Is anyone actually still behind the Prime Minister?

[annabel85]

I don't think he has handled the pandemic as well as he could tbh and i've noticed the tide turning on here recently very much against him. The right wing media are really getting restless with Boris as well and of course the left are sticking the knife in.

I think a lot of people cut him loads of slack because it was an unprecedented situation and then he got really ill himself (I don't think his 'shake hands with the virus' attitude was sensible either) which set the government back in their response. Then he was let down by his main advisor which has eroded confidence in his administration.

How can Boris get a hold of this and the government approach to Covid and get everyone back on side again? 9 months ago he won one of the biggest landslides ever, to huge fanfare. It's a bit of a downfall at the moment, he still has a chance to recover it.

Boris needs to unite the country again.

The government promised a world beating system, an app, adequate testing, effective tracing. They've not delivered on any of those things.

It's very frustrating - they do keep trumpeting new things, which quietly disappear never to be mentioned again.
And hardly anyone holds them to account for it!
People still saying he is doing his best!

Johnson / Cummings / Hancock/ Patel / Raab / Shapps / Harding etc.... are one of the biggest shitshows in the history of governments.

They just can't seem to plan or predict, everything is reactive by the seat of their lying pants.

Government Mantra

Lie, Bluff, Blame and repeat.

I agree that all governments across the globe have found this crisis challenging but some have handled it better than others.

What we need now though is a strong and trustworthy leader. Boris is the very opposite of that. He has little, if any, political credibility left.

@Dee1975

I don’t think anyone else would have done much better. Yes they would have in certain areas (communication for example!). But worse in other areas too. I don’t think Corbyn would have led a better strategy. And I don’t see what strategy starmer is suggesting apart from ‘mr hindsight’ and ‘captain obvious’.

Well neither of them are sufficiently in hock to Dominic Cummings that they'd have felt the need to keep him on and defend him despite the plummeting public trust stemming from that decision, so there's that.

In other news, MP Danny Kruger failed to wear a mask on a train. A member of the public grassed him up, just like Saint Boris told us to. Will the MP be sacked? Will he fuck.

The Media were very vocal in their original push for a lockdown, and it is thought the Gov did not lock down soon enough. Consequently, this time, it seems to me that the Gov are trying to pre-empt further massive deaths by a second (almost) lockdown.
My own view is that I went along with the original lockdown as it seemed it was for a max of 6-8 weeks to 'save the NHS'. Now the slogans have changed and they are referring to 'cases', which are positive tests.
However, I am increasingly hearing and reading of other emminent scientists who disagree with the Gov, but are not being listened to.
I would like the measure being adopted to be discussed in parliament, and evidence on the 'rule of 6', etc.
I feel we are living by rule of decree, by a Gov who keep changin the rules. Last week it was 'return to work'. This week it is 'work from home'.

The Media were very vocal in their original push for a lockdown,

They generally were but then also very vocal about lifting it. Covid dominates the news but there isn’t always enough to report on and they act in a vacuum sometimes angling for the next headline. Six months long haul now, at least a time period has been put out there.

Right at the beginning of lockdown he had me and my family in the palm of his hand. I thought he was doing a good job. It was after he had Covid that I think he lost his way a bit. I don't trust he has the capability to lead us through this now.

I didn't vote for the Tories (more than just Boris), as I don't feel that they have the British public in mind when making decisions. The pandemic has reaffirmed my thoughts on the matter.

Children are being swept under the rug. The poor are being swept under the rug. The disabled are being swept under the rug. The self-employed are being swept under the rug. Women are being swept under the rug. It's all about the economy and to hell with whoever winds up dead, homeless, or mentally ill in the process.

These clowns should not be allowed anywhere near parliament, yet here we are.

He lost the country the moment he let Cummings get away with breaking the rules.

Abso-bloody- lutely Redwine, i agree that was a real watershed moment..

They're a bunch of fuckwits, making huge promises and not delivering.
Who the hell can possibly believe a single word anymore?

@Itsabeautifuldayheyhey

Agree. I’m not sure who people think would have done any better.

I think lots of people are behind him and think he's done a good job given the circumstances. But those that dislike him, for whatever reason are very vocal about it. Those that support him just tend to roll their eyes and not comment

Problem is Johnston’s not actually a leader. He needs to be told what to do, normally by DC, then bumble and piffle infront of the cameras and take the credit.

That’s not what we need right now with Covid and Brexit.

He just reacts to events rather than understand them and then just relies on advice rather than actually leading

As said earlier only the backstabbers are behind Boris Johnson

The PM gave hope to Britain by saying: "by next spring things will be vastly vastly different."

He said the same for Christmas. How can people believe him and in his policies

@Lonelycrab

Problem is Johnston’s not actually a leader. He needs to be told what to do, normally by DC, then bumble and piffle infront of the cameras and take the credit.

That’s not what we need right now with Covid and Brexit.

He just reacts to events rather than understand them and then just relies on advice rather than actually leading

Who was it that said Boris waits to see which way the crowd is going and then leaps in front shouting follow me?

Hesilitine maybe?

With the "oh I'm so disappointed" narrative coming from the right wing press, I've been surprised not to have seen a conspiracy theory emerging that Johnson is actually dead, like Paul McCartney.

Apols to the 334556667 people who have probably already suggested this, I have only read the first two pages

having to make decisions without the benefit of hindsight.

Johnson's government appears to feed chaos and make no effort to help people to follow their reasoning. This is very much the approach they took to the Leave campaign. No 10 is largely staffed by people who see opportunities in that very chaos.

The voting people are distracted and encouraged to squabble amongst themselves.

Meanwhile, government contracts for large projects are awarded without any tendering or oversight, which is quite brilliant for those in receipt of such contracts, without any of the usual onerous conditions (such as providing the actual service eg test, track and trace

The very opposite of leadership.

I don’t see what strategy starmer is suggesting apart from ‘mr hindsight’ and ‘captain obvious"

Not hindsight to realise that going up against Google/Apple and try to design an app that goes against their privacy policies, esp as weeks earlier, Germany had done a u turn and decided to work with them...

Obvious that you order PPE from established PPE companies and not from your mate who doesn't know a FFP3 mask from their elbow.

Fairly obv you build capacity for testing during the quieter summer months ready for winter and not dick about on holiday, ignoring the problem.

I reluctantly backed Johnson in the early days of the pandemic (we had to put politics to one side and work as one nation) until he said he would shake and had shook the hands of infectious patients.... after that i thought the guy a fucking idiot.
No one in a position of power could be that stupid could they?

It’s not just Boris Johnson in isolation either. I’m very annoyed Jacob Rees-Mog wasn’t more widely condemned for his ‘carping on about testing’ comment.

Testing is what we’re meant to be doing, their job is to provide it and they’ve failed massively.

Covid is a feminine crisis. It doesn't need acts of heroism, it needs diligence, patience, attention to detail and caution. The kind of characteristics associated with nursing or motherhood.

Johnson has made his career out of being a big silly boy. He is very badly suited to being in power at all, but in this crisis he's abysmal.

Plus, I can't help but be furious when I think how a woman who behaved as he does would be treated. Serial cheat, oodles of children, alcohol problem, looks a mess, several stone overweight... Not to mention the choice to divorce and start a new family at the same time as becoming prime minister. Absolutely stupid.

@DemolitionBarbie spot on

He lost the country the moment he let Cummings get away with breaking the rules. I always find this a very childish view. He did it so I can do it too. In addition I don't think that Cummings did anything wrong at all.

@derxa Hi Dom, eyesight ok now?