As always, a most interesting post, Gabriella, and today I have the time and energy to respond properly.
Susan
Sorry to hear about your current health issues. I hope you are resting and feeling a bit better.
Regarding tackling the issues you mentioned, maybe it is due to your health that you have not offered any evidence or actual facts to show Johnson has anything better to offer compared to Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss?
I did not vote for him as leader anyway, but at this point, I have to agree that he has run out of whatever the indefinable something in his personality/character/charisma was that made him the favourite, and got him into the position he has held.
It is now too late and things have gone too far for him to be reinstated.
You talked about his strong leadership but can't offer any evidence to support this claim. If he was such a strong leader and made good leadership decisions, so many MPs from his own party would not have lost confidence in him as a competent leader.
In a way, he didn’t need to do much convincing of the voters because the opposition was so poor – still is – that even usual Labour (and Lib Dem) supporters voted Conservative. There was a landslide victory, That “X quallity” worked for him then, and It has continued to work until He made the one mistake too many.
Looking at the situation as I do from the point of view of whichever Governmnent is in power is not, luckily for me, going to affect my life, that is, a detached, one-step-removed position.
I think it is a position from which I can see the long-term, the more the way such a navel-focusing, ‘he-lied-therefore-he-must-go attitude is going off on a diversion instead of focusing on the much larger issues. It doesn’t matter whether I am correct there or not, the triumphalist, “we’ve done it, we’ve ghot rid of him” chorus forgets the lack of a stronger leader. Now that the di is cast, we are going to have a new leader, so we’ll see how that plays out.
As an absolute basic minimum, good leaders are supposed to inspire confidence rather than waste Parliament and Cabinet time having to answer criticisms for repeatedly making mistakes or misleading colleagues/ Parliament/ voters.
Yes, of course, but that’s a fantasy world, a totally unrealistic approach, an impossible dream. They, like every other human being, from the most wonderful to the most wicked, makes mistakes.
You are coming across as a bit scatty for arguing that Johnson is being replaced as leader because he had a drink and a slice of cake.
:] One thing nobody would call me is ‘scatty’! anyone who thinks my mind is so muddled that I cannot see the situation clearly, you’ll have to think again!
The issue is not Johnson's choice of menu. The issue is that either the science behind the rules issued by the Government for the country can be trusted or it can't.
And that’s where I sigh deeply and although the clamour for his removal has succeeded, and all those who focused on that and then on the massive exaggeration of thinking that his removal was vastly more important than any other worldwide event is, in mny opinion, missing the elephant in the room. However, riding high on their high horses and feeling so satisfied with themselves, well, that’s the way human beings are.
Either it was ok to have mass-gatherings for frivolous reasons during Covid lock-down, without placing the NHS resources at risk, or it wasn't. Either it is ok to put the lives of doctors and nurses treating Covid patients at risk by having mass gatherings for frivolous reasons during a pandemic or it wasn't. And let's face it birthday parties and garden parties are frivolous and it makes Johnson appear idiotic, scatty and callous that he was not only unable to forgo them but that he and his advisers were too witless to predict that evidence of boozy parties leaked to the media would undermine his credibility as PM. Especially as MPs' constituents were at the same time being prevented by the government's rules from gathering to comfort dying loved ones and grieving relatives.
And that is what I think could be called some sort of emotional over-kill which was exaggerated by every journalist around and if you think that means that I do not sympathise with every person who helped prevent wider spread of Covid by following the rules, then think again. Boris was a fool …
.While I appreciate that it is difficult for Johnson and his family and friends that he is unable to have another go in his personal playground of Downing Street, I'm confident they will cope and find new pastures to play in. And if people want frivolous big personalities with messy love lives to keep them entertained, I suggest you tune into Love Island or similar.
Your only argument in support of Johnson seems to be your own personal willingness to overlook Johnson's failings in leadership, integrity and competence for the job of PM.
But I do not have, nor have I at any time made an argument in support of Boris. I do think that all the clamour has been exaggerated and that that exaggeration has been far too blinkered against far more important events. It has, however, succeeded in its aim of Boris’s resignation.
You seem to be ok with Johnson's lack of attention to detail and not being sufficiently prepared on policy briefs. You seem to be saying that his tendency to mislead to avoid being held accountable for disregarding rules is a price you are willing to pay to enjoy his style of leadership.
On the contrary, I think it would have been better if he had not gained the position of PM in the first place, but since he did obtain that position, then perhaps this was a case where the maintenance of some stability was assuredly more important than the insular, navel-gazing events that have had the current result.
Others are not so willing to drop their standards of what they require from a PM and seem to want something more substantial than a big personality. Johnson seems better suited to a less-demanding job - chat-show guest, TV presenter, after-dinner speaker, writer etc.
Please remember that I have never voted for him and those who infer my support of him just because I voted for a Conservative MP I therefore supported Boris are quite wrong.
What point are you trying to make about Sunak's family's fortunes? Are you suggesting that if Conservative Party MPs or members suspect that Sunak's parents, wife or in-laws have engaged in legal tax-planning, they should not vote for Sunak as PM? Does that apply equally to Johnson's family? Why not compare the 2 individuals - Sunak and Johnson, rather than looking at their families? Both individuals broke the law and received fixed penalty notices for being at a party during Covid lock-down.
Akshata Murty's non-dom status is not a major issue for me - she is an individual in her own right rather than Rishi Sunak's appendage and therefore took advantage of legal tax rules that are in her best interests. She lived in California, met Sunak at Stanford university, and she and Sunak moved to the UK around 2013 but there is no guarantee that she would stay married to Sunak or that she would not return to live in India in the future as she is an Indian citizen and her parents live in India. Anyway, Murty is going to pay UK tax on her world-wide income to support Sunak's career aspirations now the political implications of the issue has been flagged. Even if legal, his political credibility is compromised by shaping fiscal policy while taking advantage of personal tax breaks for himself or his wife.
I think my antipathy towards him being PM is that he has, as far as I know, never experienced a life other than that of a very wealthy home. Yes, Borris is wealthy too, but he wasn’t the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I would prefer it to be someone who has had, like quite a few older MPs,of different kinds of life. One of my self-appointed tasks during the next few days is to look up more about Penny Morgan.
And for anyone who’s read this far, I shall now go back to the beginming to correct spellings and grammatical errors, but do not guarantee I shall succeed in correcting every one!!!
