# Prime Minister Boris Johnson tries to lead the UK but has resigned on July 7, 2022 **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 30, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872 "2019-07-30T14:24:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 25
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/482 "2019-09-24T16:51:54Z")
On a different note, Jeremy Corbyn has declared that Johnson “isn’t fit to be prime minister”, and has called on him to resign, but is refusing to submit a motion for a Vote Of No Confidence. I think that this is the best shot he’ll ever have at leading the Government, and yet he continues to dither. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/483 "2019-09-24T17:17:47Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > The prerogative of the Monarch to prorogue Parliament, on the advise of the PM, has been given greater limits than previously. On the contrary. By confirming that limits have been there for hundreds of years, but clarifying what those limits are, it gives the person of the monarch a firm basis on which to ask some probing “Why?” and “Are you sure you’re legally covered?” questions, which if anything rather extends the monarch’s ability to influence the use of those powers by the PM. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/484 "2019-09-24T17:30:38Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > I heard this a few times before the October election vote, and saw it repeated in the newspapers, but it never made sense to me. Johnson originally scheduled the election for 14 October. He moved it to 15 October due to a Jewish holiday, and put the election up for a vote. Obviously the vote failed, but how was he supposed to move the vote date if he had won? See [this](https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/prime-ministers-powers-over-election-date). tl;dr He could move the election date unless parliament specifically legislated to pin him down. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/485 "2019-09-24T17:36:22Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > The ruling makes it harder for Government to govern. That is not an unalloyed positive result, but it is certainly a good thing with this particular government. The potential negative is that if a future Government acts in a percieved emergency without consulting Parliament that its actions will be overruled by a court, leading to the emergency getting worse. > > That may well be a reasonable price to pay, but ugh is still a price. > > There’s also the fact that Parliament is significantly to blame for things getting to this stage, by continuing to show confidence in Johnson’s Government, and by rejecting his call for an early election. I can’t see myself how this changes the lie of tye land. It’s well-established that courts can overturn government actions, but not actions by parliament. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/486 "2019-09-24T17:45:28Z")
Apropos of nothing in particular, I feel that the phrase _nobile officium_ may come into common currency in the near future. > **[Special power of the Court of Session could force Boris Johnson to extend...](https://www.scottishlegal.com/articles/special-power-of-the-court-of-session-could-force-boris-johnson-to-extend-article-50)** > > A special power of the Court of Session has been brought to bear on Prime Minister Boris Johnson personally and could allow the Clerk of Court to sign in his place – forcing him to extend Article 50. Dr Stephen Thomson, the... ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/487 "2019-09-24T17:47:06Z")
> [@Asympotically\_fat](#): > > I can’t see myself how this changes the lie of tye land. It’s well-established that courts can overturn government actions, but not actions by parliament. From the ruling: The Government argues that the Inner House could not do that because the prorogation was a “proceeding in Parliament” which, under the Bill of Rights of 1688 cannot be impugned or questioned in any court. But it is quite clear that the prorogation is not a proceeding in Parliament. It takes place in the House of Lords chamber in the presence of members of both Houses, but it is not their decision. It is something which has been imposed upon them from outside. It is not something on which members can speak or vote. It is not the core or essential business of Parliament which the Bill of Rights protects. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/488 "2019-09-24T20:02:47Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > From the ruling: > > The Government argues that the Inner House could not do that because the prorogation was a “proceeding in Parliament” which, under the Bill of Rights of 1688 cannot be impugned or questioned in any court. But it is quite clear that the prorogation is not a proceeding in Parliament. It takes place in the House of Lords chamber in the presence of members of both Houses, but it is not their decision. It is something which has been imposed upon them from outside. It is not something on which members can speak or vote. It is not the core or essential business of Parliament which the Bill of Rights protects. Yep that’s my point, this could hardly be seen as a parliamentry decision. The only sticking point consitutionally is that it wasn’t the kind of governemtn action that is usually the courts’ bread and butter to review and, if necessary, strike down. However that was becuase the situation was fairly unique. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/489 "2019-09-24T22:05:33Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > At the absolute most, they weakly opposed it. They insisted that Paliament must sit on (if I remember the dates correctly) September 9th and October 15th, and then rejected the chance to have an election, which would have negated the prorogation. They also made no attempt to challenge the prorogation with any sort of bill or motion, binding or otherwise. > > ETA Individual MPs strongly opposed prorogation, but that’s not the same as Parliament doing so. Calling an election would have suspended parliament, so parliament would still have been shut down, same as proroguing it. That’s why the opposition voted against it. Even the SNP did, and they stand to do very well at the next general election. > [@Steophan](#): > > The ruling makes it harder for Government to govern. That is not an unalloyed positive result, but it is certainly a good thing with this particular government. The potential negative is that if a future Government acts in a percieved emergency without consulting Parliament that its actions will be overruled by a court, leading to the emergency getting worse. > > That may well be a reasonable price to pay, but ugh is still a price. > > There’s also the fact that Parliament is significantly to blame for things getting to this stage, by continuing to show confidence in Johnson’s Government, and by rejecting his call for an early election. I’m not sure how shutting down parliament makes it _easier_ for the government to govern. Really? Not allowing elected officials to have a part to play gives them… more power? 😕 > [@AK84](#): > > The rightness or wrongness of the decision and the arguments about both are besides the point. > It doesn’t matter any longer to anyone whether James I can ban the prohibition of building new structures in London or ban the production of wheat and starche, doubtless a major issue to those affected. The _principle_, however is one of great import and has become fundamental, that the Crown or these days the executive cannot exersize power except under authority of law. It underpins the English legal system and indeed around the world. > > The same way, **in future decades or centuries, few people will know about BREXIT.** But, the principal enunciated today, that a Court can review a recognised discretionary exercise of power by the executive AND substitute its own view for that of the executive, yeah that’s going to be a big deal. > > Yeah, future generations might hold that it be self evident, but even in the _Case of Proclamations_, the outcome was not at all obvious to contemporaries, Lord Ellsmere, the greatest jurists of the age thought the decision to be wrong. (My bolding) I strongly suspect that future generations will know about Brexit. They might not know all the details, but the country leaving a major union is kind of a big deal. I suspect there will be more people who know about Brexit than know the intricacies of what parts of the executive exercise which powers. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/490 "2019-09-24T22:36:44Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I’m not sure how shutting down parliament makes it _easier_ for the government to govern. Really? Not allowing elected officials to have a part to play gives them… more power? 😕 Yes, obviously if Parliament is unable to stop the Government acting, it’s easier for them to govern. That removal of oversight was one of the main reasons the prorogation was unlawful. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/491 "2019-09-24T23:34:37Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > And Mr. Johnson isn’t even in the UK at the moment. I wonder how this is affecting his pseudo-victory tour at the UN? It’s not going well, apparently: [Another fine mess: Brexit-dogged Johnson’s UN trip goes awry](https://apnews.com/572f269d1ac041e6810cc24071c06d53). > [@](#): > > British Prime Minister Boris Johnson landed in New York this week on a speedy Royal Air Force jet, bringing his vision of a post-Brexit “Global Britain” to the United Nations. > > Then he sat on the tarmac for more than an hour. The captain informed passengers that another VIP’s plane was occupying the stand. It was the first hint that Johnson’s trip to the U.N.’s General Assembly might not run entirely smoothly. > [@](#): > > Johnson soldiered on as if it were business as usual, giving a speech to business leaders and holding a series of meetings with other world leaders. > > He brushed aside questions about whether he would resign, said he “strongly” disagreed with the court decision and suggested he might try to suspend Parliament for a second time. He also rebuffed calls by the opposition to resign for misleading Queen Elizabeth II when he told her to give her formal assent to Parliament’s suspension. He’s got Trump’s support tho: > [@](#): > > “I know him well. He’s not going anywhere,” Trump told reporters. “Don’t worry about him.” ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/492 "2019-09-25T00:15:59Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Yes, obviously if Parliament is unable to stop the Government acting, it’s easier for them to govern. “The Government” isn’t just the Prime Minister and the executive. Parliament is as much part of the government as No. 10. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/493 "2019-09-25T01:17:07Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > I’ve read the whole thing. The court has decided that, in these extraordinary circumstances, an unprecedented view must be taken of the constitution. Which is a major advantage of having a constitution based on common law, in many ways, but it doesn’t automatically follow from that that this judgement won’t have some negative consequences in the future. But _ **any** _ view taken in extraordinary circumstances is likely to be an unprecedented view. There won’t be a precedent percisely because the circumstances requiring a ruling are extraordinary. If the Supreme Court had ruled the other way, it would have been just as unprecedented. And, yes, we can’t say that “the judgment won’t have some negative consequences in the future”. But if the judgment had been to the opposite effect, we still couldn’t have said that. > [@Steophan](#): > > The ruling makes it harder for Government to govern. That is not an unalloyed positive result, but it is certainly a good thing with this particular government. The potential negative is that if a future Government acts in a percieved emergency without consulting Parliament that its actions will be overruled by a court, leading to the emergency getting worse. No, no. The ruling says nothing about a government acting without consulting Parliament; it deals with prorogation, the sidelining of Parliament so that it cannot hold the government to account, which is quite different. And the ruling doesn’t even say that the government can never do this. On the contrary, it explicitly says that a government _could_ do this, if there were a reasonable justification. A “perceived emergency” might well provide such a justification, but in this case the government did not argue that there was any emergency (and if they had they would certainly have been shot down in flames; there is no emergency). > [@Steophan](#): > > There’s also the fact that Parliament is significantly to blame for things getting to this stage, by continuing to show confidence in Johnson’s Government, and by rejecting his call for an early election. That, too, is an argument that leans against facilitating prorogation, since prorogation would prevent parliament from remedying any mistakes or missteps it has made. > [@Steophan](#): > > As it is the view of the Supreme Court, it is obviously legally the correct view. One would think that as a matter of some urgency Parliament will need to create a legislative framework for future prorogation. Yes. But the present government is unlikely to introduce a Bill on this subject which Parliament will approve. Pressing as this is, realistically it has to be a matter for the next government, and the next parliament. > [@Steophan](#): > > As for what happens now, the only options are to keep the current Government in place and trust Johnson to sort out Brexit, or to get rid of the government and replace it. Which can either be done democratically, by an election after we’ve left the EU, or by installing some sort of unity government which can request an extension but will then likely be crushed by the Johnson-led Tories at the next election, followed by a no-deal Brexit in short order, as he will play on the “unelected government” thing. Hypocritically, obviously, but that won’t matter. Mm. I’m not so sure. As you point out, Johnson is not well positioned to “play on the ‘unelected government’ thing”. Plus, he’ll be fighting an election after 31 October, having promised to “do or die” by 31 October and having conspicuously failed to do either; so much for his “a bit of vim and vigour will get things done” schtick. And in the campaign he either goes all out for a no-deal Brexit, in which case he alienates moderate Tories, the business community and those who adhere to such old-fashioned values as fresh food, having a job and not trashing the country’s reputation, or he doesn’t, in which case he bleeds votes to the Brexit Party. Either course is quite likely to cost him a majority. For what it’s worth, the bookies - who are rarely wrong on this matter - give the shortest odds on the outcome of the next election to “no overall majority” (and shortest odds on November for the timing). Sooner rather than later there is likely to be a general election, but there’s more than a sporting chance that it won’t resolve the problem. > [@Steophan](#): > > Or, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there’s a better solution, or just maybe enough people will come to their senses and support the Lib Dems. There is a solution in which it finally dawns on Brexiters that to carry through their project successfully requires them to frame a model of Brexit capable of securing majority assent, and to work to build a consensus around that model of Brexit, rather than trying to ram through an extremist Brexit which neither Parliament nor the people can stomach. But they have been in denial about this for so long that they might now have no credibility if they tried. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/494 "2019-09-25T04:25:18Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > … He’s got Trump’s support tho: “I know him well. He’s not going anywhere,” Trump told reporters. “Don’t worry about him.” Ugh. That’s got to be some kind of kiss of death in British politics these days. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/495 "2019-09-25T06:59:05Z")
[Johnson’s UN speech was all over the place but barely mentioned Brexit](https://apnews.com/b576f0f185774b01b8008a91b2b8cdc5): > [@](#): > > Things the beleaguered British prime minister said in his astonishing speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday night: “Pink-eyed Terminators from the future.” ″Terrifying limbless chickens.” ″Your fridge will beep for more cheese.” > [@](#): > > In his notably energetic speech, which ended after 10 p.m. as more than 12 hours of U.N. speeches were inching to their end, Johnson said he was optimistic about technology’s future — if humanity finds “the right balance between freedom and control.” > > The first potential future that Johnson mapped out was decidedly dystopian — one where technology permeates every corner of human life, and not in a good way. Digital assistants pretending to take orders — but actually watching you and acting against your interests. Computers that decide what you’ll get, where you’ll be allowed to go, who you’ll be. > > “You may keep secrets from your friends, from your parents, your children, your doctor - even your personal trainer - but it takes real effort to conceal your thoughts from Google,” he said. “And if that is true today, in future there may be nowhere to hide.” > > That is not, he said, a good thing at all. > > “Can these algorithms be trusted with our lives and hopes?” he asked, his delivery staccato and his hands jabbing with emphasis. “Are we doomed to a cold and hard future where a computer says ‘yes’ or ‘no’?” > > But if things are done right, the prime minister said, a different story could unfold for all of us. > > “How do you plead with an algorithm? How do you get it to see extenuating circumstances?” he said. As noted, he did mention Brexit: > [@](#): > > In the speech, Johnson mentioned Brexit only once — as a pointed aside while recalling the myth of Prometheus, who was chained to a rock by Zeus and sentenced to have his liver eaten out by an eagle for eternity. “And this went on forever,” he quipped, “a bit like the experience of Brexit in the U.K, if some of our parliamentarians had their way.” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/496 "2019-09-25T07:48:30Z")
"Are we doomed to a cold and hard future where a computer says ‘yes’ or ‘no’?” Computer says no. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/497 "2019-09-25T08:10:40Z")
When Johnson sticks to what he knows from his second-class degree in classics, he’s not bad: “When Prometheus brought fire to mankind. In a tube of fennel, as you may remember, Zeus punished him by chaining him to a Tartarean crag while his liver was pecked out by an eagle. And every time his liver regrew the eagle came back and pecked it again. And this went on forever – a bit like the experience of Brexit in the UK, if some of our parliamentarians had their way.” ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/498 "2019-09-25T08:15:02Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > “The Government” isn’t just the Prime Minister and the executive. Parliament is as much part of the government as No. 10. No, not at all. With the exception of ministers, Parliament is not Government, however many people who are not MPs or Lords are part of Government. Here are [several links](https://www.gov.uk/government/how-government-works) [that explain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_United_Kingdom) [how it works](https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/government-and-opposition1/her-majestys-government/). ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/499 "2019-09-25T08:49:13Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > "And this went on forever – a bit like the experience of Brexit in the UK, if some of our parliamentarians had their way.” Except that Prometheus hadn’t chained himself to the rock by promising to achieve incompatible objectives and cloaking the discrepancy in lies. A big red bus is not a tube of fennel. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/500 "2019-09-25T11:02:55Z")
A more apt analogy would be Sisyphus. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2019, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/501 "2019-09-25T11:48:37Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > A more apt analogy would be Sisyphus. Or sticking with the chained-to-a-rock motif, Loki. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872.md?page=24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872.md?page=26)