A thread to catalogue the eloquence, dignity, diplomacy and wisdom of Boris Johnson: IV VONC

[TheDecameron]

I'm still highly suspicious there's a story waiting in the wings here. You're not in the ICU on the Wednesday and suited 'n booted doing a presser on the Sunday. Frankly I believe nothing this man and his acolytes ever say.

Exactly. I know at least one ITU consultant and an examiner for the Royal College of Physicians who cast serious doubt on the story of Johnson’s near death ITU experience.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

TBH, I dismissed it at the time as PR puffery.

 

[gingermrkettle]

The SNP are doing a fabulous job of keeping the Tory’s in Westminster

By voting against them in parliament on stuff and by being in opposition? How does 1 less SNP and 1 more Labour stop there being a Tory overall majority?

 

[zarniwoop]

people with diametrically opposing views shouting at each other and failing to answer questions posed by half-wits

C’mon, you just lifted that description directly from Radio Times.

 

[Ponty]

By voting against them in parliament on stuff and by being in opposition? How does 1 less SNP and 1 more Labour stop there being a Tory overall majority?

The SNP will never have enough MP’s to form a majority Westminster govt, only labour can do that by winning enough seats (from the likes of the SNP, Lib Dems).

 

[TheDecameron]

The SNP will never have enough MP’s to form a majority Westminster govt

Are you alright?


In the event of no overall majority, who on earth is going to go into coalition with the Tories? OK there’s a handful of Uncle Fester and Lurch lookalike competition winners from the DUP, but beyond that?
Coalitions are good these days, we’ve got an excellent one in Scotland- SNP+ Green.

 

[TheDecameron]

C’mon, you just lifted that description directly from Radio Times.

No one’s seen them in the same room together also.

 

[PsB]

That Lib Dem seat is removing a seat from the main opposition party. If removing the tories is the key objective of course. If not, carry on splitting the vote / seats.

You seem awfully concerned about the return of tactical voting, for some reason. Could it be that you would actually like Johnson's incompetent, corrupt lot to remain in power?

Every seat removed from the Tories at the moment is a good seat, whether it is taken by the LibDems, Labour, the SNP or Plaid Cymru. Last night's results show most of the voting public have understood this and want to do their bit. In time, the opposition parties will see the light, too.

 

[gingermrkettle]

If 7,000 people who voted Lib Dem in Tiverton yesterday voted for Labour instead, what would the result have been?

 

[paulfromcamden]

I can’t see the point in watching people with diametrically opposing views shouting at each other

I'd give the PFM cable threads a wide berth then Joe...

 

[Ponty]

You seem awfully concerned about the return of tactical voting, for some reason. Could it be that you would actually like Johnson's incompetent, corrupt lot to remain in power?

Every seat removed from the Tories at the moment is a good seat, whether it is taken by the LibDems, Labour, the SNP or Plaid Cymru. Last night's results show most of the voting public have understood this and want to do their bit. In time, the opposition parties will see the light, too.

Not concerned at all, it’s been going on for years. Problem is, people don’t look at the macro position so the macro position doesn’t change. Of course, in a GE (rather than a by election) I’d expect a different voting pattern in any case.

 

[kensalriser]

Ponty, your understanding of all things political is so infinitesimally small that even it was put in the Hadron collider with Boris Johnson’s ego the two would never meet.

 

[SteveS1]

It’s a simple choice now. If you want the tories out, you have to vote Labour. Anything else such as Lib Dems / green just dilutes the vote and seats. In the same way many people vote Tory because they can’t bear the thought of a labour govt, if you can’t bear the thought of another tory govt, you have to vote labour.

You haven't quite understood how this works have you? There is absolutely no point in a Labour vote where they cannot win. The opposition need to understand this and get to a position where they can make some changes so that future votes are more adequately represented.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

You seem awfully concerned about the return of tactical voting, for some reason. Could it be that you would actually like Johnson's incompetent, corrupt lot to remain in power?

Every seat removed from the Tories at the moment is a good seat, whether it is taken by the LibDems, Labour, the SNP or Plaid Cymru. Last night's results show most of the voting public have understood this and want to do their bit. In time, the opposition parties will see the light, too.

Indeed. If tactical voting reduces the Tory majority to zero, or makes them a minority government, they have a) no overwhelming public mandate and b) no way to ram oppressive or divisive legislation through Parliament. Ideally, the other parties join in alliances and coalitions of opposition, but even if they don't co-ordinate the Tory party would not have the carte blanche it currently enjoys, to make hay while simultaneously undermining our rights and freedoms.

We have learned in recent years that majority government is often bad government. Let's warm to the concept of minority or coalition government. It is after all, in a fundamental sense, considerably more democratic.

 

[Joe Hutch]

I'd give the PFM cable threads a wide berth then Joe...

I only join in those to make feeble jokes. It’s about my only skill.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

Fiona Bruce. I once heard her described as 'a gob on a stick'. It stuck with me, and I think it's an entirely fair characterisation.

 

[notaclue]

I'm still highly suspicious there's a story waiting in the wings here. You're not in the ICU on the Wednesday and suited 'n booted doing a presser on the Sunday. Frankly I believe nothing this man and his acolytes ever say.

I would also not be surprised if it were to turn out that members of the Government pocketed many millions in fraudulent Covid and PPE payments. It was all so lax. And then written off so quickly. A golden opportunity for the immoral trough feeders to gorge on public money.

 

[Nic Robinson]

Fiona Bruce. I once heard her described as 'a gob on a stick'. It stuck with me, and I think it's an entirely fair characterisation.

Certainly no comparison with Day and Dimbleby.

 

[Ponty]

Indeed. If tactical voting reduces the Tory majority to zero, or makes them a minority government, they have a) no overwhelming public mandate and b) no way to ram oppressive or divisive legislation through Parliament. Ideally, the other parties join in alliances and coalitions of opposition, but even if they don't co-ordinate the Tory party would not have the carte blanche it currently enjoys, to make hay while simultaneously undermining our rights and freedoms.

We have learned in recent years that majority government is often bad government. Let's warm to the concept of minority or coalition government. It is after all, in a fundamental sense, considerably more democratic.

If no majority, the largest party should form a govt with another (as per Cameron / Clegg), rather than a collective of also rans.

 

[PsB]

If no majority, the largest party should form a govt with another (as per Cameron / Clegg), rather than a collective of also rans.

Maybe they should, but they won't. The LibDems have been down that rabbit hole before, and association with Cameron contaminated them for a decade. They are unlikely to repeat that mistake in the near future (assuming they don't decide to appoint a leader as clueless as Swinson).