[Boiler]

I can almost hear Fenton's pet revolutionary now... "a rotten and corrupt police force for a rotten and corrupt city", or words to that effect.

Words muttered for best effect under your breath on the top deck of a bus.

[Crabcakes]

As I've seen on Twitter, I don't think it's going to work. The damage has been done to Johnson in the eyes of the public, and this is going to look exactly like it is - a fudge job to get him off the hook short term. We all know he did it, he has admitted he did it, his lies are on record. This was only about avoiding criminal charges and placating Tories itching to submit their letters to Brady.

What happens now is the Tories are forced into civil war, or the same shitshow of a cabinet are forced to prop up a now desperately unpopular leader until either a disaster in May's elections or the next scandal gets him - and let's not forget by deciding everyone has to be sacrificed to save him, his culture clearout at no. 10 will make him a whole new batch of enemies. Plus any argument that Ukraine will bail him out should be significantly tempered by his horrendous actions re: pets not people evacuation in Afghanistan.

This is all a gift to the opposition parties that will keep on giving. Starmer continues to face someone he can run rings round who is directly responsible. the LDs will be able to exert huge pressure in Tory marginal seas where they're in 2nd place. And any potential replacement (Truss or Sunak) is hamstrung - they have to go in for the kill themselves rather than just rocking up to a pre-backstabbed corpse, or fall back in line and continue to be covered in the same shit Johnson is spraying over the rest of the party.

[Andy McDandy]

What worries me is that we now have a government that clearly doesn't care if people think of them as shady, underhanded, and corrupt. In a democracy, public image and perception should matter, especially with (if we're to accept JRM's claim that we're now in a presidential system) the midterms around the corner.

It's a fix. It's obviously a fix. Everyone knows it's a fix. Yet they persist with it. Is this arrogance and dismissiveness born out of entitled overconfidence, or something more calculated?

[Bones McCoy]

Orwell:
Four legs good, two legs bad.


Modern Tories:
Fur babies good, refugees bad,

Where Pen Farthing cultists intersect on a Venn diagram with anti-vaxxers, Corbynbots and Brexiters I don’t know but it’s a similar vibe.

There's a strange crossover between animals rightsists and the far-right that goes beyond halal is cruel cos of the muzzies .

They talk a cuddly game, but end up unmasked as dog poisoners.

[Bones McCoy]

What worries me is that we now have a government that clearly doesn't care if people think of them as shady, underhanded, and corrupt. In a democracy, public image and perception should matter, especially with (if we're to accept JRM's claim that we're now in a presidential system) the midterms around the corner.

It's a fix. It's obviously a fix. Everyone knows it's a fix. Yet they persist with it. Is this arrogance and dismissiveness born out of entitled overconfidence, or something more calculated?

There's a fairly long and worrying history of underhand collusion between Conservative leaders and the police.
A bit of back scratching, and Nelson's eye work.
Collusion on a report here, mislaying a report there.

The whole hokey-cokey around the Sue Grey report looks extremely dodgy to anybody except a chimp in a blue rosette.

Legal opinion (off the radio) asserts that the police are not conducting a criminal investigation.
Therefore they have no need nor power to curtail the Grey report.
However British government tends to work by almost everybody being reasonable, to get business done.

It's a pity that this leaves such scope for corruption to those who will not be reasonable.

[Crabcakes]

It's a fix. It's obviously a fix. Everyone knows it's a fix. Yet they persist with it. Is this arrogance and dismissiveness born out of entitled overconfidence, or something more calculated?

I don't think it's more calculated because if you had the scheming nature to want to cling on to power, repeatedly making boneheadedly stupid lapses in judgement and failing utterly to cover them up - thus making it increasingly likely your plans won't come to fruition - would be baffling.

I think it is what it is - an entitled narcissist wants to be seen as "the best PM ever", and has largely surrounded himself with imbeciles and suck-ups. When Trump called him "Britain Trump", he was far, far closer than any of us probably thought back then. The only real difference apart from Trump being vastly more stupid (and that is in no way meant as a compliment to Johnson) is that Trump simply believes everyone loves him. Johnson still feels the need to pursue it by promising whoever he is talking to whatever they want at that moment, and by refusing to issue bad news. He wants the national affection Churchill still enjoys, but seems oblivious to the fact that was earned by him being in the right place at the right time, and his actions in a global nightmare scenario meaning people are able to overlook his hideous flaws. Johnson, however, is nothing but hideous flaws and his actions in a global nightmare scenario will be seen in hindsight as making things considerably worse.

[Crabcakes]

As for who might do the deed, judging by the number of times his name suddenly seems to be cropping up (ic. in a Guardian story today), I suspect Tom Tugendhat is being primed as the one to go in first and cause some damage before the real contenders step up.

[davidjay]

As for who might do the deed, judging by the number of times his name suddenly seems to be cropping up (ic. in a Guardian story today), I suspect Tom Tugendhat is being primed as the one to go in first and cause some damage before the real contenders step up.

Sir Anthony Meyer was 69 and a confirmed backbencher when he did the job. I would suspect that Tugendhat's ambitions are still a bit higher.

[Crabcakes]

Sir Anthony Meyer was 69 and a confirmed backbencher when he did the job. I would suspect that Tugendhat's ambitions are still a bit higher.

True. But (aside from his mutual loathing of Johnson as a driver) his ambitions don't necessarily align with the ambitions of people whispering in his ear to go for it. Or, indeed, the ambitions of the people whispering in their ears in turn.

[Tubby Isaacs]

[mattomac]

Sir Anthony Meyer was 69 and a confirmed backbencher when he did the job. I would suspect that Tugendhat's ambitions are still a bit higher.

True. But (aside from his mutual loathing of Johnson as a driver) his ambitions don't necessarily align with the ambitions of people whispering in his ear to go for it. Or, indeed, the ambitions of the people whispering in their ears in turn.

Did note a number of Tory MPs calling for the full report to be published. I think they are wanting it so they can damn him fully and justify their positions.

The anger won’t have gone away in the constituencies.

The idea that Johnson is playing a long game strategy the fact is it never was.

He was an unfit narcissistic liar who left the stage of London Mayor before it all came crashing down same as foreign secretary.

Those coming out to bat know they won’t ever get to the level of position ever again, Sunak has gone into hiding and is apparently at war with him.

This idea that he has got away with it I simply don’t see it. End of the day 2024 May was always the date we needed to push to.

One thing is for certain the talk of the election in 18 months which was being talked about in October of 2021 isn’t happening.

[Crabcakes]

He’s got away with in the very limited sense he hasn’t had to resign this week.

[Boiler]

He’s got away with in the very limited sense he hasn’t had to resign this week.

I'm afraid you won't be getting rid of him any time soon - he has every intention of standing for leader again if forced to resign (AFAIK there's nothing in the Conservative Party constitution to prevent him doing so) and I firmly believe he will be re-elected. There's enough sycophants to do this.

[Boiler]

Meanwhile, a post by The Secret Barrister.

https://thesecretbarrister.com/2022/01/ ... nt-report/

The Met’s record on this investigation does not command faith. Its historic record has earned it little credit. And there is no doubt that the timings of its repeated vacillations have afforded political cover to a Prime Minister who, whatever the outcome of the criminal investigation, has evidently repeatedly breached his own guidance and lied to Parliament about it.

But a political ‘stitch-up’? It’s too early for such accusations to be sensibly levelled. As things stand, there are potentially valid reasons for the Met’s stance. The provable charge against the Met is unforgivable incompetence at the highest level. We’ll have to await the outcome of their investigation, details of precisely what Met officers knew at the time about the alleged offending, and the transparency of the Met’s ultimate decision-making, before deciding whether Hanlon’s Razor needs snapping in half.

[Crabcakes]

I'm afraid you won't be getting rid of him any time soon - he has every intention of standing for leader again if forced to resign (AFAIK there's nothing in the Conservative Party constitution to prevent him doing so) and I firmly believe he will be re-elected. There's enough sycophants to do this.

Good. He’s a liability now. The more he sticks around, the more damage he does and the more enemies he makes. Plus the public really don’t like to see people outstay their welcome.

[satnav]

Did Janet Street-Porter really get paid to write this crap?

JANET STREET-PORTER: If Boris wants to root out the woke green neo-socialists in Downing Street to save his skin he's going to have a VERY awkward conversation with Carrie

From what I remember when Johnson became prime minister he recruited many of his staff from right wing think tanks like the Taxpayers Alliance and the Institute of Economics I'm not sure that he recruited too many neo-socialists.

On one hand the Daily Mail wants us to believe that Johnson is a strong powerful leader who about to fly off to read the riot act to Putin but on the other hand they want us to believe that he does everything his wife tells him to do.

[Crabcakes]

Same old story for anyone trying to justify sticking with something that’s been all promise and zero substance - it’s not [Boris/Brexit/Corbyn] it’s those around it. If it was done right it’d be brilliant.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The "green" bit refers to net zero, I get that. But where's the wokism and the socialism?!

[Watchman]

Let him linger like a bad smell

[Andy McDandy]

The wokism is apparently stuff like animal rights and campaigning against FGM, which JSP describes as admirable but not of importance to traditional Tory voters.

Funny, that. I thought it was all about buttering up their new friends in the north. Anyway, those issues have both been co-opted by the Tories and the far right. Basically as "we're so much more civilised than the wogs".