WTF is happening in the UK?

[Boac]

Here is the text of Rory Stewart's piece in the FT - it clearly shows the damage those who voted for BoJo have done:

Boris Johnson is a terrible prime minister and a worse human being. But he is not a monster newly sprung from a rent between this world and the next. Twenty years have passed since the Conservative party first selected him as a candidate. Michael Howard and David Cameron made him a shadow minister, and Theresa May gave him the Foreign Office. Thirty years of celebrity made him famous for his mendacity, indifference to detail, poor administration, and inveterate betrayal of every personal commitment. Yet, knowing this, the majority of Conservative MPs, and party members, still voted for him to be prime minister. He is not, therefore, an aberration, but a product of a system that will continue to produce terrible politicians long after he is gone.

MPs selected him because they would not risk the possibility of a smaller majority under a better leader. Winning mattered more than governing well. And the public often seems to share this indifference. Dominic Cummings’ seven-hour testimony last year on exactly how bad Johnson had been at exercising power had little effect on his popularity. And his current collapse is not because of his gross mishandling of the Brexit negotiations, or one of the worst combinations of Covid death-rates and economic damage anywhere in the world, but because he went to a party.

Which is why — although British politics is undermined by Johnson’s brutal indifference to constitutional structures or expert judgment — his very presence reveals a more fundamental problem: the narrowness and partisanship of our political parties, and their focus on the permanent campaign. By focusing more on gossip and games against the opposition, than on the detail of running the country, parliament has long turned previously dignified MPs into humiliated automatons.

Even under Cameron, or Gordon Brown, able MPs were regularly overlooked, and some of the most arrogant, unreliable, and poorly informed were promoted. As a minister I was frequently placed in roles for which I had no expertise. When I took responsibility for the air pollution killing tens of thousands, or overcrowded prisons consumed by ever-increasing violence, I found a system that responded not with solutions but with press lines. As soon as I developed an understanding of my brief, I was reshuffled. And I was promoted because of loyalty, not performance. No civil service can compensate for such ineptitude.

We do, of course, need new policies. I am proud to be part of The Britain Project, a cross-party collaboration, making arguments for the independence of the judiciary; for a better and closer relationship with the EU; for respecting the Good Friday Agreement in spirit and letter; and for a Britain confidently and proudly participating in multilateral structures abroad. As Tony Blair observed this week, “there is a gaping hole in the governing of Britain where new ideas should be”.

But to get rid of Johnson and promote new policies is not enough. Existing parties already make many attractive policy claims. But in almost every case what purports to be a solution is simply a restatement of the problem — a description of what we lack, and do not have the resources to do. For instance, aspirations to foster “an open and resilient international order” coincide with cuts to the army, the Foreign Office and international development aid.

A better British politics will require politicians who take their vocation seriously and govern responsibly and well. This is not impossible: Germany had Angela Merkel. Such figures would be more electable in Britain if they could also be self-aware, irreverent, and comfortable with social media — seriousness should not mean pomposity. But the real barrier they face is the system itself. We are more likely to get better politicians under a different electoral system, which would allow new parties, with different cultures, to establish themselves; and with elected mayors with real revenue-raising powers and responsibilities (which would put the focus on local delivery).

Meanwhile, our culture remains trapped by the idea that politics is a game. We pretend that the politician can wear a deceitful mask before the voters, and then take it off in the cabinet room. But the mask is infected with a virus, which corrodes their minds, souls, and capacity to govern well. Setting a higher standard — of seriousness, respect, critical thought, and concern for detail in governing — requires the rejection of much of our existing political culture. It entails not supporting a figure such as Johnson, simply because he can win. And it means not simply replacing him with someone who appears able to fool another group at the next election. We don’t just deserve better than Johnson; we deserve better than the culture and system that produced him.

[FD2]

Stewart would get my vote any time but honesty and integrity are old fashioned values nowadays.

[TheGreenGoblin]

Stewart would get my vote any time but honesty and integrity are old fashioned values nowadays.

+1 (on both counts)

On the latter, profoundly depressing...

[Boac]

He was my 'favourite' for leader in the contest.

[Boac]

Latest 'gossip' is that BoJo's Chief of Staff is struggling on the mogul field.

[Undried Plum]

Rory Stewart would have been my favourite too if he hadn't been a Remainer.

After two ghastly years of a Remainer PM fighting a rear-guard action to thwart the will of the British people who had clearly voted to leave the EU, we needed a Leaver in Number Ten.

We got one and he got us out. He earned a lot of political capital for that, but he's pissed it all away with his shameless lies and his bumbling incompetence.

[llondel]

Another paper quotes Bunter as saying he had no idea this was happening. Remember, those of us who served HMQ, that the person at the top took responsibility for what his people did, whether he/she knew or not. I don't know what it will take to dislodge Bunter or Sleepy Joe either for that matter. Are there any honourable politicians ready to give it a go?

It will probably be death or an election that dislodges them. Boris could face a Tory Party leadership election as the quicker way of removing him, Joe is good to 2024 unless his age catches up with him. In the interests of fairness, I would note that Joe's predecessor never took the blame for the action of any of his subordinates, although he'd quickly take credit on the rare occasions that there was any.

On a wider note, isn't that the difference between a leader and a boss? The leader carries the can and credits his team for the good stuff, whereas the boss takes the credit and blames the team for the bad stuff.

[FD2]

Another paper quotes Bunter as saying he had no idea this was happening. Remember, those of us who served HMQ, that the person at the top took responsibility for what his people did, whether he/she knew or not. I don't know what it will take to dislodge Bunter or Sleepy Joe either for that matter. Are there any honourable politicians ready to give it a go?

It will probably be death or an election that dislodges them. Boris could face a Tory Party leadership election as the quicker way of removing him, Joe is good to 2024 unless his age catches up with him. In the interests of fairness, I would note that Joe's predecessor never took the blame for the action of any of his subordinates, although he'd quickly take credit on the rare occasions that there was any.

On a wider note, isn't that the difference between a leader and a boss? The leader carries the can and credits his team for the good stuff, whereas the boss takes the credit and blames the team for the bad stuff.

Yes, it's not just a Boris and Joe thing.

[TheGreenGoblin]

Gentleman, and I say that with respect, and without reservation!

Quo vadis?

[Boac]

I suspect Mr Stewart has sensed an 'opportunity' and is manoeuvring himself back into focus. It will be interesting.

[om15]

Fine words don't butter the parsnips.
Mr Stewart talks a good job but I suspect that he has the drive of a used french letter, to be successful we need a yob as Prime Minister, men of reason like Stewart, Cameron and May don't get anything done.

The next PM has to be a man of iron, ready to crush trade unions, stand up to foreigners and repel migrants, someone to let big business operate without fetters, get children into apprenticeships instead of universities, dismantle the civil service, scrap the BBC and sort out the corrupt and self serving police service.
That isn't Mr Stewart, he is better at writing fantasies for the newspapers.

[AtomKraft]

om.
Honestly, it's easier to move to a less wankerish country. You'll die of old age waiting for that to happen in the UK

[Boac]

we need a yob as Prime Minister

IE exactly what you voted for? Good job.

Nice 'oven-ready deal' there? https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 97993.html

What we actually needed was PM who could 'get Brexit done' properly.

[talmacapt]

And there was me thinking the delays, at Dover, are being caused by one of DFDS's ships being out of service!!

[Boac]

Has it been so since Jan 1st?

" "Did I just correctly hear that there's been a 17 mile HGV queue at Dover almost every day since Jan 1?"

A Dover customs worker replied: "Correct, and 30km queues in Calais. I am a Dover customs account manager and it is absolute carnage. The sheer volume of red tape is baffling and the confusion grows everyday due to contradictory guidance from http://gov.uk and PortHealth. But we are doing our best!"

[om15]

Good old Independent, vying with the Guardian to publish the most alarmist headlines about the failures of Brexit. Apparently the line of lorries can be seen from outer space, I wonder what the man in the moon thinks of that.

Back to earth, this gentlemen talks quiet common sense

[Boac]

Good old Independent

You mean BBC, ITV, Guardian, FT, Mirror, Metro, LBC etc etc...................?

Back to earth, this gentlemen talks quiet common sense

It looked as if he was going to burst into tears at times. Is he the one we should blame then? It is not so much about 'bringing politics home' it is what was brought in in the same skip.

[om15]

You mean BBC, ITV, Guardian, FT, Mirror, Metro, LBC etc etc...................?

Yes I do, all leftie remainer bias, you don't read any of this nonsense in the more broad stream media.

[Boac]

A simple question for you. Why do you think the 'rightie leaver' papers are not reporting it? Shouldn't be too difficult, and if it is...............................says it all.

[CharlieOneSix]

AC12 interview Boris about the Downing Street garden parties…….

edit: Mrs C16 says I’m behind the drag curve with this so apologies if it’s old news….