see Boris getting tossed. Just a hunch though.

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Hot take, I could see the Tories falling below 200 seats next election.

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Of course we currently have a politician who has stood under at least four labels and has sat as an MP for constituencies in Glasgow, London and Bradford, and has stood elsewhere as well...

His predecessor in Glasgow had previously sat for a seat in Birmingham and one in London and was actually Welsh.

And who are these people? Tried searching the Glasgow constituencies and couldn’t find someone that seemed to fit the bill.

[Bakersfield Uber Alles]

Of course we currently have a politician who has stood under at least four labels and has sat as an MP for constituencies in Glasgow, London and Bradford, and has stood elsewhere as well...

His predecessor in Glasgow had previously sat for a seat in Birmingham and one in London and was actually Welsh.

And who are these people? Tried searching the Glasgow constituencies and couldn’t find someone that seemed to fit the bill.

George Galloway and Roy Jenkins.

Oh god. How could I forget about Galloway?!?

Much appreciated!

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Chris Pincher, yes that’s his name, has resigned as deputy chief whip after an incident last night.

Will post more once his letter is released…

Nominative determinism it appears.

It’s almost the inverse of his name haha. Gropeham would’ve been even better.

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Carrie Johnson will be resigning as Prime Minister's Spouse.

Rumours that Nadine Dorries considered likely replacement.

Not Liz Truss?