Is Johnson toast?

[malumbu]

Well the Covid report confirmed what many of us already believed.  Do many of the country still think he is a lovable rogue?

Will the Mail sack him?  I doubt it.  Will his lucrative talks be dropped?  I expect not.  And will people still buy his memoirs??  No doubt.

10,000s could still be alive today if we had had decisive action rather than theorizing that Italians all lived on top of each other and had weak immune systems whilst us Brits would tough it out (herd immunity).  And whilst this was all up in the air he disappeared.

And some of you on this forum voted for him.  What did you expect?

[Jenijenjen]

We are seeing the visible return of the Old Boy Network which Johnson and Cameron before him are part of, they looked after the OBN's interests and were in turn protected by it despite their incompetence. And Farage. Those who are not a part of it e.g. Starmer and Reeves, even Truss (deservedly so) are thrown to the dogs. We've been so caught up with race and gender politics we've failed to see the re-emergence of the 'ruling class'. 

[Sue]

12 hours ago, malumbu said:

Well the Covid report confirmed what many of us already believed.  Do many of the country still think he is a lovable rogue?

Will the Mail sack him?  I doubt it.  Will his lucrative talks be dropped?  I expect not.  And will people still buy his memoirs??  No doubt.

10,000s could still be alive today if we had had decisive action rather than theorizing that Italians all lived on top of each other and had weak immune systems whilst us Brits would tough it out (herd immunity).  And whilst this was all up in the air he disappeared.

And some of you on this forum voted for him.  What did you expect?

I thought Johnson had dropped into deserved oblivion (if that is even an expression).

But then I don't read the Mail.

And though I hate to be fair in this instance, the people who voted for him couldn't have foreseen his total incompetence, laziness, stupidity and lack of decision at the outset of and during the epidemic.

"Charisma" and surface personality characteristics go a long way in politics. Look at Farage. And look at Starmer. Compare and contrast.

Same in the past.

But also - what were Johnson's colleagues doing during this time? Did nobody point out the obvious to him, that this was a serious and time critical situation and he should be carrying out the leadership role he was supposed to have?

Or did they, and he just ignored them?

I can't remember. 

Edited November 21, 2025 by Sue

[Jenijenjen]

The influence of Dominic Cummings was all pervasive. The report found the culture at no 10 was toxic, seems those with a sensible and realistic approach weren't allowed a voice.

[Sephiroth]

I see the usual fluffers  (Dan hodges, Andrew Neil.  That lot) are calling this a stick up that needs its own enquiry. “Things were moving fast, we had to wait for advice, Johnson acted nobly”)

 

which ignores: 

- other countries suffered first, warned and we laughed at them “the Italians have nothing to teach us” wrote hodges

- other countries were equally bamboozled by events but took the potential far more seriously and took appropriate action 

- after lockdown Johnson continued to behave as if it was no thing 

- “let the bodies pile high”

People can excuse Johnson if they want - but they too will be judged accordingly 

Edited November 21, 2025 by Sephiroth

[CPR Dave]

Lol, could you possibly be any more pompous??

[Sue]

2 hours ago, CPR Dave said:

Lol, could you possibly be any more pompous??

If you are referring to the previous post, which you haven't  made clear, how is it "pompous", exactly?

[malumbu]

4 hours ago, Sue said:

And though I hate to be fair in this instance, the people who voted for him couldn't have foreseen his total incompetence, laziness, stupidity and lack of decision at the outset of and during the epidemic.

 

 

Nope, don't agree.  He was well known for much of the above, although I'd replace stupidity with arrogance.

Now if you'd fess up and say I voted for him to get Brexit done (badly.,,.) and as I didn't want Corbyn as PM (we can play what ifs on that one - I expect he couldn't have managed COVID but I'd like to think there were people in his party who could) then your honesty would be welcome.

@CPR Dave What are your thoughts?  Do you regret voting for him??

[Sephiroth]

33 minutes ago, Sue said:

If you are referring to the previous post, which you haven't  made clear, how is it "pompous", exactly?

Oh he 100% means my post - but Dave is…. Well, his voting history speaks for itself. 

[Sue]

1 hour ago, malumbu said:

Nope, don't agree.  He was well known for much of the above, although I'd replace stupidity with arrogance.

Now if you'd fess up and say I voted for him to get Brexit done (badly.,,.) and as I didn't want Corbyn as PM (we can play what ifs on that one - I expect he couldn't have managed COVID but I'd like to think there were people in his party who could) then your honesty would be welcome.

I didn't vote for Johnson or Brexit!

Surely you know me better than that!

[malumbu]

On a slight tangent, I watched a few mins of Question Time lat night.  I was surprised when the 'libertarian' journo, who champions free speech etc, criticised the report for not focusing on the necessity for a lockdown, which in her view was unnecessary and did untold harm to our economy and sectors of the population.  It wasn't that she had these views (as a few prominent but deluded people do), but that a sizeable number of the audience agreed with her.

The report found that social distancing should have been brought in weeks earlier, and if this had been done then the lockdown would not have been so severe, and even unnecessary.

However as we got the point when the NHS would have collapsed without significant action I expect the vast majority of us understood the necessity.

Oh and she doesn't believe in net zero either.

Interesting/frightening reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiked_(magazine)