This Scandal Reveals a Conservative Party Corrupted by Boris Johnson – and by Brexit

THE GUARDIAN: Whether it’s the monarchy, the union or the BBC, today’s Tories are trampling on the values they once claimed to cherish

‘Vandalism became a Brexit habit – hardly surprising for a project dedicated to uprooting a tangle of connections.’ Photograph: Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock
Just because Boris Johnson approaches every issue thinking only of Boris Johnson does not mean we have to do the same. Even the crisis that now engulfs the prime minister, and sees his fate hang on Tory MPs’ reaction to a Sue Gray report that could come next week, is not only about him. It’s tempting to see it that way – to look for the roots of the partygate scandal in Johnson’s arrogance, entitlement and narcissism – but it’s a double mistake.

As a matter of politics, it’s unwise because it would allow the Conservatives to ditch Johnson, pick a successor and claim to be a new government exorcised of its demon, with no need for the electorate to turn to Labour. But it’s also wrong.

For Johnson may be a loner, but he did not act alone. That’s narrowly true, in the sense that there were plenty of others who knew about or attended those rule-breaking parties and plenty more who are covering for him now. Every Conservative MP who defends Johnson, every activist or donor who does not demand his resignation, makes themselves complicit in the damage his actions have caused.

But it’s true in a deeper sense, too, in that the shaming events in Downing Street are a function of a Conservative party that is now something else. Despite the name, that organisation is no longer conservative in the way that was previously understood and in which it once took great pride. » | onathan Freedland | Friday, January 21, 2022

Despite being a once dyed-in-the-wool Conservative voter, I regret to have to say that the Conservative Party, as it now is, belongs to a bygone age. The Whigs before it also belonged to a bygone age and that party eventually became extinct.

This country certainly needs a pro-business party, but the Conservatives are not that party! The Conservatives are a party of the one percent, for the one percent. The population of this country is made up of 99% other people who do not belong to the one percent. They, too, need a break. They, too, can add significantly to the GDP of this once great country.

This Tory administration is in place with BoJo at the helm simply because a cabal at the top wanted to make a financial killing, believing that being in the European Union stopped them from realizing their ambitions, their dream.

As a result, we, the people, had to pay the heavy price of losing our rights as European citizens, with all that that entails. Why? Just to allow BoJo to obtain the keys of Number 10 (and the 1% to make its killing). And what a dog’s dinner the man is making of the job now that he has it!

Brexit will one day have to be reversed (and it will be). The electorate has been fooled: They haven’t been told the truth – they haven’t been informed of their losses.

Brexit must be reversed. Reversed in the name of prosperity; and reversed in the name of Britain’s’ long-term future. It is the only patriotic outcome for Britain and for Britons long-term.

BoJo! Eat your heart out! – © Mark

Revealed: Michael Gove’s Sexist Jibes, Racist Jokes and Homophobic Slurs

THE INDEPENDENT: Chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster made the comments in Cambridge Union debates in the late 1980s and early 1990s

Read an article on this disgusting claptrap on here : Tory minister Michael Gove makes cutting jokes about gay people in resurfaced speech: Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove’s history of vile homophobic, racist and sexist remarks has been unearthed in a series of recordings.

Boris Johnson’s Biggest Lie about Europe Is Finally Coming Home to Roost

THE GUARDIAN: From plummeting trade to drastic shortages of workers, needlessly leaving the single market has been disastrous

‘The sensible path now would be for Boris Johnson to eat humble pie.’ Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images
It was the big Brexit lie. No, not the £350m a week to spend on the NHS or the “bonfire” of red tape. The lie was that the shambles now enveloping British trade with Europe was an unavoidable price worth paying to leave the EU. That was rubbish.

In order to further his chances of becoming Tory leader Boris Johnson made two commitments. One was to resign from the EU, the other was to depart Europe’s customs union and single market, aspects of which embrace other non-EU states such as Norway. The second decision was an almost casual gesture to make him look macho to the party’s hardline Brexiters. It was not put to referendum and was beyond stupid.

No news item today is free of the consequences. Earlier this year, the effects of leaving the single market could be seen in plummeting trade with the continent, even accounting for the pandemic. Additional red tape is awesome. HMRC estimates traders will be handling 215m more import/export documents a year, at an estimated bureaucratic cost of £7.5bn a year. Tariffs may not apply but rules of origin and health standards do. Every truck, every cargo requires inspection.

As for migration, the overall shortage of seasonal farm labour, according to BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today, is 20% and often more. Fruit will rot in fields, pigs cannot get to abattoirs and Christmas turkeys will be a “nightmare”. Meanwhile, care homes in England are short of 170,000 staff, and delivery firms short of 100,000 drivers. Hotels have abandoned rooms and restaurant tables. Creative industries – worth £110bn to the UK economy – were forgotten by the Brexit negotiators and are now virtually isolated from Europe. » | Simon Jenkins | Monday, September 6, 2021

Our decision to leave the European Union was as stupid as it is showing to be economically disastrous. The once great and respectable Conservative Party has been hijacked by fools – self-serving fools!

I was raised in a Conservative-voting household; indeed, the very word ‘socialism’ in my family was a dirty word! In fact, I myself have been a Conservative voter. I voted Conservative all my adult life – until Cameron came along! I took one look at him and smelled trouble (my instincts proved to be dead right!); so, I voted for Nick Clegg (LibDem) instead. But that was the very first time in my life that I deviated from the Conservative cause.

After the fiasco of Brexit, however, I shall never vote for the Conservatives again. The 1 percenters in the Conservative Party have manipulated the masses in order to fill their own pockets, fill their own banks accounts. But in so doing, they have taken people’s rights as European citizens away; and many of us resent that. I know I certainly do.

Much of it started with Trump. It was he who stoked the fires of anti-EU politics in this country. The man who neither knew nor understood anything about geopolitics. What Trump knew about geopolitics, or economics, you could write on the back of a cigarette packet!

Boris Johnson is a Trump clone. He is also a Trump-like clown. The only difference between Trump and BoJo is that Johnson has a posh accent and a better education, much of which, incidentally and ironically, was paid for by the EU! (His father worked for the EU for years.) Such hypocrisy!

Margaret Thatcher must be turning in her grave! Although she was against a federal Europe, which I most certainly am not, she was very pro-EU trade and bringing down all barriers to trade. Indeed, ‘Maggie’ was one of the Single Market’s principal architects: she worked tirelessly to bring it about. Now BoJo and his band of über-rich nation-destroyers have undone all her hard work. These people can indeed be thought of as nation-destroyers, because in all my adult life, I have never seen this country so divided. Even friendships and family ties have been destroyed by Brexit. And this is true right across the country. The cracks and fault-lines in British society have been laid bare. One now has cause to doubt whether they will ever heal. This Brexit nonsense could quite possibly lead to the break-up of the once so united, United Kingdom.

Boris Johnson’s posh accent doesn’t make him any less of a clown. The man is not fit to lead this nation and his administration is not fit for purpose. – © Mark

Boris Johnson’s Aides Plotted to Oust Him as PM, Dominic Cummings Claims

Dominic Cummings suggested to Laura Kuenssberg that a new political party should be set up to ‘kill’ off the Conservatives. Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA
THE GUARDIAN: BBC interview reveals people decided Johnson was unfit to be PM within weeks of 2019 election victory

Boris Johnson’s closest aides decided he was unfit to be prime minister within weeks of his 2019 election victory and began plotting to oust him, Dominic Cummings has claimed.

In his first TV interview since quitting as one of the most senior advisers in No 10, Cummings levelled repeated criticism of his former boss, saying aides feared Johnson had no plan to run the country and was only obsessed with “stupid” infrastructure projects.

He accused the prime minister’s wife, Carrie, of trying to “appoint complete clowns to certain key jobs”, claiming she wanted to be “pulling the strings” at the heart of government instead of the old Vote Leave team, and suggested a new political party be set up to “kill” off the Conservatives. » | Aubrey Allegretti, Political correspondent | Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Dominic Cummings pulls back the curtain and declares his genius »

I have myself been saying this for a very long time! I have been stating that the Conservatives need to be replaced by a progressive, business-friendly party. My line was that the Tories need to go the way of the Whigs: into oblivion!

I have never been a big fan of Dominic Cummings, but I must say that reading this, makes the man more appealing to me.

I used to be a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative voter. That was until Cameron had the less-than-bright idea of calling a referendum on our membership of the European Union, which we all know led to the fiasco of Brexit. Because of Brexit, I shall never cast my vote for the Conservatives again. And as a result of Brexit, I have become disenfranchised.

Boris Johnson—I prefer to give him the disparaging nomenclature, BoJo, because it makes him sound like the clown he truly is—was never a committed Brexiteer; rather, it was a convenient way for him to become prime minister. Even as a child, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson wanted to be “king of the world.” Needless to say, that position is, and never has been, vacant! So he had to settle for what he considered to be second-best: he had to become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom instead. Brexit was the tool he used to get the keys to Number 10.

There’s one big problem with that, though: Brexit has rendered the once very united United Kingdom into a rather fractious disUnited Kingdom. And the Tories have caused this problem by projecting the rift that was once chronic and unhealing in their party onto the United Kingdom itself; so, the party’s problem has now become the nation's problem. Cameron’s idiocy has caused this as have the greed and fossil-like nature of the top echelons within the Conservative Party itself.

Yes! Dominic Cummings is spot-on when he says that the Conservatives need to be “killed off” and replaced by a new party. Yes! Yes! Yes! The Conservatives need to go find the dodo and keep it company!

This country needs a progressive, business-friendly, pro-European party, one that will allow business to flourish but ensure a modicum of equality for all. The wealth gap in this country is as unfair as it is immoral. There is something radically wrong and mis-managed about a country in which people poor enough to have to use food banks to help put food on the table for their children have to co-exist with squillionaires. Such a juxtaposition of extremes is obscene. A scenario brought about by the policies of the Tories. Yes, we need a party that is very business-friendly; but no, we don't need obscenities like this! – © Mark

Boris Johnson "Nothing Like” Churchill – Nicholas Soames | Times News

Nicholas Soames reflects on his expulsion from the Tory party and says Boris Johnson is nothing like his grandfather Winston Churchill.

Sir Nicholas is more horrified by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons leader. His behaviour this week, lolling on the front bench, was “repulsive”, he says. “He is in serious danger of believing his own shtick. He is an absolute fraud, he is a living example of what a moderately cut double-breasted suit and a decent tie can do with an ultra-posh voice and a bit of ginger stuck up his arse. You do not behave like that as leader of the House.” Both men went to Eton but Sir Nicholas says Rees-Mogg’s behaviour has nothing to do with his school. “I thought it was bloody bad manners and he of all people should know better. He has had all the advantages and frankly nanny made a serious bish. I wanted to kick him firmly in the arse and say, ‘What the hell do you think you are playing at? Sit up!’ ” His speech in the Brexit debate was “the lowest form of student union hackery, insolence and bad manners”. Read the full article here » | September 6, 2019

The Guardian View on the World and Brexit: Rue Britannia

THE GUARDIAN: A project supposed to enhance Britain’s international stature has only served to diminish it

The case for Brexit rested largely upon two misapprehensions – or, to put it less kindly, lies. The first was the belief that engaging in a deep and broad partnership, with the necessary compromises and disadvantages that brings alongside all its benefits, was an act of treacherous self-sabotage. The second was a wholly unrealistic assessment of Britain’s international status and heft, rooted in a vague, nostalgic vision of its imperial past. A third myth sprang from these two: that a post-Brexit Britannia would emerge triumphant, a beacon of democracy, parliamentary sovereignty and prosperity, shining across the waves.

The last three years have left such ideas in tatters; the last week has ripped the remaining shreds away. Its events have left Britain appearing not only backwards-looking, irrational and divided, but fanatical, bitter, frivolous, chaotic and heedless of any legal or customary impediment to the executive. Boris Johnson promised a stroll to sunlit meadows; now he offers a grim, hellish march towards no deal, and his troops have had enough. » | Editorial | Sunday, September 8, 2019

Sir Nicholas Soames Says Tories Started Resembling 'Brexit Sect'

THE GUARDIAN: Expelled party rebel also attacked Boris Johnson’s leadership and called Jacob Rees-Mogg a ‘fraud’

Tory grandee Sir Nicholas Soames has launched a searing attack on Boris Johnson’s leadership and Jacob Rees-Mogg, whom he called a “fraud”, adding the Conservative party is lurching towards a divisive, potentially catastrophic form of “hard-right” conservatism.

In an interview with the Times, Soames – who is the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill – said the Conservatives were starting to resemble a “Brexit sect”, after he had the whip removed for rebelling against the Johnson government along with 20 other MPs.

“I am worried about the Tory party because give or take the odd spasm we have always been seen as pragmatic, sensible, good at our job, sane, reasonable and having the interests of the whole country,” he said. “Now it is beginning to look like a Brexit sect.” » | Lanre Bakare | Saturday, September 7, 2019

The Hard Right Has Captured My Old Party - and Boris Johnson’s Victory Proves It

THE GUARDIAN: The Tories always used to put pragmatic economics first. British voters should not forgive them for abandoning this

Around 92,000 members who no longer even represent Conservative voters have crowned the “clown prince” as our prime minister. Just when we need a prime minister to bring us together, lead us through the Brexit crisis and on to tackling the serious issues we must confront, the party serves up Boris Johnson. His lifelong ambition has finally been realised; no one and nothing was going to get in his way this time, least of all integrity and truth.

The leadership hustings, far from allaying profound fears about Johnson’s ability and mendacity, went further than merely confirming them. Under friendly fire, he revealed he is actually worse than we had thought.

The hustings also revealed the real Conservative party and its drift to the right. It wasn’t simply that the members don’t look like today’s UK – 71% male and 97% white – it was more about what they said. And the regular applause for Johnson’s dog-whistle rightwing rhetoric proved – as did the election result – that Tory members were prepared, indeed pleased, to lose jobs and the union rather than lose their precious no-deal Brexit. That move to the right, away from the centre ground inhabited by One Nation Conservatives, was the major reason I left the Tory party, after serving it as an MP for nine years. » | Anna Soubry | Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Tory Leadership Race: Alan Duncan Resigns as Minister

BBC: Sir Alan Duncan has quit as a Foreign Office minister in protest against a possible Boris Johnson victory in the Conservative leadership race.

In his resignation letter, Sir Alan described Brexit as "a dark cloud".

He told the BBC he quit to demand an emergency Commons debate to give MPs a chance to say whether they supported Mr Johnson's "wish to form a government".

The request for a debate - which would not constitute a binding no-confidence vote - was rejected by the Speaker.

Mr Johnson is the frontrunner in the contest which has seen him go head-to-head with Jeremy Hunt for Tory Party members' votes.

The ballot closes at 17:00 BST - the winner will be revealed on Tuesday morning and will become prime minister on Wednesday. » | Monday, July 22, 2019

Stop Boris Campaign Launched by Tory Moderates Opposed to No-Deal Brexit

THE OBSERVER: Former foreign secretary attacked as dishonest by leadership candidate Rory Stewart

A campaign to stop Boris Johnson becoming prime minister and taking the country into a no-deal Brexit was launched by moderate cabinet ministers on Saturday as the first shots were fired in the Tory contest to succeed Theresa May in Downing Street.

After May bowed to pressure on Friday and announced she would resign as Tory leader within two weeks, justice secretary David Gauke and international development secretary Rory Stewart condemned Johnson’s readiness to embrace a no-deal, saying it would be hugely damaging to the national interest.

The move, part of a concerted “anti-Johnson” push by opponents of a hard Brexit, followed comments by the former foreign secretary on Friday, soon after May’s resignation speech in Downing Street, that the UK would definitely leave the EU “deal or no deal” on 31 October if he became leader in July.

The remark infuriated the soft-Brexit wing of the party, with some MPs and ministers even warning that there would be “serious numbers” of moderate Conservatives who would be ready to vote down a Johnson government if he set the country on a path to no deal. » | Michael Savage, Jamie Doward and Toby Helm | Saturday, May 25, 2019

Boris Johnson Not Fit to Be PM, Says Tory Minister

THE GUARDIAN: Margot James, of moderate One Nation Tory group, hits out at leadership hopeful’s ‘fuck business’ remark

Boris Johnson has been branded an unacceptable candidate to be prime minister by the Conservative minister Margot James, because of his “fuck business” remark when asked about companies’ concerns over Brexit.

James, a business minister and leading member of the One Nation Conservative group, said the comment meant Johnson was not fit for “high public office” as she addressed a Creative England event in London.

Speaking later to the Guardian, she said some of her colleagues promoting Brexit at any cost to business had the “wrong attitude”.

“I don’t think people in the public eye should be using language like that to discuss the concerns of the business community,” she said. “It’s the dismissive attitude to business that’s a problem among some people for whom Brexit is everything.” » | Rowena Mason, Deputy political editor | Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Don’t Lead Us to Disaster, Moderate Tories Warn Frontrunner Boris Johnson

THE GUARDIAN: One Nation group of Conservatives try to stop lurch towards no-deal Brexit as ex-foreign secretary and Dominic Raab emerge as favourites among members

Conservative leadership contenders will shepherd the party to disaster if they adopt the “comfort blanket of populism” in response to Nigel Farage, scores of Tory MPs will warn this week.

Eight cabinet ministers are among a group of 60 modernising MPs who will call on contenders for the leadership to “reject narrow nationalism” in their quest to replace Theresa May. The warning comes with Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab, who have both said they are willing to back a no-deal Brexit, emerging as the favourites among Tory members. Johnson is the frontrunner. » | Michael Savage | Saturday, May 18, 2019

Theresa May Told: Set a Departure Date Or Be Forced Out

THE GUARDIAN: Senior Tory Geoffrey Clifton-Brown says lack of date will force rule changes to oust her

Theresa May is under intense pressure to formally announce a resignation date after one of her most senior backbenchers warned that if she did not do so she would be forced out.

Before a crucial meeting between the prime minister and the 1922 Committee, which represents Tory backbenchers, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said it would be “much more dignified” for May to name a date, rather than oblige the committee to change party rules to oust her.

The Cotswolds MP, who is treasurer of the 1922 Committee, told Sky News that May, who has promised to stand down once her Brexit deal is passed, should instead leave soon. » | Peter Walker and Andrew Sparrow | Thursday, May 16, 2019

Poll Surge for Farage Sparks Panic among Tories and Labour

THE GUARDIAN: Support for the Conservatives at the European elections slumps to 11%, less than a third of what the Brexit party is polling

Senior Tory and Labour politicians have issued frantic calls to their voters to back them in next week’s European elections after a new poll showed support for Nigel Farage’s Brexit party had soared to a level higher than for the two main parties put together.

The Opinium survey for the Observer places the Brexit party on 34%, when people were asked how they intended to vote on 23 May, with Labour slipping to 21% and the Conservatives collapsing to just 11%. Ominously for Theresa May, support for the Tories at the European elections is now less than a third of that for Farage’s party, and below that for the Liberal Democrats, who are on 12%.

The poll suggests the Brexit party, launched only last month, is now on course for a thumping victory that Farage will, MPs fear, use to back his argument that the UK must leave the EU immediately without a deal. » | Toby Helm and Michael Savage | Saturday, May 11, 2019

A Very Singular Man: Edward Heath Profile

Edward Heath was one of the most controversial Prime Ministers this century. He took Britain into Europe, but was brought down by the very trades unions he soughttotame. In an intimate Portrait Sir Edward talks candidly about his life and career, and of his stormy relationship with his successors. Michael Cockerell reports. Originally transmitted 27 September 1998.

Owen Jones Meets Sayeeda Warsi | 'Islamophobia Is Britain’s Bigotry Blind Spot'

Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi is one the most outspoken critics of Islamophobia in her own party. I met her to talk about what she calls ‘Britain's bigotry blind spot’ and the consequences it has for Muslim communities around the country. She has some damning criticism for the way her party has dealt with the racism in its ranks and fears what will happen if Michael Gove, one of the current favourites to replace Theresa May, becomes prime minister.

Tory Civil War amid Plot to Bring Down PM over Brexit Policy

Boris Johnson resigned from the Government hours after David Davis walked out over Theresa May's Brexit deal. How long can the Prime Minister hold on?

Jacob Rees-Mogg Admits That He Opposes Abortion and Same-Sex Marriage | Good Morning Britain

The man who is tipped by many to become the next Conservative leader talks openly about his thoughts on same-sex marriage and abortion.

Theresa May's Government At Risk of Collapse within Two Years, Warns Lord Heseltine

Lord Heseltine Brexit Is the Cancer Gnawing at the Heart of the Conservative Party