Washington Post (September 3)
“Prime Minister Boris Johnson, under public assault for his scheme to suspend Parliament to push through a no-deal Brexit, has now lost his majority.” This is typical of the “right-wing populist canard,” which works best in the minority. “Being snake oil salesmen and anti-government nihilists,” they “don’t know how to fix much of anything, and after all the huffing and puffing, the public gets the idea the populist cult leader is an incompetent charlatan.” While in this case it’s Johnson, Trump’s turn will come. “The lessons here for the United States are not hard to discern.”
Tags: Brexit, Charlatan, Cult leader, Huffing, Incompetent, Johnson, Majority, No-deal, Parliament, Populist, Public assault, Snake oil, Trump, U.S.
The Economist (August 31)
“The sense of inevitability about no-deal, cultivated by the hardliners advising Mr Johnson, is bogus. The EU is against such an outcome; most Britons oppose it; Parliament has already voted against the idea. Those MPs determined to stop no-deal have been divided and unfocused. When they return to work next week after their uneasy summer recess, they will have a fleeting chance to avert this unwanted national calamity. Mr Johnson’s actions this week have made clear why they must seize it.”
Tags: Bogus, Calamity, EU, Hardliners, Inevitability, Johnson, MPs, No-deal, Parliament, UK
The Guardian (August 29)
“There is plenty of constitutional outcry on the front pages of the British papers today, which all lead with Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament ahead of the looming Brexit deadline. Front pages from abroad show the international press is transfixed too.”
Tags: Brexit, Constitutional outcry, Deadline, Front pages, Johnson, Parliament, Transfixed, UK
Reuters (August 8)
“Sterling’s recent slide is not yet over as the chances Britain and the European Union part ways without a withdrawal deal have jumped again after arch-Brexiteer Boris Johnson took over as prime minister last month.”
The Guardian (July 26)
“The political sphere, so dull and grey a few years ago, is now populated by preposterous exhibitionists. This trend is not confined to the UK – everywhere the killer clowns are taking over. Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, Donald Trump, Narendra Modi, Jair Bolsonaro, Scott Morrison, Rodrigo Duterte, Matteo Salvini, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Viktor Orbán and a host of other ludicrous strongmen – or weakmen, as they so often turn out to be – dominate nations that would once have laughed them off stage. The question is why? Why are the technocrats who held sway almost everywhere a few years ago giving way to extravagant buffoons?”
Tags: Clowns, Dull, Duterte, Erdogan, Exhibitionists, Farage, Johnson, Modi, Orbán, Political sphere, Preposterous, Salvini, Strongmen, Technocrats, Trend, Trump, UK
New York Times (July 23)
“Boris Johnson, to whom lying comes as easily as breathing, is on the verge of becoming prime minister. He faces the most complex and intractable political crisis to affect Britain since 1945…. His premiership could bring about the end of Britain itself.”
Tags: Britain, Complex, End, Intractable, Johnson, Lying, Political crisis, Prime minister, UK
Washington Post (July 23)
Tomorrow Boris Johnson may get “the chance to prove that the manure in Britain smells different” than in the EU. “He has vowed to push forward Brexit, break free of the tyranny of the European Union and lead a liberated Britain to its former global greatness. His supporters are willing to look beyond a cringeworthy record of gaffes, sordid peccadilloes and soft bigotry. Most analysts, though, reckon that he is in for a rude awakening.”
Tags: Bigotry, Brexit, Cringeworthy, EU, Gaffes, Greatness, Johnson, Liberated, Rude awakening, UK
Financial Times (June 25)
“The latest Brexit fantasy is the most absurd of all. Article 24 of the WTO’s underlying treaty is not a solution to no-deal.” If Boris Johnson wins the election, “he needs to have a plan ready to deal with the disappointment of his followers when it turns out they were sold policies under false pretences. A unilateral invocation of part of Article 24 is not a way out of the UK’s Brexit predicament. If Mr Johnson and his followers do not know that, they soon will.”
Tags: Absurd, Article 24, Brexit, Disappointment, Election, False pretences, Fantasy, Johnson, No-deal, Treaty. Solution, UK, WTO
The Irish Times (June 13)
“Next door in Britain there’s a fevered contest under way for leadership of the Tory Party and thus Britain. The right-wing Tory Party once presented itself as the pragmatic party of business. Now it’s a radical separatist sect populated by clownish demagogues.” The three leading contenders are “the opium user [Rory Stewart], the buffoon [Boris Johnson]and the swivel-eyed loon [Dominic Raab].”
Tags: Buffoon, Business, Contest, Cownish, Demagogues, Johnson, Leadership, Loon. Raab, Opium, Pragmatic, Radical, Separatist, Stewart, Tory Party, UK
