Boris Johnson on the choice facing British voters
[Hat tip: “Ann.”]
Corbyn and his friends in Parliament don’t trust you to make this decision – but I do. Let’s put it to the people: more delay with Corbyn’s #SurrenderBill, or Brexit delivered on October 31st ?? pic.twitter.com/q8tIwDMkcH
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) September 5, 2019
Johnson is fortunate that his opponent is the execrable Corbyn. If Corbyn became PM, it would be one of the worst days in the political history of Britain. The stakes here are very very high.
The left-wing Guardian thinks that, if it comes to an election, Corbyn could win. But even the Guardian thinks that outcome “unlikely but not impossible.”
Fascinating game of chicken. According to the Daily Mail, Boris can resign and the Queen has to ask Corbyn to try to form a government. Then the Remainers have to choose whether to support Corbyn and block Brexit or Corbyn fails and there has to be an election.
BoJo should call their bluff by immediately resigning.
A new election might re-elect Bojo, or even elect Nigel Farage.
So far my filters are clogged by media trash, so I don’t have a very good sense of Boris Johnson. I know he is flamboyant, and unconventional. I don’t consider those attributes to be disqualifying. I also know that he has a superb classical education, and deduce that he is very intelligent; although admittedly a classical British education may be an uncertain indicator of intelligence just as an Ivy league degree is in the U.S. We know that he is a successful politician. Given that he is always an outsider to the political establishment, I surmise that he is quite skilled.
I read somewhere that a Brit Lefty declared him to be the “worst PM since Margaret Thatcher”. High praise even though unintentional.
Too bad that the stakes are high for the U.S. as well as astronomical for Great Britain. Otherwise it would be great sport to watch the alley fight. My virtual $$ are on Boris and the British electorate vs the Parliament and the establishment.
It is absolutely incredible that that the Labor Party of the UK has chosen Jeremy Corbyn – an anti-semite, an unrepentant communist, an execrable sub-species of human, to be their leader.
Worse, given the right circumstances , he could be the next PM of the UK.
But we here in the USA should not think we are any better; just look at the incompetent, totalitarian leftists (let’s be clear; they are Marxists who view Cuba, Venezuela and the former USSR having forms of govt. that the USA should aspire to) hoping to be the demonkrat presidential nominee.
Biden is slightly more of a centrist; but let’s face it, he is almost senile.
God help the UK AND the USA if Corbyn and a demokrat get the top jobs.
As an aside, Jeremy Corbyn’s brother, Piers Corbyn, is an astrophysicist who owns WeatherAction.com, a well known meteorological forecasting firm in the UK. He has developed propriety weather forcasting models which he claims are superior to all others.
Piers has repeatedly condemned the CO2 / climate change thesis as a hoax.
Of course, Jeremy Corbyn is all for the scam.
If Johnson resigns I’m not sure that will lead to an election. First, the Queen doesn’t have to send for Corbyn but she would. However, what if there was a clear display by MPs that they would support Ken Clarke as a caretaker PM. What then?
Corbyn would certainly lose a no confidence vote it it were only a question of Corbyn. But if he got in government could he fudge it? Is there something he could do that makes the other opposition parties unwilling to vote him down?
I think it’s a really bad idea putting him in power even if the plan is just to vote him out. That’s just a trick. This fixed term parliament act has to be amended. Until then, Johnson should just bring a one line bill to set an election and let Labour amend it so the election has to fall before October 17. If he wins, he wins and he can change the law made by Benn.
Denying Royal Assent might be justified but really? That’s a terrible position to put the Queen in. The solution to checking the legislature run amok is to give the bastards an excuse to claw back some of the crown’s prerogative powers? I don’t think so. Give the damn thing royal assent. Fight an election. Win the election. Repeal the damn thing. I think that is the plan. People are sick and tired of this. Yes, it’s important but delay is doing more harm than good at this point.
I don’t have a very good sense of Boris Johnson. I know he is flamboyant, and unconventional.
Read one of his books or watch a few videos.
Have you ever read a historical account of people, including whole societies, doing something suicidally dumb and wondered “How could they DO that to themselves?”
This is how it generally happens. The people who think they’re in charge feel insulated and protected from any consequences or repercussions and lose the ability to think more than one step ahead in the game of life.
Mike
Johnson and Trump both have interesting hair. Branding.
Just do it. Hard exit. Within 6 months London will remain as the biggest bankers of the crumbling EU.
I had a Brit friend who would laugh at me when I tried to follow Brit political maneuvering. I’m still laughable.
There’s the small point that there is no UK Constitution codified in a single document. Which isn’t to say it’s Calvinball, but it seems you practically have to grow up there to know what the rules are and where they come from. I certainly had never heard of “prorogation” until the past week, much less understand how it works or when it’s applicable.
I’ve been reading articles on Johnson’s prorogation. For some writers it’s a masterstroke; for others it’s a disaster. For some writers, it’s a perfectly legal move; for others it’s an outrageous betrayal of democratic principles.
I’ll just have to see how it works out over the next couple months.
The British people voted for Brexit, but the margin was very slim. The current situation is a result of the lack of consensus. In retrospect, I’m betting that the pro-Brexit politicians wish that they had delayed it until their position was stronger.
• «The British people voted for Brexit, but the margin was very slim.»
If that was the case there wouldn’t be any problem.
The problem is that most of British people are pro-Brexit, while most of immigrants (of their descendants) are anti-Brexit. The big elephant in the room nobody talks about is that British people feel that they’re not in charge of their own country anymore.
Something similar happens in US with most of American people* voting for GOP, while most of immigrants (o their descendants) voting Democrat. As the number of immigrants grow, American people feel they’re not in charge of their country anymore. So, what then?
—
*I’m talking about ethnicity, not nationality.
MBunge on September 5, 2019 at 9:41 pm said:
Have you ever read a historical account of people, including whole societies, doing something suicidally dumb and wondered “How could they DO that to themselves?”
This is how it generally happens. The people who think they are better than everyone else because they’re in charge
feelare insulated and protected from any consequences or repercussions (leaves out long list of just the most recent examples) and lose the ability to think more than one step ahead in the game of life if they were ever able to do so in the first place.* * *
Hope you don’t mind a few edits.
The British people voted for Brexit, but the margin was very slim.
No, the margin – 4% of the electorate – was quite ordinary. It was also inconvenient for the British political class.
@ Yann – I don’t think that’s quite so, neither here nor in the UK that “most” of the longstanding people are for the more conservative side, but the recent and semi-recent immigrants are voting for more liberal pols. There is some tendency to that, but it is more a matter of percentages, not an either-or. I live in NH, which has very few immigrants, but we have been voting purple and even blue these last few decades, and VT is notoriously blue. The Southwest is probably most like what you describe. As for the UK, plenty of people who have roots back to the Conquest support Remain, though you are correct that more recent arrivals support Remain in larger numbers.
The margin for ratifying the constitution in some states was very slim, but the losers didn’t spend three years whining and dithering. We only won the governorship in Georgia by 50,000 or so but it still counts.
These people were given a vote. They won. If it was such a terrible idea, they should have never given them the option. The referendum was just advisory, but it is politically binding. If the delay is really about just stopping Brexit — which it probably is, this will not end well for the remainers.
If/when Johnson resigns, the Queen doesn’t get involved at all.
The next PM is designated by the Tory party, and the Queen just shakes his/her hand and tells him/her to do a good job, that’s all.
That’s how the British system works.
And the party will likely appoint a remoaner to replace Johnson, killing Brexit good and solid.
An article by a Remainer, accuses those supporting Brexit of being psychologically dependent on it for self-validation:
” Leavers have become increasingly committed to the goal of leaving because they have invested so much of themselves in it. It is now how they define themselves and their self-validation depends increasingly on achieving it.”
It seems clear to me that an equal or greater dependency on self-validation occurs among the Remainers.
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2019/07/24/long-read-there-is-a-powerfully-rationality-behind-the-desire-for-a-no-deal-brexit/
This “self-validation” issue seems relevant to the elites who hate Trump, too. And is a good description why it will be difficult to reason with them. Plus, afflicted as they are, they are sure to project that affliction on Trump supporters, just as this Brit is projecting.
Note, however, that I’m strongly assuming he’s totally wrong about how terrible a no-deal Brexit would be.
Hasn’t Johnson kicked 21 or so out of the Tory party? If so, it’s no longer got a majority, does it, even in tandem with Brexit? So, does that mean the Queen would have to call Corbyn to see if he can form a majority?
The Tories do NOT have a majority. Recall the last snap election by T. May, in 2017, had the Tories lose many seats so they formed a gov’t coalition with N. Ireland.
Now Boris wants a new election. But the anti-Brexit folk do NOT want a new election, but also do not want Brexit. So these Remain elites are proposing a law to force the Prime Minister to extend until January.
If there is a No Confidence vote, or if Boris resigns, the Queen will ask Corbyn to form a gov’t. But it’s unlikely he’ll be able to. Which would cause new elections. Which the Remain folk don’t want.
Funny how for many years they claimed to want a new referendum, but now, with the Farage Brexit Party so popular, few actually want a new election as much as they want their other first choice. But there’s no majority for the same first choice.
8 more weeks of very interesting UK politics coming up.
I looked at a map of the Brexit vote totals on Wikipedia and it seems the vast majority of stay votes came from Scotland and Ireland. They are itchin’ to be cut loose from England anyway so let them go. Do Brexit and let England be England.
I do not trust any UK or US Left media but the Daily Mail may be reliable. Here is what they say:
” Today he was asked if he would not seek an extension even if it is set out in law that he must and he replied: ‘I will not. I don’t want a delay.’ His answer is likely to be interpreted in one of two ways: He will either defy the law or resign. The former would appear almost unthinkable for a prime minister and would spark a political, legal and constitutional firestorm. If he were to resign, the Queen would ask MPs if anyone else could form a government capable of commanding a majority in the Commons and if the answer was no there would have to be an election which would fall in November after Brexit is delayed. It came as Jeremy Corbyn and the other leaders of the ‘Rebel Alliance’ agreed to work together to stop Mr Johnson forcing an early general election on Monday.”
If BoJo resigns, who will go to the EuropeanUnion to ask for a delay? I guess the EU will just sit there since it is up to the UK government to say that they are going to leave. Otherwise the status quo remains (so to speak LOL).
As an aside, the video shows BoJo’s and Corbyn’s strategies for the election.
BoJo will try to frame it as him vs. Corbyn
Corbyn will try to frame it as Brexit or Remain
Unlike the US, the UK seems to have a fairly balanced news media. If you ignore the Leftist Pravda BBC that is. So the election will also be interesting.
Mark K, since you have apparently done some research, why didn’t you just offer a word or two about your own opinion, rather than the cryptic response to my comment?
In truth, since the window of decision as to whether he will be PM has closed –not that I had a vote– I am not very interested in what he previously wrote; nor do I care much about his persona. I have no intention of reading what he wrote or watching videos at this point. As the saying goes, the proof is now in the pudding..