Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Cameron won't survive the GE, no prime minister has ever survived a GE following riots on the streets of London during their term.

I quite like this blog anyway but from then to now what's changed.
http://pennyred.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/panic-on-streets-of-london.html

And her newer website if anyone fancies having a read...
http://laurie-penny.com/blog/

I'm not sure where you got that info, Shortie, but it's incorrect. Maggie was returned following riots in Brixton in both 1981 and 1985.

In hindsight your right, I kind if recall hearing it somewhere, although it'd would appear I must of heard wrong...

Enter the dragon....




Boris Johnson: I will stand for Parliament in 2015

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, has said he would like to run for Parliament at the next election



By Matthew Holehouse, Political Correspondent

10:21AM BST 06 Aug 2014




Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, put an end to years of speculation and prevarication this morning by announcing he is planning a return to Parliament.


Mr Johnson, the former MP for Henley, said he is searching for a seat he can fight at the 2015 election and "in all probability" will stand.

A return to Parliament will be widely interpreted a staging post in a campaign to replace David Cameron as Tory leader.


Mr Johnson said if he is selected he will serve out his term as Mayor, which ends in 2016.



David_Cameron

Great news that Boris plans to stand at next year's general election - I've always said I want my star players on the pitch.



More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/london-mayor-election/mayor-of-london/11015502/Boris-Johnson-I-will-stand-for-Parliament-in-2015.html

Boris Johnson: roadmap to victory

The Mayor of London has announced he will return to Parliament - reigniting speculation that he has his eye on the Tory leadership. What does he do next?


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/london-mayor-election/mayor-of-london/11015730/Boris-Johnson-roadmap-to-victory.html

He will look around for a safe seat. I was going to post yesterday that I was expecting it. He almost gave it away yesterday when he said that the UK had a good future outside the EU if Cameron did not get a better deal from Europe.

He won't go after the leadership unless Cameron loses the election. Leaders rarely stay after losing a GE. If Cameron wins Boris will be a loyal supporter and bide his time.

The London mayor election shows that he can take votes off Labour.

I think the mans a raging idiot, a clown at best most of the time and yet he's tipped to lead the Tory party.... I suppose one more clown MP running the country can't do much harm!

Take votes off labour.........LOL......... hes the best thing to happen to labour since this coalition crew got in.

The truth is Camoron and Boris detest each other.

He is someone who likes to project a clown image. I have been to the London assembly to watch the Mayor's question time. He is awsome in his grasp of all the issues. The Labour opposition tried everything to trip him up on all sorts of areas. They never laid a glove on him. When he behaves in a serious way he is hard to beat.

He is most certainly not a raging idiot and he is an exceptionally intelligent man. He can hold and keep an excellent grip on a multitude of different elements.

He does have eccentric ways to the extreme, as illustrated by his unruly hair and dress sense.

Would he make a good leader?

I think he would. I don't think he is a grabbing bastard. I don't think he is power potty. He does want to do a good job and has a common sense approach to spending large sums of money. He can't be bullied into doing things. He is very popular and is quite Churchillian.

He certainly headed up a brilliant Olympic Games project.

If Labour should win the next election, Boris would be utterly brilliant in opposition. Also one would suppose, that if they were to defeat Cameron and the Tories, then Cameron would step down and Boris would be 'a natural' to take over the leadership.

He does a bloody good job as the Mayor of London too. For an example, just take a trip on the London Underground. It used to be an utter shambles but it isn't now. And it's the same with the London Buses too. You can feel quite proud about how good they are these days.

The present con party is a party of clowns, similar to many of its camp followers.

Good to see Hazy has seen the light is now expecting a con party loss at next G/E and expecting Boris prepared to lead the a party of losers!


Unfortunately, I don't think Boris is a "fool", but I do wonder what he sees in being leader of a rag bag of a team, perhaps one should follow the money trail more closely.

Whats really needed is Boris before the next GE.

The last thing I would like is a Boris before or before an election.

The thought makes me tremble.

You won't get Boris before the GE. He won't show any ambitious signs until there is a leader contest. It is why Hessltine did not become leader. He was perceived as disloyal to Maggie and that was the kiss of death. Boris knows his history too well. Boris doesn't like losing. He won't make a move until he knows he has a good chance of winning.

Boris Johnson's EU reform list for Cameron to stop him voting for exit
by Rowena Mason Aug. 6, 2014

Boris Johnson has presented David Cameron with a shopping list of EU reforms that would be needed to stop him from voting for a British exit.

The London mayor said he would campaign to stay in the EU if Britain was able to manage migration, repatriate home affairs, social and environmental legislation, scrap the common agricultural policy, and annul the commitment to ever closer union in the treaty of Rome.

Launching a report on the issue, Johnson said the best option would be for Britain to stay in a reformed EU but leaving would also come an "attractive" close second.

The report, written by his chief economic adviser, Gerard Lyons, sets out clearly that it would be best for the UK to stay in the EU. It also warns that the shock of leaving "cannot be overestimated" and could seriously harm the City of London.

"There would be some considerable uncertainty," the report said. "Some may view it as a liberating experience and be positive from the start but the likelihood is that the bulk of the economic, business and financial community would view it as a great unknown. For many aspects of the London economy, the day after any no decision in the referendum would be little different in economic terms from before, especially for those focused on the domestic economy. The financial market impact, however, could be very different."

Johnson acknowledged that there could be a "scratchy" period of uncertainty for three to five years if Britain chose to leave. But he said he believed that this was surmountable and argued there was no need to be scared about leaving.

"The whole EU question is no longer as pivotal to our future as it was," he said.

Johnson insisted that both his "head and heart" told him it was better for the UK to stay in a significantly reformed EU after a referendum. However, he also made it clear he considered the reforms he was demanding ambitious.

This became apparent when Peter Wilding, the director of British Influence – a group campaigning for the UK to stay in – told him seven out of the eight recommendations in the Lyons report were already favoured by the leadership of the European Commission.

But Johnson said he did not believe any of his proposed reforms had been agreed and he did not think the negotiations Cameron is to undertake would be easy.

"I suspect, if I may humbly suggest, perhaps it is not going to be quite as simple as that," he told Wilding. "If we can knock out social and environmental legislation, if we can knock out the common agricultural policy, if we can repatriate powers over global justice and home affairs, if we can manage migration ourselves, if we can genuinely complete the single market in services, then maybe, maybe we're going to win this argument. In which case, I would be all too happy to campaign for a yes.

"Which, by the way, shows the wisdom of David Cameron in leading this argument. How curious it is, therefore, my friends, to hear from some of the gloomy-doom-poppers that we'll never get a deal, that Britain hasn't got a hope… And now you're telling us this morning that it's virtually a done deal, well that's fantastic news if it's true."

Johnson also said he wanted a clear timetable for reform of the EU, which Cameron has not set out so far.

Taken from: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/aug/06/boris-johnson-david-cameron-eu-reform-list-stop-vote-exit

Whats a done deal?



"Which, by the way, shows the wisdom of David Cameron in leading this argument. How curious it is, therefore, my friends, to hear from some of the gloomy-doom-poppers that we'll never get a deal, that Britain hasn't got a hope… And now you're telling us this morning that it's virtually a done deal, well that's fantastic news if it's true."

Which seven out of which eight?

This became apparent when Peter Wilding, the director of British Influence – a group campaigning for the UK to stay in – told him seven out of the eight recommendations in the Lyons report were already favoured by the leadership of the European Commission.

Here they are:

In the Lyon's “The Europe Report: A win-win situation” the case for reform is made as being clearly in the long term interest of the EU as well as the UK. The reforms that are needed include:

• Accepting the case for economic reform: This makes the case for unlocking the barriers to growth both in the UK and EU in order to boost innovation, investment and competitiveness. The poor economic performance and weakness of demand suffered by the EU would be addressed alongside reform of the supply chain.

• Halt the process towards ever closer union: This would be the greatest challenge and may require a new treaty. It links directly to the issue of EU competencies and requires a willingness on the part of the Commission to show that the direction of travel in Europe is not just moving towards integration.

• A timetable for reform: a clear timetable for reform should be identified focusing on the relationship between the Eurozone and non Eurozone countries and also on The Single Market.

• Reforming the relationship between the Eurozone and non-Eurozone: this is key to adding greater weight and protection to the City, which should remain Europe’s financial centre whether the UK stays within the EU or leaves it.

• Completing the Single Market and address issues in services, in movement of people and in regulatory intrusion: This has to be a central part of reforms. The idea of movement of people needs to change to take into account the fact that the expansion of the EU to the east has resulted in huge variations in income levels. It is important to ensure there is continued free movement of people with the appropriate skills within the EU but that needs to be seen alongside the sensible economic need to discourage benefit migrants.

• Sector specific reforms: Given the importance of the digital economy a case could be made for having a Digital Commissioner and removing barriers to digital infrastructure improvements. There is also a legitimate case for the UK having a fully recognised ‘Luxembourg Compromise’ over financial services legislation and regulation. A clear aim should be to cut out unnecessary, complex and intrusive regulation. EU social policy also needs to be considered particularly in terms of avoiding increased regulation, which adds to the cost of employing people and can hit small firms hard.

• General areas of economic reform: there are also some general areas of economic reform including halting unnecessary regulation and further reforming the EU budget.

• Non economic areas for reform: Non-economic areas of interest may prove to be as important in any referendum as the economic ones. A key issue is the future relationship between national and European law, and the case for re-establishing the supremacy of UK courts in some areas.

Hazy one.

"Maggie and her kiss of death."

Not sure which would be the worse a kiss from Maggie or Theresa.

Forgot there would always be the hairy one!

Ah, the wish list from heaven EL.


Fair enough, so it's out we go, cos theres no way the €uroburgers will go for those conditions.