The car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel - The Tory leadership elections

Well, I'd like to see ol Donny Trump wriggle his way out of THIS jam!
*Trump wriggles his way out of the jam easily*
Ah! Well. Nevertheless,

— "Mr" Eats The Sticker on the Apple (@BronzeHammer) October 2, 2016

Just took elderly man to pub for crossword, he’s registered ex-CofE. In a very loud voice he said, “I really fucking hate the Tories” A look of consternation went up from a waiting St Andrews pedestrian

I hope you're all ready for the point when Johnson wins comfortably despite all this because it's going to be fucking dispiriting.

― Matt DC

I'm at a loss as to why whatever 'all this' even is would have any bearing on his victory

At this point he could be found with a dead girl, a live boy, and a slightly wounded goat and still walk it.

Remember when Tories had to resign when their boyfriends got found with a plastic bag over their head and a slice of orange in their mouth?

Mellor went for having his toes sucked, today he’d be a more viable challenger than hunt.

Way past that point of despair. Things were so grim I was just lamely linking to Rory Stewart tweets.

You forgot to add "in a Chelsea kit".

Xp

When the major years look like a high water mark of Tory virtue then you know it is time for

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQFtVbVU8WWmtHddnk4gz3SHYvjFIr__IK0594F65ilCFX3HUBa

Yesterday was the worst day of Tory headlines in a very long time and its probably done a lot to undermine their re-electability even before the Brexit clusterfuck but the party will just pull rank around him. It feels like Britain's 'grab em by the pussy' moment.

i am totally here for this take btw

Innit interesting that a few days after the Boris operation decides to go there with "MI6" on a front cover, he suddenly has a massive row with the much younger attractive woman who recently became his girlfriend. How lucky that the neighbours had the presence of mind to record.

— Dan Davies (@dsquareddigest) June 21, 2019

Is this the the Mark Field altercation and the incident at Boris's house? Or were there other things too?

the weirdest thing is people writing bad articles or defending bad things and then deleting their entire twitter accounts over it

some vacuous columnist was drawing parallels between boris and bill clinton earlier on r4. cos y'know cos great men have foibles and all that ... arrrgh fuck off and die!

Actually this is worse than Trump who at least won an election, this is just a gigantic democratic black hole that in a sane country would prompt a complete rethink of the way we do everything.

lol i heard Allison Pearson doing that calz, then i put my foot thru the radio and sent The Late Review the bill

don't worry tho folks, i'm sure we'll see a raft of resignations from decent moderate Tory MPs who don't want to see their grand old party go full Trump

Actually this is worse than Trump who at least won an election, this is just a gigantic democratic black hole that in a sane country would prompt a complete rethink of the way we do everything.

― Matt DC,

I don't follow this at all, I mean outside the obvious. "we don't elect prime minister directly" thing, why would this provoke any kind of rethink. Whats the difference between having him there instead of Gove, Hunt. or May?

Tfw you are caught between a deep loathing and fear for right wing boris dictatorship but enjoy laughing at Dominic Grieves sounding like he's just been on the phone all night to the samaritans.

It feels worse because it's Johnson and he's manifestly incapable of doing the job but it would still be a democratic black hole if it were Gove or Hunt. When May was waved through the Tories at least had a majority, ditto Gordon Brown.

Where Johnson might differ from Gove or Hunt is that he would be unable to command the support of a majority of MPs, but will be able to keep up the pretence that he does because the likes of Dominic Grieve and Ken Clarke won't grow a backbone, same goes for the independents. He's probably at genuine risk of losing his seat as well now.

TBH I don't really get why anti-Boris Tory MPs would opt to spend a couple more years clinging on to their seats in the face of deselection with a government led by a man they despise pushing through a policy they feel would be disastrous when they could cast themselves as heroes and then fuck off to the City and make some real money.

Whats the difference between having him there instead of Gove, Hunt. or May?

The sheer mortifying embarrassment of living in a country that has Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, that's what. It's remembering that pity tinged with hilarity I felt for US ILXors and realizing that's us now, so it is.

Fucking hell I didn't realise another Tory MP got recalled this week. If the same happens to Mark Field and they lose both by-elections then a GE would be virtually inevitable regardless of whether Johnson wins. The Tories' working majority would be down to one vote.

The sheer mortifying embarrassment

The step too far that Hunt won't and May didn't bring is....embarrassment? That the globally respected brand that is UK may become tarnished in some way?

What don't you understand about that statement?

If you don't get it, you don't get it, what can I say? Well done, I envy your sangfroid.

We really need to name and shame the #Boris neighbours. Maybe record their blameless, unshouty lives and give the tape to a national newspaper. Anyone know who they are?

— Allison Pearson (@allisonpearson) June 21, 2019

Even Aaro is finding her a bit too extreme.

Gotta say off that garbage Late Review crew I didn't think she'd be so deranged as I find her on twitter.

I was unclear what it was that was worse about Boris than the others, thats all!

The Trump fellow has a few mean tweets, decorum is under threat worldswide

Gotta say if the UK is just embarrassed that would be kind of ok,
as if we got away with this - but it will be a lot more than that, with potentially lethal consequences for a lot of ppl, the longer Boris is PM.

(xxp) She's been deranged for years now.

Well I just wouldn't have seen it. The worst thing about twitter is hearing from a lot of ppl you totally don't want to.

I'd be sickened and embarrassed by my government if I came from...*list of at least half the countries in the world* but yes

(xp) I'm not suggesting you read the Telegraph but...

Pearson as deranged ultra-rightist kinda surprised me a little too

if Boris is materially worse than Hunt et al i'd argue it's to do with the extremity of his fecklessness/shamelessness making him more amenable to extreme right policy decisions. yeah they're all evil and murderous but there's still room for questions of degree i think.

if Boris is materially worse than Hunt et al i'd argue it's to do with the extremity of his fecklessness/shamelessness making him more amenable to extreme right policy decisions.

So this makes more sense, and I can agree with this, but does his shamelessness make him more amenable to extreme right policy decision? or politically expedient ones? (I realize you could say same thing re Trump in 2016, but the limits on Trumps power are less, and the perceived limits in Trumps mind less still) - and PM isn't King yet.

I don't see that I follows that the most brazen is the most dangerous. I'd take Boris over a Mitch McConnell type figure all day long

We're talking about the most embarrassing rather than the most dangerous though?

I mean Hunt isn't even pretending he's prepared to tip the country over the cliff - he may be dangerous in plenty of other ways but there's a cavelier irresponsibility to Johnson that feels worse and the fact that it evidently appeals to lots of people in the country is more dangerous than anything.

xxp

i seem to recall Hunter S. Thompson making similar arguments on Ford vs Nixon. I agree that Johnson's power is more constrained than a POTUS's, but the big questions for me are about the extent to which Tory MPs will follow him wherever he decides to shamble, and the extent to which he may be able to offer non-Parliamentary positions of power and influence to any of the charming friends he's made along the way.

(oh and the most important question is still probably "exactly how much dickery can the EU withstand from a UK gov before it gives up on extensions and accepts the No Deal?")

We're talking about the most embarrassing rather than the most dangerous though?

― Matt DC,

Tom D introduced embarrassment as a factor, Noodle Vague brought in the fact he might be more amenable to extreme right policy decisions - which is what I was replying to. I don't understand what embarrassment has to do with anything, if thats the thing that somehow makes him worse than the others, which Im not convinced of either

but if we do stick on the concept of embarrassment, its an assumption to think he is necessarily seen as an embarrassment (seen by who?)

Wasn't xyzz suggesting Johnson's only worse in providing the added embarrassment factor for (we) libs - not actively worse than recent predecessors for upholding the hostile environment etc. Probably true but I did also suggest along with others Johnson's tendencies could tip him further to the right some days (if also further to the centre on others). He'll surely be less consistent than May or Cameron, more chaotic in more ways and generally akin to Trump in this respect while the media continue to take more interest in his private/personal life antics than pressure him on whatever he claims he will do or has done.

Like all these Americans who are embarrassed about Trump, what they embarrassed about?

Man up, guys!

I can think of many words to describe how bad Trump is, 'embarrassing' doesn't even get a seat at the top table

Probably true but I did also suggest along with others Johnson's tendencies could tip him further to the right some days (if also further to the centre on others). He'll surely be less consistent than May or Cameron, more chaotic in more ways and generally akin to Trump in this respect while the media continue to take more interest in his private/personal life antics than pressure him on whatever he claims he will do or has done

Sure, but Boris isn't going to be President, if we're going to talk about whatever he claims he will do or has done, are we talking about things he is going to all by himself? Or through parliament?

I give up.

everyone will be embarrassed bcz i called it wrong and that shames us all (tom hates to see it)

but you most of all

https://as2.ftcdn.net/jpg/02/15/30/69/500_F_215306961_H1vvFS9bmtGw4LSKTx0prDUU8fRoSwfa.jpg

absolutely unstartled by allison pearson btw, who has been a menace for years

(recalling her spitting rage on the late show at a v early adam curtis thing, which dared to poke fun at churchill and thatcher, and the only-nazis-are-monsters read obn WW2)

deranged lilico fanfic

I haven't heard the tape, & know nothing not public, but here's what the reports I've read suggest was the rough sequence of events.+

— Andrew Lilico (@andrew_lilico) June 22, 2019

The king of the ratio