Johnson has bunkered down.
He is intensely unpopular at home.
He is treated as laughing stock on the international stage. There were jokes about being sabotaged by cake at the White House press briefing yesterday.
He pursues the fascist copy book by promoting lies. Impugning the integrity of Keir Starmer is the latest evidence of that.
His levelling up policy is the first ever attempt at redistribution not involving money.
But he shows no signs of going.
What do you do with an unpopular populist when his time is up?
Most especially, what do you do with such a person when their own party lacks the moral courage to be rid of him, knowing that that have so gutted their own ranks of anything that looks like competence that there are no heirs apparent?
The most obvious answer is to keep up the pressure. Johnson is clearly aberrational in his worldview, which is wholly egocentric. His MPs will be a little more normal. Some will suffer from doubt, as normal human beings do. Others will also fear for their futures, as is commonplace. The effort to convince them that they must take action has to continue. It seems that the media - from the Telegraph with its new party revelations this morning - onwards is not willing to let this go. Nor should it.
Second, people must vote in May, and ideally ABC - or Anything But Conservative.
Third, the evidence of abuse must be recorded. We cannot rely on the Good Law Project alone to do this.
But, most importantly, those with a voice must use it. This is the moment to protest. That can be in person; by letter or email; by petition promotion and signing; by phoning in to the local radio station, or by whatever other mechanism you know. Radical knitting and tapestry both exist.
The job is to say that we do not consent to be governed in this way and to then, in whatever way possible, show our dissent. That can be done peacefully. It need not be big. I liked the light in a window of a nearby house over Christmas that actually read ‘We did not vote for this lot'. It worked. I noted it. I cannot have been alone. It made me feel as though I was not alone in this madness.
And right now that matters most of all. Just feeling as though we are not alone is empowering. And it is through empowerment that we can get rid of an unpopular populist.
Small acts of dissent matter right now. Cumulatively they create the noise that we need.
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That is really good advice.
Definitely agree that we all must do all in our power to get rid if this maniac in No 10 who wants to start a new world war if one Russian soldier steps over the Ukranian frontier.
Excellent idea. A huge oak tree starts with a single acorn, a marathon with the first step.
Craig
Social media is increasingly strengthening confirmation bias. We read the news that supports our world view, and ignore facts that confuse us.
How to break into this self sustaining cycle?
Though not as admirable as radical knitting or tapestry, a huge number of people could contribute to an incessant succession of Twitter storms. My MP is wooden Starmer, no point in writing to him. But daily, hourly creative Tweets tagging cabinet members and BJ’s Tory supporters might help to wear them down.
Agreed
I’ll give my Tory MP a day or so more to answer my second email asking him to put that letter into the 1922 Committee before sending a third. What fresh evidence shall I quote him re Johnson’s hopelessness?
The Starmer slur? More parties? Any other ideas anyone?
£693 on fuel?
That might be useful Richard. How do I link it directly to Johnson though?
It’s happening in lots of small ways already.
My red wall Workington MP Mark Jenkinson, ex BNP, ex UKIP, hit the national news the other day in an interview he gave implying that people in his constituency supported Johnson, and wanted him to be allowed to focus on the important things…in other words, parroting the party line. In response and as a sign of the times, our local Border News then conducted their own poll this week, in the middle of Workington, asking if people wanted Johnson to go or stay. The hugely majority said go. The vox pops were the same.
Last weekend Workington Labour Party were on the streets of towns in the constituency asking the same question and collecting signatures to a petition asking Johnson to resign. It was really heartening to see them and feel a sense of solidarity that belies the msm headlines.
But don’t we really need more than this for any change to happen?
A complete opposition focus on implementing PR seems the only way out of the growing fascist stranglehold on UK.
Thanks, and good luck locally