# Oh, fuck off, Boris Johnson. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 28, 2019, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355 "2019-08-28T11:53:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/1 "2019-08-28T11:53:34Z")
May the horse you rode in on get taken in by a rescue place and a nice retirement in the country with someone who loves it and feeds it apples and stuff. Horses are nice animals. You, Mr. Faux-democratic embarrassment to weasels, are not. I wouldn’t trust you to look after a spider plant for the weekend, forget a country. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/2 "2019-08-28T11:57:44Z")
Sounds like (you guys?) have a real winner there. As long as the US has Trump and his voters, though, I won’t be pointing any fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/3 "2019-08-28T12:44:08Z")
How is this surprising? If Parliament hadn’t wanted a PM who acts like Boris Johnson, they wouldn’t have chosen Boris Johnson. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/4 "2019-08-28T12:51:09Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > How is this surprising? If Parliament hadn’t wanted a PM who acts like Boris Johnson, they wouldn’t have chosen Boris Johnson. I can’t see any surprise expressed in the OP, just anger. Me, I’m going for depression, followed by acceptance. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/5 "2019-08-28T13:01:24Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > How is this surprising? If Parliament hadn’t wanted a PM who acts like Boris Johnson, they wouldn’t have chosen Boris Johnson. Parliament didn’t choose Boris. Neither did the country. That’s half the bloody point. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/6 "2019-08-28T13:08:22Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Parliament didn’t choose Boris. Neither did the country. That’s half the bloody point. Wait - I don’t understand. Doesn’t Parliament have to vote to approve a new government? ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/7 "2019-08-28T13:10:18Z")
Just out of interest, I was checking out on [rationalwiki.org](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom) what previous worthies had held the position of Prime Minister. This is the entry for Asquith: > [@](#): > > Herbert Henry Asquith (1908 - 1916) > Asquith (Liberal) endured a turbulent time, with the rise of the Suffragettes, Home Rule, the outbreak of WW1 and the Easter Rising. Asquith had a huge role in the development of the House of Commons and 10 Downing Street as the major powers of Parliament with the passage of the Parliament Act 1911. This is the current entry for Johnson: > [@](#): > > Boris Johnson (2019 - ) > oh dear god no no nnnooooooooOOOOOOOOOOO ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/8 "2019-08-28T13:18:37Z")
Boris is a fucking clown and an asshole, just like OUR moron. He is a Trump wannabe, and Brazil has one now too. WTF is up with these cockroaches? ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/9 "2019-08-28T13:19:19Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Wait - I don’t understand. Doesn’t Parliament have to vote to approve a new government? Yes, it does. Although again, I can’t see where the OP includes any statement to the contrary. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/10 "2019-08-28T13:26:13Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Wait - I don’t understand. Doesn’t Parliament have to vote to approve a new government? I believe the party votes for their new leader, not the whole parliament, and the Queen appoints him as Prime Minister. I guess the Queen could refuse to do so, but that would be messy. This sort of thing happens in Australia every six months or so. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/11 "2019-08-28T13:26:59Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Boris is a fucking clown and an asshole, just like OUR moron. He is a Trump wannabe, and Brazil has one now too. WTF is up with these cockroaches? I’ve no idea mate. I’ve come to the conclusion that I just don’t understand the world any more, so I’m going to ignore it, play with the dogs, talk to the chickens, and hope I don’t live too much longer. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/12 "2019-08-28T13:42:31Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Wait - I don’t understand. Doesn’t Parliament have to vote to approve a new government? Usually the answer would be yes, but in this instance it’s “not yet”. The PM is the person who can command a majority of votes in Parliament. Normally, finding out who can command a majority is achieved by a party winning an actual majority in a general election (quite easy under First Past the Post). Once elected, the new PM will produce a programme for government (aka Queen’s Speech) which will be voted on. This vote is essentially a Parliamentary seal of approval and if your party has a majority it’s a formality. Occasionally no one party wins a majority and some sort of coalition is assembled, with the leader of the largest party becoming PM. This is what happened after the 2010 election (Conservatives and Liberal Democrats) and 2017 election (Conservatives and Democratic Unionist Party). Another thing that happens occasionally, as happened with Johnson, is that the leader of the governing party changes during a parliament. Normally, this is perfectly straightforward because normally there is a reliable majority so it is assumed and will quickly be shown that the new leader commands a majority. However, the actual process of deciding who the new party leader is is purely one for the party. In this case, Conservative MPs whittled initial candidates down to a shortlist of two, who were then voted on by the membership of the Conservative party. So Parliament as such had no say. There are two factors that raise some doubt about Johnson’s ability to command a majority. The first is that the majority is now incredibly slim - down to 1, if IIRC, possibly even 0. So it would be hard for anyone, let alone someone as divisive within his own party as Johnson, to reliably win votes. Linked to that is the second point, which is that Johnson became Conservative Leader and PM during the summer recess. He has not called any votes and so as a matter of empirical fact we don’t know whether he can win any. Nevertheless he is currently being treated as PM. Hence the outrage at his decision to prorogue Parliament for 5 weeks. This allows him to continue to govern as PM and e.g. fail to make a deal with the EU without ever finding out if Parliament assents to his being PM. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/13 "2019-08-28T13:59:14Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > I wouldn’t trust you to look after a spider plant for the weekend, forget a country. Well, they _are_ prone to tip browning. Maybe he’d be OK briefly babysitting a snake plant? Trump on the other hand would probably knock the plant over, stomp on it and then ridicule it on Twitter. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/14 "2019-08-28T14:10:25Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Boris is a fucking clown and an asshole, just like OUR moron. He is a Trump wannabe, and Brazil has one now too. WTF is up with these cockroaches? And they all wish they were Berlusconi… the breed isn’t new, but we’re used to seeing it in certain locations more than in others. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/15 "2019-08-28T14:15:34Z")
If it ever got to the point that the Queen would have to eventually appoint him, may she bird-flip him, or at least a good slap to the bicep. I’m pretty sure there’s some Italian lineage going, like, way, way back with her. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/16 "2019-08-28T14:20:13Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > Usually the answer would be yes, but in this instance it’s “not yet”… Got it. I assumed that the British system was similar to my own country’s system (which is in fact based on it), in that all ministers, including the prime minister, have to be approved by a majority vote of Parliament before they can take office on a non-interim basis. That’s why I assumed Boris had already been voted in by Parliament. ---
**Author:** ![Swampwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/17 "2019-08-28T14:43:54Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Boris is a fucking clown and an asshole, just like OUR moron. He is a Trump wannabe, and Brazil has one now too. WTF is up with these cockroaches? Don’t forget Israel! Bibi’s been in power even longer than any of them! But then, he’s (arguably) a _smart_ corrupt racist demagogue. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/18 "2019-08-28T14:51:34Z")
> [@Swampwolf](#): > > Don’t forget Israel! Bibi’s been in power even longer than any of them! But then, he’s (arguably) a _smart_ corrupt racist demagogue. As much as I despise Bibi and hope he’ll be going down in three weeks, I have to say, he’s started looking a lot better in recent years, at least compared to other world leaders. Which doesn’t really say anything about him. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/19 "2019-08-28T15:25:54Z")
Every time I see a picture of Boris Johnson, I think I’m looking at Jeff Daniels’s character from _Dumb and Dumber_. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355/20 "2019-08-28T15:50:23Z")
Boris Johnson is smarter than Theresa May. She thought the way to negotiate with the EU was to hold a gun to her own head and shout “I’m going to pull the trigger!” Not so with Boris. His approach is to hold a gun to his own head and shout “I’m going to pull the trigger! I really mean it!” See? Smart. j [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-fuck-off-boris-johnson/839355.md?page=2)