Big Dog is enjoying his last weeks. Who will be leader - Truss or Sunak Thread 13

[cakeorwine]

New thread as needed.

I wonder what new promises will come out this week?

Bit late to start making points Joniie. He’s had weeks to play statesman and chosen to go and play dress up.

You will note the word then, referring to a time, in fact the time mentioned in the previous sentence, which was late last year

have a heart, we all saw how much she struggled with the concept of time when she was convinced Starmers beer was exactly the same as BJ’s office parties.

Ah c'mon. We shouldn't be too hard on the current government and Boris Johnson. There's only so much a government can do, especially when it has to spend time trying to coverup its lies, fend off criticism from senior civil servants, redact reports, sit on the findings of enquiries and managing the ghastly complaints made by senior civil servants.

'Johnson ignored covid until much of the country had gone into self imposed isolation, failing to turn up to Cobra meetings. Ignored Ukraine until Russia invaded'

Ignored Covid. Such a very bizarre opinion. Perfectly normal for relevant ministers to attend and chair Cobra meetings and again absolutely appropriate for the Foreign Secretary to have initially been attempting to negotiate with their Russian counterpart.

He did eat a piece of cake whilst at work though, I'll give you that.

'have a heart, we all saw how much she struggled with the concept of time when she was convinced Starmers beer was exactly the same as BJ’s office parties.'

Are you talking about me? I'm not the one struggling. Indoor boozing wasn't allowed in Apr 21 so yes it does seem the Durham party was similar to BJ's work related gatherings. The Met and Durham Sherlocks need to perhaps sing from the same songsheet

Yes, everything was left late as far as decisions, and then the too late decisions affected everyone. Like allowing Cheltenham Festival to go ahead so as not to upset Dido Harding, his mate.

Then appointing that useless waste of space who was known as The Queen of Carnage when she had to leave Talk Talk after a mere 18 months , but no matter... Put her in charge of track and trace, an unlawful appointment, where she spaffed £37billion up the wall

I could go on

But as Gordon Brown’s former press aide Damian McBride pointed out over the weekend, during a foot and mouth crisis in 2007, Brown “didn’t just attend every Cobra meeting, he chaired them all”. That may have said a lot about Brown’s approach to running government, to the point where he micromanaged detail, but it also showed a prime minister ready to engage with the issue at hand.

amp.theguardian.com/politics/2020/apr/20/is-it-unusual-for-a-pm-to-skip-cobra-meetings

Yes. We only realise what we miss (Gordon Brown) when we're faced with the diabolical (BJ)

Of course I was talking about you Janiie! Nice to see you still haven’t let that one go despite the world moving on considerably.

is it still everyone else that’s wrong?

MD in Private Eye writes very clearly on the subject, based on evidence.

@JaniieJones may find the mainstream opinion, even held by those who have worked closely with Boris, that he leaves everything as long as possible before making a decision, bizarre.

But what is actually bizarre is thinking that such a person has done a good job as Prime Minister even though during his tenure the country has lurched from one crisis to the next, some of his own creating and others made very much worse by his inaction.

And let's not forget the U turns and flip flopping. It was endless. There just seemed to be no leadership and couple that with over promoted Ministers, it was a mess

You brought it up

Oh my siiiiides. This thread.

You may laugh. At least he was a man with a moral compass. Lacking in your Dear Leader.

Gordon Brown was unpleasant to some of his staff, sold off gold reserves at a bad time and low price. Tony Blair will forever be condemned by many for the support over Iraq, refused to reform estate agents, gave too much work for the legal profession and started no win no fee (a gift for ambulance chasers).

I'd need about 20 paragraphs to list the bad things Boris Johnson has done.

In your defence Joniie, I remembered how much you struggle with timelines and details.

He was ousted by his backbenchers he therefore couldn't make new policies.

He insisted on staying on as Prime Minister, he's been drawing his pay as Prime Minister. Don't you think he should be doing what he's being paid to do, instead of having all those holidays and an utterly pointless farewell tour, @JaniieJones ?

Except that money isn't going to vulnerable households, it's going to the energy suppliers, and it still isn't nearly enough to offset the price rises in energy, fuel and living costs generally.

Do name the law that prohibited indoor boozing at any time during the pandemic. But don't spend too long trying to find it, because you won't succeed.

And there is no point banging on about the innocence of Johnson's get-togethers when he himself has accepted that at least one was criminal and repeatedly acknowledged fault publicly.

I understand the wider point that Johnson was trying to illustrate with investing in a new kettle (!)

However, as said previously the energy price increases have been trailed for some time. Industry was warning at the end of last year before the invasion of Ukraine. So approving a further nuclear power station now - 4 days before the end of his tenure - smacks of waiting until the horse has bolted or just wanting to create some sort of legacy.

I suppose we should be grateful.

I find it interesting the cap was only released a few days ago so Tory's - who are in charge - can't possibly be expected to know what to do to help.

Yet.......

Sir Starmer was in holiday at the same time as the actual PM of the actual party running the country and he was expected to have a plan.

The double standards of what's expected from those who work for us compared to those who work opposite those who work for us never ceases to amaze me.

How people accept this narrative I'll never know

Be fair. It's extremely difficulty to distinguish between 2020 and 2021 - they are so very similar

He was ousted by his backbenchers he therefore couldn't make new policies.

And yet I'm sure as I was leaving for work this morning I heard on the news he has announced a plan to do with nuclear power?

So can he make decisions or not?

Bit late to the Keithfest but can you point out to me who the misfits are in the shadow cabinet janiie just so I know how to quantify a misfit.

I was going to make a list of the misfits in the Cabinet, but then I realised it would be much quicker to make a list of those who are not misfits. Here it is for you: