Thereās something very likable about Boris.
It has all the looks of a āback of a fag boxā calculation to it.
Iād say the writerās young lad had a rattle with crayons and Daddy decided he had a future Nostradamus on his hands.
You know the kind of fathers who imagine their offspring a budding nuclear physicists.
I suspect theyād probably accept it if it was offered to them.
Not sure can anyone paste this. The Times no less.
Especially if Johnson was the Tory leader who delivered it. In 1993 the Canadian Tory party went from 156 seats to 2.
Geographical distribution of your vote is important. While I expect a Johnson-led Tory party would get a higher amount of votes overall than a Sunak-led one and definitely get more votes in the north of England, I suspect a Sunak-led one could hold onto more seats because Sunak would probably shore up the Tory heartlands better.
Realistically, whatever happens, itās hard to see the Tories go below about 150 seats even on their worst day.
But if Labour and the Lib Dems come to tacit agreements on the ground to give up particular seats to each other, the Tories will have a tough time holding onto a lot of southern seats.
There are a lot very overturnable majorities here.
MATT CHORLEY
These two-bit Trussites who revel in their stupidity give ex-ministers a bad name
Friday October 21 2022, 5.00pm BST, The Times
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Enough. Thatās enough now. Twenty years ago this month I began training as a journalist; 17 years ago I started working in parliament. Back then I met clever people trying to do the right thing. Grown-ups in both parties. I was impressed. Intimidated.
And now? Stupid, stupid people doing the wrong, wrong thing. Iāve known Liz Truss on and off since long before the cheese speech. Not as much fun as she thought she was, not as good on Instagram as journalists who only used Instagram for work imagined. Not a bad person. But a bad politician. And lo . . .
I feel strangely vindicated. And sad. And a bit sick. Vindicated because my gut told me that Theresa May wasnāt the second coming, that Boris Johnson was a flawed busted flush and that Truss was over-confident with not a lot to be over-confident about. Iām sad that in order to satisfy a few Thatcher fanboys in pinstripe suits, the rest of the country had to indulge in this daft experiment. And I feel sick about the fact that while Truss was orchestrating a pointless fracking vote, there was a woman on ITV News saying that using a toaster was a luxury she couldnāt afford.
And now Truss is, fittingly, toast. Delivering her resignation speech with all of the emotional connection of a toaster: pop-up, blank face, crumbs. She was a quitter not a fighter after all. Turns out itās not good if the prime minister is being outpolled by the rate of inflation.
The great offices have been demeaned. Now a āformer home secretaryā could mean either Roy Jenkins, who decriminalised homosexuality, or Suella Braverman, who had a summer job shouting at tofu. āFormer foreign secretaryā could be Lord Carrington resigning over the invasion of the Falklands or (soon) James Cleverly, who spent the week insisting that Truss got the āfundamentalsā right. (Less of the funda and more of the other.) āFormer chancellorā could mean either Nigel Lawsonās six years mastering the economy, or Kwasi Kwartengās six weeks crashing it.
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There are millions of people in this country today scared that they canāt pay their mortgage or rent as a direct result of what Truss did. There are millions who thought their energy bills were fixed long-term but now arenāt. Millions who thought that after the disaster-drama of Boris Johnson, a grown-up ā or at least a well-programmed robot version of one ā was now in charge. And yet we are supposed to just shrug off a prime minister with a shorter shelf life than a Fruit Corner yoghurt. Who spent longer in the contest trying to become prime minister than she spent as prime minister. Who lasted less time than the BBC soap opera Eldorado. And then we are supposed to entertain the idea of a Johnson comeback. They canāt be serious. They literally canāt. They are incapable of seriousness.
Enough, as they say, is enough. Few long for a Starmer government. And perhaps few ever will. So maybe the sweet release of an asteroid, a nuclear war or a Meta-funded brainwashing experiment overseen by Nick Clegg might save us. But the idea that we might again take seriously Tories like Andrew Bridgen, Suella Braverman, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Kwasi Kwarteng, ThĆ©rĆØse Coffey or indeed Boris Johnson? Enough.
Listen to Matt Chorley on Times Radio every Monday to Friday, 10am to 1pm
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Thats the majority SF would have had here had they run enough candidates
Be careful what you wish for, as ever
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Update
Rishi 103, Boris 69, Penny 25
Sunak has hit the magic number
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Moodys put the UK on a watchlist to downgrade their debt to A from Double A.
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Heās coming home, heās coming, Bojoās coming home
Kwasi flew home from the US in first class last week because they didnāt want him near Business or Economy.
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Boris a shoe in on those numbers heāll easily clear the ton and defeat Rishi on the members vote
Its guaranteed. 2.1 is free money
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As @Tassotti shrewdly pointed out, the Gover will be doing savage work behind the scenes over the coming days. Since Sunak has hit the magic number (100 or maybe 120), all they have to do now is nobble Borisā vote from here on as heās on around 69 with 40% of MPs declared. Boris sacked Gove twice so there will be no love lost there. Surely all they have to do is put forth a few strong candidates to run from the pro brexit side and take bits and pieces of Borisā vote, splintering it enough that he falls just shy of 100. Donāt be surprised if Sunak is the only one to reach over 100 and is elected unopposed. If he faces a run off with Boris heās toast. Surely there are solid plans behind the scenes. Various big names havenāt declared their hand yet.
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I donāt think itās that cut and dried. The members are only in play if all other avenues are exhausted. 2 candidates itās up to the elected MPs.
Aubrey in leafy Didsbury wonāt be required on this occasion I feel.
All will be revealed on Monday.
@Smark has the pulse well felt here.
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Incorrect. There will be an indactivie ballot for MPs on Monday and then an online ballot for the party members with the deadline with the deadline being on Friday
A host of utter mediocrities
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