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

[ingemann]

One of the few good thing about suicide bombers is that they tend to not learn from their mistakes. I also doubt this guy acted alone, he seemed to stupid to do so and his incompetence have likely resulting in his entire network being caught.

[ingemann]

Quite a few people like to compare Johnson to Trump. Recent days have shown that, if anything, Trump is too mild a comparison. Johnson has quite blatantly ramped up the Covid crisis to get embarrassing headlines off the agenda. If Trump had been in this kind of situation, he would have probably done little more than shake his fists on Twitter.

Well yeah Trump is a narcissist, Johnson is a sociopath, or they at least play those things well enough on TV to be mistaken for it.

[ingemann]

I would love to know what these amazing opportunities are that the government are inexplicably not taking.

Brexit cannot fail, it can only be failed, apparently.

As much as I enjoy the collapse of Boris Johnson, as a EU citizens I don’t look forward to the next idiot the Conservatives elect, who will repeat all the stupidities of Johnson. But hopefully they elect someone who are a big enough idiot to kill the party, yes I know it won’t happen, but let me hope.

[ingemann]

I'd be perfectly happy if Boris sticks around a while at this point, since all he's doing is damaging the Conservative Party. I know the Tories have a reputation for being ruthless in their desire to do whatever it takes to hold power, but I haven't seen any actual evidence of this in recent years.

Honestly I mostly saw the past Conservative governments through Danish media and later through books, but it seem to me that the post-2010 Tories are a pale shadow of the pre-1997 Tories. They seem less competent, lacking in vision and buffoonish. Maybe it’s simply rose tinted glasses then comparing the past to modern day, but the modern Tories seem more like nepotistic country club than a political party.

[ingemann]

Looks like Dishy Rishi is implicated in this one, too. Its not been a great few days for him.

I see Sunaks fate as becoming one of those "prime ministers we never had" as opposed to prime minister.

Seems to be preferable to him becoming PM likely also for his reputation. Honestly even if he would be great, the Conservatives are running on fumes, if Boris Johnson falls his Conservative successor will spend until the election dealing with the mess Johnson has left behind. There will likely still be people willing to take the job, because there's a good chance that the next Conservative government will be closer to 2040 than 2030. 

[ingemann]

I must confess I don’t know what a nostrum is though!

However it does send very bold signals about who their sister party is in the US! I’m old enough to remember Jim Messina working for Cameron!

UK politicians and those in the general Westminster bubble strike me as among the most online politicians in the western world. I get a sense that more MP's do manage their social media personally or are at least personally active than elected representatives in other countries do.

It's likely a consequence of British MPs being younger than Congressmen (51 vs 57), I think the younger a parliament is, the more active they will be on new media.

[ingemann]

Is it safe to assume that Partygate is completely forgotten?

Certainly not - its isn't at the forefront of people's minds right now, sure, but it shouldn't be assumed that is the same thing. It was still coming up regularly on the doorsteps at Erdington, for example.

These kind of scandals never dies people stop being furious about them, but they remember them and it will permanent color their view of Johnson, and you will likely see people connect it with the Conservatives for the next two decades. The same way the Labour’s left will be connected to antisemitism (fairly or unfairly) for just as long. Of course

[ingemann]

Its actually a mildly interesting trivia question - Sunak would be the shortest PM since when exactly?

Thatcher was 5'5 compared to Sunak's 5'7, but was also a woman, so… Churchill's 5'6 is the next best answer.

Sunak is 5'7" and being talked about like he's Verne Troyer? Hell, he's taller than me.

He’s two inches smaller than the average British man, he has a proportional built, he is thin, and he’s in a profession full of tall people. Of course they see him that way. Honestly if he was built less proportional or was somewhat overweight he would look bigger.

[ingemann]

I don't have a very high opinion of the Tory membership, but this clearly isn't true and Sunaks ethnicity isn't a factor in why he's probably going to lose.

I find it pretty interesting, this total denial in thinking that Sunak’s ethnicity could play a role in both his leadership campaign and the general election. I saw a similarity in the Brexit referendum, where British pundits analysis was that the British xenophobia extended to East European but not to Commonwealth citizens, while I think it was pretty clear that normal British xenophobes extend their views to all foreigners not just to acceptable targets like white foreigners.

[ingemann]

Some briefing re Truss’s cabinet.

Kwarteng seems set for the Chancellorship- can’t think he’ll be good at the soft stuff. He’s not a great media performer and gives off strong supply teacher energy when dough media rounds.

Braverman for Home Sec- for people who worry Priti Patel is too effective. Would be a stupidly bad choice- she has struggled in the non job of Attorney General and reminds me of when Jacqui Smith was appointed. We know how that ended.

Various positions floated for Terese Coffey- she is Truss’s best friend in Parliament and imo should be Home Sec! Expect cabinet office/deputy PM or something similar.

Rumours of tugendhat for FCO- I wonder if she’ll give him something like Trade as it would be a big step forward.

Would be shocked if Rishi takes anything- only job he could move to would be FCO.

Why don’t she just keep Priti Patel? Patel seems to me to deliver everything Conservative Home Secretary need to deliver, while having the added benefit of still being too unpopular to being a threat to her PM. Yes she not very competent, but mostly her job is to make the Guardian crowd rage against her and she seems to be great at that.