The next prime minister will be...

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  • Somthing I noticed and wondered is, are that couple who live next door to Boris routinely recording what they can overhear from his flat just in case or are they doing it to garner information they can pass on to whoever may be interested.

  • It's telling that they should chose the Guardian of all papers to give it to. All sounds very fishy to me.

    Hmm, yes maybe they are actually covertly employed by the Guardian or would that be a bit too close to the phone and whatever hacking that was done (and probably still being done) a while back. :/

  • Boris Johnson ‘is a security risk’ because of his private life, say allies of Jeremy Hunt

    Tory MPs backing the foreign secretary say his rival is vulnerable to blackmail by foreign powers

    The Tory leadership contest erupted in acrimony last night as Jeremy Hunt said Boris Johnson did not “deserve” to lead the country unless he answered questions about his “character”.

    In an astonishing escalation of hostilities, cabinet allies of Hunt claimed that Johnson’s colourful private life meant he was a security risk and vulnerable to blackmail from foreign powers.

    I don't pay for The Times any more, so can't read the article, but it looks like Hunt is going for the jugular. Ain't it strange that even the "nice" ones turn bad when they have a chance of real power?

  • Well, if they always "report" it to the newspapers, possibly. One way to make a buck!

    Apparently (if the news is to be believed) his 'friendly' neighbours are die-hard Remainers, covered his car with anti-Brexit stickers, and the woman gave Boris a two-fingered salute.

    Nice neighbours (not), but sending the recording to the Guardian is a big indication that it is political, even without the above revelations.

    Mark Twain — 'Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.'

  • I don't pay for The Times any more, so can't read the article, but it looks like Hunt is going for the jugular. Ain't it strange that even the "nice" ones turn bad when they have a chance of real power?

    Why is he a security risk? A family row is not illegal (yet!). Paedophilia is, and many of the other illegal actions that politicians get up to. The MSM really is getting truly pathetic, but we all know why!

    Mark Twain — 'Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.'

  • Leaving aside the times article, I think Ian Dale's questions to him were reasonable and Boris ducked them. There are questions about his character and Dale was trying to ask Boris whether questions of character when you want to be PM are relevant or not and I think they are.

    I don't drink, but if I did have a bottle of red wine, I wouldn't pour it over a sofa like Boris did, or alleged to have done. It just shows him as a spoilt brat who thinks he can do anything, largely because he always has.

  • You don't know the circumstances. I once threw a coffee table (a very small one) through a glass door. My hubbie wound me up to such a state, it was that, hit him, or walk out forever! I chose an inanimate object rather than a living being, although I didn't realise it would actually go through the door. It was sheer frustration.

    Some people can have that effect on others, so let's not pre-judge.

    I think Boris's refusal to discuss it is very wise. If he says it was his fault then he will be villified. If he says it was her fault then he will be also be villifed. Better to say nothing and let the couple sort out their own problems.

    Mark Twain — 'Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.'

  • I sure Horizon is right that "pouring wine" over a sofa is not a nice thing to do. But did Boris do so deliberately or by accident/carelessness? Unless Horizon is trying to get a job in a left-wing rag I would suggest "spilt" would be a more honest description.

    Boris will probably win the leader contest because it is being decided by Tory MP's and constituency local members. Thank heaven's it's not being decided by Britain's media or the easily-influenced morally-tight-arsed ignoramuses that make up such a large chunk of the UK electorate. Granted, there will be that day of reckoning in which Boris will stand or fall according the outcome of the next general election. But the Tory party (in Westminster and locally) are gambling that once Boris is leader, beyond the gauntlet of a biased or sensation-seeking media, he can bring home the bacon and, if so, then come the next General Election, the voters' perception of his foibles will melt away.

    After all, most of us have more than one side to our character or personality, especially those who have a career that depends on public approval, of which very few have the courage or confidence or devil-may-care to present themselves warts 'n all; most either try to hide their flaws, or be so lacking in personality that that they would need to be a multiple rapist or axe murderer to even get on the radar, or be so mesmeric, fascinating , inspiring, decent, and entirely flawless, that the only position suitable for them is as The Second Coming.

    My main disappointment with Boris is that he failed to stand up to invasive, unprofessional or inquisitional interviewing during these contests. Even though it is not in his nature to be rude he could in his affable way have told these interviewers where to get off, eg "good question - love to answer - any chance of doing so for at least 10 seconds without being interrupted? From you I'd find that an agreeable novelty". Or "Emily, I do appreciate that you have to follow BBC's "Get Boris" policy, but do you have to make it so obvious and unrelenting?". I hate to conclude that Boris's timidity in this regard is because he wants the job so badly that he has lost his devil-may-care aplomb. Or maybe the poor bastard just need the money to pay for his domestic infelicities. At least in a rent-free pad at 10 Downing Street he won't have any left-wing neighbours pressing their Iphone recorder against thin walls

  • It's central London. It's a different planet to the rest of the country. Everyone reads The Guardian, buys £6 loaves of bread from Waitrose and drinks skinny lattes.:)

    Unfortunately you are 100% correct , just add they think they are more important than everybody else and it' job done.

  • I sure Horizon is right that "pouring wine" over a sofa is not a nice thing to do. But did Boris do so deliberately or by accident/carelessness? Unless Horizon is trying to get a job in a left-wing rag I would suggest "spilt" would be a more honest description.

    Boris will probably win the leader contest because it is being decided by Tory MP's and constituency local members. Thank heaven's it's not being decided by Britain's media or the easily-influenced morally-tight-arsed ignoramuses that make up such a large chunk of the UK electorate. Granted, there will be that day of reckoning in which Boris will stand or fall according the outcome of the next general election. But the Tory party (in Westminster and locally) are gambling that once Boris is leader, beyond the gauntlet of a biased or sensation-seeking media, he can bring home the bacon and, if so, then come the next General Election, the voters' perception of his foibles will melt away.

    After all, most of us have more than one side to our character or personality, especially those who have a career that depends on public approval, of which very few have the courage or confidence or devil-may-care to present themselves warts 'n all; most either try to hide their flaws, or be so lacking in personality that that they would need to be a multiple rapist or axe murderer to even get on the radar, or be so mesmeric, fascinating , inspiring, decent, and entirely flawless, that the only position suitable for them is as The Second Coming.

    My main disappointment with Boris is that he failed to stand up to invasive, unprofessional or inquisitional interviewing during these contests. Even though it is not in his nature to be rude he could in his affable way have told these interviewers where to get off, eg "good question - love to answer - any chance of doing so for at least 10 seconds without being interrupted? From you I'd find that an agreeable novelty". Or "Emily, I do appreciate that you have to follow BBC's "Get Boris" policy, but do you have to make it so obvious and unrelenting?". I hate to conclude that Boris's timidity in this regard is because he wants the job so badly that he has lost his devil-may-care aplomb. Or maybe the poor bastard just need the money to pay for his domestic infelicities. At least in a rent-free pad at 10 Downing Street he won't have any left-wing neighbours pressing their Iphone recorder against thin walls

    No, just a load of leftie civil servants to report on everything!

  • According to the Times, some Remainers MP's (Grieve and co) are planning to bring the government down the day after Boris takes over ... if he becomes PM.

    It's pointless posting a link because it's behind a paywall, but what good news, eh? Will we really get the opportunity to kick out all those undemocratic MP's? I truly hope so, and I hope Farage has got his candidates ready.

    Mark Twain — 'Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.'

  • According to the Times, some Remainers MP's (Grieve and co) are planning to bring the government down the day after Boris takes over ... if he becomes PM.

    It's pointless posting a link because it's behind a paywall, but what good news, eh? Will we really get the opportunity to kick out all those undemocratic MP's? I truly hope so, and I hope Farage has got his candidates ready.

    What are you hoping for here? I'm hoping Farage's party gets enough seats in the General Election to force a coalition with the Tories, to neutralise the party traitors/ego-ideologists like Grieve and vote-selling blackmailers like the DUP

    However, what happens to the Tories and Farage's party if Boris or Hunt succeed in Britain leaving the EU without acrimony by end 2019? Assuming it's not a BINO sell-out, the Tories will get a new lease of life and, come the General Election, they will (with some justification) blame Labour for much of the delay caused by either sitting on the fence or voting against every deal just to bring down the Government (ie personal political ambition before country).

    Furthermore, at the next GE in Spring 2022, what happens to Farage's party in a Britain that has broken free of the EU ....... and not (yet) found the result catastrophic? How will Nigel's deceased "one-trick Brexit pony" gain him seats in the house? They can certainly take much of the credit for getting Britain to break free. I also think they could claim an indispensability to give the Tories enough backbone to run Britain properly now that they have helped bring about "peacetime" between the EU and UK. To give that claim credibility I would like to think that Nigel would enter the GeneraL Election in Spring 2022 on a broad manifesto which, for want of a better description, would be to "Make Britain Great Again" but without have to appear or pretend to be as much of an idiot as Trump. This is surely everything that the Tories once aspired to be before they gave in to mob democracy and became afraid of their own shadow.

    The latest spanner in the works is Labour's Tom Watson maintaining that the Labour Party must position itself as the Remainer Party or the Tories will romp home with a majority if they Leave the EU on an amicable basis. In effect he might be recommending that the Labour Party tries to ruin the Tory's attempt to leave the EU by 2019, thereby bringing forward a General Election where Labour becomes the Remainer Party. A Lab-Lib pact would strengthen their hand. I think Tom Watson is right, that this is his best bet, probably his only bet.

    https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/politi…ng-catastrophic

  • What are you hoping for here?

    I'm hoping we can kick out the undemocratic MP's from all parties and get a Parliament that works for the UK instead of against it.

    I think that would solve most of our current problems.

    Mark Twain — 'Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.'

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