Boris the Clown made Prime Minister

Boris Johnson the Clown made Prime Minister

Boris the Clown is now our Prime Minister, or is that Prime Minister of the Union, as he now wants to be called? But when he is called the clown I don’t think of a normal sad or happy clown, I think of Pennywise the clown from the Stephen King novel IT, a demonic entity hell bent on devouring those less powerful than him and who in the end is defeated by children. Sorry for the spoilers there.

It’s only been a few days and PM Johnson has made a few grandiose speeches about saving the union and making the UK the best country in the world and blah blah blah. So, what are these promises? How does he plan to make them come true? And what other changes has he made?

Police

He has made two main promises with regards to the police. He has promised 20,000 new officers within the next 3 years. He has also said they will get increased stop and search powers. This, he says, will lower the violent crime rate.

While I welcome increased resources for the police, I do have a few main issues with this pledge. His timetable seems a bit fanciful. 3 years? Not sure that can really be done. Why? Because, firstly I’m not sure the training infrastructure is in place to handle this. There is speculation that there may not even be enough places to fit an additional 20,000 officers into the force. The fact that several buildings were sold after the drastic fall in police numbers meant there was not enough officers to keep the stations open. In addition, where is the money for this drive going to come from? Kit Malthouse, the newly appointed Policing Minister said, “we still have to work out the exact number but we’re going into the spending review with the number of 20,000 as a fixed obligation and the finances will have to, kind of, back-fit”. Back-fit? You mean fudge right, you can’t just magic money out of thin air. Oh wait! Here comes that magic money tree again!!

So, is this just another soundbite meant to make BoJo sound great? Maybe, maybe not. DCI Warren Hines, from the West Midlands Police Federation said in an interview with The London Economic: “if [you] look at number of officers we are likely to lose in the next three years, through retirement and natural wastage, we will lose 20,000 over that period. We will only be where we are now.” So even if 20,000 can be trained it doesn’t mean an additional 20,000 officers on the street it just means the same levels as there are now.

Another issue I have with this new policy is that it makes a big song and dance about it cutting violent crime rates. While an admirable goal, it is not enough. As I have previously written about (see Looking Behind the Rise in Knife Crime), increasing police numbers is only one part of the puzzle. You must increase resources in other areas as well. Boris seems content with just throwing more police at the issue. Of course, when this fails, he will no doubt point the finger of blame at the police or increase their numbers again in an attempt to crack down on violent offenders. It will be a coincidence that the larger numbers of police will be used to crack down on protests against him. Outlandish thinking? Time will tell.

Brexit

All throughout his campaign Boris’ main policy has been about Brexit. He has said that the UK will leave the EU on 31^st October 2019 with or without a deal. However, he also said he would negotiate a new deal with the EU. As he saw it the UK would no longer show any weakness and that would show the EU that we mean business This new hard-line stance would forcing them into agreeing a new deal that has no back stop.

Nonsense, how many times does it have to be said, the Withdrawal Agreement will not be re-opened. The EU have been consistent in this stance throughout this process and that the backstop was a necessary part of the deal to stop the return of a hard border in Ireland, something nobody should want. This means either Boris is lying about his intentions regarding a new deal or he is ignorant and/or stupid. None of these prospects are appealing in a Prime Minister.

So why the pretence about a deal if his only option is no deal? He needs the population to believe he is trying to find a deal. When he fails it will be the EU which is blamed. This puts him in a position to call a General Election where his campaign then runs on the basis that anyone against a No Deal Brexit is anti-democratic. Pitting one side of the argument against the other in this way further increases the division in society, something he has already begun to push for. This adversarial mentality will solidify and rouse the right wing further to win him an election based on fear. Once in power based on an election rather than Tory internal voting, he will claim a mandate to deliver on his No Deal Brexit pushing the UK further down the rabbit hole with no way back.

These are the acts of a would-be dictator not a PM looking to heal a divided country. It is a worrying thought. Some may say this is nonsense and I don’t claim to have solid facts to back it up, but is this not how it has begun in other dictatorships? Dividing the country against itself and painting those who don’t support the government as traitors? This is also what seems to be happening in Trump’s administration.

So, does this seem really too far-fetched? Possibly but is true to say that this new government has been waving about its own brand of positivity and advocating that anyone who questions Britain’s ability to go it alone and make the best of the supposed new opportunities is negative and anti-democratic. Lord Digby Jones tweeted on the 28^th July :

Does this not seem like blaming the EU for Brexit? He is not the first to start this trend. The EU didn’t start this, the UK did. Why would they just give the UK what it wanted? Does it not have a right to protect its interests? It really isn’t much of a leap from where we are now to the hellscape to I am painting here. Do I hope I am right? God no! I really do hope this is far-fetched, but it really doesn’t feel like it.

NHS

In a bid to combat the image of him lying with the now notorious £350M bus, Johnson has decreed that the NHS will get an extra funding for various upgrades to 20, as yet unnamed, hospitals. Sounds like a lot, but I haven’t found a figure to suggest what the actual increase is and there are hundreds of hospitals in the UK so 20 upgrades aren’t really all that much. In fact, it seems that this may be just the funding increase that was already announced by Theresa May last year. So, nothing new there then. Easy to promise when the funding has already been promised.

It could be he is making even more funding available for these projects, however there are no details so we can’t make any comparisons at this point. He leaves it vague enough that when he is called out on it, he can simply point to anything and say “Look, I did this”, even though it was a policy promised by another government.

This kind of shady promise is something I believe he will make use of a lot. It costs nothing to make hollow promises that can’t be confirmed, but they make great soundbites which people buy into. It is something Trump does frequently and the comparisons between Trump and Johnson are well documented and plain to see.

I welcome any increase in funding to the NHS but using the image of supposed big funding increases will only pile more pressure on the NHS to deliver based on statistics. This does not improve care. Once this fails look for the Boris led government to insist that the private sector will do a better job. Possibly the US private sector. The Tories have never really been any good at hiding the fact they wish to privatise the NHS and selling off chunks to the US would be one way of getting a new a trade deal.

The new look Cabinet and appointed ministers

I’m not going to go through all the new appointments, but this blog piece wouldn’t be complete without a look some of the more “interesting” choices.

First up Priti Patel, our new Home Secretary. For those that don’t know, “the Home Secretary is responsible for the internal affairs of England and Wales, and for immigration and citizenship for the United Kingdom.” (Taken from Wikipedia).  She is highly involved in internal security affairs. But her track record is abysmal. In 2017 she was sacked from May’s cabinet because she was caught doing behinds the scenes deals with the Israeli government. She also holds at least one second job with a company that has dealings with the Ministry of Defence. No conflict of interest there then. Oh yeah and it would appear she didn’t declare this job as she is supposed to. I don't believe any MP, let alone a member of the Cabinet, should hold a second job. If you are in this well paid position you should be giving it you full attention, not getting a bit of extra cash on the side. To top it off she is an advocate for capital punishment, something the UK moved past decades ago. How was she even considered for office? Oh yeah that’s right because she was willing to pledge allegiance to the British Trump and his No Deal Brexit.

Dominic Raab has been appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. What a detestable little man. He is right up next to Patel in his right-wing views.

He is an avid Brexiteer who wants to leave the EU no matter the cost. He was appointed Brexit Secretary under Theresa May but was only able to hack it for about 5 months. He has denied food bank users are in poverty, shot down a disabled activist's calls for an end to austerity and more money for the NHS describing it as a “childish wish list” and described feminists as “obnoxious bigots”. He also thinks there shouldn’t be a maximum number of hours you should work and that anyone under 21 years of age should not be covered by a minimum wage. Even more, he wants the NHS privatised and holds the belief the UK workers are lazy even though we work more hours than most EU countries. What the hell is wrong with him?

Sajid Javid completes the top three posts as the new Chancellor of the Exchequer. He used to be a Remainer but sold out to be part of the core Government. Just like everyone else in the Cabinet he is reported to have basically pledged his allegiance to Johnson and his No Deal Brexit. No, I’m not changing it back to Johnson this time. This is man who campaigned for Remain but somehow now believes in No Deal. Sorry but that is madness. There is no real justification for this position other than selfish greed and power grabbing. He made a challenge for the Tory leadership based on finding a compromise so what changed? At least the first two were true to themselves.

Some of the other picks, Michael Gove has been made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, which according to Wikipedia is a position often given “to a junior Cabinet minister with responsibilities in a particular area of policy for which there is no department with an appropriate portfolio” meaning it is a pointless role which apparently only takes up one day a week. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer eh Boris. He once described Boris as not fit for office stabbing him in the back during the campaign which saw May rise to power.

Theresa Villiers, the new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs supports fracking and fox hunting. A pro fracking environment secretary, is Boris blind, stupid or does he just not give a fuck?

Jo Johnson, Johson's brother. Does it matter what position he has? This is just nepotism.

The last one I am going to name here, and I could name several other right-wing idiots, is Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Here is a man truly living in the past. He has been made Leader of the Commons. On taking up his post he is reported to have set some new rules for his new department that are so antiquated that they even include a rule saying they must use imperial measurements. He has also said men who don’t have a title should be addressed in reports as esquire (Esq. for short.) There are so many issues in this world but by all means let’s make sure that men are addressed as esquire like it means something. Oh, wait it doesn’t anymore you bumbling fatuous toffee-faced oaf. According to Fowlers Modern English Usage esquire was originally used to describe the attendant of a knight. It was later a title of rank somewhere between a knight and a gentleman. Barristers were considered esquires, but solicitors were not. More importantly, this once prominent title has little to no significance in the modern age, much like Mogg himself. To me this seems like he is guilty of using a slipshod extension by using esquire as a mere token word now devoid of its true meaning. Not all males, as he claims, should be given use of the title. He is a devote right-wing advocate stuck in the middle ages. Sounds about right for Johnsons Cabinet.

I’m going to finish this off by saying that while some of what I have stated here might be far-fetched, we should all be wary of Boris Johnson's actual motives. It is clear to me that he does not have the UK's best interests at heart. Nor in my opinion does he truly support democracy. His stance on a No Deal Brexit, which almost all think tanks and financial analysts say is going to seriously harm the UK, is just not justifiable unless his focus is on power and not the best interests of the Union. Finally, his rhetoric will create a real divide, worse than exists now. Martin Luther King Jr. said "We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear." Do not fall into the fear that Boris will build. Stand firm in your beliefs and show the world that we are better united than we are divided.

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