Is Boris Johnson setting out his stall for a future leadership challenge?
Now I don’t think that Johnson is either stupid, or unthinking. I believe he knows exactly what he is doing, and this for me is pandering to the right of the Conservative Party and to the right wing voters in England.
You can read his comments here and he really is stoking how a lot of little England feels right now. This is not a mistake, this is a calculated decision to get involved in this debate. He has seen how popular banning burkas has been in France and Denmark etc and is using the issue to forward his leadership ambitions, in my opinion anyway.
Johnson may well be trying to be Donald Trump and maybe we can expect to see some of the same Rhetoric that Trump uses as Johnson goes forward to pander to the right wing vote in England because he won’t find too much support from Scotland other than Davidson’s foot soldiers. Although it would be interesting to see how tankstraddler reacted if he was leader lol. I’m maybe not the only person feeling the same way.
Johnson is no clown so is this the start of a leadership challenge.
grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com 
You could be right , he met with that Steve Bannon , as did Rees Mogg and Gove . All recently , so it looks likely that he is laying the foundation for a push . He is a smart player , the buffoon is the act , I listened to LBC james O’ Brien show and he read out some of the article , Boris is playing the nasty right wing card , if he does get enough support , Scotland has to be first out the UK door .
Ricky
He is up to something and the timing is interesting just as he goes on his hols. He can sit back and watch the reaction, esp from the Tory Party and May being as weak as she is won’t be able to do anything. The right are getting ready to pounce, they did to Thatcher and Major and May is not in their league. Will be an interesting summer if they are planning on a challenge in the Autumn.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
I heard what he said. Much of it was actually not unreasonable. It’s just that he had to add his usual public schoolboy language to it. The letterbox comment was disgusting and for that if nothing else, he should apologise.
Basically, he is (as I am) against the ban in France, Germany, Austria and now Denmark, but because he cannot find ( and I believe that there is not) any religious compulsion to wear the veil, he says that, if someone is interacting in an official capacity they should be required to take off the niqab for the period of that interaction. I don’t disagree with that.
I even, to my utter dismay, found that I agreed with Jack Straw (a man I mortally despise) over that. I wouldn’t try to have a discussion with a piece of material. You can’t judge their reactions, but they can judge yours. Not on.
If there were a religious compulsion to wear one, I’d think again, because I respect religion and religious demands (even though I’m not any kind of believer). But there doesn’t appear to be one. It is simply a custom in some parts of the Muslim world. (I watched a documentary on Saudi Arabia and one of their minor princes explained that.
The trouble with overall banning is you either have to admit that it is a piece of religious prejudice or you have to ban a person wearing a balaclava and a scarf over their mouth on a cold winter day, for example.
That said, I don’t think anyone should ever tell anyone what they can and cannot wear.
Some things may be hideous, inappropriate or frankly offensive (builders cracks, anyone?) but we can usually choose not to look.
I’ve fought all my working life against being told I must wear a suit, or a shirt and tie, or polished shoes. I think it is offensive for people to tell anyone what to wear.
But yeah, I reckon Mrs May might find herself out of a job after the party conference season.
Boris as Prime Minister should be a boost to our movement, don’t you think?
Tris
I think he did this because he knows it will hit home, nothing he does is spontaneous for me. He is very calculating, as May was in waiting on Cameron to make his mistake and she played her part so well. Think back to how quiet she was other than the occasional story here, speech there, Boris is now starting the process to my mind and that is the start of a leadership challenge. The actual jist of the article about the burka is his opinion, I don’t like it and I find it oppressive to me as it’s so intrusive to any conversation and is about hiding away but I rarely comment on these things because it’s not worth it half the time and as you say a choice for the individual. He is gearing up though for a challenge.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Yes, it’s definitely a leadership challenge. And Boris invariably gets what he wants. He is one of the few who CAN have his cake and eat it.
He of course, wrote it in teh Daily Telegraph, which gave him a column only days after he resigned from government.
This is against all the rules, but Boris doesn’t play by the rules. And May is too much of a disaster to make him.
Tris
Does he need a patsy to go against May first though as if he brings her down like Hessletine he will pay the price. He possibly needs GOVE or such like to make the first move but the Tories are calculated enough to do that. It is the first salvo though leading up to the conference season as you said earlier, he will also be praying that the EU play hard ball, a deal will kill his ambition off. The Tories might also see this as a way to avoid having to suffer a one term Labour Government.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Maybe Rees Mogg will be the patsy?
Gove and he hate each other from the last time around.
Just though maybe that ridiculous woman (forgotten her name) who stood last time will stand against her?
Tris
Really posh boy is a good call.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
No one would go up against May. They’ve changed the rules since Thatcher’s downfall.
It is now a simple confidence vote in the incumbent leader of the party. Aye/nay. If a majority votes against, then the leader is sacked and a process similar to the one which took place when Cameron announced his resignation starts.
The trigger for a confidence vote is 48 MPs sending letters. But in order to force May out, they need 160 Tory MPs to want her gone.
If they have between 48-155 MPs ready to pull the trigger, there’s no point in doing so. All it would accomplish is giving May a win which potentially shores up her authority and it’d put the challengers on a permanent shit list. No peerages, no knighthoods, no seats after boundary changes and certainly no ministerial offices.
Alan
The 160 figure would bring a vote of no confidence in Westminster and while I don’t think the Tories want to have Corbyn there seems to be a lot of comments going around that soft Brexit will bring that about and she would have to rely on Labour to survive. That scenario would kill the Labour Party I would suspect Boris Johnson is testing the waters, seeing what support he has and seeing what May does which will be not much as she is weak and has never taken any stance against him before. If he gets suppprt from enough people then 160 might not be that big a mountain to climb.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Not in Westminster, no. In order for May to lose a parliamentary vote of confidence(which is not the same thing as a tory party leadership vote of confidence), only 10-20 Tory MPs have to cross the aisle. Less than half of what’s needed to trigger a Tory leadership vote.
This is one of the twisted ironies of the UK’s idiotic system. 140 Tory MPs could want May gone, but the only means of forcing it they have is a nuclear option which any 20 of them could employ: Supporting Corbyn as PM or forcing a snap election which creates the same outcome.
The horrid danger is that if the most zealous Brexiteers want a “no deal” exit, all they have to do is wait until February or so and then push the nuclear button to guarantee the default outcome.
Alan
Looking at fact check https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/what-would-it-take-to-trigger-a-conservative-leadership-election only 15% are needed for a party leadership challenge so around 40 Tory MPs to trigger that and I would imagine it’s close. For a general election the Parliament website states a motion of no confidence is passed in Her Majesty’s Government by a simple majority and 14 days elapses without the House passing a confidence motion in any new Government formed
a motion for a general election is agreed by two thirds of the total number of seats in the Commons including vacant seats (currently 434 out of 650) so that wouldn’t take much either but I guess time will tell. The system is broken but I don’t know if she can last as long as next year. Isn’t the deal meant to be agreed by end Oct to give the EU time to debate and if she goes for an extension she might be toast.
Interesting times for sure.
Bruce
I’ve just seen that Nadine Dorres has weighed in with her usual ample supply of ignorance and prejudice.
She says that Muslim women wear Niqab’s to “cover bruises” as a result of Muslim men beating them.
What kind of an arsehole is she?
Tris
She would not be out of place in UKip, maybe that’s where the Tories will end up, Farage a Tory MP and the moderates joining with the Blairites and some Liberals in some middle way party that will fail. All of this might help the yes cause, I’m all for the English political scene imploding in on itself. Anything that brings us closer to a yes vote is fine with me as yes is our only hope.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Many Scots want the burka banned, the idea that Scotland is all tolerant and accepting is a total myth.
Anon
I don’t know if they or don’t and I’m not implying that Scotland is better what I am getting at is this might be the start of laying the ground for a leadership challenge.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
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