# 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:** 7
**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 21, 2019, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/121 "2019-06-21T12:48:20Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > [It is never unfair to pile on Michael Gove](https://twitter.com/garius/status/1063751172538986497). You can’t unsee this image of Gove jogging. Warning: This photo may be upsetting to people of a sensitive disposition. > **[iPad confusion and Tory antics indicate lack of intelligent life on Earth |...](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jun/21/ipad-confusion-tory-antics-indicate-lack-intelligent-life-on-earth#img-2)** > > Aliens are unlikely to be impressed by the likes of Annunziata Rees-Mogg and the Conservative party (Those poor kids must be scarred for life.) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/122 "2019-06-21T15:17:00Z")
> [@Kimera757](#): > > Johnson is only getting 40% of the vote. He could lose if someone benefits from an “Anybody but Johnson” movement. Is that Hunt, though? ---
**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 21, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/123 "2019-06-21T19:05:21Z")
Hard to tell if this’ll come to anything, but Johnson’s personal life is a bit of a ticking timebomb for him. [Police called to loud altercation at Boris Johnson’s home](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/21/police-called-to-loud-altercation-at-boris-johnsons-home) Will The Guardian release the recording? If they do, will it make any difference? Who knows these days, frankly. ---
**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 21, 2019, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/124 "2019-06-21T19:36:09Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Hard to tell if this’ll come to anything, but Johnson’s personal life is a bit of a ticking timebomb for him. > > [Police called to loud altercation at Boris Johnson’s home](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/21/police-called-to-loud-altercation-at-boris-johnsons-home) > > Will The Guardian release the recording? If they do, will it make any difference? Who knows these days, frankly. I doubt if it would make any difference to Tory members, whether as reported speech or in a live recording. It doesn’t tell us much more about Johnson’s private life and character than is already widely known. True, it doesn’t say much for his negotiating skills, but will Tory members think throwing an EastEnders tantrum is the way to deal with the EU? Though if I were the Downing Street cat, I might be looking for a bolthole just in case. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/125 "2019-06-22T00:49:22Z")
Why would anyone want to preside over this slow-moving disaster? I picture the Titanic heading straight towards an iceberg and not even trying to steer away. ---
**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 23, 2019, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/126 "2019-06-23T08:36:46Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Why would anyone want to preside over this slow-moving disaster? I picture the Titanic heading straight towards an iceberg and not even trying to steer away. By sheer force of personality and negotiating skill the iceberg will be persuaded to melt in time. Because we are special and it owes us. Or computers can work it all out. Or something (I’m not entirely confident I’ve quite understood the mindset of a Tory Brexiteer, except I’m pretty sure that they don’t seem to have grasped the difference between a political agreement and a legally justiciable one). ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2019, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/127 "2019-06-23T14:52:42Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Why would anyone want to preside over this slow-moving disaster? I picture the Titanic heading straight towards an iceberg and not even trying to steer away. Boris will blame the disaster on others: the EU, Remainers, the Labour party, the Irish government, Theresa May… ---
**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 25, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/128 "2019-06-25T21:14:27Z")
Anyone see Johnson’s interview today? With TalkRadio? Talking about model buses? Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/129 "2019-06-25T23:20:15Z")
Boris Johnson is the politician who lost £40 million of taxpayers’ money on an imaginary bridge. His policies are: 1. To negotiate a new deal with the European Union (EU). _The EU has stated there will be no new deal. Of course Boris could bring his ‘renowned’ diplomatic skills to bear. Shame he was sacked as Foreign Secretary for being a buffoon. :rolleyes:_ 1. To depart the EU by Oct 31 (deal or no-deal.) _The UK parliament has voted against no-deal (and see the Irish border question below…)_ 1. No difficulty with the Irish border question. Boris claims there is a ‘technical solution’ if no-deal goes ahead. _After 3 years of discussion, nobody else thinks there is. There is agreement that it will be a disaster if there is no solution._ His campaign style is to avoid answering questions or any debating. He has told many lies. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/130 "2019-06-26T00:07:51Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Boris Johnson is the politician who lost £40 million of taxpayers’ money on an imaginary bridge. > > His policies are: > > 1. To negotiate a new deal with the European Union (EU). > > _The EU has stated there will be no new deal. > Of course Boris could bring his ‘renowned’ diplomatic skills to bear. Shame he was sacked as Foreign Secretary for being a buffoon. :rolleyes:_ > > 1. To depart the EU by Oct 31 (deal or no-deal.) > > _The UK parliament has voted against no-deal (and see the Irish border question below…)_ > > 1. No difficulty with the Irish border question. > > Boris claims there is a ‘technical solution’ if no-deal goes ahead. > > _After 3 years of discussion, nobody else thinks there is. There is agreement that it will be a disaster if there is no solution._ > > His campaign style is to avoid answering questions or any debating. > He has told many lies. Agreed. What, then, are the Tories thinking? Why does he have so much support within the party? Help me understand their thinking, even if I’m never going to agree with it… ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/131 "2019-06-26T01:51:49Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I picture the Titanic heading straight towards an iceberg and not even trying to steer away. Yes, but to run with the analogy, from Boris’s perspective, it was the steering away (and glancing blow) which sunk the ship. If Titanic hits it straight on the crash is survivable. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/132 "2019-06-26T02:44:56Z")
I’m a little unclear about what Parliament voting against “no deal” actually _does_, apart from ensure that they’re committed to keep talking and voting on the issue. If the deadline (Sept 29?) comes and goes, and they haven’t actually signed a deal, and the EU doesn’t give them another extension, “no deal” will just happen all by itself. Which presumably Boris is fine with… ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/133 "2019-06-26T03:19:01Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Agreed. What, then, are the Tories thinking? Why does he have so much support within the party? Help me understand their thinking, even if I’m never going to agree with it… It’s not so much thinking as feeling. To the extent that there’s any thinking going on, it’s largely thinking about how to assauage feelings. Within the parliamentary party, probably a majority of members do not believe that a successful, beneficial Brexit is possible. All Brexits are more or less shitty for the UK, but for the Tory party not to deliver Brexit at this point would be political suicide. On the whole, their Brexit objective would be to seek a less shitty Brexit rather than a more shitty one, but this objective is subordinated to two others - first, deliver Brexit in a way that doesn’t fracture the Tory party and, secondly, deliver Brexit in a way that preserves some shred of a chance that the Tory party can win the next election. In short, they’re putting the interests of the party ahead of the interests of the country. So the objective is not the lesast shitty Brexit, but the Brexit whose shittiness can most plausibly be blamed on someone other than the government that implements the Brexit. In tha context, the party’s interests are best served by choosing a leader who has the presentational and other skills to distance the party from the consequences of the shitty Brexit they are going to implement. Hence, a personab;e, plausible rogue is desirable, even if his Brexit policy is, viewed in objective terms in the light of the national interest, incoherent at best and disastrous at worst. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/134 "2019-06-26T03:25:29Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I’m a little unclear about what Parliament voting against “no deal” actually _does_, apart from ensure that they’re committed to keep talking and voting on the issue. If the deadline (Sept 29?) comes and goes, and they haven’t actually signed a deal, and the EU doesn’t give them another extension, “no deal” will just happen all by itself. > > Which presumably Boris is fine with… The deadline is October 31. If, by that date, the UK hasn’t (a) ratified the Withdrawal Agreement, (b) sought and obtained an extension of time from the EU or (c) reovoked the UK’s notice of intention to leave, you’re quite right; the UK leaves without a deal. Parliament can repeat till its blue in the fact that they don’t like this or don’t accept it but none of that means anything at all unless they are willing to take or require the government to take one of the above actions. People assume that, because parliament doesn’t want a no-deal Brexit, when push comes to shove they _will_ take one of those actions, but I don’t think that’s a given. There is no agreement on which action to take, for one thing. And parliament’s obvious reluctance to take any action until the last minute, coupled with a degree of wishful thinking about when “the last minute” actually is, might well mean that they defer making a choice until it is, in practical terms, too late to make a choice. ---
**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 26, 2019, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/135 "2019-06-26T06:56:35Z")
> [@Malden\_Capell](#): > > Anyone see Johnson’s interview today? With TalkRadio? Talking about model buses? > > Jesus. \*The wheels of the bus are falling off, falling off, falling off… \* 🎶 There is definitely a sense that Johnson is losing his touch. People are laughing at him, not with him over this, and over the release of the photo with Carrie Symonds. The reason people support him is that he tells them what they want to hear in a positive, upbeat way, and appears to be intelligent and charming. (At least, a stupid person’s idea of intelligent and charming.) But now he is avoiding answering any questions at all, just like Theresa May. He is saying nothing, he is not upbeat. He is refusing to answer a question 23 times in one interview. There was nothing feel-good about those interviews. He is not the same self-confident person he was. To me, the strangest thing is that the Telegraph and the Daily Mail have been running articles critical of him. It seems that some powerful people on the right have decided they prefer Hunt to Johnson. Whether all this will make any difference among Tory Party voters, I don’t know. Probably it won’t. But after he becomes PM, it will undermine his ability to get any support at all from Parliament or the public. ---
**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 26, 2019, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/136 "2019-06-26T07:20:23Z")
As the Independent [points out](https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/boris-johnson-model-bus-brexit-family-tory-leadership-jeremy-hunt-a8974276.html): > [@](#): > > What is stranger than a man who paints models of buses? One who won’t tell you how many children he has, for a start. From the [Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/25/are-the-wheels-coming-off-boris-johnsons-bus): > [@](#): > > The round of broadcast interviews – including one in which Johnson sparked ridicule and suspicion about the veracity of his claim to relax by making models of buses with wooden crates – has been watched with incredulity by political communications experts. > > Lord Wood of Anfield, the Labour peer and political strategist, said that Johnson’s interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg broadcast on Monday night made him immediately question his “match fitness”. > > “He seems convinced that his path to No 10 is assured if he says nothing of interest and lets the party machine and arithmetic do its work,” he said. > > “But saying nothing for reasons of discipline has tipped over into looking like he has nothing to say. This is a massive problem for a frontrunner.” > > Wood suggests that a campaign full of “bons mots and memorable phrases” would have been much more effective at keeping unwelcome scrutiny away from Johnson’s door. Instead, a seeming reluctance to stand up and fight might be providing uncomfortable reminders of May to the Tory faithful. ---
**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 26, 2019, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/137 "2019-06-26T14:02:04Z")
I’ll tell you why the Tories favour him as leader. Because he’ll ally with Farage in a future election, that’s why. We’re heading for a BXP/Tory coalition. We’re in serious danger. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2019, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/138 "2019-07-23T12:30:59Z")
So, Boris. Interesting times. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/139 "2019-07-23T12:36:18Z")
Is “being daunted” (as opposed to undaunted) a Britishism? Because Boris’s insistence that he and his party are not “daunted” would seem somewhat clever if it came from an otherwise clever man, but from his mouth it sounds like a Trumpism. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2019, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450/140 "2019-07-23T12:38:45Z")
Dude! An energised dud… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-british-prime-minister/834450.md?page=8)