Tory Leadership race

I see Nazanin Zeghari-Ratcliffe is starting another hunger strike and her husband Richard is going to strike too. This will bring Johnson's role in her extended imprisonment into sharp focus at a crucial time in his campaign. Good, but dreadful that this family are having to go to these lengths to be heard.

Wishing them courage and success in their efforts to win nazanin' s freedom. What a brave couple they are.

I agree Iam and Monica, he is a worrying personality, not a million miles away from Donald Trump ( more intelligent perhaps) but rather similar.

Not only that but he fought to keep the fact out of the newspapers, that one of his many lady-friends had had his child, even going to court to try to stop publication of that fact. There are rumours that there are other children.

My main objection is that he is a liar and fantasist and cares so little about people that he imperilled Nazzanin Zeghari-Ratcliffe's chance of release by spouting erroneous facts about her, that led to her prison sentence being lengthened and her facing, at one point, a further trial. I understand that he has still to apologise.

lemongrove, I suspect we aren't far apart. I don't expect politicians to be much different than the rest of us. We have marriages that fail, some of us had children out of 'wedlock' (two of my children fit that category, very happily) - I don't think I'm an overly judgemental person so far as personal lives and mistakes go. But - Doris / Boris hasn't just made the odd mistake in his youth, he hasn't had something of a midlife crisis, he's made a lifestyle out of self indulgence.
Marina his 2nd wife has I think 4 of his children, one of whom recently described her father as a selfish xxxx. Marina put up with all manner of infidelity so we can only guess that she loved him and wanted her children to have the most stable home life she could provide for them. It looks as though this latest mistress, 24 years younger than Marina, has tipped her into deciding she won't put up with any more.
Many of us will have had an 'affair', usually at the time of a failing marriage that either recovered, or ended. Doris has been a habitual philanderer. I find that kind of casual betrayal unacceptable - I don't have friends who behave like that, wouldn't want them.

I really really mistrust Johnson and always have done.
However I now mistrust most MP’s tbh.What we have seen over the last few years has been a real eye opener.
On the subject of MP’s having affairs, half ( maybe more) of Parliament would be likely to have to put their hand up to that.Does a philanderer make a bad PM? Hmmmm, not sure, in France it’s more accepted than here ( affairs) and a PM who has wandering eyes, or drinks more than he should etc could still be a very effective politician.
With Johnson it’s more than that though, it’s a strong feeling
That he would do or say anything to advance himself, then act impulsively or deny he said it in the first place.
I don’t expect the PM to be saintly and it wouldn’t make him a good PM necessarily to be so, but I would hope for a
PM who would put the country before himself ( perhaps I hope for too much, from MP’s in any Party!)

Iam64 I heard the same programme and I found replies to that question so interesting. I then didn't hear anymore bcause I had to do some gardening.

Devorgilla, the ermine is another name for the stoat. Seems quite appropriate.

For those of you who despair at the prospect of the demise of The Conservative Party, take heart. According to Kevin Maguire of The Staggerer help is at hand to revive the party by bringing all those Farage followers back into the fold. All it will take is for Farage to be offered 'the ermine'. The rest will meekly follow.

I hesitate to say this but I see Boris Johnson as all to similar to Donald Trump. He drums up some popular support from people who see him as 'honest'. The evidence confirms he's anything but honest.
On Question Time today, Matthew Paris spoke against Boris Johnson as a potential PM. He was challenged because one of the reasons he gave was the chaotic nature of Johnson's personal life. In response, Matthew Paris reminded us that it isn't clear how many children Johnson has. He also reminded (me) that Johnsons sought an injunction to stop the press reporting on that. It sounds like a Premier league footballer rather than someone with integrity

travelsafar. I think the problem will be that he takes no notice of advisors. This is what happened with his catastrophic incorrect remark about Nazanin Zaghari-Radcliffe.

It has just been suggested on R4 this lunchtime, that Foreign Office officials were on the verge of securing her release, when Boris put his great big flat foot in his oversized gob and she has now spent another 18 months in prison with no sign of release.

I would like to feel that if he was PM he would listen to his advisors and act on their advice.

I'm truly puzzled as to what exactly is so attractive about Boris Johnson. I mean who of the public really knows the man? We read what he's capable of and what others who do know him have written about him. We read about the way he bulldozes his way through life leaving a trail of lies, reportedly shoddy work as Mayor of London, illegitimate children and devastated people in his wake and just how is any of that an attractive narrative?

The Tories have put the party first and they've even failed at that. Now they're at each other's throats about who will be leader, but the majority of the population don't like any of them. We're being held to ransom by party infighting. You could actually admire them if they came out and said, 'You know what? We haven't a bloody clue what we're doing.'

Except BJ has dangled the carrot of tax relief to higher earners and the greedy beggars are going to vote for what is a pay rise.

i hate the thought the world may be laughing at us!!!
Look at the chaos around the world travelsafar and be relieved you live here!!
It may be bad but there is far worse.

Monica I agree there is not much to choose between any of them at the moment. I certainly would not want to see Labour taking the helm!!
That is why i asked who can make things work once more. I feel the Tories should band to gether and put asisde their petty squabbles and trying to get one over each other and just put our country first. I do like Boris, he is a character but not sure if he could do the job and worry that 'advisors' may lead him if he did get it. MG i am not sure of either and the others in the race i dont feel i know enough about them to be honest to make a choice. I am going to try and watch the debates that are going to take place and hopefully i will be more drawn to one of them than the others. We just need to get our 'house' sorted, as at the mo, i hate the thought the world may be laughing at us!!!

But travelsafar is the alternative going to be any better? The Labour Party may not be in government, but,even as the opposition party, they are just as badly organised, just as disfunctional and just as badly led as the Conservatives and all your criticisms of the Conservatives apply just as much to them.

If the Tory party were a workforce and they constantly failed to deliver in terms of their job would they still be operational?
Would they still be drawing huge salaries, would they have the power over other peoples lives when they clearly are failing in most areas of their job specs.
Some may say this is too easy as a comparison but i think too many it may not be.
Anyone else constantly failing would have been dismissed by now. I have always favoured the Conservative Party but i feel 'the party is over now'. Trouble is, who can make it work once more!!!

urmstongran - your comment in response to criticism of Doris's sexual shenanigans/how many children he fathered outside his marriage was that you aren't interested in a politician's sex life.
Two things, firstly I accept marriages fail but I mistrust husbands or wives who are serial cheats. My experience is people who are totally unreliable in their personal lives aren't reliable in their working lives.
Secondly - if you go into public life, or work in an organisation where 'morality' is key, expect to have your personal life under scrutiny.
Boris Johnson is a serial cheat and a liar. He is occasionally entertaining, eg on HIGNFY but is he fit to be PM, not in my book.

Oh yes and a 3rd - no one would accept a politician who broke any of our laws about sexual behaviour. I'm not suggesting Boris has done that - but it's another reason I'd be unable to say I don't care about the sexual lives of politicians.

WWM2 there are none so blind as those who don't want to see.

Here is how he will waste our money.

Margaret Hodge
@margarethodge
£300,000 wasted on a cannon he couldn't use
£20m a year wasted renting out the Olympic stadium
£40m wasted on a bridge he couldn't build
£50+ billion price tag for a useless vanity airport
@BorisJohnson
was a terrible Mayor of London - what part do people not understand?

ginny42 another coronation☹️

One in a jail in Iran is enough is it not? Poor woman and her family. For that one crass act alone BJ should not even be in the running for PM. Their lives are in ruins and he gets on to the key to No 10?

I read this morning that his supporters are planning for him to proceed unopposed.

I believe there were others, but, no, I cannot name them, but as Trisher says on another thread, even one is too many and he knew just how delicate Nazzanin's case was, so should have been ultra careful about what he said, but he still shot his mouth and increased her jeopardy.

Could you name the other political hostages whose lives BJ compromised or was there only the one?
I keep reading just the one name but 'hostages' in the plural is nearly always used.

Urmston I do not think big business wants Johnson either. Most industry leaders are Remainers. they are the ones that get it in the neck when we leave the EU.

We do not need to inquire into Johnson's sex life, we already know he is a liar and fantasist, with no regard for the truth when it is inconvenient, We also know he cannot master a brief and his careless untterances when Foreign Secretary put the life and liberty of British political hostages like Nazannin Zaghari-Ratcliffe at risk.

He has no moral standing.

But his moral standing should be.