Boris is unlikely to be a 10-year PM but he might well win a GE This has not been Boris Johnson’s finest week. A series of humiliating defeats in Westminster, an underwhelming PMQs, harangued on the campaign trail, caught out using policemen for partisan ends and left to dangle in Number 10 without either an electoral escape or a means of leaving the EU by the foolishly promised 31 October. Of course, there may be some great grand plan cooked…
From longstanding PBer Richard Nabavi After five decades of support for the Conservatives, I have now resigned as a party member. Naturally this hasn’t been an easy decision; it has been a pleasure working with my MP Nus Ghani, and before her Charles Hendry, and helping in a small way in various constituencies to achieve six years of sound Conservative-led government under David Cameron, even if the past two years have been increasingly difficult. I shall miss the opportunities…
Five of the past 7 male Tory PMs were educated there Within minutes of Boris being declared leader on Tuesday morning expect new betting markets on who will succeed him as CON leader, who’ll be his successor and how long will survive at Number 10. When considering a factor to remember is that the form book shows us that Tories liked to be led by someone who was educated at Eton. Going back to 1955 of the seven men…
His verbal grandiosity is a mask for a lack of self-confidence Boris Johnson has always had a facility for a briefly memorable turn of phrase. Whether referring to table tennis as, archaically, ‘whiff-whaff’ or describing Brexit talks extending into further rounds beyond October 31 as the ‘hamster wheel of doom’, Johnson’s words have the capacity to amuse and distract. For a politician, that’s a useful skill up to a point. The problem is that the phrases, like Johnson himself, tend…
At one of his RoryforLeader rallies, Rory Stewart paid a heartfelt tribute to David Gauke and the three things he learnt about leadership from him. (1) Gauke communicated his values to his team, which they respected him for; (2) he genuinely listened to them and their arguments; and (3) finally, he had courage and was willing to make tough choices. It is rare to see politicians pay genuine tribute to each other, at least while they are still practising. Rarer…
Graphics: top one is from Paddy Power, the bottom one is from Ladbrokes Why I’m backing Boris Johnson to receive between 80% to 89.99% of the vote. If the YouGov polling is accurate then Boris Johnson is going to win a landslide in the leadership contest, yesterday’s poll had him winning 74% to 26%. My view is that polling for these leadership elections is a lot easier for YouGov than most of the other political polling they carry out. The…
Get ready for PM Johnson One thing that we’ve learned over the last two decades is that we can rely of YouGov CON members’ polling to give a pretty accurate picture of the outcome of a leadership ballot. Before IDS and Cameron’s victories in the postal ballots the firm had the final outcomes to within a point both times. So tonight’s news in the Times that Johnson is ahead by 74-26 leaves us in little doubt about the outcome. That…
Lawyers are rarely regarded with affection. Lawyers-turned-politicians even less so. Nonetheless David Gauke’s speech at this week’s Lord Mayor’s banquet is worth a careful read, not least for its defence of the rule of law as a critical element underpinning democracy (a word never off the lips of some politicians wholly ignorant that something more than shouting “The people have voted” repeatedly is needed to sustain a democracy). Gauke’s quiet praise for the unfashionable virtues of public service, intellectual rigour, a…