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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

So Boris Johnson is the new PM.

999 replies

AngeloMysterioso · 23/07/2019 12:06

Aaaaaaaaand we’re fucked.

OP posts:
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18
merrymouse · 23/07/2019 22:03

doesn’t have the ability to create / debate / draft legislation.

Maybe she could learn with Boris? He doesn't know anything about any of those things either.

PerkingFaintly · 23/07/2019 22:04

Shortstuff99, the flaw your glorious vision is that this is B Johnson you are holding up as your model of capability.

I'm pretty sure he's not capable of doing almost all of those things. People who've worked with him say he can't/won't read and retain information – indeed we saw this when he was on the floor of the house.

He's apparently good at charming people when he considers them worth his while. But the ability to draft legislation...? Well, I'd be surprised.

PerkingFaintly · 23/07/2019 22:04

Heh, snap, merrymouse!

DontMakeMeShushYou · 23/07/2019 22:08

Although what with this being Mumsnet there will now no doubt be a string of posters who chose to work in Asda despite having being heart surgeons and astrophysics

Are you related to Trump by any chance? Because your grasp use of the English language is strikingly similar.

jacks11 · 23/07/2019 22:08

Utterly depressing!

historysock · 23/07/2019 22:09

I've just seen Trump on the news saying that Jonson getting in equates to 'Britain like me'.
For fucks sake. Im livid.
For actual FUCKS sake!!!!!!

ssd · 23/07/2019 22:10

historysock, don't loose it too soon, I've a feeling there's plenty more shit like this coming our way.

Alsohuman · 23/07/2019 22:11

I gave up engaging with Trump in any way long ago. Fucking oxygen thief.

GreengreenSofa · 23/07/2019 22:15

Boris is the kid whose year 2 teacher told his mummy at parent evening "little Bobo will be PM one day" because of his gabbiness.

Jellykat · 23/07/2019 22:18

This joker is PM because of under 100,000 votes.. 100 bloody thousand, thats all!!! bloody ridiculous.. How much further downward can the UK spiral?

Iambuffy · 23/07/2019 22:20

How does one become an astrophysics???

StoneofDestiny · 23/07/2019 22:23

Gawd

So Boris Johnson is the new PM.
StoneofDestiny · 23/07/2019 22:24

Worldwide humiliation

So Boris Johnson is the new PM.
Outsomnia · 23/07/2019 22:34

I think we all underestimate his Machiavellian tendencies. Watch this space.

SegregateMumBev · 23/07/2019 22:36

I can't stop crying. I feel no optimism for the future, I feel we've become so used to " they're making a TV programme!" That anyone with a quirky, interesting, amusing personality is going to "win" . What they've "won" is debatable. But the future for me, my family, my nehbours, colleagues, fellow citizens of this part of the country......is hazy, bleak, uncertain, potentially crazy gun-toting rebelliony resistancey fatal.

And for what?

Shortstuff99 · 23/07/2019 22:36

@Shortstuff99, all this education and experience is a bit pointless when Val from Asda could do better

Of course, and my experience of the proficiency of some of the people who I encounter in unskilled jobs leaves me in no doubt that they would be able to manage a highly pressurised, complex and dynamic workload, that involves a lot of travel and commitment of time outside of working hours, if only the white male privileged Torys or whoever is to blame for all your problems, didn’t hold them back.

PortiaCastis · 23/07/2019 22:37

Does anyone remember isitmebut and is there a reincarnation perhaps?

The80sweregreat · 23/07/2019 22:39

I bet my MP gets a cushy job in the cabinet. His a rabid Brexiteer.

Alsohuman · 23/07/2019 22:39

Do you mean Tories? And i’m delighted you agree with me?

Poloshot · 23/07/2019 22:41

Happy days

contentedsoul · 23/07/2019 22:48

What is so annoying about this is that Trump was actually voted in by the US electorate - We didn't have a say in the voting in of this NY born Eton Fuckwit.
I'm sure he is very clever, but he has all the stature of a palace jester!

The chap is a fucking joke, I hope someone informs him that the public are laughing at him and not with him...fucking clown!!

Graphista · 23/07/2019 22:49

And as ever...when their arguments are weak they resort to name calling and reductio ad absurdum...

"Terrorist sympathiser" no! Open minded enough to consider and facilitate discussions to bring about peace - something which even thatcher & Blair did!

As opposed to selling arms to and rolling out the red carpet for the leaders of warmongering privileged nations - which is what the current tory party have no qualms about doing!

The choice needn't be between old Etonians who've lived their entire lives in a bubble of privilege and have rarely if ever done anything resembling a real job prior to entering politics the year after graduating from Oxbridge with degrees in PPE and an Asda retail worker who does understand the struggles of living on a tight budget, on a low wage but dealing with high living costs but doesn't have the education to understand the legislative process.

There's a middle ground!

But really why can't we have mps who have a decent but not privileged education, but also have experience in working in an "ordinary" job (NOT investment banking, business executive, high echelons of law or similar) and the mundane reality of living on a budget, paying the bills etc?

I don't think that's too much to ask at all!

And yes I'll admit that such people are few and far between even in the Labour Party! Though certainly more than in other parties from what I can tell.

I'd far rather have mps who are former teachers, nurses, social workers, factory workers, retail workers etc than career politicians who are if not PPE graduates then law graduates who've gone straight into politics from uni!

In terms of the minutiae of understanding the legislative process to propose and implement policy, then surely a relatively short course for new mps can be part of assisting with this and that is also the job of the very many well qualified civil servants who work continually in parliament administratively supporting mps (though of course that isn't without issue either, as nobody is unbiased and these people are unelected but have the power, access and influence to effect change - as anyone who has experience in the area or even has watched "yes minister" would know! But then no system is perfect)

Ideally we'd have an auditor as chancellor, a criminal lawyer as home sec, a teacher as sec for education, a dr as sec for health etc

Personally (and I've said this before quite a few times) I think ANYONE wanting to stand as an MP should spend AT LEAST 6 months on minimum benefits living in social housing in the poorest postcode in their proposed constituency. To give them at least a slight insight into life for their worst off constituents. I could even be tempted to add to that they have to do something like spend that time in a wheelchair or with blindfold on to experience some physical limitations too.

There's been a couple of tv shows over the years where MPs "experienced" life as "a single mum" etc but they were for very short periods and frankly spectacular failures as they weren't stringently monitored to ensure they stuck to the rules!

The80sweregreat · 23/07/2019 22:53

What has he actually said though?

Tomorrow is the big day for speeches and such like. It will be picked apart and it will transpire that he actually says very little. He
Might throw in a bit of Latin for his chums.
'We will fight them on the beaches ' ' 31st October is going to happen ' for the other 90,000 odd who voted for him. Keep them happy till September ; they will be back from the cruise by then.
For the rest of us it will be the usual waffle.
It's Labours big chance here to capitalise and they will blow it,
It's all very depressing.

StoneofDestiny · 23/07/2019 22:58

This is the UK Prime Minister - chosen by Tory voters as the best in their leadership choices. God help,us if he is the best choice they had

Boris JohnsonI in 2006, wrote a column comparing the chaos within the British Conservative Party to “Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief killing.”

In 2002, he referred to the people of Africa as “piccaninnies” with “watermelon smiles.”

More recently, he has suggested that Barack Obama has an “ancestral dislike” for the U.K. because he is “part Kenyan.” He has also compared women in burqas to “bank robbers” and “letterboxes.”

He called the French 'Turds', insulted the Turks and of course approved the publication of the call to exterminate Scots when he edited The Spectator. He has insulted homosexuals and women in Parliament.

He is a serial philanderer, proven liar and a self promoting bully. All this is on record.

Yes - he is Trump in too many ways.

Woofbloodywoof · 23/07/2019 22:58

Graphista
You mean employ someone with relevant experience and expertise and a modicum of empathy for the field? Goodness no! That sounds much too much like common sense. Lord no that will never work.

It’s amazing isn’t it? Any other sector and if you were applying to run the finance department you’d need a relevant degree and/or an MBA. If you were going to be a headteacher you’d need to have both teaching degree and experience. But running education? If you’ve got a degree in ancient history or Classics and your only job experience since university is a think tank go right ahead!

The problem is the people we would want running all these different departments; the people with the keenest understanding of what is needed; those who care the most and have the most practical solutions - they are too sane and not narcissistic enough to go into politics. So we always end up with the less able on a direct level.

It’s a bit like that old adage levelled at teachers: those who can do, those who can’t teach.

Unfortunately those who can’t really really think they can run the country.

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