Boris Johnson bringing the country together

[Arkadas]

Johnson has said: "... our job as the government – my job – is to bring this country together now"

How do people think he will be able to achieve this? I've been racking my brains ever since he said it. IMO, he lacks the necessary personal and diplomatic skills, as he would rather go for a quick laugh/off the cuff remark/than take any kind of thoughtful, reasoned, inclusive position.

I've struggled - and failed - to forgive him for his stupidity in the Nazanin Zagari Ratcliffe case, or his remarks about bum boys and piccaninny smiles, and don't believe he's fit to be PM for those things alone. Nevertheless, he is. So, how can he achieve his promise to bring the country together. What would you like him to do to achieve this?

Resign? Announce a referendum on Brexit with the voting public properly informed, and jump over Beachy Head holding hands with Nigel Farage and the ERG?

@Naomh in seriousness, who would you want to replace him? Because people demanded May stepped down and now don't like the replacement.

It's too late for another Brexit referendum now; and I think the result is pretty conclusive from the recent election.

We, as a country, now need to accept that Brexit is happening. That has caused a massive divide for getting on for 4 years now.
I think we need a smooth and fast Brexit and for people to have certainty of where they stand.
It's affecting so many people in different ways and we need the security of final decisions so people can know that they're safe and secure.

Not a hope in hell.

I think the result is pretty conclusive from the recent election.

Not sure why people assert this, although it suits leaver rhetoric. It was an election, not a re-run of the referendum and, in terms of numbers of votes, I believe parties that were against Brexit or promised a second referendum got more of the vote share.

@Arkadas Conservatives got 3 million votes more than any other party.

And I'm a Remainer. Just a realistic one.

They were the only party promising to finish this debacle I can understand why people did it (a bit) its dragged on for so long

I don’t think the country is going to unite post Brexit, as one half of the country and probably most businesses want to remain as closely aligned to the Eu as possible, whilst the other half don’t want to be rule takers. I note the lies and misinformation continued yesterday with Raab insisting EU would be at fault if there are increased border checks after transition, and all the rubbish about the Australian type deal in the telegraph.

I would like Johnson, the Conservatives, and the Leave campaign to admit to all the lies they told, and apologise for them. That would be a big help in the process of forgiving them.

Also I would like free chocolate stands on all street corners.

I feel nothing but disgust towards Boris on a personal and political level.

The calls to "unite" are just a call for Remainers (and anyone else who disagrees with him) to shut up and go along with the trashing of our country.

I really cannot see how he can possibly bring the country together. When you strip away the bullshit (lies, statistics, scare tactics and doom-mongering), there are 2 fundamentally different sets of values and beliefs about the nature of the UK and its role in the world. They are irreconcilable.

the result is pretty conclusive

The election result told me more about the failings of the FPTP system than I had really spotted before. How can it be fair that an increased number of people voted for parties not supporting Brexit while the government won a majority of 80 seats?

It certainly feeds into the rhetoric of leavers who don't appear to care about fairness, so long as things go their way.

It absolutely makes me question all previous exercises in democracy in which I have participated. Did I only examine the underlying fairness and honesty then, or only when I did not like the result ?

I certainly will from now on, though I did support the move toward proportional representation. Sigh. If anything I will be keeping a sharp eye on BJ's government to hold them to account. Haven't managed it yet but we shall see how it goes.

It's too late for another Brexit referendum now; and I think the result is pretty conclusive from the recent election.

But 57% voted against the Conservatives. How is that a conclusive pro-Brexit result?

His idea of uniting everyone is to tell Remainers to get over it and then announce something provocative to wind us all up. Not a hope in hell of me ever uniting with him and his revolting, lying ilk.

I don't understand how difficult it is to understand that the party who gets the most votes wins.

I'd rather that than two parties with less votes being able to go into a coalition because together, when neither of them have won enough votes to be elected on their own.

In the last election the Conservatives needed the support of the DUP. This time around they won by a bigger margin.

Anyway, as I said, I'm a Remainer but the decision has been made and wheels are in motion and we're not going to change that now so there's no point throwing vitriol around.
Once we have certainty over what happens next things will become much easier.
It's just a shit drawn out process.
But there's no point about being angry over Brexit forever.

It's too late for another Brexit referendum now; and I think the result is pretty conclusive from the recent election.

Yes, the brexit ship has sailed but no, the result of the election is not a reflection of the popular opinion on brexit. One system (the ref) was one person = one voice, individually counted. The other, with FPTP, meant many were in fact left voiceless. This was not a referendum. You can't say one system is democracy and parliament is not representing the people but then turn around and decide parliamentary democracy suits you after all (once the result gives you what you want!)

Johnson can bring the country together once he listens to the 48% and doesn't drag us over the no deal cliff in December.

Brexit is happening now. The only way this is going to be over is if, come December we have a comprehensive trade deal and close alignment with EU rules. Most people who voted for Brexit will be easily hoodwinked into believing they got what they wanted because they already think they got what they wanted- 'freedom'. Most remainers will accept it grudgingly I think just because it's the best of a bad job. If we dont get a trade deal, then the brexiteers will soon find out what they voted for. They will blame remainers and they will blame the EU for doing what they have always done to 3rd countries but whereas in the past, we've benefitted from their hardball trade tactics, we'll be on the receiving end. Because they have moved on from the War, but Brexiteers (who have no idea what a war is like) haven't.

I don't understand how difficult it is to understand that the party who gets the most votes wins.

It isn't difficult, obviously. But what some people don't seem to understand is that, if that party is voted for by a minority of the electorate, you can't claim that a majority of the electorate supports them. It's just basic logic.

I don't understand how difficult it is to understand that the party who gets the most votes wins

Everyone understands this

Close alignment? Not going to happen.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/02/uk-refuse-close-alignment-eu-rules-boris-johnson-trade

I thought this was interesting/horrifying

What noodle said.

And even then I think it will be a couple of generations.
People will start denying they voted leave.

It's no deal with Europe to allow for that bigly US deal. If that wasn't the plan from the off, we would not have brexit. That is the only aim.
I'm just wondering what would happen if democrats blocked it because of Ireland...

I've struggled - and failed - to forgive him for his stupidity in the Nazanin Zagari Ratcliffe case.

Did he actually cause any damage though? Wiki says this;

"Zaghari-Ratcliffe was thought likely to appear in court again on 10 December 2017 to face additional charges relating to her work for the BBC World Service Trust;[47][48] however, Iranian court officials released a statement that no new charges had been raised and these reports were false."

I thought NZR had already lost her appeal [against her 5 year sentence] when Boris Johnson made those remarks.

@Oulu you are right in that sense but we're never going to have a party than more than 50% of the electorate are going to vote for unless there are only 2 parties.

The Lib Dem's may well fade into the background again but once Brexit is done I can imagine the Greens becoming more prominent (even though they don't currently have any real working policies other than those that directly correlate to environmental issues).

And then if there was a 52/48% split people would still not accept the result because it's not a big enough split and not everyone who's entitled to vote has voted.

Unless we make it a legal requirement to vote I can't imagine some people ever not using the latter as an excuse.

The country cannot "come together" the split on leave or remain is unbridgeable with his current rhetoric.

TBH T.May had that chance, she could have gone for a EFTA style agreement, which during 2016 was talked about by brexitier politicians, Farage, Hannon.....
I hope the talk coming out of no 10 is just that... talk, otherwise the divides will become even greater.

I find it rather ironic that a major european country wants to align itself with Canada and Australia, rather than non EU european, successful countries such as Norway or Switzerland.