Will this help rebuild the Red Wall?

[Workingman]

"Thanks to Margaret Thatcher, who closed so many coal mines across the country, we had a big early start and we're now moving rapidly away from coal altogether." (Laughs) B. Johnson, Conservative, PM.

A lot of those Red Wall seats, now Blue, were former mining communities or neighbours thereof, and they were devastated by Thatcher's policies. Those policies were nothing to do with climate change and everything to do with destroying the power of the unions.

Some of those areas are still recovering and people have long memories. BoJo's remarks might just be the reminder they need that the Cons really are not on their side.

[Suff]

Yeah but Labour is not on their side either.

Time for another screaming lord sutch...

[Workingman]

That's true, but Labour did not take their livelihoods away - that is heavily in its favour.

By the same token it did nothing for them in the years it was in government and that, for me, is down to the London centricity of all the parties. If you do not exist within the North and South circulars you are invisible.

So, Labour has to up its game in the RW seats....but not by much, and the Cons really do have to superglue the Johnson's gob shut. He is well on the way to becoming their twister that untwisted the twist.

[TheOstrich]

That was an absolutely crass statement by Johnson. He really has no idea of the damage he can do by simply opening his mouth without engaging whatever peanut he calls his brain.
I should think the Tory party managers must be in despair. Sooner he goes, the better.

[cruiser2]

I live in an old mining area which is still "Labour". But i is not the Labour when Maggie THatcher was in power.

Boris does not realise what distruption his words can cause.