With every press conference he gets worse

[Keepcalmanddoyourbit]

Totally out of his fucking depth

Oh hallo Dominic!

He looks absolutely knackered.

ner ner ner ner boris is a prick ner ner ner let's stay in the EU ner ner ner, stfu lol

Prime Minister Cummings. You had a few vodkas, love?

He looks absolutely knackered.

He does. He's way out of his depth. I actually feel a bit sorry for him which I never thought I'd say - ever

Look it's an unprecedented situation, no leader is going to make all the right decisions because there just isn't a similar pandemic to base decisions on. I'm sceptical that Boris is getting it right by doing things so differently to other countries, but I accept that this isn't my field of expertise and I could be wrong.

However his demeanor in the press conference this evening was a disgrace. Openly admitting to being bored with the process ("do you get anything out of this?") and giving out incorrect information ("just like a pregnancy test, err only with with blood not urine").

As others have said, Leo Varadkar got it spot on. The contrast is thoroughly depressing.

From the BBC www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51966721

He [Blo Jo] said trials on a vaccine were expected to begin within a month and warned he would "enforce" Londoners to be kept apart "if necessary".

Earlier, in a message to the nation, the Queen urged people to come together for the common good.

Which is it? 'Keep apart' or 'come together'?

ner ner ner ner boris is a prick ner ner ner let's stay in the EU ner ner ner

100% agree with that. He is a prick and we should stay in the EU.

"JC would be exactly the same, but then i know it’s most favourite thong on MN to Boris bash"
The choice was between competent Tories and a bumbling Oaf. The Tory party choose the Oaf. The electorate didn't have such a fine choice of candidates.
How would Rory Stewart have done today?

This is not party political...I am desperate for him to do a good job. One thing this has shown is that rich or poor we really are all in this together because you can’t buy a cure. We don’t really have private ICU either. You can choose to self isolate if you are rich but this disease has started in the wealthy in the UK (with skiing in Italy spreading a lot of it). London is worst hit. I too respected May and I would even prefer Gove who I believe to be diligent. Pritti Patel would probably be clear. I am just disappointed in him and scared... let’s hope I am wrong and he turns this around. My families lives depend on him.

Agree that Leo was brilliant. We need direction and that has to be strong and empathetic. People need to know they'll be financially stable. They don't need a privileged, floppy haired idiot smirking.

My take on it, he’s going to lock London down tomorrow, but can’t exactly say so, he needs to do it before people start to flee in large numbers. Like with schools he said it might happen and wham it did. It was deliberately vague, but no one can say you weren’t warned for not following advice.

He does look like he’s been dragged through a hedge, and yes he bumbles. Annoying but some people obviously find his manner appropriate!

It could be worse we could have Donald Trump on our screens calling it the Chinese virus, and saying how he’s so amazing at science etc and he gets it...

Yes, Rory Stewart might be good.

Maybe he'll be the lucky chap left holding the baby if Boris goes hide in a fridge.

Fucket I think they’ve already gone.

Stewart’s not even an MP any more. He was part of Johnson’s cull when he ejected everyone with any sense from the party.

This thread is interesting from a psychological point of view, when I was doing my masters we looked a studies into leadership I'll try and find some of the studies of them.
But I clearly remember that there's a strong argument for a collaborative democratic leader when there's a very complex problem to solve. The basic idea being that many brains working together are better than one brain.
Where as psychologically if there's a crisis as a group we want the security of an autocratic non collaborative leader who makes decisions without much input. Apparently it makes us feel safe. I remember one particular paper looking at how people got quite angry, disruptive and uncomfortable when faced with collaborative leader in a complex crisis.

I don't know if Boris is truly a collaborative leader, I'm not in the cabinet but there are little clues he might be and I wonder if peoples reaction to him are partially a result of this need for an autocratic leader.

Johnson looked terrified yesterday. Today he seemed bored.

He's not out of his depth, he's drowning.

@sickoffamilydrama... that’s a very good point. The trick is to be a collaborative leader whilst appearing to be in control and accountable. Clinton and Tony Blair did a good job of that in my opinion.

I'm not a fan of the conservatives or Boris for that matter, but I'm not sure what you're all expecting? He came across as quite sincere to me.

He's an incompetent idiot. He wanted to be PM but not to actually have to DO the job.

I loathed Margaret Thatcher but if this had happened when she was PM I would have felt that she at least knew what she was doing. I loathed her policies but she was competent.

I think those that ignore all the good advice that is being offered by experts will cause the lockdown to occur sooner rather than later. Some nasty tales out there of selfish individuals who will be the first to squeal when it happens.

I'm not a Tory.

Not a BJ fan.

Up until today though I have been impressed.

He was waffle today but tbf I think he's exhausted. You can't blame him for being out if his depth. This is unprecedented .

He also made a good point about remote press conference.

Clinton and Tony Blair did a good job of that in my opinion.

Cloak and daggers is what most people have moved away from, Blair and Clinton is nothing but Tory Light in their economic policies, the fact that the 'left' was fooled by them initially is why labour have corbyn.

There is no doubt a lot of you will name change, but this is a full 180 on listening to experts re brexit and only believing statements that confirm a narrative, there is a heavy undertone of whatever Boris does will be wrong, it will go down as yet another example of how out of touch MN is with the wider population.

For people who find Johnson persuasive and think he is doing a good job, I have a suggestion. In a couple of weeks time, or later, when the death rate reaches 20,000, do rewatch a TV interview in which he talks about an approach of "taking it on the chin, so-to-speak" while looking so happy and cheerful and all shiny. Let's see how it ages.

I think he doesn't give a shit about the UK population, but in the current condition it is criminal. He is actually a criminal for what he has done - which is to fail to prepare, put lives at risk and fail to act to avoid avoidable deaths. I can't bring myself to watch his addresses anymore, he makes me sick.

Why does BJ look like he’s just about to laugh so often?

Also very often almost makes a joke but stops himself?

It’s outrageous in these circumstances.

And the fact that the population seems still to be persuaded by him, and so blind, is so so incredibly sad and doesn't give me any hope for any better future. People are literally prostrating themselves to be walked over, or chopped up.