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For about a week now there has been a campaign of various allegations against the PM yet like Teflon Tony before him nothing much seems to stick - super-Teflon Boris?

I am in two minds.

If there is nothing to the allegations of sleaze, the refurb of the flat, the briefing room, and what he is alleged to have said then why are his mates circling the wagons?

On the other hand is it just mud slinging by the media for a mid term PM? There is not much going on on the Brexit front and despite some massive mistakes during the pandemic the vaccine programme is going rather well making it a slow news period.

I can imagine that there are kernels of truth in the allegations, but without proof it is merely conjecture. "A source said" or "it is believed" do not cut it. Will there be any official inquiries? No!

Give it a week and it will all be forgotten.

Very easy to make allegations

I wondered at the time of the Barnard Castle episode why Boris didn't just sack Dominic Cummings. Perhaps he had too much information on Boris. Teflon Tony managed to serve as PM for 10 years or so but I don't see Boris Johnson hanging on for anywhere near that long. He has a lot of baggage to carry from his chequered past but unfortunately he keeps adding to it. If the Tories see him as a dying duck they will finish him off.

medsec222 wrote:........ He has a lot of baggage to carry from his chequered past but unfortunately he keeps adding to it. If the Tories see him as a dying duck they will finished him off.

Yes, and the "let the bodies pile high" comment, which does seem to have some veracity, will not be forgotten in a hurry. In my book, he should be finished off, and quickly.
He is a total embarrassment.

Quick, I'll swap you Macron.... Macron is, interestingly, in a very cleft stick. Ramp up the vaccines in 2021 and have 2022, an election year, marred by a full year of Gilet Jaune's burning the roads down to nothing. Don't ramp up the vaccination and run into an election year, masked up, with the economy on the ropes.

Talk about catch 22. Boris has at least 2.5 years before his "et tu brute" moment. At which point he will have the kudos of an economy in recovery, Brexit in the rear view window (sort of) and the UK in a prominent position in the world helping globally with vaccines.

Nobody has come forward with the context of the "let the bodies pile high" comment. Did it have a "what" in front of it. Was it we have a choice, 1. lock the country down or 2. "let the bodies pile high".

I doubt we're ever going to know the real truth about this. Too many knives being sharpened behind closed doors.

medsec222 wrote:I wondered at the time of the Barnard Castle episode why Boris didn't just sack Dominic Cummings. Perhaps he had too much information on Boris. Teflon Tony managed to serve as PM for 10 years or so but I don't see Boris Johnson hanging on for anywhere near that long. He has a lot of baggage to carry from his chequered past but unfortunately he keeps adding to it. If the Tories see him as a dying duck they will finish him off.

Exactly!

I think there's a bit of everything in there.A bit of the silly season, a bit of pressure from people who hate Boris Johnson, a whiff of political opportunism and what have you.
It has been a slow news month. The media will speculate on who might become the next PM. And there is considerable anti-Boris feeling in the media too.

There is an old story about a new MP. An old hand took him under his wing in Parliament and said "My boy, I am going to show you who your enemies are". "But surely" says the new boy "they are over there" pointing at the opposition benches"
"Oh no, no no" says the old hand "Those people are your political opponents. These people" and he points to those sitting around the pair on the government benches "These people are your enemies!".
It's here that Johnson has his biggest long term problem. He has made a lot of enemies in his own party, for various reasons. But he also has, or had, a knack of popularity with a lot of the public, and this has led to a lot of jealousy amongst his own party. Plus, some of his "friends" like a certain Mr Michael Gove, I wouldn't trust as far as I can throw a ten ton truck.
Plus imo he's under the thumb of his partner, Carrie whatshername.

He had a very rough start to life as a PM. Divorce, new child, Tory leadership election, Brexit, Covid 19, catching Covid 19 - I can't honestly think of a PM that's had a harder start.
He has been and is under a lot of pressure. He has many enemies and his health isn't the best.
I think that his enemies in the Tory party will have him out before the next election.
But I think that if they do it will have been a case of "be careful what you wish for", because I can't see anybody else delivering them an 80 seat majority or anywhere close.

cromwell wrote:But I think that if they do it will have been a case of "be careful what you wish for", because I can't see anybody else delivering them an 80 seat majority or anywhere close.

Agreed. One foot in the grave. It may occur to them that to leave Boris in place would be a good move if it looks like they are going to lose. The second they lose they can knife him to death and move on. If they are going to lose anyway, then who want's to be knifed to death shortly after having done the same to Boris?

Everyone thought he would take over from May and be killed off. Instead he delivered a result which could never have been expected.

Whilst Labour continue to jump off the boat with lead wellies on, why fix what aint broke... Yet.

Labour's lead wellies have seen them close the gap from 12 points at the GE to an average of 6 today, so what are the Tories wearing - lead trousers and boots?

It's all to play for.

Workingman wrote:Give it a week and it will all be forgotten.

Or maybe not. The Electoral Commission has launched a formal investigation into the flat refurbishment and no more announcements will be made until it is completed other than it is now "satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence or offences may have occurred".

One to watch.