The Johnson Government 2019-2022

[RichieRiv]

That's a very good point.

Maybe I should get involved in some white collar mischief?

[The Old Man of Storr]

One thing is for sure, I don't feel so guilty about breaking the rules - err I mean pushing the boundaries of the regulations.

Seeing as we're in the Confessional - I'd to say that while we were in Elgin we did drive out for 5 miles instead of the permitted 3 - we didn't get out of the car though .

Felt like proper criminals , we were on a high for days after that little escapade .

[Monkeybubbles]

I wonder if Cummings has it in for Boris only, or whether he's going for the Tories as a whole?

[The Old Man of Storr]

I wonder if Cummings has it in for Boris only, or whether he's going for the Tories as a whole?

The magazine for the Mauser C96 I sold him last week holds 40 rounds .

[delbert]

The magazine for the Mauser C96 I sold him last week holds 40 rounds .

A shooter that is both iconic and rather sexy.......

[Puff Daddy]

Was the boozy bash held in the cabinet office ?

[The Old Man of Storr]

A shooter that is both iconic and rather sexy.......

Thanks .

[The Old Man of Storr]

Oh , you meant the gun didn't you ?

[delbert]

Oh , you meant the gun didn't you ?

Yes of course.



Or did I...... :lol:

[Big George]

The Sunday Papers will be interesting, I suspect there will be a lot of "Time to move on" hot takes.

[DaveWHU1964]

Let me get this straight, if the Torygraph release a story that suits your view, then he needs to go? For the rest of the year it's a Tory supporting rag owned by tax dodging recluses?

I haven't seen anyone say that because it's because it's the Telegraph that has released this story that he has to go so you haven't got it right Richie. I can't speak for others but when I commented on this story my point has been that up to now the Telegraph has been Johnson's personal, adoring fanzine. But now they see the way the wind blows (a poll the other day said 66% of us want him to resign and that over 40% of Tory voters want him to resign) - and so have belatedly put their finger on the pulse and given up on their poster boy. When you get to that position it's pretty obvious the game is up.

Question for all - does anyone on here think he should stay? Anyone?

[Arnold Layne]

Edited by a mod

[Tenbury]

I haven't seen anyone say that because it's because it's the Telegraph that has released this story that he has to go so you haven't got it right Richie. I can't speak for others but when I commented on this story my point has been that up to now the Telegraph has been Johnson's personal, adoring fanzine. But now they see the way the wind blows (a poll the other day said 66% of us want him to resign and that over 40% of Tory voters want him to resign) - and so have belatedly put their finger on the pulse and given up on their poster boy. When you get to that position it's pretty obvious the game is up.

Question for all - does anyone on here think he should stay? Anyone?

It might be pointed out though that one of these 'parties' was a leaving piss up for a guy that was going to a new job of deputy editor @'The Sun' (I'm sure that had absolutely nothing to do with the story being broken by The Telegraph, nor, ofcourse, The Sun ' featuring the trials and tribulations of an errant prince on today's front page....)

[Junco Partner]

The danger of the upper echelons of our media being deeply entwined with the upper echelons of the ruling party are becoming clear.

The leaving bash thrown at no.10 was for Stack, who's now editor of The Sun, just in case you were wondering why The Sun isn't going harder on the Downing Street parties. Why was that story sat on for this long? What else does he know? Who else was there? What other transgressions are kept under his hat?

How ridiculous a situation it is that a weak, lazy Prime Minister is then so over-the-barrel to a foreign owned media empire.

[EvilC]

FT:

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https://www.ft.com/content/433645d1-291 ... 096c10de21

Boris Johnson was on Thursday planning a major overhaul of his Downing Street operation as part of efforts to save his job, as Rishi Sunak’s allies insisted the chancellor was backing the prime minister.

Number 10 has been eyeing Sunak warily, and feared the chancellor’s silence for most of Wednesday — when Johnson admitted attending a Downing Street party during lockdown — was a sign of his wavering support.

“You’ve got to lean in or get out,” said one minister loyal to Johnson. But Sunak’s allies insisted the chancellor was “supportive of the PM” and had no intention of quitting. “That’s absolute rubbish,” said one.

Johnson endured his worst day as prime minister when he told MPs he had attended a “bring your own booze” party in the Downing Street garden during England’s first coronavirus lockdown in May 2020. He said he thought it was a work event.

Although Johnson’s position remains in peril and a febrile mood hangs over the Conservative party, confirmation that Sunak is backing Johnson — at least for now — has reduced the imminent threat level.

Johnson’s team hopes that speculation about his leadership will subside until publication of a report by Sue Gray, a senior civil servant, into allegations of drinks parties in Downing Street during Covid-19 restrictions in 2020.

The prime minister is unlikely to be seen in public for the next week after a member of his immediate family tested positive for Covid, said Downing Street. His disappearance from view could lower the political temperature.

Everything has to go right for him to survive this, no further mistakes

Boris Johnson ally
The Gray report will not arrive until next week at the earliest and the expectation in Downing Street is that she will cast the blame widely for what happened and not deliver a fatal blow to the prime minister, according to government insiders.

The Metropolitan Police on Thursday indicated it would not investigate any potential breaches of Covid restrictions at Downing Street until Gray’s investigation was complete. “If the inquiry identifies evidence of behaviour that is potentially a criminal offence it will be passed to the Met for further consideration,” it said.

The Gray report could open up the prospect of Johnson culling officials and political advisers in his misfiring Downing Street operation while saving his own job. Tory MPs have been clamouring for an overhaul of his core team for months.

One longtime backer of Johnson said: “The best-case scenario is that Sue Gray reports back . . . and he can then respond with a convincing changing of the guard in Number 10.”

The changes are expected to focus on Martin Reynolds, the head of Johnson’s office, who invited 100 staff to the “bring your own booze” Downing Street garden party in May 2020, and chief of staff Dan Rosenfield, according to people briefed on the situation.

Johnson hopes to combine personnel changes with a domestic policy reset — notably the launch of a white paper on “levelling up” left-behind areas — and an end to coronavirus restrictions in England.

England’s so-called Plan B measures — including working from home guidance and Covid vaccine passports for mass events — expire on January 26 and Whitehall officials are increasingly confident the restrictions will not need to be extended.

Johnson is hoping he will be vindicated in his decision not to tighten restrictions last month as the Omicron coronavirus variant spread rapidly.

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One Tory strategist said: “You saw Boris’ polling numbers improve as the Covid tide turned over Christmas and the PM’s decision to hold the line paid off. The same could happen again in February — at least he will hope so.”

Many Conservative MPs expect Johnson to survive until May 5, when local elections will serve as a major test of whether the prime minister remains a political winner. “If we lose badly, he’s out,” said one MP.

However Johnson’s position could come under threat sooner should Tory MPs trigger a no-confidence vote in him through 54 Conservatives submitting letters to senior backbenchers, or if senior ministers try to force his departure by resigning themselves. A YouGov poll on Thursday gave Labour a 10-point lead over the Conservatives.

One Johnson ally said his room for mistakes was now almost non-existent. “Everything has to go right for him to survive this, no further mistakes. Boris realises he’s lost another of his nine lives and this is a brush with political death.”

Sunak travelled to north Devon on Wednesday, meaning he was absent when Johnson was issuing his partial apology to MPs over his attendance at the Downing Street garden party in May 2020.

It was not until the early evening that Sunak, seen as the frontrunner to succeed Johnson, tweeted: “The PM was right to apologise and I support his request for patience while Sue Gray carries out her inquiry.” 

Although the wording appeared tepid, Sunak’s allies said on Thursday it was similar to tweets sent out by other ministers. They added Sunak and Johnson held talks in Downing Street on Wednesday night on “more important issues facing the country”, including the cost of living crisis.

Former Labour minister Peter Mandelson said Sunak found himself in a similar situation to David Miliband, when the then foreign secretary agonised over whether to challenge premier Gordon Brown in the late 2000s.

“The Conservatives know it’s time to move on and there are candidates available but I feel for Rishi Sunak,” said Mandelson. “Strike too soon and it looks like indecent haste. Hesitate for too long and it looks like indecision, arguably as happened to David Miliband.”

[swash]

Liz Truss says we should all just move on.

So that's that sorted then

[old fart]

A shooter that is both iconic and rather sexy.......

Most disquieting

[EvilC]

[sendô]

Even Prince Andrew getting his HRH revoked and having to ditch his royal duties ahead of being summoned by a foreign court to answer sexual assault charges against a minor can't knock this from the top of the headlines.

It's only a matter of time now. The likelihood is at the moment the Tories are all whispering in the background and agreeing who will back whom for a leadership challenge.

[Junco Partner]

Perhaps lying to the Queens face before unlawfully proroguing parliament was a dead giveaway on this mob's respect for the monarchy....and us.