Boris stands down as MP with immediate effect

[sunnydaytoday0]

Just breaking now on BBC.

Same day as Nadine.

So that is three by-elections. What do you reckon the game plan is?

Allegedly, it was Adams who persuaded Johnson to appoint Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip.

Passing the newspaper stand in Sainburys today, there was a general suggestion that all these people Boris has claimed "forced" him out should get some sort of honours.

It's all getting a bit Blackadder, isn't it ...

Blackadder: "Are you saying that I'm ... not popular ?"
Baldrick: "Well, let's put it this way ... when people step in what a dog does on the street they do say 'Whoops I stepped in an Edmund'....".

Will these by elections be before the July recess ? Or too soon for that ?
Do the MPs have to stay on until the new one is installed ?

@jgw1 I've just listened to that reaction, bloody hell!

Well I can confirm, speaking as a long-term resident of Mid Beds for 35+ years, none of the other parties have ever made much of an election campaign effort. They knew it was a complete waste of time in such a safe seat, so they didn't bother. I suspect all that is about to change...

The only plus point in recent years has been the presence of one of the relatively few Monster Raving Loony candidates, to whom I have been enthusiastically giving my vote (and yes, I have read their manifesto!).

Good.

I believe the resignation is immediate. So these 3 constituencies now have no representatives in parliament.

Just dropping it here that such a situation (being taxed without having a representative in parliament) did trigger the American Revolution.

I will also drop it here that I have read somewhere a point of view that as long as you can write to an MP somewhere, it doesn't really matter if you haven't got one in your area.

But remember, the good folk of Northern Ireland have effectively been without their MPs for over year now.

@SerendipityJane I love that episode- with a dachshund called Colin!!

I think they'll hold them before summer recess if possible. The Tories won't want headlines of by elections losses just before the autumn conference season.

Yes, especially given the programme was broadcasting from Pembrokeshire, which is very Tory!

Johnson fuck face is going to stand in Dorries seat as an independent Conservative

Cunt

Have to see what happens , but it's not long for them to sort it out and Rishi Sunak hasn't said anything yet either. Maybe his just waiting , or on his way back from the US ?

Yes. The government is pretty much at a standstill anyway. It has nothing to offer except spiteful soundbites and dubious legislation. Just call a general election and have done with it.

So he'll stand against a Conservative Conservative? Split the vote?

Can he though? Wouldn't the suspension kick in as soon as he is elected?

Is that something that's being claimed or are we just riffing on the possibility?

They stay on until the by-election. Although whether anyone would notice any decrease in the work they do as an MP compared to the past 6 months if they did nothing, is perhaps not really open to question.

Its quite something to hear the joy at the news. And then the Tory MPs reaction.

"Well Boris is a jolly good fellow and I agree with everything he has done".

Read the room!

Excellent split the Tory vote, let the Lib Dems in, perfect plan.

Friend of mine who works for a charity tells the story of an event they ran where the local (right wing, very pro Brexit Tory) MP made a big deal of dropping in to talk to the punters and, supposedly, find out more about the problems the charity helped with so that he could help people more. A few days later she got a letter from him asking for lots of quite detailed information about the work they did in his constituency, saying that unfortunately he couldn't get his researcher or PA to do it because his MP's allowances didn't allow him to pay for more than one of each. Friend politely declined to be his unpaid researcher, pointing out that the charity's means didn't allow them to pay for any assistant for her at all and she had more than enough to do dealing with the problems caused by his government's incompetence. Strangely, he seemed to lose interest in the area of work in question after that.

Well, that should be a laff. He'll split the Conservative vote and let the Lib Dem in.

@Kiwano -about right- it's easy to get blasé I think about having a PA or a researcher or a nice little intern doing all the donkey work -- forgetting most people in the real world have none of these !!

@jgw1.

Ref those comments from that MP ' Boris is a jolly good fellow and I agree with everything he has done"

As I said below it's like the bloody masons with a whole bunch of them!!