# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/41 "2019-07-31T09:42:11Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Apparently, getting rid of EU regulations will make trade easier. I guess those toys painted with lead need a market after all. Yes, it’s amusing that people who want to leave the (highly profitable) EU trade deals don’t realise that the UK will be bound by World Trading Organisation rules instead! ---
**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:** [July 31, 2019, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/42 "2019-07-31T09:52:02Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > You can argue the merits or otherwise of Brexit all you want - but this has been done to death in other threads already - the OP isn’t asking about the ins and outs of Brexit as such, more they are interested in Boris and his approach to the issue and an evaluation of how it is perceived to be going. Well, you tried. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2019, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/43 "2019-07-31T09:54:24Z")
Plus one of our permanent underlying economic problems is a negative trade balance. Simply making imports cheaper by cutting tariffs will do nothing to increase exports: that requires agreements, country by country, to replace the ones we have as a member of the EU that we automatically lose when we cease to be a member. And what would those countries expect in return? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/44 "2019-07-31T10:49:57Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > Boris isn’t dumb, and can string sentences together. He’s also arrogant, raised from birth to think he’s special, and a serial adulterer. He is, even by the standards of politicians, in love with the sound of his own voice. He’s very definitely populist, and if he’s not specifically saying “Make Britain Great Again” a big part of his pitch to the country is vague exhortations to believe in ourselves coupled with sweeping declarations that everyone pointing out problems that can’t be solved just by positive feelings is a naysayer talking down Britain. > > His education would suggest that he’s capable of grasping detail, but a regular feature of his career as journalist, London Mayor and Foreign Secretary is that, like Trump, he blurts out what he wants to be true rather than what is. See for example, his recent speech in which he claimed that fish smokers on the Isle of Man were being put to unneccessary costs by EU rules requiring them to put a chemical cool pack in their postal kipper deliveries. It went down very well with the audience. It just turns out that: the Isle of Man isn’t in the EU; even if it were the EU doesn’t have such a rule; but the UK does. (Also, it’s probably quite a \*good \*idea to keep fish cool in transit, when you think about it.) Disregarding the truth for a crowd-pleasing speech that falls apart on further investigation is reasonably Trump adjacent behaviour and it’s this tendency to say whatever will get him applause and power that’s the main point of comparison between him and Trump. Boris even got fired from the Times for making up stories - and then moved to the Telegraph where they’re perfectly happy for their staff to make up stories. It’s what he does. In addition he has a string of disasters in his wake. As Mayor he pushed through his “garden bridge” project against all opposition despite it being a vastly overpriced boondoggle nobody wanted, resulting in £50m of taxpayer money being spent on nothing. As Foreign Secretary his efforts to get Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe freed from prison in Iran ended up earning her another three years’ imprisonment for spectacularly stupid reasons. And of course his string of lies brought us Brexit. And yet his fans love him. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/45 "2019-07-31T11:34:52Z")
Come on, all Boris has to do to get a great trade balance is… Recreate the old Sterling Zone For that, he needs to Restore the British Empire Easy peasy. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/46 "2019-07-31T13:26:54Z")
Poor Elizabeth - she must be thinking “I started my reign working with PM Winston Churchill. Now I have to put up with \*this \*clown”. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/47 "2019-07-31T13:39:44Z")
Or more likely, _great another dumbass racist, like Churchill_. Actually, the UK did very well when Churhcill stuck to speeches and let the professionals run the country. Attlee and Bevan for domestic matters, Attlee for colonial affairs and Alan Brooke and the rest ran the war. Thats a way, tell Boris he can speak all he wwants, but the grown ups will be running things. Its actaully Churchillian. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/48 "2019-07-31T13:51:08Z")
Fine, but who are the grownups? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/49 "2019-07-31T14:34:34Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Fine, but who are the grownups? Good question. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/50 "2019-07-31T17:05:08Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Fine, but who are the grownups? :(:mad: Dunno. Maybe Ruth Davidson? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/51 "2019-07-31T18:11:15Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Boris doesn’t do detail, so he’s just claiming that in the next few months: > > - he can renegotiate a new deal with the EU (no chance) > - he can solve the Irish border question (perhaps he’ll build a bridge somewhere :smack: ) > - the UK will have a stronger union (particularly crass - far more likely that Scotland leave) > > If Boris is the answer, then the question is about ‘style over substance’. :eek: -I think the end result will be a non deal Brexit, with Boris either ignoring the utter chaos that follows by claiming that everything is peachy, or if that becomes untennable claiming that its just temporary growing pains and prosperity is just around the corner. -I think the Irish border will just be sort of ignored. Officially there may be laws regarding tariffs being required, and the occasional shipment seized, but by and large anyone with the will to break an unenforced law will be able to pass goods/people back and forth across the border without any real hindrance. It might actually create a boom in the Irish economy as a transport hub. -I think that Boris will do everything he can short of reenacting the battle of Pinkie to prevent another Scottish referendum. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2019, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/52 "2019-07-31T18:36:01Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Maybe Ruth Davidson? She’s not an MP though. I think there was some hope that the slightly unexpected Scottish Tory MP cohort returned in 2017 would be a mini-bloc in Westminster - reflecting the wishes of their constituents a bit, maybe - but they turned out to be typical newbie lobby-fodder. That’s a pity imo, and Johnson being PM pretty much guarantees they’ll lose their seats if there’s a GE with him in charge, and when that happens then Ruth has no influence at all. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/53 "2019-07-31T20:12:51Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I had only a vague idea of who Boris Johnson really was. I mean, I know who he is, but not what kind of person. I keep hearing that he’s another Trump - a low intelligence populist rabble rouser. So I did a little research on him, and I’m not seeing it. > > Apparently he went to Eton, where he was considered a bit of a prodigy. Then Oxford, where he graduated with second class honors. He speaks Greek and Latin fluently. His politics are said to be more David Cameron style center-right orthodoxy, other than Brexit. > > So what am I missing? Sure, he has goofy hair and a penchant for theatrics, but I’m not seeing the dumb drooling Trump clone. Other than the calling black children piccaninnies and talking about black people eating watermelon? Saying that Africa’s only problem is that white people aren’t in charge? Talking about Africans being AIDS-ridden? Saying “part Kenyan” Obama had an ancestral dislike of the UK? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/54 "2019-08-01T00:58:06Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > My opinion is that he’s a lying, corrupt hypocrite who will happily destroy the country (possibly literally) for his own profit and aggrandisement, and who - based on his career so far - will likely manage to escape being held accountable for his actions because he has funny hair and bumbles about a bit. Thank you British SDMBers for electing him. Now you Brits can’t complain about trump anymore. See, loud mouthed racist bigots are everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/55 "2019-08-01T01:07:04Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Thank you British SDMBers for electing him. Now you Brits can’t complain about trump anymore. > > See, loud mouthed racist bigots are everywhere. I mean, technically speaking he hasn’t been elected by the Brits. He’s been elected by members of the Conservative party. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/56 "2019-08-01T01:09:59Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > I mean, technically speaking he hasn’t been elected by the Brits. He’s been elected by members of the Conservative party. Who are…not British? :dubious: And who voted them in? The French? :dubious: Technically then trump wasnt voted in by Americans, it was the Electoral College, those scalawags. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/57 "2019-08-01T01:16:54Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Who are…not British? :dubious: And who voted them in? The French? :dubious: > > Technically then trump wasnt voted in by Americans, it was the Electoral College, those scalawags. Well, no. “Some” Brits elected him. As in he wasn’t elected in a general election where all the electorate, the “Brits”, got to vote. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/58 "2019-08-01T01:20:02Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > Well, no. “Some” Brits elected him. As in he wasn’t elected in a general election where all the electorate, the “Brits”, got to vote. _“Some”_ Americans elected trump, too. The British voter voted for Brexit and voted in the CP, so yes, it’s their fault. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/59 "2019-08-01T01:34:43Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > _“Some”_ Americans elected trump, too. > > The British voter voted for Brexit and voted in the CP, so yes, it’s their fault. The didn’t vote in the CP; three in five voters rejected the CP at the last election. You’re labouring under the misapprension that the UK is some kind of functioning democracy. The reality for the British is that a government they voted against led by a leader they didn’t elect is working to introduce a Brexit which is not the Brexit they voted for, and it’s seeking to do this without obtaining a mandate from either the people or the parliament for fear that, if allowed to vote on the matter, they would vote against it. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2019, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/60 "2019-08-01T04:07:28Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > You can argue the merits or otherwise of Brexit all you want - but this has been done to death in other threads already - the OP isn’t asking about the ins and outs of Brexit as such, more they are interested in Boris and his approach to the issue and an evaluation of how it is perceived to be going. Correct. > [@AK84](#): > > …Actually, the UK did very well when Churhcill stuck to speeches and let the professionals run the country. Attlee and Bevan for domestic matters, Attlee for colonial affairs and Alan Brooke and the rest ran the war… This is a gross oversimplification, if not misreading, of history. Churchill was as hands-on a PM as he could possibly be. Attlee had no particular colonial affairs responsibilities during WWII, and [Aneurin] Bevan was not in the Cabinet then - did you mean [Ernest] Bevin? [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=2) [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=4)