//The rules were either changed or they weren't - which was it? //
They were.
//To speed up the competition, the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers on Monday opted to increase the number of backers that a candidate needed from eight to 20, and ruled that they would need at least 30 votes to get past the first round. //
They were the rules for electing a new leader, Naomi, not the rules for getting rid of the old one - rules that the Tories inflicted upon themselves, nothing to do with any lefties. The fourth Tory leader in six years, what a palaver. Nobody changed any rules to get rid of Boris, the Tories just applied the rules they already had ... like they did with Theresa May before him.
// He didn't say they did. // I thought it might come down to this.
BlahBlah XYZ - - I never said he was a paragon of truth -
oh OK you agree he is a damned liar - no I did NOT....
( famous words) I want to clarify what I said.....
..Blahblah not XYZ
Oh dear, you've lost the plot. "The baton will be handed over" - the baton he's talking about is the baton of leadership, being passed from him to Liz Truss. So he is in the relay race, just like Cameron and May before him, and now Truss after him. No rules were changed, the existing rules were applied.
Boris is a proven liar, the Borstriches rail against the undeniable truth.
Lied to his previous employers, lied to his previous wives and mistresses, lied to the Queen, lied to the public, lied to Parliament.
That’s why his party got rid of him and a record number of ministers resigned in one day.
I took
"they changed the rules" - as applying to his own downfall and election of a replacement
but I am quite prepared to be told he was doing a classic PP ( geddit? classic) - talk about X , slip in an a sly and botchy aside about Y, and then lurch back to X again
and then going on about Cincinnatus, ( much more like, Sejanus, caligula, nero , agripina and a few others you have no idea about) - I got the icky feeling Fastticus describes
Ellipsis, //To speed up the competition, the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers on Monday opted to increase the number of backers that a candidate needed from eight to 20, and ruled that they would need at least 30 votes to get past the first round. //
Which bit of that^ don't you understand? He wasn't in the 'race'.
Naomi, I understand all of that and more. It's quite clear that you don't understand Boris's speech, what he's referring to when he says
> and the torch will finally be passed to a new Conservative leader
> the baton will be handed over in what has unexpectedly turned out to be a relay race
The torch, the baton ... they're the same thing: the mantle of leadership, passing from him to Liz Truss.