Taking aim at Johnson, British PM hopefuls make Brexit case

[webfact]

Taking aim at Johnson, British PM hopefuls make Brexit case

By Elizabeth Piper

 

Boris Johnson, leadership candidate for Britain's Conservative Prime Minister, leaves his home in London, Britain June 15, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Several hopefuls vying to replace British Prime Minister Theresa May turned their fire on favourite Boris Johnson on Sunday, questioning his pledge to leave the European Union by the end of October no matter what.

 

With former London mayor and foreign minister Johnson keeping a low profile, the other candidates have targeted the air waves to try to present their cases to lead the governing Conservative Party. But the question always returns to "Boris".

 

The free publicity has done little so far to hurt Johnson, who unlike many politicians is better know by his first name Boris. He secured a large lead in the first round of voting and his team hopes for an increased share this week in the second.

 

But now the gloves are off. Candidate after candidate on Sunday questioned his ability to navigate Britain's departure from the EU, saying his pledge to leave on Oct. 31 was nigh on impossible and would set Britain on track for a no deal Brexit.

 

"The difference between me and Boris is that I would try for a deal," said foreign minister Jeremy Hunt, who is running in second place in the leadership contest.

 

"I am not going to create a set of circumstances that makes it all but impossible to get a deal because I think we should be offering the country some better choices," he told the BBC Andrew Marr Show, adding that he was the only "alternative".

 

One of Hunt's supporters, work and pensions minister Amber Rudd, went further, making a thinly veiled criticism of what she described as some candidates "do or die approach" to Brexit without "considering the consequences to people's jobs".

 

TORY TOAST

Almost three years since Britain voted to leave the EU, the country, the parliament and both of the main parties are still deeply divided over how, when and even whether Brexit should happen.

 

Brexit has claimed two prime ministers. David Cameron resigned shortly after the referendum and now May is making way for a successor because of her failure to get a deal she agreed with the EU through parliament.

 

The question over Britain's membership of the bloc is dominating the Conservative leadership race, with many of the candidates, albeit some of them reluctantly, saying they would lead the country out without a Brexit deal.

 

One, Rory Stewart, who wants to rule out a no deal Brexit, took issue with Johnson's argument that the only way to get an improved deal from the EU was to prepare for leaving without an agreement and using that as leverage.

 

"They are not scared of it because it is not a credible threat. The European Union knows no deal cannot get through parliament," he told the BBC, taking aim at Johnson for not offering up his views to scrutiny.

 

"How is Boris going to deliver Brexit, how? ... I don't even know what he believes. He won't talk to me, he won't talk to you, he won't talk to the public. We want to know what he believes," said Stewart, international development minister.

 

Dominic Raab, a former Brexit minister who is more in tune with Johnson but declined to say whether he would back him, said there was time to catch up with the frontrunner by taking part in debates to explain policy. All the candidates, except for Johnson, will take part in a debate later on Sunday.

 

"The Tory party will be toast unless we are out by the end of October," Raab told Sky News. "I certainly think the Conservatives cannot win an election unless we've delivered Brexit."

 

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-06-17

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[geoffbezoz]

And no doubt very soon we will have the usual bunch of Brexiteers soon singing his praises on the Forum, once they wake up that is from their dreaming ????????????????

[sotsira]

If Boris becomes PM I think he will end up becoming the shortest

reigning PM in history with the way he conducts himself, it's just

a matter of time. 

[geoffbezoz]

4 minutes ago, sotsira said:

If Boris becomes PM I think he will end up becoming the shortest

reigning PM in history with the way he conducts himself, it's just

a matter of time. 

At the moment that record is held by George Canning who lasted 5 months so you could well be right

[vogie]

I can understand remainers not liking Boris, afteral he is one of the PM contenders most likely to honour the democratic referendum and get us out of the EU. The entire Tory party is reliant on Boris to save them from extinction, maybe he is the only one to do it, who knows.

Putting another remainer in charge, like Hunt or Stewart will surely finish the Tories off completely.

[jesimps]

1 hour ago, geoffbezoz said:

And no doubt very soon we will have the usual bunch of Brexiteers soon singing his praises on the Forum, once they wake up that is from their dreaming ????????????????

I think the only thing you'll hear from Brexiteers on here is the desire for parliament to do the democratic thing and carry out the wishes of the people ie the ones who won the referendum. You see, that's why democracy was installed in most countries in the world in the first place. You'll never get all the people to agree all the time, therefore a system called democracy was instituted, where everyone had a vote and whoever got the most votes was the winner. Of course, for this system to work, the losers must accept that they lost, which has been the case until recent times. Now, here and in the US, the remainers and the left no longer seem to want to accept this. This is a very dangerous situation because democracy only works providing the losing sides are willing to concede defeat. When they don't, like at present, it could lead to a complete breakdown of democracy. One thing I think is certain, if Brexit doesn't happen, I for one and I'm sure many others will lose complete faith in the British system of voting. A system, which until recently, has been a template for the rest of the world.

Edited June 17, 2019 by jesimps

[Lucius verus]

Brexit is sort of like heroin. Anyone who touches it is destroyed.

If Boris becomes PM the UK will have BO JO and Australia SCO MO.

Lol.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, vogie said:

I can understand remainers not liking Boris, afteral he is one of the PM contenders most likely to honour the democratic referendum and get us out of the EU. The entire Tory party is reliant on Boris to save them from extinction, maybe he is the only one to do it, who knows.

Putting another remainer in charge, like Hunt or Stewart will surely finish the Tories off completely.

I'm not sure on what basis you can predict the future actions of Boris, nothing he says can be taken as truth.

 

Tories failing to deliver an increasingly unpopular Brexit or Tories delivering and increasingly unpopular Brexit and destroying the economy while doing so. 

 

My punt, if the winner of the Tory knife fight goes for a Hard Brexit, or attempts to shutdown Parliament there will be a vote of no confidence and a General Election. 

 

The Tories are toast whichever way it goes. 

[bert bloggs]

7 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I'm not sure on what basis you can predict the future actions of Boris, nothing he says can be taken as truth.

 

Tories failing to deliver an increasingly unpopular Brexit or Tories delivering and increasingly unpopular Brexit and destroying the economy while doing so. 

 

My punt, if the winner of the Tory knife fight goes for a Hard Brexit, or attempts to shutdown Parliament there will be a vote of no confidence and a General Election. 

 

The Tories are toast whichever way it goes. 

Oh no ,confused again you are Chomper

[Bluespunk]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

How is Boris going to deliver Brexit, how? ... I don't even know what he believes. He won't talk to me, he won't talk to you, he won't talk to the public. 

The coward failed to show up for tv debate yesterday. Too scared to face his fellow challengers. 

[vogie]

5 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I'm not sure on what basis you can predict the future actions of Boris, nothing he says can be taken as truth.

 

Tories failing to deliver an increasingly unpopular Brexit or Tories delivering and increasingly unpopular Brexit and destroying the economy while doing so. 

 

My punt, if the winner of the Tory knife fight goes for a Hard Brexit, or attempts to shutdown Parliament there will be a vote of no confidence and a General Election. 

 

The Tories are toast whichever way it goes. 

Nobody is predicting anything, that is a reserve for remainers, all I am stating is probabilities, it is remainers saying that Brexit is not going to happen.

 

Tories failing to deliver an increasingly unpopular Brexit or Tories delivering and increasingly unpopular Brexit and destroying the economy while doing so. 

A remainer Prime Minister failed to deliver Brexit, remember her and her mighty words that "no deal is better than a bad deal" well Mrs May has announced that she will try to scupper any 'no deal,' you really couldn't make this stuff up, all proving she never wanted to leave in the first place and she has just led the country down the garden path for the last three years.

 

If the Tories don't go for Brexit by the end of Oct they are toast, so Boris is the Tories only chance, should he be successfull I think a statue of him placed next to Nelson in Travalgar Square would be most fitting. And of course if he is not successfull there will be quite a few defections to the new Brexit Party.

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

2 minutes ago, vogie said:

Nobody is predicting anything, that is a reserve for remainers, all I am stating is probabilities, it is remainers saying that Brexit is not going to happen.

 

Tories failing to deliver an increasingly unpopular Brexit or Tories delivering and increasingly unpopular Brexit and destroying the economy while doing so. 

A remainer Prime Minister failed to deliver Brexit, remember her and her mighty words that "no deal is better than a bad deal" well Mrs May has announced that she will try to scupper any 'no deal,' you really couldn't make this stuff up, all proving she never wanted to leave in the first place and she has just led the country down the garden path for the last three years.

 

If the Tories don't go for Brexit by the end of Oct they are toast, so Boris is the Tories only chance, should he be successfull I think a statue of him placed next to Nelson in Travalgar Square would be most fitting. And of course if he is not successfull there will be quite a few defections to the new Brexit Party.

 

 

The Tories are toast because of the mess Brexit is so far.

 

When 43,000 Leave supporters fail to show up to vote for the Brexit Party in one single constituency, it’s hard to argue there is anything but dwindling support for Brexit.

 

Good luck selling the ‘self harm’ no deal nonsense 

[vogie]

2 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The Tories are toast because of the mess Brexit is so far.

 

When 43,000 Leave supporters fail to show up to vote for the Brexit Party in one single constituency, it’s hard to argue there is anything but dwindling support for Brexit.

 

Good luck selling the ‘self harm’ no deal nonsense 

You may be correct about the Tories being toast, just proves my point though about how good the remainers are good at predictions, or is it wishfull thinking.

Brexit is not going to go away just because you want it to. If the Tories get weaker, the Brexit party will get stronger

[Chomper Higgot]

5 minutes ago, vogie said:

You may be correct about the Tories being toast, just proves my point though about how good the remainers are good at predictions, or is it wishfull thinking.

Brexit is not going to go away just because you want it to. If the Tories get weaker, the Brexit party will get stronger

What because Tory voters are all closet Farage fans.

 

Let’s hear Brexit Party policies on health, welfare, education, housing, public transport, policing, defense, pensions, the environment, infrastructure and the future of the NHS all the stuff that matters.

 

 

 

 

[tomacht8]

.... All the candidates, except for Johnson, will take part in a debate later on Sunday.

 

What does it mean?

Right now, the UK needs someone to hold the country together and lead it.

And now that qualities are in demand, Boris hides. What's this? Like 3 years ago, again afraid of responsibility.

[evadgib]

2 hours ago, vogie said:

I can understand remainers not liking Boris, afteral he is one of the PM contenders most likely to honour the democratic referendum and get us out of the EU. The entire Tory party is reliant on Boris to save them from extinction, maybe he is the only one to do it, who knows.

Putting another remainer in charge, like Hunt or Stewart will surely finish the Tories off completely.

Sky's press preview pointed out this morning that Raab took some flack in the absence of the only other Brexit candidate and let's not forget just how biased last nights hosts (Ch4 news) have been since the referendum.

Edited June 17, 2019 by evadgib

[brewsterbudgen]

1 hour ago, jesimps said:

I think the only thing you'll hear from Brexiteers on here is the desire for parliament to do the democratic thing and carry out the wishes of the people ie the ones who won the referendum. You see, that's why democracy was installed in most countries in the world in the first place. You'll never get all the people to agree all the time, therefore a system called democracy was instituted, where everyone had a vote and whoever got the most votes was the winner. Of course, for this system to work, the losers must accept that they lost, which has been the case until recent times. Now, here and in the US, the remainers and the left no longer seem to want to accept this. This is a very dangerous situation because democracy only works providing the losing sides are willing to concede defeat. When they don't, like at present, it could lead to a complete breakdown of democracy. One thing I think is certain, if Brexit doesn't happen, I for one and I'm sure many others will lose complete faith in the British system of voting. A system, which until recently, has been a template for the rest of the world.

Nonsense.  The UK is a parliamentary democracy. The referendum was advisory, despite what the likes of Cameron said at the time. 3 years on, everything has changed in terms of understanding what Brexit means and demographically.  The only way out of this mess is for a General Election with parties making their Brexit policy clear.

[BobBKK]

Hope he loses tons of votes for being a coward.

[vogie]

12 minutes ago, tomacht8 said:

.... All the candidates, except for Johnson, will take part in a debate later on Sunday.

 

What does it mean?

Right now, the UK needs someone to hold the country together and lead it.

And now that qualities are in demand, Boris hides. What's this? Like 3 years ago, again afraid of responsibility.

It means channel 4 is overly biased.

[blazes]

31 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

What because Tory voters are all closet Farage fans.

 

Let’s hear Brexit Party policies on health, welfare, education, housing, public transport, policing, defense, pensions, the environment, infrastructure and the future of the NHS all the stuff that matters.

 

 

 

 

 

Since Chomper is challenging us all to "predict", let me take him up on that last challenge:  I believe (and of course anything we, all of us, say here is just a matter of  "belief", like guessing the Derby winner) that the policy of the Brexit Party would differ very little indeed from the policies of most of the centrist parties of the UK and the EU and Canada (and even of the Demo/GOP parties of the US).  No body dares to step too far from the Centre, not even Chomper.

Edited June 17, 2019 by blazes

[RuamRudy]

Edited June 17, 2019 by RuamRudy

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, vogie said:

It means channel 4 is overly biased.

Johnson who tells the nation he can sort out the EU by being tough in negotiations runs and hides from a TV debate.

 

Your contention that channel 4 is biased is an opinion without, in my opinion any basis.

That the EU negotiating team are biased is a fact.

 

Johnson hiding from alleged bias is not an argument you should make if you favour his candidacy.

[evadgib]

57 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

The coward failed to show up for tv debate yesterday. Too scared to face his fellow challengers. 

I am not aware why BJ wasn't available and nor am I overly impressed that he's the front runner but I cannot blame him for not wanting to turn up for a pointless debate in a biased arena.

Edited June 17, 2019 by evadgib

[vogie]

3 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

Pathetic. 

[tomacht8]

1 minute ago, vogie said:

It means channel 4 is overly biased.

555

All candidates are there, only Boris not? Apparently he has no standing power. How can he, with this weakness, ever conduct difficult negotiations? Running away and hiding is not a solution.

[AGareth2]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

One of Hunt's supporters, work and pensions minister Amber Rudd, went further, making a thinly veiled criticism of what she described as some candidates "do or die approach" to Brexit without "considering the consequences to people's jobs".

did she mean ministerial jobs?

[RuamRudy]

Just now, vogie said:

Pathetic. 

Why? Do you think the morality or otherwise of our leaders is irrelevant? 

 

[vogie]

2 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Johnson who tells the nation he can sort out the EU by being tough in negotiations runs and hides from a TV debate.

 

Your contention that channel 4 is biased is an opinion without, in my opinion any basis.

That the EU negotiating team are biased is a fact.

 

Johnson hiding from alleged bias is not an argument you should make if you favour his candidacy.

I think it would be fair to say that anyone with a leftist persuasion would say that Channel 4 and the BBC are not biased, when they are embarrassingly biased.

[vogie]

2 minutes ago, tomacht8 said:

555

All candidates are there, only Boris not? Apparently he has no standing power. How can he, with this weakness, ever conduct difficult negotiations? Running away and hiding is not a solution.

Boris didn't need to be there, the others are fighting for any scraps they can get.

[nahkit]

39 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The Tories are toast because of the mess Brexit is so far.

 

When 43,000 Leave supporters fail to show up to vote for the Brexit Party in one single constituency, it’s hard to argue there is anything but dwindling support for Brexit.

 

Good luck selling the ‘self harm’ no deal nonsense 

So, in your opinion, one constituency defines the level of support for Brexit? 

 

The Brexit party received the highest share of the vote in 9 of the 12 regions so what does that say about support for Brexit rather than hand-picking one constituency?

 

The fact that 72% of voters turned out for the Brexit vote and just under 37% bothered to vote in the European elections just might say something about how the voters feel.