Could Boris still become PM:

barcode · Sun 09 Sep, 2012 14.03

Has some people may be aware, there was talk of Boris getting a safe seat in the commons, and even a "stalking horse" being used to challenge the PM, to try and trigger election battle. Could Boris really get PM job, but could he actually won a UK wide election?

* http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19534268
* http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... d-election.
* http://www.newssniffer.co.uk/articles/552685/diff/0/1

I have my doubts he could won a election, and of course many people do seem to like him, but problem is when the lib dem vote disappears and it will happen ( for an general election) most of the voters will end up going to the labour party.

westy 2 · Sun 09 Sep, 2012 14.32

God help us.

One reference to 'Johnny Foriegner' & that's our credibility shot to pieces. (If it isn't already!)

bilky asko · Sun 09 Sep, 2012 17.28

I know some staunch Labour voters who would happily pick Boris Johnson over Ed Millipede simply because he's too annoying.

barcode · Sun 09 Sep, 2012 17.29

bilky asko wrote:I know some staunch Labour voters who would happily pick Boris Johnson over Ed Millipede simply because he's too annoying.

Is David Millaband a better choice?

bilky asko · Sun 09 Sep, 2012 17.31

barcode wrote:
bilky asko wrote:I know some staunch Labour voters who would happily pick Boris Johnson over Ed Millipede simply because he's too annoying.
Is David Millaband a better choice?

Probably not - the Miliband name has been tarnished by Ed, it seems.

all new Phil · Sun 09 Sep, 2012 17.43

I love Boris, and I genuinely think he would make a great PM. He says what he thinks, which is a refreshing and rare quality in a politician.

Critique · Sun 09 Sep, 2012 17.49

For a start, I'm just glad Boris was re-elected as Mayor of London, as it would have been a very different games if Ken Livingstone had been elected! For a start, I doubt Livingstone would have done a Zipwire, waving the Union Flag, and then laughing when it got stuck! And, I doubt think he's done that bad a job as Mayor of London - I certainly wouldn't say he's bad.

As much as I'd love, if only for the comedy we'd get out of it, for Boris to become PM, I reckon we'd be laughed at by the rest of the world, and as nice as it is that he speaks his mind and says what he likes, I suspect he'd put his foot in it eventually, and quite badly.

Alexia · Sun 09 Sep, 2012 21.28

They were discussing this on the Daily Politics the other day and the consensus was a resounding no for any number of reasons; however the primary reason was as follows:

Being mayor of a city is one thing; being party leader and Prime Minister of a global nuclear power is another. The pressure, the focus (of the world, not just the country).... the responsibility and the ability to represent the country on a much more serious world stage than the Olympics (i.e. the UN, NATO, EU etc)... it's just not his thing. He's still caricatured as a buffoon, a toff, someone out of touch with the real world (ideal for a Londoner eh!) with a questionable tax history and a reputation for some rather worrying personal behaviours. Plus he can't even exert his dominance and influence over Paul Merton and Ian Hislop on HIGNFY - how will he fair at PMQs?

DP : http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 7_09_2012/ (41:27 in)

bilky asko · Sun 09 Sep, 2012 22.20

Alexia wrote:They were discussing this on the Daily Politics the other day and the consensus was a resounding no for any number of reasons; however the primary reason was as follows:

Being mayor of a city is one thing; being party leader and Prime Minister of a global nuclear power is another. The pressure, the focus (of the world, not just the country).... the responsibility and the ability to represent the country on a much more serious world stage than the Olympics (i.e. the UN, NATO, EU etc)... it's just not his thing. He's still caricatured as a buffoon, a toff, someone out of touch with the real world (ideal for a Londoner eh!) with a questionable tax history and a reputation for some rather worrying personal behaviours. Plus he can't even exert his dominance and influence over Paul Merton and Ian Hislop on HIGNFY - how will he fair at PMQs?

DP : http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 7_09_2012/ (41:27 in)

Whatever happens, he's far more electable than Ed Miliband. Being sleazy and corrupt hasn't stopped any other politician - neither has ineptitude, being a buffoon, or being a toff.

Being a boring, droning bugger has stopped politicians - William Hague, for example.

Gavin Scott · Sun 09 Sep, 2012 22.34

all new Phil wrote:I love Boris, and I genuinely think he would make a great PM. He says what he thinks, which is a refreshing and rare quality in a politician.

Is that honestly enough for you?

And what good is candour when you genuinely think bankers are "smashing chaps" who we should "stop bashing"?

What a fucking prick.

Alexia · Sun 09 Sep, 2012 23.00

bilky asko wrote:Being a boring, droning bugger has stopped politicians - William Hague, for example.

On the contrary, I find Hague to be at least one of the more acceptable faces of modern Conservatism. Look up some of his PMQ stand-in performances against John Prescott to find out just how "droning" and "boring" he is.

Besides, Foreign Secretary? Hardly political obscurity is it?

As for Boris being more electable than Miliband, well in a recent poll, 55% of respondents said that having Boris instead of CallMeDave would make no difference to their voting intention (with the remaining 45% split fairly evenly between preferring Boris and preferring Scameron) so with Labour currently leading the polls by anything between 6 and 13 points at the moment, Miliband is still the preferred (or should that be default?) option.