Boris stands down as MP with immediate effect

[sunnydaytoday0]

Just breaking now on BBC.

Same day as Nadine.

Yy I thought he sounded like Trump too and wondered if the indictments in the US will make immoral, cheating charlatans less likely to see politics as a career path.
BJ can make more money elsewhere.

This way he gets to flounce and pretend it's everyone else's fault (as always!). But BJ was never a long-term politician. Once he wasn't PM, he was always going to jump imo.

Of course the Boris story is crowding Trumps slow motion comeuppance out of the press. Which at this distance feels not accidental. Especially when you consider their "bwah, bwah, bwah" approach to life. It's amusing that their world view is ensuring they are managing to make Nixons exit look dignified and noble.

The country has gone to shit and isn't going to get better any time soon. As as more people cop on why, the only consolation is the wrecking ball that is Boris as it swings back and forth over the Tory party that he fully intends to destroy - which historically would be a bigger feat than leading it.

As far as I can see the only solution for "poor" Rishi is to call an election, and take the years in opposition to excise the diseased parts of the Tories, to aim for re-election when they have reformed. Which is a shame, as Rishi hasn't got the balls, or the smarts to do that.

For now it feels like the ball has swung out of play again. However we all know it's going to start another pass over the remaining Tory MPs and continue to do more damage. Every time Rishi (or "Rish!") tries to appear in the news, all people will focus on is "What about Boris ?".

Anyone who pays tax (so not the wealthy, naturally) is funding this psychodrama. Let's hope you weren't thinking it was going into the NHS, or schools, or roads, or - heavens forfend - welfare.

As far as I can see the only solution for "poor" Rishi is to call an election, and take the years in opposition to excise the diseased parts of the Tories, to aim for re-election when they have reformed.

No way is Rishi hanging around that long. He'll be off to the US for the big money soon, whether that's after losing the GE or going before that.

Great synopsis of the tory shit show. Thank you. But the only way we get any kind of stability is by having a GE. The tories are directly and indirectly causing the instability and upheaval, aided by the right wing media bosses (who seem to actually be in charge of the UK). They need to go, to be decimated as a party. We desperately need a tried and tested form of PR brought in by labour or a lib-lab coalition. But listening so some of the people calling in to LBC this morning I'm not holding my breath that the tories will lose the next GE.

He should face criminal charges and that shameful honours list should be rescinded immediately.

So despite having got rid of the fixed term parliament act, we haven't got rid of the fixed term parliament ?

Didn't Kipling warn us of that ?

It's true, the Tories now are incapable of governing with stability and competence. The ship is sinking, and they all know it is.

You just can't have good government in that sort of dead man walking situation, it isn't possible. Not for any party. At most, you stagger on for another 18 months, lurching but not being felled by every upcoming byelection loss, scandal and all the various other body blows that'll be coming.

And I'm not sure that's even in the best interests of the party, actually. It's clear they're going to need a long spell in opposition to lick their wounds and work out what to do next, like after 97. Things could easily get worse for them before January 2025.

@FineganFois actually yes, most people did follow the 2m rule and any other rules that were in place at the time. I am an nhs clinician working in mental health services. What my patients , with significant mental health conditions, endured whilst "following the rules" was horrendous. All their support was withdrawn, carers told to not to visist, groups closed, they werent allowed to see family ect etc People were frightened, and isolated. People were giving birth alone in hospitals, really sick people were left with no visitors, etc I didnt see my adult son who was in another country for over 12 months, I couldn't visit my elderly parents for months on end. My own children (teens and young adults) missed out on months of education and normal interections with their peers. people lost businesses and jobs and homes and livelihoods.... I could go on. But YES. MOST people did follow the rules, at great cost to themselves. Which is what makes partygate so absolutely abhorent.

I wonder if he's been planning something like this? He knows he would have been chucked out at the next election which would have buggered up his claim that he's a vote winner. This way he gets to walk out on a wave of manufactured indignation and he knows his followers are too dim to work out that a Conservative majority Privileges Committee isn't too likely to be in a conspiracy with Harriet Harman.

So he was right whilst the vast majority of world leaders and the scientists advising them were wrong? You only have to look at the statistics of deaths and infections to see that that is nonsense on stilts.

Handy reminder

Johnson wasn’t forced out by anyone but himself. The Privileges Committee (Conservative dominated) would recommend, the Commons (Conservative dominated) would vote, his constituents (Conservative majority) would decide.

He chose to quit.

Fibber claims blah blah blah 🤣

Admittedly, it's how Churchill went too ...

It does show that the Covid policies, though introduced much too late, were good enough to allow people to fantasise that they weren't needed. Which is why, in fact, my anger with Johnson was muted for a long time. He did eventually make some correct decisions at that time, and he suffered badly from the macho belief of Raab among others that his visible presence at work was so essential that infecting the Cabinet was fine. I'm certainly not one of those who believe Johnson wasn't really ill with Covid. He was, and he looked it for months afterwards. Tbh the government seemed to work better when he was being propped up in a chair to make statements with other people doing the work.

But he's so so weak. Imagine being the kind of boss that lets a destructive drinking and 'partying' culture take hold at Number 10 because he wants to be seen as the cool kid. Very occasionally, as with Ukraine and Hong Kong, that instinct leads him in the right direction. It's pretty disastrous overall though.

I wonder how the soon to become Rejoiner Daily Telegraph is covering this ?

Don't know about them but the DM is throwing a hissy fit with lies, lies and more lies

twitter.com/davidyelland/status/1667430862068101121?s=20

Good point.

In any case, none of this is happening because of Johnson's covid policy choices. It isn't happening because some people think we locked down too late, nor because some people think we shouldn't have locked down at all. Neither of those cohorts have enough political influence, for one thing.

Johnson got himself into the privileges committee situation by failing to keep his own rules and then lying about it. That's all it is. He might even have been able to party away and still avoid this, if he'd managed it better at the initial discovery stage. But no.

Additionally, as a pp correctly pointed out, the reason he's not PM any more is because he appointed and facilitated a sex pest.

To be fair the Mail is not lying. It's just quoting the lies of Johnson himself.

(And given that this is the fourth time he's lost a job due to lying, and is mainly famous for lying, it's only his rapidly diminishing band credulous fans who do anything but laugh.)

It can’t be said enough that the Privileges committee is majority Tory and includes key Brexiter Sir Bernard Jenkin, and that MPs and then Uxbridge constituents could choose to ignore the committee recommendations/re-elect him.

Election to Parliament is a democratic process and so is removal.

He was also forced to resign as PM by his fellow Conservative MPs who in theory support Brexit.

Ranting about Remainers is deranged.

I wonder if he is going to be interviewed by anyone who would challenge his version of events?

Or will he be "interviewed" by Nadine Dorries on GB News?

He put himself forward for challenging interviews when he was in power, there is no reason to believe anything will change now.

Hells' teeth! I meant to say he NEVER put himself forward for challenging interviews.

Democracy is an ongoing process. The Brexit vote happened because people continued to campaign to leave the EU after a vote 40 years ago and despite having won less than a third of the vote.

My outside guess is that both he and Nadine will join Reform UK. Both resigning on the same day is not a coincidence.