Getting the Big Calls Right

The Conservatives are still repeating the hollow claim that Boris has been; "Getting the big calls right." 

The biggest calls have been on the economy, on Brexit, on COVID, on the environment, on Russia and on the rule of law. They have failed on every one. 

On Brexit, they chose to pursue a hard form of Brexit, against all advice, with the result that we have had, since 2016, one of the worst-performing economies in the developed world and most people are poorer today than they were in 2010. 

They made the wrong call on threatening to throw the GFA under a bus and blaming the EU. Johnson promised no border in the Irish Sea, when every idiot could see it was a logical impossibility and a lie. They signed up to a binding agreement, without Parliamentary scrutiny, only to repudiate it when they actually read it. 

Rising prices, for which Covid QE is admittedly partly to blame, but also shortages as European exporters and workers eschew Britain, along with mounting red tape.

Desperately chasing trade deals that add merely fractions of a percentage point to GDP in an attempt to fill the cavernous gap left by EU trade. 

They made the wrong call on Covid, from the outset, pursuing a strategy which was doomed to fail, with the result that we have one of the world’s worst death tolls. Additionally they have written off Covid support fraud and wasted billions on useless PPE (by ignoring the warnings of Operation Cygnus) and the failed Track & Trace system. And yes, in an emergency you need to cut corners, but that's no excuse for buying rubbish that's not even fit for purpose. 

They made the wrong call on whether to continue to allow the pumping of untreated sewage into our rivers. 

They made the wrong call on Levelling Up by devolving responsibility to the Regions, but without additional funding beyond the amount already announced in last August's Spending Review - which itself is only 60% of what was available under the EU - so as to shift the blame when nothing happens. 

They made the wrong call on increasing National Insurance, which disproportionately hits the poorest most, rather than using windfall taxes or increasing the top rate tax. At 6pm last night, 301 Tory MPs voted for a bankers tax cut from 8% to 3% on profits over £25m.  That’s a £1bn pound yearly hole and guess who has to pay for it?

They made the wrong call on whether to legalise corruption by MPs, with the result that they were forced to make a U-turn and lost what was once a safe seat. 

They made the wrong call on proposing to disenfranchise 2m voters with the requirement for voter ID to combat a problem that doesn't even exist. That's an attack on democracy itself.

They made the wrong call on proposing arbitrary arrest of protesters and moving the UK down the road to a police state with the Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Bill. 

Johnson is engaged in sabre rattling with Putin like a Pound Shop Churchill, when all he needs to do is sequester the assets of the hundreds of Russian oligarchs based in London, who are Putin's personal bankers, which he should do now, not after an invasion. However, his party, including 14 Cabinet members, has received over £2m of Russian funding. In response to Boris' admonishments, Putin sends bombers close to UK airspace and it's reported that he's has been hospitalised with a laughing fit by Johnson's threats.

They are now making the wrong call on when to get rid of Johnson - a PM who is clearly in breach of several laws and the Ministerial Code, lies systematically (including to the Queen) and who will repay their loyalty only by dragging down as many as he can, with the result that the UK will increasingly resemble a failed state until he is gone. 

The only big call Johnson got right was the vaccine purchase, but then soured that by lying that it couldn't be done while in the EU, which is patent nonsense. It's also soured by the indecision and tardiness evidenced by Boris missing 5 COBRA meetings and 150k deaths.

Boris has shown himself, especially through Partygate - which in itself is inconsequential - as part of the very elite he was raging against throughout the leadup to Brexit. One rule for him and his cronies and another for the rest of us. 

That's why Partygate is resonating with the public - it's symbolic of the Grand Lie he sold us that he's one of the people and that we're all in it together. He successfully persuaded many of us that the EU was an elitist organisation, and now is showing himself to be just as elitist.