Beginning of the end for Johnson?

[Suff]

There is no mileage in a GE, they can't win it. Coming out of covid and the inevitable inflation which followed, it was going to take years to fix and those years needed to be smooth sailing.

Even then, after around 15 years in Government the chances were that the Tories were going to lose anyway.

Now that Starmer is off the fence and solidly into "benefits of Brexit" and no backsliding, things are looking up for Labour.

Any Tory MP that votes no confidence is liable to face deselect ion. So there isn't much point in looking for a. GE now.

I don't expect Boris to fall but I expect every single dark secret which would normally be suppressed to come out and be paraded in the press. This will set the scene for a confidence vote on Boris next year.

[cromwell]

One has already come out in Private Eye.
WARNING - salacious allegation coming up.
That of Carrie giving Boris oral sex in his office when he was foreign secretary in 2018.

Really I have no brief for Johnson any more. He had a glorious chance and he wasted it.
But the media have been out to get him for a long time, and his own manyfold failings have given them all the ammunition they need.

It bothers me that the media have so much influence; that they can, like they did with Trump in the USA, set out to get rid of a sitting PM or President, and succeed.
Or on the other side of the coin, support a PM / President they approve of by refusing to run stories that put them in a bad light whether these stories be true or not.

[Suff]

As for Sunak and Javid stepping down.

Sunak has had his ivory tower chopped away at and been forced to change his funding from his preferred model. Javid has been told to get a grip of the NHS who are now crusading on their own in the wake of all the power they had during Covid. Trying to force the government to give them more money for controls which were implemented in a time of emergency and to make them the norm. Funds have been withdrawn for this and Javid has been told to stop them burning money that nobody is going to give them. Something has to give.

If you look at it from that viewpoint, both were one reshuffle from oblivion anyway and a reshuffle post the confidence vote is on the cards.

You note Patel has not moved one inch and won't. Because Boris is OK with what she is doing and not challenging.

You might also think that Sunak, who Boris supported through the revelations of his familial financial holdings, was somewhat less than loyal with this act. Blair would have chopped him in seconds with revelations like that. But don't look for any of that in the media. It's ALL Boris and he's a joke and... The meme is well set and they're going to play it till the day he leaves office.

[medsec222]

Unfortunately Boris keeps shooting himself in the foot. Once is bad enough but he can't stop doing it. Every day there is a new drama with Boris either trying to wriggle out of something or proffering a humble apology and its an unedifying sight. If the Conservative Party are to avoid imploding they will have to start governing the country and tackling the issues which concern the majority of us, cost of living, inflation etc., and rather then helping this, Boris now seems to be hindering it. I am not sure who would want the poisoned chalice or even a cabinet post, as there is so much coming down the track now that has to be dealt with effectively. Even so, I expect there will be a queue for the top job when it becomes available.

[Workingman]

38 resignations of ministers, junior ministers and PPSs so far, and we now learn that a delegation of cabinet ministers are heading to Downing Street to tell Johnson "you go or we go". They include the new chancellor, Zahawi, plus Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, Welsh Secretary Simon Hart, Policing minister Kit Malthouse and Chief Whip Chris Heaton-Harris.

International Trade Secretary, Anne Marie Trevelyan, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries and Home Secretary Priti Patel are already known to be inside though they are probably loyalists.

A new 1922 Committee is to be elected on Monday and it could change the one year rule leaving open a new vote of no confidence by the end of summer or even before the summer recess if Johnson does not resign.

When Tories get their knives out the make sure they are very sharp.

[Suff]

Well there is a real move on now to try and get rid of him.

The point is, in the last vote, less than half the MP's voted to get rid of him. So whilst all these MP's are getting ready to try and oust him, they are not even half of the government. Government as in ministers as opposed to MP's.

There are 120 ministers, roughly.

We shall see how sharp the knives are. It won't save them no matter what they do.

[cromwell]

So they have a vote of confidence last month when they could have got rid of him (or sent the strongest signal that they wanted to) but didn't.
Now they are threatening to change the rules so they can vote again? Not a good look.

That sour vulture Theresa May and her fellow Remainers will be wanting one of their own as PM. If that happens we risk re-opening old wounds and politics may descend even further into the mire.

All Starmer has to do is to smile nicely and not do anything stupid and he's in at the next election.

[Workingman]

"They" being the Tory party, its members and MPs.

They are the ones setting the rules about Johnson's future, the master of his own downfall, not the media, not Labour nor LibDems, the Tories themselves.

What a lovely bunch.

I have an order for salted caramel popcorn - a wheelie bin full. Loving it.

[Suff]

I have an order for salted caramel popcorn - a wheelie bin full. Loving it.

No the "they" I was talking about was the ministers. The government is the PM and the ministers. The MP's are there to enable the government to function by voting their legislation through and the party is the vehicle they all use to group themselves together.

I'm not a party member any more so I don't know if they are canvassing or not right now. I do still get their bogusly upbeat mails ever few days but they have been remarkably silent for while now.

As for the popcorn. Enjoy! This kind of thing doesn't come round very often, you might as well get a front row seat and binge view. Whether the result is what you want? That I don't know.

[Workingman]

The "they" I was talking about was in response to Cromwell.

As for the popcorn. The result is immaterial, it will eventually happen, but the taste of sweet and salt is irresistible. Tried to find a Tory salty tears version but it's still in the popper. I can wait.