Boris Johnson

[Ellen Brown]

It is said that he will be the new Prime Minister of the UK. I don't know a thing about him other than that he looks like a clown to me. Can someone from the UK fill me in?

 

[Lyndon]

you'e right, he's a clown, a scary, dangerous clown.

 

[ImmortalFlame]

Ditto. Stupid, ignorant, lying clown.

 

[Notanumber]

He is one of the cleverest people in the UK, but we will have to see if he is clever enough to thwart all the Brexit naysayers in parliament.

If he isn’t, the Conservative Party will be dust. He is their last hope and they should realise that and stand behind him.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Don’t be taken in by the buffoonery. Boris is a very serious
Boris Johnson will never be prime minister. Here’s why | Steve Richards

One of these got it right. He may appear clownish but he isn't a professional, although his history (Wikipedia?) doesn't suggest much confidence should necessarily be placed in him. Clever? Not so sure one could claim this.

 

[Notanumber]

You do not rise to a high position in the best college at Oxford University if you are a slouch.

 

[HonestJoe]

It is said that he will be the new Prime Minister of the UK. I don't know a thing about him other than that he looks like a clown to me. Can someone from the UK fill me in?

You could easily read up on his background for various standard sources and I can only give my knowingly biased opinion. I’ve very much not a fan of the man. He’d be entertaining at a party but I don’t want him to be actually responsible for anything important.

Johnston is an old-school upper class, highly educated (not the same as intelligent) Conservative politician with lots of show but limited substance. His early career was in journalism (with a couple of controversies which bring his honesty in question) before he became a career politician, as an MP, government minister and Mayor of London. He’s achieve some things in those offices (though it’s always hard to know whether the individual or the team behind them are doing the actual work) but has also caught himself up in several controversies and questionable decisions, some quite serious.

In general terms he’s manage to avoid binding himself to any specific political lean and seems to intentionally leave his politics open, having shifted position on various key issues, notably including Brexit. His regular comparisons with Trump are valid IMO, but he doesn’t have the same aggression or malice (at least in public). My main difficulty with him is that he has always presented an image as a bumbling fool who doesn’t really know what’s going on. That suggests to me that he either is a bumbling fool or he has been putting up an entirely manufactured image for his entire public career, which would make him a pathological liar and fraud. I’m not happy with the idea of either trait in our Prime Minister. Unfortunately, lots of people don’t appear to care about that and are won over by his fluffy image.

 

[Mock Turtle]

You do not rise to a high position in the best college at Oxford University if you are a slouch.

I think there is a fallacy in there somewhere - as to ability versus popularity?

 

[Notanumber]

You could easily read up on his background for various standard sources and I can only give my knowingly biased opinion. I’ve very much not a fan of the man. He’d be entertaining at a party but I don’t want him to be actually responsible for anything important.

Johnston is an old-school upper class, highly educated (not the same as intelligent) Conservative politician with lots of show but limited substance. His early career was in journalism (with a couple of controversies which bring his honesty in question) before he became a career politician, as an MP, government minister and Mayor of London. He’s achieve some things in those offices (though it’s always hard to know whether the individual or the team behind them are doing the actual work) but has also caught himself up in several controversies and questionable decisions, some quite serious.

In general terms he’s manage to avoid binding himself to any specific political lean and seems to intentionally leave his politics open, having shifted position on various key issues, notably including Brexit. His regular comparisons with Trump are valid IMO, but he doesn’t have the same aggression or malice (at least in public). My main difficulty with him is that he has always presented an image as a bumbling fool who doesn’t really know what’s going on. That suggests to me that he either is a bumbling fool or he has been putting up an entirely manufactured image for his entire public career, which would make him a pathological liar and fraud. I’m not happy with the idea of either trait in our Prime Minister. Unfortunately, lots of people don’t appear to care about that and are won over by his fluffy image.

You could not find a better example of a pathological liar than our last Prime Minister.

Even though she was and still is a Remainer, we gave her the benefit of the doubt and she kicked us in the teeth.

If Boris does the same, the Tories are sunk. Boris knows that so let’s hope that the rest of his party realise it.

 

[Notanumber]

I think there is a fallacy in there somewhere - as to ability versus popularity?

Boris has the popularity of 66% versus 34%. This is quite a margin and another indicator of what the nation thinks about Brexit.

 

[Lyndon]

How is a pole of Conservative party faithful indicative of the country as a whole, its just not!!

 

[HonestJoe]

You could not find a better example of a pathological liar than our last Prime Minister.

Even though she was and still is a Remainer, we gave her the benefit of the doubt and she kicked us in the teeth.

I’m no huge fan of May but I don’t buy that accusation at all. She headed the negotiation of a perfectly viable Brexit deal with the EU which could have been implemented already if only our MPs hadn’t played so much stupid partisan politics with it, blocking it because it wasn’t exactly the outcome they each wanted (or in a few notable cases, because blocking Brexit at that point gave them a chance of becoming PM, a plan that worked for one ).

May’s deal was far from perfect (though I can’t conceive of one – including and form of remaining in the EU - that would be) and she didn’t handle that political mess very well at all but I do believe she honestly worked to get a form of Brexit through and move on, something more and more British people are ultimately calling for – just agree on something already and get it done either way. I suspect that is something Johnston will now play on.

 

[Notanumber]

How is a pole of Conservative party faithful indicative of the country as a whole, its just not!!

They are far more likely to have their finger on the pulse of the country than our delusional Remainer parliament. The ones that are trying to ignore the will of the people.

 

[Notanumber]

I’m no huge fan of May but I don’t buy that accusation at all. She headed the negotiation of a perfectly viable Brexit deal with the EU which could have been implemented already if only our MPs hadn’t played so much stupid partisan politics with it, blocking it because it wasn’t exactly the outcome they each wanted (or in a few notable cases, because blocking Brexit at that point gave them a chance of becoming PM, a plan that worked for one ).

May’s deal was far from perfect (though I can’t conceive of one – including and form of remaining in the EU - that would be) and she didn’t handle that political mess very well at all but I do believe she honestly worked to get a form of Brexit through and move on, something more and more British people are ultimately calling for – just agree on something already and get it done either way. I suspect that is something Johnston will now play on.

Mrs May’s deal was not a deal, it was a treaty that would have enslaved the UK as a vassal state and she lied to us on many occasions.

She kept telling us that no deal was better than a bad deal but she never mentioned no deal directly to the EU.

 

[HonestJoe]

Mrs May’s deal was not a deal, it was a treaty that would have enslaved the UK as a vassal state

Who told you that? Do you mean the literal definition of vassal state or is that just political rhetoric (i.e. a lie )?

and she lied to us on many occasions.

I never said she didn’t. Political (and political operatives) lie all the time. That is entirely different to manufacturing a fake public image for the good of a political career and managing to maintaining it for several decades. That isn’t simply choosing to speak and untruth, that’s wilfully throwing yourself down the rabbit hole.

She kept telling us that no deal was better than a bad deal but she never mentioned no deal directly to the EU.

Parliament voted down the idea of “no deal” so her hands were largely tied. Threatening something everyone knows you can’t do isn’t a rational negotiation tactic. Even without that, such a cold threat wouldn’t necessarily be the best way to achieve a reasonable deal and could lead the Europeans to be more aggressive in pushing their preferences in response. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

 

[Notanumber]

Was Mrs May’s fake public image of being a bl**dy difficult woman and playing on the fact that she is a vicars daughter that once did a naughty thing by running through a corn field for the good of a political career?

She was far from difficult with the EU negotiators. She could not roll over fast enough.

Boris has a chance now of correcting Mrs May’s blunders for the sake of the country and his party.

BTW, he should have been given the job three years ago.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Boris has the popularity of 66% versus 34%. This is quite a margin and another indicator of what the nation thinks about Brexit.

Not at all.... the Conservative party electoral membership, is predominately White, male. well off Middle class, and in the last age quartile of their lives.
This is very different to the make up of the "National Electorate" and represents a very narrow band of the self appointed privileged elite.
It is even less representative than the make up of conservative MP's and Lords

 

[pearl]

Wasn't he also Putin's pick?

 

[Mock Turtle]

Boris has the popularity of 66% versus 34%. This is quite a margin and another indicator of what the nation thinks about Brexit.

Nice evasion of 'one of the cleverest people in the UK'. By that reckoning so am I. And the popularity, if it comes from the voting results, just reflects the Tory party members, not the voting public. We'll have to see how he fares - I have to give him that at least. But I am not hopeful.

 

[Notanumber]

We can only judge people by the results that they achieve.

I say give him a chance as we gave Mrs May and see if he can do better.