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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not understand why Boris Johnson pulled out when Michael Gove announced he was running for PM?

42 replies

IonaNE · 01/07/2016 21:40

I mean, yes, M.Gove was supposed to run B.Johnson's campaign. He suddenly popped up and decided to have a go for himself. And? B. Johnson could still have run, could have found someone else to run his campaign (how about whoever ran his campaign when he ran for mayor; or whoever ran D. Cameron's?). M. Gove and B. Johnson could just have run against each other (and T. May). I don't understand why he quit (unless the whole thing was pre-planned, of course.) Can anyone shed light on this?

OP posts:

Griphook · 01/07/2016 22:29

I think boris gave a sigh of relief when gove announced his intention. Boris doesn't want to be the man that takes us out the Eu and plunges us Into poverty.

The leave campaign was never meant to win, it was meant to be close but remain was meant to win so they could use the results as a lever to get better conditions. But they messed it up.

Boris wil bide his time, but people won't forget

JudyCoolibar · 01/07/2016 22:30

I read somewhere he couldn't must up the required minimum number of supporters once Gove had nicked most of them.

JudyCoolibar · 01/07/2016 22:31

muster, not must.

Alisvolatpropiis · 01/07/2016 22:32

I don't think he ever intended to be PM now, his intention wasn't for Leave to win but to drum up Tory MP support for his 2020 bid.

Given how short people's memories are, he may well still pull that off.

flappingbingowings · 01/07/2016 22:34

He pulled out because he realised he couldn't win. He needed MPs to support him, they defected to Gove

MaddyHatter · 01/07/2016 22:34

i dont recall him ever saying he intended to run for PM, people just assumed he would when Cameron stepped down. He was never in to pull out.

I think he might have been aiming at 2020, but not taking it this soon, he's never held national office, and people still think he's a fool after his behaviour over the last 4 years.

sunshinemeg · 01/07/2016 22:35

I think there are even more skeletons in his closet than he wants us knowing and darent risk standing

SueDunome · 01/07/2016 22:36

He knows it would be suicide to become PM now. He'll let the dust settle on the EU and then try again.

BoboChic · 01/07/2016 22:38

The whole Brexit referendum fiasco is about political infighting and jostling for power in the Conservative party. What is really going on is for a political biographer to uncover.

Alisvolatpropiis · 01/07/2016 22:39

I think MPs being behind Gove is extremely disturbing.

Never thought Theresa 'human rights are a technicality' May would seem an appealing choice and yet here I am, thinking just that.

JudyCoolibar · 01/07/2016 22:40

Maddy, I don't think there's any question that he originally intended to run. What else would Gove have been his campaign manager for?

Sallyingforth · 01/07/2016 22:43

It doesn't look like Gove will get in. He has upset too many people.

order-order.com/2016/07/01/may-supporters-plot-keep-gove-off-ballot/

Alisvolatpropiis · 01/07/2016 22:44

Well, there's the silver lining I've been looking for, if true!

Playduh · 01/07/2016 22:47

YY sunshinemeg - there's something we haven't been told there...

Massive unfounded speculation but given his history of affairs, suspect it's something other than his sex life.

GiddyOnZackHunt · 01/07/2016 22:50

I'm losing track of the bluffs, double bluffs, back stabbing, running away and string pulling.
Has Gove really stabbed Boris in the back? Or has he taken a hit for Boris to clear the way for Boris to have a proper go in 2020? Are they assuming May will win no matter which one of them stands?
I could be seeing conspiracy theories everywhere but you can't tell anymore

doraexploradora · 01/07/2016 22:58

giddy,

or did Gove step in knowing that that would kick out boris but also leave a playng field largely open to May? People may not want to forgive him this blatant unloyalty plus he continues to bang on that he didn't really want to do this pm running stuff...

BestIsWest · 01/07/2016 23:07

There are some magnificent threads on all the scheming started by Redtoothbrush. Warning, they wil take days to read but I've been .

lalalalyra · 01/07/2016 23:08

I think he's realised that replacing Cameron is a poisoned chalice for a Leave campaigner. He'll probably run to replace the fall guy who replaces Cameron as they'll get all the shit for the Euro exit and then he can sweep in and fix it claiming the way he does it then is how he always intended to do it.

He's certainly not stepped aside for the good of the country or anything like that. They're all about their own standing that lot (by that lot I mean politicians in general atm - not a particular party).

GiddyOnZackHunt · 01/07/2016 23:11

Or has Murdoch promised him a better job if he blocks Boris? I refuse to believe Boris is rolling over and playing dead.

Maursh · 01/07/2016 23:17

I have already posted about this on here, I am sure.
Boris cared passionately about the brexit campaign and wanted to run for leadership. Just two days prior telegraph reported a boris sponsored poll that Tory's could only win GE with him as leader or other such crap. He was keen and going to run, not a shrinking violet.
He could not run without Gove on the ticket. BJ is popular with the masses but unpopular with established conservatives. Gove had all the MPs backing. When Gove ran against him he had insufficient support to run.
As for why Gove did what he did is less certain. My theory is that he is a wing man for Thereasa May who did not want to go head to head with BJ in round two of the leadership contest, which she would lose. If Gove pulls out or is rewarded with a juicy cabinet position when this is though remains to be seen.
I feel so bad for Boris that people are tarnishing him as spineless when it is so evident that he has been well and truly shafted.

MrSlant · 01/07/2016 23:20

Gove has the media in his pocket, Murdoch and Dacre literally have had him on their payroll and his wife, Boris loses them the moment Gove stands. It was always the plan IMHO. Plus Boris never wanted Brexit, he is a historian and knows what would happen if the far right were to gain the upper hand again. I think it was a political gamble on his part to support leave that has backfired.

Maursh · 01/07/2016 23:22

Also for those speculating he is clearing the way for 2020. This is rot. He is political toast. The only way I can see a come back is if May, who will almost certainly win outright in round one, gives him a compensatory cabinet position. I think this is unlikely since they didn't get along, but Brexit minister or something of that ilk..... Otherwise I think his only option will be to retire from politics.

Summerwood1 · 01/07/2016 23:23

Poor Boris. I really like him.

Alisvolatpropiis · 01/07/2016 23:28

Maursh

I really want to believe what you've posted, not least because it sounds most logical, but post Brexit the political elite have unanimously shit themselves and I'm making my peace with the idea that quite literally anything could happen.

JudyCoolibar · 01/07/2016 23:30

Dacre is supporting Theresa May.

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