As I mentioned this morning, whatever is said today is bound, to some degree, to be proved wrong by events quite quickly. But my sense, noted this morning, that Johnson is not willing to go and is pursuing a fascist agenda has not changed as the day has progressed.
There was a brief, almost euphoric moment this morning when I thought it possible Johnson had resigned. And then it became clear that is not the case, as his statement made at lunchtime made clear. He has noted that the Tories want a new leader. He suggested that this might lead to them expecting there to be a new prime minister. But he gave no hint that he was resigning from either post.
Instead, he spent the morning appointing half-wits to cabinet posts from which others had finally quit in disgust at his conduct, and the Tory party appears to have a plentiful supply of such half-wits available for such tasks.
Worse, the speech sounded more like the declaration of a continuing and maybe even a new manifesto as if he thought he might have the option of delivering it. And maybe he does think that.
Trump did not accept that he had been removed from office. There is every reason to think that Johnson is of the same opinion. He has always been the exponent of buying time to delay his departure. He has now done so again. And I strongly suspect that he thinks that over the summer those in the 'herd' (which is how he described the resigning ministers) will come to regret their decision and he will in fact be crowned leader again.
And if he is not? My fears of fascism remain in place. Expect the Mail and Telegraph to run all-out campaigns in support of him all summer. The attempt to restore him to power will be unrelenting. The chance that he will go without a further fight is very limited, I fear. Trump had his January 6. Johnson will want his date with destiny as well.
The Battle to be Rid of Johnson is only just beginning.
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I fear you are right, Richard. Scary stuff right now.
I agree with the last sentence. On the positive side, the battle will further damage the Tory-vulture party. Some T-V MPs may resign their seats, there may be further disastorous by-elections. Meanwhile gov is almost rudderless.
One thing that could be done: there was a private criminal prosecution of Mendacious Fatberg with respect to the Garden bridge fiasco (some idiot judges kicked it out). This needs to be revived. Given the damage the man has done to the country (knowingly), prison is where he belongs. The UK needs a Byng moment (18th cent British admiral executed on his own quarterdeck). ex-PM going to jail – hopefully for 5 or 10 years (I’d give him a whole life sentence), would focus the minds of the United Serdom’s political “elite”.
There was also the criminal prosecution by Marcus Ball, that was stopped arbitrarily in 2019 after going through the courts, probably by a Johnson crony. He is continuing across a broader front. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4ignh6YVII
Again – having watched his speech I can only conclude that what is driving this is the skeletons in his and therefore his party’s cupboard – just what has he been up to whilst in power?
I wager that the revelations that would come out of his downfall may actually be worse than we imagine and could indeed lead to the Tory party being unelectable for a very long time. We’re talking about corruption, sedition and even treason.
All this is about a safe transition of lies and subterfuge to keep his/their transgressions in the name of obtaining power within the party and out of the public sphere. It’s about avoiding accountability. That’s what I see at the moment.
Knock the scab that is Johnson off the infection that is the Tory party, and watch the pus run out. What the plan seems to be at the moment is to replace the scab.
He has not resigned as Prime Minister, but has he just put himself up for re-election as Tory Leader on the basis he can win any election ? All he requires is to be put forward as one of the two candidates that go to the Conservative Party membership for the final choice. I think there might be enough Conservative MPs that would allow that.
I think he is almost certain to gain the support of the membership because anyone standing against him will have to be very careful in the next few weeks otherwise they may be seen as the unreliable usurper, the ‘remainer’, a slimy toad.The BBC interviews I have seen have been moving support him: the popular voice (of new conservative voters) is that he has had a rough deal. I don’t hear many aligning themselves behind the MPs talking honesty, morals, standards in public life. We will see what happens on Question Time.
Johnson is not saying all this though, just privately expecting that in a few months people will call him back. Hence the performance today: I’m walking off into the sunset, but let me keep my job for the moment, just in case. And if re-election does happen he will claim a very strong, renewed mandate, removed opposition in the Conservative party, wiped out the impact of his lying and moved on beyond the sleaze.
The Conservative Party is smart. The Labour Party is dumb (or infiltrated).
Meanwhile the rest of us sit on the sidelines with absolutely no input to this charade but certain to experience a worsening future.
As I understand it, under the current rules, a person who has just resigned as leader of the Conservative Party is not eligible to stand as leader again.
I guess that is intended to stop a Major-like “put up or shut up” resignation.
But perhaps this is more like guidelines than actual rules.
The Conservatives would be wise to complete their leadership election as quickly as possible – next week, or the week after – to get Johnson out as soon as possible.
Whatever Johnson does, there is a deeper existential problem for the Conservative Party created by this crisis. At one level there are potentally long lasting, bitter problems and recriminations between those who supported Johnson until near the end, and those who deserted early (neither is a great look to the public, since so many electors now realise he should never have been appointed in the first place; and the blame rests squarly with the Conservative Party); between the fiscal hawks and doves (neither group understand very much about money and government); and the distrust that speads out like a virus beyond the miscreant Johnson, and contaminates the Conservative Party (full of spineless ‘leaders’, with no judgement or discernable standards, until it is too late) – because the Conservative Party chose, calculatedly and deliberately to create Johnson as their political Golden Boy, knowing what his character; the Conservative Party is the real culprit, and cannot escape the responsibility. Next, there is still the deeply buried , taboo subject that in the Conservative Party dare not speak its name – Brexit (alive and flesh eating, because it is now, daily lethally degrading the economy).
In spite of all that, these issues remain secondary, at least for now; for the most immediately pressing difficulty is the election of a new PM, from a list that will be as long as a Grand National field, and with most of the starters merely making up the numbers. Here is a field of no-hopers, without a favourite. The Conservatives threw their ‘all’ into Boris Johnson; he is their very own busted flush.
It is claimed it doesn’t matter, we do not elect Presidents. The constitutional position is that we have a Parlaimentary (Party) system. True; the problem is neither Brexit nor the 2019 election was won by the Party; they were won by Boris Johnson and Vote Leave (and its methodology); except in Scotland, where they both lost decisively.
What does this actually mean? It means that in the Red Wall especially, but not uniquely; they will be choosing there not a leader they know; because the Conservative leader will first be chosen, selected and whittled down to two by MPs, then handed over to grasroot members for final selection (election Rules, Conservative Party; House of Commons Library – p.4 July, 2022); the final selction for and on behalf of the British electorate (a mere 100,000 – a sort of 21sr century Rotten Borough), made up substantially by elderly Conservative members with their own crusty and narrow selection crtieria largely drawn from a bygone age, (1970s-80s) with its own doubtful credentials.
A name will be found by the Conservative Party, and presented to electors as a ‘fait accompli’; who in 2016/2019 had been drawn (out of their indifference or downright hostility to the Conservative Party) to the Brexit-Boris spin-machine. In 2022 nobody outside the Conservative Party will ever heard of the candidate, and you can be assured in the current chaos the Conservative Party will ensure the candidtate is pre-selected to possess an anemic personality that will turn no heads and is guaranteed to stir only lethary. Given current Conservative competence they may, of course very well fail even to do that. Something outrageous may yet happen, even if not plotted by Johnson. Incompetence has its own standards. This is the territory in which we find ourselves. That is the wall that must be scaled by a Conservative Party sinking in failure. Scaling such a wall is rarely achieved, effectively overnight; probably by a compromise candidate chosen exclusively for their wooden lack of personality and minimal sociopathic tendencies.
Good luck with all that; and only the Labour Party and Lib Dems could blow it.
As I have said on twitter
A fish rots from the head down, removal of the head cannot revitalise the remaining body.