I suspect Kemi Badenoch is the one to beat when the top job becomes available again.
Peter B
1 year ago
Osborne would never have been elected Conservative leader. Not after 2016 and Project Fear. This is just fantasy.
And quite frankly a good thing too. Osborne was from that generation of politicians (Blair, Brown, Mandelson, Cameron) who welcomed the Russian oligarchs and their dirty money to London. Good riddance.
Boris Johnson has more chance of a comeback than Rishi Sunak.
Not elected, no. But he could have been installed as a ‘caretaker’ PM or even as head of a ‘unity government’ to deliver a 2nd referendum or very soft Brexit.
Blithely overturn Brexit you mean? There was then, as now, no going back. Would you have generously said “fine, we’ll run it again” if Remain had carried the referendum? Of course not! And after the last 6 years of dissembling and daily insults levelled at us from the charmers in Brussels, not to mention the loving care with which they denied their own people the “virtually useless” AZ vaccine in favour of many more months of bad Covid cases waiting for something else, you still cannot see Brussels for the unelected disingenuous self serving technocracy it is?
And why would we want or need an unelected (your word) “installed” PM ?
I know – someone’s going to pop up now and claim that Liz Truss is one. But that’s really not the same thing and we all know the difference.
There seems to be some confusion. I was not advocating this position. Indeed, I would have been appalled by it. I was just pointing out that it could (and may have been) done.
Ben J
1 year ago
Thank the Lord he didn’t, Gideon is the quintessence of everything I loathe about ‘Wet’ Conservatism.
Prashant Kotak
1 year ago
This entire counterfactual completely ignores the fact that Johnson was present – he isn’t even mentioned in the article.
There is no chance that the PCP would have followed up May by offering up a brace to the membership that did not include Johnson – they know they would have seen a mass rebellion from the membership. And if Johnson was one of the candidates there is no chance that the membership would have picked someone else – especially not Osborne.
Even after the coup when he wasn’t a candidate, he was still the leader the membership is pining for. Even now.
Last edited 1 year ago by Prashant Kotak
Will Will
1 year ago
It is remarkable that I hardly ever agree with anything Frankin writes.
I suspect Kemi Badenoch is the one to beat when the top job becomes available again.
Osborne would never have been elected Conservative leader. Not after 2016 and Project Fear. This is just fantasy.
And quite frankly a good thing too. Osborne was from that generation of politicians (Blair, Brown, Mandelson, Cameron) who welcomed the Russian oligarchs and their dirty money to London. Good riddance.
Boris Johnson has more chance of a comeback than Rishi Sunak.
Not elected, no. But he could have been installed as a ‘caretaker’ PM or even as head of a ‘unity government’ to deliver a 2nd referendum or very soft Brexit.
Blithely overturn Brexit you mean? There was then, as now, no going back. Would you have generously said “fine, we’ll run it again” if Remain had carried the referendum? Of course not! And after the last 6 years of dissembling and daily insults levelled at us from the charmers in Brussels, not to mention the loving care with which they denied their own people the “virtually useless” AZ vaccine in favour of many more months of bad Covid cases waiting for something else, you still cannot see Brussels for the unelected disingenuous self serving technocracy it is?
And why would we want or need an unelected (your word) “installed” PM ?
I know – someone’s going to pop up now and claim that Liz Truss is one. But that’s really not the same thing and we all know the difference.
There seems to be some confusion. I was not advocating this position. Indeed, I would have been appalled by it. I was just pointing out that it could (and may have been) done.
Thank the Lord he didn’t, Gideon is the quintessence of everything I loathe about ‘Wet’ Conservatism.
This entire counterfactual completely ignores the fact that Johnson was present – he isn’t even mentioned in the article.
There is no chance that the PCP would have followed up May by offering up a brace to the membership that did not include Johnson – they know they would have seen a mass rebellion from the membership. And if Johnson was one of the candidates there is no chance that the membership would have picked someone else – especially not Osborne.
Even after the coup when he wasn’t a candidate, he was still the leader the membership is pining for. Even now.
It is remarkable that I hardly ever agree with anything Frankin writes.
No, thanks. We don’t need any more snakes.