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By: - 22nd February 2016 at 17:20 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Boris's attraction to voters is seemingly inversely proportional to his distance from London.
When it was mentioned on another forum I frequent a similar comment to the above and how he would turn the debate around as he was so charismatic, one reply amused me, probably because I agreed with it:
Or a mop-headed, self-aggrandising, totally untrustworthy cockwomble, depending on how gullible you are
and when another said he was a great orator the following was the reply:
Does mumbling, hesitating, obfuscating and generally talking unintelligible b****x count as being a good public speaker these days?
In short, he may make those who have made up their mind to vote leave happy, but will he sway the floating voter? I am not completely convinced he will be as influential as the media circus seems to believe.
I live in deepest Herefordshire, and there are not many Boris fans around here, he has been seen as a bit of an irrelevance up till now.
And it seems that he may not be doing as well as hoped in his fairly blatant leadership bid. It's in the Torygraph so it must be true
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/12168067/Boris-Johnson-has-just-blown-his-first-audition-to-be-prime-minister.html
By: - 22nd February 2016 at 17:46 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The comments yesterday on the BBC were interesting. It was suggested that Boris Johnson didn't think that the United Kingdom would vote to leave the EU but that, after the failed 'GO' campaign, Boris Johnson could present himself as a candidate for leadership of the Conservative party (and to elements within it) as somebody who had at least tried to leave the EU.
That is surely self-serving in anybody's book; and playing pretty dangerously with 'real' people's lives too!
I actually think Boris is a very interesting, and very intelligent, man but he'll never do well in British politics because he comes across as such a buffoon to anybody who doesn't look past the obvious (and that's pretty much the whole electorate)!
By: - 22nd February 2016 at 18:40 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Trekkie,
You're a master of the 'sweeping statement'.
Tell us all; how do you KNOW that 'there are not many Boris fans' in the deepest part of Herefordshire where you live ?
How do you KNOW that he is 'a bit of an irrelevance ?
By: - 22nd February 2016 at 18:50 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Well John, regarding sweeping statements as you are the past master of them, perhaps I should bow to your intimate knowledge of my friends, acquaintances and the local media for how well he is regarded in the my local area. Where do you live again?
For example, we were actually talking about this issue last week in the pub, and many of the people in my cycling group ( 20 + on that occasion) who are quite a bit further in your direction politically compared to me were saying that they would want to stay in the EU for economic reasons as almost all of them own small businesses in the area. None had a good word to say about Boris although this was before he took his decision
By: - 22nd February 2016 at 20:32 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
As I've always said to anyone bored enough to listen, you can't beat your local for political clout.
It's a fact that the forthcoming Referendum will be won not so much on the 'playing fields of Eton' as the saloon bar of the Dog & Fox.
By: - 22nd February 2016 at 21:46 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
He is just doing it to become PM...
The opportunist that he is has come to the decision that if he is in the out camp, and Cameron loses the stay in vote, then he must be a shoo in for the new leader. Being the devious fiend* that he is, when the talks take place for leaving the EU, he will engineer some way of getting an acceptable solution to staying in - and we won't be going anywhere. Why should the country trust him when his wife can't...?
*BoJo has a well-earned reputation for being underhand, a cheat and a liar when it suits his purpose, a man whom a biographer, Sonia Purnell, claims has an "opportunistic approach to politics".
By: - 22nd February 2016 at 22:29 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
So, in other words, a typical politician !
By: - 23rd February 2016 at 07:55 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
In my seemingly long life I could probably count those politicians with little or no sense of self-intetest on the fingers of one hand. Boris is emphatically not among them. I think the media are obsessed with him and hugely overplay his potential effect. And I am unconvinced that his addition to the disparate Leave group will make the difference among the 30% undecided. Still at least down here in East Kent the local newspaper poll reports over 70% of us on the Leave side!!!;)
By: - 23rd February 2016 at 10:02 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
This is huge opportunism by Boris - no more than that.
If 'Out' do win, then he is the clear candidate for next leader of the Tory party.
The whole thing is a huge sideshow of political opportunism. My guess as of this moment, is that there will be a narrow win for the 'In' team, of a similar magnitude to the Scottish question.
My further prediction is that regardless of who wins, the imminent recession will start to bite by the autumn, and each side will blame the other for the result we got, thus avoiding the real story. Cameron had to call the vote before that happened - this will take considerable heat off the government.
We will see...
By: - 23rd February 2016 at 12:42 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
It's all got very interesting hasn't it?, Especially after the clear attacks on Boris from David Cameron today, it's clear Cameron is rattled and senses it's actually possible the country could vote to come out of the EU. What is fascinating is while the Conservative party is pulling itself apart over this Labour is just sitting back at the moment, yet we all know that cracks are there too on this subject.
As to Boris he is a career politician who plays the bumbling fool, but is anything but and if he has caught the mood of the country on this matter it will propel him into being future leader of the Tory party. I think most know that Boris will blow in any direction that will make him popular, so really no surprises there. However I would say by contrast David Cameron has came back with a not so strong deal in Europe and I suspect he knows it and although he does not intend to go for election again, this will make or break him, his reputation is on the line here.
To think we have have 4 months of this to go, makes you wonder what will happen next.
By: - 23rd February 2016 at 13:18 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The 1975 result went roughly two thirds yes and one third no, nationwide, on a 67% turnout. I wonder how significant turnout will be this time. And what might happen, outside politicians' control, to influence the vote over the next 4 months....
By: - 23rd February 2016 at 17:24 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
If Boris' entrance stage right means anything at all, it is his potential to influence the 'young' voters in this country. That will count.
By: - 23rd February 2016 at 18:09 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
An interesting challenge then. I am sure I have seen some some stats suggesting that a very high percentage of 18 to 30 year olds are for staying in. 75 or 80% I think it was.
By: - 23rd February 2016 at 20:54 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
They are indeed, but they are there ones less likely to vote. That's what makes it interesting.. Had they all voted in the last general election, we would have Milliband as PM..
By: - 26th February 2016 at 14:59 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Just as there is a lower age limit for voting perhaps there should be an upper one too?
Perhaps only those actually contributing to the countries coffers (or able to?) should be entitled to determine the future path of the country?
By: - 26th February 2016 at 15:13 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Now there's an intriguing idea - disenfranchising the grey vote!!:D
By: - 26th February 2016 at 15:37 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
"contributing to the countries coffers"
So that includes everyone. If you're retired, or, you are still contributing thru' indirect taxation.
By: - 26th February 2016 at 21:19 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
So, following that argument, as all but a tiny percentage of the EU migrants to this country are net contributers to the exchequer, they should be allowed to vote as well.
By: - 26th February 2016 at 23:43 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Hmm. Cut back on the number of voters - what a magnificent idea. The number who participate is embarrassingly small enough now, without reducing it further...
A better option might be that everyone is legally required to vote on pain of financial incentive, as happens in some other countries. There is a feeling of disenfranchisement from some parts of the demographic so, whilst there could be moans about forcing the population to participate against their will, the politicians would have to clean up their act knowing that they could no longer rely on the large proportion of no-shows that currently allow them to get away with treating the public like idiots.
Comments?
By: - 27th February 2016 at 00:25 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I can't think of anything worse than 'forcing' (or coercing) people to vote; that's hardly likely to produce a result that is more representative of what the electorate actually care about, given that currently, many of them don't care enough about anything to even bother voting!
I also don't see how it would make politicians 'clean up their act' or that low turnouts allow politicians to get away with 'treating the public like idiots'?
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By: John Green - 22nd February 2016 at 15:09
Just heard. Boris Johnson fires the opening shots in the campaign to remove Britain from the EU.
Hurrah !!!