Johnson not standing!

[Jim Ford]

Just heard that the loveable bumbling Boris Johnson is not standing for the Tory leadership.

I would have thought that as the UK is the laughing stock of Europe, if not the World, it would have been entirely appropriate to put a clown in charge!

Jim

[Crazy Dave]

Re: Johnson not standing!

What a relief Jim. My devious mind tells me that there is something toxic in Johnson's background that could have been made public had he maintained his candidacy.

David

[Ricoh]

Re: Johnson not standing!

I don't think Boris was someone to unite the country, and therefore has made the right decision. On the other hand Theresa May would make a splendid leader, she has a grown up attitude, doesn't shoot from the hip and is someone to unite the country.
Some would say it's about time we had a female prime minister again - something I wouldn't argue against.

Turning to the other side, if Corbyn is challenged and a formal leadership contest takes place, if re-elected I think it means political wilderness for the Labour Party for many years to come. Totally unelectable!

[Naughty Nigel]

Re: Johnson not standing!

I don't think Boris was someone to unite the country, and therefore has made the right decision. On the other hand Theresa May would make a splendid leader, she has a grown up attitude, doesn't shoot from the hip and is someone to unite the country.
Some would say it's about time we had a female prime minister again - something I wouldn't argue against.

Hear hear. If only we still had Maggie to handbag the EU!

Turning to the other side, if Corbyn is challenged and a formal leadership contest takes place, if re-elected I think it means political wilderness for the Labour Party for many years to come. Totally unelectable!

Corbyn favours an open door policy on immigration, so if Labour was ever elected with Corbyn in charge our EU exit will have been be completely pointless.

That makes me think Labour will be unelectable and not a credible opposition whilst he remains. Of course I would say that wouldn't I, but quite a lot of Labour MP's seem to agree right now.

[Ricoh]

Re: Johnson not standing!

Labour has a lot to answer for in the past: Jack Straw openly admitted he allowed the accession countries untethered access far too early. And now we await the Chilcot report; Blair and Bush have blood on their hands. In the past I did actually vote for new Labour - what a mistake!

[Mdb2]

Re: Johnson not standing!

I believe that Cameron is acting very childishly by throwing his towel in because he never got his own way!
All this cr--- p about " I love my country " in that case he should have seen our exit from the EU until the end of his time. Seems to me he has no ba--s
Just my view.
Kind regards Mike

[Jim Ford]

Re: Johnson not standing!

What a relief Jim. My devious mind tells me that there is something toxic in Johnson's background that could have been made public had he maintained his candidacy.

Not just in his background - his foreground as well! Sacked from two jobs for lying and a series of mistresses.

Jim

[Ricoh]

Re: Johnson not standing!

Yes, I thought David Cameron said he would serve for the full term irrespective of the outcome. He's going to be one hard act to follow. Top guy in my opinion.

[Zuiko]

Re: Johnson not standing!

Labour has a lot to answer for in the past: Jack Straw openly admitted he allowed the accession countries untethered access far too early. And now we await the Chilcot report; Blair and Bush have blood on their hands. In the past I did actually vote for new Labour - what a mistake!

Never mind Steve, we all do things we later regret. At the 1979 General Election not only did I vote Conservative but I ran the campaign in our local Ward as the Chairman was on holiday. Many, many hours spent organising leaflet deliveries, doorstep canvassing, ensuring our elderly supporters either had a postal vote or transport to the polling station. Then on polling day organising a team to ask voters for polling numbers as they left the station so we could cross off our copy of the Electoral Role back at HQ. Later in the evening this enabled us to identify known supporters (from our doorstep canvassing) who appeared to have not yet voted and send a car to offer them a lift. The result was close, but we held Chelmsford with a slightly increased majority and to my eternal regret I played a small part in helping Margaret Thatcher become the first female Prime Minister.

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Johnson not standing!

In "Another Place" I commented:

"A week is a long time in politics, but the last 7 days have been more like a script for a modern day Game of Thrones, mixed in with House of Cards, all topped off with a large helping of Yes Minister."

[peak4]

Re: Johnson not standing!

Just spotted this on another forum I frequent; You might need to read the odd sentence twice, but I think this Benjamin chap has summed much of the antics quite succinctly.

Author : Benjamin Blaine

Can I check that I've understood this correctly ?

The leader of the opposition campaigned to stay but secretly wanted to leave.
His party has held a non-binding vote to shame him into resigning so someone else can lead the campaign to ignore the result of the non-binding referendum which looks like a lot of angry people trying to shame politicians into seeing they'd all done nothing to help them.

Meanwhile, the man who campaigned to leave because he hoped losing would help him win the leadership of his party, accidentally won and ruined his chances because the man who thought he couldn't lose, did.
He resigned, however, before actually doing the thing the vote had been about.

The man who had always thought he'd lead next campaigned so badly that everyone thought he was lying when he said the economy would crash -and he was, but it did.
He's not resigned but, like the man who lost and the man who won, also now can't become leader.

This means that the woman who quietly campaigned to stay but always said she wanted to leave is likely to become leader instead

It also means that she holds the same view as the leader of the opposition but for opposite reasons, but her party's view of this view is the opposite of the opposition's. The opposition aren't yet opposing anything because the leader isn't listening to his party, who aren't listening to the country, who aren't listening to experts or possibly paying that much attention at all.

However, none of their opponents actually wants to be the one to do the thing that the vote was about, so there's not yet anything on the table to oppose anyway.
And if no one ever does the thing that most people asked them to do, it will be undemocratic but if anyone ever does it, it will be a catastrophe.

[Naughty Nigel]

Re: Johnson not standing!

Not just in his background - his foreground as well! Sacked from two jobs for lying and a series of mistresses.

Jim

..... Which I gather is why Theresa May has no time for him, and trips him up at every opportunity.

I see she took the opportunity to mention the water cannon episode today!

Personally I would be all in favour if giving the 'great unwashed' a cold shower or two when they are revolting.

Labour has a lot to answer for in the past: Jack Straw openly admitted he allowed the accession countries untethered access far too early. And now we await the Chilcot report; Blair and Bush have blood on their hands. In the past I did actually vote for new Labour - what a mistake!

Blair was our constituency MP when he was in power. For years he could do no wrong, and did everything that he could to cultivate a squeaky clean family man image. But by the time he stood down his name had become a dirty word locally; even amongst the Labour faithful.

The local secondary school was literally falling down, and had gained a very poor reputation. Meanwhile, just ten miles away, there is a RC secondary school (Carmel). The Chair of the Board of Governors was Tony's long time tennis playing friend Fr. John Caden, now sadly deceased.

When we went to an open day there we were quite taken aback by the money that had recently been spent on the building. There was the John Caden Technology Block, opened by Tony Blair; there was the John Caden Lecture Suite, opened by Tony Blair, the John Caden Gymnasium, opened by Tony Blair, so on and so forth.

Carmel wasn't even in Blair's constituency, but Alan Milburn's. Milburn promised to build a new General Hospital at Bishop Auckland if Labour was elected, even though it wasn't needed. The hospital was built and fully equipped on Labour's PFI credit card, but has never been used.

I believe that Cameron is acting very childishly by throwing his towel in because he never got his own way!
All this cr--- p about " I love my country " in that case he should have seen our exit from the EU until the end of his time. Seems to me he has no ba--s
Just my view.
Kind regards Mike

I think we have to understand that Brexit was never supposed to happen. Indeed, I believe politicians on all sides seriously miscalculated public opinion, and not for the first time in recent years.

Perhaps this was inevitable given the bad press that the EU has received over the years, and the things that the EU is blamed for; not all of which are entirely fair.

David Cameron was clearly shattered by the referendum result, and I suspect just didn't have the will or the energy to argue for concessions that he didn't believe in. He is only human after all.

Whoever negotiates our exit has a very difficult job to do, and I think it is only right that Cameron stood down if he didn't believe he could represent our best interests.

[Jim Ford]

Re: Johnson not standing!

Where do the Liberal Democrats fit into all this (you do remember them, don't you)?

Jim

[Internaut]

Re: Johnson not standing!

I'm going to have to stop keeping an eye on the Guardian's two live pages (Brexit Live and Business Live) while at the office. It's been affecting my productivity at a time when I have a lot on my desk. British politics are in meltdown at the moment. And as a card carrying member of the Labour Party (and very much centre left), I don't have a clue what to do about Corbyn. Watching the abuse that Momentum dish out is rather saddening. As for the Cons, I suppose I'd prefer May as the best of a bad bunch.

[Zuiko]

Re: Johnson not standing!

Just spotted this on another forum I frequent; You might need to read the odd sentence twice, but I think this Benjamin chap has summed much of the antics quite succinctly.

Author : Benjamin Blaine

Can I check that I've understood this correctly ?

The leader of the opposition campaigned to stay but secretly wanted to leave.
His party has held a non-binding vote to shame him into resigning so someone else can lead the campaign to ignore the result of the non-binding referendum which looks like a lot of angry people trying to shame politicians into seeing they'd all done nothing to help them.

Meanwhile, the man who campaigned to leave because he hoped losing would help him win the leadership of his party, accidentally won and ruined his chances because the man who thought he couldn't lose, did.
He resigned, however, before actually doing the thing the vote had been about.

The man who had always thought he'd lead next campaigned so badly that everyone thought he was lying when he said the economy would crash -and he was, but it did.
He's not resigned but, like the man who lost and the man who won, also now can't become leader.

This means that the woman who quietly campaigned to stay but always said she wanted to leave is likely to become leader instead

It also means that she holds the same view as the leader of the opposition but for opposite reasons, but her party's view of this view is the opposite of the opposition's. The opposition aren't yet opposing anything because the leader isn't listening to his party, who aren't listening to the country, who aren't listening to experts or possibly paying that much attention at all.

However, none of their opponents actually wants to be the one to do the thing that the vote was about, so there's not yet anything on the table to oppose anyway.
And if no one ever does the thing that most people asked them to do, it will be undemocratic but if anyone ever does it, it will be a catastrophe.

Absolutely brilliant!