[Samanfur]

View from a Tory supporter:

And then there's Sarah Vine:

Boris Johnson Can't Be Expected To 'Live In A Skip', Says Sarah Vine

Boris Johnson “can’t be expected to live in a skip” and prime ministers should get a “one-off payment” to refurbish their Downing Street accommodation, Sarah Vine has said.

Vine, the Daily Mail columnist who is married to Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, said it would mean her husband would not again have to be dragged to parliament to answer questions about “curtains”.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4′s Today programme, Vine said: “The thing about the whole No.10 refurbishment thing is that the prime minister can’t be expected to live in a skip.

“He has to live to a certain standard and the problem with all of these political things like this is that no one is ever prepared to bite the bullet.”

She added: “If he wants to have a pink sofa instead of a green sofa, I think that’s a perfectly reasonable thing for him to want.”

Vine said she did not think the taxpayer should fund the work, but that a “transparent” arrangement for refurbishment was the way forward.

She said when there’s a new PM it would be better for there to be “a one-off payment that enables you to change the curtains, I think that would be very clear and very simple”.

[Boiler]

Said Tory normally blames it on civil servants; Tories cannot do any wrong.

[Crabcakes]

Johnson could easily have said "there's an investigation happening, the Leader of the Opposition will not want to prejudice this". He didn't because he's not got the slightest self-discipline.

He'd also be loathe to suggest he even had a case to answer - and referencing an investigation would do just that.

[Boiler]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... s-28042021

Worth watching, even if on mute with subtitles because around 14:00, you can really see Johnson lose it, badly.

BTW, because it will get asked/thrown back: did the Blairs spend £350k of taxpayers' money on doing up the flat?

[Crabcakes]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... s-28042021

Worth watching, even if on mute with subtitles because around 14:00, you can really see Johnson lose it, badly.

BTW, because it will get asked/thrown back: did the Blairs spend £350k of taxpayers' money on doing up the flat?

Check out 14.13, just after Johnson puts his pen in his pocket. He clearly points at Starmer with his *middle* finger, despite having used his index finger for his jabbing up to that point.

Anyone else, I'd suspect it was a mistake. Johnson, in mid rant, making a childish insult in the HoC? Yeah...

[Andy McDandy]

If there's a £30 KPA allowance, that's £300K over the Blairs' 10 year residence, if they maxed it out every year, and added a bit more. But there will (or should be) a record, and of where the money came from. I suspect they're trying to conflate it with Derry Irvine's refurb of the Speaker's apartments.

But it's missing the point. Nobody is begrudging (much) the refurbishment (even if they want to make it look like a knocking shop in Marrakech - their choice after all) as long as the cost and source of funds are clear. If it's a loan, say so, and who from. If it's from Johnson's ISA, say so. But it should be noted that both of them have form for abusing public/party funds and for high living.

Also, most MPs have a constituency home and a London pied a terre. In Johnson's case, did he sell the flat where he and Carrie Antoinette had their little incident? And where was she living before she shacked up with him?

And, come to think of it, didn't Johnson cling onto his grace & favour apartment for quite a while after quitting as foreign secretary?

[The Red Arrow]

BTW, because it will get asked/thrown back: did the Blairs spend £350k of taxpayers' money on doing up the flat?

Ta-daaaa!!

[Malcolm Armsteen]

The Blairs' refurbishment was expensive because, as they had a young and growing family, they moved from the small flat in No 10 to a larger one in No 11, which had to be remodelled and updated. All subsequent PMs have worked in No 10 and lived at No 11.

[Bones McCoy]

Says a thousand words etc:

That red-faced fury is a man who knows he's in the shit, is incandescent that he is being held to account, and who has no answers to anything that won't make it worse for himself.

It's also notable that the man pictured is not Boris Johnson. The man pictured is very much Alexander Johnson.

It's this, isn't it:

[The Red Arrow]

It's also notable that the man pictured is not Boris Johnson. The man pictured is very much Alexander Johnson.

Indeed.

Now here's a thread to share.

...his anger remains an issue. Rachel Johnson is said to fear her brother’s ire if she dares to criticise him in public, or make her disagreements with him too obvious. She has also talked of her brother’s “very Sicilian” attitude to anyone who crosses him.

He’s a monster . No ifs no buts

[Youngian]

To his fan club this will be poor Boris being bullied by the Westminster establishment for getting Brexit done. After all his done for the country getting through the pandemic. But he came out fighting today.

On this planet he looked like a Doctor Who baddie having a meltdown. Obviously Starmer knows the answers to his questions. More to come.

[The Red Arrow]

Oh, yeah - about getting us through the pandemic (note source)...

[Boiler]

The Blairs' refurbishment was expensive because, as they had a young and growing family, they moved from the small flat in No 10 to a larger one in No 11, which had to be remodelled and updated. All subsequent PMs have worked in No 10 and lived at No 11.

So is that a "yes" to the expenditure? Like I say - this will get asked and people will expect a straight answer if Labour's demanding a similarly straight answer from Johnson.

Out of curiosity, does anyone live at No. 10?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I think I've just given you the straight answer.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Google is your friend:

When Tony Blair became Prime Minister in 1997 he chose to reside in Number 11, rather than Number 10, as it has a larger living area; Blair at that time was living with his wife and their several young children, while Gordon Brown, his Chancellor of the Exchequer, was at that point still a bachelor.[5] In 2007, when Brown became Prime Minister, he at first chose to live in Number 11,[6] but soon moved back to Number 10; Brown was by then married but had fewer children than the Blairs.

Following the 2010 general election, the incoming prime minister, David Cameron, moved into 11, instead of 10 Downing Street, because George Osborne chose to remain in his Notting Hill home.[7] In early August 2011, Osborne moved into Number 10.[8]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and, until his resignation in February 2020, Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid continued the recent practice of residing in the flats traditionally used by their counterparts.

[Boiler]

I think I've just given you the straight answer.

I think the problem I've had, and no doubt others will, is that the expenditure involved being the first to move from 10 to 11 and of course, not having any idea what 11 was like at that point in time. Thanks for clearing up the occupancy of 10 and 11 along the way.

Why am I getting pictures in my head of a very expensive kitchen with two of something in no. 11 in the Mail at this point?

[Tubby Isaacs]

The Blairs' refurbishment was expensive because, as they had a young and growing family, they moved from the small flat in No 10 to a larger one in No 11, which had to be remodelled and updated. All subsequent PMs have worked in No 10 and lived at No 11.

Yep.

Utterly dishonest to make out that remodelling for modern families (not many PMs these days will have children at as young an age as even Thatcher did) is like spending money because you fancy expensive decor. Cameron doubtless benefited from the remodelling, with 3 young children (Ivan died in 2009).

[Tubby Isaacs]

To his fan club this will be poor Boris being bullied by the Westminster establishment for getting Brexit done. After all his done for the country getting through the pandemic. But he came out fighting today.

On this planet he looked like a Doctor Who baddie having a meltdown. Obviously Starmer knows the answers to his questions. More to come.

The base is different to what it was. How do the Mansfield branch of the fan club react to £800 wallpaper? The only people I can think who'd try to wave that away are Andrew Roberts types. Everybody else learned their lesson after Derry Irvine.

[Tubby Isaacs]

And hang on a minute. If we're just comparing the bare numbers of what's spent at Number 10, irrespective of the use, didn't Johnson just spend £2.6m? That's a bit more than Blair's £300k.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

And it's not £300k plays £58k - Johnson's refurb has cost £200,000, the £58 grand is the excess that the treasury refused to stump up.