Has anyone worked with Boris? What’s he really like?

[Fleetheart]

Surely he can’t be that bad??? Everyone seems to think he’s a complete tosser (me included), so how is he so popular? Does anyone know the truth?

Friend of mine worked very closely with him when he was campaigning to be London Mayor. Everything was calculated. EVERYTHING. He had his eyes on the PM role even then. She liked him but even she says he's a sociopath.

my df has always referred to his penis as his 'johnson' however, as a white middle class older gentlemen of the right wing variety in a family of 'lefties' he is now regreting his choice of word!

I hate to admit this but I've always....since his HIGNFY days...had a massive crush on him. That's not to say that I feel he would make a good PM. I just felt the need to unload. It's all sorts of wrong.

Soola, I have more right wing friends than is good for my blood pressure and not ONE of them thinks Boris would be a good PM. They hate him but won’t vote for any other party so that’s that.

As I said elsewhere dislike of Boris is not just the preserve of Left wing voters...plenty of right wingers hate him too.

whosorry I'm a psychologist and bristle a little when people use psychiatric diagnoses in conversation. I've come across a few sociopaths in my work (people with ASPD diagnoses) and it's typically a limiting condition, related to failure to read people, a tendency to not adhere to even quite basic social rules and to act very impulsively. I wouldn't say those a traits which characterise Johnson at all and he's done very well in life, which would be unusual. However, Machiavellian is absolutely the perfect word and of course, the one they always use to describe the Prince of Darkness himself (Mandy). Yes, Johnson is Machiavellian with added chutzpah.

With Trump you have a situation where the uneducated favour him because they see him as anti-establishment a person who breaks the rules and sticks it to the man and they're just not bright enough to understand what he's really doing
Boris is surely too posh to appeal to the uneducated, to the plebs

Thanks Boogle 😊that's very interesting!
So for your purposes as a psychologist sociopathy is an impairment?
This seems completely at odds with the popular conception of a sociopath as someone who is cunning and clever but unimpaired by emotions, you seem to be saying that poor impulse control is a central feature of sociopathy where as the popular conception paints the sociopath as someone who is better able to control his impulses (or her impulses) purely because he is not impaired by his emotional knee jerk response

I'm reminded of the popular conception of a schizophrenic as someone who holds conflicting viewpoints, but anyway would you say that a clever sociopath is an oxymoron?
Or is a clever sociopath someone with Machiavellian traits?

His buffoonish public persona is just that, a persona. He ruffles his hair in the car, to mess it up on purpose. He is clever, also has that public school ease with quotes etc, and is capable of understanding briefing, but as far as I can tell he doesn't care enough to take it on board.

He's a liability on the international stage, and other countries are disbelieving that he could actually get in, and increasingly concerned as it becomes more apparent that he will.

I don't think his poshness plays against him with the "plebs" - look at how JRM is admired and you can't get more posh in terms of MPs.

I do wonder why those voters who like Boris, and believe he is a bumbling baffoon rather than an arrogant self-serving tosser, seem to think that those are appropriate characteristics for a PM?

He will be the face of the tories, but I believe his staff will have to work very hard to achieve his aims. Civil servants are dissed but they are the ones who have to either make mps statements work or disavow them of their pie in the sky ideas.

Went to a lecture he gave once where he spent a long time discussing how very disappointing it is that the lower classes now have expectations of home ownership education etc as it meant the end of —slavery— in house staff for people like him. So damn Difficult to find a skullery maid to sexually assault nowadays don’t you know? Cunt. As others have said he was amongst his own (at an elite boys school) and knew the audience were like him

Interesting thread. I do know someone who worked in the CS in Westminster and they said everyone views him as a joke, and he’s very lazy. Which leads me to wonder why all the other MPs don’t see him as a joke. Same person did say that in their opinion most MPs are ‘not very intelligent’ which is a little worrying.

Dont you think that the reason so many MPs want him as PM is that polls have shown he would do well in a general election (god help us). They just want to maintain the status quo of a Conservative government and keep their own jobs.

FFS this is so one-sided! Not one person has talked about his strengths instead of his weaknesses.

Yes I do understand his flaws - I think we all get that.

But not one person has engaged with the strengths - yes, he does have some - that make him so popular. It's this blinkered thinking that makes some criticise MN as 'lefty' or whatever. Let's have some fucking perspective here - if half the country is about to vote for him there must be some actual reasons.

Ummm... trying to think of some (I'm not a huge fan). -He has the ability to inspire people and convince them to unite around a common goal. Think: the Olympics. -He's a great figurehead to lead an organisation, and good a delegating to the right people to get the actual work done. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

I think people have mentioned his strengths. They have said he is charming and charismatic.

@extelegraphjourno I think you are right. One of the things that I always tell me children is that they should be themselves. I have only known three people who live their lives as an artificially constructed personification of what they want to be. It is not happy viewing close up.

On a separate note, while BJ has said many inappropriate things, the hype over the letterbox comment really annoys me. The niqab is an oppressive garment that has been used to confine women and I object to people implicitly defending it in an attempt to criticise a politician who has done many other things that are objectionable.

On an open forum, where any member can post a view, maybe ask why there are so few positive comments about him - perhaps there are more negative things to say than positive. Nobody is deleting any comments that mention positive things about him.

I don't think "half the country" are about to vote for him. Presumably people are speaking as they find.

I've worked with people who have worked him. Some are Tories. All describe him as various versions of "a twat".

@very are you BJ 😆

Sorry but the vast majority of the country find him a joke, this thread shows that people who have worked closely with him have negative things to say .... and the quote from the Telegraph chief .... well!!

Half the country won't be voting for him for a start half the country don't vote conservative ... and if this thread is anything to go by then I suspect the people's verdict is pretty 👎

My suspicions are anyone who doesn't scratch below the surface may vote for him

I would describe him as narcissistic - I think that the conservative mps might vote for him is because people who vote for the Brexit/UKIP no deal scenario would be more likely to vote for the Conservative Party at an election - hence increasing their vote - the only thing I would say is that getting ride of a MP is easier than getting ride of a USA president (I hope)

When are half the country meant to be voting for him?