ChatterBank0 min ago
Is Boris Johnson Pm Material?
57 Answers
Now I'm not a fan of Boris Johnson, I don't like him very much personally nor his politics.
But the main problem with him as PM is I don't think he can think on his feet under pressure.
I think we saw this in the debates for Mayor of London and yesterday we saw another prime performance
http://
In these days of media advisors and spin doctors is this still a handicap? do you still need grace under pressure?
But the main problem with him as PM is I don't think he can think on his feet under pressure.
I think we saw this in the debates for Mayor of London and yesterday we saw another prime performance
http://
In these days of media advisors and spin doctors is this still a handicap? do you still need grace under pressure?
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AOG - I think we must agree to differ on this point.
I do think that if someone has aspirations to be PM, at some time he is going to come up against an interviewer who is going to raise issues that are pertinent to his proposed position.
Eddie Mair's question about Bori's affair was not about the affair itself - which is public knowledge, but about Boris's alleged lie to Michael Howard about it - and that is entirely relavent to someone in Boris Johnson's position - politicans who lie are liable to be called upon their actions, as happened here.
I do think that if someone has aspirations to be PM, at some time he is going to come up against an interviewer who is going to raise issues that are pertinent to his proposed position.
Eddie Mair's question about Bori's affair was not about the affair itself - which is public knowledge, but about Boris's alleged lie to Michael Howard about it - and that is entirely relavent to someone in Boris Johnson's position - politicans who lie are liable to be called upon their actions, as happened here.
No question that he is popular, but that on its own should not be the criteria for leader of the party / PM.
I did wonder though - First, if BoJo was the conservative party leader / potential PM, would that make the conservatives more popular to the electorate - sufficiently so that they could form a majority? His personal approval ratings are sky high, in comparison to Cameron, and indeed the other aspirants for the role.
Secondly, if he did wish to make a play for the leadership, then he would need to be installed into a safe tory seat prior to the 2015 election, and would presumably have to win an internal leadership contest against Cameron, assuming he wants to try for a second term, and the other contestants for the job. It will be interesting to see what he does...
Personally, I think him a man of great personal charisma and political calculation, with a carefully constructed "buffoon" image.
Personally, I think him totally untrustworthy, and fairly distasteful, to be honest. Eddie Mairs interview was extremely good at exposing some of that inner Boris.
If you want to see more of BoJo, he features in an hour long documentary tonight on BBC I think, around 9 pm?. It sounds a bit like a hagiography - unchallanging interviews and platforms for family and friends to bang on about how great he is....
I did wonder though - First, if BoJo was the conservative party leader / potential PM, would that make the conservatives more popular to the electorate - sufficiently so that they could form a majority? His personal approval ratings are sky high, in comparison to Cameron, and indeed the other aspirants for the role.
Secondly, if he did wish to make a play for the leadership, then he would need to be installed into a safe tory seat prior to the 2015 election, and would presumably have to win an internal leadership contest against Cameron, assuming he wants to try for a second term, and the other contestants for the job. It will be interesting to see what he does...
Personally, I think him a man of great personal charisma and political calculation, with a carefully constructed "buffoon" image.
Personally, I think him totally untrustworthy, and fairly distasteful, to be honest. Eddie Mairs interview was extremely good at exposing some of that inner Boris.
If you want to see more of BoJo, he features in an hour long documentary tonight on BBC I think, around 9 pm?. It sounds a bit like a hagiography - unchallanging interviews and platforms for family and friends to bang on about how great he is....
Boris might come over as a bit of a clown, with all his crazy antics. He was quite funny on Have I Got News for You. Memories of him waving that flag at the end of the Beijing Olympics, with his suit jacket flapping around will stay with me for many years yet.
However, I'm not sure if he was quite so funny and endearing on the Andrew Marr show yesterday. Thank goodness for Eddie Mair !
Beneath all that squishing around with his carefully-disarranged hair and cod-Latin quotations, his constant waugh waugh, waughing, when he doesn't want to answer a simple question, together with his hilarious promotion of the worlds most expensive and heavy bicycles, there exists a Nazi, pure and simple. Voting him into Number Ten would be like having Jim Davison or Bernard Manning as PM.
Avoid at all cost !
Actually Boris as PM is something we shouldn't see, at least for a while, and here's why.
Unless things change dramatically over the next 26 months, it is unlikely the the Tories will win an outright victory at the next election. Simple arithmetic clearly demonstrates this.
The Libs have burnt most of their boats behind them since the summer of 2010, so they are not going to be in a position to brown-nose and call the tune again, perhaps for a generation or more. Don't forget they actually lost 5 seats in 2010. They could be back in the normal and default post-war Liberal position of having 5-6 seats again, most of them west of Bristol.
UKIP are frightening the Tories to death at the moment, and although not capable of winning many, if any seats at a General Election, they will eat into the current Tory seat total of 306.
We mustn't forget that while the Tories had 306 seats last time around, Labour wasn't so very far behind with 258. So, again as long as things don't change too much, a Labour win would seem to be the most likely outcome in 2015. They are at present 12 points ahead in all the polls.
Cameron will remain as leader of the Tories for just long enough after the election, for his party to get their act together, have a glass of commiseration Champagne and kick him out and get somebody else in his place, just as they did to Major, Hague, IDS, and Howard. (did I miss somebody out ?...no, I think I included all the no-hoper's )
Now if somebody is asking if Bonkers Boris is Leadership-of-the-Tory-Party material, well..................!
However, I'm not sure if he was quite so funny and endearing on the Andrew Marr show yesterday. Thank goodness for Eddie Mair !
Beneath all that squishing around with his carefully-disarranged hair and cod-Latin quotations, his constant waugh waugh, waughing, when he doesn't want to answer a simple question, together with his hilarious promotion of the worlds most expensive and heavy bicycles, there exists a Nazi, pure and simple. Voting him into Number Ten would be like having Jim Davison or Bernard Manning as PM.
Avoid at all cost !
Actually Boris as PM is something we shouldn't see, at least for a while, and here's why.
Unless things change dramatically over the next 26 months, it is unlikely the the Tories will win an outright victory at the next election. Simple arithmetic clearly demonstrates this.
The Libs have burnt most of their boats behind them since the summer of 2010, so they are not going to be in a position to brown-nose and call the tune again, perhaps for a generation or more. Don't forget they actually lost 5 seats in 2010. They could be back in the normal and default post-war Liberal position of having 5-6 seats again, most of them west of Bristol.
UKIP are frightening the Tories to death at the moment, and although not capable of winning many, if any seats at a General Election, they will eat into the current Tory seat total of 306.
We mustn't forget that while the Tories had 306 seats last time around, Labour wasn't so very far behind with 258. So, again as long as things don't change too much, a Labour win would seem to be the most likely outcome in 2015. They are at present 12 points ahead in all the polls.
Cameron will remain as leader of the Tories for just long enough after the election, for his party to get their act together, have a glass of commiseration Champagne and kick him out and get somebody else in his place, just as they did to Major, Hague, IDS, and Howard. (did I miss somebody out ?...no, I think I included all the no-hoper's )
Now if somebody is asking if Bonkers Boris is Leadership-of-the-Tory-Party material, well..................!
anotheoldgit
Boris Johnson may not be perfect but then what politician is?
This was a disgustingly, typical bias, left-wing BBC interview, in which instead of asking relative questions attached to Boris's position as Mayor of London, it was turned into a personal attack of his past personal life, and included personal insults such as calling him a 'nasty piece of work'.
AOG......................Update for you.
Boris Johnson: BBC interview was splendid
Presenter Eddie Mair did a "splendid job" in questioning Boris Johnson about his "integrity" during a BBC interview, the London mayor has said.
http://
I am not sure why Eddie Mair is being castigated over this affair.
Just because the BBC asks a prominent Tory uncomfortable but simple questions, and the aforesaid Tory makes a complete arse of himself trying not answer these questions, doesn't mean that the BBC is "leftish"
Calling the BBC "lefty" is incredibly childish and says everything there is to be said about the people who accuse the BBC in the first place.
Boris is about as prominent a member of the Tory party as it is possible to get these days. He is arguably on the TV more often that even Cameron is. He is a tireless self-publicist, as he is entitled to be of course. He seems incapable of not popping up every time a TV camera is anywhere nearby. But he didn't have to cooperate with tonight's profile of him on BBC Two and neither did he have to agree to be interviewed by Eddie Mair.
He wasn't "waylaid" on his doorstep as he got the milk in, or chased down the road by a pack of baying paparazzi. He is in trouble today, not because some ghastly "leftie" from the BBC was hounding him, but because he is finding that the much seen pantomime that he puts on, with his constant scratching of his carefully-disarranged hair, and general buffoonery is becoming ever so slightly wearing. I'm afraid his yellow fluffy halo is beginning to slip.
You can fool some of the people all of the time, etc etc.
Eddie Mair is a very polite, urbane interviewer. I have seen him give Labour and Liberal politicians just as hard a time as he gave Boris. Not that he DID give him a hard time, he just gave him an opportunity to account for perceived oddities in his record as a successful politician.
I think he is lucky that he wasn't interviewed by Paxman !
Just because the BBC asks a prominent Tory uncomfortable but simple questions, and the aforesaid Tory makes a complete arse of himself trying not answer these questions, doesn't mean that the BBC is "leftish"
Calling the BBC "lefty" is incredibly childish and says everything there is to be said about the people who accuse the BBC in the first place.
Boris is about as prominent a member of the Tory party as it is possible to get these days. He is arguably on the TV more often that even Cameron is. He is a tireless self-publicist, as he is entitled to be of course. He seems incapable of not popping up every time a TV camera is anywhere nearby. But he didn't have to cooperate with tonight's profile of him on BBC Two and neither did he have to agree to be interviewed by Eddie Mair.
He wasn't "waylaid" on his doorstep as he got the milk in, or chased down the road by a pack of baying paparazzi. He is in trouble today, not because some ghastly "leftie" from the BBC was hounding him, but because he is finding that the much seen pantomime that he puts on, with his constant scratching of his carefully-disarranged hair, and general buffoonery is becoming ever so slightly wearing. I'm afraid his yellow fluffy halo is beginning to slip.
You can fool some of the people all of the time, etc etc.
Eddie Mair is a very polite, urbane interviewer. I have seen him give Labour and Liberal politicians just as hard a time as he gave Boris. Not that he DID give him a hard time, he just gave him an opportunity to account for perceived oddities in his record as a successful politician.
I think he is lucky that he wasn't interviewed by Paxman !
Thanks chaptazbru !
You can always tell when the Tories are getting windy...they start attacking the BBC !
Another tell tale sign is going after the anti-immigrant vote...see todays headlines.
I am always ready to defend the BBC from all comers. Personally I would pay my licence fee for John Humphries, Jeremy Paxman (but not the other bloody Jeremey, on a Sunday night ) and The Archers alone !
You can always tell when the Tories are getting windy...they start attacking the BBC !
Another tell tale sign is going after the anti-immigrant vote...see todays headlines.
I am always ready to defend the BBC from all comers. Personally I would pay my licence fee for John Humphries, Jeremy Paxman (but not the other bloody Jeremey, on a Sunday night ) and The Archers alone !
I despair at those who are berating this interview for being 'left wing' or 'nasty'. If the material involved is nasty, it follows that the questions can't avoid being uncomfortable or nasty. Frankly, I'm pleased to see some principled and incisive behaviour from a journalist - it's an extremely rare quality in that profession.
The idea that if a journalist is asking a question that is difficult it is somehow being 'rude' or needlessly offensive is utterly repugnant. Politicians should be held accountable - and in British politics particularly, personalities have a huge amount of influence on policymaking. Anyone who dismisses attempt to investigate this as 'disgusting bias' purely because happens to be levelled at someone on their own side has no right to call themselves a patriot, and has no entitlement to be considered a rational member of the electorate. If you don't believe politicians should be asked awkward questions, you deserve everything you get from them. Because it's your fault.
The idea that if a journalist is asking a question that is difficult it is somehow being 'rude' or needlessly offensive is utterly repugnant. Politicians should be held accountable - and in British politics particularly, personalities have a huge amount of influence on policymaking. Anyone who dismisses attempt to investigate this as 'disgusting bias' purely because happens to be levelled at someone on their own side has no right to call themselves a patriot, and has no entitlement to be considered a rational member of the electorate. If you don't believe politicians should be asked awkward questions, you deserve everything you get from them. Because it's your fault.
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