Just to toot my own horn: this came up virtually as I was writing my previous post last night: DUP to demand more cash for propping up Tories
Nailed it!
I’m not sure I even give him that long. As other have noted, the Conservatives have a minority government with a working majority based on the supply and confidence agreement with the DUP. That working majority has been whittled down over the past months and is now down to 2. There’s a by-election on 01 August where it will probably go down to 1.
That means Boris needs to avoid:
• Conservative hard-line Remain MP’s switching allegiance to the Liberal-Democrat party
• Conservative MP’s deciding to go into the private sector rather than stay in a Johnson parliament
• Conservative MP’s voting no-confidence as a last-ditch measure to prevent a No-Deal Brexit.
• Conservative MP’s denouncing and declaring no-confidence in him because he’s been a buffoon and done something racist or misogynistic
• Unbalanced attrition due to death, retirement, crime, etc.
• A coordinated absence that’s notified to Jeremy Corbyn
There are rumours that different MP’s are already planning the first three. Boris’s majority is starting off on a knife’s edge, and he’s not the type of careful, meticulous personality that operates well on a knife’s edge.
Side questions: When was the last time a UK Prime Minister was primarily identified by their first name? Do posters think there will eventually be a shift in the press and popular media to Prime Minister Johnson as the working default, or will Boris continue to be identified primarily as Boris?
Define “primarily identified”. The obvious example is Thatcher.
But depending on who would be talking about them, and to which audience, or which name suited headlines better, it could happen to others. “Tony”, “John”, “Call me Dave” and, at a pinch, “Gordon” might be too commonplace to be recognisable out of context, but in a political discussion wouldn’t.
Nobody here would say “Prime Minister X”. It would either be “The Prime Minister”, or “Mr/Ms X”, or “AX”, or “that **!! X”.
Churchill was often referred to as ‘Winston’ by the public and press, even though it was a more formal era. I doubt whether there was anyone before that.
There is a certain amount of backlash against ‘Boris’, because it makes him sound too pleasant and harmless, but it will probably stick because he is so much of a ‘character’.
But in this case, he’d be guaranteed a post-political career as a commentator to American audiences. Or heck, maybe a job in the current administration.
They wouldn’t do that - at least half of Parliament is filled with buffoons that have done something racist or misogynistic. It’d be a dangerous precedent.
“Boris” is too punchy and immediately-recognizable not to remain his media handle in most contexts. He’ll be “the Prime Minister” in only the most formal contexts.
“They” wouldn’t. Two of “them” might. How little would it take for BoJo to piss Justine Greening off – one bad joke about lesbianism? Tracey Crouch is a principled MP and outspoken feminist who has voted against the government in the past. Helen Grant is a Remainer and a black woman with progressive social values and little political patronage due to past scandals. Johnson will probably receive some level of party loyalty from these three and others like them, but little personal loyalty. If Johnson commits some kind of misogynistic or racist gaffe, these three, and I’m sure there are others like them including male MP’s, could easily turn against him. A Prime Minister can usually manage a few dissident back-benchers. Johnson doesn’t have that luxury.
Now I’ve got the old “Boris the Spider” song by the Who running through my head. The overall sentiment of something creepy you want to smash into the ground seems fitting somehow.
The new cabinet so far:
Home Secretary: Bellatrix Lestrange
Foreign Secretary: Walden “Executioner” Macnair
Chancellor: Peter “Wormtail” Pettigrew
Brexit Secretary: Lucius Malfoy
Defence Secretary: Barty Crouch Jr.
So is May staying on in Parliament as a backbencher, or is she resigning as an MP too.
This article says she’s going to stay an MP, but it’s over a month old. I can’t find any newer statements.
In her farewell remarks today she said she would remain as a backbench MP. We’ll see how long that lasts - it’s not easy for an ex-PM to adjust to the reduced role.
Makes me think of Boris and Natasha and their dastardly plots against Moose and Squirrel, but that may just be me.
True, but if her leaving were to contribute to a by-election lost to the Opposition and even tighter voting lines for the government to stay in power, I can see her staying on for the nonce.
Here’s the NYT’s coverage of the changeover at Number Ten: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/world/europe/britain-johnson-may-prime-minister.html
Leader of the House of Commons: Lord Snooty.
This is what happens when Just William and the Outlaws take over.
Nothing so harmless as that. This is a government of hard-right extremists.
Underneath his pleasant public persona, Johnson is cold, arrogant, amoral, devious, and incompetent. He bears grudges for many years, and pays them back. It seems like the people who know him best like him least.
“He is a far more ruthless, and frankly nastier, figure than the public appreciates.”
— Max Hastings
I’m not sure I understand the logic of him purging so many ministers. I’d understand it if he had a large majority to work with, but can he afford to make any more enemies than he already had?