Boris

varian

Should he not have been wearing a mask?

I wonder if he's exempt due to breathing problems and long Covid?

If he had long Covid he wouldn’t be playing tennis, going jogging etc. Most of the people around him had the virus, too and they seem to be functioning normally (or in the case of Hancock not functioning as usual). He was never up to the job. All he does these days is appear in photo shoots wearing a variety of costumes spouting three word slogans. His hair ruffling persona that was mildly endearing when he used to be on HIGNFY now looks ridiculous in a middle aged man who is leader of a country. I feel no sympathy. He achieved what he always wanted (in the way that he has achieved everything in life ie by lying) but it hasn’t turned out to be the fun job he thought it would be. And, heaven help us, Cummings and Murdoch have got Gove lined up to take his place.

I have no sympathy at all for him, covid or not. He desperately wanted this job despite being unfit for it due to his lack of responsibility, ability to plan, do research, work hard etc. Frankly, he can own it as far as I am concerned. Meanwhile, as he fails to perform we are all left aghast on the sidelines as he bumbles, flannels, generally makes a fool of himself and the country. I do wish people would stop making excuses for him; if he is ill he needs to step down, the current political situation with covid19 and the fast apporaching meltdown of Brexit is far more important than his vanity. There is an interesting theory in the FT that he will go in January, on the pretence that he has 'delivered what the electorate want and got us out of the EU' and will then clear off and hand over the impossible job to Gove as an act of revenge for the backstabbing during Johnson's previous leadership attempt in 2016. Johnson knows that it is impossible and doesn't want to be in charge when this all becomes obvious.

I have no idea if the PM is suffering from poor health or not but he is clearly struggling with competence.
He should now choose to make a dignified exit on health grounds and hang on to some shred of credibility.

Well said Parsley3..

The weight loss is deliberate. We were watching something...and he appeared on it briefly talking about his dieting. He does look unwell, but that’s the nature of the aftermath of Covid. He probably should step down, but I dread to think who we’d get in his place. I do like him, but can see he’s not coping.

This Covid has certainly been a test during his premiership as it would have been to anyone who was trying to run the country under such circumstances but it would seem that it's proving too much for him to efficiently continue.

If the position's going to affect his mental well-being then it's time to call it a day. The longer he goes on the worse his health will deteriorate as he's got more than the leadership to contend with in his life. He's lost his buzz !

He squandered any sympathy we all might have felt for him when he was ill. Instead of using that experience to learn and help build solidarity, he's just gone back to being the incompetent buffoon he was before.

travelsafar

I wonder if he is going to get us through Brexit so he will go down in the history books as the PM who did. Then he will resign on the grounds of ill health due to having had Covid. It has all gone wrong for Boris and his dice with death surely has had an impact on him. He seems to be approaching everything half heartedly without his usual gusto.

True, and the best outcome if he got to Jan/Feb and then resigned.
There are Hunt and Gove waiting in the wings, Gove isn’t popular with the membership I have read, but Hunt could be a good PM.

I'm not a fan, but still, he comes across as so pathetic and confused. That's not what we need from a prime minister!

He did not nearly die at all - he was only in hospital for a few days. But either way, he failed us all when he ‘spaffed’ February up the wall by absenting himself from work to sort out his messy personal life rather than working on the COVId threat and getting us ahead of the game. He was also extremely gung ho about shaking hands in a hospital with COVId patients and I bet he never bothered with social distancing.

Do any of them know what they're doing, I ask myself ?

Up until now, I have always been willing to cut Boris some slack.

He won the leadership contest, then the GE with a whopping majority, promising to Get Brexit Done and everything seemed to be going so well.

Then of course the virus appeared which he caught and was seriously ill in hospital.

After a short convalescence he was back facing agonising decisions about which ‘expert’ to listen to.

However I have to agree with everyone that he does look as if everything is a huge struggle for him now.

None of us know exactly what is involved being PM but we can all surely recognise the immense strain it must cause, even in normal times, let alone now.

I am sure he will stick it out, as someone else said, to go down in the history books as the one who GBD.

Whether he steps back after that I think will depend on his health.

Then of course there is the matter of his big drop in income.

Then of course there is the matter of his big drop in income, oh yes, it was I believe the Daily Mail which reported a 'friend' of Johnson claiming that he was finding it hard to manage on £150k per annum. It seems he has four of his children in university. My heart bleeds.

Such a total embarrassment. Not fit for purpose. He hasn’t got a clue.

suziewoozie

He did not nearly die at all - he was only in hospital for a few days. But either way, he failed us all when he ‘spaffed’ February up the wall by absenting himself from work to sort out his messy personal life rather than working on the COVId threat and getting us ahead of the game. He was also extremely gung ho about shaking hands in a hospital with COVId patients and I bet he never bothered with social distancing.

He did nearly die.

extra.ie/2020/04/12/news/world-news/boris-johnson-covid-19-nearly-dies

We’re never going to know the truth about how ill he was and frankly I don’t care. I care about the thousands who’ve died, been very ill, whose lives are being ruined in a zillion different ways because he’s completely useless, because he spent February sorting out his private life, appointed a Cabinet of nodding donkeys and is ruled by Cummings ( fir god knows what reason) He’s been sacked/run away from/ failed at every single job he’s ever had and failed and betrayed wives/ mistresses/ children/ friends - whatever makes his fans think he cares about them or the country?

£150,000 is not a large salary for a Prime Minister, compared with what those in other European countries earn.

It won't be long before he's on the after dinner speech circuit and then he'll earn thousands for not much work.

Perhaps the PM can set up a fundraising page on FB to help with his money troubles.

His problem is that he is not up to the job, he is a smart talker when there are no consequences, as soon as he is called to account he is lost. Writing a scurrilous colum in a newspaper where he could get away with anything as long as it wasn’t libelous, is rather different to being PM.

The Tory Party will keep him there for the time being, by the new year he will be too discredited to continue. Once Brexit is done big changes will be made.

suziewoozie wasn’t it a bit silly of you to state that Boris wasn’t seriously ill, only to later admit that you don’t know?

Actually we DO know that he was seriously ill, unless of course you believe that all the doctors and nurses involved in his care in the hospital were lying.

If he didn't know that before he took the job then thats just another incompetence jennifereccles.He's a joke.I've never heard any PM in my lifetime complain hes not being paid enough ,and some of them had children too .Apart from the low wage he's not happy about actually putting in some hours ,doesn't like work does he? This breaking International Law scam he's got going will certainly turn even Tory's against him.The few that I know are livid about it ,they voted in good faith and that has been destroyed.One couple who I know have voted tory for a long time but say they will vote for Independence now as its the only way to get away from the mess he's creating

Yes, Boris cuts a rather pathetic figure these days.

His dishonesty and scant regard for rules when it suits him were well known before he got the PM job. Being a journalist was ideal for him, allowing him to indulge his fantasies in print with no accountability. The job he wanted so badly served to expose his laziness, inability to master detail, failure to answer legitimate questions in Parliament and his addiction to hyperbole (eg a world-beating test and trace system) to name but a few.

Yes, he has reached his level of incompetence, and in the hope of making himself look good, he has chosen a Cabinet of people who are even more incompetent than he is. Heigh-ho!

Wasn’t it a bit silly of you JE not to read my posts properly I I said that I didn’t think he nearly died - there’s a difference between nearly dying and being very or seriously ill. Also the nurses ad doctors did not comment on how ill he was iirc - are they allowed to comment on individual patients state of health? But who cares - nothing excuses his appalling negligent behaviour in February or his appointing of a nodding donkey cabinet or his slavish and frankly weird reliance on Cummings - none of these things are anything to do with his physical health and everything to do with his complete inability to be even a half decent PM