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

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Polling conducted by YouGov during the last week of May (when Cummings' road trip was in the headlines) has identified a big decline in the level of public trust in UK government over coronavirus.

Not particularly surprising, of course, but this has very worrying implications.

The polling was carried out on behalf of the University of Oxford’s Reuters Institute, and their findings are summarised here.

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Well PMQs was hilarous today.

The way things are going I might have to start watching it again. I might even enjoy it.

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It's just so nice to have a proper Leader of the Opposition and not... well, what we had before, right?

As someone towards the left of the Labour party (though I've found the factionalism the most unappealing part of my experience of being a member) I had mixed feelings about the previous leader. So much so it often drove me to the point of madness. That seems to have gone away now so, yes, it does feel nice to have Starmer as leader.

For one thing, the prospect of going canvassing no longer fills me with dread. Of course that's a long way off anyway in the current circumstances.

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But any left winger also has to be honest that *part* of the difference is that at least some of the media are ready to give Starmer the time of day - in obvious contrast to the blanket unreflective indeed unthinking hostility that Corbyn received from the outset. Hearing people in the "real world" repeat that stuff totally parrot fashion was one of the most depressing aspects of the 2015-20 period.

I'd agree to that (there was analysis like this and this though both examples are from quite early on) and I found the parroting depressing too. My mixed feelings allow room for that.

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Meanwhile the Business Secretary is self-isolating after displaying coronavirus symptoms at the dispatch box.

So does that mean that BoJo is gonna have to self-isolate for 2 weeks again? Because one can obviously still spread it through contact regardless of one's immunity.

Hard to tell. Initially Tory sources were reporting it wouldn't be a problem anyway, because everybody was more than 2 metres apart. Which a) isn't actually true and b) is not what the self-isolation guidelines say, but then again why would either of those 2 things be a surprise any more?

This reminds me of something very messed up I read in this New Statesman article from the other day. Allegedly the Conservative MP, Robert Halfon (who has cerebral palsy and needs to shield, meaning he is effectively disenfranchised if he cannot vote remotely) spoke directly to Jacob Rees-Mogg about his situation and was simply told: "parliament should be back, it’s got to go back to normal, and to vote in parliament you’ve got to be there.” Totally obstinate attitude.

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Whoever could have imagined that JRM would be such a blinkered obstinate prat?

I'm as shocked as you are..

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The report from Labour's review into the 2019 general election has come out today. Here's a Guardian article (which I'm about to read) with some key points.

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The report from Labour's review into the 2019 general election has come out today. Here's a Guardian article (which I'm about to read) with some key points.

Oh, and here's the full review on the Labour website.

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Again, it's curious that Labour haven't accepted that they might not get Scotland back and therefore need some detente with the SNP or even stand down in order to get into No. 10. Indeed their 'Paper on Scotland' in the appendix which I'm assuming informed the report is from before the 2019 election.

That's interesting: I don't recall Scotland being mentioned in the press summaries I've read of the report so far, so I'd been interested to see if this omission is reflective of the full report (I'm guessing probably yes).

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BTW I didn't find the Guardian summary I shared to be particularly useful, especially as there was little about the recommendations. Also, I'm sure the full report contains more informative criticism from voters than the quote the Guardian article went with.

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Including the antisemitism?

Careful now, he can get quite litigious about such claims.......

He doesn't strike me the type to be browsing Atlas looking for libellous claims tbf...

Conversely, I think he's one of extremely few UK politicians who potentially might do just that.

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BoJo now promising to beat the virus with something that has not been invented yet, apparently.

Don’t forget the COVID Freikorps Marshals!

God, just imagine if they actually go through with that. There's a certain number of people in every town in the country who just long to be given a badge, a tin hat, and a right to should PUT THAT LIGHT OUT every thirty seconds.

I'm also picturing a whistle like Benson the groundskeeper in Father Ted.

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I rather agree Stephen Bush's take in the New Statesman Morning Call:

The argument that Johnson loyalists make is that he is pursuing a 'balanced' approach: a middle way between the circuit break lockdown favoured by Starmer and by Sage, and the 'let the economy and society adjust' favoured by lockdown sceptics on the right, such as Chris Green, the Conservative MP for Bolton West, who has resigned as a PPS in protest at the government's new lockdown measures.

But that argument falls down if you talk to, say, three businesses. No-one in business thinks that the restrictions in 'Tier 2' are a good environment to do business, let alone those in Tier 3, but at least in Tier 3 there is economic and financial support available to businesses. The government's current approach isn't a middle way - it's just a slow path to the same economic pain of a lockdown with a higher body count.

Sooner or later, you have to choose: do you want the Green approach or the Starmer approach? Johnson has yet to pick either and he is still kidding himself that there is a middle way to be found. That the Labour leader has got ahead of him and picked a side might be the biggest political development of the entire pandemic.

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BBC banning staff from Pride as it could breach impartiality rules.

Good grief

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Policing is very weird in that it’s a policy space that lots of people in British politics do not care about remotely. People can talk for hours about capital gains tax, or PR but remain happy to ignore the state of our police- or indeed our decaying justice system.

I wonder whether the indifference you describe from otherwise politically engaged people is their assumption that they themselves could not fall afoul of the police or wider justice system.

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The news of the death of David Amess is truly horrible. Rest in Peace.

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One of the more attractive small 'd' democratic features of the British political system is the accessibility of its political figures, even very senior ones. An MP's surgery is basically open-house and it's common to see politicians use public transport like ordinary people: I once sat behind a sleeping man on a train who I realised after a few seconds was Carwyn Jones, the First Minister of Wales at the time - he had an aide with him, but no security. The frequency of serious attacks on politicians - and of deaths - probably puts this at risk, at least in its present form. Sweden, of course, has had similar issues.

Yes, it easy to take this for granted. I've met all the various local MPs over the years which has been a very positive thing indeed.