So Carrie is the reason Boris is not a great Prime Minster?

[SpiffingPoppycock]

Did anyone really think he would be?

He can’t even get his hair in order let alone a country.

Not that I’m a fan of hers but come on, he’s got his own mind (and being governed by your dick is still a conscious choice as an adult man).

Boris is, and always has been, vague and incompetent. There have just been moments where his pantomime character has fitted the bill - especially in the wake of the grey lady PM, Mrs May.

Carrie is a shameless manipulator and far from promoting other women, has a track record of ensuring she has yes women around her who don't threaten her game. She has been ruthless in getting where she wants.

MN: remember, she is the OW. Consider briefly the duplicity this requires. And moral void. (Although I know on MN there's quite a cross-swell of support for OWs - women just doing them, it's all the married man's fault, etc).

I read the extract from the Carrie expose this morning. I'm afraid it all seems hopelessly likely. Also, I can't imagine one could get away with writing such things if they weren't true - surely defamation and all sorts of sueing would follow?

Sad story. Useless Boris. Scheming climber who happens to be a woman. It's the kids (and the nation) I feel sorry for.

I also don't like the image of Boris blubbing. Feeling traumatised myself at that! It's like a clown crying in the corner, his balloons all burst and the black tear drops drawn in his white face now melting into real ones and everything dripping. Talk about mascara eyes. Desolate panda.

@Hospedia

What is the story?

A book by a Tory peer alleges that Carrie is the puppetmaster in the Johnson household. He is lonely and mesmerised by her while she's a controlling witch who is making him miserable. He's begged aides to run interference so that he can get five minutes peace from her. She uses his phone to send work messages in his name. Basically they're lining her up to take the blame for the current shitshow.

He's a weak man who is unfit to be PM. Who knew?

He was a useful idiot for the right to get Brexit done and stop Corbyn becoming PM. Job done, now get rid of a liability.

And I don't see the book 'blaming her fit his failings'. Far from it. The book just says that Boris is a mess, who was shored up and kept functional enough by his excellent wife, Marina, and that now he's without her and with the ruthless Carrie, he's a total disaster.

The book says Boris is a loser, and some.

Dd asked me in all seriousness if Boris had a stylist. I laughed but thought hmmmm.

But Carrie Antoinette let him eat cake so surely it must be her fault!

Keep up women and know your place!

I think it’s possibly the first serious relationship he’s had where he hasn’t had a partner who hasn’t taken on the role of mother/PA to him. So, responsible for himself for possibly the first time in a long while we are seeing much more of the disorganised, shambolic, chaotic, easily-influenced, easily distracted mess that he is. Carrie has done many people who thought he was some sort of maverick genius, a favour. They can see how he is when he doesn’t have a women behind him smoothing his way.

@amnm

Even if Carrie is as evil as everyone says (which, to be fair, she probably is), it's still 100% Boris's fault for letting her have that much influence over him. He is the PM, it's his responsibility to govern the country properly and this includes telling his wife that she's not an elected representative and therefore needs to butt out of trying to influence how Downing street is run. If he's not capable of stopping someone else from having so mucn influence over affairs, he shouldn't be PM.

She seems like an absolute nightmare but Prime Minister's usually have a long term/loyal partner, including May and Thatcher's husbands. They fade into the background. Maybe Cherie Blair a bit of an exception for interference but Tony Blair, for better or worse, was always his own man and has been with her most of his adult life.

Nobody elected Carrie. She shouldn't have any influence. That's on Boris.

Even if this was true, it makes him seem worse. I don’t want a prime minister who is easy prey to manipulation and weak to influences.
We need a person with conviction who puts his trust in honourable and decent advisors.
How is this nonsense meant to help him get away with this?

I think lots of people are blaming Carrie as a way of excusing their earlier support. Of course he hasn’t changed and has as little interest in the details of EU border controls as he does in Covid rules.

But somehow they can pretend he was competent pre-Carrie.

MN: remember, she is the OW. Consider briefly the duplicity this requires.

Completely irrelevant. That is their private drama, only relevant here if any of the parties want to post anonymously on the relationships board.

Also MN: “No is a full sentence”.

@amnm

Even if Carrie is as evil as everyone says (which, to be fair, she probably is), it's still 100% Boris's fault for letting her have that much influence over him. He is the PM, it's his responsibility to govern the country properly and this includes telling his wife that she's not an elected representative and therefore needs to butt out of trying to influence how Downing street is run. If he's not capable of stopping someone else from having so mucn influence over affairs, he shouldn't be PM.

Problem is, Boris has no respect for the democratic process. He's a destroyer. He didn't believe in Brexit but wanted the chaos it caused.

He's also a spineless man.

So, responsible for himself for possibly the first time in a long while we are seeing much more of the disorganised, shambolic, chaotic, easily-influenced, easily distracted mess that he is.

This has always been evident. The only difference is that he is now PM so it matters more.

@Mumoftwoinprimary

They’ve only been together since 2018. What is his excuse in 2017?

In 2017 it was his mum's fault.

@TheWaterNokk
"CoughNadineCough"

You are naughty !!

Marina is certainly an intelligent and canny woman. She also married Johnson and had 4 kids with him, and is pretty ruthless in protecting her own interests, eg in getting injunctions to prevent what she does being publicised. She's not some angel of light.

She'd be a great chief of staff. Maybe for the next PM - ultimate put down that would be.

I can't stand the little I know about CS - she sounds awful. It's not her fault if Johnson is such a useless PM though.

merrymouse. Yes I agree. Now he is PM it’s devastating to the country to have a total mess in charge. And without a wife to mitigate some of his behaviour it’s even more obvious how terrible and terryfing he is in the top job

@Marshmelllo

And I don't see the book 'blaming her fit his failings'. Far from it. The book just says that Boris is a mess, who was shored up and kept functional enough by his excellent wife, Marina, and that now he's without her and with the ruthless Carrie, he's a total disaster.

The book says Boris is a loser, and some.

Exactly. It paints Boris as a pathetic figure, hardly a strong leader.

Carrie is no walkover which is to be admired and has rattled a few cages behind the scenes at No.10 (not least Dominic Cummings), but she clearly has had influence in areas where she shouldn’t.

She would appear to wear the trousers in the relationship and he has been weak setting boundaries between his personal life and his work and so ended up in a bit of a mess.

Whilst the Boris, Carrie, Dominic dynamic is interesting, Carrie needs to stop interfering in her husbands job, Cummings needs to stop playing out his personal vendetta in the media and using the public as pawns in his chess game and Boris needs to get his No.10 house in order.

I always think of what she supposedly said to him when they had their domestic ‘incident’ a couple of years ago (remember that? It feels like it should have happened about 10 years ago): “You just don’t care for anything because you’re spoilt. You have no care for money or anything.”

She must have had his number then but went on to marry him and have two kids 🤷🏻‍♀️ I find that baffling but I hardly think she can be blamed for anything that’s happened since Boris became PM.

I don’t believe Marina was keeping him functional though. He was running around getting another woman pregnant while he was mayor, not to mention whatever was going on with Jennifer Arcuri. He wasted all that money on the pointless bridge. He made a mess of his first attempt at running for PM because he was at a cricket match.

I think Marina Wheeler Boris proofed her own life, I don’t think she ran his.

FYI OP he deliberately messes his hair up. He untucks his shirt, messes his hair up and has been witnessed to say ‘show time!’. He’s a sociopath.

“You just don’t care for anything because you’re spoilt. You have no care for money or anything.”

Says the woman who was happy to spend thousands and thousands on decorating the flat at Downing Street to her own personal taste.

@PossiblyDreaming

Of course it’s nothing to do with her. It’s a story being run by the DM right next to a story about how having Starmer as PM would lead us to looking back on Boris Johnson as PM as being the golden years. They’re making a last ditch attempt to save him, quite probably on BJ’s own orders or at least with BJ’s knowledge. The fact that he’s apparently fine with his wife and mother of his young children being thrown under the bus by his cronies is just further proof of his narcissism.

Why would it save him? If it’s all true, it makes him look useless - why isn’t the PM’s phone password protected for example, I’m not allowed to give DH access to my work phone. He’s the PM, blaming his wife for being controlling doesn’t make him seem any less ill-equipped for the role. It’s all ultimately his fault, even if she is as bad as the article suggests (which I doubt anyway).

Cherchez la femme.

As always.

They are both ghastly social climbers.

The End.

@Viviennemary

I think she must take some of the blame. Since some of the possibly illegal events took place in her home. A more mature and responsible wife would have acted differently. A Theresa May type.

Of course if she was personally involved in things which broke covid laws, that falls on her. The rest of Johnson’s incompetence is on him.

Interesting that you bring up May - her husband was never blamed for things she did, and he was never scrutinised in the way male PM’s wives are.