UK Politics

Boris Johnson’s ignominious end: The difference between ‘big tent’ politics and personalised populism.

— What exactly was “Johnsonism” beyond a few slogans such as “levelling up” and the scandals that attracted the attention? Behind Boris Johnson’s buffoonish exterior, the quick wit and wearisome repartee, lay very little.

Conservative Leadership Contest

Tory leadership hopefuls fail to address the reality that Brexit is a disaster.

— LBC presenter James O’Brien explains everything that needs to be understood about the current Conservative Leadership contestants and their failure to recognise that Brexit is an escalating national tragedy.

Analysis

Boris Johnson’s messy political legacy of lies, scandals and delivering Brexit to his base.

— The scandal that brought his downfall wasn’t Boris Johnson’s first. Witty and charming to some, but dishonest and untrustworthy to others, he leaves his country and party very divided, as well as the legacy of his scandals.

COMMENT

Boris boosterism and bluster won’t keep Brexit Britain’s reality hidden forever.

— Boris Johnson’s premiership epitomised a change in tone and apparent temperament for Britain. In the past five years, it went from respected former imperial power to unreliable protagonist with an outsize ego.

Analysis

Northern Ireland protocol row could damage good faith needed for post-Brexit trade deals.

— Boris Johnson’s government’s handling of the Northern Ireland protocol could spell trouble for the UK’s post-Brexit trade negotiations. The process of rebuilding trust is far slower when the breach of trust has been coupled with deceit or denial.

Brexit

Brexit is shaming Britain.

— Professor Chris Grey’s detailed analysis of the NIPB in relation to the internal politics of the Tory Party and the wider politics of Brexit. But no amount of analysis can ignore the shame it brings to Britain.

Brexit

Brexit is stuck, but is the secret coming out?

— They lied and cheated and then lied about lying and cheating. Doing so enabled them to say that they had achieved what critics had said was impossible, although they had done no such thing.

Brexit

Why the UK government’s plan to change the Northern Ireland Protocol violates international law.

— Businesses in Northern Ireland largely support the protocol, as do the political parties who got the most support in recent assembly elections. So why does the government still plan to override the Northern Ireland protocol, in breach with the UK’s legal obligations?

Analysis

Conservative Party – Who are the rebels and why do they want Boris Johnson gone?

— The Tory party is a ‘broad church’ with many factions. And many of them are unimpressed with the prime minister at the moment. Tory tensions are exacerbated through the ideological incoherence of Johnson himself.

Brexit

For all the bluster, Johnson and the Brexiters still have no realistic answer to the ‘Northern Ireland border’ question.

— Professor Chris Grey’s Brexit analysis looking backwards and forwards from the Northern Ireland elections, and why Boris Johnson and the Brexiters can’t supply the realism needed.

Brexit

Brexiters are losing the post-Brexit narrative.

— As brexiters implicitly or explicitly admit to the failures of the Brexit they agreed or supported, whilst denying or ignoring that the cause is the Brexit they agreed or supported, their admissions are accompanied by deceit and denial about the causes of what they bemoan.

Environment

A fracking review suggests the UK has softened the precautionary principle since leaving the EU.

— Despite banning fracking in 2019, the UK government’s decision to soften the fracking moratorium could pave the way for regulatory decisions which prioritise potential financial benefits over the risks to the environment and public health.

Brexit

Six years of failure.

— Professor Chris Grey looks at some aspects of where these years have now led us.

Analysis

Sinn Féin could become the biggest party in Northern Ireland on May 5 – What it means for power-sharing.

— Northern Ireland is preparing for a potentially seismic election on May 5: Sinn Féin could become the largest party for the first time in Northern Ireland’s history.

Brexit

Sometimes, “We told you so” is all that can be said.

— When will Boris Johnson and his many adjutants take responsibility for their lies about Brexit? If ever they do, and until they do, Brexit remains their responsibility, their mess, their guilt, their shame, and their legacy.

Brexit

Post-Brexit Britain is going rotten.

— The moral rot of Boris Johnson’s conduct is part and parcel of a deeper malaise in which Brexit and ‘Brexit COVID’ have created a country that is literally and metaphorically rotting away.