Tim Shipman in The Sunday Times has another story this week about the ongoing crisis in Downing Street: “Paralysed in No 10, are the PM and his wife ready to let it go?” It claims Carrie is feeling under pressure and wouldn’t be unhappy to see Johnson quit. He is said to have looked at touring the USA and giving speeches at a cool $250,000 a pop. You never know if these gossipy stories are true or not do you? But we can all pray that they are.
Anyone prepared to cough up several hundred dollars to listen to the fatuous Johnson speak on any subject deserves to be fleeced.
The story is in part prompted by a book titled - First Lady: Intrigue at the Court of Carrie and Boris Johnson, being serialised in the Mail on Sunday and claiming that a hen-pecked Johnson is manipulated by his wife.
The book, claims that Carrie would use his mobile phone “to try to direct and control events and quotes the Prime Minister as telling aides: 'Don't do anything that's going to make her torture me when I get home. You've just got to help me. My life at home's miserable. You've got to find a way to make this bearable for me’.”
All denied of course, but it has the ring of truth. She probably has more political conviction than he has. He is said to be surrounded by her friends like Henry Newman who help to reinforce her influence. Cummings is said to have helped with the book which was funded by Lord Ashcroft. .
I think it’s hard to change things from Whitehall even if you have real convictions and a vision of how you want things to be in future. But Johnson never had any as far as I can see, which is what made him an ideal candidate for many MPs and donors, all of whom thought they would be able to control him and influence policy.
One adviser says he intends to cling on to the last and is making it clear it will take a panzer division to get him out.
The appointment of Steve Barclay as chief of staff comes across as desperate with some people even questioning if it’s legal! Jonathan Powell, Blair’s former chief of staff, on Twitter doesn’t think it can work:
Steve Barclay MP as Chief of Staff? Does he resign as an MP? Or is he answerable to Parliament? I can think of no democracy where the chief of staff can also be in the legislature. Thread
— Jonathan Powell (@jnpowell1) February 5, 2022
Powell is surprised the cabinet secretary agreed to it.
Alongside Barclay, Guto Harri is appointed communications chief. Harri worked with Johnson at City Hall but he’s a remainer who has in the past called the PM “sexually incontinent.” Things are really getting desperate.
In The Times story, Nigel Adams, MP for Selby & Ainsty, is described as the man “who has been co-ordinating ‘Operation Save Big Dog’ in the Commons", which is precisely what you would expect from the utterly useless and deluded stooge. Johnson’s departure will spell the end of Adams’ ministerial career, something we can all be grateful for.
Adams is said to be in line for the chief whip’s job when Mark Spencer, the present occupant who is taking a lot of flak for his handling of the mutiny in the ranks, is sacked, swelling even further the toll of aides and advisers who have have had to go to save 'big dog.' Soon it will be just be the Old Etonian Johnson and the son of a school caretaker from Goole left on the bridge as the good ship BoJo sinks beneath the waves. What an odd couple they will make.
Luckily, Adams' reputation won't be damaged any more by sticking with the known liar and charlatan. His was destroyed a long time ago.
I notice in Tim Shipman’s report one aide is quoted as saying, “It is unclear if we are heading to the sunlit uplands or the valley of death.” I think what he or she means is - they are headed for the valley of death - full stop.
The letters continue to go in to Sir Graham Brady, with various estimates ranging from the low 30s to as many as 45, even 50. But, when we do eventually get to 54 and a vote of no confidence is triggered, he might well win. There are an awful lot of dimwits in the Conservative party at the moment.
Tory MPs are going to have to decide if it’s better to ditch him now or let the whole disastrous affair roll on until whenever the Metropolitan police finish investigating partygate and issue fines, when Johnson will almost certainly have to go anyway. But it could take months.
They would be well advised to dump him sooner rather than later.
Elsewhere, in The Guardian, William Keegan says, rightly in my view, that Leaving the EU has effectively left this government unable to pay for its own ambition to ‘level up’ the country.
Keegan points to the wish list of the levelling up agenda announced last week by Gove but which has no new money attached to it because Brexit has left the economy tens of billions of pounds short! We left to take back control but now find we haven’t got the money to exercise any.
He also says:
"Winning that last election was not quite the Johnsonian triumph it was held out to be. Frankly – and I know this will offend many Labour voters, who saw lots in the Corbyn programme that they liked – it was to a very considerable extent an anti-Corbyn election."
