# 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:** 52
**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:** [January 14, 2022, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1022 "2022-01-14T16:50:49Z")
There stands a man who has gained everything he wanted in life - election to Prime Minister, hot wife and assorted mistresses, lots of money - and has learned that it all comes with a downside. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1023 "2022-01-14T18:07:44Z")
Not much of a downside unless what he really wanted was to be remembered fondly by posterity ---
**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:** [January 14, 2022, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1024 "2022-01-14T19:09:57Z")
How about not having people travel from miles around to pee on his grave for centuries to come? ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1025 "2022-01-14T19:13:49Z")
what is it about these tory MPs and weird hair ?.. > **[Boris Johnson held No 10 BYOB party as he 'felt sorry' for staff, says Tory MP](https://metro.co.uk/2022/01/12/boris-johnson-held-no-10-lockdown-party-as-he-felt-sorry-for-staff-says-tory-mp-15902987/)** > > Michael Fabricant says the PM's failing was 'loyalty to his staff'. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2022, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1026 "2022-01-14T21:09:59Z")
BoJo the clown: I also work too much and am condescending (that’s when you talk down to people, eh). ---
**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:** [January 14, 2022, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1027 "2022-01-14T23:15:49Z")
Boris felt sorry for his staff as they hadn’t had a wine party since…the previous Friday. > **[Boris Johnson's 'wine time Fridays' - No10 staff drinks every week in pandemic](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnsons-wine-time-fridays-25951853)** > > EXCLUSIVE: Downing Street held yet MORE parties throughout the Covid pandemic with events taking place every Friday as Prime Minister Boris Johnson encouraged staff to "let off steam" even though indoor socialising was strictly banned ---
**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:** [January 15, 2022, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1028 "2022-01-15T05:24:10Z")
It seems there was a culture of heavy drinking and partying in Westminster long before Johnson’s time. But there’s no excuse for him not to have clamped down on it during covid lockdowns. > **[Inside Westminster’s booze problem](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/14/inside-westminsters-booze-problem/)** > > I was a special adviser for three-and-a-half years, and alcohol lubricated my conversations and relationships on a daily basis ---
**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:** [January 15, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1029 "2022-01-15T16:14:13Z")
Yes, I don’t really care that they bought a wine fridge. I care that they were having parties at a time when such things were actively prosecutable, and that the police (who were prosecuting thousands of others at the time) turned a blind eye even when they were literally standing right there. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2022, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1030 "2022-01-15T16:36:31Z")
He’s absolutely correct there.The UK vaccination rate is very good with over half the population having the booster which suggests unlike the US there isn’t a sizeable anti-vax segment of society. And Johnson should be able to take a victory lap for administering this but instead he is in deep trouble. It’s an incredible own goal he’s scored but it goes with his personality which from afar comes across like someone who has never been accountable for anything before. I read a blog entry from someone who made an astute point that the fact it took a party for the penny to drop with the public that the tories didn’t care about people is as much an indictment on the public as well as the politicians. It sounds harsh but in eleven years they would have done a lot worse than partying that didn’t affect their standing in polls and winning elections. Examples included the severe cuts to public services like 700 libraries being closed under their watch and that lots of people relying on food banks while the rich get richer. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2022, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1031 "2022-01-15T16:47:00Z")
Boris Johnson is a weird character in general. I lived in England when John Major was PM and he was the butt of jokes just for the fact his public image came across like he was just filling the seat temporarily except his term lasted seven years. Boris Johnson looks like Benny Hill, he talks like a student who didn’t prepare for a presentation and just trying to use long words to sound smart, he was fired in his previous career as a journalist and as foreign secretary and yet he somehow became a very consequential prime minister. ---
**Author:** ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2022, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1032 "2022-01-15T16:47:41Z")
> [@Boycott](#): > > as much an indictment on the public as well as the politicians. …on the people who voted him in, please. Or rather, under our system, the people that voted Conservative at the last election. Even though the alternative didn’t look so good. But it’s not hindsight to say that the Tories were dazzled by a devious, weaselly bletherskite. They were calling him the British Trump even before that election. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1033 "2022-01-15T16:57:06Z")
It’s getting worse. > **[Boris Johnson Is Apparently Calling Himself 'Big Dog'](https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/boris-johnson-operation-save-big-dog_uk_61e1c41ae4b0c6802ee67699)** > > And there's an "operation" to save him. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2022, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1034 "2022-01-15T17:05:44Z")
Yes, my bad. An indictment on those who voted him in. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1035 "2022-01-15T18:12:01Z")
The public has its fair share of blame. It was more or less obvious where the Tories were going to go - it was all Brexit all the time and they got exactly what they wanted. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1036 "2022-01-15T20:24:38Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > ['Operation Save Big Dog': Boris Johnson Apparently Has A New Name For Himself | HuffPost UK Politics](https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/boris-johnson-operation-save-big-dog_uk_61e1c41ae4b0c6802ee67699) > > “And there’s an “operation” to save him.” Oh I see. On first reading, I thought they meant the kind of “operation” that plenty of Big Dogs have to undergo. Which in BJ’s case might not be a bad idea either. ---
**Author:** ![filmstar-en](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@filmstar-en](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmstar-en)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2022, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1037 "2022-01-16T13:11:22Z")
I guess that will involve finding suitable scapegoats in Downing St. The easy targets are the civil servants because that would not cause an issue for the Conservative party. Some big announcement of a clearout of these party animals. Of course it might be a bit inconvenient if it were found that party members had attended or organised such events. With so many people involved, there will be emails and photos. But the party line at the moment is to wait for the results of the inquiry by Grey. That could take a long time, during which there will be a steady drip of stories to the media. Prime Ministers are usually surrounded by special advisors who form a praetorian guard protecting the Big Dog from any political threat. This system has conspicuously failed. Why was that? Mrs Johnson was not keen Cummins, who was sacked. Maybe the same was true of others whose company, she did not care for. One of the downsides of ‘working from home’, for Mr Big Dog, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2022, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1038 "2022-01-16T13:18:50Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > The public has its fair share of blame. It was more or less obvious where the Tories were going to go - it was all Brexit all the time and they got exactly what they wanted. Again, please don’t blame the 46.6% (England), 55.8% (NI), 62.0% (Scotland) who voted to remain. That’s 48.1% of voters for the whole UK. We didn’t want **any** of this. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2022, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1039 "2022-01-16T13:27:04Z")
> [@Boycott](#): > > Boris Johnson was fired in his previous career as a journalist and as foreign secretary. Johnson wasn’t fired as Foreign Secretary, he resigned. And that’s not a polite fiction, he genuinely quit on his own. By custom, he would be obliged to resign from the cabinet for opposing the Prime Minister in Parliament, but that’s not the same as being forced out. > **[Boris Johnson resigns](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-44771278)** > > Boris Johnson becomes the second senior cabinet minister to quit within 24 hours. If you’re looking for the two jobs from which Johnson was fired, it was as a journalist for The Times for making up a quote, and the combined job of Conservative party vice-chairman and shadow arts minister for lying about an affair. > **[Boris Johnson's most infamous lies and untruths](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-lies-conservative-leader-candidate-list-times-banana-brexit-bus-a8929076.html)** > > Prominent Tory's falsehoods range from incorrect 14th century history to the EU banana police ---
**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:** [January 16, 2022, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1040 "2022-01-16T13:34:23Z")
> [@filmstar-en](#): > > But the party line at the moment is to wait for the results of the inquiry by Grey. That could take a long time, during which there will be a steady drip of stories to the media. I’m seeing reports that Sue Gray could deliver her findings as early as this coming week. If Johnson then fires a long list of people, his problem will be that they’ll be outside the tent pissing in. Not to mention pissed off. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2022, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prime-minister-boris-johnson-tries-to-lead-the-uk-but-has-resigned-on-july-7-2022/837872/1041 "2022-01-16T14:17:11Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > If Johnson then fires a long list of people, his problem will be that they’ll be outside the tent pissing in. Not to mention pissed off. I totally agree with this. I believe the identity of the person who released the garden party invitation email to ITV is still hidden, but it was quite likely someone who’d been forced out of Downing Street, likely an associate of Dominic Cummings, if not Cummings himself. Likewise, the sources for the information about the Downing Street parties the night before Prince Philip’s parties were also people with axes to grind. Any hijinks that Sue Gray misses in her investigation are almost sure to be leaked if Johnson somehow survives after the release of her report and then does a mass clear-out. Prime Ministers Questions would be turned into the weekly Johnson apology session. [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=51) [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=53)