Johnson MASSIVE U turn

[Donnywolf]

... just caved in to remove the NHS Medical "fee" *** for people from overseas that he defended with all his bluster yesterday

Well done Kier and everyone else who threw up their hands in disbelief including many ex eminent Tories and loads of Journos
*** Imigration Health surcharge

[bpoolrover]

Yes well done everyone and well done boris for making the right choice

[Donnywolf]

... eventually

[bpoolrover]

The sign of a good pm is changing your mind to do the right thing

[BillyStubbsTears]

The sign of a REALLY good one is not defending the bleeding indefensible in the first place.

He stood up in Parliament yesterday and defended a policy of imposing a £624 per family member surcharge on the very nurses who saved his damn life. Quite beyond belief that it took a national outcry to force him into a squirming retraction.

[bpoolrover]

 I said it abit tongue in cheek to be honest but at least the right outcome has been reached

[IDM]

Johnson missed a trick big style - he could have reversed this policy when he left hospital, as a result of the influence of the treatment he had just received.

[Donnywolf]

I said it abit tongue in cheek to be honest but at least the right outcome has been reached

Thanks to Johnson being TOLD by public opinion he was WRONG to implement it in the first place

If everyone had have kept stum today the charge would not have been dropped and "the moment" would have gone

Thats me out

[Filo]

The sign of a good pm is changing your mind to do the right thing

The sign of a good leader of the Opposition is highlighting the fact and presenting the case to such a good degree that it embarrasses the PM into changing his policy the very next day 

[bpoolrover]

Quite possibly filo but at least the right decision has been made now

[i_ateallthepies]

bpool, if the first decision was defensible he wouldn't have needed to 'make the right decision now'.  You keep defending the indefensible mate.

[Filo]

Quite possibly filo but at least the right decision has been made now

Yes it is the right thing to do, however I believe his reason for the u turn is more about him losing popularity than being morally right

[ravenrover]

Allegedly done some "hard thinking" about it

[wilts rover]

The sign of a good pm is changing your mind to do the right thing

Nah, the sign of a good PM is getting good advice in the first place so the decisions you make a re the right ones.

Because sometimes by the time you come to change your mind it's too late:

...herd immunity...

[Bentley Bullet]

Nah, Boris changed his mind as a diplomatic gesture, as a good PM should.

...diplomatic Immunity...

[BillyStubbsTears]

Example of Johnson opening his gob before it was connected to his brain and thereafter not being able to unshit the bed that he had fouled.

http://camdennewjournal.com/article/nazanin-campaign-blundering-boris-johnson-not-fit-to-be-pm

Absolute f**king boneheaded idiocy that gave the Iranian Govt all the cover it needed to keep a British citizen under arrest.

[Glyn_Wigley]

Quite possibly filo but at least the right decision has been made now

Why wasn't it made in the first place?

[turnbull for england]

Nah, Boris changed his mind as a diplomatic gesture, as a good PM should.

...diplomatic Immunity...

to be read in Jos Ackland  south African accent

[tyke1962]

It's finally come to a head today .

Several members of my partners family are Johnson supporters , won't hear a wrong word spoken about him .

A bit of a spat on a prominent social media site involving my partner and these members of her family .

It's not so much they support Johnson , everyone's entitled to vote the way they choose to , no it's the shyte they come out with to defend this idiot .

My partner is out there in the front line working within social care and is fully aware of how this things being handled , the lack of PPE etc etc etc , she's come home in tears and she's extremely stressed and I'm extremely worried about her but the fact is her sense of duty keeps her going to work , they are short staffed as it is .

When this lot today come out and tell her he's the best PM we've had in years your blood just boils .

The long of the short of it once this thing ends we won't be putting ourselves in their company , it's getting left at that but we certainly don't want to be around them .

I cannot get my head around why people cannot see what this buffoon is and defend him like they do .

[albie]

Unless I have it wrong, Johnson today has agreed this charge should be dropped for health workers.

So, 2 questions;

1) Why do other key workers (in other sectors) have to pay this surcharge,
2) Are all workers who have paid this unjust fee in previous years to get a rebate?

It seems to me that if you pay UK Tax and NI, then you have already made your payment.
Would it be right for Insurance to insist that you pay in for 5 years before your policy kicks in?

[foxbat]

Make no mistake , this is a massive win for Kier Starmer

Johnson caved in under the pressure  , including the charge "immoral and monstrous" by a former Tory chairman .
 
Though any fair and decent Government would never need shaming into doing the right thing

[BillyStubbsTears]

Momentum is a funny thing in politics.

Being seen to define the agenda is a massive thing. It determines who the public thinks is in charge.

After the election 6 months ago, and the official Brexit, it looked like Johnson was the definitive agenda setter.

That's currently crumbling in front of our eyes. It's not terminal yet, but if Starmer keeps on making the political weather, and Johnson is just seen to be responding, it will become terminal.

[tyke1962]

You start fecking over workers in the NHS right now and you can expect the walls to come caving in .

Any idiot would have known that , but there are idiots and then there's Boris Johnson .

[BillyStubbsTears]

I think that's the key Tyke.

You get momentum in politics by personifying what the public wants.

Johnson was brilliant at that over Brexit. Admittedly, there was never a majority that actually wanted Brexit except for a few weeks either side of the vote, but he knew that he could convince the large minority who did want Brexit that he was their man. He was personally identified as the man who delivered them Brexit. And that won him the election in December.

But that is another world. Brexit is the last thing on most people's minds now. It is about health and security and basic compentence. And this is where he is on very dodgy ground. Because he's never had strengths in those areas. They require the skills, not of a showman, but of an organiser. A dull doer.

That's never been Johnson. The fact that he would make so predictable and stupid a political mistake as to align himself with the NHS surcharge yesterday is him all over. He doesn't think details through. He reacts. And in doing so, he's given Starmer a free hit to accuse him of being hypocritical over the NHS. And in the post-Brexit land that we are now in, the one thing you cannot do is to be seen to be uncaring of the NHS.

[tyke1962]

I think that's the key Tyke.

You get momentum in politics by personifying what the public wants.

Johnson was brilliant at that over Brexit. Admittedly, there was never a majority that actually wanted Brexit except for a few weeks either side of the vote, but he knew that he could convince the large minority who did want Brexit that he was their man. He was personally identified as the man who delivered them Brexit. And that won him the election in December.

But that is another world. Brexit is the last thing on most people's minds now. It is about health and security and basic compentence. And this is where he is on very dodgy ground. Because he's never had strengths in those areas. They require the skills, not of a showman, but of an organiser. A dull doer.

That's never been Johnson. The fact that he would make so predictable and stupid a political mistake as to align himself with the NHS surcharge yesterday is him all over. He doesn't think details through. He reacts. And in doing so, he's given Starmer a free hit to accuse him of being hypocritical over the NHS. And in the post-Brexit land that we are now in, the one thing you cannot do is to be seen to be uncaring of the NHS.

It feels very different now with the Labour Party , at long last it seems we have a leader who isn't a monkey on our backs .

It's definitely raised moral after last December's debacle .

Starmer is choosing his battles well , finding the weak points almost instinctively and going to work to provide him with the victory .

Johnson has now got a real problem because in order to fend off Starmer he's having to make himself and his government targets , targets that hang by a thread and on which they've failed to reach from PPE to testing .

The June 1st opening of schools won't be happening either .

[BillyStubbsTears]

The polls are reflecting that change too.

The last 5 polls before Starmer was elected averaged 52-28 Con-Lab.

The last 5 polls now are averaging 48-34. That is a quick change of momentum.  Still a huge Tory lead of course, but it'll be interesting to see where they are by the end of the summer.

[Filo]

A big test will come when the bully’s are let back into the playground and how Starmer will react to them

[tyke1962]

The polls are reflecting that change too.

The last 5 polls before Starmer was elected averaged 52-28 Con-Lab.

The last 5 polls now are averaging 48-34. That is a quick change of momentum.  Still a huge Tory lead of course, but it'll be interesting to see where they are by the end of the summer.

I think personally SKS will be a slow burn for the electorate but I think his style and presentation will eventually break through .

Bluster and three word slogans aren't going to convince the more tuned in electorate with what's coming down the road .

It wouldn't surprise me if he totally capitulated on the trade deal with the EU either and pyssed off his new support .

Johnson is weak , absolutely no way would Thatcher have done a U turn today on the NHS surcharge .

I've said before Johnson won't be around to fight another election , there's already a breaking of the ranks with the more moderate Tories and the Times and Telegraph certainly have an agenda with Johnson .

Sunak the chancellor with the magic money tree will replace Johnson but I reckon by the time the Tories have fecked around the damage will already be done .

The Labour Party doesn't need the Express , Mail and Sun's support , they just need them to stop attacking Labour with relish .

If Starmer owning a field in Surrey is their best efforts then clearly they have a problem .

We all know middle England is where it's won and this is where I see Starmer connecting , the heartlands won't all jump on it , far too stubborn and stupid for that but enough will to overturn the last election .

Besides I don't particularly want their vote either , as I said to a member of my partners family today .

The worst leader and campaign in Labour Party history and a town who voted over 70% for Brexit and you still couldn't win in Barnsley Central or East .

Shove your Tory vote up your ass where it belongs .

[BillyStubbsTears]

We've had an era where populist clowns have risen to the top.

But when the are faced with the shit that the real world throws at them, we see the consequences.

I'd like to think that the coming era will be one where sober, careful competence is valued above vacuous tub thumping. And I'd like to see that on both sides of the political spectrum, which is why I've been impressed by Sunak.

A future in which Sunak faced Starmer and the electorate was faced with a choice between two different, but competent and rational visions would be a massive improvement on what we have experienced lately.

[tyke1962]

A big test will come when the bully’s are let back into the playground and how Starmer will react to them

Well I know how I'd handle that , the electorate have seen how a PMQ's should be .

I'd turn this right around and show them up for what they are .

I remember New Labour did a superb political broadcast in 1996 and turned John Major and co in to Spittin Image characters .

A similar character assassination with humour campaign would work very well .