I see that the Conservative Party members have put in enough letters saying that Boris should go such that there will be a vote by the MPs.
Good idea? Could be, or maybe not.
I decided to try to write something about it as I am fairly undecided myself and it might prove useful in making a decision.
In the first instance, I was reasonably happy that he got in as PM as he made me laugh and seemed to have done a reasonable job as mayor of London (better than Sadiq, but then anyone could, etc). The story was that he was a reasonable leader and was good at creating teams to do the work! He was also (converted) committed to brexit, which was the key at the time.
Now?
Well, he "got brexit done", but not in any convincing way, and, in particular, has failed to follow up and create opportunities and show advantages.
The bigger issue turned out to be Covid - and I can´t really criticise him for how it was handled at the time, other than the government failing to use the influenza contingency plan, which they must have had available. Now commentators are all over the unchallenged contracts, lockdowns and care-home issues - oh, and partygate.
WIth the Ukraine war, he has come out all Churchillian - and managed to restore some pride into Britain´s foreign image and (and his own, especially going to Khiv when everyone thought it was a warzone).
On the economy, he has been stuffed by Ukraine and the sanctions the west has imposed (and which he fully endorsed). The upshot has, of course, been the increase in cost of any sort of fuel and a lot of foodstuffs - driving the cost of living through the roof.
A crisis not of his making? I am not convinced.
His achilles heel (probably both feet) seems to be women - and in particular the current Mrs J. His pursuit of a green agenda is laughable, but (I believe) mainly attributable to her influence. Likewise, the issues with DC (the Barnard Castle wanderer) stemmed from their mutual antipathy and party-gate also seems to have featured DC and her fairly largely too.
The whole green issue is mainly a total failure in energy policy. Everyone could see the stupidity of running down the coal and carbon (and even nuclear) industry without anything else in place other than some windmills - but the absolute lunacy of the gas boiler replacement policy showed someone totally out of touch with reality. Likewise the electric car "drive", which relies on having some sort of generated power anyway - (and recharging everywhere, which also seems to have slipped his notice).
Having an alternative PM in the wings would help, but the obvious choice was Rishi, until "someone" put the boot in him relating to his (totally legal) tax affairs and family wealth. I wonder who started all that?
So, for me the key liability in having Boris as pm is the influence seemingly wielded by his wife.
OK, 3rd wife (I think). His inability to keep it in his trousers was always an indicator that he was a full-time liar, (you can´t have affairs with lying to someone, if only the partner). Partygate has exposed him as a liar again. If he had come clean and said "what the hell, we were all working together", then he might have killed it quickly. The slow drip, drip, drip of additional information and subsequent denials has been his undoing. For me the final straw was his recent comment that "It was necessary to maintain morale". Sorry - so you now say they were parties but there was an explanation you have just thought of. Just not good enough.
For me the whole partygate is a storm in a teacup, but his evasion has spoken volumes more than the issue.
So, is it time for him to go?
Well, being lucky is always useful, but not totally reliable. He seems to be good on the big stage, but crap at overall policy, crap at seeing things through and driven by agendas underwritten by the latest wifelet.
All undertaken with a "distant relationship with the truth" as I believe a teacher once reported.
Conclusion. Time to go.
And caveats?
Well, I think I have made my views on politicians fairly clear in the past - ie just thinking you are good enough to stand for election, makes you unelectable in my book.
The party faithful who are supporting Johnson seem to be driven by their impact on the overall election prospects, not by any moral compass. No surprise there then.
Potential candidates - well we want someone who thinks of the country first, then party. A strategist who will put long term plans in place and ensure there is a path from where we are to where we want to go. A brexiteer, as there is no point in going back after all the upheaval, but someone who is capable of killing the rubbish ideas already in place - whatever the cost (think HS2 and boilergate).
Someone with integrity who puts the country before themselves.
I wonder if the Queen is up to taking over?
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