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May 2022
5:51pm, 25 May 2022
27,316 posts
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Johnny Blaze
I was listening to the "Pod Save America" podcast the other day, which is made by ex-Obama staffers - very smart guys who are very insightful about politics and I often think their insights apply to the UK as much as they apply to the US.
They were making the point that once a politician has been caught out in a lie (this was Kevin McCarthy) they suffer long-term damage which short-term news management will not resolve.
And so it is with Johnson. People don't trust him, people don't like him. That will count in the end, whether it be Tory MPs finally jettisoning him as an electoral liability or him leading them into the next election. The damage is done. Add in 14 years or failing to govern the country effectively and an economic tidal wave and they will suffer greatly.
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May 2022
5:54pm, 25 May 2022
27,317 posts
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Johnny Blaze
Just to counter the "surprising Johnson supporters" anecdotes, one of my mates has been a Boris apologist for quite some time now. Today he texted me to call Boris "a tool" and admitted that "Sir Kier" came across pretty well today. Little by little I am shifting him round...
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May 2022
6:01pm, 25 May 2022
4,192 posts
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J2R
I think Johnson is undoubtedly now a major electoral liability for the Tories now. But I'm afraid to say I'm not confident there will be a general election in 2024. A state of emergency will be declared for some spurious reason or other. The Tories, like the US Republican party and Orban's Fidesz, talk democracy but are determined to shut down as much of it as they actually can. Meanwhile people look on complacently here feeling it'll all be OK because that kind of stuff doesn't happen here.
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May 2022
6:21pm, 25 May 2022
27,318 posts
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Johnny Blaze
I doubt that'll happen but I do agree that Johnson and Co will continue to rip up the guardrails of democracy until we look round and see that an alternative world is no longer possible. Which is why they have to be turfed out because it will undoubtedly get worse the longer they are in power. There will be no damascene conversion to honesty, integrity and compassionate governance for this crew. Decency and probity are dead in the Tory Party now - and they weren't exactly in rude health before the buffoon popped up.
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May 2022
6:24pm, 25 May 2022
4,669 posts
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Fields
Starmer in full Denis Healey mode today from what I saw
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May 2022
6:26pm, 25 May 2022
17,951 posts
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larkim
Trying to work out whether that's a compliment or not Fields?
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May 2022
6:30pm, 25 May 2022
8,765 posts
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Dooogs
#fakeeyebrowsgate
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May 2022
6:47pm, 25 May 2022
3,504 posts
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Tom Tom
Depressing vox pops feature on my local news programme tonight. They trawled the local Conservative club where the verdict was largely "he's a hooman being" (this is Suffolk, after all), "we need to move on" etc. Street poll in agreement as well.
And then the cherry on the cake...Tory MP Richard Bacon claiming they were under a lot of pressure in difficult times working 18 hour days, Boris has been great and he was sure if you looked hard enough, you could find several NHS staff who did likewise.
Once again, he cocks up and lands with his arse in the marmalade.
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May 2022
6:50pm, 25 May 2022
4,193 posts
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J2R
The media has allowed the focus to move on to partying as the offence, whereas the more significant offence by far is the lying about it.
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May 2022
7:00pm, 25 May 2022
17,952 posts
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larkim
Not just the media. It's the way it's talked about all over the place, including in parliament and in places like this thread; it's "party" this and "party" that. Bar one event, nothing remotely looked like a party. It's been over-egged and over-egged to the point at which the reality (just look at the photos of the birthday gathering) look pretty mundane.
What we needed was some "Al Capone tax evasion" style conviction, but because the court of public opinion isn't as diligent as the Chicago Federal Court they won't try Johnson for the lesser misdemeanour and get him off the streets.
The only hope of having Johnson removed before he chooses to go (or before the Tories consider him to be a real electoral liability) is the Parliamentary inquiry; if that does find that he lied to Parliament (and him giving evidence to that could be quite a squirming visual, if we get to see the hearings) then maybe he will have no choice / be ousted.
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Fantasy General Election
Jul 2024