Boris johnson

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Optimistic Boris looks ahead to turbulent term as PM in TV debate

From our UK edition

Jeremy Hunt managed to sum up the Tory leadership contest very aptly this evening when he accused Boris Johnson of 'peddling optimism'. The line, delivered in ITV's leaders' debate, did the Foreign Secretary no favours, though. He was pitching himself as the truthful realist, who wouldn’t make promises he couldn’t deliver on. Johnson ridiculed this as ‘defeatist’, telling the audience in his summation that Britain needed to get off ‘the hamster wheel of doom’. Had Hunt suggested Johnson was ‘peddling myths’ or ‘peddling nonsense’, then his line would have had better force for his cause. Instead, it underlined why the former Mayor of London is doing so well in the contest.

James Forsyth

A feisty debate, but no game changing moment

From our UK edition

Tonight’s debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt was a feisty affair. The pair clashed repeatedly over the October 31st Brexit deadline, tax policy and Donald Trump. The mood of the debate was summed up when Boris Johnson was asked what he most admired about Jeremy Hunt and replied, ‘his ability to change his mind’. Hunt shot back that he most admired Boris Johnson’s ability to avoid answering the question. The Brexit section of the debate was dominated by the question of whether the UK would leave on October 31st or not. Jeremy Hunt pushed Boris Johnson on whether he would resign if that didn’t happen, Boris Johnson dodged before saying that he wouldn’t want to give the EU an incentive not to come to an agreement.

Isabel Hardman

Hancock given hard time over sugar tax and social care

From our UK edition

On the subject of MPs who hope Boris Johnson might give them a job, Matt Hancock was before the Health Select Committee this afternoon, where he ended up taking a fair bit of flak for what the current government hasn't done, and what the next administration might do. After his own failed leadership bid, the Health and Social Care Secretary backed Johnson, which made for a very awkward section in today's hearing about the sugar tax. Hancock was repeatedly pressed on Johnson's pledge to review 'sin taxes', including the one on sugary drinks, and he repeatedly answered that the most important thing was to look at the evidence behind the policy.

Isabel Hardman

Could Boris Johnson make Jeremy Hunt his deputy?

From our UK edition

Who will Boris Johnson appoint as his deputy? Now that voting in the Tory leadership is well underway - with 60 per cent of party members expected to have sent back their ballots by Thursday - most MPs are starting to think more about what the next prime minister's cabinet will look like, and less about who that prime minister will be. There are more than enough candidates to fill the cabinet twice over, given the number of MPs who have backed Johnson. Some of their colleagues mock them for supporting someone merely because they hope he will give them a government job, but it's quite understandable that someone might make that calculation: after all, even non-politicians tend to want to go as far as they can in their line of work and to earn as much as possible.

Katy Balls

The court of Boris Johnson: the factions competing for approval

From our UK edition

How will Boris Johnson govern? With even Jeremy Hunt allies privately braced for defeat in two weeks' time when the result is announced, talk has turned to what a Johnson government could look like. This relates not just to his Cabinet but how No. 10 will be run and who Johnson will take guidance from. ConservativeHome's Paul Goodman has predicted that a Johnson government will be much more like a court than his predecessors – with groups of courtiers offering rival advice: 'He will listen to these groups and play them off'. So, which groups will be vying for Johnson's approval? Over the length of the Tory leadership campaign, Johnson has seen his support base expand significantly with a number of different factions forming.

Monday

Steerpike

Boris takes inspiration from The Godfather

From our UK edition

When Michael Gove turned on Boris Johnson in the 2016 Tory leadership contest and decided to stand against his former Vote Leave comrade, it was likened to Brutus’s betrayal of Julius Caesar. But with things looking brighter for Johnson this time around – and the former mayor of London viewed as a shoo-in for No. 10 – could he be about to exact his revenge? Mr S only asks after BoJo gave a rather curious answer when asked ‘what’s your favourite movie scene?’ by the Daily Mail over the weekend.

Ross Clark

What the Heck boycotters can learn from Boris Johnson

From our UK edition

You can tell a lot about the Left simply by reading the list of subjects which are trending on Twitter. Top spot this afternoon goes to the hashtag #BoycottHeck. If you are wondering what that means, Heck is a family firm based in North Yorkshire which until the weekend ran a blameless business making gluten-free sausages. Besides its traditional pork sausages, it has also established a reputation for its vegetarian sausages – winning plaudits from a great number of warm-hearted, peace-loving people of the Left. That was, however, until Boris Johnson passed by on the campaign trail for the Tory leadership contest, and posed for a photo opportunity in a Heck-branded apron with the company’s products.

Saturday

Robert Peston

The plan to block no-deal Brexit

From our UK edition

MPs opposed to a no-deal Brexit will make an almost-final attempt early this coming week to make it impossible for Boris Johnson - if he becomes PM - to prorogue or suspend parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit. The plan which has been designed largely by Dominic Grieve, the senior Tory MP and former Attorney General, would amend the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation bill) - which is due to be debated on Monday - to force the government in October to make an oral statement on the progress of efforts to restore fully devolved government to Northern Ireland. If the amendment were to pass, it would mean the House of Commons would have to sit in October.

James Forsyth

Boris Johnson must remember: In victory, magnanimity

From our UK edition

With the ballot papers out, the next few days will be crucial in the Tory leadership election. As I say in The Sun this morning, it is reckoned that 60 percent of party members will have voted by Thursday. The Boris campaign are bullish. One very senior figure in the campaign is privately predicting that they will win by a more than twenty-point margin. The Hunt campaign is adamant that this isn’t right and that the contest is tightening every day. But interestingly, even several of his Cabinet supporters aren’t trying to claim that the race is close. One tells me, ‘Let’s face it, there isn’t must doubt about what the result is going to be.’ If Boris does win, he must remember Churchill’s dictum: In victory, magnanimity.

Friday

Steerpike

Boris vs Hunt: a voter’s guide

From our UK edition

Voting is finally underway in the Tory leadership contest. So should Britain's next prime minister be Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt? Boris is the clear frontrunner but could Jeremy Hunt's impressive campaign mean that another political upset is on the cards? In some areas, the pair are in complete agreement: they both oppose a second referendum on Scottish Independence, want to reduce Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 and have pledged to tackle the North-South divide. But what of the policy differences? Here’s a round up of where each candidate stands: Brexit Boris Johnson: Boris has pledged that Britain will leave the EU by 31 October ‘come what may, do or die’, and has not ruled out proroguing Parliament in order to achieve this.

Thursday

Taki

High life | 4 July 2019

From our UK edition

Hold the presses, this is a world exclusive. A Boris ex I sat next to last week gave me the scoop: he is absent-minded, disorganised and drops wine on sofas. The ex in question was Petronella Wyatt and we were at a lunch Rupert Hambro gave for Conrad Black. There were lotsa big hitters there, including Pa Johnson. La Wyatt is a good girl, and she did have a bit of a rough time with Mr B, but she’s been grand where cashing in is concerned. Despite non-stop offers by the lowlifes that pass as journalists nowadays, she has refused them all. Ladies do not spill the beans, especially not for moolah. The offers would have tempted many so-called lassies I know, but not this Hungarian minx. Good for you, kid. You put the Kardashian and Hilton clans to shame.

Joan Collins

Diary – 4 July 2019

From our UK edition

It has been a spring of party madness in London and New York. I was lucky enough to have several birthday parties thrown for me in both cities, including Evgeny Lebedev’s glamorous soirée at which Nigel Farage announced that he was no longer being served at any pub in Brussels, which may explain why he’s cut down on the drinking. There was also the ultra-glam Met Ball in New York: Dame Anna Wintour mingling with a half-naked Lady Gaga; divine Bette Midler in top-to-toe black sequins and a top hat, dancing with the talented Julianne Moore (wearing green sequins) and Cher in ripped jeans and an anorak. Not to be too bitchy (oh, go on!), but I thought Katy Perry dressed as a hamburger was a touch de trop, even for the party’s theme of ‘camp’.

The Spectator

Portrait of the Week – 4 July 2019

From our UK edition

Home Boris Johnson, the bookies’ favourite for the leadership of the Conservative party, would, if he became prime minister, ‘show the public sector some love’ said his supporter Matt Hancock. Jeremy Hunt, his rival for the leadership, said: ‘If you’re a sheep farmer in Shropshire or a fisherman in Peterhead… I will mitigate the impact of no-deal Brexit on you.’ The 160,000 members of the Conservative party, few of them public-sector workers, and even fewer sheep farmers or fisherfolk, were sent postal ballots from 6 July to vote for the new leader.

Linden Kemkaran

What is it about Boris Johnson that makes his critics so angry?

From our UK edition

When I posted on Facebook a picture of me standing next to Boris Johnson, I expected a few likes and probably a few more harsh comments. What I didn’t anticipate were the hundreds of words of ranting vitriol posted by friends, some of whom I had known since school. My picture was harmless enough: a selfie, quickly snapped when Boris visited my hometown of Sevenoaks on Monday. It wasn't a ringing endorsement, or even an approval of him. And it offered no comment on what he stands for. It was simply a picture of us squinting at the camera with the caption: “kicked off the week with this guy, our next PM to be?” The first few comments were along the lines of “Well, let’s hope your week improves!” and “Oh no, not you as well?

James Forsyth & Katy Balls

A whole new Boris

From our UK edition

‘I’m going to stick ruthlessly to script,’ says Boris Johnson. ‘This is not the stage of the campaign when you innovate.’ He’s right to worry about the timing. The new Tory leader won’t be chosen for just over two weeks but the ballot papers go out this weekend. Boris is the odds-on favourite. This is the most important week of the campaign and he’s determined to come across as a serious, game-changing leader, not the loveable yet unreliable joker. The old Boris would mess up his hair before going on television. Today, when we meet in his House of Commons office, he quickly puts on a jacket — as if getting dressed for a job interview. He’s making a sales pitch.

Camilla Swift

Jeremy Hunt has shot himself in the foot with his fox-hunting pledge

From our UK edition

I moaned here last week about the lack of attention the two Tory leadership contenders were paying to rural communities in their pitches to the party membership. Funnily enough, as Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson have travelled around the country to various party hustings, their tone has now changed. Finally, they are speaking up for people outside towns and cities. Both of them have promised to speed up the delivery of full-fibre broadband to the countryside. They have also vowed to get the UK out of the Common Agricultural Policy, giving us control over our own agriculture policies.

Wednesday

Jack Airey

How the next PM can help solve the housing crisis

From our UK edition

The Government’s commission on how to make new houses more beautiful – yes, that one – is set to publish its first report in the next few weeks. It no longer has a permanent Chair and it will be reporting to a different administration and a new prime minister, but its advice will be crucially important. In order to get new homes built in areas where opposition is most vociferous – which tend to be the places new homes are needed most – the house-building industry needs to change. Monocultural housing estates, once labelled the “turkey twizzlers of architecture” by the philosopher Alain de Botton, are simply not what the public wants. But there will be opposition.

Hani Mustafa

I appeared in Boris’s campaign video. But I’m now voting for Jeremy Hunt

From our UK edition

It’s hard to remember a Conservative leadership election where so much has been at stake. The next few months will determine what happens with Brexit – and the future of the party for the next generation. History will judge Tory party members for the choice we make now. This is why – even though I appeared in one of Boris Johnson's campaign videos – the choice is clear: Jeremy Hunt must be our next prime minister. In the early days of this leadership race, that wasn't my view. Boris is someone who needs no introduction. He was a leading figure in the Brexit campaign and remains one of Britain's most recognisable politicians, here and around the world. I assumed that beneath the fizzing exterior, there was a detailed plan that would be equal to the task ahead.

Tuesday

John Keiger

Why France is frustrated – and baffled – by Brexit

From our UK edition

Silence has befallen French pronouncements on Brexit. Le Monde’s vitriolic editorial (12 June 2019) on Boris Johnson apart, the scene is remarkably calm. But this isn't good news. In fact, such silence is often a sign of French anxiety and a presage to trouble, particularly when Britain is concerned. As rationalists, the French are frequently frustrated by the ‘wait and see’ of the empirical British. ‘What is not clear is not French’, said the 18th century French philosopher Antoine de Rivarol.

Monday

Brendan O’Neill

The great irony of Stormzy’s Glastonbury set

From our UK edition

Look, I like Stormzy. I’ve been listening to his new single on a loop for the past week. He’s a talented guy. But the fawning over his Glastonbury performance has been bizarre. Everyone from Glasto’s mostly white middle-class attendees to Jeremy Corbyn and his online army has been hailing it as a high point of musical rebellion and a historic two-finger salute to the evil Tory government. Get a grip — it was nothing of the kind. In fact, musically Stormzy’s set may have been thrilling, but politically it was kind of ridiculous. Sure, he said ‘Fuck the government’ — making square lefties chirp with excitement — but his show was infused with government thinking.