Londoners tried to warn the rest of the country about Boris

[Tellmetruth4]

BJs performance yesterday was woeful. He’s a terrible public speaker and when his blustering and attempts at jokes, throwing in some Kipling, war rhetoric and Latin with arms flailing didn’t work, he sat sulking like a schoolboy.

He was lazy and boorish as London mayor. How on earth did he manage to convince Tory members that he would make a good PM? He thought he was entitled to the top job but was seriously found out yesterday.

Seems like Cummings isn’t the strategic genius he hyped himself up to be and JRMs disrespectful performance deserves its its own thread. BJs picked a team of liabilities. Theresa May must have laughed herself to sleep last night.

However, I recall many Londoners including myself warning the rest of the country what to expect as he was a lazy, blustering mayor

Londoners are the ones who voted him in as Mayor - not once, but twice!

But, in doing that, it is very easy to see how he beguiles people, he is believable, and currently he is quite Churchillian, he is coming across as strong and that’s just what people want after decades of wishy-washy (Blair, Brown, Cameron, May – all wet weekends). He is a charismatic character.

Eh? Blair, whatever his other faults, was charismatic. And was a very strong leader, which was in many ways a poisoned chalice. But that was because he had such substantial majorities really. That's what allows a PM to be strong, which is why Johnson cuts such a weak figure right now. I mean, he lost his majority while he was speaking. If I was trying to come up with a textbook example of a leader being outmuscled I'd struggle to better that!

It's a bit rich to say Londoners tried to warn the rest of the country about Boris when Londoners elected him to be mayor twice, and the vast majority of the rest of us have never voted for him for anything.

like has been said upthread, people who wouldn't even class themselves as Londoners voted Boris in. No actual Londonder that I know either voted for him or saw him as anything other than a career politician who was only interested in himself.

Can't we dump Bexley and Bromley back into Kent?

However, I recall many Londoners including myself warning the rest of the country what to expect as he was a lazy, blustering mayor

I'd love to know how this warning was put out to the rest of the country?

London consistently votes Labour and London voted Remain.

I live in the NE and we wouldn't use him as a doorstop up here. We didn't vote him in though, so it's a moot point.

The man's a liability as is his mate, Cummings.

people who wouldn't even class themselves as Londoners voted Boris in

The combined populations of Bexley and Bromley is about 570,000. Even if every single one of them was eligible to vote (impossible), and unanimously voted for Boris (blatantly not true), that still only accounts for a little over half of the number of people who did vote for him.

Obviously not all Londoners voted for Boris, but since he was twice elected mayor, London is pretty near the bottom of the list of UK regions who can legitimately claim to have had Boris's bullshit sussed before now.

did you read the article I linked to above? 62% of Boris's vote came from Bexley & Bromley.

Bexley is also one of only 5 London boroughs to have voted for Brexit, so clearly they didn't suss Boris's bullshit from his time as mayor, unlike most of the rest of London.

62% of Boris's vote came from Bexley & Bromley.

No, it didn't. 62% of his majority came from Bexley and Bromley. That's 62% of the difference between his votes and Ken Livingstone's - not 62% of his total votes. The latter would clearly not be possible, because the populations of Bexley and Bromley aren't large enough.

I'm not saying those areas weren't hugely influential in his electoral success, but you have to be accurate about the statistics.

Ironic that this has taken a no true Scotsman turn, in the circumstances!

Maggie you are correct, apologies. My overall point still stands, that Bexley voted for Boris as mayor in large numbers, and voted for Brexit, suggesting that they never woke up to who he really was.

@CassianAndor I think that's a fair assessment!

I do so hate it when people claim us Londoners are all the same. I'm a lifelong Londoner, not from Bromley or Bexley, born in an inner London borough, and I voted for Boris as mayor twice. I'm not a particular fan but there was no other option when the alternative was Ken Livingstone getting in.

I'm also one of the million or so Londoners who voted Leave. I know I'll be absolutely hated on here!

No fan of his but don't drag this Londoner into your "All Londoners" kind of post

I watched all of the debates yesterday and he was objectively awful in comparison to many of the passionate MPs (on both sides of the debate). His bullying stance has fragmented his party and it is all about the Boris show. I am amazed so many MPs have been happy to see their moderate colleagues expelled. They are the ones with some integrity as they are willing to put the interests of their constituents ahead of their personal jobs. I think Boris’s actions have been far more damaging to democracy (do what I say or you’re gone) than anything that has gone before.

But.. you only have to look at the press to see how differently the papers have responded to yesterday. The right wing press are totally ignoring his clear failings and are instead targeting the rebels. The article on the bbc about the different headlines would be great for anyone with children looking at history/politics as it demonstrates bias beautifully.

I can't understand why he was even considered as PM after the Iran debacle along with most of his Cabinet - Patel and Williamson spring to mind.

He's not a buffoon. Well he is. But he's definitely not stupid.

Before the referendum I remember him and David Cameron being on Countryfile talking about Brexit. He was far more convincing. I was worried anyway but I was very worried after that.

To be fair, "the rest of the country" didn't vote for him. It was some people from Uxbridge and South Ruislip you should have concentrated on warning.

What a bizarre post.

Two things:

1. Boris Johnson is anything but stupid. London (investment and infrastructure) boomed during the time 2008 - 2016, but that could be coincidence.

1. We were asked a direct question in a referendum with a binary choice, and we voted to leave the EU. We did not devolve that decision to our elected MPs. They have now had 3 years and 2 months to enact that decision on our behalf and they have failed to do so. They now seek to further delay our leaving by another 3 months. It is obvious to all but an incompetent fool that there is no deal to be done with the EU that would fully restore British sovereignty while having no impact on the economy. The two outcomes are mutually exclusive. Kicking the can down the road with endless extensions hoping that some magic solution will reveal itself is pure folly. If MPs are to deliver on the referedum result and actually leave the EU they will have to accept the subsequent economic turbulence. The so-called no-deal Brexit is simply Brexit. If the government had stated on 24th June 2016 that this is where we wanted to be - out of the single market, out of the customs union and out of the jurisdiction of the ECJ - then the past 3 years could have been usefully spent putting in place the systems necessary to support our leaving. Instead May treated Brexit as a damage limitation excercise and "negotiated" a Withdrawal Agreement that delivered Brexit in name only; technically out of the EU but still under EU control.

If MPs will not vote for Brexit because they see it as an act of self harm, despite a direct and unequivocable instruction from the British people to do so, then they must be taken out of the equation.

@MerryChristmasHarry Blair, whatever his other faults, was charismatic. Really ? I thought he was smarmy. I dont know anyone who admits to voting for him either. I presume I must know someone.

Well you see though many people fundamentally disagree with this statement:

‘a direct and unequivocable instruction from the British people to do so’

There was a sizeable chunk of the voting population that didn’t have the faintest idea what they were voting for. There were some of voted to give Cameron a kicking for example. When it is so clearly disadvantageous why can’t there be a second referendum and see whether there actually is an unequivocal desire to leave?

Really? I didn’t get the memo. Voting him mayor, twice, sends rather different signal.

@ScreamingLadySutch booming is a strong word for it. London is really falling behind in terms of infrastructure, especially for a city of its size. I’m not saying he did terribly (obviously a mayor could do harm) but he didn’t exactly make London lovely. It’s statting to look very tired indeed.

Blair could be pretty smarmy too, yes. They're not necessarily mutually exclusive.

If MPs will not vote for Brexit because they see it as an act of self harm, despite a direct and unequivocable instruction from the British people to do so, then they must be taken out of the equation.

There has been no such instruction. The referendum has no legitimacy because the winning side broke electoral law. In those circumstances, it isn't possible for the result to constitute an instruction. It must be disregarded and the public must be told clearly why.

"that didn’t have the faintest idea what they were voting for"

How do you know?

I thought hard about what the issues were and I started from a Remain position. The more I looked at the economic structure of the EU, the more Brexit made long term economic sense. Its not going to be easy, but long term its better.

When people assume it is the 'great unwashed' who are reacting to globalisation and moving towards racism, protectionism and petty nationalism in order to protect their jobs? They are being patronising and making a big mistake.