Yes Boris is a buffoon but........

[Anotheronebitesthecheese]

NC as I know I will get flamed and also because of opinions around me personally and the vitriol I know I will receive from my point of view. I wanted to know if there are others out there.

So....... First of all, I despise all the shit that has happened 're partygate / watching porn / groping and sexual misconduct massively. I think the Tories in general have been scrum of the earth, thinking they can get away with vile behaviour and thinking they are untouchable.

What I do think (which I know On mn is blasphemy) is that Boris is a great PM that has balls. He obviously lacks in other areas like keeping grown elected men and women in his party under control and not behave like horny teenagers on their first holiday! They are the ones I worry about, he may have been a soft touch boss but surely the party could see that and his strengths were elsewhere? The fact he didn't crumble when the odds were against him. The party are showing their true colours now and I hate the Tories but respect Boris more. go hate me

Oh, cry me a river. Johnson was bullied? The Tories are treacherous? It’s your boy and your party. Enjoy the show.

"Yes Boris is a buffoon"

Your words not mine, Carrie.

I am astonished at your delusions. Really I am. If Rishi gets in, taxes will not be reduced but there will be a bonfire now of any policy whatsoever that costs money with a view to lowering taxes just before the election.
Have you actually read the policies?

We are in for a very very rough ride. The Tories are descending into open warfare so that will be a distraction I suppose.

Which delusions ?

As a prime minister, I think he delivered Brexit as promised, I was impressed with his Covid response and have been pleased with his support to Ukraine.

But I cannot forgive him breaking his own rules and having a party. Such a stupid stupid thing to do.

Boris is quite possibly the worst PM in living memory but some of those lining up to replace him could be a lot more dangerous.

I'm not sure he delivered Brexit as promised, he said there would be no customs boarder in the Irish sea and there is . I'd say he delivered Brexit as expected...

Indeed and precisely the Brexit he criticised May for.

As a prime minister, I think he delivered Brexit as promised

You do know that your sentence means that you are one of our Prime Ministers, @RunningFromInsanity ? Though you'd probably do a better job of it than Johnson.

Fuck Boris to hell. He has all the hallmarks of a dictator and would have taken us there guven the opportunity (it was already in the making). As I said, fuck Boris.

Fuck Boris to hell

I think he'd like that.

He still hasn't given back the dictatorial emergency powers granted at the height of the pandemic has he?

All the hall marks of a dictator??

She's not far off tbf...

Populist policies ✔️
Rousing rhetoric ✔️
Displays of anger✔️
Do what I say, not what I do attitude to rules✔️
Amorality ✔️
Power grabs, including those which are at best politically dubious ✔️
Repeated and blatant lies ✔️
Morally bankrupt history ✔️

I forgot: Corruption ✔️

Absolutely.

Prepared to rip up the rule book to protect himself and his mates. Refuses to make even a pretence at a dignified exit when his time is quite obviously up. Using language to reinvent and twist history/the truth. Utterly corrupt. Living in a style beyond his means at the expense of the country. Nihilist in the face of defeat/being questioned.

The Boris haters are unaware but people will rue the day he was bullied out of office.

No. And I do accept your point that his populist instinct drove Johnson leftwards - which is more towards my own centrist leanings. But I’d have, say, Steve Baker over Johnson any day of the week, despite his politics being a world away from my own. Why? Because our flexible, unwritten constitution depends (and depends at its very core) on our Prime Minister being a person of probity. And while I disagree wholeheartedly with Baker on matters of policy, I don’t doubt his respect for the laws of the land, his respect for this country and its institutions (including HM Queen) or, indeed, his personal probity. I just disagree with his political views. And I (and all the other voters) can cast our ballot on the basis of the manifesto he presents at the next election.

Johnson, on the other hand, is a dangerous beast in our system. Look at another European country, 100 years ago, with flexible constitutional arrangements and an elderly, powerless head of state. The equivalent of the Enabling Act could be passed here. The Supreme Court rules that the prorogation of Parliament was illegal; they attack the judges and try to bring in legislation to reduce their power. It is utterly terrifying. And people sit by, saying “oh, he’s got so much more personality than Starmer”. I’m sure they said the equivalent in the beer halls of Bavaria 100 years ago…..

What this has taught me is that we need a fundamental change to our constitutional arrangements……

@WimpoleHat yes, exactly this.

Trump is the same. What sets them apart is their level of personal corruption and contempt for due process.

@WimpoleHat Weirdly, despite Baker believing the exact opposite of me, i'd rather him too.
He is a principled Brexitier and has been anti EU for decades and puts forward valid arguments, rather than a load of BS, opportunity and populism.

I'll qualify that and say, "he appears to be...

My own tory leader, for the good of the country, not for Labour, would be Jeremy Hunt, he seems have matured since his time in Govt, speaks a great deal of sense on the NHS and his own mistakes in running the dept.

The thing is you keep saying "what if he had good people behind him"

He had a whole cabinet. He's in charge. He's sets the ethos of the workplace.

No great leader should need or should have to a team a team behind them making sure they are doing their job properly and to a high standard.

The person at the top is paid the most to make sure that's what everyone else is doing!

Yes he makes decisions and he isn't a wallflower. There's no doubt that may have been a good thing at times.

But he's also lied to the country, pushed through bills hindering on our human rights, covered for a sexual predator and now he's admitted to dangerous meetings without security where his knows what he did or said.

You cannot be good at just certain points of your job.

Would you be happy for your child to be taught by a teacher who just had good control of the classroom who couldn't teach the subject competently? Or a teacher who is amazing in their subject knowledge but yet can't control the class to teach?

I have listened to the news and think your post almost backs up my point so I would repeat my last question.
If Simon MacDonald (who, incidentally, is not a current civil servant, he left that role in 2020) was aware of this previous Pincher investigation then why were current civil servants not aware and telling Number 10 the facts before they released any statement? If it was clear they had flagged this up and been ignored it would be different and it would be dishonesty but that claim has not been made to my knowledge.

@Ted27 you said civil servants were against the Rwanda plans. Surely they should not BE AGAINST anything, they can advise against it for all sorts of reasons but their role should not be to be for or against anything, surely they should be impartial?

@QueenOfHiraeth

ok poor choice of words on my part.
Home office staff ‘advised’ with regard to Rwanda. Their advice was not taken.
You cant have it both ways, if civil service advise is ignored then you can’t then blame civil servants for policy.

As I said, the civil service is there to implement the policies of the government of the day. Rwanda is being implemented is it not?