Saturday 27 July 2019

Mr Johnson's win-win course?


Our new prime minister A B  de P Johnson (I shall try to avoid calling him Boris because that plays into his technique of deflecting criticism by pretending to be a joker) has followed Paddy Ashdown's rule and  "hit the ground running."

Mr Johnson  has made outrageous and undeliverable promises, purged the cabinet of all criticism rather than seeking the usual balance (at least in his party) and stands a chance of converting much of the North to his cause by promising a high-speed rail line between Leeds and Manchester.

Some of the commentators claim has has boxed himself into a corner. I strongly suspect that he has created for himself a win-win situation.

If, as seems to me extremely unlikely, his up-beat bravado actually does produce another deal from the Europeans. even if the deal is only a cosmetic tweak of Mrs May's, the sycophantic press will hail him as a hero, Tory MPs will be delighted and they will go into an election go as the likely winners.

If, as is much more likely, Johnson fails in his quest for a deal and we "crash out" on the 31st October, (which is precisely what the Tory extremist  ERG want) he and the sychophantic press will blame the intransigent Europeans, Johnson will be praised for his determination and being a man of his word, his "that will show them" gung-ho attitude will be portrayed  as a revival of Britain's bulldog spirit and again the Tories will enter a general election as a likely winners.

That, I suspect, is Johnson's game plan.

The outcome remains the more likely the longer the Labour Party continues to sit on the fence.

However even without the Labour leadership seeing the light Johnson's plan can be stopped.

There is a danger that, in the remaining three months, the debate will be narrowed down to a choice between an new-deal and no-deal.

 But  neither is anywhere near as good for the country as the deal we already have by remaining in the EU, an option with is still open to us.

A majority of MPs, from all parties, know this very well.

There is still time for our MPs to avoid the damage to the cultural, social and economic future of our country, and rescue our political reputation,  by plucking up the courage to revoke Article 50

8 comments:

  1. his promises are bread for the masses. He can promise his rail link but where is the detail?. Bread again.Remember he is a good liar along with his rhetoric.Now he is PM he could start it NOW.
    The bulldog spirit! Wandering around with the people goes to his Churchill hero that he admires and wants to copy. He knows after Brexit it will be blood sweat and tears but cannot admit that till AFTER an election is won. With May's preparations to limit the damage it is hoped it will not be a serious disaster . He gets the praise whatever happens,even if he does not deserve it.
    HAVE THE MP's GOT THAT COURAGE TO ACT?

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    1. It beggars belief that they should sit on their hands and let this happen.

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  2. There is still time for our MPs to avoid the damage to the cultural, social and economic future of our country, and rescue our political reputation, by plucking up the courage to revoke Article 50

    But then there will have to be an immediate general election and Boris (due to my dislike of the man I used to only use his surname, but now I have seen how much use of his Christian name annoys Remainers I make sure to use it always) will sweep the board as all those MPs who will have put their names on public record as voting to ignore the expressed democratic will of the British people are dismissed by those very same people. And the first act of the new Conservative / Brexit Party coalition government will be to re-invoke Article 50.

    So what would be the point? It would just delay the inevitable a couple of months.

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  3. Assuming you're right and A B de P Johnson won, which I admit is a strong possibility. But things are very volatile. Who can say?

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    1. Who can say?

      Who can? But if I were going to throw away my entire political career on a throw of the dice I'd at least want to know I had good odds of my sacrifice not being entirely pointless. I suspect that's why you won't see MPs lining up to do so.

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    2. Sadly, so far at any rate, they have put the perceived safety of their seats before the good of the country. Maybe when the crunch comes (Hallow-e'en?)they'll see the light. Fingers crossed

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    3. they have put the perceived safety of their seats before the good of the country

      Or to put it another way, they are scared of the electorate — which is what politicians damn well should be, so that's a good thing!

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    4. I suspect the ERG group are scared that the electorate might he changed its mind.

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