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?

I genuinely think it's impossible to unite the country now. The gulf is too great. One half of the population has blindly chosen to commit an act of national self harm for which they are unable to articulate the anticipated benefits, and the other half of the population will be unable to forgive them for that.

It's pointless asking people to unite when there is nothing to unite behind.

Boris's best bet at this stage would be to go for the softest Brexit possible, because even though nobody would really be happy with that, it would at least be a compromise that reflects how evenly the country is split. That's what May should have done in the first place. It won't happen though. It seems that Boris and his cronies are hell-bent on a hard Brexit.

It will take generations before the wounds are healed from this. If the union breaks up, those wounds may never heal.

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.....

Largely fake news and disingenuous editing by remain campaigners - Nigel Farage said Norway's deal was good for Norway but not the UK.

Some genuine honesty from the government would be refreshing, unlikely to happen anytime soon, but would be welcome non the less.

Leave campaigners promoting the Norway position to be a good one. 2016.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=0xGt3QmRSZY

Anyone, whether politician or ordinary member of the public, who tells me that we must all pull together or unite to ensure Brexit is a success, will be told to fuck off.
Boris will have to DO something to unite the country; rhetoric is not enough. He could start by looking to compromise and to keep regulatory alignment with the EU.

That's a good video Hester.

Amazing how short some people's memories are....

I do not wish to unite with a corrupt, racist and misogynistic prime minister who plays the buffoon as a charm offensive.
I do not wish to align with the new-Nazi Farage.
I do not want to unify with those who think sovereignty was ever lost and that we are ‘overrun’ with immigrants.
I do not want to unite with anyone wearing a St George’s flag as an indicator of their political persuasion.
I do not want to identify as an acceptor of a referendum that was fought illegally and based on lies.
I don’t want to unify with bigots who have endangered our futures based on a ‘feeling’ that they wanted a change.

A couple of things people have already mentioned would be a good start: stop the lies, go for as soft (ie. least damaging) a Brexit as possible.

Clav, even by your standards, using Wiki as source is scarping a barrel. Yes, Boris did damage Nazanin's cause, primarily by saying she was something that she was not.

He's already started. First weeks £350 million to the NHS, as promised. On time. On target. As reported

(I would have thought it was obvious to anyone. If Boris keeps his promises, he's uniting the nation. If not he's a lying shitbag and anyone who voted for him has been duped (unless they're happy to admit they knew he wasn't going to honour his promises. In which case they are twats)).

www.suffolkgazette.com/news/brexit-nhs-cheque-pen-runs-out/

There was an awkward moment in Downing Street today when Boris Johnson’s pen ran out while he tried to sign the first £350 million cheque to the NHS.

The Prime Minister was eager to begin the untold benefits of Brexit with his first weekly post-EU payment to the health service, his side-of-a-bus pledge during the referendum campaign.

But after scribbling out today’s date, and ‘National Health Service’ in the pay line, his biro began to fade and stopped working at all after the word three on the second line

Hear hear, @CherryPavlova.

Should I point out here that the Suffolk Gazette is a satirical website, not a genuine news outlet?

Or did everyone know that?

Should I point out here that the Suffolk Gazette is a satirical website, not a genuine news outlet?

Yes, but Boris is sending £350 million a week to the NHS isn't he ? Just like he promised on that bus. So that much must be true.

Why, if it isn't, it would be a terrible thing, wouldn't it. Completely indefensible, surely ? No one would be so lax in morals as to accept a lie of such magnitude would they ?

HesterThrale
Leave campaigners promoting the Norway position to be a good one. 2016.

Well, for a start I've just put one of the Nigel Farage quotes from your link into Google - it's from December 2014 (and no doubt taken out of context), the Aaron Banks tweet (Dec 2015) only has 24 retweets and 16 likes...

Yes, but Boris is sending £350 million a week to the NHS isn't he ? Just like he promised on that bus.So that much must be true.

No, it's more than that - Theresa May has already pledged £394 million extra a week; fullfact.org/health/nhs-england-394-million-more/

No, it's more than that - Theresa May has already pledged £394 million extra a week

Now that's the kind of news that is needed to silence the naysayers ! So since Theresa May was in office that'll be what ...an extra £63 billion into the NHS ? £394 million x 16 weeks ?

I don't suppose you've got a list of where it was spent yet ?

Arkadas
Yes, Boris did damage Nazanin's cause, primarily by saying she was something that she was not.

How exactly though? The newspaper headlines from 2017 claim that Boris Johnson's gaffe could cost NZR an extra 5 years in prison ( relating to new charges) - on top of her original sentence.This doesn't appear to be the case - she is still serving her original 5 year sentence. She had already lost her appeal against the original sentence when BJ made the gaffe.The main obstacle seems to be that we 'owe' Iran £400m.

So since Theresa May was in office

Ah, but she kindly stepped in to help Boris and co;
“We will take back control of our money, by putting an end to vast annual payments to the EU. Instead, we will be able to spend British taxpayer’s money on our own priorities, like the extra £394 million per week that we are investing in our long-term plan for the NHS."

You don't read the right newspapers.

Instead, we will be able to spend British taxpayer’s money on our own priorities, like the extra £394 million per week that we are investing in our long-term plan for the NHS.

Thanks for that - as you say I must read the wrong newspapers as I missed that. So Boris has been sending the extra £394 million a week to the NHS then ? Good on him.

What papers can I find details of where it's going in ?

I don't see how he can bring the country together. That ship sailed when the 52:48 result was taken as a mandate for a hard Brexit.

If, in 2016 someone had stood up and said, actually we're pretty much divided down the middle - we will honour the result but remain in the single market, go for a soft Brexit etc. I (and I'm sure many other remainers) would have been able to get behind that.

Reasonable compromise is what most of us practice with difficult decisions on a daily basis, something we teach our children, etc. Unfortunately not ever looking for a compromise position but instead spinning the rhetoric in such a hostile way towards remainers means that there is nothing for us to reconcile behind. No olive branches, no attempt to heal - and as such I fail to see how we can possibly come together while this narrative continues to play out.

HesterThrale
Look what I've just found in relation to another quote from your YouTube link (People's Vote Campaign):

"Shropshire MP and Brexiteer Owen Paterson has written to Jeremy Corbyn asking the Labour leader not to misquote him in future."

"At Prime Minister's Questions today, you told the House that I had once said:'Only a madman would leave the Single Market.' I did not say this. However, it is a very common misquotation, frequently repeated on Twitter, so I can understand how you have been unwittingly misled."

"Mr Paterson explained how part of the quote had originated from a TV interview."

He said: "In an interview with Dermot Murnaghan for Sky News in October 2015, I said: 'Only a madman would actually leave the market. It's not the EU, which is a political organisation, delivering the prosperity and buying our goods. It's the market. It's the members of the market and we will carry on trading with the market. Are we really suggesting that the fifth largest economy in the world is not going to come to a satisfactory trading arrangement with the EU? Are we going to be like Sudan and North Korea? I mean, it's ludicrous this idea that we are going to leap off a cliff into a dark space. We will carry on trading'."

"Mr Paterson's correspondence concludes by asking Mr Corbyn to make his colleagues aware of its content."

He said: "I hope that this is clear and that you will avoid misquoting me in future. I would be grateful if you would draw your colleagues' attention to this letter so that they do not make a similar mistake."

www.shropshirestar.com/news/politics/2019/03/14/owen-paterson-dear-jeremy-please-stop-misquoting-me/

HesterThrale
You didn't think the People's Vote campaigners were playing by the rules did you? I rumbled them ages ago.

It doesn't seem possible to reunite the country following any fifty fifty split. One side will be furious, and that's half the population.

I'm not sure referendums are ever a good idea, and yes I am Scottish.

It doesn't seem possible to reunite the country following any fifty fifty split. One side will be furious, and that's half the population.

Of course it's possible. Boris delivers on all his promises, and everyones happy. Job done.

I admit there has been a lot of negativity and cynicism from some quarters. But as I was taught at school, the only way to deal with doubters is to prove them wrong. Surely it's not that hard ?

Boris Johnson will unite the country. He will either

a) succeed

or

b) fail

Either way, the nation will unite in its opinion of him

Remainer here, I think that it is possible to bring the country together.

Like pp have said, an acknowledgement of the lies and role of cambridge analytica in the referendum with a working group put in place to look at what we can do to limit this in the future.

I would like to see a proper exploration of the reasons for the leave vote. The lies have long been debunked and yet the fervour is stronger than ever and no cohesive vision for the benefit. We talk of feelings of sovereignty and of power and control but we always had sovereignty and we shared power to make us stronger. Why do we feel so powerless? is it a lack of understanding, education? or are whole swathes of the population powerless? These are questions that are not being asked. Power is being moved back centrally to London so how are we going to empower people?

A strong vision for the future we can get behind, it's foolish to get on a train if you have no idea where it's going!

An acknowledgement of the closeness of the vote and a close relationship with the EU. To stop using people and business as pawns and start ensuring the rights of everyone affected by this (Yes I know there has been some movement here but it is far from enough).

There is so much a good PM could do to start the healing process. Sadly I see nothing that would convince me Bojo is the man for the job, his solution seems to be to put aside our concerns, our critical thought processes, our need for answers and security, our own dreams for the future and follow him blindly with his.

Just my thoughts on the situation. I am not an expert, I'm a worried mum. I hope with all my heart I am wrong.