Forum Topic

A very British coup d'etat           

So ... we have a very longstanding convention that a minister who lies to Parliament (let alone to the Queen) has to resign. But we have a proven liar in charge, who refuses to resign, and has suborned the police to secure his position. Surely we should no longer regard him as our legitimate PM? This is what they call in Latin America an 'auto-golpe', when someone who was legitimately elected then clings to power in defiance of the law.

James Tickell ● 1696d23 Comments

Let matters take their course. A Prime Minister who loses majority support in Parliament will cease to hold the position.

Richard Greenhough ● 1696d

First of all it was 'wait for Sue Gray's report'- well now we have a half-a*sed report and now the refrain from the Chief Liar is 'we have to wait for the next inquiry'.We can only live more in hope than expectation that a lot more on the Tory side find their cojones before they get dragged down into the mire along with him. Lay down with dogs you get up with fleas.

Vanessa Smith ● 1696d

Remember though ~ It could have been far, far, far worse for the nation to have voted for that honest peaceable gentleman The Rt. Hon Jeremy Corbyn MP former leader of the Labour Party  ~ aye?

Bobbie Carnegie ● 1696d

Bobbie, you may be right but that's not the point.The point is the PM's  credibility has been torn to shreds and he is dragging his party's one with him.He may think that kicking the can down the road will save him but all he is doing is landing it nearer and nearer to the local elections resulting the Conservatives receiving a even heavier drumming as a result.Far better for him to face the music now,(if not weeks ago) get the matter behind him and hope to move on.

Adrian Irving ● 1696d

Adrian: But, we all knew already what he was like didn't we? The nation wanting a much maligned Brexit that was so misread by all the po-faced know-it-all pundits along with Labour and other political parties pushing so patronisingly for remaining in the EU threw Brexit voters reluctantly into the only arms open to them being Boris Johnson's hugger-mugger embrace.

Bobbie Carnegie ● 1696d

Lest you forget, there were many Tories keen to remain in the EU, including the then PM and Chancellor. The current Foreign Secretary was very pro remain. There were Labour MPs keen to leave.The Russians were hugely keen for us to leave too as were some  billionaires, racists and misguided nationalists. Johnson exploited the situation fo secure the job he so wanted but is obviously incapable of doing.A much maligned Brexit?  Deservedly so.

Stewart Jones ● 1696d

I know many on here are happy to have a go at Britain generally which is pretty depressing but I think Britain has a lot going for it. Unfortunately that is despite our dismal political candidates who are the laughing stock of the world. For goodness sake, we need some candidates who reflect, project and enhance all the brilliant things about this country.

Claire Moran ● 1695d

I was listening to a radio interview this week with an eminent former diplomat (I think) who was an expert in Russian matters (including experience of negotiating with them).She explained - with reference to Ukraine - that Russian foreign policy with regards to countries they cannot control, and so want to weaken, is to drive a wedge to separate them from their allies and to cause internal division.Brexit in a nutshell.And as for the Tory's new found claims that they will clean Russian money out of the London laundrette; why the new enthusiasm to cure a problem of their own making, and which has long suited them so well?

T P Howell ● 1695d

Rather ironic some of these comments - whichever way you voted, it would have been a bit of a coup to ignore the vote to Leave, wouldn’t it not?Btw, keep up with the conspiracy theories, MCB News has been a tad quiet of late, and I need all the entertainment I can get, in these bleak late winter evenings.

Russell Pearson ● 1695d

If you cleaned out the Chinese and Russian money out of the UK market there would be a huge loss to Hounslow Council plans for concreting over West London with tat High rises.

Basil Finnis ● 1695d

On a slightly different note, one of the more amusing asides during the debate on Sue Gray's report was when Ian Blackford called Boris a liar ("wilfully misled" was the phrase). He was immediately brought to task by the speaker who said that it was not OK to call someone a liar in parliamentary debate. So, it is fine to make all sorts of other allegations under parliamentary privilege. Telling the truth appears to be a No-No.... unless you do what Blackford subsequently did and stick an "inadvertently" in front of it. He followed this up with “It’s not my fault if the Prime Minister can’t be trusted to tell the truth.”

John Hickman ● 1695d

Pity then that nothing was said to Johnson regarding his total lie about Keir Starmer not prosecuting Savile. It has been exposed as such in every newspaper I've read, and again on BBC T.V. - yet still that knobhead Gove defended him. Bozo forgets which Tory P.M. knighted the predator though doesn't he, and had lots of chummy photos taken with him?

Vanessa Smith ● 1695d

Starmer was too busy going after Paul Gambaccini.

Richard Greenhough ● 1694d

Your comment about Keir Starmer is almost as scurrilous as Johnson's. There is a huge difference between Starmer's being accused by Gambaccini of being [indirectly] responsible for his problems as a result of the change in policy with regard to child abuse victims he introduced whilst DPP and your defamatory allegation that Starmer went after him.

Robert Fish ● 1694d

Incidentally, the constant re-bailing of Gambaccini occurred on Alison Saunders's watch as DPP, not Starmer's.

Robert Fish ● 1694d

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/paul-gambaccini-ill-run-against-keir-starmer-over-my-child-abuse-witch-hunt-v8xjn68km

Richard Greenhough ● 1694d

I understand Gambaccini's reasons for challenging Starmer, but that still doesn't excuse your scurrilous allegation that Starmer was "busy going after him".

Robert Fish ● 1694d

Funny how Stermer gets his knickers in a twist about something that he supposidly did while joining in with the disgusting lies that Corbyn was an anti semite. Quite funny to see him upset over supposed falsehoods!

Basil Finnis ● 1694d

Basil, you're exactly the sort of Labour supporter that makes me wonder whether Labour will ever be elected again. Corbyn may not have been an anti-Semite, but he was very reluctant to admit the scale of the problem in the party.

Robert Fish ● 1694d

Don't talk nonsense. It was a tiny percentage that they even found in the Labour party! Have a guess on the percentage? There's loads more antisemitism and anti Muslim racism in the Conservative party but that's overlooked obviously. Something that you want to overlook as well it seems? Look it up if you want the facts but I imagine bozos like you believe any old rubbish you're fed.Or maybe you have an agenda where it suits you to spout rubbish?

Basil Finnis ● 1694d

And I don't vote Labour so you're flipping wrong on that for starters. Send the next clown in.

Basil Finnis ● 1694d

You make too many assumptions and start to get offensive before you've given any serious thought to the position of the other person. As it happens, I'm also of the opinion that there is probably much more islamophobia in the Conservative Party than anti-Semitism in Labour. But, even though it's been magnified by the attention drawn to it by Tories, don't underestimate the scale of the problem in the Labour party.

Robert Fish ● 1694d

It would not surprise me if there was a fair sized dollop of both in both parties.

Keith Iddon ● 1694d