The Prime Minister and Brexit

There can be little doubt that Boris Johnson became Leader of the Conservative party and went on to win a substantial General election victory to get Brexit done. He replaced Theresa May whose civil servants negotiated the UK into a very weak position creating a Brexit that looked like membership without the seat around the table. She left office owing to the Parliamentary pressures. The Opposition worked with Remain forces inside government to create a Brexit in name only leading to enough Conservative MPs wanting her to resignĀ  to uphold the result of the referendum.

Two years on from his victory at the polls, and one year on from getting the UK out of the EU formally, the Brexit voting public wants him to use the freedoms the UK has now regained to make us a more prosperous, independent, well respected country with global reach and more domestic activity. Many people are pleased the UK did use its freedom to stay out of the EU vaccine policy, leading to the early development and deployment of a successful UK vaccine. We want more examples of how we can do better for ourselves and the wider world by nurturing talent and trusting policy makers and inventers at home.

My advice to the Prime Minister is to rebuild lost voting support by enjoying some Brexit wins. This should begin with energy policy. We should detach from more and more dependence on energy short Europe, linking our fortunes to a continent that relies on Russian gas and too many windfarms. The UK needs to extract more of our own gas and oil pending the investment in reliable renewable power , perhaps through pump storage and hydro, perhaps through green hydrogen from windfarms when they are working.

It should continue with banning large supertrawlers from the continent and rebuilding a UK fishing industry with proper regard for our fish stocks. It should include growing more of our own food with suitable support for farmers. It should entail remodelling VAT, taking it off green products and energy. He needs urgently to reassert control, unilaterally if necessary ,over GB/NI trade.

He will lose his core supporters and more of his Brexit voters if he does not return to this unfinished agenda.

325 Comments

  1. mickc
    January 16, 2022

    Best address this to his wife…

    1. Oldtimer
      January 16, 2022

      I read she has now been found out breaking the rules and has had to apologise.

      1. Mark B
        January 16, 2022

        What ? But I thought illegal gatherings were against the law ?

    2. Everhopeful
      January 16, 2022

      +1
      Sheā€™s too busy hugging mask-free friends in bars.
      Rule through psychological nudging and FEAR.
      Knowing full well there is nothing to fearā€¦
      Except the government.

    3. Ian Wragg
      January 16, 2022

      The real Prime Minister.
      The Damascene conversion to all things green is remarkable since he met Princess nut job.
      He will capitulate at every turn, ne is turning out to be the weakest PM in history.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 16, 2022

        As London’s mayor he proposed the Ultra Low Emissions Zone, so perhaps not.

        1. JoolsB
          January 16, 2022

          Sadiq Khan was responsible for introducing ULEZ in October 2019 and he increased it in October 2021. Johnson is a pathetic failure but you canā€™t pin this one on him. Nice try though.

          1. miami.mode
            January 16, 2022

            JB, our lad is not wrong. ULEZ originally proposed under Boris Johnson in 2014.

          2. hefner
            January 16, 2022

            And the Low Emission Zone originally proposed by Ken Livingstone dates back even before that. The first version started in February 2008, Boris became mayor in May 2008 and continued it.

        2. Mark
          January 16, 2022

          I notice that despite the greatly expanded ULEZ London has recently had some days of very high pollution levels. These have nothing to do with the traffic, and everything to do with other sources of pollution and the weather. ULEZ is nothing to do with lowering pollution in any significant way. It is all about raising revenue.

          1. alan jutson
            January 16, 2022

            Mark
            You can still pollute if you pay, likewise you can still add to congestion if you pay.

            One common theme here, Payment !

            It never was anything about pollution, otherwise some cars/lorries/buses/coaches, taxi’s would be banned, it’s all about fund raising.

          2. Micky Taking
            January 16, 2022

            Are you kidding?
            London has 9,000 buses mostly Diesel, stopping at 19,000 stops.
            Over 1,000 are the Routemasters.
            If you traveled on one you might realise they are basically slow , weigh between 7 and 8 tonnes and will stop at most places.
            I dread to think of the consumption and pollution output.
            Of course there are other factors – I think only one third of taxis for instance are electric. And weather – if wind is still is a factor.

        3. JoolsB
          January 16, 2022

          MM There is a big difference between proposing something and actually implementing it.

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            January 16, 2022

            Not for honourable people there isn’t.

        4. Nottingham Lad Himself
          January 16, 2022

          Thanks, mm.

          Yes proposed by Johnson, followed through by Kahn.

          Just as “Boris bikes” were conceived by Ken Livingston but implemented by Johnson.

          Johnson also proposed an amnesty for clandestine migrants.

        5. No Longer Anonymous
          January 16, 2022

          Sir John.

          Are you reading this ? NLH is right.

          I only voted Boris because the candidate I wanted stood down to ‘keep labour out’.

          I wish I hadn’t, I really do.

      2. a-tracy
        January 16, 2022

        Is he though Ian, he stood up to everyone in Sage and Whitty etc. wanting him to lockdown this Christmas and New Year, Kier buckle knee would have had us all locked down like his Labour colleague in Wales and Sturgeon.
        He is standing up to his own party about wanting to bring his manifesto pledge on green down from 2050 and 2030, he would have a much easier life if he did weaken and put it back to 2050 so why hasnā€™t he? His mistake is not getting everyone on board with him, if he couldnā€™t sell it to his own MPs then he canā€™t put it to the Country and he needs to rethink his stubbornness on his decision that he is now learning could impoverish millions of people. I donā€™t see a change of heart as a u-turn I see it as a strength to change when new evidence comes to your attention.
        He did stretch his neck out on vaccinations and going with the AZ one very early. People criticise the UKs test and trace but we do have free LFT when other Countries have to pay, it makes us look bad because we do identify bigger numbers fast – in my opinion the big mistake is not treating the most vulnerable early in their own homes and letting things develop in them too far.

      3. X-Tory
        January 16, 2022

        ” He will capitulate at every turn, [he] is turning out to be the weakest PM in history.”

        His cowardice is the very crux of the problem. He starts doing something right – eg. Brexit, or reversing Labour’s culture war – then he gets a bit of criticism from the far Left and immediately caves in. Or he is presented with idiotic and bogus fearmongering – eg. about Covid or global warming – and then he panics and imposes absurd policies to satisfy his far Left critics.

        The man is such a stupid and pathetic coward that the only way the Tory Right could get him to adopt the right policies is to make him even more scared of them than he is of the far Left. But Tory MPs on the right of the party refuse to act and treat him with the necessary ruthlessness.

    4. Nottingham Lad Himself
      January 16, 2022

      Yes, perhaps.

      However, I doubt that many of the Tories’ new voters are preoccupied by the things that Sir John claims. They’ll be more worried about how to pay their fuel bills and all the other effects of financial hardship.

      Membership of the European Union would not have prevented the UK from doing much as it did re vaccines either, any more than it compelled HS2 or burgundy passports, which it did not, incidentally.

      So I’d like a list of these implied life-changing freedoms which we now enjoy. I can’t see any – quite the reverse, we have lost them.

      1. Micky Taking
        January 16, 2022

        and you and Andy missed the chance to emigrate easily….

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          January 16, 2022

          I do think that some countries across the Channel are better than the UK, certainly, but did before your daft brexit anyway.

          However, family, friends, and customised property are here, so I’ll be staying at this time of life.

          1. Micky Taking
            January 16, 2022

            Then stop f…ing whingeing constantly …. get over it.
            OR – run for a seat in Cardiff. I’d love to read your campaign ‘manifesto’.

          2. Nottingham Lad Himself
            January 16, 2022

            I’ll carry on arguing for better arrangements with the European Union in place of the present horlicks, and for better domestic policies, thanks.

          3. Micky Taking
            January 16, 2022

            Martin has it not occurred to you yet that the dictators, oops leaders of the EU, do not want better arrangements.? They were shaken rigid that Brits chose to walk away, or at least try….but enjoy that the minority like you, the PMs, the Cabinets, the Civil service and Judiciary are all hell bent on destroying our majority decision.
            But -they should remember from history that Brits, however much weakened by masses of immigration over decades, still can think for themselves.

        2. a-tracy
          January 16, 2022

          MT they can still go to Ireland – common travel area.

      2. Peter Parsons
        January 16, 2022

        Indeed. Croatia issues blue passports and the UK was still in the transition period when the vaccine program started and therefore subject to all the rules that apparently would have prevented what happened from happening (so how did, then?).

        All Brexit has done for me so far is make life more expensive and more difficult.

        1. Peter Parsons
          January 16, 2022

          *did it

        2. Andy
          January 16, 2022

          And thatā€™s all it will ever do for any of us.

        3. a-tracy
          January 16, 2022

          The blue passport was a smoke screen and they exported the contract order to make them anyway instead of keeping it UK based, pathetic. It needs bringing back and it can be any colour the UK wants who cares!

          There are plenty of people Peter that have benefited even if you didnā€™t personally, all the forgotten who have had pay increases. More jobs being created in factories now back on-shoring in the UK, many in the North (what a lot of the people I knew that voted for Brexit wanted I actually listened to them). They were sick of losing their jobs to Eastern Europe and their jobs being undercut by people in the UK who could afford to take six months contracts, claim all the additional tax credits and money for families back home enough in six months to last a year back home and build homes (great for them, not great for the people who could not sustain a family in the UK on this rate (often reduced with the accommodation charges they were provided with). Cameron asked for a few minor concessions that would have stopped this, the EU said no.

          1. a-tracy
            January 16, 2022

            Actually one more point, they were all previous Labour voters, your party didnā€™t listen to them then or now, and if you believe they were the slightest bit bothered about the colour of a passport they only got to use a week or two a year you are mistaken. Same with call roaming they donā€™t want the cost of free roaming spread between everyone when they only got to use it minimally for a fortnight a year and there are still free service operators now for anyone that goes a lot, there are other opt arounds with EU sims too.

          2. Peter Parsons
            January 16, 2022

            a-tracy, I don’t have “a party”, political (or otherwise, if the lockdown rules say I can’t..).

        4. No Longer Anonymous
          January 16, 2022

          Well if you were a lorry driver you’d be seeing good pay (finally) and no longer have to crap in a bush.

          You and Andy are addicted to underpaid workers.

          1. Peter Parsons
            January 16, 2022

            Nothing abiut Brexit has improved the facilities for lorry drivers in the UK.

          2. Nottingham Lad Himself
            January 16, 2022

            They never had to do that in Germany etc., which is very much in the European Union.

            The difference?

            The Germans do not have enough daft enough to elect anything like the English Tories, nor with PR could they even if they had.

          3. a-tracy
            January 16, 2022

            There are lorry drivers near where I live that have a safe, secure lorry park for 100s of vehicles with shower facilities and a meal included for just Ā£23.50 per night and they still choose to save that money and park on business parks. I personally think our business park should charge them Ā£20.00 to park overnight as they make a mess, do throw their cr** in the bushes, have damaged the pavements and the sign by reversing into them, hold people up getting off the estate by trying to reverse on the main road.

            The thing that would improve this is for the RHA to persuade the government to raise the overnight rate, then fine drivers who donā€™t park in facilities if they are within ten miles, in our local instance they have to drive past the safe lorry park!

          4. No Longer Anonymous
            January 16, 2022

            Reply to NLH

            No.

            Definitely the case that our lorry drivers refused to work in the UK because they had to crap in bushes on low pay because cheaper EU drivers were prepared to come here and do so.

            Now EU drivers can’t do it our pay and conditions are having to go up.

          5. Peter Parsons
            January 17, 2022

            NLH,

            Of course the English Tories could be elected to a majority under a PR system. There’s nothing about PR voting that could stop that happening.

            Of course, it would require them to come up with a set of policy offerings that appeal to more voters than they have to make the effort to appeal to at the moment, and campaign seriously for votes in all the places they can afford to ignore at the moment as they are done deal safe seats under FPTP.

            This would required them to work harder and appeal to more people in order to get elected to power and I get the impression they have absolutely no interest in having to do that.

  2. lifelogic
    January 16, 2022

    Yes – but if you do the numbers on storing electricity using so called ā€œgreenā€ hydrogen (in terms of the vast proportion of energy wasted and the huge cost) you will see it is an insane agenda. Just get fracking for methane instead please.

    As to pumped storage you lose about 25% of the energy in the process and you need lots of space in the high reservoir and lots of water in the low one to be able to do this. The capacity we have for this is thus rather limited and largely is being used already. New reservoirs are very expensive, not many suitable sites left very controversial and rather dangerous too.

    1. lifelogic
      January 16, 2022

      Sam Dumitriu today in the Telegraph.

      ā€œSeven signs of an over-regulating state
      For all its good intentions, this administration has done little to cut red tape ā€“ quite the opposite in factā€

      Yes, but did the Tories ever have good intentions on deregulation? Red tape is a huge tax on the economy that raises no tax (less tax in fact as it wrecks the economy). Removing most of it is a win, win as most does more harm than good. But now they spew more and more every day. Covid, Health and Safety and Net Zero the usual ruse for this insanity.

      1. Lifelogic
        January 16, 2022

        Cheap and on demand energy, far lower taxes, a bonfire of red tape, an NHS that actually works, scrap net zero & vaccine passports, a government that actually does things people want – fix pot holes, take rubbish away efficiently, stop blocking the roads, police who tackle and deter real crimes, control borders… It is not that hard to be popular.

        1. glen cullen
          January 16, 2022

          +1

        2. BOF
          January 16, 2022

          +1 LL. Halve the uncivil service and we’ve nailed it!

        3. Robert Jackson
          January 16, 2022

          That will do nicely.

        4. acorn
          January 16, 2022

          Three lifelogic posts in a thread! I claim the prize for spotting it.

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 16, 2022

        The most towering single act imaginable for the creation of red tape is brexit.

        Don’t pretend to be surprised by the results of your vote. It was all patiently and repeatedly explained.

        1. glen cullen
          January 16, 2022

          I agree, lets repeal the ‘red-tape’ of the UK/EU TCA & NIP and lets adopt the freedom of WTO

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            January 16, 2022

            It is precisely WTO which requires the red tape.

            The arrangements between European Union member countries removed all that for them.

          2. Peter2
            January 17, 2022

            Twaddle NHL
            Importing or exporting from, or to the EU, needed a large amount of “red tape”
            Importing or exporting from or to the rest of the world was very similar.
            Both had rules and regulations to be complied with and forms to be filled in.

      3. mickc
        January 16, 2022

        But they don’t want to be popular with the people…they want to be popular with the global rich elite…

        1. Peter
          January 16, 2022

          mickc,
          Indeed. That is it in a nutshell.

          Boris Johnson wrote two articles on Brexit -one Remain, one Leave. Once he eventually became Prime Minister he did not want to hear about Brexit any more.

          A crap agreement was sneaked through during the Christmas period and hailed as a victory.

          Lord Frost was put in charge for show but decisive action was avoided. The can was kicked down the road.

          Meanwhile, Boris Johnson could get on with ā€˜Build Back Betterā€™, NetZero and other elite pleasing policies in anticipation of world wide fame and a vast fortune.

        2. Pauline Baxter
          January 16, 2022

          mickc. Precisely mickc. That is what Mr and Mrs B Johnson are interested in – the Global Rich Elite.
          They actually believe that they have safely arrived as part of them, by making all the right noises before and after the COP in Glasgow.
          How strange! I thought we elected OUR government to run OUR country!
          Unfortunately (I remember him saying it on here) Sir John does not believe in Global Conspiracies.

    2. dixie
      January 16, 2022

      The energy you are capturing would be 100% lost if you didn’t capture it in the first place so whilst a more efficient process is preferred it is still more effective than not doing it at all.

      1. lifelogic
        January 16, 2022

        Well the problem only arises due to the mad wind farm agenda – generating energy when it is not needed. Make the electricity nearly free at such times of surplus & people and businesses will find plenty of ways to use it.

        1. dixie
          January 16, 2022

          So how do you generate electricity nearly free as needed .. and what are you doing to facilitate it?

          1. lifelogic
            January 16, 2022

            If ā€œnearly freeā€ why do they need these huge subsidies and market rigging?

          2. dixie
            January 17, 2022

            huge subsidies and support like that enjoyed by the oil & gas companies over the years?
            So, you want an energy generation business to give it’s surplus away for free? that’s as nutty as the taxpayer paying energy generators to not generate.
            – You don’t want to pay taxes, hindering the high capital costs to build nuclear facilities.
            – You expect energy generators to charge very little and give away surplus energy (do oil companies do that?)
            – You want to hinder development of alternative energy storage so energy generators have to be paid not to generate energy
            – you are gambling on fusion being economically and functionally viable at some uncertain point in the future.

      2. Mark
        January 16, 2022

        Not at all. The cost of capturing and redelivering surplus energy far exceeds the alternative of having reliable supply by a large multiple.

        1. lifelogic
          January 16, 2022

          +1

        2. dixie
          January 17, 2022

          @Mark, we do not have the reliable supply alternative and LifeLogic doesn’t want to pay lots in taxes or for his energy.

    3. Fedupsoutherner
      January 16, 2022

      L/L. You are spot on with your comments on pumped storage. This was discussed a lot when I was living in Scotland and that was the conclusion. It would be far too expensive and not enough sites to be meaningful plus very damaging to the environment.

      1. lifelogic
        January 16, 2022

        +1 and hydrogen if anything is even less sensible.

    4. lifelogic
      January 16, 2022

      Robert Buckland today ā€œThe cost-of-living crisis is politics at its most personal ā€“ ministers canā€™t afford to failā€

      Well Robert this government caused this cost of living crisis and thus has already failed. They devalued Stirling by printing vast sums of money, they increases taxes hugely, they introduced even more red tape all over the place, they wasted tax payers money hand over fist on HS2, made many businesses go bust, pushed net zero, eat out to help out, test and traceā€¦they locked the economy down, increased the size of government and endless other insanities.

      Then they artificially gave us very expensive energy by rigging the market, back door taxes and pushing expensive, subsidised ā€œunreliableā€ energy. Just how much ministerial failure do you want before you admit this Robert?

      1. Elli Ron
        January 16, 2022

        They are planning a ponzi scheme, in which they support about 50% of the poorest population by taxing the upper 50% (energy), however they will fail because they will address the support only to the know poor (on benefits, support etc.), but energy price rise is only one of the cost of living increases.
        Most people live up to their ability and the tax increases, mortgage increases, 7% inflation, petrol, and energy will reduce their surplus (if any), force them into debt and create additional squeeze on retail.
        Boris is sick with this pointless green plan which will (if implemented) cost some 40,000 pounds and still leave us freezing in the winter.
        Boris is now planning a 40 billion additional wind farms, which are a waste of money, Conservatives will act after the May election (probable) disaster and the cost of living bills ariving in April.

    5. dixie
      January 16, 2022

      What is insane is relying on energy captured and stored over thousands of years, millions even, extracting it from underground, in someone else’s land, burning it off to go skiing or play golf and not replace it.

      1. lifelogic
        January 16, 2022

        That is the best temporary solution until we sort better nuclear and or controlled fusion – coming fairly soon.

        1. dixie
          January 16, 2022

          Fusion is always 30 years away, it cannot be relied on and even if it becomes viable there is no guarantee that it will even be economical after all they claimed fission would give us limitless cheap energy.
          We have to work with what we have and unfortunately everyone wants to use the dwindling resources.
          As for “better” nuclear, it is capital intensive and the clean-up process and costs are high, but then you don’t want to pay the taxes to fund such things, you just want “cheap” energy.
          And by the way, neither fission nor fusion will run your petrol/diesel cars.

  3. Everhopeful
    January 16, 2022

    Wellā€¦Iā€™m finished!
    This govt. really deserves its fall in the polls and it will get no sympathy from me!
    I did say this would happen but I honestly didnā€™t believe theyā€™d dare!

    From The Telegraph
    ā€œAsylum seekers can work in care homes after Priti Patel rule change
    Move to ease recruitment crisis is described as ā€˜temporary measureā€™ made in light of ā€˜unprecedented challengesā€
    By
    Charles Hymas,
    HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR
    14 January 2022 ā€¢ 9:00pm

    1. Everhopeful
      January 16, 2022

      The govt. doesnā€™t seem to get it.
      The game is up.
      A new pic of Mrs J maskless and hugging yet Javid thinks he can keep us all masked?
      The government KNOWS there is no need for any ā€œmeasuresā€ aka destruction of our lives.
      We have seen them knowingā€¦and the photos keep coming.

      1. Mark B
        January 16, 2022

        Just do as I do, and have always done – Ignore their silly rules and get on with your life.

        1. Everhopeful
          January 16, 2022

          +1
          Good advice!

      2. Lifelogic
        January 16, 2022

        “Just respect the NHS” Javid – Javid organisations earn respect you do not just demands it! The NHS (as an organisation) certainly does not deserve respect this despite having many excellent people working for it.

        Plus we have Nadhim Zahawi absurdly forcing (totally ineffective) face nappies onto school children all day long and when children are not even at any real risk.

        1. Everhopeful
          January 16, 2022

          +1
          Stupid emotion-based. ā€œRespectā€ā€¦whatā€™s that? We need a working and available health system. End of.
          I think some MPs are bringing a court case regarding the masking of children. About time too!

          1. lifelogic
            January 16, 2022

            +1

      3. No Longer Anonymous
        January 16, 2022

        +1

        They knew all along.

        The problem is that the Westminster bubble was not in with us “in it together” they were behaving in a normal-ish way that would have reduced their urgency to get us out of masks and to get us out of lockdown.

        Those having affairs would have enjoyed the ‘war-time’ atmosphere, the romance and cover it afforded for time at the office (not least the aphrodisiac that is total power and responsibility.)

        Nothing disgusted me more than the impression given by the G7

        Maskless leaders hugging as normal while the plebs serving them had to stand to attention at the back with masks on as though they were just mannequins.

        Redolent of the Roman Empire.

        1. Everhopeful
          January 16, 2022

          +1

    2. Sharon
      January 16, 2022

      Ever h f

      I saw that! Like you I was shocked! Sack the present staff because they refuse to be bullied into taking a compulsory vaccine and replace them with illegal migrants who are still here! Thatā€™s the second time Priti Patel has left me with my jaw dropped! The first was her deployment of the police to punish people breaking the lockdown rulesā€¦. You know, people sitting on park benches, drinking coffee in the outdoorsā€¦

      Quite, quite shocking!

      1. Micky Taking
        January 16, 2022

        but if they decided to sit on 3 lane motorways the Police were in force to ensure no motorist got cross.

      2. David L
        January 16, 2022

        Simon Ruda, of the Behavioural Insights Team (part of SAGE) wrote this on Unherd website:”In my mind, the most egregious and far-reaching mistake made in responding to the pandemic has been the level of fear willingly conveyed on the public. Initially encouraged to boost public compliance, that fear seems to have subsequently driven policy decisions in a worrying feedback loop.” We have all been taken for fools.

        1. Everhopeful
          January 16, 2022

          + Exactly!

      3. a-tracy
        January 16, 2022

        Have we triple jabbed all these asylum seekers?

        1. Everhopeful
          January 16, 2022

          According to WHO there appear to be ā€œbarriersā€ such as ā€œhesitancyā€ and lack of accessibility etc. In the U.K.

          ā€œFor example, a recent study in the United Kingdom reported that 72% of the refugees and migrants contacted felt hesitant about accepting a COVID-19 vaccine. Reasons given included concerns over vaccine content, side effects, lack of information or low perceived need. This suggests that hesitancy could be easily addressed with clear, accessible and tailored information campaigns (41).ā€

          So will they be more persuadable than the sacked staff??

      4. Julian Flood
        January 16, 2022

        Another next PM but one falls at an easy fence… Of the hopefuls who began this parliament so hopefully, who has yet to come a cropper?

        JF

      5. Everhopeful
        January 16, 2022

        +1 Sharon
        Absolutely ā€¦a kick in the stomach type of shock!
        After all her brave talk!!

    3. lifelogic
      January 16, 2022

      The Asylum seekers to replace those trained but evicted from their jobs for refusing to get vaccinated I assume?

      1. alan jutson
        January 16, 2022

        Lifelogic
        Indeed using Illegals, assume with Proof that they have been vaccinated, but who apparently do not have any papers to show who they really are, or where they came from !

        Is this idea and possible action for real ?

        1. Fedupsoutherner
          January 16, 2022

          Alan. I’m sorry but I couldn’t give a stuff if they’ve been vaccinated or not. As a 65 year old woman I would not want a burly male with no proven record of no criminal past or an ability to care taking responsibility for my PERSONAL needs. I wouldn’t even want him or her in my home not knowing who they really were or if they were suitable.

          1. Shirley M
            January 16, 2022

            +100 Neither would I.

          2. alan jutson
            January 16, 2022

            FS

            I agree with you absolutely, and that is exactly the point I am making, will a vaccine passport simply override all of these other failings and deliberate act of deception and obstruction.

          3. Nottingham Lad Himself
            January 16, 2022

            But you voted for it.

            Prior to brexit these people could be returned to their point of entry to the European Union.

            Now the UK is no longer a party to the Dublin accords, so cannot engage them.

          4. glen cullen
            January 16, 2022

            Well Said

        2. Peter2
          January 16, 2022

          Very few were ever returned NHL
          Come off it.

    4. Original Richard
      January 16, 2022

      Everhopeful : ā€œā€œAsylum seekers can work in care homes after Priti Patel rule changeā€.

      Is this the reason the Government doesnā€™t want to reduce legal and illegal immigration?

      Just how many illegal asylum seekers does Ms Patel believe will voluntarily work in care homes?

      They are mainly young men of fighting age who have left their families behind and who are now living in 4 star hotels, receiving Ā£40/week pocket money and can roam the streets to do as they please, taking black market jobs if they wish, or even engaging in criminal activities, all of which we never hear about.

      Or even legal immigrants?

      Or is the plan to mandate that they work in care homes to gain residency?
      Wouldnā€™t that be a form of slavery?

      1. Everhopeful
        January 16, 2022

        +1
        I did wonder, after my initial shock, whether PP is trying to make the U.K. look less appealing?
        On the other hand it is said that incoming Labour is far less likely to unionise and ā€œcause troubleā€.
        I guess we might as well stand peering through the iron gates of Bedlam wondering why the inmates behave as they do.

    5. Iago
      January 16, 2022

      I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I don’t think the Channel invaders will make suitable care home attendants. Actually, you would have to be totally indifferent to the fate of people in care homes to suggest this. 550 since the new year was the last I read.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 16, 2022

        Don’t you think that has already been proven, by discharging covid-infected people back into care homes on an industrial scale?

        1. Micky Taking
          January 16, 2022

          They used to do it with MRSA – but a new kid is on the block so to speak.

      2. glen cullen
        January 16, 2022

        I thought all the illegal imigrants were Doctors or Engineers….thats what they tell the media

    6. glen cullen
      January 16, 2022

      Spot On…enough is enough
      Thereā€™s been a scandal every month since Boris came to government, why is a government with an 80-seat majority continually fighting fires and shooting itself in the footā€¦cash for questions, illegal immigration, energy bills, the French in our waters, ppe payments to mates, banning capitalism etc

    7. BOF
      January 16, 2022

      E h. Oh dear, can they sink any lower?

  4. Javelin
    January 16, 2022

    The vast majority do not want zero net carbon and mass migration but ZERO NET MIGRATION

    1. Sea_Warrior
      January 16, 2022

      The Conservative party, in the Commons, has become addicted to Immigration – and cares nothing about the societal effects of changing the nature of the population. And that’s why it has lost my vote. Getting into this country to work, and to acquire citizenship, is too easy.

    2. Lifelogic
      January 16, 2022

      I want high quality & selective migration – not selected by the ability to pay for a rib in Calais.

    3. Andy
      January 16, 2022

      There is no evidence for your claim. Farage wants those policies but has only ever had one MP elected to Parliament – and he used to be a Tory.

      The reality is that you are a very vocal group – convinced of your own righteousness- but there arenā€™t many of you. Thankfully.

      1. lifelogic
        January 16, 2022

        You do not seem to understand the voting system. In the Euro election (PR system) UKIP came first. In first past the post you have to vote for the least bad of usually two options – this as there are so many always have always will vote Tory, Labourā€¦ voters.

        So new parties can hardly ever get a look in.

        1. rose
          January 16, 2022

          When new parties get a look in you end up like our PR friends on the Continent – paralysed.

          1. a-tracy
            January 16, 2022

            This is true rose, but why donā€™t people like Hannan, Tyce, Kimbell get offered Tory seats that have a chance of winning. The Tory party seem to keep choosing people more left than Starmer and more liberal than Davies.

          2. forthurst
            January 16, 2022

            Your prescription for making governance easy for politicians is not a prescription for good governance; it is a prescription for complacent, corrupt and incompetent government as we are now experiencing and would continue to experience if the other lot got in. This is why there are very few countries left with FPTP even if they inherited it from us.

          3. rose
            January 16, 2022

            a-tracy, it used to be local parties which chose their own candidates. Then Cameron interfered with his A list.

          4. a-tracy
            January 16, 2022

            Then Boris should give power back to the people in the local parties.

        2. Original Richard
          January 16, 2022

          lifelogic :

          You are correct to point out to Andy that UKIP came first in the EU Parliament 2019 elections with 5.2m votes beating the Lib Dems in second place by nearly 2m votes and the Conservatives came fifth with just 1.5m votes.

          You also say : ā€œIn first past the post you have to vote for the least bad of usually two options ā€“ this as there are so many always have always will vote Tory, Labourā€¦ voters.

          So new parties can hardly ever get a look in.ā€

          This is unfortunately correct.

          We should have voted for AV when we had the chance in 2011. It combines the advantages of FPTP with a directly elected constituency MP and proportional representation in that to be elected the MP must collect 50%+ of the votes which comes from the first and, if necessary, second preference votes.

          It also has the big advantage that a constituency cannot not suffer from a split vote and ending up with the MP who least represents their views.

          1. rose
            January 16, 2022

            The trouble is it is devised in such a way that the second or third candidate may ultimately “win”, rather than the first. That is why the Liberals wanted it. Though other Liberals wanted PR, for the same reason. Better to have a clean, clear result we can all see and accept.

          2. Will in Hampshire
            January 17, 2022

            Thank you Original Richard, I agree with you. The 2011 referendum was a tragic missed opportunity to reform the democracy here. As I recall it the vote against was driven partly by fear of something new (ā€œcling tight to nurse, for fear of something worseā€) and partly by a presumption that parliamentary majorities make for strong, decisive governments. I donā€™t think the evidence of this Parliament supports that letter theory.

        3. Pauline Baxter
          January 16, 2022

          lifelogic. There is no point attempting to debate anything with people like Andy.

          1. Andy
            January 16, 2022

            True. Because you will lose.

      2. No Longer Anonymous
        January 16, 2022

        Farage’s politicians stood back to keep Labour out at the last general election !

        (You borrowed our votes too, Boris !!!!)

      3. beresford
        January 16, 2022

        If the parties stood on a platform of Open Door immigration and won, you would have a point. But as you know, as election time approaches they switch to promises of immigration control which they have no intention of keeping. This non-binding nature of manifestos is one of the reasons why our form of government is falling into disrepute.

    4. glen cullen
      January 16, 2022

      Your reading the pulse of the nation correctly

  5. Everhopeful
    January 16, 2022

    Iā€™m not sure that this govt can be saved.
    They seem intent on self destruction.
    I saw some health person attempting to reply to Sir Desmond Swayne about healthcare workers.
    The response was a bit like the responses JR gets.
    Super defensive and sulky ā€¦because they donā€™t know what they are talking about.
    Too busy planning the next bottle party I dare say.

    1. Peter Wood
      January 16, 2022

      This goes to the heart of the problem with Bunter. As previously commented, he is not a manager – that is dull and laborious, no fun. As far as he is concerned, Brexit is done (it is, in reality, only half done) meaning, for him, there is no more personal adulation to be had from it.
      The Tory Party and PCP would actually be doing him a good service by kicking him to the sideline. Governing is hard and boring; as a free agent he’d get on the after-dinner entertainer/speech giver circuit and make pots more money, receive adulation for all his imaginary achievements and given as many pies and prosecco as he can consume. Happy Days!

      1. Micky Taking
        January 16, 2022

        Life can be one big party, if you don’t weaken.

      2. Everhopeful
        January 16, 2022

        +1
        Agree 100%

    2. a-tracy
      January 16, 2022

      Everhopeful, I donā€™t understand why the un-jabbed canā€™t be on wards treating just the unjabbed, it would be an experiment to test theories and it is at the expense just of the people that want to remain unjabbed wouldnā€™t it?

      1. Hat man
        January 16, 2022

        ‘The unjabbed’ among NHS staff have been on wards throughout this Covid crisis, a-tracy, treating everybody they needed to, and their managers didn’t bat an eyelid. But you are right, if there was any truth behind this vaccine pantomime, your suggestion would make perfect sense.

        1. a-tracy
          January 16, 2022

          Hatman I agree with you. They have been working throughout and I for one have been very grateful to them all, if the ā€˜jabbedā€™ are now reluctant to be treated by ā€˜the unjabbedā€™ apparently the majority on covid wards are unjabbed if this is believed, therefore, doesnā€™t it follow that the unjabbed medicians treat the unjabbed patients and lets just see instead of scientists theorising. Lets put it to practice.

          I think this decision will be overturned.

      2. Micky Taking
        January 16, 2022

        Both should go to the Nightingales…’SAVE THE JABBED’.
        Let the unjabbed take their chances.

        1. a-tracy
          January 16, 2022

          It would be a solution for sure.

          One of the things Iā€™ve learned this Christmas is just how many people have covid with absolutely no symptoms whatsoever, they previously would have just been working and mixing when people werenā€™t testing. Now if medics have a high personal resistance so that symptoms donā€™t appear but become carriers that is what I understand the top bods making this decision are thinking of.

          1. Everhopeful
            January 16, 2022

            If you have no symptoms you have no disease.

  6. Maylor
    January 16, 2022

    I think that above all, most voters want their Prime Minister, government and MPs to be truthful and keep their election pledges where possible. They want to see irrefutable and transparent data to back up policy decisions.

    We don’t want obfuscation, especially when bringing in exceptional and life changing measures, such as lockdowns. Nor do we want to see nepotism & cronyism such as valuable contracts awarded to friends who did not have the expertise to deliver.

    I very much doubt if the Johnson government understands these concepts, never mind has the ability to deliver them.

    The only thing that may save this government is the fear of getting a worse one – which shows how most people regard the majority of our front line MPs of all parties. It is not that we vote for the best but rather we have to select the ones who we think will do least damage.

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      January 16, 2022

      Mayor. For me you win post of the day so far. Exactly right. What a dire choice we have. Please God Farage and co get their act together. This Tory government is achieving nothing except the destruction of our lives and that of our country but then the other parties are just as bad. All deluded idiots who can’t see what’s staring them all in the face abd are too gutless and more interested in their own climb up the greasy pole to make a stand.

    2. lifelogic
      January 16, 2022

      True but the alternatives are alas all even worse.

      1. a-tracy
        January 16, 2022

        Oh yes, you can see the direction of lefties from the posters here:
        Proposals for an annual income tax on property gains even on your primary home (no one is to own anything or be free of state control), classism on the rise.
        Suggestions that state pension promises are broken even more than they already were (raising a retirement age by 6 years) by means testing pensions so the most prudent and those that put up for themselves (as per pensioners that have minute savings over Ā£10,000 now because they dontā€™ have safe public sector and BT pensions) canā€™t get pension credits. Ageism at its best.

  7. Mark B
    January 16, 2022

    Good morning

    . . . civil servants negotiated the UK into a very weak position creating a Brexit that looked like membership without the seat . . .

    The Civil Servants were appointed by Theresa May MP herself. Remember Ollie Robbins ? I think he went on to become a Lord didnā€™t he ?

    I seem to also remember that Parliament and MPā€™s started right from the beginning to undermine BREXIT. People like, Oliver Letwin and Hilary Benn MP were front and centre to stop BREXIT created a law that prevented the government Leaving without a so called ā€˜DEALā€™. And when you effectively and unilaterally cannot remove yourself from a negotiation, the opposite party is under no obligation to offer you anything.

    The Opposition worked with Remain forces inside government . . .

    The government, all the political parties, the Lords, the Civil Service, the Establishment and the media all worked to undermine the democratic will of the people of the United Kingdom. It took the BREXIT Party in the European Elections, which we were not supposed to be standing in, and a crushing victory at the expense of the Tories to make people see how determined we were to Leave the Stupid Club.

    He will lose his core supporters and more

    He doesnā€™t care ! He knows you have no one that can replace him that can win elections. He is gambling that that not enough people will vote for Labour, like last time. He is made for life – Book sales, talks, TV appearances and that all important Gold Plated PMā€™s Pension. That for him is what this was all about. He is laughing.

    What concerns me now with regards to BREXIT is what the Remainerā€™s are now up to. This is the next battlefront.

    1. Mark B
      January 16, 2022

      Addendum

      I also seem to remember that Theresa May MP was secretly negotiating behind, David Davis’s back, undermining him and his efforts.

      I know there is a lot to remember but I think it is important to get things in the correct way.

      1. Sea_Warrior
        January 16, 2022

        May clearly hasn’t given up on politics. I’d wager a fiver that she’s considered running in the next leadership contest. Fanciful? The sad fact is that she would have handled COVID better than Johnson and set a better personal example. And Cameron? I wouldn’t put it past him to re-enter the Commons. He must be getting awfully bored in that shed.

        1. Micky Taking
          January 16, 2022

          Well neither have moved to the Lords, so there would be a chance.

        2. Sir Joe Soap
          January 16, 2022

          Please please NO

          Handled Covid better? She would have had us tied into the EU vaccine programme, meaning we wouldn’t hand would still be in 100% lockdown.

          Cameron would have run away as the coward he is the minute a Covid virus had hit UK shores.

          Please get both these people out of our lives and keep them there. We need some real Tories, not fake ones coming back.

          1. glen cullen
            January 16, 2022

            Lions led by donkeys

          2. Micky Taking
            January 16, 2022

            ‘we need some real Tories…’
            That might be an insurmountable challenge -and you would need an awful lot of them.

        3. lifelogic
          January 16, 2022

          Net zero, EU ratter , electoral disaster, LibDim May back! You are joking! That would be a sure way to lose any election. Truss is essentially the same as May but pretending not to be.

          1. Julian Flood
            January 16, 2022

            Ms Truss is unaccountably keen on concreting over East Anglia, something which will not go down well with her constituents when the crammed-in boxes start to pop up in her constituency villages. The new leader, whoever she is, needs to be certain of re-election.

            JF

          2. glen cullen
            January 16, 2022

            +1

        4. alan jutson
          January 16, 2022

          S W

          Not so sure May would have handled Covid better, seemed to me when she was PM she took ages to come to any conclusions at all, let alone make a decision, she certainly would not have gone alone on ordering a vaccine, far, far too risky for her to contemplate.
          She and her staff may have followed the rules more though.

      2. BOF
        January 16, 2022

        +1 MARK B. An excellent sumary.

        1. Mark B
          January 16, 2022

          Thank you.

      3. Andy
        January 16, 2022

        You remember incorrectly. Theresa May put Brexitists in charge of Brexit.

        David David was Brexit Secretary. Remember he was so well prepared he turned up without a pen and paper.

        Liam Fox was Trade Secretary. He achieved nothing.

        Boris Johnson was Foreign Secretary. He was the worst foreign secretary was have ever had. And has gone on to be our worst ever PM.

        Other Brexitists were involved too. Steve Baker was a Brexit Minister. Remember he had to apologise for slandering civil servants when the forecasts they presented him with didnā€™t match the fantasy he had peddled. Suella Braverman – now bravely undermining the rule of law – was also a Brexit Minister. Dominic Raab became Brexit Secretary. And Steve Barclay.

        All Brexitists.

        There is no doubt that Brexit is a miserable failure. There is also no doubt that those responsible are those who sold it to the country. They never had a plan. They had a grievance. Many of them will end up in a cell.

        Reply The Remain civil service with Mrs Mays permission negotiated a worse and different deal to the one Brexit Ministers were negotiating which is why they resigned!

        1. Nig l
          January 16, 2022

          More one eyed ignorance not knowing that Mays negotiations were kept secret from her own Ministers. The problem I have is that Sir JRs government has continued to allow itself to be hamstrung by similarly minded civil servants.

          1. Shirley M
            January 16, 2022

            Yes, I remember Chequers well, and was gobsmacked when she produced an agreement prepared secretly by the civil service to HER OWN Ministers, and threatened them to either support it or leave the premises immediately, and without transport too! I cannot believe any of her actions that day were legal and they were certainly not democratic.

        2. Sir Joe Soap
          January 16, 2022

          Reply to reply You’re trying to exonerate her by blaming her Civil Servants? Come on!!! The failure and waste of 3 years is at May’s door.

          1. lifelogic
            January 16, 2022

            Certainly was truly an appalling PM. And in my lifetime Wilson – Boris they all have been (even Thatcher made huge errors).

        3. Micky Taking
          January 16, 2022

          David David (sic) didn’t need notes or pen and paper….we all knew he was there to simply refuse to agree to a very lengthy and multiple years long suicide note.

      4. alan jutson
        January 16, 2022

        Mark B

        Yes all conveniently forgotten by those now complaining about Brexit, also remember the bravado of those who travelled and visited and met with Barnier to recommend the best way forward for the EU to frustrate the Uk negotiations, with their own help and votes behind the scenes.
        Guarantee there was a remainer two way hot line in operation during the whole period as well.
        As you say, even out own Prime Minister double dealing at the time as well, going behind DD’s back.
        More than Shameful.

    2. Shirley M
      January 16, 2022

      I agree that Boris doesn’t care. He, his Ministers, and his party do not care about the UK. Not at all. There is no other explanation.

    3. Lifelogic
      January 16, 2022

      The Lords for Olly Robins? – not yet it seems just Sir Olly

      The Lords is not a bad pension uplift though at Ā£305 a day from tax payers. Less good if you have to pay Ā£2 million into party funds to get in though – as circa 6,000 attendance days to get your money back!

      1. alan jutson
        January 16, 2022

        Now with a Belgium passport it is alleged.

        Honours system abused yet again !

    4. Micky Taking
      January 16, 2022

      Labour will not need to gain MORE votes, the required swing will happen due to thousands of Tory voters refusing to mark that cross for them. A new Government by a sort of default.

      1. Peter Parsons
        January 16, 2022

        So much the same as happened for the Conservatives in 2019 then. “Win” by your opponents doing worse, not by you doing better. Ah, the wonders of the appauling FPTP system.

  8. Lifelogic
    January 16, 2022

    ā€œPerhaps through green hydrogen from windfarms when they are workingā€

    There is nothing green about wind farms splitting up water into hydrogen and oxygen. It is hugely expensive and very energy inefficient. It is not even a low CO2 process as the wind farms produce loads CO2 anyway in their manufacture, installation, connections, back up needed and maintenance as does the manufacture of the water splitting plant and the hydrogen compression has & storage facilities.

    1. dixie
      January 16, 2022

      @LL So when our natural gas runs out/become uneconomic and you wish to retain gas for heating, where are you going to get it from?
      You complain about the lack of strategic preparedness with our energy supplies but offer no alternatives but simply demand we carry on suing hydrocarbons that come from elsewhere while ignoring the cost and security issues.
      One approach might be to use green H2 with atmospheric/captured CO/CO2 to generate liquid and gas HC fuels. R&D on CDU, catalysts and processes are ongoing so why not find ways to support those.

      1. Original Richard
        January 16, 2022

        Dixie : ā€œ@LL So when our natural gas runs out/become uneconomic and you wish to retain gas for heating, where are you going to get it from?ā€

        There are 52 yearsā€™ worth of proven gas reserves in the world at current consumption.

        ā€œYou complain about the lack of strategic preparedness with our energy supplies but offer no alternatives but simply demand we carry on suing hydrocarbons that come from elsewhere while ignoring the cost and security issues.ā€

        The answer to how to provide power for the long-term future is without doubt nuclear.

        Firstly nuclear fission and then, hopefully, nuclear fusion.
        High energy density, low entropy, high heat producing, weather independent and reliable.

        Wind power, low energy density, intermittent, unreliable and then expensive will never work.
        Itā€™s like going back in time.

        Perhaps one day we will have the technology to be able to use solar power more effectively when it is borne in mind that the amount of solar energy striking the Earth continuously is 10,000 times our current consumption.

        1. dixie
          January 16, 2022

          “There are 52 yearsā€™ worth of proven gas reserves in the world” – how much of that is in countries who are not friendly or prefer trading elsewhere. What happens when demand for the gas increases. What happens when we cannot afford to pay – perhaps you have noticed the impending problems with energy prices. We don’t have 52 years before problems start developing.
          Even if you build fission plants (fusion is too uncertain), what about transport? Is each vehicle going to have a mini-reactor.
          You will need to produce fuel or transportable energy of some kind, hence the question.
          BTW there will have to be public funding of R&D if not capital projects so the notion of lower taxes and “cheap” energy is not practical.

          1. Original Richard
            January 16, 2022

            dixie : “Even if you build fission plants (fusion is too uncertain), what about transport? Is each vehicle going to have a mini-reactor.
            You will need to produce fuel or transportable energy of some kind, hence the question.”

            The idea is that fission plants either produce electricity and we run BEVs or
            they produce electricity/heat to produce hydrogen and we run fuel cell electric vehicles or ICEs if they solve the NOx issue (or ignore it).

          2. dixie
            January 17, 2022

            @OriginalRichard – I agree with you, though there are some established processes that would allow you to convert CO(2) to fuel in a carbon neutral way.
            But LifeLogic and many on here don’t want BEVs or Hydrogen as a matter of principle. I wanted to see what LL’s “logic” was and if there was anything solid, thought through beyond the black crap position …

      2. forthurst
        January 16, 2022

        There are very considerable supplies of Carbon fuels in existence and large consumers of them will continue to do so therefore there is no excuse for eco-lunacy being inflicted on the UK. What makes even less sense is the concept of carbon capture and storage which trips off the tongue of Arts graduates who have zero understanding of science or the technological problems associated with it which is why it does not actually exist in the real world.
        At some point in the future, several hundred years carbon fuels may become scarce and expensive; preparation for that would be in the development of nuclear technology which has some way to go before it becomes a truly mature industry which uses up its fuel instead of creating a substantial toxic residue.

        1. dixie
          January 17, 2022

          Events are not supporting your position.
          In my lifetime I have experienced heating from a back boiler depending on the annual delivery of coal to having gas central heating dependent on North Sea gas to importing natural gas since 2004 and now dependent on Russian supplies and US liquid carriers. Gas from the ground is not a promising option even without the political and civil service incompetence, not even for my children’s generation.
          We do not have several hundred years for you and the LifeLogic’s to kick the can down the road.
          So if we can’t generate fuels are you offering to put yourself, your children and or grandchildren in harms way just so LifeLogic to tootle over the Alps or wherever for his skiing?
          I do not advocate CCS but CDU to generate fuels via processes based on those established for a significant period in the “real” world.

          1. forthurst
            January 17, 2022

            Your ideas would have rather more negative impact on the UK’s economic climate than the world’s meteorological climate but I’m sure you would be happy with that.

          2. dixie
            January 18, 2022

            @forthurst – the issue facing the UK economy is not some specious climate ideas but resource and energy availability coupled with the actions of ours and other countries politicians. I don’t believe an ostrich mentality will help address the problems at all.
            We don’t appear to have ready access to this considerable supply of hydrocarbons.
            So even with ample nuclear power, which we don’t have and there are no current plans to provide, how would you provide fuel for transport in the face of the black crap dogma that H2 and batteries are not acceptable?

    2. Fedupsoutherner
      January 16, 2022

      All excellent posts this morning thanks L/L. Getting reliable scourses of energy as cheaply as possible has to be number one on the agenda.

      1. lifelogic
        January 16, 2022

        Indeed – cheap reliable and on demand please anything else will trash the economy and be a political disaster too.

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 17, 2022

        I suppose that while here’s here he’s nowhere else at least.

    3. Lifelogic
      January 16, 2022

      Also the expensive hydrogen production plant would work very inefficiently as it would only make any sense at all when the electricity was surplus and almost free – this would only be a fairly small percentage of the time. So it would be an on and (mainly) off operation.

  9. Shirley M
    January 16, 2022

    None of which will happen, and he has already lost his Brexit voters.

    The UK is finished unless we get rid of Boris, or, by some miracle, he starts taking short and long term UK interests into account instead of his ‘net zero’ religion which will destroy the UK.

    1. Pauline Baxter
      January 16, 2022

      Agreed Shirley M.
      Only his own M.P.s can get rid of Boris and his ‘net zero’ religion.
      He has destroyed the U.K. with each and every one of his policies but the net zero one is ongoing.

  10. BW
    January 16, 2022

    I read that he cannot remove VAT from green products because NI cannot as they are still under the thumb of the EU and ECJ. so if he did that would create further division between us and NI. Not sure if it is true..
    Secondly. Has he banned any super trawlers.
    Thirdly. Boris must stay and take your advice. I see many of those that want the job appear sympathetic to the EU and that would be a disaster.
    Lastly if you use the military to solve the dinghy issue can you ensure that they are not prosecuted for doing the governments bidding like the NI veterans.

    I have never been told by Ministers they cannot cut VAt when arguing about it

    1. a-tracy
      January 16, 2022

      BW, Northern Ireland stays in the SM and the CU and under ERJ they have different tax setting powers than England anyway, we are told by the remain contingent here that they are better off half in half out, indeed arenā€™t they just an example of BRINO therefore it makes sense that people see what BRINO means, they canā€™t take advantage of being fully out as the RUk are. Might focus minds when big decisions come.

  11. BW
    January 16, 2022

    I read that he cannot remove VAT from green products because NI cannot as they are still under the thumb of the EU and ECJ. so if he did that would create further division between us and NI. Not sure if it is true..
    Secondly. Has he banned any super trawlers.
    Thirdly. Boris must stay and take your advice. I see many of those that want the job appear sympathetic to the EU and that would be a disaster.

    1. BW
      January 16, 2022

      Sorry for posting twice

  12. BOF
    January 16, 2022

    Good morning Sir John.

    An excellent agenda, but all the things this PM has steadfastly avoided doing since his very first error of leaving the EU with that traitorous agreement drawn up by May. That was the day I lost faith in him.

    My vote will go in future to NOTA unless this CONservative party is ripped from the bosom of the EU loving socialists currently in charge. The ones selling out to the EU on a daily basis with the backing of Alexander the Cautious.

    This Govt, I believe, as was May’s, is not just wedded to close alignment with EU but also the internationalist agenda of UN, WB, WHO etc. A Marxist agenda which is against everything the UK has always stood for.

    No hope of your second last paragraph, and a guarantee of your last.

    1. Pauline Baxter
      January 16, 2022

      BOF.
      NOTA. I believe stands for None Of The Above.
      If all I am offered at an election are the Main big Parties, that is exactly how I will vote.
      The ‘Alternative’ parties show little promise of getting their act(s) together at the moment, do they.
      The Internationalist agenda you speak of will be a dictatorship, as was/is B.J.’s ‘Covid, Rule by Decree’.
      In other words, I agree with what you say and it looks like we are stuffed.

  13. turboterrier
    January 16, 2022

    Lose his core voters
    He has already lost the majority of them.
    Too much talk and not enough action.
    Doesn’t address what’s really important to the critical mass
    The whole cabinet are as lifeless and useless as he is and it’s the civil service running the whole shooting match.
    Everywhere you look is failure to deliver.

  14. Sharon
    January 16, 2022

    In a nutshellā€¦ he needs to take control of the still highly remain minded civil service, be seen to change the Labour policies to conservative policies.

    And part of that is finishing the job of properly leaving the EU!

    But he needs a strong conservative team around him to achieve that! There are a number of experienced back benchers, with the courage to put their heads over the parapet, who will provide that, including yourself JR.

  15. turboterrier
    January 16, 2022

    Yesterday met with a retired senior army officer living in France. He believes that Macron and Johnson are two of a kind. Both with personal power agenda’s for their future, their countries doesn’t matter, it is their position on and in world’s theatre of dreams that drives them. The people are their stepping stones. His hopes are pinned on a radical change of direction come the French Presidential elections. If Macron falls it just might send tsunami like waves through the European Union as there is growing support for a French exit from the union by the rank and file of the population.

    1. Micky Taking
      January 16, 2022

      and I bet millions of the EU serfs are thinking why did their leaders make such a damning fuss over UK wanting to leave? They look at massive losses in car exports, white goods, vegetables, flowers, dairy and all season tourists – even the Covid steps ensure Brits are kept out! Economic disasters.
      They now have the realisation of the misery staring them in the face should they tire of the dictatorship and wish to follow our example….oh why was it made so difficult – and why have we made almost enemies of Brits? Well you made your bed and now you will turn restless on a lumpy mattress.
      At least we will shortly do something about our would be dictator.

      1. Bill brown
        January 16, 2022

        Mickey

        Do you actually which dictator you are talking about or are you just highly confused?

        1. Micky Taking
          January 16, 2022

          Perhaps you are on a desert island , yet can get internet via sat comms?
          Just this one site?
          You appear to have missed out on events in the UK for nearly 2 years.
          I advise you to disconnect, its not a pretty world out there.

    2. Andy
      January 16, 2022

      ā€˜Retired senior army officer living in France.ā€™ Presumably a Brexitist who stole our free movement having secured his own. Anywayā€¦..

      His analysis of French politics is deeply flawed. If Macron runs – and it still is an if -the only person he could lose to is ValĆ©rie PĆ©cresse.

      He will win the first round and will hope that PĆ©cresse loses second place to Le Pen. If PĆ©cresse beats Le Pen to second she may beat Macron in the second round. It would be good for France to have a woman president and from the little I know about PĆ©cresse she seems perfectly reasonable.

      Le Pen will never be president. The EU isnā€™t collapsing.

      1. Julian Flood
        January 16, 2022

        Your comprehensive and definitive grasp of so many subjects never fails to amaze me.

        JF

      2. Micky Taking
        January 16, 2022

        as you say ‘the little I know’.

  16. DOM
    January 16, 2022

    This is not about the future of Boris Johnson or indeed Brexit but saving the UK from an enemy that is turning our country into a Marxist cesspit whose intent is unpleasant. Truth replaced by lies. Reality replaced by propaganda. People cancelled. Words removed. Identities targeted and replaced. Behaviour manipulated by State agents. Trust crushed. Abused like rats in a cage.

    Sir John has only scratched the surface of the travesties, appeasements and betrayals his party and his leaders have inflicted upon this nation since 2010.

    I have like most watched from afar as this nation has been torn apart from within and without by dark forces that John’s party has aided and abetted. Why would Tory party leaders act in such a manner and why would its MPs refuse to confront such destructive appeasement?

    The problem we face has been deliberately created by both John’s party and the once honourable Labour party who now work together to protect the status quo from any challenges

    We are facing a political State constructed by successive Tory-Labour leaders that will without question destroy freedom, civil space and privacy and John’s party’s embrace of that mission is the real scandal

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      January 16, 2022

      I do not doubt that ANYTHING can happen to our country in the next generation. All protections are gone.

      The monarchy will not survive the Queen and nor should it. Like the Tory Party it is just a veneer. A deceit to give the appearance of normality. Neither have done us any good and instead much harm.

  17. Micky Taking
    January 16, 2022

    England is in the last throes of a testing series in Australia. Their Government has also been put to a test over whether rules stand firm or not. They appear to have stood firm in the face of numerous challenges.
    The UK Government has faced much more important challenges, relentless steps have been required to demonstrate leadership, justice and morality. Few have been met with clarity and good sense.
    It appears the PM, and gutless Cabinet, are flitting from flower to flower – butterfly motion.
    The public are rising as one in their loss of belief in this Government, and the PM is in the last chance saloon with his own supporters in the H of C, after damning critical events flow one after another.
    Worse than that he may well be carrying his party into years of doldrums, their fate looking settled 2 years from a general election savaging. 08:00

  18. Donna
    January 16, 2022

    I am disappointed that Sir John doesn’t seem to believe we deserve a Prime Minister with integrity; who doesn’t blatantly lie to us; who doesn’t treat the law/rules he made as optional, whilst enforcing it on “the little people.”

    Whilst Johnson, Carrie Antoinette, their Aides and Civil Servants were regularly and systematically breaking the rules they had set, this Government had sanctioned and was carrying out an evil, destructive and dishonest PsyOps campaign against the British people. They have wrecked the lives and mental health of millions. Children who develop serious anxiety disorder will never be entirely free of it the whole of their lives. The repercussions of SAGE/Johnson’s PsyOps campaign will be with us for decades.

    Sir John should listen to Neil Oliver’s address on GB News last night. Johnson has no integrity and cannot rebuild the trust he has destroyed.

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      January 16, 2022

      Donna. Keeping Boris in power will just reinforce his actions. He will think he’s invincible no matter what he does and that he can bring in any policy and the public will support him. There is no end to the damage he could do before another election.

      1. Micky Taking
        January 16, 2022

        overnight it is reported that there were 35 letters to the 1922…..
        N…N…N…nineteen required.

        After Johnson wields the axe today – maybe that will be reached.

        Reply. It needs 181 MPs to vote against the PM. If his opponents move too soon and force a vote he will win which secures him a year free of such a vote

        1. Micky Taking
          January 16, 2022

          reply to reply ….so the 54 letters is a toothless, paper tiger?
          If 181 Tory MPs were united to get him out, I would take up religion.

          1. Micky Taking
            January 16, 2022

            Even Starmer won’t want him gone until a few months from a GE.
            Like Corbyn, Johnson is an unelectable PM at the moment.

        2. The Prangwizard
          January 16, 2022

          I take from ‘reply’ that Sir John is in favour of doing nothing, as usual claiming it is safer to wait.

          Sir John is incapable of taking a risk or view that acting, even if the act is unsuccessful, can have an effect on the subject of the vote. His head is always held below the parapet.

          It would send a message that there are people who expect change, and are determined on it, and will continue to work for it even if losing. If the recipient doesn’t change policy and behaviour opposition will thus grow.

          Doing nothing as proposed by Sir John will be read as weakness, as usual, and will bring about no change in the extra time. Wrecking of our politics and economy will accelerate.

          Reply As always you judge without knowing what I am doing and without any understanding of the how the Conservative party works.

          1. Micky Taking
            January 16, 2022

            reply to reply again – – – -well as time goes by, and examples of ‘how the Conservative party works’ become apparent, the survival, and competing for ruling party become more and more unlikely.
            Sitting on hands is never any sort of leadership or example.
            Wait it out, it might all blow over? Not a chance.
            As I’ve claimed before Sir John, you are known and respected enough in Wokingham constituency to survive the next GE – – BUT I fear you will be a lonely figure on the opposite benches.

          2. rose
            January 16, 2022

            “Sir John is incapable of taking a risk or view that acting, even if the act is unsuccessful, can have an effect on the subject of the vote. His head is always held below the parapet.”

            Have you ever heard of the Spartans? Perhaps you should read Mark Francois’s book on them. Spartans, both historically and today, cannot be said to be risk averse.

          3. The Prangwizard
            January 17, 2022

            I could see a steelworks from my bedroom window and my bedroom would light up when they tipped red hot slag onto the tip after dark – for the curiosity of anyone it was Carlin How, a few miles along the Yorkshire coast from the Tees.

            But I was not a socialist and never have supported any such ideas; I was a YC at Redcar in the 1960’s. Later I moved to live and work in Nottingham where I and my wife spent a many hours helping Kenneth Clarke become elected for Rushcliffe. We went to his garden party after he won.

            What I want is to get rid of are people of the Cameron, Osborne, and ‘Boris’ kind, the entitled, the elite and their repulsive attitudes who know nothing about real life. The Conservative party needs people and MPs who have worked and even got their hands dirty in the process.

        3. Pauline Baxter
          January 16, 2022

          Reply to sir John’s reply to micky taking.
          Yes I wondered if that was the problem/reason for delay.

      2. Mark B
        January 16, 2022

        I believe you are correct on all counts. But the Tories are damned if they do get rid of him, and lose their only election winning asset or, be damned if they do not. Because if they do not, and he indeed does great harm, then the Tories could be out of power for decades to come.

  19. Oldtimer
    January 16, 2022

    Too late! He has gone so far off piste that he is now engulfed by an avalanche.

    Incoherent energy policy, intent to abolish the private car, intent to abolish meat eating, incoherent agricultural policy, unfinished Brexit business, squander bug mentality when it comes to money, high and growing tax burden are some of the issues that will not be resolved by firing a few staff at No 10. Tory MPs might be easily seduced by empty promises of a policy reset. I doubt the electorate will.

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      January 16, 2022

      And now propaganda that tells us masks make us more sexy because it accentuates our eyes. Seriously !

      Well a full burqa will surely make me irresistible !

  20. turboterrier
    January 16, 2022

    Have all the thousands of turbines you like , you still cannot get away from the fact you need fossil fuel power generators operating on low output to ramp up the minute the wind stops blowing or the turbines are turned off in storms and high wind conditions. Add that the distribution network is still woefully lacking in capability to accept all theses power loads from all over these islands.
    This has been stated time and time again over the last twenty plus years and still the message doesn’t get through. FFS you cannot make this up.

    1. Original Richard
      January 16, 2022

      turboterrier :

      Absolutely correct.

      BEIS have no plans at all for grid stability, long-term backup or for providing the necessary connectivity (beefing up the grid).

      And the proposed amount of installed wind power will only provide less than a quarter of our electrical power requirements by 2035, the date by which they want all our power to be decarbonised.

      And with next to no nuclear!

      The Net Zero Strategy was written by the CCP.

      1. john waugh
        January 16, 2022

        National Grid have put it this way –
        “The transition to net zero will only be possible through an innovative transformation of the electricity transmission and distribution sector.” (from Institution of Engineering and Technology magazine dec 2021)
        Hence the development of the Deeside Centre for Innovation by NGET -National Grid Electricity Transmission. deeside.nationalgrid.co.uk
        The words innovative transformation stand out – hope it works out!
        See you can get a basic 3000 watt generator for about Ā£320 .

        1. Original Richard
          January 16, 2022

          john waugh :

          I’ve thought about getting a generator.

          But I’m thinking that by the time it becomes necessary the Government will ban them….

          If you’re thinking of getting one I would recommend a model which runs on both petrol and gas (methane) and storing methane which does not “go off” (absorb water) as the latest poor quality petrol/ethanol mixture we have to buy today.

  21. turboterrier
    January 16, 2022

    English farmers take a hit on a 50% reduction on their payments whilst the devolved farmers keep their original payments. French super trawlers still operating in our waters.
    Politicians talk about being more self sufficient? In France large areas of farming supply the local population with produce, local trades do all the maintenance and renovations, everything is geared to self sufficiency and creating its own internal markets each supporting each other. Cheapest is not always the best option supporting your own has far reaching long term benefits.

    1. a-tracy
      January 16, 2022

      John, why have English farmers only taken a 50% reduction is this true?

      1. Mark B
        January 16, 2022

        Go on to, Harry’s Farm (YT) and he explain it all and much more.

        1. a-tracy
          January 16, 2022

          Thank you Mark

    2. hefner
      January 16, 2022

      According to Defra, as part of the seven-year plan 2021-2027, the (previously ā€˜EUā€™) direct payments to farmers are being reduced as shown on p.7 & 8 of the report ā€˜Farming is changingā€™, assets.publishing.service.gov.uk, June 2021.

      The 50% to 61.25% reduction will only be fully applied in 2024. In the meantime, there is a sliding scale being applied between 2021 and 2024.
      But farmers might be able to benefit from ā€˜delinkedā€™ payments or from the ā€˜lump sum exit schemeā€™.

      1. hefner
        January 16, 2022

        TT, where have you seen that devolved farmers were keeping their subsidies?
        ā€˜Farmers in UK devolved nations face big drops in income post-Brexitā€™, 07/01/2021, Fiona Harvey.

  22. Nig l
    January 16, 2022

    Yes. Big early announcements with action. I cannot believe the Treasury cannot find money to reverse Nat Ins rise and VAT on power down the back of their ample sofa.

    Move right politically to the voters that supported you in the last election.

    To date Boris and a poor Cabinet have given the impression that their Manifesto was for Election Day only and helpless inaction (apart from vax roll out).

    Puts you in a quandary over NI but that will demonstrate rhetoric or action. Balls of steel or jelly?

    1. Micky Taking
      January 16, 2022

      NI…is that N.Ireland or Nat.Insurance – – – or both?

    2. No Longer Anonymous
      January 16, 2022

      Balls of plastic, actually.

      Bashing together like those plastic toys we had called Clackers in the ’70s.

  23. Bob Dixon
    January 16, 2022

    To see some progress on The two targets you have chosen would help the voters confidence in BJ.

    So letā€™s do it.

  24. Old Albion
    January 16, 2022

    Yes Sir JR, a sensible agenda. Unfortunately the PM is too busy/stupid to read and understand this. Lots of partying going on ……………….

    “He will lose his core supporters and more of his Brexit voters if he does not return to this unfinished agenda”

    Not “will” but has. He is without a shred of integrity. He is a laughing stock. Get rid and get rid quick, while you have a chance to save the Conservative party, from itself.

  25. H Parry
    January 16, 2022

    How about abolish SPADS ?
    Used to wonder why a certain political blogger got so excited about their appontments

    1. Micky Taking
      January 16, 2022

      all these advisors are required ‘cos the Boss hasn’t got a clue – too busy saying ‘yes dear, I’ll change Wilf’s nappy’.

      1. Denis Cooper
        January 16, 2022

        I once changed a nappy, but I did it so badly that my wife never asked me again.

        1. Micky Taking
          January 16, 2022

          A common mistake with men – no doubt it keeps Wilf’s dad busy for hours.
          You are talking Terry towelling in those days, aren’t you?
          These days they are snug fit – not shaped like a bath towel… often called ‘pull-ups ‘ I believe.

          1. Denis Cooper
            January 16, 2022

            No, a modern nappy.

          2. Micky Taking
            January 16, 2022

            you messed that up?

          3. Denis Cooper
            January 17, 2022

            Afraid so – got both legs in the same hole.

  26. fro
    January 16, 2022

    My advice to the Prime Minister is to keep his promise and get Brexit done for the whole country, not leave part of it behind under swathes of EU laws under the jurisdiction of the EU court. But he won’t want to do that because the EU has threatened him with termination of his precious trade deal, even though nobody in five ministries has been able to tell me what the government really expects us to gain from it. That will certainly not be the 30% of GDP that he told the nation on Christmas Eve 2020, more like 0% – 2% of GDP.

    1. Denis Cooper
      January 16, 2022

      me = Denis Cooper, not this “fro” that has appeared from somewhere!

  27. Nig l
    January 16, 2022

    My question is whether Cabinet Ministers will put their own ambitions over the needs of the country and party.

    Selective inertia to bring Boris down or meaningful action to get everything on the right track.

    The problem I have is that none of them have demonstrated anything like leadership potential or the ability to engage with the electorate. They have allowed themselves to bask in the (at one time) glow of Boris, have relied on him to promote their modest talent and have allowed themselves to be captured by their civil servants.

    1. Richard II
      January 16, 2022

      Hard to disagree with any of what you say, Nig L. It may be a coincidence, but people in Germany have been saying similar things about the succession to Angela Merkel. She always occupied centre stage, so that all the others appear to be nonentities (and probably are). Is it just a matter of how things have been going in many countries, with a drift towards US-style presidential politics? I seem to remember a lot more media focus on individual ministers and their activities when John Major was PM. So if that’s right, the culprit for what’s gone wrong appears to be Blair – once again.

      1. Mark B
        January 16, 2022

        +1

      2. Micky Taking
        January 16, 2022

        classic behaviour of a dictator. Not so easy in the West, but they are still trying.

  28. Cartimandua
    January 16, 2022

    We have been though something like a war. The Spanish Flu cost 226,000 lives for a much smaller population. All the British press can do is spout trivial bile. The public are fed up with down with our side. There cannot be triumphalism because of all the dead and those with long Covid but there could be some gratitude somewhere surely. A lot of people deserve gratitude including those in govt. Tell people how many hours a day they worked and how little they saw their families.
    Its just awful that while Putin is threatening world peace all British press can do is say “down with our side”.
    I dont even watch the BBC any more it makes me sick. My grandfather was a decorated war reporter. He was quite sure whose side he was on.

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      January 16, 2022

      This is nothing like a war.

      Plagues happened during wars and didn’t even get recorded in history. They certainly didn’t stop the wars.

      A big part of the problem has been to think of this as a war when it is nothing of the sort. They didn’t even bother issuing FFP3 masks to everyone (the only ones that work) and yet in WW2 everyone got a heavy personal issue gas mask with box.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 16, 2022

        No, it’s nothing like a war.

        If 150,000 British had been killed by foreigners here, then you’d have been all in favour of troops going door-to-door and searching property to find them and their sympathisers and summarily killing them, wouldn’t you?

        It would have been to blazes with privacy, property rights and the rest wouldn’t it?

        Yet when a virus does it, you’re in a froth about having to wear a little bit of cloth on your face on the bus.

        You simply do not make sense.

        1. Peter2
          January 16, 2022

          What a totally ridiculous comparison NHL

  29. Sir Joe Soap
    January 16, 2022

    .. and show some creative diversity on tax policy. Corporation tax and government support to match the Irish,

  30. Jazz
    January 16, 2022

    Sir John
    9 massive super trawlers given licenses. I despair.

    1. Micky Taking
      January 16, 2022

      It could be a plan to create monster waves in the Channel to deter dinghies launching from France?

    2. beresford
      January 16, 2022

      The lesson is never learnt that kowtowing to the EU does not invoke gratitude in response. If you pay the Danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane.

  31. Philip P.
    January 16, 2022

    It sounds like a good policy plan, Sir John, especially nurturing talent at home. But talented entrepreneurs usually start on a small scale, and the government’s record has been to cripple small and medium-sized businesses with lockdown closures and other restrictions, while leaving big corporations pretty much unaffected. I wish I could believe Johnson and his ministers shared your view.

    1. Sir Joe Soap
      January 16, 2022

      They don’t worry about small business because it will never help them personally. Big builders, developers, banks, big tech, yes. Look at where these people are “employed” later.

  32. Dave Andrews
    January 16, 2022

    There were plenty of wins that could have been taken even in the EU. It wasn’t EU rules that said business had to be stifled with a 13.8% employer’s NI. Freedom from the EU means the government will now increase it to 15.05%! What sort of a win is that (not that it couldn’t be done whilst in the EU anyway)?
    I’m glad to be out of the EU; another organisation making rules for me has gone, leaving just local and central government which is about right. I do wish this freedom could be extended to NI as well.
    Why does a Conservative government follow the socialist mantra that private businesses are evil and have to be penalised with excessive taxes?

  33. agricola
    January 16, 2022

    I would commend you all read Spartan Victory by Mark Francois,for a better understanding of the forces at work intent on torpedoing Brexit. There are as many still active in the UK, as ever there are in the EU. The agenda for a clean Brexit remains littered with unfinished business so I won’t bore you by repeating it all. The real question is who has been applying the brakes to cleaning up the detritus of an unfinished Brexit. It is this, not the intrusion of Covid, that prevents us from reaping the very real benefits from Brexit. So I would say to the conservative party, get on with it, with or without the court jester.

    1. Denis Cooper
      January 16, 2022

      George Osborne and the Treasury applied their “Project Fear” handbrake and locked it into place before the referendum, and it is still on even now in the minds of most of our political elite. I’m not really in favour of threatening to trigger Article 16 of the Irish protocol until the EU tries to prevent us taking the unilateral action that we need to take, but it was noticeable that Boris Johnson quickly backed down from that threat in the face of the EU’s entirely disproportionate counter-threat of cancelling his precious trade deal.

      How much is that deal actually worth to us? A low fraction of a percent of GDP according to this highly critical but still credible analysis:

      https://www.briefingsforbritain.co.uk/for-the-last-time-an-eu-trade-deal-isnt-worth-it-for-the-uk/?mc_cid=89d61f4f70&mc_eid=ee84cb59c6

      or 0.75% according to the EU Commission, 1.1% by one German assessment, 1.3% from George Osborne’s “Project Fear” numbers, 2.0% from a chap at the LSE cited by the pro-EU “UK In A Changing Europe” … not the Ā£660 billion, 30% of GDP, hand waved into existence by Boris Johnson in his special TV broadcast … and meanwhile I have still had no substantive replies to my various FOI requests about official assessments of the potential economic value of his deal.

      1. Rhoddas
        January 16, 2022

        +1

    2. X-Tory
      January 16, 2022

      The only person who has been “applying the brakes” to Brexit has been Bozo the Clown. He is the PM, and has a large parliamentary majority. If he wanted to finish the job he could have easily done so. Very easily. And no Remainer could have stopped him. It is Boris who has betrayed Brexit and that is why he must go.

  34. Sir Joe Soap
    January 16, 2022

    The first card falls.
    Djokovic out of Australia. One government with balls. Should have followed the rules.
    Hopefully Johnson and PA next.
    Clean the swamp.

    1. beresford
      January 16, 2022

      But surely the Australian ‘Open’ should not now count for World rankings. When you host international tournaments there is a reasonable expectation that you won’t rig them by excluding top participants via arbitrary rules.

      1. Micky Taking
        January 16, 2022

        when was having the jab arbitrary?
        Or cheat like East Germany, Russia, China, USA, Canada etc etc drug taking at Olympics for example.

      2. Fedupsoutherner
        January 16, 2022

        Beresford. It doesn’t matter what your view on vaccination is. If those are the rules of a country then if you want to visit stick to them. Good on Australia.

    2. Mark B
      January 16, 2022

      I thought he followed the rules, as judged by and Australian Court ?

  35. ukretired123
    January 16, 2022

    Asking Johnson to come to his senses is honourable SJR but he needs to get out more and wake up to reality such as Russia expected to invade Ukraine any day now.
    He will use this a a diversion like others but we see through it.

    1. Richard II
      January 16, 2022

      ‘Russia expected to invade Ukraine’. Expected by whom, UKRETIRED? Not much by Ukraine, from what I read recently. It’s coming from ‘top US officials’ and ‘Western intelligence agencies’. Russia gains nothing from invading Ukraine. If it were to do that, I think US subversion would then turn the country in to a quagmire for the Russian military, as it did in Afghanistan. As long as Ukraine doesn’t join NATO, there is no reason for conflict to start. If it did, the Russians would take over the country before Jens Stoltenberg had even got out of bed! But then they would be faced with the problem with holding the territory.

      Ukrainians lost millions of dead when their country was a battleground between 1941-44. They certainly don’t want another war, and Russia doesn’t need one. So who does?

      1. ukretired123
        January 16, 2022

        Millions of Ukrainians were starved between WW1 and WW2 as Russia deliberately stole their summer harvests in between harvest failures plus Stalin’s rise to power and the great purges.where 30+ million perished. One death is tragic, millions a statistic?

      2. Mickey Taking
        January 17, 2022

        You misjudge Putin.

  36. acorn
    January 16, 2022

    “Northern Ireland manufacturers say Brexit protocol least of worries ā€“ survey.” Top concern is labour shortages as 28% of manufacturers say trade with EU has increased […] labour shortages caused by the pandemic but also the end of freedom of movement that prevents EU citizens living in border counties in the republic of Ireland ,crossing into Northern Ireland for work. (Guardian)

    “Small modular reactors offer no hope for nuclear energy”. Of the thirty nuclear plants proposed in the US, only four made it to construction phase and two of them have been abandoned due to project major time and cost overruns. The two remaining 1,000 MWe reactors have more factory built modules, like the smaller SMR designs. Until SMR reactor modules are turned out like Ford turns out Fiestas a module cost will be unknown; the economic benefits of size will not be realised. M. V. Ramana and Stephen Thomas Advanced Science News)

    1. Denis Cooper
      January 16, 2022

      I don’t suppose the Guardian has pointed out that:

      a) Business groups in Northern Ireland liking the present Irish protocol is much the same thing as business groups in the UK as a whole liking Theresa May’s “Brexit In Name Only” Chequers plan:

      https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/01/13/time-for-the-government-to-move-on-from-managing-covid/#comment-1291293

      b) They may like it less when it is being fully implemented as demanded by the EU:

      https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/politics/poots-sea-border-situation-could-get-so-much-worse-90-of-checks-arent-even-happening-yet-3527250

      “Poots: Sea Border situation could get so much worse ā€“ 90% of checks arenā€™t even happening yet”

      “Farming Minister Edwin Poots says that less than 10% of the Irish Sea border checks which the European Union envisages are actually being carried out.”

      1. acorn
        January 16, 2022

        Let me know when you want me to throw you a lifebelt Denis. You and yours are sinking fast; alas, you haven’t clocked it yet.

        1. Denis Cooper
          January 16, 2022

          I certainly wouldn’t trust any lifebelt that you offered …

    2. a-tracy
      January 16, 2022

      Acorn, what is the unemployment rate in Northern Ireland? What is the unemployment rate in Liverpool and the NW coast, perhaps they could persuade some of the unemployed young people to move to N.Ireland and these companies should be training their own recruits instead of just wanting to import the cheapest resource all the time.

      We need a serious investigation into unemployment now in the UK, benefits are obviously too high, perhaps they should be stopped altogether for solo under 25ā€™s as there is so much work around for them, so much work that people could travel from all over to take.

    3. Original Richard
      January 16, 2022

      Acorn :

      Iā€™ve read this article.

      I donā€™t think the authors prove their point that the technical difficulties and cost overruns experienced with large nuclear reactors will spill over into SMRs using existing technology.

      Further in the article theyā€™re pushing renewables stating :

      ā€œIn fact, renewables can be the basis of a reliable electricity system provided suitable and affordable options, such as energy efficiency, demand response, technological and geographic diversity, and some storage, are incorporated.ā€

      This is nonsense, certainly in the UK, and especially for off-shore wind.

      And I donā€™t agree with their figures that wind can provide energy at $38/MWhr, even without taking into account the additional expense of non-fossil fuel grid stability and long-term backup.

      But we shall seeā€¦

  37. William Long
    January 16, 2022

    But unfortunately I have seen little sign that Boris Johnson really believes in the ‘Brexit wins’, and certainly not as far as energy policy is concerned: he seems completely enthralled by Net Zero and Greenery. Like Labour and the Lib Dems his Government give the impression that they think that extra taxation is the answer to everything. Why do we still have 5% VAT on fuel now we are no longer in the EU? Why do we have to suffer an increased employment tax to support a NHS that is in need of radical reform rather than massive injections of our money?
    Add to that, Johnson’s total incompetence (and possibly worse) at running his own office and to many of us his credibility has vanished, and that of the Conservative Party will be lost with it as long as he remains in office.
    For once I am in complete agreement with Sir Kier Starmer that Boris Johson’s departure is in the national interest and Conservative MPs should do their job and get rid of him without further prevarication.

  38. ukretired123
    January 16, 2022

    Meanwhile in the real world:
    I welcome the decision to keep our borders strong and keep Australians safe.
    So refreshing to hear our cousins still believe in themselves unlike Johnson’s BRINO.

    1. DOM
      January 16, 2022

      Public health fascism is in no way an acceptable way to run a country. There is no greater good or the common good. Socialist barbarity lies in that direction

      Covid is an act of totalitarian politics not an act of clinical necessity

      ‘we will see 5000 deaths a day from Omicron’. SAGE and Ferguson. Deaths to date from Omicron = ZERO

      Lies, lies and more lies to justify Socialist oppression

      1. Everhopeful
        January 16, 2022

        +many

      2. Mark B
        January 16, 2022

        +1

      3. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 16, 2022

        I’m just back from the pub.

        What “oppression”?

        1. Peter2
          January 16, 2022

          Look up Covid regulations and restrictions on .Gov
          Do you not know?
          I bet Martin in Cardiff would understand. NHL

  39. rose
    January 16, 2022

    “When I was a civil servant in Downing Street everything officials did in No 10 was designed to help and protect the PM and government strategy. There needs to be radical reform of the current set up with trust and the public interest at its heart.”

    You were a civil servant before Blair corrupted the service.

    On Operation Red Meat, my answer to the PM would be, you can stay if you appoint Sir John Redwood as Chancellor and a proper unionist and Brexiteer to N Ireland.

    We hear from the horse’s mouth that Bercow gets an appeal where Mr Paterson didn’t. Is that because Bercow has three claimants, while Mr Paterson was subjected to two years of email interrogation on the private initiative of K Stone herself?

    1. a-tracy
      January 16, 2022

      Rose, could he not appoint JR as Chairman of the entire Downing Street operation. An enforcer and conduct measure to reassure voters.
      Then Boris need simply to follow the policies in the election manifesto and tell his departments to cut their cloth or find ways to make more money themselves like businesses have had to adapt for the last three years.

      1. rose
        January 16, 2022

        Nice idea, but this wouldn’t be enough if the Treasury were still acting on behalf of the EU.

  40. formula57
    January 16, 2022

    Your opening paragraph reminds us that T. May really was the most appalling quisling. Yet she still dares to show her face.

    Once again, you offer the prime minister sound advice that should be heeded (if the option remains for him to take it). Pearls before swine though, very likely Sir John.

    1. Denis Cooper
      January 16, 2022

      Lady May is still popular among local Conservatives, who automatically reselected her for the last election.

      I have a letter to write to our local newspaper touching upon her disgraceful role in our national humiliation.

      1. Denis Cooper
        January 16, 2022

        I have now written and sent that letter:

        “I sense that James Aidan has a low opinion of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

        (Viewpoint, January 13 2022, “Oven-ready deal melts into an Eton mess”)

        I concur, but with the caveat that I also have a low opinion of his predecessor.

        As I made clear previously, in a letter about the lack of preparation for leaving the EU without any special trade deal, just defaulting to the existing WTO treaties:

        “But after she had spent three years telling all and sundry that ā€˜no deal is better than a bad dealā€™, surely she would have made sure that by the time she handed the reins over to Boris Johnson all the necessary preparations for a no deal exit were well advanced?

        I am no fan of Boris Johnson, far from it, but how can it be right for a politician to say one thing but do another, and then stay silent while her successor is pilloried for the dire situation she bequeathed to him?ā€

        (Viewpoint, September 19 2019, “Why arenā€™t we prepared for a no deal Brexit?ā€)

        Well, we are where we are, as they say, and where we are is that Boris Johnson rightly condemned the Chequers plan proposed by Theresa May as “vassalage” and “Brexit In Name Only”, but to get his precious trade deal with the EU he was prepared to impose that on people in one part of our country, Northern Ireland.

        But then he was only put on that track because Theresa May had declined to challenge the Irish government when they fabricated an insurmountable mountain out of a molehill on the land border, seeing their nonsense as a useful pretext to give the CBI and other business pressure groups much of what they were demanding.”

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 16, 2022

        There are seventeen million – minus a million or so these days – who should ALL hang your heads on that point.

  41. JoolsB
    January 16, 2022

    ā€œHe will lose his core supporters and more of his Brexit voters if he does not return to this unfinished agendaā€œ

    I think itā€™s a bit late for that John, so many lifelong Tories, myself included will never vote for this buffoon. If those spineless self serving careerist MPs donā€™t get those letters in soon, weā€™re looking at a Labour/SNP Government in 2/3 years time intent on taking us back into the EU starting with rejoining the CU and SM. Did he ever have an agenda other than to be PM, somehow I doubt it. Johnson is a ditherer with no vision and heā€™s a big state high tax socialist ditherer at that. He hasnā€™t got a clue how to take advantage of Brexit even if he wanted to which is debatable. Frost leaving was a clear indication of the appeasement attitude he has to the EU. His refusal to scrap VAT on fuel now weā€™re out shows us everything we need to know about how out of touch and rudderless he really is. And the parties going on under his nose are indefensible. Heā€™s weak wanting to be the nice guy not wanting to spoil their fun and just isnā€™t capable of taking the tough decisions needed to be PM whether itā€™s reprimanding his staff, firing his Ministers when theyā€™re utterly useless (which most of them are) and he certainly doesnā€™t have what it takes to stand up to the bullying EU.

    He needs to be replaced immediately by an actual Conservative PM and surrounded by real Tory Ministers with actual experience of something unlike the current bunch, thatā€™s if thereā€™s enough actual Tories in the current parliamentary party. Doubtful.

  42. Denis Cooper
    January 16, 2022

    In defence of our people I’ve just sent this letter to the Sunday Business Post in Ireland, with the heading:

    “Johnson and Truss are mere amateurs when it comes to belligerence”

    “Noticing the headline “Truss must move away from Johnsonā€™s belligerent Brexit line” I wondered what the author of the article, Susan O’Keeffe, may have thought about this widely quoted line from Phil Hogan back in November 2017 when he was still Ireland’s EU Commissioner:

    “Mr Hogan, the EUā€™s agriculture commissioner, said Ireland would “play tough to the end” over the border issue, and said it was a ā€œvery simple factā€ that ā€œif the UK or Northern Ireland remained in the EU customs union, or better still the single market, there would be no border issueā€.

    Now there I would suggest is real belligerence from somebody practiced in the art, a political bruiser, and Johnson and Truss are mere amateurs in comparison.”

    I didn’t say anything about the golf club dinner in breach of Covid rules that finally brought him down, that would have been a distraction and an invitation to reminders about greenhouses and stones.

  43. Christine
    January 16, 2022

    If Boris thinks he can buy back votes by just freezing the BBC license fee for two years then he is deluded.

    He and his cabinet are so out of touch with what the majority of people in this country want that it’s laughable.

    Levelling up the North and pricing people off the road are not compatible. That lunatic Gove has to go asap.

    Freezing people in their homes by forcing his own net zero agenda down our throats is not acceptable.

    Sir John, you would do well to send him some quotes written by commentator’s from this diary to explain how people are thinking and what he needs to do to turn things around. Unfortunately time is very short. Instead of Operation Red Meat he should invoke Operation Redwood.

  44. XY
    January 16, 2022

    Yes, unfortunately it looks as though the new remain policy is to give us freedoms that we never use in reality.

    I’m afraid I have to find a conservative party to vote for. If Farage returns to head up Refrom, I will vote for them and I won’t be switching back. The Tories have shown that any pressures lead to policy change for short-term electoral success,m but as soon as the pressure is off, they revert tro being a socialist pro-EU party.

    I hope for the demise of the EU, it would solve so many problems – and it has never actually solved the problems it was created to solve.

    1. Micky Taking
      January 16, 2022

      Not quite correct -there has been no inter-club physical military aggression between them.
      The weak nations, by which I mean all of them except Germany and possibly France, stretching it a bit Italy, all saw membership as protecting them from invasion. Sadly nobody seems to have recognised the massive defeat economically. Even UK lily-livered white-flag wavers took decades to notice.

    2. Fedupsoutherner
      January 16, 2022

      XY. Reform for me too because that’s what we need. Reform.

  45. Sea_Warrior
    January 16, 2022

    O/T, but The Sunday Times reports that, under Operation RED MEAT/SAVE BIG DOG, the military will now be controlling the battle to stop illegal immigrants in the Channel. At the risk of sounding defeatist, it won’t work. The flow will continue until you lot, the political class, enact the legislation and executive actions ASHORE, to send 95% of the dinghyists either home or into detention. The very, very small percentage allowed to remain should get nothing other than an NI number.

    1. The Prangwizard
      January 16, 2022

      Tow them back to within say a few hundred yards of the French coast, confiscate their outboard motors at the time and return them then, after removing the fuel first for health and safety reasons. The French would need to rescue them.

      But gutless ‘Boris’ and almost every one of his MP’s and ministers wants them here, and is frightened of the French because they have been given industrial and economic power over us, so it won’t happen.

  46. glen cullen
    January 16, 2022

    I see that Australia has kicked out a Serbian within a week for not having the correct visa but we canā€™t return a single immigrant without a visa back to France

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      January 16, 2022

      Glen. But then Australia is a self governing country with their own interest at heart. We just like to please everyone and worry too much about what the rest of them think. Good on Australia. We may not agree with compulsory vaccines but we have to respect the laws in another country. Nobody seems to have to do that here.

      1. Hat man
        January 16, 2022

        The law in Australia allows a foreigner to enter with a visa, and with a vaccine exemption. Djokovic had both, his vaccine exemption approved by Tennis Australiaā€™s chief medical officer. But now his visa has been cancelled because his presence might ā€œexcite anti-vaccination sentimentā€ the government says, i.e. on political grounds, not on health grounds, and not on legal grounds. Politics has won, sport has lost, and justice has lost. Australians should be ashamed of what their rulers are doing.

        1. rose
          January 16, 2022

          Quite right, but will his deportation not excite trouble ? By picking on the world number one, they have greatly raised the profile of what they are doing to their people and to others, besides adding to the historical grievance of the Serbs. (Blair effect again.)

          1. glen cullen
            January 16, 2022

            You mean because they’ve sent one back…others might think twice before arriving without a visa etc
            Its a sound strategy

          2. Mickey Taking
            January 17, 2022

            ‘picking on?’
            What on earth do you mean?
            He broke a number of the Country’s long established fixed entry rules.
            All other attempts by mere mortals have resulted in being put on the next plane to leave Australia.
            Spare me from victimhood.

        2. Mark B
          January 17, 2022

          +1

        3. Micky Taking
          January 17, 2022

          Daniel Ricciardo, an Australian top F1 driver, vaccinated, who is PCR tested REGULARLY and had to live in a team bubble for a year was not allowed to enter Australia due to the restrictions. This applied to tens of thousands of his countrymen. He found it very difficult missing his family and friends – so why should a tennis player skip all those rules?

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            January 17, 2022

            It’s a pleasure to agree.

    2. No Longer Anonymous
      January 16, 2022

      Note that John Sopel tweets in Australia’s favour but had Trump or Johnson done this it would have been racism.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 17, 2022

        I doubt that.

  47. Everhopeful
    January 16, 2022

    Iā€™ve just wondered if PP thinks that employment for refugees is actually a disincentive to washing up on our shores?
    Does one expect to work on Treasure Island?

    1. glen cullen
      January 16, 2022

      So on top of free accommodation, food, clothing, sim-cards and pocket moneyā€¦.weā€™re also going to give illegal immigrants a paid job!!! MADNESS

      1. rose
        January 16, 2022

        How do you deport an illegal immigrant if you’ve officially recognized them by giving them status as an employee?

        1. glen cullen
          January 16, 2022

          +1
          and whats the point of travel visa….might as well have freedom of movement

      2. Micky Taking
        January 16, 2022

        I think we’ve all just woken in a mental asylum.

  48. Newmania
    January 16, 2022

    …the following day. Vladimir and Estragon are again waiting near the tree, which has grown a number of leaves since it was last seen in Act 1;. Both men are still awaiting “some Brexit wins “…

  49. X-Tory
    January 16, 2022

    The government’s collapse in the polls is due to Leavers becoming disillusioned. I think the only hope Boris has is if he were to deliver a real Brexit, but he clearly does not want to do so, or else he would already have done this. So he only has himself to blame. I am genuinely amazed that having won an overwhelming 80 seat majority, he has done absolutely NOTHING with it and has thrown away all the opportunity he had to build a major legacy and create a better Britain. The man is a complete moron.

  50. Atlas
    January 16, 2022

    Sir John,

    Agreed. The challenge is to get Johnson to admit that he needs to do what you prescribe.

  51. Lynn
    January 16, 2022

    I agree with your list of things that need to be done and with urgency. Boris Johnson will not do any of it.
    At least Starmer will abolish business rates and VAT on power, the Tory Minister said he had ā€˜lost the plotā€™!
    Soon the cry will be ā€˜Vote Labour because the Tories are worseā€™.

    1. Bill B.
      January 16, 2022

      Very perceptive, Lynn. Something like that could well be the message put out by Labour’s spin-merchants.

      I fear it’s going to happen unless Johnson takes some drastic action to get back on the side of the public. Mrs May lost a fairly small majority, Johnson is on course to lose an 80-seat majority.

  52. X-Tory
    January 16, 2022

    Hahaha – Sir John, I see you have Tweeted that the government should adopt “policies to grow and make more of what we need Here at home”, but the very OPPOSITE is happening, with reports today saying that farmland will be compulsorily purchased to build a solar farm. Solar energy is useless in the UK. I have previously pointed out the value of geothermal energy, which is consistent and constant, and which could provide over 20% of our electricity (at current usage levels). If the government want to be ‘green’ then this is the road they should go down, not cover good arable land with idiotic solar panels.

  53. Helen Smith
    January 16, 2022

    The media has been out to get Boris from day one, itā€™s up to Tory MPs to not let them win, not let the MSM choose who leads the country.

    Boris would regain an awful lot of support if he cracked down as hard as he is able on the illegal migrants, and binned all the green nonsense.

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      January 16, 2022

      Helen. Yeah, even I might vote for him.

      1. hefner
        January 23, 2022

        Absolutely hilarious (as good old P2 would say). The above from the very same FuS who on the very same page and the very same day (16/01/2022) was writing ā€˜Reform for me too because thatā€™s what we need. Reformā€™.
        Are you trying to steal Grockā€™s or Popovā€™s crown?

  54. Pauline Baxter
    January 16, 2022

    It is no good YOU offering ‘advice’ to Boris Johnson. The only person he ‘hears’ is his wife.
    Besides your advice is worded far too gently today.
    He HAS lost the confidence of the ‘Brexit Voters’ AND many long time Conservative supporters.
    Only YOU CONSERVATIVE M.P.s can save your Party at the moment.
    Change the Leader.
    Get the right person in control and perhaps, YOU CAN SAVE OUR COUNTRY TOO!

    1. glen cullen
      January 16, 2022

      Correct ā€“ the key to Boris 80-seat majority was the Brexit voters and in particular the red-wall votersā€¦..heā€™s lost them

      1. Micky Taking
        January 16, 2022

        and I can hear them saying ‘ never again – the nasty party’.

        1. glen cullen
          January 17, 2022

          Too True

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 17, 2022

        Not “he”, but the Tories, have lost the leafier areas too, such as North Shropshire, and Amersham…

        That is for deeper, ideological, less frivolous reasons.

  55. Original Richard
    January 16, 2022

    Sir John,

    All very good ideas.

    But it wonā€™t happen with this Government/Parliament.

    Even when given an 80 seat majority the Government is unable or unwilling to implement policies that a majority of the electorate want and which they feel would be beneficial for the country.

    Net zero immigration, the removal of the CCP Net Zero Strategy, a police force that believes in catching criminals, policies to grow more of our own food and catch more of our own fish.

    The removal of foreign supertrawlers, CCP operatives in Parliament, 250,000 Chinese ā€œstudentsā€ in our universities and EU rules in N.I..

    The ā€œGovernmentā€, Parliament, and therefore the people of this country are not in control.

  56. DB
    January 16, 2022

    It’s too late to ask Johnson and his wife to do these things. Ask the next prime minister. Johnson is toast.

  57. James
    January 16, 2022

    For those interested – today 16th January marks one hundred years since a delegation of the new Irsh provisional government, six men led by Michael Collins, marched into Dublin Castle the seat of British power in Ireland for centuries and by appointment took control on behalf of the Irish people.

    1. Micky Taking
      January 16, 2022

      …it didn’t end well.

    2. Mark B
      January 17, 2022

      And 1st of January 2023 it will mark the 50th Anniversary that they joined the then EEC and became a vassal of another Empire.

      They might as well not bothered and saved themselves the walk.

  58. Bill brown
    January 16, 2022

    Sir JR
    What is the point of looking for a solution for Boris when he is dead in the water

  59. agricola
    January 16, 2022

    OR, Said with accuracy and passion. Question is, how much of that conservative party with its 80 majority are intent and willing to deliver.

  60. DavidJ
    January 17, 2022

    Boris is simply not to be trusted; too eager to please his globalist mates at the UN and WEF. We come a very poor second consideration, if at all.

  61. John McDonald
    January 17, 2022

    If the PM ( Boris) can’t stop the elites at No 10 doing what they want how can he implement Brexit in full against the wishes of the Remain elite in the Civil Service and Government ??
    The real issue- can anyone else do any better ? Better the Devil you know and all that.

    1. Full Moon Loon
      January 17, 2022

      Long term, Pritti, with a core of strong people round her. She’s had a ton of abuse hurled at her.
      She may need to be red pilled
      I would include JR in the core but in the background ( No need to crucify yourself ! )

  62. Floating Voter
    January 17, 2022

    Boris has obviously got to stay pro temps.

  63. straight
    January 17, 2022

    The reason he has to stay is that ( some ) ordinary people have been empowered
    to disobey the rules by his flagrant dissing of these rules.
    This may not have been the aim of Boris and his daddy but it’s the result.
    The people at the “top”aren’t very bright.
    Me – Unvaxxed/Untested/Not afraid of death
    Also very law abiding.

Comments are closed.