Brilliant....Boris hints at leadership challenge

PaulF81

His main issue will be accusations of sleaze; he has by all accounts a rather colourful private life. Normally wouldnt bother me, except,as a politician, you just can't get away with it I am afraid.

chewmylegoff

Generali wrote: »

Sorry to spoil the fun but Boris can't be PM as he doesn't have a seat in Parliament.

Don't be fooled by the buffoonery BTW. He got to Eton with a scholarship and there's no way his partners could have paid for him to go.

Don't confuse a knee jerk dislike of The Tories with a lack of capability of a member of the Conservative Party!

He has confirmed several times that he intends to serve the full term as mayor and nothing changed that in the link posted above. The speculation about leadership challenge is that he will become an MP again after this term as mayor ends, and the challenge for leadership of the party.

Wookster

One thing Boris has are beliefs he will stand up for.

That's more than one can say for Cameron who is set on being as bland as possible policywise.

Generali

Wookster wrote: »

One thing Boris has are beliefs he will stand up for.

That's more than one can say for Cameron who is set on being as bland as possible policywise.

Democracies get the politicians they deserve.

Everyone seems to go into a moral fit any time a politician has an affair, takes drugs, makes a bad personal decision or indeed does anything except live a bland, boring, suburban-style existence.

I find political coverage very depressing: manufactured outrage and special interest groups pleading for extra funding for their pet cause.

Wookster

Generali wrote: »

Democracies get the politicians they deserve.

Everyone seems to go into a moral fit any time a politician has an affair, takes drugs, makes a bad personal decision or indeed does anything except live a bland, boring, suburban-style existence.

I find political coverage very depressing: manufactured outrage and special interest groups pleading for extra funding for their pet cause.

Sad but true. We have an entire generation of politicians who have no beliefs. This is the time for radical action and a complete shake-up of our politics and economy but all we've got are folks happy to re-arrange deck chairs on the titanic.

Generali

Wookster wrote: »

Sad but true. We have an entire generation of politicians who have no beliefs. This is the time for radical action and a complete shake-up of our politics and economy but all we've got are folks happy to re-arrange deck chairs on the titanic.

Churchill, Thatcher or Atlee would have no chance of being elected these days. Thatcher only got in because left wing Conservatism had been killed off by Labour and then the unions stabbed Labour in the back.

Who has the UK had since? A banker, a career politician (Blair), a career politician who spent a time before entering politics studying political history (Brown) and a career politician (Cameron).

In the last 15 years, the UK has only had Alistair Darling who was not a career politician either as PM or as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Even Mr Darling was only at the Bar for 3 years before entering Parliament.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

PaulF81 wrote: »

His main issue will be accusations of sleaze; he has by all accounts a rather colourful private life. Normally wouldnt bother me, except,as a politician, you just can't get away with it I am afraid.

It would be interesting to see how the media handles this. Normally, politicians who indulge in extra-marital antics are slammed as hypocritacal love-rats, especially if they've played the family card when campaigning. Would Boris be able to get away with a "sorry chaps, I'm just a loveable rogue!" defence? Not sure if that would wash with the Daily Mail reading, Mumsnet Middle England floating voters that the Conservative party desperately need to secure.

thor

If Boris was not a politician(either MP or Mayor) there is no way he would get away with all these stunts he pulls. He is the darling of the press who love him for being able to provide column inches of pfaff.
Also how come so many of those criticising career politicians suddenly would not mind seeing him as PM? He used to be a journalist so is also mired in politics - hardly a captain of industry is he?

KrytenIceCubeHead

The only Tory due to take over from Cameron is Georgie Porgie. To be honest, I'd take Blondie over him.

Generali

thor wrote: »

Also how come so many of those criticising career politicians suddenly would not mind seeing him as PM? He used to be a journalist so is also mired in politics - hardly a captain of industry is he?

He was a journalist (i.e. not a politician) from 1987 - 2005 and only entered Parliament in 2001.

He may be many things but a career politician is not one of them.