Boris has been fined - Tory voters, should he go?

[NewYorker80]

Both Johnson and Sunak have received fines for the lockdown parties. No further details as yet.

Do any Conservative voters here think Boris should resign?

There is no way the Tories are going to knife a sitting PM while there is an actual war going on in Europe.

Why do you think that @Libertaire? You know they've done it before.

There is no way the Tories are going to knife a sitting PM while there is an actual war going on in Europe

They did it to Thatcher when we were actually in combat. She must be turning in her grave, she was a heartless bitch but she had principles.

@cakeorwine

Not quite. Thatcher was deposed in November 1990, during the build-up phase to the Gulf War. The actual fighting didn’t start until January 91.

[quote TooBigForMyBoots]@worriedatthistime, they were not just "regulations", it was the Law. Just as 70mph maximum speed on the motorway is the Law. FPN are given to people who break the Law, like our PM.[/quote]
That's interesting. If you speed you might kill someone. A piece of cake not so much.

If you speed you might kill someone. A piece of cake not so much

Breaking the law is breaking the law. We don’t determine illegality on the extent of potential harm.

[quote Libertaire]@cakeorwine

Not quite. Thatcher was deposed in November 1990, during the build-up phase to the Gulf War. The actual fighting didn’t start until January 91.[/quote]
We had troops on the ground and were preparing to take British forces into war.

We had British hostages under the control of Hussein.

And they got rid of Thatcher.

Johnson going would have no effect on Ukraine. We would still support them and provide aid. And impose sanctions

He’s got to go. This country can have no confidence in him.

That's interesting. If you speed you might kill someone. A piece of cake not so much

The law is the law.

Or are any quotes from George Orwell relevant here?

I think we should have a GE 👍

That way, Labour can get the keys to No. 10, sort everything out within 100 days and get life back to normal pre CV19

Meanwhile, in the real world, people will vote accordingly at the Local Elections and the GE in 2 years time 😳

I have mostly voted Tory in the past but will not so long as BJ is in office.

We’re not going to see ourselves in any better of a position if he went, they’re all as bad as each other.

No they are not. We would not have had any of this nonsense if Theresa May had still been PM. The laws would have been obeyed.

Interesting comment on the Law and Policy blog

https://davidallengreen.com/2022/04/boris-johnsons-triple-whammy-of-unlawfulness/

Boris Johnson’s Triple-Whammy of Unlawfulness
12th April 2022
Constitutional law is not supposed to be interesting.
Constitutional law is supposed to be boring.
And Boris Johnson could not make it any more exciting.
To take three examples.
First, the Supreme Court held that he gave unlawful advice to the Queen over prorogation of parliament.
(An incident that managed to engage all four of the monarch, parliament, the courts and the executive – the constitutional law equivalent of a full house.)
Second, his government actually introduced legislation to Parliament to enable it to break the law.
"Yes, this [new legislation] does break international law in a very specific and limited way," says Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis

On Wednesday, the government will publish new legislation on customs rules in Northern Ireland

(Just typing that seems strange – but it happened, although the government averred that the law would be broken in a “limited and specific” way.)
And now, an even more extraordinary thing has happened.
The prime minister has been found by the metropolitan police to have broken this governments own laws on gatherings under lockdown.
is that the prime minister knowingly misled parliament when denying such a gathering took place.
He cannot even say he was misinformed, as he was at the gathering himself*
Johnson has not been prime minister a long time, and there are many prime ministers who have been in office far longer with far less constitutional excitement.
Of course he should resign – but that is not the point of this blogpost.
The point instead is to convey the sheer magnitude of what Johnson has ‘accomplished’ in his trashing of constitutional norms – and in under three years..
Just one of the above examples – and there have been many more, it is just those three came readily to mind – would be career-ending for a politician in any normal political system.
And that even now nobody knows if he will resign is an indication of how abnormal politics are at the moment.
It takes a certain quality for a prime minister in three years to contrive this triple-whammy of unlawfulness.
Indeed, it is difficult to conceive what he could still yet do as a fourth instalment.
Brace, brace.

@cakeorwine i don't think they will now its a different caliber and certainly not yet , I don't think he will be the focus of the next GE though
Who have they really got fo
Replace him here and now in the next week or so

If you speed you might kill someone. A piece of cake not so much

What about the " Don't kill Granny' advice?

Ultimately the truth is Boris will not resign unless he is forced to by the 1922 Committee.

The 1922 Committee will not make him resign unless they feel he will cost them an election.

His polling is rubbish but we aren't close enough to an election for that to matter right now.

So we are stuck with him for now.

The biggest issue the Conservative Party are about to have is the cost of living squeeze and how that is going to impact on the middle quiet Conservative vote. I suspect poor Boris is being lined up to be the fall guy for this and he's too conceited to see it. We'll get closer to the election and he'll be booted and a new one will come I with new favourable tax policies and the PR machine will go nuts ...

If you speed you might kill someone.

And we were told that mixing at parties, even visiting a relative might kill someone.

And the "poor" Boris is tongue in cheek!

I wonder why we all didn't think oh fuck it what harm will a bit of cake do? Oh, I know. Because we knew it was more than cake. We knew it was about not breaking the rules. Easy enough for most of us but not for the man who made the rules.

The Conservatives lost North Shropshire last year.

I can imagine there are going to be 'quiet Conservative voters' who are going to make their voice heard in local elections. Who knows what will happen in any General Election. No slogan about Brexit to hide behind this time

@valerianaofficiana

Absolutely not. This party-gate nonsense has had its day, Labour couldn't catch fish in a barrel, evidently. I'm not Tory voter, however, Boris is handling the current situation well, it's his Churchillean moment and he's rising to it. Europe needs an outspoken leader who is very much setting the tone and pushing for military help/commitments from EU. Ukraine needs a champion like Boris now. I know all about the horrible lockdown experiences so many in UK had, the loved ones dying alone, no goodbyes etc. It was heartbreaking and the parties at No10 were callous and crass on every level. But ... there's a war not far from us and people are dying every hour. Boris has a role to play in supporting Ukrainian fighters who are protecting all of us. I will not return to this thread as fully expecting an onslaught and pile-on and I will not be responding. Have said my peace.

Is that you Carrie?

Talk about zero fucking empathy. This is why the sleazy liar that is Boris gets away with all this. Bullshit spouted like this. Jesus wept.

The "look them in the eyes" posters were psychologically abusive.

He should, but he won't.
It actually really saddens me that they won't resign over this. All integrity has gone out of British politics, we are not that country anymore and Boris Johnson holds the greatest responsibility for that.

@Blossomtoes

If you speed you might kill someone. A piece of cake not so much

Breaking the law is breaking the law. We don’t determine illegality on the extent of potential harm.

These sort of responses just make me laugh. Po faced doesn't even begin to describe it. The lockdown laws were ludicrous and cruel. It's no skin off my nose if BJ stays or goes but the idea that a gathering with a piece of cake brings down a PM is appalling to me. It makes our country look ridiculous. I can't imagine it happening in any other European country

I'm a tory voter. I like Boris and I don't think what happened was a big deal. But, I think any PM who is found to break the law should resign so its with regret I do think he should step down.

@mmmmmmghturep

The "look them in the eyes" posters were psychologically abusive.

Indeed, even more so now you know the people who designed them didn't care.