Part 6 A thread for the continued enjoyment of Boris' downfall, enjoyment being important

[jgw1]

What the title says.

This will be the one where he resigns, so if please keep the whatabout to a minimum.

"His allies have said he will not resign even if he is fined by police for breaching lockdown rules by attending Downing Street parties. Johnson told cabinet yesterday that the party needed to start talking about voters’ priorities: “The public really hate it when we talk about ourselves and stop talking about them,” he said."

From the Times. So he's definitely getting fined then!

@BoodyDedalus

No I was assured by a poster on another thread, that JRM was working entirely of his own volition to include these things in the parliamentary schedule.

It's better to look things up than rely on what other posters tell you. The standing orders are published online: www.parliament.uk/business/publications/commons/standing-orders-public11/

The orders for opposition days are currently under Standing Order 14 (the numbering changes from one edition to the next).

Fear not, I know enough about parliamentary procedures. I was just reminding myself of the extra-ordinary lengths some posters will go to try and excuse Boris Johnson's behaviour and lack of willingness to take responsibility for things that he has done.

I'm sure there are posters on here who are saying that Johnson is not responsible for the rabble rousing mob inciting words he said about Keir Starmer last week.

@Notonthestairs

"His allies have said he will not resign even if he is fined by police for breaching lockdown rules by attending Downing Street parties. Johnson told cabinet yesterday that the party needed to start talking about voters’ priorities: “The public really hate it when we talk about ourselves and stop talking about them,” he said."

From the Times. So he's definitely getting fined then!

They haven't worked out even with all the polls and the North Shropshire by-election that many peoples priority is getting rid of Johnson, everything else can wait.

They really are more out of touch than I realised.

Another interesting article by Daniel Finklestein in The Times - If Boris Johnson's Magic has gone, It Won't Come Back - about how the public's perception of Johnson has shifted.

"Certain things that have always worked for the prime minister have started to work against him. His wit, his use of metaphor, his chaotic and dishe velled subversion of classic politician behaviour, his insistence that his private life is nobody’s business, his cheerful dislike of rules. In the last few months each of these has produced its own scandal."

"Alternatively, these hopeful Conservatives must imagine that, while he won’t change, the public will. Soon he will be able once more to make jokes about Peppa Pig and people will laugh. I mean people attending real meetings or watching on television, not donors attending Conservative fundraising balls. I don’t think that is likely to occur. Much more likely is that people will interpret behaviour that they might once have enjoyed as confirmation of their new view."

I still chuckle when jgw1's posts go whoosh...

Their first action was to accuse Starmer of being a traitor for supporting vaccination against Coronavirus. It is obvious that they are anti-vaxxers as two of them are draped in Canadian flags to show their support for the Ottawa truckers. After that someone loudly accuses Starmer for his views on Julian Assange. Only after all of that do I hear a woman shout something about Savile and paedos.

I think you are missing the point. They aren’t just anti vaxxers, they are conspiracy theorists. Johnson picked up his talking point from them, not vice versa. It’s a wink and a nod that they will take as endorsement.

We already know how this game ends - Jan 6th or worse.

Their first action was to accuse Starmer of being a traitor for supporting vaccination against Coronavirus. It is obvious that they are anti-vaxxers as two of them are draped in Canadian flags to show their support for the Ottawa truckers. After that someone loudly accuses Starmer for his views on Julian Assange. Only after all of that do I hear a woman shout something about Savile and paedos

BoodyDedalus It is true that the Savile and paedo shouts are mixed in with other lunacies, but the fact remains that Johnson has created another string to these people's bows.

A very dangerous string.

There a lot of people out there who are happy to legitimise violent vigilante action against paedophiles and anyone associated with them. Johnson knew exactly what he was doing.

BTW jgw is being sarcastic, if you had been on these threads since the start you would know why!

Cross post with merrymouse!

Given that PMQs are oral (not written) questions, there would be nobody to put questions from the opposition, so the PM would presumably just continue answering questions from his own party

Frankly, I don't think it would be a very effective strategy

I suppose it would give Johnson's polyp hunters more time to ask their obsequious questions about washing machines.

@ClaudineClare

Given that PMQs are oral (not written) questions, there would be nobody to put questions from the opposition, so the PM would presumably just continue answering questions from his own party

Frankly, I don't think it would be a very effective strategy

I suppose it would give Johnson's polyp hunters more time to ask their obsequious questions about washing machines.

I have to say that I always assumed that the washing machine questions were written questions. Someone in Number 10 writes what they think is a clever answer to some kind of soundbite they want to get out, then thinks of a question, and passes it to a passing MP to ask?

I assumed there was some collaboration between leaders and their MPs for PMQs.

Although Mark Harper obviously went off script when he repeated Diane Abbots question about publishing the full SG report!

Another donor is saying the PM is past point of no return and he will not donate any more money

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60310694

In PMQs the questions are read out, the PM theoretically does not what the questions are.

Of course No.10 gets a tip off of what fellow Tories will be asking, and some are basically asked to table a particular question.

Edward Argar(Health Minister) compares Boris Johnson to a troll on Twitter on Sky News

Well, sadly Starmer rarely varies his questions so you may be right on that one. But the questions raised by individual MPs are rarely controversial and would hardly need strategies

As I understand it, for PMQs Joe Bloggs MP logs a standard question about the PM's diary commitments for the day. The PM's advisers need to prepare him for the follow-up, which will have the real meat, so do some research on what is likely to be interesting Joe Bloggs at that particular moment, so that they will be ready for it. That's where the strategy lies.

Someone in Number 10 writes what they think is a clever answer to some kind of soundbite they want to get out, then thinks of a question, and passes it to a passing MP to ask?

The difficulty would be that the questions* go into a ballot, as there are many more questions than the 15 allowed, so there's no guarantee that the clever answer would ever be needed.

Also, according to the parliament website, many MPs opt for a generic "engagements" question (so common that they just have to tick the E box) so that they don't have to submit the text of their question.

And, yet further, members can ask totally unprepared questions simply by standing up and catching the Speaker's eye.

So, the chances of the Cabinet, or anyone else, sitting around planning how the PM should answer questions are pretty remote. Still, I expect you knew all this as you say you know enough about parliamentary procedures.

A bit of background info

www.indy100.com/politics/prime-ministers-questions-explainer-process-b1896859

@ClaudineClare

In PMQs the questions are read out, the PM theoretically does not what the questions are.

Of course No.10 gets a tip off of what fellow Tories will be asking, and some are basically asked to table a particular question.

It's not the easy questions asked by Tories that matter. Is No.10 tipped off about the questions that the opposition plan to ask?

The PM's advisers need to prepare him for the follow-up, which will have the real meat, so do some research on what is likely to be interesting Joe Bloggs at that particular moment, so that they will be ready for it

In me experience civil servants do most of that research and draft lines to take for PMQs. Spads will then do the political spin.

My not me!

IsNo.10tipped off about the questions that the opposition plan to ask

Not as a rule as far as I know, but civil servants will have lots of intel on what a particular opposition MP is currently interested in.

This 10 year old article about PMQs is very interesting and makes it clear how much preparation goes on behind the scenes.

amp.theguardian.com/politics/2011/oct/27/history-pmqs-prime-ministers-commons

the chances of the Cabinet, or anyone else, sitting around planning how the PM should answer questions are pretty remote

This is actually what happens, though not quite as you describe. Civil servants across Whitehakl will anticipate what will come up in their particular domain, draft answers to questions and to the possible follow ups.

You didn't think the PM just answers on the hoof during PMQs, did you? There is a lot of preparation behind it all.

God, my typos annoy me!

Anyway, todays PMQs should be interesting...or will it just be Johnson bellowing his way through it again, with all the nodding dogs grinning away. Hmm.