Police are too busy at the moment doing a charm offensive to cover the fact that so many of them are predators. Weirdly assisted by the BBC, who felt this was front-page news the other day: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-65877999
Boris Johnson resigns as MP
- Thread starter Ag3ma
- Start date
Recommended Videos
As expected, the report came back, and found that Boris lied.
If he was still an MP, he would be suspended for 90 days, almost certainly triggering a by-election.
And then you have Boris himself, and a few of his supporters claiming that the committee is corrupt, etc. Further undermining everything that they claim to represent.
And once again, I am still shocked by the level of brain rot that some members of the public demonstrate in their support for him.
He is just a watered-down version of Trump.
If he was still an MP, he would be suspended for 90 days, almost certainly triggering a by-election.
And then you have Boris himself, and a few of his supporters claiming that the committee is corrupt, etc. Further undermining everything that they claim to represent.
And once again, I am still shocked by the level of brain rot that some members of the public demonstrate in their support for him.
He is just a watered-down version of Trump.
A significant number will support whomever is the Tory PM/leader, because they support the party.
But a pretty big chunk of Johnson's support did not translate into support for Sunak. For one thing, a number of them blame Sunak (in part) for bringing Johnson down, because he was one of the ones to resign at the end of Johnson's tenure. There's quite a lot of bad blood between them, because the recent history of the Tory party is a history of near-constant backstabbing and self-serving power plays.
Secondly, Johnson endorsed Truss over Sunak, and since Truss won the members' ballot but they ended up with Sunak anyway after her brief premiership imploded, they see it as a stitch-up to saddle them with a leader they didn't vote for.
But really, the core reason is... he doesn't have the personality that Johnson had. Johnson built a persona around being affable, relatable, and on the side of ordinary people. It was all completely artificial, of course, but he was a successful salesperson for it. Sunak failed to convince people of anything similar because he comes across as a wooden, aloof, distant billionaire. Which he is.
Hahaha, I live there! That is exactly what it's like here too! A town of 9000 old people who miss the good old days (1930s) when men were men, you only had an outside toilet shared between six houses, and you could understand what the doctor said.
Fuck you Jen, you're always in the queue for the post office when I need to be there, sending millions of parcels to your family who've all fled the country to get away from you.
Ninety days is harsher than I expected. As Johnson has few supporters in Parliament, even that length will be voted through, though I expect a number of Tory abstentions. This will also give Sunak carte blanche to block any Johnson candidacy in the next election, no matter his popularity with the party membership. That means Johnson has to wait till the election after.
I reckon, in Johnson's mind, the political drama works to his benefit. The more happens, the more voters will drop the Tories in the election and the more the Tory party panics afterwards. Johnson reckons the subsequent party leader wouldn't dare block his candidacy for 2028. Then he ousts the leader in a coup, then beats Starmer in 2032. In his mind. In reality, there won't be the Parliamentary chaos like 2019 or a clueless Labour leader.
I reckon, in Johnson's mind, the political drama works to his benefit. The more happens, the more voters will drop the Tories in the election and the more the Tory party panics afterwards. Johnson reckons the subsequent party leader wouldn't dare block his candidacy for 2028. Then he ousts the leader in a coup, then beats Starmer in 2032. In his mind. In reality, there won't be the Parliamentary chaos like 2019 or a clueless Labour leader.
I mean, they all are, but voters seem to want the illusion that the guy in office would be comfortable having a pint down in the pub with them.
Here in the US, we had Bush Jr., the Harvard graduate from Connecticut who donned a ten-gallon hat and a hokey Texan accent and convinced millions of Americans that "he's a guy I could have a beer with".
Slick Willie had more of an avant-garde "he's so hip and with-it" vibe. Playing saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show sealed that.
Boris was always an obvious chancer who rode into power on a wave of populist sentiment, and then imploded very rapidly once placed under a level of actual scrutiny, but of course refuses to accept that he could have done anything wrong. Still arguably only the second worst Prime Minister of both the last four years and my lifetime.
And yet you're semi-right in expecting it would be less. Apparently the initial proposal was 20 days, except when Johnson leaked some of the material and disparaged the committee and several of its members, they tacked on another 70 days for contempt.
I'm not sure whether Boris just couldn't help himself slagging off the committee, because he can't take criticism. Or he did it deliberately to magnify the charge and present himself as victim and increase the justification to walk. He resigned because even the lower penalty would trigger a recall petition and likely by-election. His majority in his constuency is modest, and with the current state of the Tories in the polls, there's a very good chance he'd have lost his seat in the by-election, and that would be deeply humiliating. Nevertheless, he could have fought: "forced out" my arse, he's a weak quitter.
Also, I should correct my OP: Nadine Dorries announced her resignation, but has failed to actually resign, because reasons. Something like holding on until she finds out who refused her peerage, although it all sounds like weak sauce excuses to carry on pulling in her MP's salary.
I'm tempted to think Boris is finished in high level politics. He's already yesterday's man, and every year that passes that will just become more and more entrenched. His great project, Brexit, is already a rotten fish whose stench is increasingly unavoidable, and as its lingering supporters die of old age there will be fewer and fewer people willing to give him any credit.
I believe she said it was 'unfortunately necessary' with a long-suffering air, as though anyone other than Dorries and the family members she employs give the faintest of shits about the fate of Dorries' career.
I have a slightly thin appreciation of what Dorries said about the Lords being full of private school and Oxbridge educated poshos, and very few people with her background.
It'd be a loss less thin were it not for the fact that she is awful. A long history of mediocrity and dodgy policies, appearing on reality TV, being a cabinet minister in just about the least prestigious cabinet position for one year, in which she showed almost total contempt for the area she was nominally in charge of, and which she only got because of fawning loyality. There are of course lots of people with working class backgrounds who could merit a place in the House of Lords far more than this woman who has thrown under the bus with depressing regularity the real working class people she pretends to have affinity with.
Another fun tidbit.
Johnson has taken up a new job as a columnist for the Daily Mail... and of course broke Parliamentary guidance in doing so. Former ministers are asked to take advice to make sure that their appointments are appropriate and do not represent a conflict of interest, and Johnson submitted notice of his new appointment at the last moment, thereby leaving the advisory committee without time to do their work.
These rules exist to have a basic oversight on potential conflicts of interest, to try to see that politicians act with probity and do not unfairly exploit their time in office for personal gain. Johnson's behaviour is, admittedly, quite a minor breach. And contextually, in the last few years, Tory ex-ministers have regularly shat over it anyway. But nevertheless, it's yet more demonstration of Johnson's contempt for due process and attitude that rules shouldn't have to apply to him.
Johnson's previous salary as a columnist with the Daily Telegraph was £275,000 a year. I wonder what the Mail is paying him?
Johnson has taken up a new job as a columnist for the Daily Mail... and of course broke Parliamentary guidance in doing so. Former ministers are asked to take advice to make sure that their appointments are appropriate and do not represent a conflict of interest, and Johnson submitted notice of his new appointment at the last moment, thereby leaving the advisory committee without time to do their work.
These rules exist to have a basic oversight on potential conflicts of interest, to try to see that politicians act with probity and do not unfairly exploit their time in office for personal gain. Johnson's behaviour is, admittedly, quite a minor breach. And contextually, in the last few years, Tory ex-ministers have regularly shat over it anyway. But nevertheless, it's yet more demonstration of Johnson's contempt for due process and attitude that rules shouldn't have to apply to him.
Johnson's previous salary as a columnist with the Daily Telegraph was £275,000 a year. I wonder what the Mail is paying him?
Yet another curio.
Boris Johnson's recently honours (accepted by PM Sunak) include the youngest life peer ever, one Charlotte Owen, just 29. She's not just the youngest, she's also extremely junior. In fact, no-one appears to be able to tell what she's done to justify it - one of the criteria for recommendation is a track record of seniority and excellence. Owen's track record is hardly stellar: decent but unspectacular degree, time in Parliament is as a personal assistant to a few MPs, and being a special advisor (mostly as maternity leave cover) to Boris Johnson for a year.
Fascinating stuff. So, the most obvious question is bearing in mind that Johnson finds it almost impossible to keep his pants on and is reckoned to have a thing for blondes, is did they have an affair? Second option, are there bodies buried, and she knows where? Third, was this just Boris trying it on to screw with the appointments system for his own amusement or revenge for his ousting?
On a side issue, I quite like the idea that HoL has more diversity, with members who aren't the same, boring old types of ex-politicians and businessmen who gave large enough political donations. I'm just not sure that 29-year-old low grade political operatives of no particular track record are really the solution we're dreaming of.
Boris Johnson's recently honours (accepted by PM Sunak) include the youngest life peer ever, one Charlotte Owen, just 29. She's not just the youngest, she's also extremely junior. In fact, no-one appears to be able to tell what she's done to justify it - one of the criteria for recommendation is a track record of seniority and excellence. Owen's track record is hardly stellar: decent but unspectacular degree, time in Parliament is as a personal assistant to a few MPs, and being a special advisor (mostly as maternity leave cover) to Boris Johnson for a year.
Fascinating stuff. So, the most obvious question is bearing in mind that Johnson finds it almost impossible to keep his pants on and is reckoned to have a thing for blondes, is did they have an affair? Second option, are there bodies buried, and she knows where? Third, was this just Boris trying it on to screw with the appointments system for his own amusement or revenge for his ousting?
On a side issue, I quite like the idea that HoL has more diversity, with members who aren't the same, boring old types of ex-politicians and businessmen who gave large enough political donations. I'm just not sure that 29-year-old low grade political operatives of no particular track record are really the solution we're dreaming of.