To be concerned about Boris Johnson's re-shuffle?

[AlexaShutUp]

I'm no fan of either Boris Johnson or Sajid Javid, but I'm not really intending to make any political points in this thread. I'm resigned to having a right wing Tory government, but I am concerned about the shift in power that seems to have occurred, and by Johnson's apparent power grab.

Specifically, I'm concerned about the circumstances of Javid's departure from the Treasury. Javid's position was made untenable and I understand why he walked out, but surely it's much better for the country if the PM has some challenge from number 11, rather than a puppet that merely does their bidding - which I suspect Javid's successor will turn out to be.

A healthy democracy needs to have plenty of checks and balances with regard to those in power, and I'm worried that these are being eroded. Meanwhile, the power of unelected advisers like Dominic Cummings appears to be ever growing.

But Cummings being in charge is not a surprise. He is the de facto PM. Johnson isn't interested in the hard work of office so he does the bluster in front of the cameras while Cummings tears down the machinery of the Civil Service.

^This I agree with.

Boris closed down (prorogued) Parliament, illegally.

So it’s not surprising that he’s autocratic (at best).

His appointments also include several ministers recently fired for wrongdoing (Patel, Williamson)

All PMs tend to pick a top team they get on with. Nothing new here.

Some will try and spin it as Johnson being strong but essentially he wants zero challenge and presidential style powers.

There was a lot of guff about ‘taking back control’ but all that seems to have happened is control has been given to an unelected power mad advisor (Cummings).

We should all be very very concerned when even the role of chancellor has been awarded to someone so grateful to be in the job they will provide no challenge to any hair brained scheme dreamt up by Number 10 which will saddle younger generations with even more debt.

YANBU at all OP.

Let's face it, you are not a Tory so whatever they did you would find something to complain about. This is nonsense - we don’t live in a one party state and good opposition (from anywhere) is vital to good government. Added to which, many ex Tory MPs and Tory members of the Lords hate this current government and what it stands for.

I feel the same as you! Also the irony of this comment

' The country voted to have Boris as PM and to run the country. He is now PM and running the country. What are you concerned about?'

There is a glaring error in the second sentence, it should read 'He is now PM and Dominic Cummings is running the country. What are you concerned about?'

If you haven't seen the talk Cummings gave about how he manipulated the country to vote leave, then I guess you wouldn't have anything to worry about. It's when you realise the PM is his little puppet and D.C. is pulling all the strings, then it should concern you! Unless you're theTory Elite with mega bucks

The opposition are at fault too, for being so useless.

Meh, you can play it both ways. Any leadership position you want a team with the same vision, having the same vision and aligned doesn't mean there are no challenges. Or you can play it that he doesn't wish to be challenged, it's two sides of the same coin.

The pound rose on sajids departure. And quite frankly any one who gets rid of the loathesome Leadsom, and the ludicrous McVey is ok in my book.

It's the role of the opposition to hold the government to account. Just because they are too busy fighting each other and thinking up daft policies doesn't change that,

An aligned government with one vision is preferable to one who is also infighting. We can't demand they continue that because labour aren't capable of holding them to account.

The country voted to have Boris as PM and to run the country. He is now PM and running the country. What are you concerned about?

so to be clear, you feel once a pm has been elected no one ever need to have any concern about the way they run the country, the people they put in charge or the policies they carry out?

what an extraordinary point of view.

What exactly do you know about Rishi Sunak, OP?

probably the same as rest of us- thats a meteoric rise - to go from hardly any experience of govt to chancellor.

Lucylou-I saw that talk and I found it chilling...mostly because I don't think Dominic Cummings has any real aim other than to treat politics as his own little experiment in how to get people to bend to his will-he doesn't seem to be motivated by what he thinks is best for the country-rather he just seems to be amused at how he can pull everyones strings....and as he was unelected there is nothing anyone, except Boris-who won't do anything-can do to get rid of him.

I find the appointment of Braverman one of the most worrying. In making that appointment, Johnson seems to have worked on the basis of "You've got a law degree, we need a woman, you'll do", but the reality is that 7 years in practice is totally inadequate for that job. Her pronouncements about the judiciary demonstrate that she is (a) stupid and (b) totally under Cummings' thumb, both of which are incredibly unhealthy and dangerous for all of us.

There's also the omissions. What the hell is Pritti Patel doing still in post at the Home Office? She's already demonstrated her incompetence and her willingness to put her personal interests way ahead of the country's.

Rishi with his business background will make an excellent Chancellor.

That is simply not an adequate basis for appointing a Chancellor, particularly given the rocky road we have ahead of us with Brexit. You need someone with much more experience in government.

Dangerous shower of idiots in charge.

I am worried that a future government won’t be able to undo the damage that they are doing and will do - to the foundations of our democracy amongst other things.

Sacking Julian Smith is very significant. He had enjoyed significant success getting the NI assembly running again and was widely considered to be one of the better SoS there for ages. The only reason Johnson might have to get rid of him is if he made the decision based on something other than competence. That's worrying.

theres a lot to be concerned about unless youre a simpleton who prefers shouting 'its democracy innit' to analysis.

i dunno how pritti patel can show her face in public after her 'counter-terrorism' interview- that was a new level of thick.

Very true helmet.

Apparently Cummings strongly opposed HS2 & BJ override those objections. Not a simple picture.

@dozer
Totally agree! No wonder we've got this shit show as a government!

My worry is that in the last 10 years UK debt has roughtly doubled from around 1 trillion to around 2 trillion. That doesn’t include pension fund shortages. Its now £65,000 in debt for every single taxpayer. The pain of 10 years of austerity brought the deficit down but not enough, the debt is still rising. We now have the biggest economic risk of our times in Brexit, and Boris now wants to spend spend spend. That’s why he needs a puppet he and Cummings can control in no. 11.

If spending works to kick start the economy it might pay off, but it’s a big if, and (people may know more than me and correct me if I’m wrong) it’s not really been Tory policy before, they’ve always had a tight hold on the purse strings and accused labour spending pledges of being “mismanagement”.

Boris doesn’t have a good track record with his big project ideas.

@helmebymidnight that was so embarrassing! But I wonder how many people at home watching/listening we're agreeing with her 😂

I agree OP it's extremely worrying. Johnson already got a such a ringing endorsement because of the weakness of the opposition. Any government needs to have strong enough members to be able to challenge poor ideas before they even get to the voting stage. It's ridiculous to say we shouldn't have dissenting voices, it's arguably what led to Fred Godwin and RBS, the banking crisis, the Iraq war, the Korean planet crashes as outlined by Malcom Gladwell in Outliers.

It's absolutely no surprise to me though. Brexit was never about not getting sovereignty back, it was all about getting more power for the right-wing of the Tory party. Without an effective opposition, the timing could hardly be worse. Meanwhile schools, the NHS and the police service are crumbling - ask any teacher or TA, or anyone who's tried to report a crime recently: if you haven't seen a murder, don't bother.

And I'm not even particularly left wing. More in the centre (although these days, that feels practically loony left compared to this government). But I don't believe excess power in the hands of one party is ever a good thing.