[Boiler]

And herein lies the crux of the matter - "the rules", where they even exist, are so poorly defined that stuff like this will happen, and continue to happen. It's all about what you can get away with now.

Yet I see no appetite to change this.

Wonder how that "uncomfortable chair" meeting she held went?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Johnson could have made this story go away ages ago by saying it was his own money. That he's suddenly decided that now suggests he was intended to get reimbursed by someone.

If I were that someone (who'd presumably been informed this was just a cool way to make a donation) I'd run a mile now. Sorry, Alex. I'll maybe give the party some cash in the normal way, but you're stuck with this redecoration cost.

[Tubby Isaacs]

And herein lies the crux of the matter - "the rules", where they even exist, are so poorly defined that stuff like this will happen, and continue to happen. It's all about what you can get away with now.

Yet I see no appetite to change this.

Wonder how that "uncomfortable chair" meeting she held went?

I dunno. I can't claim to be an expert on the rules but they seem very nervous. It's not the usual "so what? I got the job done and didn't cost the taxpayer anything" brazenness.

[Youngian]

As Gordon Brown pointed out there hasn’t been any rules over these tacky shenanigans as they relied on basic integrity that comes with high office. Johnson’s approval ratings are still high but even the Tories are now prepared to risk their seats to oust this repellent piss weasel.

[The Red Arrow]

[Boiler]

Yet... wander across to Politico EU's poll of polls, and what do we find?

Westminster voting intention as of 23/4/21: Con 43%, Lab 34%.
Johnson approval rating as of 19/4/21: Approve 55%, Disapprove 44%

"We" have a leader the majority approve of and a Government "we" would seemingly choose again.

[The Red Arrow]

Interesting that the Times are running this. Warning shot, or regime change on the horizon?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yet... wander across to Politico EU's poll of polls, and what do we find?

Westminster voting intention as of 23/4/21: Con 43%, Lab 34%.
Johnson approval rating as of 19/4/21: Approve 55%, Disapprove 44%

"We" have a leader the majority approve of and a Government "we" would seemingly choose again.

Vaccine and opening up. It's like holding elections after a war you've just won. Nobody can remember the battles you lost earlier on.

It helps too that the vaccine success seems to vindicate Brexit to a lot of people. That won't always be the case.

[kreuzberger]

Good people, decent people, reasonably smart people. They may not share the same place on the scale which features the tipping point but they are there. Surely, that's just logic, no?

We have all been proven to be wrong on so many occasions about Johnson and the Vote Leave conspiracy being outed and destroyed. It will happen though. It has to happen and their decline will be brisk and brutal.

Will it be from the Lords, the parliamentary party, or their press? My guess is that it will be a coalition of them all, sickened by one issue-too-far or an email trail that is beyond the pale.

The spotlight is falling upon that ghastly wallpaper. On balance, saving 150,000 lives and the economy of the country would be better to have but it would still be pant-wettingly funny if that is what does for him.

His successor? Not so amusing.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Sadly the wallpaper/sofa shot has been shown to be 'shopped. And in someone else's flat.

[Boiler]

It has to happen and their decline will be brisk and brutal.

But in a completely non-confrontational way: who says it has to happen?

We all thought Trump would be unseated prior to term, but he wasn't. Even now there are still those who feel he was cheated out of a presidency that was rightfully his.

I see parallels here, sadly.

[The Red Arrow]

Sadly the wallpaper/sofa shot has been shown to be 'shopped. And in someone else's flat.

That's as maybe, Mr A, but the cost and who paid for it still hasn't been adequately addressed.

Am I crediting the Leader of Her Maj's Loyal Opposition with too much lawyer's nous by hoping he's waiting for the Pork Haystack to bluster 'For fuck's sake, it was only a few thousand!' (which given his past form - that absolutely nobody warned us about, no siree - isn't an impossibility) before revisiting the billions that Johnson, Hancock et al swindled the country out of re' PPE? That, and the tens of thousands of preventable deaths.

[davidjay]

It has to happen and their decline will be brisk and brutal.

But in a completely non-confrontational way: who says it has to happen?

We all thought Trump would be unseated prior to term, but he wasn't. Even now there are still those who feel he was cheated out of a presidency that was rightfully his.

I see parallels here, sadly.

The difference is that when Trump was proved to have done something bad he would flat deny that he'd done it, and Fake News. When the same happens to Johnson he grins and says "So what?" And it's just Boris being Boris.

[The Red Arrow]

Meanwhile in Bastardland...

[Crabcakes]

I think the seriousness of this particular wave of self-inflicted shite for Johnson is the complete disappearance of one M. Gove. If he’s keeping his hands clean, he thinks there’s a chance he can get Sarah Vine in and measuring curtains before long.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Quite. As I said earlier Gove has been on manoeuvres and Cummings has been in action for him.

But why? Why would Cummings push for a Gove premiership? What's in it for him? Who, and what, is behind this?

I can only see that it's a decided push to move the Overton Window further to the right, to install an extreme right-wing government, to dismantle the apparatus of the state and erode the rights of the population. Supported, of course, by elements of the right wing press and very shady characters involved in Leave UK and others who will benefit from reduced control.

It's an existential threat to the UK we all support.

[Andy McDandy]

I'd broadly agree, but would argue that a better term for the style of government they want is corporate. Rights and standards of living determined by spending capability*, a police force that's more like a private security firm (and with directive 4 firmly in place**), very shiny and clean in the showcase bits, gone to fuck anywhere out of sight.

People bang on about Orwell the prophet. I wonder if William Gibson might have been overlooked.

*"Free to those who can afford it, very expensive to those who can't" being in play.

**From the popular science fiction film Robocop, m'lud. "No action will be taken against any senior officer of this corporation. Any attempt to do so will cause shutdown."

[Youngian]

[Crabcakes]

I'd assume the plan is Gove gets in, reinstalls Cummings, Cummings gets to "finish the job" and dismantle the civil service while pretending he's Nick Fury in charge of his DARPA-lite team.

That would assume, however, that Johnson wouldn't return the backstabbing favour Gove did for him during the race to replace Cameron, and of course dropping Cummings in it. And if he'd been ousted I can't see why he'd hold back.

Quite. As I said earlier Gove has been on manoeuvres and Cummings has been in action for him.

But why? Why would Cummings push for a Gove premiership? What's in it for him? Who, and what, is behind this?

I can only see that it's a decided push to move the Overton Window further to the right, to install an extreme right-wing government, to dismantle the apparatus of the state and erode the rights of the population. Supported, of course, by elements of the right wing press and very shady characters involved in Leave UK and others who will benefit from reduced control.

It's an existential threat to the UK we all support.

[Youngian]

I assume the various May elections accounts for Cummings's timing. Geeing up undecided voters at the last minute is Dom's card trick isn't it? Hope so.