Across the board journalists are turning on the Prime Minister. The BBC is doing it, Nick Robinson and Laura Kuenssberg included. Gary Gibbon did it for Channel 4 last night, getting pretty stroppy in the process. So did STV, where Kathryn Samson did a great job. And now the Daily Mail is decidedly unimpressed by the flippant tweets Johnson has been putting out in the face of real crises.
As I noted on Twitter last night, the media always know that a Prime Minister's days are numbered well before that PM does. I very strongly suspect that not only are the media now reflecting an anger in the country about what is happening, and Johnson's lame indifference to it, but that at least some of them are also reflecting what they are hearing in the Conservative Party.
Like all Tory Prime Ministers, Johnson will have the complete support of all Tory MPs until the very moment he hasn't got it, when it will vapourise with staggering speed. My suspicion is that the media sense that disappearing trick is going to be happening soon, hence their change of sentiment.
And if I am wrong? Well, he is in for the most awful winter in that case, facing hostility on all fronts. But so too, come to that, will any successor be similarly encumbered. It is now very clear that a party that was both in office and dedicated to Brexit should have anticipated almost all the problems now arising. They were all in the Operation Yellowhammer briefing, after all. But it failed to do so. Unless the successor had, by good fortune, been out of office during the Johnson years (and there are such candidates) then they share the responsibility for the mess we are in now. Even then, it is very hard to see how the Tories can credibly avoid either denouncing Brexit or at the very least denouncing all Johnson has done about it if they are to recover from this mess.
We are in for interesting days to come. And unless Johnson does something quite extraordinary in his conference speech, which would be wholly out of character with the rest of this dismal Tory party conference, I suspect he is now going to be the victim of ‘events', as Harold MacMillan might have put it, none of which are flowing in his favour.
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If, and that’s a big if, the Conservative and Unionist party oust the lamentable Johnson, the rich party donors and the rich media oligarchs will get fully behind his successor. Until they don’t of course. And who within the party would want to sup from the chalice? Not only would there be plenty poison there would also be plenty blame.
The problem for the media is that they almost all backed Brexit, in whichever form it took. They would never destroy their totem because to do that would be to accept that they were wrong.
This winter will be remembered as the harshest, most cruel, ever. And that’s before we factor in the weather, which may do it’s will regardless of human wishes. The outlook for the UK is grim indeed.
But the message from the Conservative and Unionists seems to be, ‘Let them eat toast.’
Let us hope that they will become the toast.
They are about to launch their new slogan “Our hand in your pocket”
We live in hope.
Now that lie-bore is in the safe hands of B.Liar retreads, the door is open for factional change – replacing the current toryscum government with the B.Liar variation. The MSM is lining up (or has been lined up) and the up-coming change of tack will mean – no change at all. Both “parties” (I use the term losely) unrepresentative of wider society. The on-going Pandora saga demonstrating how the toryscum party has morphed into the party for foreign money. Starmers on-going purge of Lie-bore will reduce it to the easily controllable rump it was duing the B.Liar years. Back to the 1990s. Note that the rule changes in Lie-bore will make sure that only a “safe pair of hands” (as defined by B.Liarite MPs) will ever be in charge. The only question to be answered being, will the next Lie-bore PM suck up to the US president and suck the UK (or what is left) into another war. Probably.
Mike
I get all the sentiments in this but other readers are saying they are put off by this type of comment
Is there another way to say it?
Richard
Oh dear. I note that Tories @ the Tory conference are carrying badages saying “Tory Scum” following Rayners comments about…. Tory scum. One Tory claimed that scum rises to the top – like erm… tories.
B.Liar has been around for a very long time (since the Iraq war) & I have re-branded Labour “Lie-bore” following Starmer’s… I can’t put this another way… lies not least his repudiation of nationalisation. I suppose I could put the whole thing more politely – but I tend to reserve politness for people commenting on your blog – to whom I think I am, mostly, polite. But as for what passes for the erm “political elite” in the UK I struggle to contain my fury. I’ll stop my political comments and concern myself with energy, which is, frankly, more fun.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/emissions-trading-scheme/news/eu-climate-chief-hints-that-ets-will-be-left-out-of-toolbox-to-tackle-rising-energy-prices/
and more interesting
https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/opinion/time-to-establish-a-european-central-energy-bank/
Mike
I get your frustration
I also want other people to get it too. That’s all!
Richard
Oh dear. The hackneyed “Liebore”, “Bliar”, “toryscum” invective just makes me yawn. Why is the Labour party riven by these interminable internecine feuds?
Mike, for all his faults (and they are many), Tony Blair is the only person to have led the Labour Party to a general election victory since 1974. Imagine how different things could be, if the party had a leader who was so effective and so charismatic now, although I expect almost every member would have a different view of which policy positions such a leader should take.
Blair also left office 14 years ago, so continuing to blame him for the travails of the Labour Party in 2021 rings hollow. Or poor old Gordon Brown, who had to watch the project turn to dust in his hands.
Look, if we compare to the 1970s and 1980s, Labour lost in 2010 (cf 1979) and we are in 2021 (cf 1990). Were people still complaining about Callaghan in the year when Thatcher left office? (I don’t know: perhaps some still are?)
Corbyn lost twice. Johnson’s time will pass eventually, but would you rather have a government headed by Johnson and his acolytes and successors for another 5 to 10 years, or one headed by Keir Starmer?
I just hope that something emerges that gives this country something genuine to believe, something genuine to hope for, something more than pathetic slogans. I see it in some politicians (some, not many) but not in sufficient numbers at present.
If the Quockerwodger goes then his replacement is likely to be of a similar ilk (so, same horse, different jockey) and the alleged opposition appears at present to be a Tory-lite and not something that offers a real alternative and can actually improve all lives.
Craig
My prediction is that both of our two major parties will have new leaders by next Summer.
Whilst I can’t wait to see the back of Johnson, I’m afraid that his replacement will usher in a government that combines his disregard for proper legislative process and populist instincts, with a cameron-osborne style austerity agenda.
That is a bold prediction.
Johnson has survived much longer than I expected, but the Conservative Party will throw him overboard without a backward glance as soon as it suits them to do so. And yes, much like unseating Trump, the risk is that you get someone else with a similar populist streak and immorality, but who is also more diligent and effective at achieving their aims.
But what might be the cause and mechanism for unseating Starmer? Do you think he will just decide to go, or will be be pushed?
I think Starmer’s big appeal in 2020 was his promise to unite the party, however his actions over the last year or so have demonstrated that he doesn’t have the political nous to fulfill this promise. He’s now irrevocably damaged his reputation with members, trade unions and MPs on the left of the party. More importantly for his leadership, he’s failed to convince the moderates and soft left that he is the unity candidate that he promised to be. The factional infighting is drowning out everything else that the party is trying to achieve and this must be immensely frustrating for everyone with a more pragmatic focus. The polling has never looked great for him either.
I think a leadership challenge will come sooner rather than later and Starmer will lose, because he hasn’t energised people around a vision and because he has facilitated the factionalism that already existed in the party.
Thanks, Tommo. You make a convincing case, but I still think it is unlikely.
If you are right, there must be a decent chance that the Conservatives would move for an early election, before the new leader has much opportunity to establish themselves.
This morning on the Today programme I heard an analyst talking about how the government had gained power without a plan except to make something up, and now had no clue about how to handle the crises they were confronting. It sounded eerily appropriate to the UK, though he was actually talking about the Taliban …
Here’s what Gary Neville has to say about the PM:
I think you will find it compliments the points you have made above and in your previous blogs about the PM.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gary-neville-036502211_a-clip-from-my-appearance-on-good-morning-activity-6851457378571968513-AfRU
‘A clip from my appearance on Good Morning Britain today.
Is Boris a spaghetti bolognese ?
Have a watch if you like !
P.S apologies to all chefs that have made great spaghetti bolognese !!’
Sorry to rain on the parade, but Johnson likes power, has an 80 seat majority, and a large following of useful idiots in the country. Electoral calculations suggest that Labour need to win 125 seats in the NEXT election to form a government.
Unless Johnson wants to leave and continue his breeding programme elsewhere, I think we are stuck with him for a long, long time.
That is not his choice
Good afternoon Richard
I’m not sure Johnson will go soon.
Although the Tories are ruthless in dumping failing leaders he remains (inexplicably) popular with large sections of the voting public, witness a report in The Times report today interviewing Tory voters saying they think Johnson is doing a “good job” in “difficult circumstances” that he and his government “handled the Covid crisis well” and have been hit by “global events” rather than anything specific to the UK.
After a dip a few weeks ago amid the NI tax rise, Johnson is back ahead of Starmer in the poll ratings despite all the bad news about truck driver and fuel shortages, and the looming cost of living crisis.
I fear we’ll be stuck with Johnson to the next election and beyond
I note MacMillan again….it’s events that determine that