I share this tweet, and most especially the photo in it of an article in The Times, which can be clicked on and expanded to read it.
Times columnist Martin puts the boot in on BJ. Remember, this isn't written a Guardianista etc but a pro Brexit, free market advocate and Tory pic.twitter.com/FYcvF8KQLE
— MichaelWhite (@michaelwhite) July 8, 2021
Why share this? Because it tells a truth that I think worth noting. First, Johnson is unloved. Second, there is good reason for that. Third, when anything goes wrong for him no one in Tory ranks is going to come forward to save him.
But that still leaves the problem as to who succeeds to his majority?
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The truth of the matter is that we have reached a political and economic dead end where it seems that there is no turning circle either.
However, even though trad’ Tory voters may even be aghast at Boris and his coterie of under-talented liars, remember that the Tories are now playing to a different crowd – the ex-red wall voters whose ignorance and petit-fascist leanings will be exploited by Boris.
The Tories who are aghast at Boris also need to remember (as do we) that Boris has at his disposal the resources of a party who likes to win and are funded to do it and are very good at it.
Do those in the Tory party who now look on and are appalled realise this I wonder?
I think not.
@Pilgrim Slight Return
The appraisal is not new, but Professor Murphy’s point about the source (Brexiter, free-marketer &c) is a fair one: and I would add the view of one probably well- informed about internal Tory politics. So to an extent I agree with you and MarP, that it’s the way they do things.
However Pilgrim’s mention of the red wall may be misleading. Consider the article by DAvid Edgerton:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/09/labour-red-wall-working-class-brexit-conservatives?utm_term=40d9c9d323d18e404f2280219c24d853&utm_campaign=BestOfGuardianOpinionUK&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=opinionuk_email
I am not so sure that “The plain people of England” (to malversate Myles na Gopaleen) are overall as petit-fascist )?) as you affirm.
It’s just the way Tories always do things. They are only interested in one thing, power – at any price. Once Johnson has outlived his usefulness, gone a step too far where his goofiness and ability to get away with lies will not save him, the Tories will stab him in the back just as they do with every leader. In a few months time the “pile up the bodies” comment could come back to haunt him and rightly so. Any fall in the polls of England and he’s done for. As for the successor, I get the impression the Tory rank and file are pretty right wing now, are there any one nation Tories left – other than the one nation type believing England’s superiority over every one else. Looks like Nosferatu Javid is making his pitch and slimy Gove is always just a knife away from power. I don’t see any moderate Tory at all, they have all been purged in Johnson’s night of the long knives. Those who live by the sword do tend to die by it.
Johnson is the best populist leader the U.K. (England, rather) has ever had and that trumps personal dislikes. It is also the case that right wing, populist politicians have no problems with racism, class prejudice, crass jingoism or any of the prime offerings of populism. AND the cultural milieu in England is ripe. English arrogance, social hierarchy and failure to come to terms with its post imperial mediocrity make it possible for the BBC to reflect the country’s identity crisis with the headline, “Final will be one of the nation’s great collective experiences “!!!! I’m a bit of a footy fan myself, but this is vomit inducing.