Boris looks so relieved

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What if Gove was asked to help Boris out, by saving him from the prospect of being PM ? From his appearance after the Brexit results, Boris looked rather overwhelmed at the prospect of being PM and having to clear up the mess he had contributed towards ?

I really couldn't care less if Boris has been stabbed in the back. It's what he did to the country, after all.

I wondered if it was a fix as well. I hate the idea of Boris being PM, but was hoping he'd run and fail to win rather than not make the effort at all.

LaContessa I think the same as you. Gove knows he has no chance. Not only was he widely hated when in education but he has said on numerous occasions that he's not up to it. His declaration was to put Boris out/give him an excuse. Gove makes May look like the reasonable candidate.

I wouldn't be surprised if Gove is rewarded by May.

or if Boris stands later in his life when the chalice isn't as poisoned

There's a piece by Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC website listing the various conspiracy theories.

Why should Gove standing stop Boris (unless he had some really juicy dirt on him) - it wouldn't if he really wanted the job now. I think Boris was very pleased to be off the hook on this one. I actually feel quite angry that he campaigned for a leave vote he didn't really believe in then walks when things get real (I'm a bitter remain voter ). I think TM is the only grown up among a bunch of giggling, bickering school boys. For me she's the only one really capable of negotiating with the EU. However, her opinions on things like the Human Rights Act terrifies me.

I think Boris is quite canny. Gove was supposed to be his wingman. By suddenly standing against Boris, he split the party vote Boris had been counting on. From Boris' pov he wouldn't want a failed leadership bid behind him.

Gove standing stopped Boris because he needed over 100 MP's to back him. He only had about 80 - because he's never been popular in Westminster. He was a lacklustre MP and was sacked from the Shadow Cabinet by Howard. When Gove went, so did a lot of supporters who were only backing Boris because of Gove.

He just didn't have the numbers.

Doesn't actually matter if she repeals the Human Rights Act or not, in some ways. All it does is mean British laws have to be interpreted in a manner compatible with the Human Rights Act if at all possible. If they repeal it, the ECHR still stands, and people will still be able to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, win, and then the British courts are overruled, because the ECHR binds us. It's just a longer, slower and more expensive process for people, to have to go that route. That's what happened before the HRA was passed - which was why the slogan was, "Bringing Rights Home". Same rights, just easier to rely on them.

She won't repeal it because she won't have the support in the Commons to do it, as she said herself, but also because it doesn't actually change anything, if someone is determined and knowledgeable enough to appeal to the ECHR.

Sorry, that was re. May.

I agree Boris probably doesn't want to be the one dealing with this shitfest, and that his aim was to position himself as attractive Tory rebel who narrowly lost a gallant but doomed battle. He'd then be in pole position when/if Cameron stood down. As it is, the leader dealing with the fallout of all this is not in for a fun time.

Nope, Gove is a fall guy to remove Boris from the leadership race. Gove has no interest in being PM, he has always said this at any rate so unless he was lying or has had a radical rethink, he in a pawn. By removing himself from the Boris ticket, he has taken his 70 or so supporters with him, so that Boris cannot run. I think that BoJo only has about 10 supporters himself - he is not popular within the conservative party.
And look who has been driven to the top of the race: Theresa May.

I think that we have all been played by Darce / Murdoch given Gove / Vines history. I predict Gove will pull out if he is gaining too much traction in the race or perhaps the idea is that Theresa May is so far ahead at stage one round it doesn't go to stage 2 where conservative party members can do a "Corbyn" on Boris Johnson.

Theresa May is the person busy handing our police & prison services (soon to be followed by probation service) over to G4S. Of which her partner is a major shareholder.

She's the person who put the child sex abuse inquiry in the hands of a judge with close family ties to the abusers under investigation.

She lies with conviction.

I guess she's ideal for the role :(

In the entire rich history of political clusterfuckery...

Boris was too obviously shitting himself. He kept contradicting himself about his immigration plans.
So, he dodged the bullet.
Looks like either Gove gets the chance to do for Britain what he did for Education, or we get Terminator Iron Lady II.

I lived through Iron Lady I. She was often wrong, but never uncertain. I hope May has more empathy.

Cameron & Boris have behaved just like they did in their Bullingdon Club days:
pick on some poor unsuspecting restaurant, completely trash it and then walk away smirking, leaving the whole bloody mess to be cleared up by someone else.

Apparently the G4S shares is an online myth. G4S themselves say he has no shares.

Butler-Sloss stood down because her brother had been Attorney General at the time under investigation, and as the investigation was into whether state bodies did enough to protect children from abuse, that was a conflict of interest. Nobody accused her brother of ever being an abuser, though he was alleged to have sought to persuade an MP not to publicly accuse someone of paedophilia in a speech in Parliament. When that was alleged, Butler-Sloss stood down, and May indicated that it was new information to her and that she felt Butler-Sloss's resignation was appropriate. If memory serves they eventually had to bring in a judge from overseas because all the Establishment are at the least well acquainted by the time they get that senior, and often related, married, neighbours etc.

I am not and never will be a Tory voter. I think May's hatred of the HRA is frankly disturbing - it protects people from state abuses, and if some cases seem most unfair as a result, that's because the fair ones don't make headlines. I also think her determination to cling to power until 2020 when unelected and in the teeth of a knife-edge referendum is the antithesis of democracy. But if this election has taught us anything, it should be that-fact checking matters.

BigChoc, I agree.

Frankly, I can't see anyone in either main party who seems fit to lead the country through a round of London's Burning, let alone Brexit.

I wonder if Boris can come back from this in the future. He has been the figurehead of the campaign taking us out of the EU, yet looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights when he won.

If the plan all along was to lose the referendum then neatly take over from David Cameron before the next election with the support of brexit supporters where can he go from here?

It just looks now like he failed to rise to the occasion and unite the British people, he failed to gather support within his party and he failed to out-manoeuvre Gove. If he doesn't want to stay and sort this mess out I can't see the public accepting him back in the future.

Sleep, the Butler-Sloss thing was more complicated I believe, though I agree that they eventually had to bring in a judge from overseas because all the Establishment are at the least well acquainted by the time they get that senior, and often related, married, neighbours etc.

The Philip May story was that a fund in which he is/was a major investor was a major shareholder in G4S. His investments are private and I only have access to the public domain; I remember being very convinced by the evidence I saw. If it were the case, he would doubtless have divested or at least distanced by now.

Just found this about the pair of them :)

Adding the pictures because I like people to know who we're dealing with - not that it makes any difference. As Home Secretary, Ms May was responsible for the 'Go Home' campaign, which was found to be dishonest and did nothing to help British social tolerance.

They say you get the government you deserve, but really?

These people are all so horrible it beggars belief, and the whole post Brexit circus is playing out in public in full view of the entire world. The facade that was the UK is all falling to the floor.

I think that's a big part of what's upsetting me, math. My mental health's gone through the floor - and it turns out I'm not alone; counsellors are booked solid.

As well as the lost identity (I'm a European), very serious lost opportunities and so forth - there is this. We are not a nation of greedy, scheming, power-crazed bigots (!) but looking at the evidence, more of us are like that than I thought.

Then I look at what's happening in America & Australia. It feels like an existential crisis. Focusing on the pretty flowers just doesn't cut it for me this time :(

'These people are all so horrible it beggars belief'

Yes, my only hope is Andrea Leadsom now who I hear is in the running - the coolest calmest candidate of the lot.

But we're not going to actually get any say in who gets into the Tory leadership, are we? DH said the Tory selection process is less democratic different to Labour's and doesn't rely on voters, only MPs.

Billy Childish always gets it on the button for me.

www.l-13.org/acatalog/BILLY-CHILDISH-RECORDINGS.html

I hope May has more empathy.

Theresa May?

Are you fucking kidding me? when has she ever shown any hints of being empathetic about anything?

This is all about Murdoch. Who gets in will be up to him.

Anyone who thinks any of this debacle is democracy in action is deluded. It was an experiment that went wrong and the only person that will win out of this is the media.