By any conceivable measure Boris Johnson is a failure.
He lost a by-election days after becoming prime minister.
He lost his first six parliamentary votes.
He lost his majority.
He lied to the Queen.
The Supreme Court has had to unanimously tell him that was the case.
He has made no progress with Brexit.
There is no sign that he will make progress with Brexit.
Parliament has passed a law requiring him to do something he says he will never do.
As a litany of failure that is quite something.
And it is worth noting that because a great many people did not have to know all this to know that Boris Johnson would be a disastrous prime minister: their own instincts told them so. Simple heuristic tests made it obvious to them that Boris Johnson as prime minister would be a disaster waiting to happen. And so it has proved to be.
Many of those same people are also saying that Brexit will be a disaster. Simple heuristic tests make it obvious to them that this will be the case and that Brexit is a disaster waiting to happen.
Will we make the same mistake twice?
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Sorry, but “we” (whoever you mean by we: it doesn’t include me or the mass of my friends and others in my circle of acquaintances) did not make a mistake first time round when “they” (not we) appointed Mr Johnson PM. I refuse to be identified with them by using the forst person plural pronoun. The mistake will be made again: we (yes, we) scored a victory with the Supreme Court judgement; but among the mass of them out there who first time round exulted in the victory of ignorance, mendacity, and intolerance, the judgement given yesterday will merely confirm that the judges are the enemies of the people, traitors even, collaborators, plotting against the will of the people, anti democrats who will not respect the democratic decision made in the referendum. Expect Mr Johnon’s rating in the opinion polls to go up, and don’t be surprised if he wins the next General Election.
Mike Ghirelli’s perception is that ‘the mass of them out there … first time round exulted in the victory of ignorance, mendacity, and intolerance …’. Mine is that the billionaire press and advertising-dependent TV, has ignored the good aspects of the EU and over-emphasised the bad – resulting in a degree of ‘ignorance’ and ‘intolerance’ of ‘the mass of them out there’.
With regard to ‘mendacity’, a few days ago “Wales’s Rob Howley sent home from World Cup amid betting investigation. Exit follows suspected breach of World Rugby regulations …” https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/sep/17/waless-rob-howley-sent-home-from-world-cup-amid-betting-allegations His crime: perhaps giving himself a motive to deliberately lose A GAME. Prior to that “Hedge funds make million-pound bets against high street as Brexit uncertainty threatens UK economy” https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/dec/10/hedge-funds-make-big-bets-against-post-brexit-uk-economy. These speculators have acted on their ‘motive’ to cash in and have been using their wealth — and other people’s money — arguably, to ruin the entire British economy.
But it’s worse than that. “Crispin Odey was one of the largest donors to leave, handing over just shy of £900,000 to the [Leave] campaign. … [He had] bet on Brexit hitting the pound by “shorting” sterling and moving 65% of his fund into gold in anticipation. Odey’s fund made £220m in the space of just a few hours.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/26/nigel-farage-remain-won-brexit-bloomberg
The same article argues “EU policies designed to restore stability to financial markets, such as the 2012 short selling regulation , are anathema to this sort of investor. Odey has voiced his objection to tighter EU regulation of hedge funds and has claimed that new EU banking rules will contribute to a “terrifying” environment for “investors”, although a distinction between investors and gamblers might be helpful here.”
Democracy is rather more important than rugby. With regard to elections or referendums, betting or assisting a bet in any way by any UK firm or individual should be illegal — unlimited fines, stripped of the right to vote or contribute to political parties, banishment …?
A BBC headline on 17 May 2016 ran: “Nigel Farage: Narrow Remain win may lead to second referendum. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36306681 So who is one of the ‘anti democrats who will not respect the democratic decision made in the referendum’? Your words Mike.
A Corbyn-led coalition could take power in days – and not just as caretaker – https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/long-term-corbyn-led-coalition-could-take-power-days-not-just-as-caretaker/
What are the chances, is it the right path out of this cul-de-sac?
The country is riven, the constitution challenged, the Courts have delivered a verdict the implications of which are not yet understood; and the prestige of the Constitution and of our highest institutions have lost public confidence (a much more profound blow than the short-term issue of a Parliamentary no-confidence motion). This is where we are; all the rest is speculation.
This is the reality of Brexit. It has almost nothing to do with the EU. This is solely about “us”. The Supreme Court in fact re-asserted the absolute power of Parliament. The EU stands silently by throughout, because it is nothing to with them, and they, at least, have the wisdom to know it. We have taken back control; and still we are riven.
Brexit is nothing to do with Brexit. Britain is in the brutal process of discovering the nature of itself, and it is proving to be less ‘Cool Britannia’ than ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’.
I think you are right
Dorian Gray indeed. Unfortunately, too many see only the youthful, tousle-haired, amusing, charismatic, bumbling but likeable oaf and think he is the real thing, while refusing to see the true-to-life portrait that the many confirmed facts have painted of the liar, misogynist, racist, narcissist with a litany of failures behind him and an increasing tendency towards fascism and a belief in his own exceptionalism and infallibility.
Nemesis will surely come, but how and when?
How Johnson and Co. manage and respond to the ‘litany of failure’ (great description Richard) is key. Within hours of the SC judgement ‘Downing St’ was leaking its displeasure to its favourite BBC hack, Laura Kuenssberg, saying “We think the Supreme Court is wrong and has made a serious mistake in extending its reach to these political matters”. Their initial reaction was to defend the PM’s actions and use Kuenssberg to convey their desperate dog-whistle to die-hard brexit obsessives. It seems to be working. Worrying.
I thank heaven that the Labour party twice voted for Corbyn as leader and that his preferred brexit policy (composite 14) was adopted by conference delegates and is now the unequivocal policy of Labour. It is Labour’s massive body of members and activists taking to the streets to electioneer for their party that will make Johnson+Co’s dog-whistles ineffective by putting forward the sensible brexit policy (renegotiate WA, properly managed and configured Referendum, implement the result of that election (Labour’s renegotiated leave or Remain on current terms).
Point is, everyone has to acknowledge then play-down the right’s attempts to divide and conquer the electorate/the nation. We stay calm, polite, positive and hopeful as we unstoppably campaign for Jeremy Bernard Corbyn to be the next PM of the UK, the first non Child of Thatcher to have the position since 1990.
Her Maj and her advisers will by now be well aware that Johnson lied to her, considered something of a no-no in their circles, I believe. Perhaps soon he’ll be hearing from her, and she won’t be making the speech he’s been hoping for.
🙂
I’d like to paraphrase Richard’s post by saying that it is Britain that has failed as a country.
Our rich and influential line their pockets at our expense and are even prepared to short our country as Joe Burlington points out above whilst our politicians fail as legislators to deal with these traitors effectively.
Too many people would rather watch the Great British Bakeoff or some other brainless soma or visual masturbation instead of dealing with the likes of a certain Mr Odey.
As Lou Reed said on his New York album ‘Stick a fork in their ass – they’re done’. That’s us folks.
Enjoy!
A comment has been made regarding a person whose surname is Odey,, obviously a financial parasite, whereby shorting the pound in order to make a profit on the basis that the pound will fall is taking advantage of others economic difficulties. Excuse my ignorance but why is it an acceptable practice that ‘shorting’ which involves an individual or institution being able to borrow shares from a third party for a fee without actually owning them, sell them to another in the expectation there will be a fall in price, then buy them back at the lower price and if and when that occurs being able to pocket the difference and then return them to the original owner. They have never paid the full cost of the purchase so are not fully exposed to any liability. I believe this practice has been banned in some countries including Germany.
I am always amazed that the ‘owners’ of assets permit this for the small fee they get