To think there’s little point vilifying Boris when he’s only echoing what millions want to hear?

[dameofdilemma]

Boris (I had to stop myself prefacing that with ‘that twat ‘) seems to have become some sort of pantomime villain but isn’t that a bit pointless?
He (and his cronies) are only voicing the opinions that they think will get them elected, the opinions probably held by millions of voters.

The right wing tabloid press are only printing the (vile) stories that their millions of readers agree with.

Much as Trump isn’t the problem, it’s the millions of voters who support him, who agree with his views, that are the real issue.

We’re entering a new era of fear, violence and division. There will be very few winners. Homelessness, poverty and job insecurity is on the rise. Public services are crippled by underfunding and underresourcing.

Personally we’re getting our ducks in a row to be as financially resilient as possible and to live in the most tolerant part of the country. Good luck everyone!

Please don't say ducks in a row...
I take it you're moving to Scotland?

Which tolerant part of the country?

I am considering moving abroad when I can.

And I agree, a lot of people seem to have appalling views.

You mean he's some kind of passive victim?
Are you on fucking glue?

No, not good enough. He's the PM, he should be putting the interests of the country first and attempting to heal divisions.

His behaviour instead has been completely shameful, base, self-serving, arrogant and petulant.

Do most people really want to hear him mocking MPs who have received threats of death & rape,
whose elderly parents and children have been threatened ?

To tell them these threats will continue unless they vote for Brexit ?

I don't think even most Leavers support that
The country is bitterly divided, but can't have sunk that low

Latest polls indicate that approval of his personal qualities have dropped
Hopefully his approval will continue to drop until he stops behaving like last night

He's appealing to the lowest common denominator. It's come to something when the Prime bloody Minister is dancing to the tune of violent woman-hating racists - but that's exactly what he's doing.
We are sleep-walking into a fucking nightmare.

His sister was on radio 4 this lunchtime saying that he might be under pressure to get out on 31st Oct because some people might stand to lose a lot of money if we don't crash out on that date. So his millionaire/billionaire mates? Aren't some newspapers also owned by multimillionaires?

Some people are gullible and believe all they're told. I think some people are so personally invested in Brexit having voted for it that they'll never change their minds now despite all the evidence of what might actually happen.

But YABU because he's setting the agenda and people may be being manipulated, rather than him responding to them, it's the other way round

BJ has free agency. He chooses to be the Ringmaster in this Circus.

I agree. He doesn't give a stuff about Brexit, couldnt care less about the effect of a no deal Brexit on most people. He wanted to be Prime Minister and now he wants to stay Prime Minister. I'm sure even Tory Prime Ministers in the past have wanted the job because they thought they felt their way was best for the country. I'm convinced hes just so arrogant he feels he should have the job and that's it. Unfortunately, I think he is saying what many people want to hear. They don't want to hear Labour saying they want to extend freedom of movement to more people or their fudge on Europe. They want Boris, giving it to the establishment and fighting to get Brexit done against the Metropolitan elite. Maybe not most people on Mumsnet, but I suspect quite a high proportion of the electorate as a whole.

It's a feedback loop. Boris, the Daily Mail, etc etc ramp up the hatred because they see it as a cheap way to be popular among a certain (loud and potentially disruptive) demographic. The avid consumers of this shite then gobble it up and feel justified and even angrier because their worst views have been 'validated' in print or by some authority figure. They demand yet more extreme comments or actions. And so the vicious circle continues.

Boris is a pile of shite who will say and do anything to stay in power, including participating in this toxic process.

I agree op, he's made himself a mouthpiece for all the right wing, nasty, frightening individuals in our country. But..he doesn't HAVE to appeal to those sort of people. Obviously he will do what he has to to win votes, but I really want to believe that people like that are not the majority in this country. I really really hope that there lots of sensible people left who can see this circus for what it is. Like you op I am scared for the future.

It’ll end in failure, as populism does. Sadly the country will have to go through a heap of self inflicted shit first.

His plan is obvious.
It also helps that many people don't understand the implications of No Deal.
He is using the simple soundbites with clear clips that can be shown in TV news and on Facebook clips.

And yes, he is playing to a certain group of people.

However, I wonder how many people who are traditional Conservative voters are turned off by this behaviour?

It worked for Trump.

Who are the violent women-hating racists he is dancing to the tune of?

There are a lot of people in this country who don't vote who voted in the referendum and feel disenfranchised ( partly because they have disenfranchised themselves by not voting). He's appealing to them and to people who think that this will all be over if only we could just leave Europe. If they turn out to vote for him, he will get a majority.

I agree with PPs. Follow the money. He is deliberately whipping up aggression. Maybe it is panic because all his options are fucked now, or this is the only way because he fucked everything up. I believe the orginal plan was to win an election, crash out without a deal, then weather the storm for the next 5 years.

Disaster capitalists donated huge amounts of money to Boris' campaign, the newspaper owners and big businesses stand to make loads from deregulation and tax avoidance (remember the EU's anti tax avoidance directive comes in this year) and trade deals with investor-state dispute courts are no doubt awaiting to be introduced.

There is an extreme right wing take over of the UK happening in front of our eyes and Boris is fighting tooth and nail for it in parliament. I really believe that the Tory supporters are just useful idiots to them. If Brexit goes through and they win another election, what is best for the citizens of this country won't even be on the list. They will just become another commodity to be exploited.

I was watching a documentary on BBC4 the other night that mentioned the strategy of using organised (often politically backed, well funded) infiltration of parts of society to cause disruption, fear and violence to encourage support for political agendas or legislation that would otherwise be unlikely to garner support.

It was frightening to live under the threat of terrorism from ISIS but they were at least on some level an incomprehensible ‘other’. I find the threat of far right groups worse and it feels closer to home. Something really ugly is happening right under our noses.

Yabu. He simply doesn't need to do things like tell an MP who raises death threats that it's humbug. He could still be a Brexiteer and make things even worse than they already are.

You can disagree or agree with Mr Johnson's policies, but his behaviour and lack of decency and morals are something no-one should accept. Nor should you accept giving advice to the Queen which is unlawful.

It’s true he’s representing ‘millions’ but not the majority. He’s not representing remain tories, morally decent tories and the leavers who’d never vote Tory will already by brexit party or sticking with labour. The arithmetic of our voting system could still give him enough MPs to form a majority in the next GE but it’s unlikely. Ultimately I think this strategy will fail him. I hope so anyway.

Actually the Prime Minister is playing to a swing minority.

Some people will always vote Tory no after what.

Some will swing between parties - those are the ones that he is targeting. He’s setting it up as people v parliament.

Which is nonsense as the fact is, we are a parliamentary democracy. But people are persuaded by his awful language.

There is an extreme right wing take over of the UK happening in front of our eyes

No, there is not. Unclench.

Stop being patronising and blind.

The right wing is taking over.

It's bloody terrifying. It frightens me more than Brexit