Boris Johnson stepping down as MP

[denso13]

They have the same masters.

Who be them then?

 

[Odds]

It's wryly amusing to hear the Blo-fish parp on about a 'WITCHUNT!'
If t'were a witchunt, old chap, i'm darn tootin' there'd be a ducking* stool in your future.

*not an auto-correct.

 

[JonathanM]

At the time, one of the things I found most ironic, was that we had Theresa May, who was at heart a Eurosceptic, voting to remain, because she thought it was better for the country. And Johnson, who was at heart a Europhile, voting to leave, because he thought it was better for Boris Johnson. I think Jenni Russell sums it up well, here:

Johnson backed Brexit not because he believed in it but because he calculated that by doing so he’d get the backing of the Tory right and outflank George Osborne as next Tory leader. He didn’t need to do it. He was already the Tory favourite.

If Johnson had stuck to his europhile views Brexit would have lost, he’d have succeeded Cameron in 2018 or so, and could be heading for his second term as Tory PM in a far more prosperous Britain than today — not the divided, anxious, disillusioned, poorer country that’s the Johnson legacy.

Millions of people’s lives have been made meaner, narrower and more miserable by the selfish incoherent ambitions of one man. He never expected to win the Brexit vote, had no plans for it, and even when he reached No 10 he never cared to work out what to do with it. It was just a vehicle for the promotion of Johnson.

 

[JohnD]

As mottie claims, Johnson achieved what he intended.

Which was Johnson as Prime Minister.

He didn't plan what to do when he got it, and didn't last long because he was useless, dishonest and damaging.

The elderly remnants of the Cons, and mottie, don't care.

 

[blup]

Are you really happy? Do you think we're in as good a position now as we were before?
A great number of people didn't know, or didn't consider what form Brexit would take.

May's deal was the best way forward given the decision to leave. And before the brexxers moan that this left power with the eu court, two words, Northern ireland.

Blup

 

[Notch7]

I think your going to be sadly disappointed by Kier given his hands are tied by the same figures pulling the strings of the conservative party notch.

The Conservative party is not in power, we currently have a right wing populist party destroying this country

Starmer is not tied by Institute of Economic Affairs or Tufton street network


I will not be disappointed because Starmer will be better than right wing populism

 

[JohnD]

(That was a year ago)

 

[blup]

All this bolleaux from the beeb about not writing him off, he's dead politically, his oven ready departure about as convincing as his deal. Just his faithful followers, like trumpf, yet to get the message.

Blup

 

[JohnD]

(This is now)

 

[fillyboy]

(This is now)

View attachment 305622

I think he was right to resign, I also think Nadine Dorries was right to resign.

"I have received a letter from the privileges committee making it clear – much to my amazement – that they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of parliament.

They have still not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons.

They know perfectly well that when I spoke in the Commons I was saying what I believed sincerely to be true and what I had been briefed to say, like any other minister.

They know that I corrected the record as soon as possible; and they know that I and every other senior official and minister – including the current prime minister and then occupant of the same building, Rishi Sunak – believed that we were working lawfully together.

I have been an MP since 2001. I take my responsibilities seriously.

I did not lie, and I believe that in their hearts the Committee know it.

But they have wilfully chosen to ignore the truth because from the outset their purpose has not been to discover the truth, or genuinely to understand what was in my mind when I spoke in the Commons.

Their purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts. This is the very definition of a kangaroo court.

Most members of the Committee – especially the chair – had already expressed deeply prejudicial remarks about my guilt before they had even seen the evidence. They should have recused themselves.

In retrospect it was naive and trusting of me to think that these proceedings could be remotely useful or fair. But I was determined to believe in the system, and in justice, and to vindicate what I knew to be the truth.

It was the same faith in the impartiality of our systems that led me to commission Sue Gray. It is clear that my faith has been misplaced. Of course, it suits the Labour party, the Liberal Democrats, and the SNP to do whatever they can to remove me from parliament.

Sadly, as we saw in July last year, there are currently some Tory MPs who share that view. I am not alone in thinking that there is a witch-hunt under way, to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result.

My removal is the necessary first step, and I believe there has been a concerted attempt to bring it about. I am afraid I no longer believe that it is any coincidence that Sue Gray – who investigated gatherings in Number 10 – is now the chief of staff designate of the Labour leader.

Nor do I believe that it is any coincidence that her supposedly impartial chief counsel, Daniel Stilitz KC, turned out to be a strong Labour supporter who repeatedly tweeted personal attacks on me and the government.

When I left office last year the government was only a handful of points behind in the polls. That gap has now massively widened.

Just a few years after winning the biggest majority in almost half a century, that majority is now clearly at risk.

Our party needs urgently to recapture its sense of momentum and its belief in what this country can do.

We need to show how we are making the most of Brexit and we need in the next months to be setting out a pro-growth and pro-investment agenda. We need to cut business and personal taxes – and not just as pre-election gimmicks – rather than endlessly putting them up.

We must not be afraid to be a properly Conservative government.

Why have we so passively abandoned the prospect of a Free Trade Deal with the US? Why have we junked measures to help people into housing or to scrap EU directives or to promote animal welfare?

We need to deliver on the 2019 manifesto, which was endorsed by 14 million people. We should remember that more than 17 million voted for Brexit.

I am now being forced out of parliament by a tiny handful of people, with no evidence to back up their assertions, and without the approval even of Conservative party members let alone the wider electorate.

I believe that a dangerous and unsettling precedent is being set.

The Conservative party has the time to recover its mojo and its ambition and to win the next election.

I had looked forward to providing enthusiastic support as a backbench MP. Harriet Harman’s committee has set out to make that objective completely untenable.

The Committee’s report is riddled with inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice but under their absurd and unjust process I have no formal ability to challenge anything they say.

The Privileges Committee is there to protect the privileges of parliament. That is a very important job. They should not be using their powers – which have only been very recently designed – to mount what is plainly a political hit-job on someone they oppose.

It is in no one’s interest, however, that the process the Committee has launched should continue for a single day further.

So I have today written to my Association in Uxbridge and South Ruislip to say that I am stepping down forthwith and triggering an immediate byelection.

I am very sorry to leave my wonderful constituency. It has been a huge honour to serve them, both as Mayor and MP.

But I am proud that after what is cumulatively a 15-year stint I have helped to deliver among other things a vast new railway in the Elizabeth Line and full funding for a wonderful new state of the art hospital for Hillingdon, where enabling works have already begun.

I also remain hugely proud of all that we achieved in my time in office as prime minister: getting Brexit done, winning the biggest majority for 40 years and delivering the fastest vaccine rollout of any major European country, as well as leading global support for Ukraine.

It is very sad to be leaving parliament – at least for now – but above all I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias."

 

[JonathanM]

to mount what is plainly a political hit-job on someone they oppose.

It's one of the saddest and most pathetic letters I've ever read. He's a whining baby and a coward. If he really believed all this, he would face the recall and make his case to the voters in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. Four out of seven on the Committee were Tories.

 

[JohnD]

I did not lie

Wilful refusal to face the truth.

 

[carmanmemoranda]

I think he was right to resign, I also think Nadine Dorries was right to resign.

"I have received a letter from the privileges committee making it clear – much to my amazement – that they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of parliament.

They have still not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons.

They know perfectly well that when I spoke in the Commons I was saying what I believed sincerely to be true and what I had been briefed to say, like any other minister.

They know that I corrected the record as soon as possible; and they know that I and every other senior official and minister – including the current prime minister and then occupant of the same building, Rishi Sunak – believed that we were working lawfully together.

I have been an MP since 2001. I take my responsibilities seriously.

I did not lie, and I believe that in their hearts the Committee know it.

But they have wilfully chosen to ignore the truth because from the outset their purpose has not been to discover the truth, or genuinely to understand what was in my mind when I spoke in the Commons.

Their purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts. This is the very definition of a kangaroo court.

Most members of the Committee – especially the chair – had already expressed deeply prejudicial remarks about my guilt before they had even seen the evidence. They should have recused themselves.

In retrospect it was naive and trusting of me to think that these proceedings could be remotely useful or fair. But I was determined to believe in the system, and in justice, and to vindicate what I knew to be the truth.

It was the same faith in the impartiality of our systems that led me to commission Sue Gray. It is clear that my faith has been misplaced. Of course, it suits the Labour party, the Liberal Democrats, and the SNP to do whatever they can to remove me from parliament.

Sadly, as we saw in July last year, there are currently some Tory MPs who share that view. I am not alone in thinking that there is a witch-hunt under way, to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result.

My removal is the necessary first step, and I believe there has been a concerted attempt to bring it about. I am afraid I no longer believe that it is any coincidence that Sue Gray – who investigated gatherings in Number 10 – is now the chief of staff designate of the Labour leader.

Nor do I believe that it is any coincidence that her supposedly impartial chief counsel, Daniel Stilitz KC, turned out to be a strong Labour supporter who repeatedly tweeted personal attacks on me and the government.

When I left office last year the government was only a handful of points behind in the polls. That gap has now massively widened.

Just a few years after winning the biggest majority in almost half a century, that majority is now clearly at risk.

Our party needs urgently to recapture its sense of momentum and its belief in what this country can do.

We need to show how we are making the most of Brexit and we need in the next months to be setting out a pro-growth and pro-investment agenda. We need to cut business and personal taxes – and not just as pre-election gimmicks – rather than endlessly putting them up.

We must not be afraid to be a properly Conservative government.

Why have we so passively abandoned the prospect of a Free Trade Deal with the US? Why have we junked measures to help people into housing or to scrap EU directives or to promote animal welfare?

We need to deliver on the 2019 manifesto, which was endorsed by 14 million people. We should remember that more than 17 million voted for Brexit.

I am now being forced out of parliament by a tiny handful of people, with no evidence to back up their assertions, and without the approval even of Conservative party members let alone the wider electorate.

I believe that a dangerous and unsettling precedent is being set.

The Conservative party has the time to recover its mojo and its ambition and to win the next election.

I had looked forward to providing enthusiastic support as a backbench MP. Harriet Harman’s committee has set out to make that objective completely untenable.

The Committee’s report is riddled with inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice but under their absurd and unjust process I have no formal ability to challenge anything they say.

The Privileges Committee is there to protect the privileges of parliament. That is a very important job. They should not be using their powers – which have only been very recently designed – to mount what is plainly a political hit-job on someone they oppose.

It is in no one’s interest, however, that the process the Committee has launched should continue for a single day further.

So I have today written to my Association in Uxbridge and South Ruislip to say that I am stepping down forthwith and triggering an immediate byelection.

I am very sorry to leave my wonderful constituency. It has been a huge honour to serve them, both as Mayor and MP.

But I am proud that after what is cumulatively a 15-year stint I have helped to deliver among other things a vast new railway in the Elizabeth Line and full funding for a wonderful new state of the art hospital for Hillingdon, where enabling works have already begun.

I also remain hugely proud of all that we achieved in my time in office as prime minister: getting Brexit done, winning the biggest majority for 40 years and delivering the fastest vaccine rollout of any major European country, as well as leading global support for Ukraine.

It is very sad to be leaving parliament – at least for now – but above all I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias."

Remember the quote from A. Lincoln ?

It applies here again.

Do you swallow everything he says without any thought?

 

[Fred Blogs]

He was elected by his constituents.

Brexit was and still is a disaster.

The only person more loyal than Mottie is Mad Nadine.

And me. Boris didn't do much during his reign but he did get us away from the corrupt and empireish EU which nobody actually voted to be a part of. That is good enough for me with only a few remoaners kicking off about it. Go live in Germany if you don't like it here.

 

[carmanmemoranda]

And me. Boris didn't do much during his reign but he did get us away from the corrupt and empireish EU which nobody actually voted to be a part of. That is good enough for me with only a few remoaners kicking off about it. Go live in Germany if you don't like it here.

Misguided at best.

Corrupt and empireish EU ? Do you mean UK ?

And just to add, Northern Ireland, think it's all over? It's currently just a mess, but that is exactly what you wanted I guess.