... But guess what happened when, at the close, the scrupulously neutral moderator asked this group of past Labour voters who they would back on 12 December. All but one opted for Johnson. The same group that had declared him a liar nevertheless planned, quite cheerfully, to put him back into Downing Street. Why? ...
The group were asked about [Corbyn] too and, in addition to calling him “indecisive”, “arrogant” and “weak”, three people offered that he too was a “liar” and “untrustworthy”. And yet while they forgave the dishonesty of Johnson, they gave no such leeway to Labour. The offer of free broadband was mocked, along with several other Labour manifesto promises. Jamie, who owns a car repair business, reckoned Labour had sat around asking themselves, “‘Who haven’t we given something to yet? I know, let’s do free dental care’. It’ll be free Pot Noodles for migrants next.” That brought laughter – and agreement.
Another time I might cite some material from hundred-year old academic studies on Leadership. The Johnson phenomenon is as old as the hills.
ND
Perhaps it's political correctness be damned that people like in both Trump and Johnson?
ReplyDeleteLloyd George was a similar character, also popular during his prime.
ReplyDeleteDon Cox
There's another big difference. Optimism versus pessimism
ReplyDeleteCould be a ruse, of course.
ReplyDeleteTo lull wavering Tory voters into staying at home because Boris is a dead cert.
Mr Freedland will not be too sad at working class distrust of JC, as he's (along with people like his Guardian colleague Luke Harding) been a consistent supporter of our Middle East "policy".
ReplyDeleteCorbyn's distaste for "invade the world" is the best thing about him. Unfortunately like Boris he's pretty keen on "invite the world".
Lloyd George is indeed the Boris-equivalent when it comes to women and sailing close to the legal wind.
Boris obviously longs to be compared to Churchill. I'd prefer if he turned out to be more of a Disraeli.
ReplyDeleteIn case of doubt, my reaction to May's omnifailure was "Dear Christ, now it'll have to be Boris. God save us all."
I saw somebody compare him to Denry Machin, which I thought a pretty good shot, though on the generous side since Denry was much less of a rogue.
Denry Machin is an interesting comparison, though not a very good one, I think. Incendentally, the Alec Guinness film of The Card is pretty good, as is the book, of course.
ReplyDeleteI thought it would have to Boris. At the fall of Cameron.
ReplyDeleteThe best of that odd mix of the chancers and the over ambitious.
Gove.
Fox
Leadsom
Crabb
Johnson
May
Gove was a spoiler for Johnson
Crabb was a shield for May
Fox was Fox. Looking for advancement and status.
Leadsom did much better than expected. With hindsight it became clear it wasn’t that “ thickly” Andrea was much good. More that “ Wobbly” Theresa was so bad.
If you want a leader out of that lot, then it’s Johnson.
And if he hadn’t imploded himself, he would,d have been it.
As his leadership race MKIII showed, an awful lot of MPs regretted not voting for him or offering support to him, the first time.
Is he the best leader?
Who else is there? Gove?Mogg or the ultra wets who couldn’t command the support of even each other.
He is Very Churchill like. And not the good Churchill. The bad Churchill.
The strikers and chancellor Churchill and Gallipoli Churchill.
Still, it might be enough. The character is there. If he could tame it for five minutes. Or, if the opportunity arises where he needs to use it to galvanise the nation.
Boris is upbeat. People like that.
ReplyDeleteCorbyn never has a good word to say about the country that has given him such an easy life in return for nothing.
Nor does he ever smile, and his anger is always there to be seen, bubbling underneath.
What does terrify me is that 1 on 3 people might vote for this piece of merde.
Free train tickets for all !
ReplyDeleteA commissar on every train!
ReplyDelete(The People's Party has got your number, Kev ...)
What do you dislike about Churchill's policy on strikers? Apart from his remarkable softness to them in The War.
ReplyDeleteRE: Elby @ 1:50pm
ReplyDelete"Corbyn never has a good word to say about the country that has given him such an easy life in return for nothing."
This feels like one of those phrases that has an endless list of names that would slot in at the front. I immediately thought of Jon Snow and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. Then I realised that C4 News and The Guardian on their own could probably provide a few hundred other names.
I wonder what our tax rate would be if we didn't have to support these parasites.
I see one of the deceased from the latest terrorist attack was planning to join the police as a fast-track graduate, none of that pounding the beat as a constable nonsense for our new officers.
ReplyDeleteI know I can't be the only person who picks up the Evening Standard, looks at last nights stabbings and acid attacks, and thinks that London is absolutely crying out for more Cambridge criminology graduates on its streets.