Will Boris Johnson resign? (Has resigned, June 9, 2023)

Politics & Elections
41

This is super off-topic but May might have been the worst possible pick.

The Tories either needed to pick someone who had perceived credibility with Brexit voters so when they got a terrible deal it wouldn’t be seen as sabotage from the Cameron wing, or they needed the most competent person they could to try to do as well in the negotiation as possible and be able to sell the (still inevitably under-delivered) deal to the public.

They wound up with an uncharismatic incompetent with no credibility with Brexit voters.

42

False equivalence? How so? Government officials violating various lockdowns, mandates, policies, etc., without consequences.

The mandates are for the little people, not the Governor of California, or the Speaker of the House, or the PM.

43

Well, let’s see. According to The Guardian, Boris Johnson is accused of attending or sanctioning the following:

  • May 2020: ‘Cheese and wine’ in the No 10 garden. The event took place while people were only allowed to meet one other person from outside their household outdoors.
  • May 2020: ‘BYOB’ party in No 10 garden. A leaked email surfaced showing one of the prime minister’s top officials invited more than 100 Downing Street staff to a “bring your own booze” party just a few days later.
  • June 2020: PM’s birthday party. Despite Covid rules forbidding indoor social gatherings, ITV reported on Monday that a birthday party was thrown for Johnson, organised by his now wife and attended by up to 30 people – with a cake presented to the prime minister.
  • November 2020: Treasury officials’ ‘impromptu drinks.’ The Treasury was forced to defend officials holding an “impromptu” drinks party to celebrate Rishi Sunak’s autumn spending review during lockdown. A spokesperson said a “small number” of staff had celebrated around their desks.
  • November 2020: Johnson gives leaving speech for Cleo Watson. Johnson is known to have attended an event during England’s pre-Christmas lockdown, which sources said was an impromptu leaving do in No 10 for aide Cleo Watson.
  • December 2020: Department for Education staff party. Former education secretary Gavin Williamson held a Christmas party for up to two dozen staff at the Department for Education cafe. A spokesperson confirmed a report that Williamson gave a short speech and ministers enjoyed “drinks and canapes”, and admitted: “It would have been better not to have gathered in this way at that particular time.”
  • December 2020: wine fridge allegedly delivered to No 10 for ‘wine-time Fridays.’ Pictures of a £142 drinks fridge reportedly delivered to No 10 formed part of another Daily Mirror story, which said Downing Street staff continued to hold “wine-time Fridays” throughout the pandemic to “let off steam”.
  • December 2020: CCHQ Christmas party for Shaun Baile. A picture showed that an event hosted by the campaign for the Conservatives’ London mayoral candidate, Shaun Bailey, was held in Tory campaign headquarters. Buffet food was even laid on, despite indoor socialising being banned by the continuing Covid restrictions.
  • December 2020: Christmas quiz attended by Johnson. A day later, Johnson hosted a Christmas quiz in Downing Street. The prime minister was pictured on a screen reading out questions flanked by staff who wore tinsel and a Santa hat. While some staff joined virtually, sources said others crowded around desks.
  • December 2020: Department for Transport ‘low-key’, ‘distanced’ gathering by fewer than 12 staff. The Mirror revealed that staff of the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, threw a Christmas party where almost a dozen staff were “boozing and dancing” in a Whitehall office the day London was put into tier 3 restrictions.
  • December 2020: Cabinet Office Christmas party. A social event is alleged to have taken place in the office of the cabinet secretary, Simon Case. The invite was billed as a “Christmas party”, but government insiders said it was a virtual quiz and Case only passed through the event on the way to his office. Kate Josephs, the former Covid taskforce head, was later forced to apologise for attending a drinks gathering to mark her leaving the civil service on the same day.
  • December 2020: Downing Street Christmas party. Dozens of staff gathered for a Christmas party, with cheese and wine passed around, a mock awards ceremony and secret Santa gifts exchanged. The event was joked about in private a few days later by Allegra Stratton, the prime minister’s then press secretary, but only came to light when the video was leaked nearly a year later.
  • April 2021: ‘boozy’ leaving do held the day before Queen mourned Duke of Edinburgh alone. The Telegraph reported that No 10 held two “boozy” leaving events the night before the Queen mourned Prince Philip while socially distanced and masked. The report claimed staff returned from a local supermarket with a suitcase full of wine and drank until the early hours – with one stepping in to DJ.

All of these events featuring government officials and staff (allegedly) took place when the UK was under lockdown provisions put it place by Johnson’s own government. There is an official inquiry under way, with a report expected any day now, as well as a criminal inquiry by the Metropolitan police.

Johnson is also accused of lying to parliament about these events. He famously told MPs that "Covid guidance was followed completely in No 10.”

Remind me again what Newsom and Pelosi did? Dinner for one and a haircut for the other? Did they lie to their respective legislatures about it? Are their poll numbers tanking because of it? Is there an internal party revolt happening because they caused so much damage among public opinion?

But yeah, it’s all the same. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

44

I find it reassuring that D_Anconia is only to flag a very small number of Democrats that have at any point broken the rules at least once, as compared to pretty much the entire Republican party doing so pretty much constantly throughout most of the pandemic period.

Well done to the Left for largely acting responsibly.

45

Meant to mention the saga of comedian Joe Lycett and the “leaked memo” from today.

Lycett issued a tweet that stated “BREAKING: Leaked Sue Gray report reveals shocking abuse of the rules. Hard to see how the PM can cling on after this.”

It included a picture of a partly-redacted document:

Now, any normal person reading that would immediately spot that it’s a rather obvious joke. Unfortunately the Venn diagram of “normal people” and “Conservative MPs” apparently does not intersect, because they took it seriously. Lycett later posted this, which I’m somewhat sure he wasn’t joking about:

Followed by:

Which has now been picked up by the press:

One might wonder what the staff at Number 10 really get up to, that this was given any credibility at all by actual Conservative Members of Parliament.

Part of me kind of hopes that it’s all a doublebluff by Lycett and that the “panic” is also something he made up but honestly, I wouldn’t be at all surprised either way.

46

Let’s see. Newsom violated his own mandate in order to attend a birthday party for a lobbyist, Mayor Breed violated her own mandate by dancing at a wedding without a mask “because the spirit moved her”, and Nancy violated her state’s mandate by going to a hair salon, while hair salons were closed due to lockdowns, “because I have to be on T.V.”

They didn’t lie to Congress about it, I’ll give you that.

47

Again, something that can’t be said about many in the Republican Party.

48

Quick recap:

The allegations about parties at Downing St during lockdown are currently the focus of two investigations

  1. The Cabinet Office investigation headed by Sue Gray. The Cabinet Office is part of central government; Sue Gray works for the guy who works for the PM. It is an internal report which can produce findings of fact and recommendations for internal disciplinary action. It will not by itself involve people in criminal proceedings. However, the terms of reference allow the lead investigator to report to the police if they turn over evidence of law-breaking. Such evidence was found and thus we have the…
  2. Police investigation by the Metropolitan Police (i.e. London police). They are only involved because the Cabinet Office report was directly referred to them. Left to themselves, they insisted for weeks that there was nothing to investigate and this was not a proper matter for them.

I share this to put the following in context:

Today the Met announced that they have asked the Cabinet OFfice to include in its own report only minimal details of the incidents which form the basis of the police investigation. Ostensibly this is to avoid prejudicing their inquiry. But the result will be that the Cabinet Office report doesn’t give detail on the most serious breaches. This means teh government can claim that the investigation shows there’s nothing to see. Should, in the next few weeks, the Met decide to drop their investigation or otherwise half-arse it, then there will be a second round of “nothing to see here” and the government will say the matter has been investigated and should now be dropped.

The Establishment in action, ladies and gentlemen. Whether it’s enough to win over the public is doubtful, but it could easily keep MPs from no-confidencing Boris Johnson, and that’s what matters.

49

Amazingly, someone has dug this out from 20/6/20 edition of The Times, which shows that a) these facts were known and in the public record at the time and b) the press was not at that point either aware of or interested in following up the implications. It’s kind of weird.

Boris Johnson celebrated his 56th birthday yesterday with a small gathering in the cabinet room. Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, and a group of aides sang him Happy Birthday before they tucked into a Union Jack cake.

The celebrations provided a brief respite after another gruelling week that featured two U-turns in 48 hours, Conservative backbenchers in open revolt and the government’s competence called into question again.

50

“Conservative backbenchers in open revolt and the government’s competence called into question”

Are we sure this is an old article? :wink:

51

1980-81, 1989-90 and 1994-7 redux. When the Tories start to fall apart, they really go for it.

52

Just a quick note on Boris’ latest attempt to immolate himself:

Every time he opens his mouth…

j

53

With Canada having their stupid vaccine/mask protests and UK having Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, I’m just glad there are other parts of the world suffering from this vast stupidity.

The Brexit vote was the first indicator things were going very poorly.

54

And if someone who used to belong to the Revolutionary Communist Party*, before hitching her star to Johnson’s coat tails, thinks he’s gone too far…

*comparable, IIRC, to the trajectory of some US neocons?

55

Did I say one of Boris Johnson’s advisers has resigned? I’m terribly sorry, I should have said five. FIVE.

Policy adviser Elena Narozanski is the latest to leave her role, after four senior staff members quit on Thursday.

Mr Johnson attempted to rally staff at a meeting on Friday morning, telling them “change is good”.

Close to speechless, here.

j

56

Captain of sinking ship: “I’ve taken decisive action, and my ship is now rat-free!”

57

The movie that will inevitably be made of this period will basically be the bunker scene from Downfall with “Yakety Sax” on the soundtrack.

58

This sort of thing has been seen before. The Conservative Party is really not fit to be in power. Political parties need a rest after a couple of terms because they run out of policies they can implement and become internally divided by competing factions.

The Conservatives really only had one policy and that was Brexit. Something that really never meant much to the voters, it came to represent a whole mishmash of issues. Boris got elected because the country was exhausted by the debate that split the Conservative party. He convinced everyone that he was the man to get Brexit done and that would be an end to the matter.

He withdrew from the EU, leaving lots of very loose ends and send Liz Truss around the world supposedly negotiating lots of trade deals with the new found independence.

What I expected to happen was these lose ends the dire effect in the economy would make it apparent that Brexit was a stupid idea.

But the Covid pandemic hit and sent every national economy into a spin with lockdowns and a major health crisis. This has eclipsed the Brexit disruption to trade.

The Conservatives had turned themselves into the Brexit party and now had to pivot to become the Covid party. They made a lot of mistakes and as we have learnt how to deal with the pandemic it us becoming very apparent that there is a huge national debt to pay. The UK economy extended its mortgage dramatically and that can only be addressed by either sustained growth or tax rises.

There is a raft of tax increases that will hit the poorest and a looming energy crisis because of the global demand for natural gas.

These are serious issues that need a steady hand and leadership. Instead it is becoming very clear that Boris Johnson’s administration is dysfunctional and has deceived the public, imploring personal responsibility and lauding heroic public service to deal with the pandemic. All the while partying at No 10 because they think that these rules do not apply to them. Rank hypocrisy and elitism. Worse still, they were not even competent enough to cover up their misdeeds. There are stories leaked one after the next about the corrupt goings on at No 10 Downing Street under Boris Johnson.

The voters don’t really get to pass judgement fir a couple of years. But the scandals have appalled the Conservative Party members. This is not the party they voted for. They do have influence and write to their MPs and bombard them with emails in protest. If enough MPs are moved to write letters expressing no confidence in the a prime Minister, it will trigger an vote within the party.

Boris could survive that vote and then we are stuck with him for another year. If he loses, he must resign and there will be a leadership election.

Rivals are positioning themselves in anticipation of this. There are resignations from figures within the party that do not want to be associated with Boris’s leadership. Some ministers express undying loyalty, but other senior figures are muted or make statements that are code words that discretely distance themselves.

Will the cabinet of senior politicians split? Already some long time supporters and ex ministers have expressed opposition. In the background there will be a ‘save Boris’ campaign going on by the Whips whose job it is to maintain party discipline. But with the party grass roots protesting, the ordinary MPs without ministerial jobs over whom the Whips have less influence, they can vote him out.

Boris will try to win them over by policy announcements that will benefit the areas of the country they represent. This is the ‘levelling up’ policy. Pork barrel politics?

His Home Office minister Pritti Patel is about to release proposals for new laws discouraging refugees and asylum seekers. This has been compared to throwing red meat at wild dogs to stop them from attacking.

However, I don’t think this will be enough. There is plenty more scandal to come. He has many enemies in the party and they all have some dirt on his chaotic administration. Not least amongst his closest advisors that his wife decided she did not like.

I am hoping that this drama will come to a conclusion soon and the UK will get a competent political leadership in place. There are some serious matters to deal with that are far more important than these internal Conservative party shenanigans.

59

In a General Election, true. But there have been a couple of disastrous (for the Tories) parliamentary by-election results, and there will be local elections across a fair swathe of the country this May, which will tell the parties a thing or two. Not to mention that the Northern Ireland Assembly are due an election, and although the UK parties have no direct presence there, the results may well give the London government a substantial headache (to complicate still further the unresolved issues of the NI Brexit Protocol).

So there is plenty to rattle plenty of Tory MPs, unless they’re completely self-deluding.

60

Indeed, there was just the other day a by-election in the constituency of Southend near London. It followed the death of a Conservative MP David Ames ,who was murdered by a deranged man. A crime that shocked the country.

Out of respect the other parties did not contest it, so the Conservative candidate was elected. However a large number of ballot papers were apparently spoiled. There is a very deep feeling of anger within the Conservative party about Johnson’s leadership. They voted through gritted teeth.

Johnson has managed to split the party over Brexit expelling notable Remainers. Now because of these scandals, he has split it horizontally and the grass root members of the party are turning against him.

Party politics is all about maintaining a party consensus, keeping friends close and enemies closer still. Johnson does not seem to have this essential skill and he is losing control and making far too many avoidable mistakes.

Some of these elections, while not General elections, will give the chance for voters to express their opinion of the party. If there is a very poor performance, that could push the party to take action.

At the moment there is an assumption that voters will forget these minor scandals. Somehow I don’t think they are going to forget that hugely evocative image of the Queen sitting alone in church having lost her husband, obeying the rules and setting an example. All the while Boris and his chums were having parties that ignored all the rules in Downing St. Clearly demonstrating that they think fundamental Conservative values like duty, integrity and public service are optional for the big Dogs of the party.

I think that image was the turning point when Johnson really lost it.