PM Boris Johnson - monster thread for a monster twat
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phillm
Trolling through Life (TM)
Why I broke with Boris Johnson
A devastating indictment of the Prime Minister from one of his former allies and Downing Street advisers.
www.newstatesman.com
Why I broke with Boris Johnson
A devastating indictment of the Prime Minister from one of his former allies and Downing Street advisers.
BY TIM MONTGOMERIE
The dashboard was flashing red many months before Boris Johnson’s own life-endangering encounter with Covid-19. Long before 40,000 British deaths from this pandemic and the evaporation of the Prime Minister’s reputation for competence there were multiple signs that the ship of state was heading for rocky times. Key talents had been reshuffled out of the cabinet because they had committed the sin of independent-mindedness. The top table was left with a very middle-ranking membership. Ministerial special advisers who dared to differ had been dispatched and years of hard-won experience lost in the process. MPs learned that messages to the Prime Minister needed to be effusive to have much hope of a reply. More often than not, any critical messages – how- ever constructively worded – were greeted with silence.
It took six years for Margaret Thatcher’s governments to begin to stop listening to alternative voices. The same patterns had emerged within six months of Johnson becoming Prime Minister, and within six weeks of his general election victory last December. In her early years the Iron Lady relished argument and intellectual debate – and those internal jousts strengthened her for the public battles with her true opponents. In the starkest of contrasts, the team inside today’s No 10 has often preferred to greet internal dissent with retribution – much of it pre-briefed to favoured journalists. Throughout the Westminster village every Tory had quickly learned the score: do, say and tweet as you are told – or else. In February’s reshuffle we learned that earning the disfavour of key prime ministerial adviser Dominic Cummings was fatal, even if you were chancellor of the Exchequer. Everyone was dispensable. Except Dom.
Again and again I warned Johnson that “it’s reign of terror now and, inevitably, reign of error next”. In a message from mid-February, I noted that “ministers increasingly fear rather than respect your No 10 operation” and that there was little free-thinking across his government. I urged him to appoint an outsider – perhaps a former White House chief of staff – to conduct a widespread review of his No 10 set-up. He needed to establish how his Downing Street office should be reconstructed so that it had a chance of meeting the challenges of our time. I begged him to anticipate looming problems before it was too late. I pinpointed a “shortcutting of proper process to hit objectives”. I worried about curtailed cabinet meetings where issues such as the economic impact of coronavirus received just five minutes of “discussion” in January. All these private calls for a course correction went unheeded. On 27 February I told him that, with enormous sadness, I was walking away from his offer to me of a “great project”. I could see the car crash coming and I couldn’t bear to be part of it.
And it was with enormous sadness. I was demoralised by his operation’s treatment of good people. In the wake of December’s mighty election victory I had been exhilarated by the prospect of what a pro-Brexit, pro-social justice Tory government could do with a solid majority over a five-year term. But that victory had gone to too many young heads. It had been an impressive win but it wasn’t all down to the brilliance of Johnson’s circle, whatever they seemed to think. It owed much to the most left-wing Labour leader of modern times and his manifesto containing an impossible number of promises. It also owed much to a widespread desire from within non-traditional Tory voters for an end to the chaos and disunity of those hung parliament years.
Sadly, No 10 hasn’t left its campaigning tactics of divide-and-rule behind it. It’s still campaigning 24/7 – constantly crossing the road to pick a fight with enemies inside the Conservative Party, in the media and beyond. Many who worked with Cummings – when he advised Iain Duncan Smith, when he was at the Department for Education, or when he was at Vote Leave – will recognise the pattern of pugilism.
The tragedy is that it didn’t need to be this way. Johnson was not like this when he ran London. He was an upbeat, inclusive mayor who embraced issues such as climate change, same-sex marriage and the living wage before other Tories. He encouraged disagreement within his team. Key advisers Daniel Moylan and Isabel Dedring had differing views on transport but both were heard and heeded at different times. The same was true of Stephen Greenhalgh and Kit Malthouse on issues of policing and business competitiveness.
With four-and-a-half years until there has to be another general election it might not be too late to put things right. Cummings is undoubtedly a hugely talented individual but if he is to stay in place he shouldn’t have the dominant role that he currently enjoys. I’ve learnt of too many conversations truncated, and not by brilliant argument or killer facts. “There’s no way that Dom would wear that” has been enough to ensure termination of much alternative thinking.
Although Team Boris includes many talented people – David Frost, Isaac Levido and Munira Mirza – it needs more grey hairs and more straight-talkers. If Johnson is going to be presidential he needs something that is a lot more like a White House than Dom’s frat house, starring Caino, Roxstar, Sonic and other playground names.
But – much more than a strengthening of No 10 – a restoration of cabinet government is needed. At this time of enormous challenge, it is unforgivable that the likes of Jeremy Hunt, Sajid Javid, Penny Mordaunt and Julian Smith aren’t at the top table. And is Tom Tugendhat ever going to be forgiven for having once used the foreign affairs select committee to suggest that Johnson’s time as foreign secretary wasn’t his finest hour?
I still have huge affection for Boris Johnson. I wanted him to be party leader, and in the run-up to the 2015 election spent many evenings within a small group that plotted towards that goal. My enduring memory of that time was the role his former wife, Marina, played in his life. An extraordinary brain; unafraid to dispense home truths. She was his anchor and, despite everything, had been for most of his adulthood. He’s now divorced and, while I wish nothing but happiness for Johnson and Carrie Symonds, I can’t make sense of so much of his turbulent time in Downing Street without thinking that the turbulence in his private life does a great deal of the explaining. Few of us would be unaffected in similar circumstances, especially if a serious illness had been layered on top.
After Cummings-gate the parliamentary party is moving beyond the terrified phase. Many MPs are furious at the slump in the opinion polls; at the ways in which their multiple calls for Cummings to go were ignored; and at a succession of unforced policy errors. They no longer believe in the Prime Minister in the way they did. They still want their faith to be restored, but does Johnson realise the scale of what will be required to ensure that? I hope so. I fear not.
Tim Montgomerie is the co-founder of the Centre for Social Justice, ConservativeHome, and a former advisor to Boris Johnson.
phillm
Trolling through Life (TM)
Any of his so-called allies that turn on him is more fuel to the fire against the cunt.Torygraph picked this up as well. Looks like knives are being sharpened all over the place and how could they not given the staggering ineptitude of this pathetic excuse of a man.
The honeymoon is over for Boris Johnson. He needs to find his old fighting spirit
Conservative concerns growing about 'constrained' Prime Minister and 'toxic' environment in Downing Street
www.telegraph.co.uk
ska invita
back on the other side
quite a lot in there!Any of his so-called allies that turn on him is more fuel to the fire against the cunt.Torygraph picked this up as well. Looks like knives are being sharpened all over the place and how could they not given the staggering ineptitude of this pathetic excuse of a man.
The honeymoon is over for Boris Johnson. He needs to find his old fighting spirit
Conservative concerns growing about 'constrained' Prime Minister and 'toxic' environment in Downing Street
this stands out to me though " They are not only concerned about his health amid talk of continued breathlessness, midday naps and a lack of attentiveness, but are also worried about how uneasy he appears in office. " Sounds like he's pretty fucked.
BristolEcho
Well-Known Member
It wasn't meant to be like this was it? It was meant to be hard Brexit and champagne for wealth creators. Not covid-19, tanked economy and BLM Protests. Out of their depths.
agricola
a genuine importer of owls
Any of his so-called allies that turn on him is more fuel to the fire against the cunt.Torygraph picked this up as well. Looks like knives are being sharpened all over the place and how could they not given the staggering ineptitude of this pathetic excuse of a man.
The honeymoon is over for Boris Johnson. He needs to find his old fighting spirit
Conservative concerns growing about 'constrained' Prime Minister and 'toxic' environment in Downing Street
I'd love to see that, but it isn't exactly that they are turning on him are they? The arguments seem to be that he needs to get back to being great, not that he is a fraud.
ska invita
back on the other side
seems to be that he's not in control, and if it goes on too long there might be a visit from the men in grey suits (getting ahead of myself there, but still)
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oryx
Sitting on the bok of the day
FFS, the guy seems to be more interested in protecting the memory of Winston Churchill (died in 1965) than in protecting the interests of black people in this country.
Unless I've blinked and missed something, he hasn't said ANYTHING in response to the issues raised by BLM.
I'm not surprised, though.
Unless I've blinked and missed something, he hasn't said ANYTHING in response to the issues raised by BLM.
I'm not surprised, though.
Streathamite
ideological dogmatist
Sure - but the subtext is, they're starting to get seriously worried.
6 months into a new government.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Six months? Feels like much longer than that
Streathamite
ideological dogmatist
It REALLY does
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
His first two months he was on holiday, then he spent a couple of months failing to get anything at all through the HoC, then he called an election and was rewarded for those achievements with an 80-seat majority.
isvicthere?
a.k.a. floppybollocks
I think you're being unfair there. In the election he also promised to undo all the damaging things done by the governments of 2010-19. Oh, wait a minute...
FiFi
Hot Cross Bunny
Who was it who said"events, Dear Boy, events" ?
I get the feeling this present Government don't like the reality of actually governing.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
He also unlawfully tried to prorogue Parliament, which accounted for a fortnight or so.
ska invita
back on the other side
some classic Spectator material in this
www.independent.co.uk
plenty in there to hang him with if the media wanted to
also some more details of internal collapse around Team Boris here
"One critique, often to be heard now even from erstwhile admirers, is that his outfit at Number 10 is not so much a government as a campaign. More accomplished at generating propaganda than making policy, the Johnson gang has approached dealing with a disease as if it were no different to defeating Remainers or Jeremy Corbyn.
To an extent perhaps still not fully appreciated, this Number 10 is obsessed with polling and focus grouping, which they conduct daily, and how things are projected in the media. “The problem with this government is that it is led by journalists,” says one senior official. “Action this day” was one of Winston Churchill’s famous injunctions. For Boris Johnson, it has been: “An empty pledge to get me through the day.” Where energy ought to have been directed to making important things happen, it was expended on concocting brags that might temporarily garner approving headlines or neutralise hostile ones."
Boris Johnson said colonialism in Africa should never have ended and dismissed Britain’s role in slavery
MPs call on prime minister to explain whether he still believes ‘the problem is not that we were once in charge, but that we are not in charge any more’
www.independent.co.uk
also some more details of internal collapse around Team Boris here
To an extent perhaps still not fully appreciated, this Number 10 is obsessed with polling and focus grouping, which they conduct daily, and how things are projected in the media. “The problem with this government is that it is led by journalists,” says one senior official. “Action this day” was one of Winston Churchill’s famous injunctions. For Boris Johnson, it has been: “An empty pledge to get me through the day.” Where energy ought to have been directed to making important things happen, it was expended on concocting brags that might temporarily garner approving headlines or neutralise hostile ones."
some classic Spectator material in this
plenty in there to hang him with if the media wanted toBoris Johnson said colonialism in Africa should never have ended and dismissed Britain’s role in slavery
MPs call on prime minister to explain whether he still believes ‘the problem is not that we were once in charge, but that we are not in charge any more’
I see no harm in reposting this catalogue of Johnsonian diplomacy.
also some more details of internal collapse around Team Boris here
A lot of the time I don't like Rawnsley, but that article's great IMO -- he's mercilessly ripping Johnson yet another new arsehole, and very effectively too!
However undercritical of Starmer that article is
, good on it! 
TLDR?
Johnson : Lazy and useless!
Ax^
Silly Rabbit
jebus is the man a twat, set a a review so he can wait for this to hopefully blow over
so his own history of bullshit does not get dragged into muck
also look at all the good work the conservatives have done for minority communites ,
and they should focus on aspiration goals instead of looking at the obstacles that are placed in front of them
is it any wonder the streets of major cities were full of fash over the weekend
so his own history of bullshit does not get dragged into muck
also look at all the good work the conservatives have done for minority communites ,
and they should focus on aspiration goals instead of looking at the obstacles that are placed in front of them
is it any wonder the streets of major cities were full of fash over the weekend
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MrSki
Who am I to say you're wrong
As David Lammy has said why not just implement the recommendations from the last four reports/enquiries rather than having another one that is not acted upon. What is the point if nothing is done from the what comes out of these reports? Sweeping it under the carpet again.
On the sweeping under the carpet, where is that fucking Russia report? It must be proper bad if he has not found a day in the last few months to slip it out on one of those 'A good day to publish...' There been enough of them this year to last a lifetime.
He is the biggest cunt ever to hold the office of PM. Let's not forget his early bright ideas for how the UK could benefit from going against what every other country saw as a good idea. He should be arrested and appearing in the Hague.
sorry rant over.
On the sweeping under the carpet, where is that fucking Russia report? It must be proper bad if he has not found a day in the last few months to slip it out on one of those 'A good day to publish...' There been enough of them this year to last a lifetime.
He is the biggest cunt ever to hold the office of PM. Let's not forget his early bright ideas for how the UK could benefit from going against what every other country saw as a good idea. He should be arrested and appearing in the Hague.
sorry rant over.
agricola
a genuine importer of owls
Dismay as No 10 adviser is chosen to set up UK race inequality commission
Munira Mirza has doubted existence of institutional racism and criticised ‘culture of grievance’
ska invita
back on the other side
reminiscent of this guy Joseph OttingDismay as No 10 adviser is chosen to set up UK race inequality commission
Munira Mirza has doubted existence of institutional racism and criticised ‘culture of grievance’www.theguardian.com
" Trump's pick to head the Treasury's civil rights program who doesn't seem to think discrimination exists "
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
It's always encouraging to be told that discrimination doesn't exist when a) you've experienced it and b) the person telling you has probably never experienced it in their life.
Good times.
Good times.
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