No matter of polishing power will put a shine on that proverbial turd. And by the same token, no amount of favourable press coverage, partisan spin, PR and other gloss will maintain the pretence that London’s formerly very occasional Mayor Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is fit to be Prime Minister. That is why he was kept away from debating the issues until most Tory members had returned their leadership ballots.
A total Muppet. And Elmo from Sesame Street
Because when the debate came last night, with ITV’s Julie Etchingham moderating Bozza’s debate with Jeremy Hunt (the former Culture Secretary), the front runner to replace Theresa May showed that, at the highest level, he was out of his depth. Hunt is not the most formidable opponent he will face, yet Bozza still came off second best.
And worst of all, Bozza let slip his strategy for the all-important period following his entry into Downing Street. He’s going to call a General Election. Ben Jolly picked up the message loud and clear: “Boris Johnson just told Jeremy Hunt, ‘that is how we lose the forthcoming election’”. So did Rachael Cousins. "Odd for Boris Johnson to mention the ‘forthcoming election’. Something we don’t know?” Well, we know now.
He’s going to call an election, and as today’s Daily Mail has shown, it will not only be a dirty campaign, but his character and that of his closest companions will fall inevitably under the spotlight. The Mail has homed in on the departure from CCHQ of Bozza’s partner Carrie Symonds, and suggestions she was given the opportunity to jump before being pushed. His own character will also be up for examination.
The nature of that examination was hinted at by Abby Tomlinson: “Boris Johnson said he gets ‘surprising results in difficult situations’ does he mean like making sure an innocent woman stayed in an Iranian prison?” The name of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe will come up. And it will keep coming up. As will Bozza’s failure to “take back control”.
He won’t? Robert Peston had the bad news: “@BorisJohnson dodging whether to keep [Kim] Darroch as US ambassador till Christmas”. Tom Clark observed “BoJo would rather retain relations with Trump, who he declines to condemn, rather than taking winning patriotic points by condemning him”. Sunny Hundal added “Boris Johnson is too weak to stand up to Trump even on the subject of our Ambassador. He's an embarrassment”.
Politics Home editor Kevin Schofield noticed Bozza’s inability to do detail under pressure: “Not saying Boris Johnson is not great on detail, but he just got the year of the EU referendum wrong”. Peston reported criticism of Bozza favouring the rich: “‘We are not the party of the rich, we are the party of everyone’ says @Jeremy_Hunt in very boisterous criticism of @BorisJohnson”. There would, moreover, be sterner critics to come.
As Sunny Hundal reminded the Tories - many of whom have already made their decision and cannot therefore row back - “This debate is full of moments that Labour can use for attack ads. Corbyn's team must be loving it”. So they must. And they will be.
The myth of Bozza the Heineken politician is just that. His performance last night showed he cannot cope with being put under the proverbial cosh. His character is about to be mercilessly shredded. And he’ll lose that election. Corbyn by Christmas? Could be.
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Emily Maitlis: The language that was used was wrong?
ReplyDeleteDominic Raab: By Kim Darroch? Yeah it was.
Emily Maitlis: Boris Johnson called Trump “stupefyingly ignorant”… are you going to break that news to Donald Trump or am I?
If Boris and Carrie were still a couple, there would be ample photographic proof. The photo in the Mail was so obviously not contemporaneous, it was an insult to our intelligence.
ReplyDeleteBoris will lose? Like he did in London? No matter how much the MSM may smear him, he is the people's choice. They have had enough of wishy-washy leftist politicians caving in to those that shout loudest and indulge in criminal acts and won't stop illegal immigration and have allowed criminals full rein by unpolicing the streets. They have seen the reality of Khan's London and will not allow it on their Manor. Labour is now the party that can only win seats by harvesting the muslim block vote, it has abandoned it's roots to seek power but it will end in it's destruction.
ReplyDeleteWould Mr Johnson have let extinction rebellion hold a street party with the fuzz? He would have given them a good wash! He has the ideas, the solutions, suck it up the left is finished. Time to drain the swamp!
Given them a good wash with what, the malfunctioning water cannons he bought then had to sell off at a loss?
Delete"'We are not the party of the rich, we are the party of everyone’ says @Jeremy_Hunt".
ReplyDeleteYeah, right.
Try telling that to everyone outside the M25 Greed Ghetto.
Hunt and Johnson are bookends to a library of far right thievery, corruption and hypocrisy. Lying bullshitters and spivs both.
Everyone might as well buckle themselves in for more "austerity". There will be little difference whoever replaces the Maybot. Both of them are tory gobshites.
Well, Darroch has gone now so one less problem for Johnson Major.
ReplyDeleteRemember Tim - you can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter...
ReplyDeleteAnon 11:27 – Boris is an unsuccessful embarrassment. Witness his diplomatic ineptness with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Look at the car crash that was the breakup of his most recent relationship over (according to strong rumours not covered in the same media that wants him for PM) her discovering that he was cheating on her.
ReplyDeleteThe people of London were glad to be rid of him: look at how they swung left when the chance arose. Ignore the booing from the right wing press for Khan, disgusted that their guy lost despite their best efforts. Remember the water cannons that he bought for megabux (£320,000) to be used on Londoners bemoaning tory policy then ruled illegal and eventually sold for £11,000 after Boris was no longer mayor?
Funny that criminals apparently have ‘full rein’ when little changed between Boris and Sadiq in London; tell us about the cuts imposed by central government that make the situation laughable. The reality is that when the courts can impose suitable sentences, the police have the capacity to do little more than fight fires and society rebels against such anti social behaviour.
‘Harvesting the Muslim vote?’ Have you seen the population percentage broken down by religion? Is it really so down to the wire that, rather than attempt to entice the few hundred thousand Muslim voters to vote tory by understanding their needs and fears, the nasty party just consigns them to being block vote left wingers?
Boris and extinction rebellion? The same Boris who didn’t want another runway at Heathrow, to the point that he claimed he would lie down in front of the bulldozers (but we will believe it when we see it, along with all the other Boris boasts that have fallen by the wayside) as they moved in? Dream on mate.
Boris has blind ambition. He wants to be PM and he would crawl naked through a sewage pit in front of the worlds press if it was the only thing stopping him from getting that position. He is conveniently forgetting or even denying things that he has admitted to in the past (thoroughly ignored by his adoring press buddies - drugs, anyone?) and blathering out what the faithful want to hear with little or no intention of carrying through.
Didn’t Viz have an appropriate Boris the Clown cartoon strip?
People's choice? How many of the people are voting in this toss-up?
ReplyDeleteTreason May allowed water cannons in Ireland but not London, they were not "illegal" she was just being wet! Boris had the right solution for London, not his fault they were sold!
ReplyDelete@Anon 02:11
ReplyDeleteBullshit.
The use of water cannon on the streets of England would require legislation from Parliament.
de Piffle was pandering to bigoted arseholes and wasting taxpayers' money.