Donate SIGN UP

Is It All Over For Boris Johnson?

Avatar Image
sp1814 | 10:57 Sun 26th Mar 2023 | News
103 Answers
…or is there a way back for him?

What would have to happen to allow him back into Number 10?

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/is-it-finally-all-over-for-boris-johnson_uk_641c00f0e4b01ea5cd926faa
Gravatar

Answers

41 to 60 of 103rss feed

First Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next Last

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by sp1814. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
As far as I'm aware, there's not a single AB'er on here that has had personal links with Boris or his cabinet throughout the pandemic other than myself.
Having been at the sharp end working in government laboratories throughout that dreadful period, I am appalled that this man's parliamentary future is being moulded by what amounts to a kangaroo court. Elections should decide the future of parliamentarians not colleagues who have never had their finger on the pulse.
Time and time again, civil servants and cabinet members placed major obstacles in my teams research into covid on many occasions usually on the basis of money. I've lost count of the number of times I had to speak to Boris directly to overcome issues that were hindering our research in the UK once I had met him. Thankfully, he backed my team throughout without which we would have been around 6 months behind in developing Covid vaccines. As an example, he obtained a specialist analyser from the USA that took 14 hours to reach my laboratory from ordering when the cabinet office were still debating how to pay the £3.2m cost.
I like many others lost close relatives who succumbed to Covid variants. I took time off to attend the funerals of four and was even accused at one of not pulling my finger out to research the pandemic with more alacrity by another emotionally drained relative who had some idea of my involvement with Covid research. I was told it was partly my fault.
Before castigating the man, think how many more would have died had a certain Jeremy Corbin become our leader in 2019 with his hatred of Big Pharma and his fondness for homeopathy. Six months behind in vaccine development? More likely a few years.
Corby said, //Not a single MP voiced an objection when the Motion proposing Harriet Harman join the Committee was put to them. //

Naomi said,
"Accepting someone who has made no secret of her adverse opinion of says more about them than anyone else."

It's a bit like the saying "They're all out of step except for our Boris."

Johnson hasn't gone yet, so don't despair.
The last three years have been a disaster for the country and the Conservative party.
People are fed up of the chaos and want some stability back. Unfortunately for Boris, Sunak is delivering order. The public, Conservative members and MPs are all noticing the improvement. That alone will render any delusion of a comeback extremely unlikely.
theprof 12:23, well said, I am grateful for your insights as someone who was directly involved.
Thanks for posting The Profi. Good to hear from someone who knows the facts.
With regards to theprof's post, it's comforting to learn that Johnson's work in the Covid pandemic was indeed important, even vital, at various stages. I'd not be at all surprised to see similar praise for his conduct in the early stages of the Ukrainian War.

But, with regards to this:

// I am appalled that this man's parliamentary future is being moulded by what amounts to a kangaroo court. Elections should decide the future of parliamentarians not colleagues who have never had their finger on the pulse. //

The only "punishment" the Committee on Privileges can mete out is a temporary suspension from Parliament -- and not even that necessarily, since it would require the House as a whole to consent. If that suspension exceeds ten days, then, as a matter of law (specifically, the Recall of MPs Act 2015), a recall petition is triggered. Only if that petition gathers enough signatures, a by-election occurs. Only if Johnson loses that by-election does his Parliamentary future get affected.

In short, his future is still in the hands of the people. MPs can't be forcibly and permanently removed from Parliament by other MPs.
None of the things raised by “the prof” are directly related to the issue at the heart of the committee’s remit which is simply to get to the bottom of whether Johnson misled Parliament.
This they almost certainly will fail to do
“Knowingly” is the key word I missed out there
People here are also arguing about whether Mr Johnson was an innocent brought down by nasty scheming colleagues.
That one’s a but easier to get to the bottom of ;-)
Boris is likely to be judged the worst Tory Prime Minister ever – I’ll admit he’s up against some serious contenders for the title (even the incumbent fool), but for me he’s a slam-dunk.
It is clear that Johnson did mislead Parliament, the only uncertainty is what the punishment will be.
My guess would be a few days suspension, not 10.
Prof, Covid or no covid. I can see who you would like to PM.
Thank you theprof, for your informed opinion in contrast to so many armchair critics. The process definitely smacks of a kangaroo court, even if the outcome is decided by MPs
Better to allow the blond bull to continue his china-shop blundering than try to at least contain his antics by bringing him under some sort of control.

"It's just Boris being Boris" got really old really quickly and if the only way to try and focus his mind is to haul him in front of a committee of people of equal standing then so be it. Otherwise he continues to deny everything and carries on lying his way through life at our expense and makes apparently normal folk look unbalanced for blindly backing him.
ClareTG0ld, firstly, I'm puzzled why you have chosen to reiterate in your final couple of sentences what i said in my post.

I clearly stated that Boris's parliamentary future was being decided by a kangaroo court of MP's. I'm quite well aware that in general, MP' s cannot be removed from Parliament by their colleagues and that his future should be in the hands of the electorate. I said as much.

I would suggest to you that losing a by-election may not be as detrimental to his parliamentary future as you assert. It's become evident in the last few days that he is trying to secure his future by looking at other constituencies to fall back on. Any absence from parliament may well be temporary on this basis and its possible this charismatic individual will bounce back somewhere.

Nevertheless, I'm grateful that you've confirmed my view.
the prof, thank you for taking the time to post that. I've never doubted that Boris had the best interests of this country at heart and we were most fortunate to have him throughout the pandemic. As for all the nonsense we hear about Boris 'partying' whilst others were unable to be with their sick and dying relatives, how easy (convenient?) it is to forget that his mother too died during lockdown - and he wasn't able to be with her either.

I truly believe that this whole witch hunt - for that it what it doubtless is - results from Boris daring to respect democracy when no one else was willing to do so. This isn't about so-called parties - it's about Brexit. His determination to carry out the will of the people was his real downfall - and he will never be forgiven for that. For the quite disgraceful circus the Conservative Party has allowed and encouraged, they need their bumps felt - that's if they still possess any with a smidgeon of credibility. I have my doubts.

atheist, //Corby said, //Not a single MP voiced an objection when the Motion proposing Harriet Harman join the Committee was put to them. //

Naomi said,
"Accepting someone who has made no secret of her adverse opinion of says more about them than anyone else."

It's a bit like the saying "They're all out of step except for our Boris."//

No it isn't. Not even close. Try again.
Tally ho!

It's the heady mix that makes this place so enduring and endearing. :-)
Question Author
A Parliamentary enquiry is always headed by an opposition MP and the enquiry panel has more Tory MPs than Labour.

And let's be very clear about this - Johnson was booted out not because of Partygate but over Chris Pinchin. That was the last straw. It was nobody else's fault but Johnson. It's easy to get embroiled in Partygate and if that were his only misstep I'd agree that his treatment has been unfair...but that *wasn't* the only time his judgement was found to be lacking.
Question Author
naomi24

//I truly believe that this whole witch hunt - for that it what it doubtless is - results from Boris daring to respect democracy when no one else was willing to do so. This isn't about so-called parties - it's about Brexit//

It's to establish whether he lied to Parliament too, right?

And you're aware that the Conservatives have a majority on the Privileges Committee, right?

Conservative members of the committee:

Andy Carter MP
Alberto Costa MP
Sir Charles Walker MP
Sir Bernard Jenkin MP

All bar Sir Bernard voted to leave the EU.
Parliamentarians mislead parliament every day eg "we have the greatest health service in the world" but these are short of being provable lies.

What evidence is there that Boris has cooked up deliberate lies? If he is judged to have been reckless (is that word definable here?) it may well trigger a by-election and if he continues protesting, he will not stand in it and might pick up a safer seat at the next election or in the event of a Tory defeat, after it. He will bounce back somewhere but my view is that history will show him to have been defeated by process rather than by voters. His life will go on bouncing from triumph to disaster on a scale that truly exhausts the rest of us no matter what.

Gulliver1, do me a favour and don't speculate. You have no idea and neither do I.
Question Author
theprof

You asked:

"What evidence is there that Boris has cooked up deliberate lies?"

That's what the enquiry seeks to determine. They need to establish whether there is credible evidence the Boris cooked up deliberate lies.

You asking "what evidence is there?" legitimises the process - you cannot answer the question without launching an enquiry.

41 to 60 of 103rss feed

First Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next Last

Do you know the answer?

Is It All Over For Boris Johnson?

Answer Question >>