Booing Boris. AIBU to say he deserved it?

[newnamethanks]

I'm not a boo-er, it doesn't come naturally to me. Yet thinking of the photo of the queen, alone, at her husband's funeral contrasted with his snivelling 'apology' for tolerating depraved behaviour in his workplace together with his other contemptuous behaviour over the course of parliament, I'd have found it hard to resist. His presence just seems like adding more insult to injury.

I hope Boris gets booed every single time he appears in public from now on to remind the tories that the public haven't forgotten and will never let this go even if they're desperate to forget. We owe it to all those who died alone (my cousin included) not to forget.

I suspect he will. That's why those who control the bots are so worried.

@JaniieJones have you seen any opinion polls recently indicating how popular Johnson is?
No doubt the triumph of losing 1/4 of their councillors at the local elections is also an indication of Johnson's popularity.

@JaniieJones you are a hoot.

Any time you want to debate why it was appropriate for a 56year old man to have a birthday party whilst the same man was denying that opportunity to millions of children, do let me know. I've been waiting months.

The by elections could be interesting. Normally the party leaders would be there regularly, but does any Tory candidate want to risk getting booed along with Boris? People like Patel, Rees-Mogg, Gove and Raab won't be a lot more popular, Sunak doesn't want questions about the cost of living or his family taxes, the rest clearly don't want to have to defend Boris (otherwise we wouldn't be seeing so much of Dorries, Fabricant and Bone). They could be a bit stuck.

'So many people respond to the likes JJ and clav because they way they write is designed to get a response.'

'We train to train ourselves better not to bite.'

It's a shame you think this @itsgettingweird , you're one of the very few on these threads able to debate reasonably and you bring up interesting points however this is just lowering yourself to the level of others. Nothing I say is 'designed to get a response'. I obviously stand by everything I say, folk don't need to 'train themselves not to bite' rather to learn how to debate without insults and personal attacks.

That's been true of this whole situation really. I think it's at least possible that if Johnson had admitted to all this back in December, called it a mistake and pretended to be humble, it might genuinely all be behind him now. It's dragged out for so long because of arrogance and an attempt to swerve the consequences.

'Any time you want to debate why it was appropriate for a 56year old man to have a birthday party whilst the same man was denying that opportunity to millions of children, do let me know. I've been waiting months.'

And yet I've answered umpteen times. It wasn't a party it was a few mins in an office with people saying happy birthday. I'm so sorry if you think this is a party

<before you ask yes if you burgled my house you're still a burglar!!>

Nobody ever responds to your posts with anything but courtesy these days because of your alacrity with the report button.

You may well be right.
The longer term question is how much damage has the Tory party done to itself by not acting sooner. It looks as though the next GE has probably already been lost, perhaps even with a change of leader, question is can they recover in time for the one after that.

'I think it's at least possible that if Johnson had admitted to all this back in December, called it a mistake and pretended to be humble, it might genuinely all be behind him now.'

There was nothing to admit, he was at work! Just like whatshisname, Sir Keir QVC.

Did the Prime Minister at any point during the very many Downing Street Briefings in April and May 2020 tell school children that it was fine if they had cake and sang to each other on birthdays if they were in school, and perhaps invite a few of their other friends and brothers and sisters along as well?

@JaniieJones Are you the least bit concerned that the Prime Minister seems to have spent an awful lot of time during a national crisis drinking "at work"?
Did that drinking impair his judgement, or is he so used to drinking that a few glasses of wine has no impact?

And it's back to namecalling from Janiie, didn't take long.

Johnson received a FPN, so it was an illegal gathering.

Yet he's been fined and apologised over this 'nothing'. Eventually. And meanwhile the Tories are tanking in the polls.

But anyway, this is a point about the handling of the issue. What you've done here is conflated your belief that the parties themselves were nothing with the consequences that have flowed from them. It isn't a good idea for politicians to indulge themselves in that way, doesn't make for good strategy. One could think this was all an evil Remainer plot and still have noticed that the Tories are now suffering because of it.

Please, please can we not rerun this conversation for the eleventy billionth time? I don’t know about anyone else but I’m bored witless by it.

And yet its been pointed out to you umpteen times that it doesn't matter whether it was a party or not. The point is that it was a gathering that was not reasonably necessary for work. As recognised by the issue of FPNs. Do you think it is acceptable for a Prime Minister to take part in this birthday gathering whilst telling children that they couldn't have birthday parties?

I think it's acceptable for journalists covering an event such as this. The primary purpose is the event and broadcasters, particularly the BBC, are wary of anything that could be said to be politically biased.

But those clips exist and were extensively played and discussed. At last night's BBC News paper review journalists from the Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail discussed it. The woman from the Mirror said what you'd expect. The surprise was the Mail man. Though not exactly sticking the knife in there was no comfort for Johnson in his words. I forget his name but he was an assistant editor so fairly senior. There was no way he wouldn't have discussed what he was going to say to clear it beforehand with more senior colleagues and possibly the editor.

The Mail were aggressively cheerleading for Johnson up to the weekend following Sue Gray's report. Since then they've obviously had calls from readers and a lot of feedback from Tory MPs whose constituents are not amused. Johnson's breathtaking arrogance in changing the ministerial code is another sign they can't brush under the carpet. I'd say it was shocking if it wasn't entirely within his character. There really is something wrong with him that goes beyond the arrogance all senior politicians display. People were willing to indulge it while he was winning votes but he's looking like a liability and there will be no mercy.

I think Boris Johnson has a much bigger problem than parties. I personally couldn't give a shit about his parties - they are of no interest to me.

I had "gatherings" in lockdown and facilitated the same for my teenagers, because I made my own decisions about what I was willing to be told to do by a bunch of idiots.

The only reason the government came up with the most crashingly stupid and damaging policy since Brexit (i.e. lockdown) was so that they wouldn't be held responsible if the NHS (which is in any case not fit for purpose and needs comprehensively dismantling and replacing with a system that actually meets the needs of a 21st century population) collapsed on their watch. It was nothing to do with killing Granny. What astounds me is that so many people went along with the narrative that they were fed. Where was the critical thinking?

"Real" Conservatives like me despise Boris Johnson for what he has done to Conservatism. This government is the least Conservative government in history.

If you are engaging in debate, you must be open to different points of view, acceptance of evidence and the possibility that you could be wrong.
Otherwise you are not engaged in debate, you are entrenched in a viewpoint and taking part with disingenuous motives, trying to browbeat people with the same words that are empty of genuine meaning.

Not two pages back you implied people who don't agree with your opinion are brainwashed by the media. Maybe heed your own advice, or ask your programmer to code it in?

Nothing awks there. Most of us watched it live, we heard the booing with our own ears. Maybe you and “Penny” should stop trying to gaslight us.

The Twitter Borisconi supporters can retweet the Sky and Beeb's cleaned up versions all they want, but we all know that is not what the live feed sounded like. Awks.

'If you are engaging in debate, you must be open to different points of view, acceptance of evidence and the possibility that you could be wrong.'

Exactly! Please refer to my previous clip of Kay Burley saying live on telly 'cheers for the PM'.

I think we can all agree he got a mixed response which is not surprising. I don't think any boos are appropriate when folk are on there way into a cathedral to mark the Queen's Jubilee but there you go.