Why do Conservatives like Johnson?

IMO There are lots of of behind closed doors machinations at Westminster we are not party to..... one can only guess why BJ is winning this vote. I believe there is a lot of who knows who; who went to what school; I’ll pat your back if you pat mine amongst MP’s.

The last P.M. turned out to be a complete liar and very stubborn, not listening to anyone, so why expect anything to change. As for branding B.J. a liar etc, that description fits the majority of the members in the House of Commons

Don't give a who as long as they get on with the job and get us out on the day we are supposed ?to get out.
If that can be achieved ????? we can deal with what's to follow.

That's a really tough question Alexa. He lies, he cheats, he's morally bankrupt, he has no principles and he only cares for one thing ... and that is Boris. He doesn't care about his party, he doesn't care about the country and he certainly doesn't care about the people. Truth, honour and justice are things he has no familiarity with but maybe his colleagues think he can get through on his supposed charisma. Personally he makes my flesh crawl ... God help us.

The only good thing about Boris becoming PM is that it will bring the government down and a much needed election take place. That is my belief.

Time was when most politicians had an education of some sort....went into a job...of some sort and made a decent fist of said job...then they realised they wanted to make a difference or follow a cause and found themselves in a union or joining a political party or movement.....this lead to an interest in politics and then a move towards a position in politics...and so on.
Today....its all about deciding they fancy a career in politics because it looks like its the door to power, money and influence so at University they study politics, Economics perhaps a bit of history and bobs your uncle they are in politics to see just how much they can get out of it.
Yes, am fully aware I sound a bitter old cynic but the number of politicians who impress me with their integrity and abilities to actually get anything done is miniscule. In fact I have pretty much stopped paying any attention (except for voting ) ....they are all so fickle and out for what they can gain. None of them stick to any cause or point of view....they just chop and change with the winds!
As for Boris....well he is probably the worst of the lot.
Many years ago when I was part of the PTA we used to say that anyone who showed real aggression and demanded to be in charge (it happened now and again - some lippy Mum with an axe to grind) was probably the last person you would want in charge. Instead we would look around for the calm competent one who had been good in a crisis and had got stuff done....I say no more.

chong???????

Most people like Boris because he walks like a man, talks like a man and acts like a man.

Just reading today, the lady languishing in prison Nazanin Ratcliffe who Boris Johnson promised to obtain her release whilst he was foreign secretary.
Apparently, he has now washed his hands of her case.
In other words, he just couldn’t care less about her.

The trouble is, all five of those up for the job aren't actually up to the job. I tried to listen to last night's debate, which just seemed to be five men shouting over each other and nothing resolved. It is a pity that there is no Margaret Thatcher around. Had she been in charge, we would have left the dreadful EU by now. The question was, why do the Conservatives like Johnson? The answer seems to be that he is the best of a bad bunch and is the most likely to tell Brussels where to stuff itself. The main concern is Brexit, but once that has happened (please God!) the leader must have some home policies, so whoever wins the race will need some good advisers. Boris did OK running London, so you can never tell if he can do the same for the UK. He has to win the election, from the 160,000 members of the party, before he gets the chance and who knows, one of the other contestants may win. We will know by Thursday who goes forward with Boris and some time, in July, we will know our fate. I have a feeling the new leader may not be Johnson, though.

Not only conservatives. My elderly aunt who voted Labour all her life, voted for Boris Johnson to be London Mayor. I was really surprised but maybe it was an improvement after years of Ken Livingstone.

I'm not sure they do - like him, that is. Maybe the clue is in the name - 'conservative' - they stick with what they know/are familiar with. Just such a shame that he doesn't put brain in motion before moving mouth...

Johnson has a big personality? Same is said of Trump.

Both are racist, both are adulterers, both are a disgrace to their countries

Crossed posts!

I seem to remember being roundly ticked off for correcting another poster Tillybelle ?

Did you mean “Roget’s Thesaurus” BTW?

not "Roret's" but Roget"s. Sorry, bad typing!

Sorry Happiyogi.. I meant to say I hope you don't mind! I just love words! I'm not in the least suggesting you are not clever or anything like that! Indeed, your very astute replies show you are very bright. I'm just a bit of a nutter and love words - sometimes. It doesn't mean I get it right all the time though not by a long way!. I used to take Roret's Thesaurus out of the Library to read instead of novels when I was at school!. You see - I am mad!
But sorry if I offended you at all I absolutely would never want to do that!

Happiyogi. Not "amoral" but "immoral"

"amoral" is a strange word and means absence of morality because a moral decision is not relevant to the situation. I suppose you could say that choosing the right saucepan is an amoral decision since there are no moral judgements affecting a saucepan.

Although people use the word 'amoral' they seldom place it in its correct place because its correct place very rarely comes into use. Boris definitely is not amoral. Immoral, most certainly.

"Immoral". means absence of morals where morals should apply. Thus an immoral person does heinous things to others because he does not obey the moral norms of being kind to others and treating them how one would like to be treated. Immorality can lead to any kind of terrible behaviour and very often illegal behaviour.

Boris is such a marmite figure, he won't "unite" the country, he'll make further divisions. I can't wait for him to fall flat on his face. To have Mr Blobby as our PM is a national embarassment.

Elvive I think it's a version of "I'm all right Jack".

People are referring to Boris "telling it as it is" and following this with examples of his races slurs.
I know I am known for long threads, so with apologies to those who won't want to plough through a long read, I shall give you the New Statesman's list of Boris Johnson's terrible and reprehensible remarks.

I do recommend you read these and think about what kind of person says such things, especially in the contexts in which he chose to say many of them.
Taken from;
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/06/boris-johnson-s-racist-insults-dog-whistles-and-slursBoris Johnson’s racist insults, dog whistles and slurs

The Tory leadership candidate’s most egregious remarks.
By Media Mole
Boris Johnson could be the next prime minister. Here are some of his most egregious and distasteful remarks.

1. Calling women wearing the burqa “letter boxes” and “bank robbers”

Islamophobic incidents in which Muslim women have been called “letter boxes” have risen since Johnson described women wearing the burqa as “letter boxes” and “bank robbers” in a Telegraph column last year.
According to Tell Mama, a group that monitors anti-Muslim incidents, there is a “direct link” between his words and the recent attacks on Muslim women. No attacks of this nature occurred the week prior to his column.

Johnson hasn’t apologised to the women he called “letter boxes” in public since his article was published. He wrote his remarks in the context of a spike in Islamophobic hate crime in the UK. Such crimes increased fivefold in the aftermath of the June 2017 London Bridge attacks, the same month as the terrorist attack on Finsbury Park mosque in north London.
Muslim women, in particular, are vulnerable as the targets of the majority of Islamophobic attacks in the UK. According to Tell Mama, six out of ten victims of Islamophobia in 2017 were women.

2. Palling around with Steve Bannon

Johnson has been in regular contact with far-right nationalist Steve Bannon – Donald Trump’s former chief strategist – who has publicly supported him and believes people should wear the terms “racist” and “xenophobe” as a “medal”.
Bannon said in 2015 that “most people in the Middle East, at least 50 per cent, believe in being sharia-compliant. If you’re sharia-compliant or want to impose sharia law, the United States is the wrong place for you.”
Bannon has also called Islam “the most radical religion in the world”, declaring that Muslims have created “a fifth column here in the United States”. His worldview is that of a clash of civilisations, with the “Judeo-Christian West” caught in a “global existential war” against “Islamic fascism”. Bannon’s stated aim was to establish The Movement, to export US extremism to Europe by uniting and supporting far-right parties and groups.

3. Writing a poem about the Turkish President having sex with a goat
In May 2016, Johnson wrote a poem insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, suggesting he had sex with a goat.

4. Dismissing “part-Kenyan” Barack Obama’s views on Britain
In April 2016, during the Brexit referendum campaign, he dismissed former US president Barack Obama’s views on EU membership because of the “part-Kenyan President’s ancestral dislike of the British empire”.

5. Describing Commonwealth citizens as “piccaninnies” with “watermelon smiles”
His 2002 Telegraph column included racist insults against black people, citing “regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies” in the Commonwealth and referring to “the tribal warriors… [who] all break out in watermelon smiles”.

6. Calling Papua New Guinea a country with “orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing”
In 2006, Johnson described Papua New Guinea as a place of “orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing”.

7. Championing cheaper alcohol – in a speech at a Sikh temple
In May 2017, Johnson lauded alcohol in a Sikh temple – recalling how trade tariffs on whisky between the UK and India were ended during a visit to Nirman Sewak Jatha Sikh Temple in Bristol. One worshipper pointed out: “That is against our religion.”

8. Joking about “dead bodies” in Libya
Johnson belittled victims of the Libyan civil war at the 2017 Conservative Party Conference. “The only thing they’ve got to do is clear the dead bodies away and then we’ll be there,” he “joked” while talking about Libya’s potential to be the “next Dubai”.

9. Failing to secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from Iran after mistakenly referring to her “teaching people journalism”
The British-Iranian dual citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is still in an Iranian prison despite Johnson promising her family that he would do everything he could to secure her release. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was subjected to a second court case after Johnson erroneously told the foreign affairs select committee that she had been “teaching people journalism” in Iran. In reality, she was on holiday visiting relatives.

10. Calling Africa “that country”
Johnson called the entire continent of Africa “that country” while speaking at the Conservative Party Conference three years ago.

11. Reciting a colonial-era poem at a sacred Buddhist site in Myanmar
Johnson recited a colonial-era Rudyard Kipling poem in Myanmar – which voices the nostalgia of a British serviceman for the former UK colony – at a sacred Buddhist site in front of dignitaries during an official visit in 2017. The British ambassador stopped him in his tracks: “No. Not appropriate.”

12. Comparing the EU to Hitler
Johnson compared the EU to Hitler during the EU referendum campaign. “Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically,” he told the Telegraph of the project of European unification. “The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods.”

13. Calling gay men “tank-topped bumboys”
In a 1998 Telegraph column uncovered by Business Insider, Johnson wrote that Peter Mandelson’s resignation from the Labour government saw “tank-topped bumboys blub” in “the Ministry of Sound” nightclub, and “the soft-lit Soho drinking clubs frequented by Mandy and his pals”, adding that the “lipstick” would come away from Tony Blair’s government.

14. Comparing gay marriage to bestiality
In 2001, Johnson wrote in his book Friends, Voters, Countrymen that “if gay marriage was OK – and I was uncertain on the issue – then I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men, or indeed three men and a dog”.

15. Criticising the “appalling agenda” of “teaching homosexuality in schools”
Writing for the Spectator in 2000, Johnson attacked the then Labour government for an “appalling agenda, encouraging the teaching of homosexuality in schools, and all the rest of it”.

16. Declaring that voting Tory will give your wife “bigger breasts”
In 2005, while campaigning to be re-elected as Conservative MP for Henley, he told residents that “voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts”.

17. Saying Malaysian women go to university to “find men to marry”
When he hosted the former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak at City Hall as mayor of London in 2013, he responded to Razak’s point that 68 per cent of Malaysian university intake would be women with the suggestion: “They’ve got to find men to marry.”

18. Advising the next Spectator editor to “pat her [the publisher] on the bottom and send her on her way”
“Just pat her on the bottom and send her on her way,” Johnson said of the Spectator’s then publisher Kimberly Quinn, in a 2005 farewell piece giving advice to his successor.
Send tips and stories to [email protected]
This piece is taken from the Johnson audit series.

How do you feel about him now? Will you be happy if he becomes our next Prime Minister?

You cannot take back the things he said or excuse any of them. He knew what he was doing. He is as bad as the man, David Irving, a Holocaust denier who distorted the history of Hitler's role in the Holocaust to depict Hitler in a favourable light. Irving is rude about people who have come to Britain from places such as Pakistan or the West Indies, just as Johnson thinks he is superior to anyone from another background who wears different traditional dress or has dark skin and that it gives him freedom to denigrate and ridicule them.

What do these phrases mean.....Put America first/Put Britain first........are we racing towards something?
Is it the egg and spoon race?

For goodness sake ,we have to give Boris a chance.......I think he will have lots of clever people ready to advise him,anyone has to be better that May,we never had a chance of leaving the EU with her in charge,she was a committed remainer.We all have to remember that everyone has a past & unfortunately when you’re in the limelight it gets dragged up (look at all the stuff printed about Meghan Markle).No one is perfect & it may just be the making of Boris.....
Who knows?I preferred Rabb & hopefully he will be in the cabinet but Boris like him or loath him is a big personality....Trumplike,we will have to wait & see but however much people joke & complain about Trump there are millions of people in USA who love him & will vote for him again.......he’s putting America first which is what our sorry bunch need to do ....put British people first!
It is quite obvious that the majority of people on this forum are for remain but unfortunately for them the leave vote won so our politicians have no option other than to bring us out.Lets face it we have been saddled with useless,money grabbing politicians for years,the Lords are just as bad ,why should they be paid for sleeping or dozing in the House of Lords......they have no idea how ordinary people live & should be sacked.

I actually firstly thought that he was a breath of fresh air when he first came onto the political scene.
Now I realise that his gob works quicker than his brain, wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him and if he does become PM it will be the quickest way to get shot of the Conservative government at the next general election.

Who is a credible alternative?