To think Boris Johnson is going to find a way to get out of becoming PM

[Bearbehind]

.....because he knows he can’t deliver a Brexit that will please anyone let alone everyone.

I said this before the news story about the row with his girlfriend broke.

That wasn’t too damaging so he’s going to have to up the ante.

What could he possibly do to get himself off the hook now?

Why on earth would you think anyone would really want this job

Wasn’t there about 12 of them going for the job originally? the most I’ve ever seen tbh.
I think plenty of them would love the job, especially Boris.

Don't get too flustered, he'll be in number 10 and delivering Brexit

It is amazing the confidence leave voters have in him.

Possibly, but he has been open about wanting the job for a long time and it appears to be now or never in my view.

I don't think the row with his girlfriend is evidence of anything though. I am afraid I think it was poor quality reporting rushed out in a bid to damage BJ's reputation. They should really have done some investigative journalism and realised that it was inappropriate to report it for a number of reasons. From reading a bit more widely on this it appears that it wasn't so much a row, as the shouting of a very upset woman at the end of an emotionally draining week. Not just the high of seeing her boyfriend make it to the final round of voting, but a very significant low.

Carrie Symonds was one of John Worboys victims when she was 19 years old. Because she blacked out she will never fully know what he did to her. Earlier this year he was nearly released from prison. On Thursday and Friday it was all over the news that he is on trial again for the rape and sexual assault of more women. It must be re-traumatising. I think we should all be a bit more sensitive to her needs and make sure that any criticism of Boris Johnson does not impinge on her privacy.

It would appear that Boris needs to be a bit more sensitive to her needs then also.

He will be PM but not for long, I think.

He doesn't want to actually do the job. He isn't interested in public service, or Brexit, or anything but his own careeer.

He wants to win and to be able to say he was PM. He wants to be in the books. He wants (and feels, with that massive, massive sense of entitlement that only afairly mediocre sow's ear turned into a slightly badly-stitched silk purse thanks to Eton can muster) that he deserves to be on that list of British PMs.

Once he's done so, he will fairly quickly get himself out of it.

Deliver Brexit?! Yeah right, Boris loves dedication and hard work and all that stuff doesn't he

In another life, he'd be doing this on the X factor or Love Island. That's the kind of person he is.

So look past Boris really to what happens next, I think. Or - consider what Boris's inability to actually deliver within a post might mean for actual Brexit. He'd certainly probably find it more attractive to take a contrary view and go completely against what he's saying now, simply because it would make for a more interesting 'storyline' for posterity.

He doesn't want to do the job of PM, he doesn't want to serve his country, he wants to go down in history - nothing else.

"realised it was inappropriate to report it".

What utter rubbish, if it had beem any other politician, it would have been reported.

Carrie Symonds is in the public eye for her own job and has been in a relationship with a candidate for prime minister.

Fair game.

Poor woman, it’s terrible that her anguish is being used as ammunition against Boris.
Imagine if one of your lowest points was broadcast all over the press.
I feel for her I really do.

It certainly was absolutely right to report it.

Yes report it to the police, but not the papers.

he'll be in number 10 and delivering Brexit

And here’s the problem - what you want polo and what he can actually deliver aren’t the same thing.

FizzyGreenWater has it spot on IMO.

Straightforward self-sabotage strategy b/c deep down he doesn't want the poison chalice: yup, I'll buy that.

Will BJ succeed in losing? I don't think so. I suspect poison chalice is his, after all.

It would have been reported to the papers if it was any other politician.

I was thinking a similar thing about Nigel Farage. Has he ever actually delivered anything he's promised? Both are very good at campaigning and getting the public to vote for the completed fantasies they put forward but neither of them have ever had those promises tested. Did NF ever work on any positive and delivered project as an MEP?

Perfect summation from Fizzy.

FizzyGreenWater has it spot on IMO

Absolutely

Am I being really dumb? If he doesn't want the job, why did he even go for it?
And as a remain voter I think he'll be in no 10,deljvering Brexit soon.
Badly.

It's an interesting one.

Genuine Brexit believers would want the job now because they believe they'll lead us out onto the path of glory, but he is not a genuine Brexit believer. And he has clearly always wanted to be PM, that's been blatantly obvious for years. That's why he chose Brexit in the first place, to distinguish himself from George Osborne in the anticipated post 2020 GE leadership battle.

But like others I don't see why he wouldn't go for a family health issue if this were really his plan. I also see the logic for him in ducking out of debates, since he's more a persona than policies type.

because he knows he can’t deliver a Brexit that will please anyone let alone everyone.
I don't think he gives two hoots about who he pleases and who he doesn't.
He will go in and do it his way and not carewhat collateral damage he causes. This makes him a scary pm in some ways, but ideal in others

He will go in and do it his way and not carewhat collateral damage he causes

Except he doesn’t actually think Leave is the right choice. He was always an EU supporter; he only changed his story when he saw an opportunity to front the Leave campaign and thought he’d be the hero who nearly won.

Except he went and actually won, which screwed things right up so he made some half cocked plan with Gove to get out of the running last time, which is exactly why I’m convinced he’ll do it again.

He's left it a bit late!

But yes, important to note that he wasn't intending Leave to win when he decided to throw his support behind it. The assumption was that Remain would win a fairly narrow victory, giving Leavers the ability to say the issue wasn't clearly resolved, country divided etc, and putting him in a good place to try and attract UKIP leaners and the more anti-Europe wing of the Tories.

YANBU - he's got to deliver something which he knows deep down is a shit idea that will wreck the country. He's promised something he can't deliver. I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to get out of it. He doesn't come across as wanting it in the same way he wanted London mayor tbh. It feels like his time has already been and gone.

I think you are right. He’s hung in there long enough to keep Gove out of the race.

Now he’s going to blow it. I think he’ll still get to be PM though. The Tory members seem to be willing to forgive almost anything.

I dint think its self sabotage. I think its BJ being the idiot twat wanker buffoon he just is.