Friday, 5 November 2021

"The end of the beginning"

 That favourite quote of Churchill, after El Alamein, will be one Boris Johnson knows well. 

After many success and perhaps more mishaps, the latest debacle surrounding Owen Patterson I think will become a defining moment. It comes after weeks of mis-steps. A poor budget, lack of confidence in the face of victory over Covid, a pseudo-war with France, the net zero madness of COP26.

All the events pile up on the ever thinning Tory poll lead. But the ones who really matter when a government has an 80 seat Majority are the MP's. From what I have read, they are very disappointed at the antics of this week. Marched to the top of the hill and down again, all in favour of a man who is almost certainly guilty of that which he is accused. 

The tone in the press is different too, always the right wing press have left him off relatively lightly in the past - notably over covid. Yesterday it would have been easy to decry that Parliament was one of scoundrels with both Patterson and Claudia Webbe as exhibits A and B. However, there is little mention of Webbe. The focus, led by Tory MP leaking, is on Boris and his very poor judgement and actions. 

With Brexit delivered, and despite the remainers never giving up, no real chance of undoing this technically for a long time. It maybe that the Tory minds will turn to who is the leader for the future - beyond Covid and beyond Brexit. I can see how that can be Boris if the level of incompetence continues - of which there is no reason to think it won't. We have written here in the past about how a lack of ideological belief makes Boris unsuited to making the hard decisions and sticking to them. 

It won't be quick, with a huge majority and humming economy (inflation aside) it would be an odd time to toss Boris. But falling behind Labour in the polls, allowing Starmer to lead and have a voice that is listened too, together with the inevitable economic hardship the money-printing is bringing (and the Green taxes now biting ever harder, forever)...the drip will continue. 

No more honeymoon or easy wins for Boris, the mountain has been climbed, the view appreciated and the return journey begun. 


Charlie said...

They don't need to get rid of Boris while the opposition is unelectable. So they won't.

Bill Quango MP said...

He needs a very good chief of staff. More than one. Not a Cummings either. He needs a hard working, details, long policy, strategic arc provider.

Churchill had Alan Brooke
Roosevelt had Marshall.

Both able to separate the impossible from the possible. To navigate the path between populist, easy solution, wish lists and actual, practical reality.

Both Marshall and Brooke longed for active commands, as both were more than capable army commanders.

Luckily, both were retained at staff HQ, and did far more good there. Curbing the more ludicrous schemes a d ideas of the elected office.

Old Git Carlisle said...

Entirely agree with last comment. But who?

The quality of MP's is demonstrably so pathetic.

andrew said...

There is a fairly easy filter.
No one who voted to let patterson off is fit for high office.

Anonymous said...

What did Patterson do wrong ?
No wait, I really don’t care
Come on you blues.

BJ is the only contender.

Kinda miss the good ole days of half wit MP’s getting caught on Clapham Common or Hampstead Heath
Simpler days
You knew then when a politician was a wrong’un

I’m mentally damaged from David Mellor, the Chelsea football shirt and toe sucking. If it was an Arsenal kit I might …. never mind.

Anyway Paterson , who ? Move along nothing to see here
Those froggy upstart fishermen (do they have fisher madams) are useful in a here comes Article 16 way.

God Save the Queen

Graeme said...

It's all looking like the scandal ridden Major Govt. And yet there is no opposition. We are, as a country, up shit creek and determined to destroy our paddle

E-K said...

Net Zero, a failure to take on political correctness and mass immigration (850 boat blokes yesterday) will do for the Tories once tax and inflation have hit everyone - especially if there are power cuts too.

Awful government, and I don't think we got Brexit either.

jim said...

Which comes first, the leader or the direction. For Churchill, Brooke etc the direction was clear and Churchill had a good team. Both elements were in place.

If we dump Boris we are still stuck with no direction, we are in a fog. But the direction cannot be all bad, things seem to be drifting along fairly OK. The worry is whether it is merely inertia carrying us along in vaguely the pre-Brexit direction or whether Boris and team have any idea how to turn the ship's wheel and how to find the compass. Neither element seems to be in place. No one is navigating.

We have suffered this malaise on and off for the last 40 or more years. Why. The one common factor is Parliament, not so much the crumbling ruin but the social structure it is built around. Occasionally it throws up a useable leader combined with favourable economic circumstances but more commonly Patterson lookalikes and - fog.

Old Git Carlisle said...

This mornings exhibition by the curry man and clown of Maastrict was cringe making - despite the fact that a hell of a lot of it was bang on target.

Who will come out next 'call me Dave and help out my mates' Cameron or let me listen to my misguided advisors Teresa or will they get Ted out from the grave .

Anonymous said...

Given the number of people who say that they do not recognise the Conservative Party any more, has anyone given thought to the question "has the party been hijacked by a non-political entity"

Some would suggest Trump was never a Republican (he previously was a registered Democrat) but saw the opportunity to further his own interests for very little cash.

We've all be sleeping on the job of protecting our freedoms.

BlokeInBrum said...

With regards to Trump; compare and contrast Obama with him and which one left political office better off.

Look also at Democrats like Pelosi who seem to have an uncanny ability to pick stocks and shares which go on to outperform the market by quite some margin.

In the UK we have political pygmies who have lost all sense of shame and who clearly have utter contempt for the electorate. Yet people still vote for them.

I wonder if we will have to have some sort of revolution in order to remind these people that they work for us, and not the other way round?

Matt said...

@ BlokeInBrum

Yes, the answer is a lot of MPs and Lords hanging from lamp posts with piano wire.

However, what are Reality TV and Talent shows for on Aunty Pravda, C4 and their ilk? To keep the populace under control and not on the streets.

If we don't rebel when literally 1,000s of girls are abused by Pakistani rape gangs, then we'll not ever get from under the politicians.

E-K said...

They call the Labour Party "unelectable" but wouldn't a party that put "ICE cars to be taxed out of existence, boilers to be taxed out of existence, 850 illegals a day to be helped ashore, e-scooters to be legalised, Net Zero (while your prospective PM and ministers ignores it), sleeze and serial shagging... Insulation Rebellion to be assisted" in their manifesto be unelectable too ?

Peter Hitchens makes a great case against the Queen today.

Net Zero while China builds coal fired power stations apace is no less dangerous than unilateral nuclear disarmament.


Then you get your revolution, chaps.

The only thing that has rape gangs tolerated is that most people have too much to lose by civil disobedience.

They're angry enough but the life they have is still too good to risk.

E-K said...


Another loss owing to lockdown. A dear uncle passed last night.

Two cancelled consultations during lockdown saw a tumour go riot.

That makes 9 people close to me who have died unexpectedly with one on a vibrating mattress with unspotted bone cancer (aged 53 and a close mate, from childhood.)

I know none who have died of Covid.

The rate of deaths is highly irregular and - by pure coincidence - started under lockdown.

Do not get injured.

Do not get ill.

This is what NHS insiders have told me personally. We did not save the NHS.