Tuesday 23 January 2018

Boris Shows Up May for the Useless Politician She Is

One of the reasons the Iranian revolution 1979-81 succeeded so brilliantly was that the incoming clerical regime delivered an immediate financial win for the entire population.  This they did by the simple expedient of curtailing the Shah's immense military expenditure and returning the money to people's pockets.  Thus, long before the clerics started on the hateful stuff, everyone had settled back thinking - you know what, this ain't so bad.  It gave them a clear run at what they really wanted to do.

What May ought to have done on her own Day 1 was to declare that the amount of the UK's net contribution to the EU in 2016 would be added to the NHS budget - starting the day we left the EU.   She'd have killed dead the silliest meme she now has to face week in, week out; and she'd have had well over half the population militating to get us out ASAP.

Impossible?  Hardly: that's around £8 billion, and the NHS budget 2015-16 was £116 bn.  What with all the clamour and political blackmail we know she will succumb to anyway, it'll be more than £124bn by 2019 come what may.

Boris' latest self-serving nonsense merely goes to highlight the masterstroke that was available to a creative politician back in summer 2016.  Ah yes ...

Might it still work?  Presumably now, Hammond would stamp his little foot, and that would be that.  He wouldn't have had the chance if it had been on his desk when he first walked into the office.

ND

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's true that she's useless, but as I've said before, if she gets us out of the EU, I’ll be like Karlsefni praising Freydis Eiriksdottir after she fought the Skraelings – “she’s done evil things, but I for one will honour her from this day”.

The relatively benign economic outlook, as even Goldman Jim O'Neill accepts, gives us a great chance that the exit hit will not be too vicious.

But of course the EU want to encourager les autres, which raises the chance of a hard Brexit - and there's always the possibility that the Blairite stay-behinds will try a coup at that point, supported by the Clarks and Heseltines, not to mention the Lords and probably the judiciary.

James Higham said...

That would require May to ignore her prime directive to give people nothing at all, to make them sweat.

John in Cheshire said...

She's either a useless politician or she's following to the letter the orders given to her by her handlers.

Anonymous said...

I see Nick Timothy is putting himself about in the media - I have some sympathy with many of his views, but after the fiasco of the last election I think a multi-year period of silence would have been in order.

Have you no shame, sir?

Nick Drew said...

@ a multi-year period of silence would have been in order

too bloody right, Anon - he had his Big Chance, he blew it, he damaged his Party beyond estimation, we never want to see or hear him again

Graeme said...

The so-called dementia tax was actually a good idea but... How was it going to play with a set of ageing homeowners?

If France tv ever shows the interview where he guesses that France would vote for Frexit, that would be interesting

Dick the Prick said...

Timothy had this fetish, a weird fascination with Jo Chamberlain and felt it his purpose to reform the Tory Party into some low, wet, sort of ersatz turn of the 20th century Liberal Party. Nothing wrong with that, I guess. But what is wrong is a) the prick wasn't elected, b) he was given free rein, c) the conceited twat didn't consult, d) the thick twat hadn't done the research and didn't have a clue what he was banging on about (i'm older than him and have been to shit loads more committees than him and it's left me daunted) and e) failed to do any consequence analysis because he has the political antennae of a blob.

Seriously, what kind of jesse lets a 36 year old kid, irrespective how old his beard makes him look, loose on areas of the manifesto that he clearly hasn;t got the first frikkin' idea about?

Oooh, it does vex me so.

Graeme said...

The second para relates to Macron and Marr

Graeme said...

The Bonar Law government looks more charismatic by the day

Dick the Prick said...

@Graeme - I love Andy Bonar Law if only for the wonderfully comedic name. Apparently he couldn't really look after himself and lived off sandwiches whilst being a workaholic hence his far too early demise. To think, he, Chruchill and Dave Lloyd George were damn good mates who all went on to run the country and none of them had anything at all in common with each other. And today we get whatever the hell this is - hmm...

Nick Drew said...

Dick - @ Seriously, what kind of jesse lets a 36 year old kid, irrespective how old his beard makes him look, loose on areas of the manifesto that he clearly hasn;t got the first frikkin' idea about?

by their acolytes shall ye know them

(it's how I knew John Moore was never going to be Thatcher's successor - when I met his entourage of chancers and useless)

Charlie said...

Jesus, he's only 36?! He looks like a mid-50s candidate for a coronary.

Bill Quango MP said...

The theory is Boris keeps demanding more NHS cash until May definitively says no! And he resigns or she sacks him.

At that point, he challenges the leader. On a positive view of Brexit. And using the Corbyn tactic of promising over and over and over, to everyone and every sector, the £350,000,000 a week.

The end of austerity. And the cash for all free stuff.

Personally, if it topples May, I'm happy if he gives it a try

Anonymous said...

If Boris sinks May and scuppers Brexit (and we know he has no principled view on it either way - he used to write Telegraph columns arguing for Turkey to be admitted) then 'twould be an evil deed.

A thought occurs, just a tiny flicker of light - I can remember another Tory PM, a couple of years in (though with a decent majority), terrible polls, generally looked on as a joke ("she's impressive, she does the job of two men (long pause) - Laurel and Hardy"), high inflation AND unemployment.

Then some chap in Argentina decided to bail her out. The rest is history.

Anonymous said...

Of course, I'm probably doing the equivalent of Hitler in the bunker fantasising abouut Frederick The Great Escape.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_House_of_Brandenburg

Nick Drew said...

Good chap, anon - we like History Corner items around here

andrew said...

The other difference was that you knew what thatcher was for ... I cannot say the same of may.
If she had a Falklands moment, what would she do next?

You assume those election losing policies were nick timothy's but they may have been hers

Blissex said...

There are some difficulties with giving the NHS £160m a week extra:

* It is not £350m a week, and the "Vote Leave" explicitly promised £350m a week, and that's why Boris is playing recklessly that card:
https://s26.postimg.org/68dbqciyh/Boris-_Johnson-574738.jpg
"Let's give our NHS the £350 million the EU takes every week Vote Leave"

* A Conservative chancellor is rated by his party on only one achievement: cutting spending, not increasing it.

* To give an extra £350m a week a Conservative chancellor would have to cut that much (and more, given expectations of lower tax revenues) from other departments, and most are close to breaking point, precisely because the NHS budget has been ring-fenced.