Tory Leadership race

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

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 think that the current girlfriend comes from a line of ancestors born from adulterous relationships, so perhaps that seems to be the norm for them both.

Yes, you're right, there are so many world leaders who have had affairs and probably many more which we don't know about.
Does that make them better or worse or does it make no difference? I don't know.
However, if someone habitually lets down their wife and family time after time does that mean there is a flaw in their personality and they would have no qualms about letting down their country?

Iam64
Some posters are on their 3rd or 4th marriage. Should we think.any the less of them?
One rule for all. We can't be hypocrites and castigate people in certain jobs but not others.
His private life has nothing to do with his job and the same goes for Joe Bloggs the mechanic on the High Street or Susan Brown the accountant next door.

I'll bet there are some on GN who have had adulterous affairs or their partner has played away unknown to their OH.
Who knows what ordinary people you see every day, do in their private lives.
Serial philanderers are in every walk of life and often their wife knows the score but prefers the status quo.
The late MP Alan Clark had numerous affairs which his wife (and the public) were well aware of.
BJ is by no means the first and certainly won't be the last, however, it's really bad form to make scurrilous accusations about his current partner.
Her lineage is nothing to do with us.
We ourselves and people we know may be in relationships which many don't agree with but the law forbids anything to be said against them.
PM or no, he's entitled to a private life whether you approve or not.

There is a lot to worry sbout with regards to Johnson, but I am mainly trying to focus on how he is likely to affect the U.K. assuming that he gets Brexit through.

Leaving aside the fallout from that - impossible I know, but what do we know about his likely policies? Well the first thing he announced was to give a tax break to the better off at the expense of the poor and Scotland.

We know that he has contacts with white supremicists, but exactly how that is going to influence his policy is difficult to say at this stage.

What we do know however, that all the older Tories and those with whom he has worked as a journalist can say nothing positive about him. In fact I have never ever seen such vitriol from anyone about a future prime minister.

This must tell us something, and even as the voting public we have plenty to draw on to understand that he is most unsuitable and potentially disastrous.

There is a psychosis gripping this country that has reversed good and bad, sense for nonsense and fact for fact free, add this to the understanding that our leaders feel free to lie to get what they want and you can truly say that this country is not what is was.

It would appear that if Johnson does land the premiership that according to senior Tories, he us unlikely to get past the autumn without crashing into a GE because his attempt to appease Brexit hardliners will end in disaster.

A GE will they say mean a wipeout in both Scotlandand London together with other areas.

As a result they are calling on Johnson to make absolutely clear what his Brexit plans are. Johnson has so far announced that we will definately be leaving on the 31 st should he win, but is refusing to say how, or indeed if he intends there to be a no deal and parliamentary prorogue.

This lack of detail is of course allowing him a broad support base, but it is hard to see how this will continue once he begins to outline any plans, if indeed he has any.

As I said in my previous post, I recognise many people have affairs and some are serial philanderers. My issue with Johnson is that it isn't only in his personal life that he lies and is totally unreliable, inconsistent and entirely self serving. If the mechanic who fixes my car is a philanderer, that doesn't affect his ability as a mechanic. If our PM is unreliable in every area of life, including according to his previous employers and in every other Ministerial post - we're in big trouble.

Not exactly unbiased journalism from the Guardian???

WWM2 Your assertion that ‘all the older Tories can say nothing positive about him’ can hardly be true!
I imagine that many think he will be a very good PM and if he gets to the final two( almost a given) the members would choose him.
Conservative MP’s have already put him way out front.

I think that is reflecting the general opinion gg13 if you look at the report on how our attitude has changed over the past year or two.

Um lemon if you can point out a single one nation traditional Tory that isn’t worried about Johnson I would be more than happy to alter my statement.

.....plus, he wouldn’t have been chosen for the Mayor Of London if people didn’t like him or think he would be good for the job.

Well he clearly has a strong supporter in you lemon?

WW your statement says ‘all the older Tories’.
There is no need for over egging the pudding, we cannot know what all the older Tories think.You did not make clear which older Tories you were talking of btw.

WW.......have you actually read my comments about Johnson on here? It would seem not.
I am pointing out that he has a lot of support therefore a lot of people do actually think positively about him ( you don’t and I don’t, but plenty do.)

Whitewave you say Boris has contact with white supremicists, who exactly are they? The opposition Leader Corbyn calls Hamas and Hezbollah his friends.

I think that we could perhaps leave this as we seem to be arguing on the head of a pin. Let’s accept that you have made your point.

I can list the names but I’m sure most politically aware folk know who they are.

Bannon, and cronies have had many meetings with him. The point I am making is that unless Johnson is willing to make clear his policies, none of us can know for sure the direction in which he intends to take the country, and that is not democratic, even for the tiny amount who might vote for him.

Yes of course I read your comments lemon they are always of interest, I was progressing the debate.

Rory Stewart had an affair with the wife of a friend. She left her husband for him, they got married and have a son together now.

I’d still rather have Raab as I’ve said previously.

Son of a Jewish immigrant, worked hard himself as a grammar school boy. Definitely not one of the Bullingdon boys. A lawyer with a smart brain.

GG54

I do have to disagree with you on one point; although I would agree that normally a politician having an adulterous affair should still be able to carry out his/her responsibilities to the best of their ability, it is the fact that BJ has consistently let down his wife and children despite so many promises to the contrary. Does this indicate a flaw in his character that would result in him being a disaster as PM?

And what influence does his present girlfriend have on his decisions?

As Mayor of London I believe that he did build more social housing than that other Mayor, Livingstone, ever did.

His mistakes are well broadcast but his successes less so.

I like to be fair!!

Don’t forget that Johnson dropped the affordable housing target when he was mayor. He stopped building social housing altogether, and in fact he prioritised the sort of penthouses that only the extremely wealthy could afford, and many still stand empty. The ordinary folk in London came as an after thought. Only 13% of houses built were classed as affordable and rough sleeping doubled on his watch.

If I were a Tory I would vote for Rory Stewart. I don't share his Tory politics, but listening to him on the Marr programme he speaks sense about Brexit.

He appears to be a decent man and sharp intellectually and would seem to be the Tories' best chance of holding the country together, but we'll have to see whether he makes the final two. I think he's winning support because he's so vehemently opposed to proroguing Parliament which seems to many a step beyond which most people would want to go.

The Tories don't deserve him.