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

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Mr Tony's reputation is artificially depressed because of his embarrassing post-premiership antics and will rise quite a bit in the future (he'll move firmly into the Lloyd George/Wilson/Thatcher category), but the main reason why the process is so slow is that he cannot help but open his mouth every thirty seconds...

It seems as though Tony Blair in retirement has decided to become the caricature his left-wing critics portrayed him as.

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In an example of utter something, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has now become the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with an acronym that sounds like someone spitting.

Finally, a government willing to give gamers the respect they deserve.

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I realize I'm someone from the Continent who just doesn't understand cricket and that the biggest cricket nations are non-white, but there's something (everything, really) about that sport that just screams 19th century. Which is why I'm not surprised it's now embroiled in a pretty serious racism scandal.

Particularly interesting when you consider the demographics of most cricket clubs in England...

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Religious Breakdown interesting, would have expected Sikhs to lean conservative. But only Hindus and Christians.

For Sikhs to vote Conservative would have surprised me. I can't think of any foreign country where they vote regularly for a right-wing party; Sikhs are as natural a demographic for the left as any ethnoreligious group I can think of.

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_{Edit: absolutely incredible, this forum censors 'sniggering'. Gentlemen: a new candidate for the Scunthorpe Problem.}

In this country the word used is always "snickering". A very quick search does not indicate which form is older.

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One wonders why she signed up to be a Conservative MP.

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John Horam, the MP for Gateshead West 1970-83 and then (as a Conservative) for Orpington 1992-2010. He's now in the House of Lords and has become increasingly weird in his old age.

That's an awfully long time to spend in opposition!

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Churchill, who changed parties twice, sat for no less than five constituencies.

I wonder why the UK is seemingly unique in having very little stigma against their politican carpetbagging.

I don't think this is true. Look at Canada.

The United States, as far as I can tell, is unusual in this regard. I can think of no other country with single-member districts where there is such a strong stigma against politicians contesting elections in a district that is not their home.

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Historically this is a very significant double loss. Should be the end of the PM immediately in any other period of British politics.

This question was asked in the by-elections thread:

But there has been a consistent refusal to accept this from senior people in the Conservative Party. It hasn't even entirely gone away post-Wakefield.

Just today, the Conservative supporting press are talking about Boris’ great (current) appeal and how this cannot he replicated by any potential leadership challengers. There seems to be a complete unwillingness among large sections of the commentariat to accept that not only was Boris never an electoral juggernaut during his leadership to begin with, but also that his popularity has crashed and he is now electoral poison to basically anybody who isn’t a dyed in the wool Conservative supporter. What’s the event that will make them realise he’s a liability, because they’re already well behind in the polls and losing by-elections on big swings, including now to Labour?

I think part of the answer is that committing oneself to being a follower of Boris Johnson is deeply embarrassing and personally degrading, and so embracing it requires a full psychological commitment. Consequently, once one has fully accepted the Boris Johnson message, it's difficult to dislodge oneself from that position because it would require just as great a shift back in the other direction.

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How did repealing the Fixed-Term Parliament Act work exactly? I'm far from an expert on British constitutional law, but my understanding was that the royal prerogative to dissolve the legislature was a matter of common law, which once codified by the Coalition was forever annulled because the legislature cannot create common law.

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A lot of these people were waiting for Johnson to fall. They never saw him as one of their own.

Although, BJ could survive. You can't have a confidence vote for another year.

A rule-change appears imminent (at latest following next week’s election to the 1922 Committee Executive, possibly earlier), and a government this crippled cannot survive. Two examples of this:

• Tomorrow morning, the Attorney General is to answer questions in the Commons. The PM has to either sack Suella Braverman, or let a woman who has openly lost confidence in him (and publicly declared an intent to take his job!) give answers on behalf of his government.
• Only 2 out of the 6 ministerial roles in the Department of Education are currently filled. Amidst exam marking season, the recent threat of industrial action, and anger over the state of the government’s stalled reform bill, that’s just not sustainable.

Even if this was a coordinated plot to replace Johnson that he’s trying to tell us it is, he has no power, or technically the right, to stop it if he’s lost the support of the party. We’re a parliamentary system, not a presidential one with a direct electoral mandate for the head of government.

Johnson’s mandate is indirect, and comes from the support of his MPs, who each individually draw their mandate from their constituency electorate. Once your MPs withdraw their support (typically on the basis of political pressure from those same constituents), it doesn’t matter how many voters wanted to “get Brexit down”, it’s over.

But wasn’t Johnson elected leader directly from the electorate?

And I would argue his 2019 general election was a mandate. Ever single conservative voter knew a vote for their local conservative MP was a vote to have Boris Johnson as PM. Elections are nationalized. The idea that you can be a successful PM without an electorate mandate and rely solely on elected officials in your party is silly.

Somehow it was actually better when you were telling us that only sluts care about abortion.