Spectator boris johnson

Jonathan Miller 24 July 2019 4:16 PM 24 July 2019 4:16 PM Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Whatsapp So, what do the French make of Boris Johnson? Ridicule, contempt and inevitable comparisons to President Trump characterise the reaction of the media and political classes here, who are simply incapable of understanding the appeal of a politician operating outside the blob. Le Monde this morning had little to say about Britain’s new prime minister other than that he is known for his ‘eccentricities, flexible positions, narcissism and lies.’ Of course, precisely the same could be said of French president Emmanuel Macron, but you’ll never read this in Le Monde. ‘A liar, egotist, eccentric, obsessed with money,’ declared Libération, in a nearly identical summation of Britain’s new prime minister, laying on a thick layer of ridicule. Jean Quatremer, Brussels correspondent of Libé, added, not without a … [Read more...] about What do the French elite make of Boris Johnson?

The Spectator 23 July 2019 12:44 PM 23 July 2019 12:44 PM Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Whatsapp Thank you, Cheryl. Thank you, Charles. Thank you very much, Brandon, for a fantastic, well-organised campaign. I think it did a lot of credit, as Brandon has just said, to our party, to our values and to our ideals. But I want to begin by thanking my opponent, Jeremy. By common consent, an absolutely formidable campaigner and a great leader and a great politician. Jeremy, in the course of 20 hustings… or hustings-style events – it was more than 3000 miles by the way, it’s about 7000 miles that we did criss-crossing the country. You’ve been friendly. You’ve been good natured. You’ve been a font of excellent ideas, all of which I propose to steal forthwith. And above all, I want to thank our outgoing leader, Theresa May, for her extraordinary service to this party and to this country. It was a privilege to serve in her … [Read more...] about Full text: Boris Johnson’s victory speech

James Forsyth 23 July 2019 12:45 PM 23 July 2019 12:45 PM Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Whatsapp Boris Johnson is the new leader of the Conservative party. He has defeated Jeremy Hunt by a two to one margin, 66 to 34 per cent. This gives him a mandate and will boost his political authority—a boost that he desperately needs given how small his working majority will be, even in combination with the DUP. Boris Johnson’s speech was clearly a holding exercise, his team want to reserve their main messages for tomorrow when he actually becomes prime minister. It wouldn’t be a good look for him to be setting out his plans for the country to his Tory colleagues rather than the country as a whole. But perhaps the most telling thing about the speech was how typically Boris it was. There were jokes and bad puns. Unlike when he became foreign secretary, Boris Johnson isn’t going to try and change his style. This is a risk; will his … [Read more...] about Boris Johnson’s risky strategy is to be himself

Lloyd Evans 22 July 2019 9:53 AM 22 July 2019 9:53 AM Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Whatsapp Only one person in Britain now believes that Boris might deprive us of a Jeremy Hunt premiership. That person is Jeremy Hunt. The rest of us expect the ‘Blonde Ambition’ project to reach fruition and for Boris to enter Number 10. This will come as no surprise to anyone who knows him. Nature always marked him out. Even as a first-year Balliol student, aged 18, he was weirdly conspicuous – the ruddy jowls, the stooped bullish stance, the booming Duke of Wellington voice, and the freakish white bob crowning his head like a heavenly spotlight. He was always one to watch. People say he can’t ‘do detail’. But nobody spends four years studying classics at Oxford without the power to absorb and retain a mass of abstract information. The master of Balliol, Sir Anthony Kenny, used to teach Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics by … [Read more...] about Boris Johnson will soon be the most popular leader in the world