# The next British Prime Minister **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 24, 2019, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450 "2019-05-24T13:02:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/101 "2019-06-19T08:01:53Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Raab is very popular with MPs. Evidently not. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2019, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/102 "2019-06-19T09:20:18Z")
> [@Oswald\_Bastable](#): > > If he plays it right, Stewart could be very well placed to become a more moderate leader, if and when Brexit destroys Johnson’s administration. That very well may be his game plan. I don’t think he’s planned it out that intricately, and in today’s unstable political climate I’m not sure it’s worth it to do so. All he needs to do is to position himself as the Anti-Boris - the toadies who want a spot in Boris’ cabinet will gravitate that way, but Stewart is aiming to grab support from those who dislike Boris and everything he stands for. The question is whether the party as a whole is pro- or anti-Boris, and I fear Stewart may be out of luck in the short term. It may still play out to his advantage but I’m not sure I’d call it a plan. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2019, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/103 "2019-06-19T15:15:13Z")
Fascinating for me as a political junkie to watch this process unfold. Horrifying for me as an Anglophile, though. ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/104 "2019-06-19T17:16:41Z")
Stewart’s out. This is now a lot less interesting. Johnson’s so far ahead of everyone else I expect this won’t even get to the membership vote. Shame. Shame. Shame. OB ---
**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:** [June 19, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/105 "2019-06-19T17:35:04Z")
> [@Oswald\_Bastable](#): > > Stewart’s out. Steward is now well-positioned to lead a new centrist party when the Tories finally self-destruct. ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/106 "2019-06-19T17:59:55Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > Steward is now well-positioned to lead a new centrist party when the Tories finally self-destruct. I think we have quite enough centrist parties in the UK already, none with a great deal of traction. ETA: Unfortunately. OB ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/107 "2019-06-19T18:29:56Z")
What the heck- can’t the Brits see what happens when you put a loud, boorish, lying blond in power? Everybody hates the guy, let’s make him PM! ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/108 "2019-06-19T20:55:14Z")
I’ve got to admit, this tweet from Sajid Javid is heartwarming. Handwritten letter from his daughter about the Conservative party leadership race. > ---
**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:** [June 19, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/109 "2019-06-19T21:47:54Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I’ve got to admit, this tweet from Sajid Javid is heartwarming. Handwritten letter from his daughter about the Conservative party leadership race. > > [https://twitter.com/sajidjavid/status/1141442242877558784?s=21](https://twitter.com/sajidjavid/status/1141442242877558784?s=21) Yeah, I’m not a Javid fan but as the father of a daughter of similar age I am feeling the warm fuzzies here. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2019, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/110 "2019-06-19T23:07:33Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > Steward is now well-positioned to lead a new centrist party when the Tories finally self-destruct. I don’t know what his future holds, but he’s an interesting character. With his background - and his reported ability to master a brief while doing his DFID duties - he’d probably make a good Foreign Secretary and that’s something the next PM is going to need very badly indeed. I do get the impression that he has begun to develop his own politics, and that’s no bad thing. Anyway, here’s a Rory Stewart anecdote from a former Parliamentary researcher who was based in the next-door office a few years ago: > > [@](#): > > Councillor Charlotte Leach @CharLeach24x > > He’s not an MP I know particularly well but I do have a great story from when I worked in Parliament for @SeemaKennedy. Our office was next door to Rory’s on the 5th floor in Norman Shaw North. > > One evening I was working late in the office on my own. There was a knock on the door & it was @RoryStewartUK who told me that he had locked himself out of his office and and asked if he could use our office for a meeting. > > I said it was no problem but before I had a chance to say anything else he walked straight across the office and climbed out of the 5th floor window and disappeared. > > At this point I panicked thinking that surely he must have fallen and what if people thought I had pushed him 😂 > > Then, before I know it he comes walking back into my office through the main door, picks up his stuff and leaves. He had somehow managed to scale the side of the building and break into his office through the window. > > I have honestly never been more shocked in my life. Looking out of the window there was essentially nothing to hold onto so to this day I have no idea how he managed to do it but I was suitably impressed! #RoryWalksOn Rory Stewart denies ever having been in any way connected to the Secret Intelligence Service. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/111 "2019-06-19T23:10:37Z")
> [@Oswald\_Bastable](#): > > Stewart’s out. This is now a lot less interesting. Johnson’s so far ahead of everyone else I expect this won’t even get to the membership vote. > > Shame. Shame. Shame. > > OB Johnson is only getting 40% of the vote. He could lose if someone benefits from an “Anybody but Johnson” movement. I think Johnson will win, however. He’s rabid about Brexit and has more charisma than Gove. Would that be a good thing for the UK? Probably not, but then again, voting for Brexit probably wasn’t good for the UK either. At least he’s realistic about one thing: they can’t keep delaying Brexit. They already voted to separate, and if the only way to do that is no deal, they’ll have to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/112 "2019-06-19T23:12:13Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Rory Stewart denies ever having been in any way connected to the Secret Intelligence Service. Sounds like he’d be great as the next James Bond. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/113 "2019-06-19T23:17:44Z")
I just noticed, Rory Stewart kind of looks like what would happen if you morphed all the faces of the members of the Rolling Stones [together](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/353B/production/_106772631_48d5578e-a089-48ca-bed0-e44ac53b030c.jpg). ---
**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:** [June 19, 2019, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/114 "2019-06-19T23:27:19Z")
> [@Kimera757](#): > > Johnson is only getting 40% of the vote. He could lose if someone benefits from an “Anybody but Johnson” movement. It doesn’t matter. The Tory MPs only winnow the candidates to the final two, and then the Tory membership gets to vote - and they seem to love the utter charlatan. Barring a “live boy or dead girl” scenario\* happening in the next few weeks the clown is the next PM. It’s going to feel weird hearkening back to the Golden Age of Theresa May’s reign. - And even then the ranks of the undead that forms the Tory membership would probably still vote for him ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/115 "2019-06-20T07:24:29Z")
[Good graphic](https://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2019_24_cover_illocrop.jpg?itok=dTtP7GYl) of the evolution of the Conservative Party. From an excellent article in the New Statesman, [The closing of the conservative mind](https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/06/closing-conservative-mind) ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/116 "2019-06-20T09:04:15Z")
> [@Kimera757](#): > > I think Johnson will win, however. He’s rabid about Brexit and has more charisma than Gove. Man, that’s a low bar to clear. Might as well point out that he’s taller than Peter Dinklage and a better sprinter than Stephen Hawking. That said, this may make you throw up in your mouth a little: [Girls4Gove](https://twitter.com/search?q=girls4gove&ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Esearch). ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/117 "2019-06-20T14:43:36Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > …That said, this may make you throw up in your mouth a little: [Girls4Gove](https://twitter.com/search?q=girls4gove&ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Esearch). Thanks. I’m not big into trigger warnings, but if ever one was needed… ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/118 "2019-06-20T15:09:53Z")
Michael Gove always gives me the impression that he’s a boy [made out of wood](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BgxuKexIQAAWLH2.jpg) that’s been give the power of life. So a bit like Pinnochio, but without the growing nose feature. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/119 "2019-06-20T17:17:50Z")
Well, he’s out, so it may be a little unfair to be piling in on him, but he always reminded me of [Pob](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dqxZo_myyA). So as many predicted it’s down to Hunt vs. Johnson. While we’re at it, let’s be really puerile and remark on [Hunt’s over-vigorous wrist action](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmCtGKwgJ2k) at the time of the London Olympics. You may make up your own jokes about “end” and “bell”. ---
**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:** [June 21, 2019, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/120 "2019-06-21T09:09:55Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Well, he’s out, so it may be a little unfair to be piling in on him, but he always reminded me of [Pob](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dqxZo_myyA). [It is never unfair to pile on Michael Gove](https://twitter.com/garius/status/1063751172538986497). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450.md?page=7)