Anyway, it's not like I haven't pointed out the problem of electing a clown before (not just that they are incompetent, but you can't criticise them for being stupid). Or how Boris is a liar and doesn't care. Then of course there's this list of Boris criticising himself. And I'll remind everyone that while ad hominem attacks aren't very nice, they are an absolutely essential part of a democracy. If you elect someone to speak and make judgements on your behalf, then trust in their character and sincerity is crucial.
There was an interesting remark by ex-chancellor Philip Hammond in the Guardian :
“He is actually a more complex personality than it sometimes seems,” Hammond said of Johnson in his interview. “He is a mainstream conservative on all topics except Brexit. I very much regret his attitude to Brexit. His own story, which is multicultural, multinational and liberal, speaks for itself.”Hammond is (or rather was) one of the few sensible Tories left in government. He's worth listening to. Boris has hardly any government experience, so while we know a great deal about Boris the man (he's a colossal tit), we know rather less about Boris the politician. Yes, we know about Boris the MP, but practically nothing about Boris the minister. He was either sensible enough to know to keep his trap shut as foreign secretary, or was carefully sidelined by halfway competent people.
What we can say for sure is that, mainstream or not, Boris is unpredictable. This is an idiotic characteristic for a politician because no-one knows what they're voting for, so they can't be held to account.
Comparisons to Trump are obvious. But there are many differences, and I'm not sure how well this really stands up. Yes, Boris is a populist, albeit not without an agenda, who largely cares more about himself than any policies. But whereas Trump has weaponized hatred - all the criticism of me is just liberal bias, i.e. evidence that I'm correct - Boris was weaponized stupidity : it's okay that I've done something very stupid because I'm just silly old BoJo. Those are distinctly different kinds of shit. And while Trump absolutely loathes criticism of himself, spending far more time on Twitter attacking celebrities than doing anything Presidential, Boris rejoices in being a buffoon. He doesn't need to rebuke such allegations any more than a clown needs to pretend they're not wearing silly shoes.
It remains to be seen how far Boris can push this as far as unpredictability goes. I can't imagine Nigel Farage ever deciding that No Deal would be bad for Britain, but Boris is a man who made a documentary about how amazing the E.U. was, and prepared two opposing speeches when deciding whether to back Remain or Leave. How deep in bed with the hard Brexiteers is Boris, really ? To what extent is he trapped by appealing to them ?
The other crucial bit of information which remains vague is to what extent Boris has breadth or depth of support. Is he supported by a few enthusiasts or does he actually have a wider support base ? It's the same with No Deal : what everyone seems to be saying is that it's a few enthusiasts, but when it comes to numbers, it looks more like there's broader support. Parliament had the option to remove No Deal several times but it (at best) barely manages to delay it, despite everyone still insisting that they really don't want it. Similarly, Boris seems extremely unpopular (losing ministers before even taking office) but won the leadership contest handily.
Regardless, the Reuters piece below points out that on the singular issue of the day, nothing has actually changed. Hard Brexiteers don't have the numbers to force through a No Deal. Parliament voted against proroguing itself (though don't expect that one to be settled yet). May's deal is still dead. Parliament won't rescind Article 50. Changing the political declaration won't work : trying to bring us into closer alignment with the E.U. after Brexit will lose support of the Brexiteers, while trying to bring us further away will lose support of Remainers and moderates. A general election would be devastating for the Tories (but expect turbulent polls in the next few weeks). Re-opening negotiations won't work (unbelievably, I heard a report on the BBC this morning that the E.U. is secretly willing to renegotiate in order to get the deal through Parliament, which is not credible). Extending the transition period again loses the support of Brexiteers. Changing the wider circumstances of Brexit, i.e. negotiating deals with other countries to replace the benefits of being in the world's largest economic bloc, has already been revealed as a unicorn, and even if we did jump in bed with the cretinous twat across the Atlantic, this too would be a devastating political choice.
For my part, I cannot see how the necessity of a second referendum is anything other than an inescapable fact. With Parliament rendered impotent, a three-way vote with ranked preferences (thus guaranteeing a majority outcome) looks like the only possible way to break the impasse. It wouldn't even begin to heal the divisions, but it would at last force us to make a f***cking choice.
Breakingviews - Boris Johnson's political triumph will be fleeting
(Reuters Breakingviews) - Boris Johnson has finally realised his ambition. The former mayor of London and prominent Brexiteer is set to become the UK's next prime minister after winning the contest to lead the Conservative Party, garnering 66% of the roughly 139,000 votes cast by party members. His triumph will be fleeting, though.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Due to a small but consistent influx of spam, comments will now be checked before publishing. Only egregious spam/illegal/racist crap will be disapproved, everything else will be published.