UK Politics Thread X: Boris' Big Bonkers Brexit Bash

[Alvecia]

My condolences to Britain on your new PM.

I suppose we deserve this

[The Archregimancy]

No but seriously. How do you guys actually let people like BoJo into places where they are allowed to do things?

'We guys' did no such thing.

66% of the 138,809 members of the Conservative Party who voted - disproportionately English white males over 50 (and I'm an over-50 white male myself) - and the Conservative Party MPs who placed Johnson on the ballot 'let' it happen. The only other people who might bear some immediate responsibility are the 50.8 of the voting electorate of Uxbridge and South Ruislip who cast their ballot for Johnson in the last general election.

None of the above is designed to somehow hint that Johnson's ascension to the leadership of the Conservative Party is somehow illegitimate. It was entirely within the rules of the party.

But 'we guys' are no more collectively responsible than the country is collectively responsible for the election of the catastrophically inept and historically unpopular leader of the Labour Party, or the country is collectively responsible for the election of a relatively untested 39 year old Dunbartonshire lass as leader of the LibDems (though I am personally in very small part partially responsible for the latter).

If you're decrying the state of a British political class that could see Johnson rise to the leadership of the Conservative Party, and Corbyn rise to the leadership of the Labour Party, then fine; and there's certainly scope for discussing whether the decision of the two main parties to open up the election of the leader to the membership as a whole (or, in Labour's case, the membership and self-described supporters) was either desirable, or has worked as intended.

But let's please not blame 'you guys' as a collective whole.

Boris Johnson is soon to be Prime Minister...

Likely, yes; but not a done deal yet.

He's been elected leader of the Conservative Party; he still needs to prove he enjoys and can sustain the confidence of the House.

[The Nihilistic view]

DUDES!

[The New California Republic]

BoJo: I am the Prime Minister.

Me: No, no, that's not true, that's IMPOSSIBLE!!!

BoJo: Search the internet, you know it to be true.

Me: NOOOOOOO! NO!

BoJo: The UK united can destroy the EU, The Farage has foreseen this. Join me. Support no deal Brexit, it is the only way.

Me: *Throws self from precipice*

[The Free Joy State]

Approximately 160,000 people could vote in this bloody election.

You are rubbing it in to people who could not have impacted the course of events.

Frankly, the act of rubbing it in after the fact to people who could have done nothing is both ineffectual and irritating.

Even a Boris Johnson couldn't have clowned around a Britain that had axed any attempt at Brexit. So be irritated, but not at me, but at people who precipitated the disaster you are in three years running.

I can be irritated at both the people who precipitated the situation we're in, and the people who are gloating about it.

Multitasking is a wonderful thing.

[The Blaatschapen]

So, when is he going to call an election for legitimacy?

[Duhon]

BoJo: I am the Prime Minister.

Me: No, no, that's not true, that's IMPOSSIBLE!!!

BoJo: Search the internet, you know it to be true.

Me: NOOOOOOO! NO!

BoJo: The UK united can destroy the EU, The Farage has foreseen this. Join me. Support no deal Brexit, it is the only way.

Me: *Throws self from precipice*

Me, since 2016

[Dumb Ideologies]

So, when is he going to call an election for legitimacy?

He'll be a bastard no matter how many elections.

[Scottish Socialists]

So, when is he going to call an election for legitimacy?

5 years later
“I, your prime minister, am calling another snap election to follow the previous snap election, which followed the previous snap elections! As you can see, my votes went up by 0.1%, therefore I am having a SURGE IN POPULARITY!”

[Duhon]

Even a Boris Johnson couldn't have clowned around a Britain that had axed any attempt at Brexit. So be irritated, but not at me, but at people who precipitated the disaster you are in three years running.

I can be irritated at both the people who precipitated the situation we're in, and the people who are gloating about it.

Multitasking is a wonderful thing.

Given my previous posts on this thread, me gloating is really the least of your problems

[Pharmosae]

Nothing has changed my mind...bring on independence, Scotland is for the future. Unity at any price is not a union or freedom, in any relationship undermining is when one person tries to control the other, insulting, mocking, belittling them in front of others. Scotland can and should be independent. We are more than just foder, and have done more to advance human progress, than that Butler who said all we have is the loch Ness monster.

[The Archregimancy]

Oh, and likely worth placing a bet on the number of LibDem MPs reaching the 15-20 range by the end of the party conference in September.

Possibly worth an outside bet on the number exceeding 20 by the end of Conference.


Also mildly diverting to note that, if you count immediate post-merger caretaker leaders David Steel and Bob MacClennan, the LibDems have had more Scottish leaders (5 out of 10) than English leaders (4 out of 10); the New Delhi-born, Northern Ireland-raised Paddy Ashdown being the 10th.

[The Nihilistic view]

So, when is he going to call an election for legitimacy?

When he turns into an olive.

[Scottish Socialists]

So, when is he going to call an election for legitimacy?

When he turns into an olive.

Oh, so next week?

[Duhon]

Nothing has changed my mind...bring on independence, Scotland is for the future. Unity at any price is not a union or freedom, in any relationship undermining is when one person tries to control the other, insulting, mocking, belittling them in front of others. Scotland can and should be independent. We are more than just foder, and have done more to advance human progress, than that Butler who said all we have is the loch Ness monster.

A great madness breeds lesser madnesses, they say
But what am I but a powerless foreigner screaming into the ever-widening uncaring void to materialize the fuck already and swallow everything

[The New California Republic]

Nothing has changed my mind...bring on independence, Scotland is for the future. Unity at any price is not a union or freedom, in any relationship undermining is when one person tries to control the other, insulting, mocking, belittling them in front of others. Scotland can and should be independent. We are more than just foder, and have done more to advance human progress, than that Butler who said all we have is the loch Ness monster.

Nope. Not having another referendum.

[The Blaatschapen]

So, when is he going to call an election for legitimacy?

When he turns into an olive.

Global warming has really reached a new level, British olives.

[The Archregimancy]

Can I just remind everyone that Boris Johnson is not Prime Minister yet.

The Rt Hon Theresa May remains Prime Minister of the United Kingdom until tomorrow.

Boris Johnson has only been elected leader of the Conservative Party.

It's very, very likely that Boris Johnson will become Prime Minister tomorrow - it would be astonishing if he doesn't - but he's not quite there yet.

The President of the United States may not understand the distinction, but we know better here.

[The Blaatschapen]

Can I just remind everyone that Boris Johnson is not Prime Minister yet.

The Rt Hon Theresa May remains Prime Minister of the United Kingdom until tomorrow.

Boris Johnson has only been elected leader of the Conservative Party.

It's very, very likely that Boris Johnson will become Prime Minister tomorrow - it would be astonishing if he doesn't - but he's not quite there yet.

The President of the United States may not understand the distinction, but we know better here.

Why should I know better? The POTUS is a politician, surely it's his job to be an expert about political functions?

Or am I overestimating the POTUS?

[Platypus Bureaucracy]

It's happening!

[Duhon]

So I just heard that Boris has a slogan and dear Lord
I actually think cUK is a better acronym now

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

Norman Smith just posed the question "... will we see a more nuanced Boris Johnson?"

I doubt it.

We need to see his cabinet picks to work out what his downfall will be.

[Nakena]

No need to rub it in.

I will rub it in, thank you very much
Maybe if I rub it in enough someone will do something
Anything

It will bring us a lot of fun. I like to rub.

Boris Johnson is soon to be Prime Minister...

Likely, yes; but not a done deal yet.

He's been elected leader of the Conservative Party; he still needs to prove he enjoys and can sustain the confidence of the House.

I believe if he gets Prime Minister he may not necessarily be one for very long. The next weeks are going to be exciting in any case, as they are unpredictable.

[Duhon]

Schadenfreude... still not my cup of tea.

[Dooom35796821595]

Norman Smith just posed the question "... will we see a more nuanced Boris Johnson?"

I doubt it.

We need to see his cabinet picks to work out what his downfall will be.

Transport minister: Boris Johnson

Brexit minister: Boris Johnson

Defence Minister: Boris Johnson

You get the point. BoJo does all the jobs!