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AIBU?

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Original poster

Worst in Living Memory?

641 replies

ElephantWhaleRabbit · 21/12/2020 13:45

Maybe it’s because we’re all caught up in everything right now, but AIBU to think Boris Johnson the worst Prime Minister in living memory? I mean, which of the former PMs, wouldn’t you swap in for him? Or is he just a victim of a bad set of circumstances?

OP posts:
looseddaughter · 23/12/2020 10:42

@MrsMiaWallis

That article is a piece of shite.

The first paragraph is a complete lie, when they report what he actually said! Is it sponsored by The Canary?!

Why is it a piece of shit? Because it makes for uncomfortable reading? What he actually said wasn't a million miles from what they reported in the first paragraph.
looseddaughter · 23/12/2020 10:43

Johnson not attending the Cobra meetings was way before he got ill so nothing to do with him being 'almost dead'.

ancientgran · 23/12/2020 10:45

Nobody can say anyone would have dealt with it better. Well in March when people were calling for things like the Cheltenham Festival to be cancelled football led the way by cancelling matches when he wouldn't. Comes to something when football has to lead the govt. Of course it also took a footballer to shame him into feeding hungry children.

I'm no football fan (quite the opposite) but I think they came out of it better than Johnson.

ilovesooty · 23/12/2020 10:46

@ancientgran

I've never understood the enthusiasm about Sunak, lots of changing his mind, furlough end dates changing after people laid off for example, poorly thought out schemes that leave some groups out entirely and leave lots of scope for fraud (which I think will be a big scandal when this is all over), the eat out scheme was stupid on more than one level and he was supposed to be the one who persuaded Boris not to do the lockdown recommended in September and that went well didn't it. Personally I think he has been a bit of a disaster.
Yes but he looks good in front of the camera...
notafanoftheman · 23/12/2020 10:51

Nobody can say anyone would have dealt with it better

Utter nonsense. You just have to look at the rest of the world. Taiwan is a spectacular example : twitter.com/drphilhammond/status/1323911684801679365

luckylavender · 23/12/2020 10:52

@JinglingHellsBells - the Cobra meetings were before he had Covid, it's very well documented if you'd care to look. And as for almost dead from Covid - firstly he wasn't ventilated and secondly if he wasn't well enough to perform his duties then he should have stepped aside. That's Leadership.

luckylavender · 23/12/2020 10:54

@MrsMiaWallis - yes he did. Nothing to do with EOTHO

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/12/20/home-workers-built-savings-must-go-spending-spree-pandemic-ends/

Gobbycop · 23/12/2020 10:54

Fuck no.

May was useless.

luckylavender · 23/12/2020 10:56

@LadyPenelope68 - plenty of Leaders have. We are one of the worse countries in terms of health outcomes & economic outcomes

MrsMiaWallis · 23/12/2020 10:58

Well apparently people have spent a fortune on Xmas this year so they've done what he said, I guess

ChristmasFluff · 23/12/2020 11:01

He's the classic example of a person being promoted beyond his abilities due to his privileged background and upbringing.

Under normal circumstances, I'd pick anyone over Thatcher, but I'm afraid in this case I would choose even her over Boris, as she would have been far more decisive and also diligent in her meeting attendance and research.

GrumblyMumblyisnotJumbly · 23/12/2020 11:11

@PinGwyn YABU.I don't envy Boris in the slightest dealing with a worldwide Pandemic, becoming Ill alledgedly, negotiating terms of Brexit which will have implications for generations and throwing a newborn baby into the mix.I can't say I envy his position!

I don’t envy his position either but apart from the pandemic all of the above has been of his own making.

Bad luck for the British public Boris if you’ve made your bed you’ve got to lie in it...

Unfortunately I can’t believe a word that he mumbles out (due to recent u-turns, over optimistic promises around Covid, oven-ready Brexit, lying to his wife, being sacked as a journalist and minister previously for lying and his unrepentant blatant cronyism)

Terrible terrible PM

Peaseblossom22 · 23/12/2020 11:14

Yes he is because his first thought when making any decision ( which he finds difficult anyway) is not ‘will this solve the problem’ or ‘is this the right thing for the country’ but ‘how will this make me look ‘ .

There have been plenty of PMs who I don’t agree with but I have at least felt that they understood the levers of government and how to make a decision , implement the decision and what the implications of that decision were . Johnson can do none of this . He can’t bear not to be liked .

Margaret Thatcher made some appalling decisions but she did them knowingly, she knew what she wanted to achieve and how to achieve it , she didn’t do anything by accident . The same is true of Brown. Both would have dealt with this situation better as would frankly any other post war PM with the possible exception of Eden . Thatcher wouldn’t have cared about her reputation of what people thought she would have taken the tough decisions, the short term pain may have been awful and most of us would have hated it but she would have gone into it with her eyes open and with an understanding of the data.

Johnson is entirely reactive , he makes decisions and then is surprised at the effect of those decisions , he bumbles from accident to accident without any idea of where he is going next. He is quite frankly absurd , we have elected an entertainer not a serious officer of the state.

jasjas1973 · 23/12/2020 11:17

Johnson was told on December 11th that the new strain was causing concern as it was leading to increased infections, he and the Govt did nothing with that information.
He instead he decided to criticise the opposition for daring to suggest tighter restrictions for xmas.

Leaders in europe were tightening restrictions as infections increased despite not knowing about a new strain.

MrsMiaWallis Lab ahead of the Cons by 5pts, Govt approval ratings Disapprove - 53% Support - 27%

Long way to go but hopefully we have seen what the tories are really like.

WithGusto2 · 23/12/2020 11:22

It’s in essence a poisoned chalice with everything that’s gone on this year.....however I can’t think of any previous, or potentials who wouldn’t have handled it better.

I remember saying to my friend when he got in ‘well I just hope nothing serious happens in the next 4 years whilst we’re essentially being governed by a people pleasing Labrador...’ oh

ancientgran · 23/12/2020 11:23

Yes but he looks good in front of the camera He always looks like he's just growing out of his suits to me, the sort of look teenage boys have all gangly arms and legs and sleeves not quite long enough.

WithGusto2 · 23/12/2020 11:24

@jasjas1973 do you have a source, I bloody knew it!! I don’t think it was Xmas but schools, they’ve taken such a hard line on keeping schools open that they won’t have wanted to roll back on it. They know they will have to, but I think I’m their eyes, saying pupils aren’t going back is better than saying they have to close. It’s exactly how they think. I believe that’s why they timed it it to coincide with schools breaking up. Knew they’d been sat on it. Spineless bastards!

WithGusto2 · 23/12/2020 11:26

In fairness I think the other Tory leader candidates would have handled it vastly better. Bet Jeremy Hunt is sleeping like a baby!

jasjas1973 · 23/12/2020 11:28

Its on Sky News now, an emergency committee meeting, interviewing various scientists from Imperial and Nevtag, one of their scientists just said this.

Kendodd · 23/12/2020 11:32

We would have been in a much better place if Rory Stewart had won the leadership of the Tory party. Unfortunately his jokes aren't funny enough and we prefer a complete clown who treats politics like a fucking Carry On film.

Kendodd · 23/12/2020 11:37

however I can’t think of any previous, or potentials who wouldn’t have handled it better.
Really?
You think the Tory leadership candidates last year were all so appalling the every one of them would have been even worse then this absolute disgrace of a PM?

MimiDaisy11 · 23/12/2020 11:38

his first thought when making any decision ( which he finds difficult anyway) is not ‘will this solve the problem’ or ‘is this the right thing for the country’ but ‘how will this make me look '

That's so true! While all politicians care about how they look he is so much worse and he's also willing to get some praise in the short term even if it will cause issues later. He agreed to the withdrawal agreement as he was counting on people cheering him on for getting it done, when he must have known the terms in it would later come back to hurt him and his position.

MimiDaisy11 · 23/12/2020 11:45

How do you know he wasn't attending Cobra meetings virtually? He was almost dead with Covid. I know of someone (friend of a friend) who attends Cobra meetings. It's not as simple as what you see in the press or think you know.

They would have said if he was attending them virtually. Instead, they tried to say it was normal behaviour for prime ministers not to always attend such meetings and for evidence they gave an example of when Brown didn't attend one - however it was later revealed that Brown had remotely dialled into that meeting because he was in another country.

Also those meetings were before Boris got sick. No one is blaming him for not doing anything when he was in hospital.

MibsXX · 23/12/2020 11:48

@Foxyloxy1plus1

It’s impossible to say because no one knows how any other PM or any other party would have dealt with this. Many of the people who voted for his party did so because they were so fed up with JC and his lot. We just can’t say, because there is nothing to compare it with.
Dont we have pretty much the entire world's governments to compare with? Just saying .... lol
wowfudge · 23/12/2020 11:48

@Crankley

I can list the crap actions of Labour PMs that have damaged this country if you are interested? No, of course you aren't - Labour voters aren't interested in reality.
That's a really unconstructive comment.

I wouldn't wish dealing with a global pandemic on anyone and the fact the opposition has been largely supportive shows just how tough the situation is. You only have to look at the responses in other countries to see that there is no right way of dealing with it, you do the best you can with the information and expert advice you have.

Johnson and Cameron are responsible for the Brexit mess imo - Johnson wants Brexit with no acknowledgement of any of the downsides and Cameron let it happen on his watch, which is why he resigned.

There's nothing remotely attractive about Boris as a leader as far as I'm concerned. He's terrible, but he appealed to a lot of voters.