British Prime Minister Resigns

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https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/07/toxic-spell-broken-boris-johnson-trips-over-own-lies

Quote:

Lies and a brazen contempt for the rules powered his rise; lies and a brazen contempt for the rules brought his fall. Which means the political odyssey of Boris Johnson has a curious symmetry. Except that what began as defects in the personality of one man ended as defects in his party and his government, inflicting great damage on the entire country.

The lies that proved his undoing are now all too familiar. The last, fatal lie was his claim that he had not been told directly of complaints of sexual misconduct committed by the former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher, a claim rapidly exposed as false in a rare intervention from a former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, Simon McDonald. It turned out that Johnson had indeed been briefed about Pincher, and that once again Johnson had not told the truth.

But though that newest dishonesty was the last straw first for Sajid Javid, then minutes later for Rishi Sunak, and, over the dizzying 36 hours that followed, dozens of others, triggering a wave of resignations and withdrawals of backbench support that ultimately brought Johnson’s removal, it was hardly what broke the Johnson premiership.

Instead it was the pattern of repeated mendacity that proved too much to bear both for Johnson’s previous chancellor and his hastily installed successor, his health secretary and a slew of more junior colleagues, a pattern so firmly established in the public mind that even his closest lieutenants could deny it no longer.

So different than the US. I'm not sure if it is the parliamentary system or just cultural but we had a President who everyone knew based his entire presidency on "lies and a brazen contempt for the rules" but rather than resign in protest and bring about change, he converted his party to support his lies. We had some figures resign early on and it did nothing. I guess in a parliamentary system, the Prime Minister actually is somewhat accountable to his party rather than the other way around.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 11 • Views: 1,343 • Replies: 26

@engineer,

More vaginal bs. Why not just come clean and talk about these so called "misconduct" moments. I mean seriously, not a problem and I would vote for them even more knowing that they were being normal.

I am pretty sure people are just getting paid to say this bs and maybe even they are being paid off to get this done. I mean seriously lame and illogical.

Just a copy and paste article from NYC Governor and the plastic surgery derailment that took over.

2 Replies

@PoliteMight,

What is 'vaginal bs'? Have you always been an idiot or is this a late development?

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With Nixon, his supporters among the Republicans in Congress were a small minority, and in the House only one Republican Representative voted no to impeach.

I think that in the instance of Trump, what he accomplished or diligently attempted to accomplish, e.g. the wall, was enough for the Republicans in Congress to overlook his misdeeds and compromise their own ethics. The means justified the ends. He was their Cyrus, their deliverer, their imperfect vessel.

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@engineer,

Before Johnson only one serving minister had found to lie to parliament, Profumo, and he resigned.

There is to be an inquiry as to whether or not he mislead parliament.

There is a lot of discussion of this on the Brexit thread.

Johnson may have his own base similar to Trump, but they're mostly disgruntled ex Ukipers and far righters, not the majority of Tory grassroots at all.

Johnson was highly charismatic, with an affable bumbling persona which meant he could get away with things other politicians couldn't.

He had cultivated an image for himself on comedy shows Like Have I Got News For You long before he went into politics proper.

All this meant he was able to get away with things for so long that he just didn't bother.

It was the lies, and acting like he and his cronies were above the law.

The first sign was the revolt over him trying to change the rules for his friend Owen Patterson. And it's been downhill ever since.

1 Reply

@PoliteMight,

You are a clueless muppet.

You don't have a vote in any of this. You are irrelevant.

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@engineer,

Somewhat accountable to his party?

Are you having a laugh?

If that was the case Johnson would have been out long ago.

The whole party was complicit in covering up and looking the other way.

It was only when the evidence had stacked up that they took action.

Johnson was drinking in the Last Chance Saloon before arsegate and he fucked up Royally.

Admittedly our parliamentary system means the prime minister has no personal mandate, like that of a president, although Johnson liked to pretend he had.

Our parliamentary system means theres only a limited amount of people available for ministerial positions a d when enough of them say go then that's it.

If he had clung to power the election of the 1922 commitee will still have been held on Monday. They would change the leadership laws and Johnson would lose a vote of no confidence. He could have held out a few weeks st the most.

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

How soon does he have to vacate Chequers?

1 Reply

@Mame,

It comes with the ofice. I don't know how long exactly.

Normally with a hange if hovernment it tends to ve a few weeks at most.

And Johnson has property, and propertied friends in London.

The Rumour is that his wife has planned some sort of wedding function in August, and he wants to hang on until then.

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@izzythepush,

I was mistaken. The only property Johnson has in London is his wife's flat.

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@izzythepush,

I remember the Profumo movie from back in the day with John Hurt and Joanne Whalley. Good story.

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After the resignation of more than 50 MPs, wouldn't that cause the Conservatives' control of the government to collapse?

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@InfraBlue,

They had a majority of 80.

Those 50 MPs did not resign their seats they resigned appointments like junior ministerial roles.

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Additionally: several questions about events during his chaotic reign – from Wallpapergate to Partygate – may never be fully answered.

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

"and he wants to hang on until then":

Generally, the reality of kicking the can down the street is a demonic symbolism to me. When I say demonic symbolism, I mean that it's defending a push; the push, generally, can be construed to be a type of hay, or a type of substance akin to light material.

What makes it a symbolism?
I suppose, what makes it a symbolism, is that the knowledge of the push in question is a detachment from the visual of the material being pushed.

Do you think, that news journalists should perhaps publicly apply to Johnson, the issue of whether wanting to hang on until a time is a demonic type of psychology system?

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@Thomastrokan33,

That was a waste of space.

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@Walter Hinteler,

And how many children he has.

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@engineer,

So.. for two years every country around the world rolled out the same agenda and spewed forth the same narrative with the same paid off bad actors and propaganda machine.. but we still have soveriegn nations and political figures held to account? I purport that Boris has completed the job he was intended for and now must move on to the next Freemason ritual. Boris's father is an interesting figure to look into if you are interested in eugenics. Just saying.

British Prime Minister Resigns

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