Johnson becomes 77th PM and forms a government of Brexiteers

[Blackleaf]

Boris Johnson was today made the 77th (not the 55th, as I thought he would be) British Prime Minister by Queen Elizabeth II - and then he ruthlessly swung his axe.

Gone from government is any person who poses even a mild threat to Brexit. The result is that Leavers have completely taken over the British Government.

Johnson has installed Sajid Javid as Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister), Priti Patel as Home Secretary and Dominic Raab as Foreign Secretary.

Ben Wallace, a former soldier, becomes Defence Secretary, replacing Penny Mordaunt.

Rather ruthlessly, Johnson has even axed a fellow Brexiteer from Government. Liam Fox has been replaced as International Trade Secretary by Liz Truss. Fox supported the wobbly Remainer/Brexiteer Hunt in the leadership election - which led to one newspaper reporting with the headline "Fox Backs Hunt."

Boris Johnson overhauls cabinet on first day as PM

BBC News
24 July 2019

Boris Johnson has given key cabinet roles to leading Brexiteers after becoming the UK's new prime minister.

Dominic Raab and Priti Patel return to government as foreign secretary and home secretary respectively.

Sajid Javid has been named as the new chancellor as more than half of Theresa May's old cabinet, including leadership rival Jeremy Hunt, quit or were sacked.

Earlier, Mr Johnson said the Brexit "doomsters and gloomsters" were wrong and the UK would leave on 31 October.

Speaking outside No 10, he said the UK would meet that deadline "no ifs, no buts", adding: "The buck stops with me."

Mr Johnson then turned his attention to a radical overhaul of the government, with 17 of Mrs May's former senior ministers being axed or stepping down.

Announcing his departure, Foreign Secretary Mr Hunt said he had been offered an alternative role but had turned it down.

Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt, a leading Brexiteer who is popular across the party, was the most surprising departure. She has been replaced by Ben Wallace, a former soldier and longstanding ally of Mr Johnson's.

Another prominent Brexiteer, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, was also ousted, along with Business Secretary Greg Clark - a vocal opponent of a no-deal Brexit.

All three supported Mr Hunt in the Tory leadership contest.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds, Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley, Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes, Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright and Communities Secretary James Brokenshire have also gone, along with Chris Grayling, whose record as Transport Secretary was much criticised.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell, who has left his position after four years, joked whether there would be "room" on the backbenches after all the dismissals.

This comes on top of the earlier resignations of four leading ministers, including Chancellor Philip Hammond, Justice Secretary David Gauke and Cabinet Office minister David Lidington.

Conservative MP Nigel Evans described the changes as a "summer's day massacre".

The BBC's chief political correspondent Vicki Young said the sackings suggested Mr Johnson wasn't looking to build bridges across the party.

Instead, she said, he was focused above all else on assembling the team he thought would bring about the results he needed, even if that was controversial.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49102466

 

[Blackleaf]

The Spectator has described Johnson's Cabinet as the best since the Thatcher Administration, but unfortunately the article is stuck behind a paywall.

 

[Curious Cdn]

The Spectator has described Johnson's Cabinet as the best since the Thatcher Administration, but unfortunately the article is stuck behind a paywall.

No, it's locked up in a padded cell.

 

[Blackleaf]

No, it's locked up in a padded cell.

Yeah. Another bad day for the liberals. The British have elected a patriotic right-winger with messy blond hair who just says it as it is, isn't PC, and who wants to put his own country first and make it great again.

It could never happen in any other country....

 

[Blackleaf]

On a scorching summer's day outside 10 Downing Street, Boris Johnson makes his first speech as Britain's 77th Prime Minister:

 

[Blackleaf]

Dominic Raab has also been made Deputy Prime Minister.

And one of those little stats that I like: It's the first time that Britain has had three PMs in a row from the same party since 1957: Churchill (1951-1955), Eden (1955-1957), Macmillan (1957-1963). All three were Tories.

The last time Britain had three PMs in the same year was 1936. Could it happen again this year? Weirdly, 1936 was also the last year that Britain had three monarchs.

 

[Cliffy]

 

[Walter]

Another prog spewing shit.

 

[Curious Cdn]

Those filthy. PRROOOOOOOOGS!

 

[Walter]

Those filthy. PRROOOOOOOOGS!

One o will suffice.

 

[Curious Cdn]

One o will suffice.

No, you have to howl it like a Coyote.

 

[Walter]

No, you have to howl it like a Coyote.

I guess it’s how Progs call each other.

 

[Blackleaf]

Let me guess: he's a Lefty unhappy that things haven't gone his way.

Lefties like getting rather hysterical when things don't go their weird way.

Hell hath no fury like a Lefty scorned.

Of course, there's nothing racist about Boris other than the fact he's not a Lefty - so Lefties think he's a racist.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Britain has needed a Johnson for decades.

 

[Curious Cdn]

Britain has needed a Johnson for decades.

Britain has needed a Metamucil for decades.

 

[Danbones]

Do You like to yank your johnson?

John Reno - BIG OL' JOHNSON

 

[Blackleaf]

Boris Johnson will soon be the most popular leader in the world

Lloyd Evans
22 July 2019
The Spectator

Only one person in Britain now believes that Boris might deprive us of a Jeremy Hunt premiership. That person is Jeremy Hunt. The rest of us expect the ‘Blonde Ambition’ project to reach fruition and for Boris to enter Number 10.

This will come as no surprise to anyone who knows him. Nature always marked him out. Even as a first-year Balliol student, aged 18, he was weirdly conspicuous – the ruddy jowls, the stooped bullish stance, the booming Duke of Wellington voice, and the freakish white bob crowning his head like a heavenly spotlight. He was always one to watch.

People say he can’t ‘do detail’. But nobody spends four years studying classics at Oxford without the power to absorb and retain a mass of abstract information. The master of Balliol, Sir Anthony Kenny, used to teach Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics by quoting large chunks of it in the original and inviting his students to compare one paragraph with another. He spoke more Greek than English in his tutorials.

The point about detail is that Boris finds it easy to master. It doesn’t occur to him that others might struggle. Perhaps it bores him too. Grappling with minutiae is for wonks, after all. His mission, as leader, is to project confidence and optimism from the top. After three years of Mrs Dithers we need a bit of courage and guts in Number 10, a sense of purpose and a relish for attack.

It’s curious that most of the public believe they know Boris already. Many probably think of him as a brash, self-centred wag who dominates every conversation with a string of anecdotes and routines – like an albino Oscar Wilde.

Not at all. He’s modest and even shy at the dinner-table. He restricts himself to his immediate neighbours and he never turns a social event into a solo performance. He’s a great listener. He draws people into his confidence by offering a personal revelation. ‘I’m a bit worried about my kids,’ he once said to me, when his brood were approaching their teens. ‘I’m not sure if they respect me.’

He asked my advice about how to deal with uppity youngsters. Instantly I felt like a parenting expert. Was that a charmer’s trick? Possibly. But it’s effective. He can navigate an individual’s psychology and find a point of engagement very swiftly. Such finely-tuned antennae are rare.

A few years ago, he was pestering me to write a story about a fuel embargo which I was reluctant to cover. ‘Sorry, Boris, I’m writing a play. What this story needs is a newshound.’

‘No no,’ he said, with a hint of wheedling self-mockery, ‘what this story needs is an ARTIST!’

Of course, I side-lined the play and did the story. Why did I cave in? Perhaps because the flattery was so blatant. But I also knew that joining Boris on any enterprise would be a good laugh. He’s completely unpredictable. Pranks, jokes and inventive ideas – ‘wheezes’ as he calls them – pour out of him.

That may sound like a disastrous trait in a prime minister but with the Brexit negotiations in the balance it might give us a crucial advantage. Boris’s love of mischief and his anarchic streak will make his threat of a no-deal Brexit a serious prospect.

The EU won’t be able to read him. They won’t like that. And they’ll be rather miffed to discover that they can’t help warming to him either. Most of the people who loathe him have never met him. Everyone who enters his orbit finds themselves smitten by his curious, cat-like giggling presence. He likes people. And people like him back. In that respect he’s more of a Reagan than a Trump. He’ll work his magic on the heads of state and the chancellors he’s about to meet. By the autumn, we’ll have the most popular leader in the world.
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/...soon-be-the-most-popular-leader-in-the-world/

 

[Curious Cdn]

Boris Johnson will soon be the most popular leader in the world
Lloyd Evans
22 July 2019
The Spectator

Only one person in Britain now believes that Boris might deprive us of a Jeremy Hunt premiership. That person is Jeremy Hunt. The rest of us expect the ‘Blonde Ambition’ project to reach fruition and for Boris to enter Number 10.
This will come as no surprise to anyone who knows him. Nature always marked him out. Even as a first-year Balliol student, aged 18, he was weirdly conspicuous – the ruddy jowls, the stooped bullish stance, the booming Duke of Wellington voice, and the freakish white bob crowning his head like a heavenly spotlight. He was always one to watch.
People say he can’t ‘do detail’. But nobody spends four years studying classics at Oxford without the power to absorb and retain a mass of abstract information. The master of Balliol, Sir Anthony Kenny, used to teach Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics by quoting large chunks of it in the original and inviting his students to compare one paragraph with another. He spoke more Greek than English in his tutorials.
The point about detail is that Boris finds it easy to master. It doesn’t occur to him that others might struggle. Perhaps it bores him too. Grappling with minutiae is for wonks, after all. His mission, as leader, is to project confidence and optimism from the top. After three years of Mrs Dithers we need a bit of courage and guts in Number 10, a sense of purpose and a relish for attack.
It’s curious that most of the public believe they know Boris already. Many probably think of him as a brash, self-centred wag who dominates every conversation with a string of anecdotes and routines – like an albino Oscar Wilde.
Not at all. He’s modest and even shy at the dinner-table. He restricts himself to his immediate neighbours and he never turns a social event into a solo performance. He’s a great listener. He draws people into his confidence by offering a personal revelation. ‘I’m a bit worried about my kids,’ he once said to me, when his brood were approaching their teens. ‘I’m not sure if they respect me.’
He asked my advice about how to deal with uppity youngsters. Instantly I felt like a parenting expert. Was that a charmer’s trick? Possibly. But it’s effective. He can navigate an individual’s psychology and find a point of engagement very swiftly. Such finely-tuned antennae are rare.
A few years ago, he was pestering me to write a story about a fuel embargo which I was reluctant to cover. ‘Sorry, Boris, I’m writing a play. What this story needs is a newshound.’
‘No no,’ he said, with a hint of wheedling self-mockery, ‘what this story needs is an ARTIST!’
Of course, I side-lined the play and did the story. Why did I cave in? Perhaps because the flattery was so blatant. But I also knew that joining Boris on any enterprise would be a good laugh. He’s completely unpredictable. Pranks, jokes and inventive ideas – ‘wheezes’ as he calls them – pour out of him.
That may sound like a disastrous trait in a prime minister but with the Brexit negotiations in the balance it might give us a crucial advantage. Boris’s love of mischief and his anarchic streak will make his threat of a no-deal Brexit a serious prospect.
The EU won’t be able to read him. They won’t like that. And they’ll be rather miffed to discover that they can’t help warming to him either. Most of the people who loathe him have never met him. Everyone who enters his orbit finds themselves smitten by his curious, cat-like giggling presence. He likes people. And people like him back. In that respect he’s more of a Reagan than a Trump. He’ll work his magic on the heads of state and the chancellors he’s about to meet. By the autumn, we’ll have the most popular leader in the world.
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/...soon-be-the-most-popular-leader-in-the-world/

You're joking, of course. Another lying weasel is going to win our hearts all over the world? It might win over a gormless 50.5% of the UK but you already are the laughing stock, so it can't get any worse for you.

Anyway, stop underestimating the collective intelligence of the human race. You come from an island where the smart ones emmigrated generations ago, leaving the deficient "runts of the litter" behind.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

You're joking, of course. Another lying weasel is going to win our hearts all over the world? It might win over a gormless 50.5% of the UK but you already are the laughing stock, so it can't get any worse for you.
Anyway, stop underestimating the collective intelligence of the human race. You come from an island where the smart ones emmigrated generations ago, leaving the deficient "runts of the litter" behind.

Rough day, CC?

 

[Blackleaf]

You're joking, of course. Another lying weasel is going to win our hearts all over the world? It might win over a gormless 50.5% of the UK but you already are the laughing stock, so it can't get any worse for you.
Anyway, stop underestimating the collective intelligence of the human race. You come from an island where the smart ones emmigrated generations ago, leaving the deficient "runts of the litter" behind.

What lies has he told?