Boris Johnson is a liability.

[fowler9]

Anyone can be a journalist. Boris Johnson is a sh*t one. He is also a sh*t politician.

 

[birchesgreen]

I don't rate him very highly as a human being to be honest

 

[greyman42]

I don't rate him very highly as a human being to be honest

In what respect? Surely there are a lot worse humans in this World?

 

[birchesgreen]

In what respect? Surely there are a lot worse humans in this World?

Yes he is better than Pol Pot for example i am sure

 

[AlterEgo]

Yes he is better than Pol Pot for example i am sure

Boris is more like Lol Pot.

 

[NSEFAN]

Boris is more like Lol Pot.

How can I "like" this post?

 

[Bromley boy]

Boris is more like Lol Pot.

#smashesitoutofthepark.

Priceless.

 

[fowler9]

Ha ha ha.

 

[Groningen]

It is so quiet with Boris Johnson not around.

 

[bnm]

Boris Johnson is getting divorced.

Here's me thinking he alresdy was. From reality.

 

[fowler9]

Well he is successfully negotiating an exit from his marriage.

 

[NSEFAN]

Boris Johnson is getting divorced.

Here's me thinking he alresdy was. From reality.

Apparently his wife caught him in the middle of screwing the entire country.

With apologies to newsthump for that one!

 

[EM2]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45462900

Boris Johnson has attacked Theresa's May's Brexit plan, saying she had "wrapped a suicide vest" around the British constitution and "handed the detonator" to Brussels.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, the former foreign secretary said the Chequers deal had opened the UK to "perpetual political blackmail".
Mr Johnson quit his post in July after the plan was agreed by the cabinet.
Some Tory MPs have strongly criticised his language in the article.
Writing in the same paper, the current Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt called on the country to "back" the prime minister and her plan.

It is the first public comment from Mr Johnson since he and his wife, Marina Wheeler, confirmed they were getting divorced earlier this week.
The announcement followed newspaper allegations the former London mayor had been having an extra-marital affair.
In 2004, Mr Johnson was sacked from a shadow ministerial role by then-Conservative leader Michael Howard for allegedly lying over an affair with journalist Petronella Wyatt - something he had denied as an "inverted pyramid of piffle".
Elsewhere, the Sunday Times has reported that Mrs May's aides wrote a 4,000-word "dirty dossier" on Mr Johnson in 2016, exposing a "catalogue of lurid allegations" against him.
The paper says it has seen the document - said to have been written during the Conservative leadership contest - but officials at Downing Street and Conservative Campaign Headquarters have denied circulating it.

In his newspaper article, Mr Johnson accused the EU of "bullying" the UK - but questioned why the response had been "so utterly feeble".
He said that rather than getting a "generous free trade deal", Britain is saying, "yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir", to Brussels.
"At every stage of the talks so far, Brussels gets what Brussels wants," wrote Mr Johnson.
"It is a humiliation. We look like a seven-stone weakling being comically bent out of shape by a 500lb gorilla."

He said the reason for this was "simple", namely Northern Ireland and the "insanity of the so-called backstop".

The backstop solution is a safety net the UK and EU signed up to in December 2017, which seeks to maintain cross-border co-operation, support the all-island economy and protect the Good Friday peace agreement.
Mr Johnson said agreeing to this had "opened ourselves to perpetual political blackmail".
He added: "We have wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution - and handed the detonator to Michel Barnier [the EU's chief negotiator]."
Mr Johnson wants the UK to pursue a technological solution for the border, but says the government has always had a "secret agenda" to keep the UK in the single market and customs union.
He concluded: "We have put our own heads deliberately on the block."
The BBC's political correspondent Alex Forsyth said the "scathing remarks" showed Mr Johnson's "willingness to challenge the prime minister remains undimmed" after the recent revelations about his private life.
It is the former London mayor's second attack on the prime minister's Brexit strategy inside a week, as last Monday he used his Daily Telegraph column to say the Chequers deal "means disaster" for Britain.

Mr Johnson's latest intervention has been criticised by two senior Conservative MPs.
Former Army officer and member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee Tom Tugendhat graphically described the aftermath of a suicide bomb that had gone off near his office in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
He said comparing such an attack to the PM's plans "isn't funny", adding: "Some need to grow up".

Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan criticised his former boss, saying the article was "one of the most disgusting moments in modern British politics."
He added that if this latest broadside was not the end of Mr Johnson's political career, "I will make sure it is later".
Mr Hunt expressed his support for Mrs May and the Chequers deal in the newspaper on the opposite page from Mr Johnson's article.
He wrote that the PM is "better than anyone I know at holding the line in the face of intense pressure".
But he called on the country to "unite behind her" to strengthen her position.
"Parliament will, of course, have the chance to debate and vote on any agreement," wrote Mr Hunt.
"Until then, we should not rush to judgement on a deal that is still under negotiation.
He added: "However tough the negotiations, we must not and will not ignore the will of the British people.
"So this is the moment to back the prime minister who is determined to deliver on their instructions."

 

[birchesgreen]

Maybe so but Boris Johnson was the one who drove us to the middle of Baghdad and left us there.

 

[Bromley boy]

Maybe so but Boris Johnson was the one who drove us to the middle of Baghdad and left us there.

It’s ok. Rest easy. I’ve just looked out of the window and can confirm we definitely aren’t in Baghdad.

We may be en route to hell in a handcart though .

 

[muddythefish]

Johnson is an idiot, albeit a very useful one. His weekly rants in the press are apparently causing apoplexy at Central Office. The Tories are already hopelessly divided on Brexit and his continuing barbs aimed at May only serve to stoke the fires of internal fighting further. Labour have their own troubles but the Tories are making themselves unelectable.

 

[Bromley boy]

Johnson is an idiot, albeit a very useful one. His weekly rants in the press are apparently causing apoplexy at Central Office. The Tories are already hopelessly divided on Brexit and his continuing barbs aimed at May only serve to stoke the fires of internal fighting further. Labour have their own troubles but the Tories are making themselves unelectable.

He’s actually rather bright. That first from oxford didn’t fall into his lap from a cereal box.

He’s definitely not “useful” in any sense for Teresa May. The Tories’ biggest strength at the moment is the weakness of the opposition.

For the Tories, Jezza is by far the most useful idiot on the political scene.

 

[mmh]

Johnson is an idiot, albeit a very useful one. His weekly rants in the press are apparently causing apoplexy at Central Office. The Tories are already hopelessly divided on Brexit and his continuing barbs aimed at May only serve to stoke the fires of internal fighting further. Labour have their own troubles but the Tories are making themselves unelectable.

Alternatively, the Tories are becoming the only electable party because they're keeping to their manifesto commitments, sadly. Internal squabbling over Europe is nothing new, it's been going on for the past thirty years. As has been the case for Labour, the only difference now is they're too weak to tell the likes of Umunna and Adonis to put up or get lost.

 

[muddythefish]

He’s actually rather bright. That first from oxford didn’t fall into his lap from a cereal box.

He’s definitely not “useful” in any sense for Teresa May. The Tories’ biggest strength at the moment is the weakness of the opposition.

Jezza is by far the most useful idiot on the political scene.

He isn't bright; he's an oaf. He was funny on HIGNFY - but that joke went flat years ago. A first from Oxford can be easily attained without much effort. Yes, it still goes on. For Labour supporters, Alexander is useful in that he maintains a constant state of disarray among the Tories. Long may he divide and misrule.

 

[AlterEgo]

A first from Oxford can only be obtained easily if you’re extremely bright. Boris is a clever, manipulative man. Don’t underestimate him.

 

[Bromley boy]

A first from Oxford can be easily attained without much effort.

Can it?

I take it you are speaking from personal experience and have a first from oxford yourself?

Doubtful.

As a betting man, I’ll wager a CSE in basket weaving or traffic light studies from Luton polly is more likely in your case.

 

[Bromley boy]

A first from Oxford can only be obtained easily if you’re extremely bright. Boris is a clever, manipulative man. Don’t underestimate him.

Indeed.

BoJo is a highly intelligent, accomplished and charismatic man, for sure.

I wouldn’t trust the fat oaf as far as I could throw him.

 

[jon0844]

Indeed.

BoJo is a highly intelligent, accomplished and charismatic man, for sure.

I wouldn’t trust the fat oaf as far as I could throw him.

Yes, he's very smart and almost plays the bumbling and comedic oaf as a role.

I think he's been very smart with his aim to become PM and oust Theresa May, or whoever was PM, by going along with Brexit despite knowing it would be a disaster. A disaster that could get him in the door.

It seems everything he's done has been for his own benefit and certainly not that of the country.

 

[Geezertronic]

It seems everything he's done has been for his own benefit and certainly not that of the country.

That makes him no different to the majority of the politicians from all sides though

 

[jon0844]

That makes him no different to the majority of the politicians from all sides though

I am not sure it's the majority. I would imagine those that do think that way are more likely to be nearer the top of the ladder though, which is not good.

I still believe (and hope) most people go into politics for honourable reasons.

 

[Teflon Lettuce]

I am not sure it's the majority. I would imagine those that do think that way are more likely to be nearer the top of the ladder though, which is not good.

I still believe (and hope) most people go into politics for honourable reasons.

oh? so not for the ridiculously high salary and benefits package then? or for a job where you don't actually HAVE to do anything to earn that money?

 

[bramling]

Yes, he's very smart and almost plays the bumbling and comedic oaf as a role.

I think he's been very smart with his aim to become PM and oust Theresa May, or whoever was PM, by going along with Brexit despite knowing it would be a disaster. A disaster that could get him in the door.

It seems everything he's done has been for his own benefit and certainly not that of the country.

If it has been a calculated strategy then it hasn’t got him far yet. We should perhaps be glad there’s *someone* who seems to want to take over from May apart from Corbyn!

I don’t really know enough about Boris to feel able to pass judgement. Portillo seems not to rate him, which for me is rather telling. One of the first writings of his I read happened to slag off the driver of the 165 at Ladbroke Grove for running red lights which I felt was both in bad taste and ignorant of reality. Giving him a lot of benefit of doubt perhaps he is bright (whatever we say he must be to have obtained that degree) but maybe doesn’t think things through enough before opening his mouth.

 

[bramling]

oh? so not for the ridiculously high salary and benefits package then? or for a job where you don't actually HAVE to do anything to earn that money?

The base salary and benefits package for politicians isn’t *that* generous. Hell we even had a London Underground operational manager earning more than the prime minister when overtime was included!

Perhaps the reason why we have a severe lack of political talent at the moment is precisely because the “industry” isn’t competing well with others.

I don’t dispute there’s money to be made - but this comes with time and experience and often from things like speaking engagements. Your basic entry-level MP simply doesn’t get this.

 

[mmh]

oh? so not for the ridiculously high salary and benefits package then? or for a job where you don't actually HAVE to do anything to earn that money?

Many are wealthy enough before they become MPs to mean the MP salary itself is pretty meaningless to them. Boris Johnson (while London Mayor, with a salary about double that of a backbench MP) described the 250k a year he was getting for his Telegraph columns as "chicken feed". Whatever the attraction of politics for him is, I think it's safe to say it's not the MPs salary.

 

[Teflon Lettuce]

The base salary and benefits package for politicians isn’t *that* generous. Hell we even had a London Underground operational manager earning more than the prime minister when overtime was included!

Perhaps the reason why we have a severe lack of political talent at the moment is precisely because the “industry” isn’t competing well with others.

I don’t dispute there’s money to be made - but this comes with time and experience and often from things like speaking engagements. Your basic entry-level MP simply doesn’t get this.

oh? not that good eh? well let's have a look at it. quite apart from the actual salary, which is more than the majority of the electorate could hope to earn there's the benefits...

Live outside of London? that's ok you can claim for a 2nd home AND your travel expenses between your 2 homes... you can claim for "office supplies" you can claim a "salary" for your "secretary" who can just happen to be your wife/ husband/ bit on the side... you can claim meal allowances, travel expenses... in fact just about everything! in fact I can't see how an MP ever has to actually SPEND any of their salary... a bit of clever accounting and you can just about get every single normal living expense paid for through your expense account!

oh, and of course, as I said before... you don't actually HAVE to turn up to work to earn all this lovely lolly!

not generous? well I for one would absolutely LOVE a job with a BASE salary over £50k for a job where I don't have to even turn up to work!