Althouse: ""[Theresa May's] most likely successor, given the extent of rabid pro-Brexit sentiment among Tories, is Boris Johnson, the unscrupulous, ramshackle, flip-flopping, dissembling former foreign secretary..."

May 26, 2019

""[Theresa May's] most likely successor, given the extent of rabid pro-Brexit sentiment among Tories, is Boris Johnson, the unscrupulous, ramshackle, flip-flopping, dissembling former foreign secretary..."

"... whose uncertain relationship with the truth and unwavering narcissism resemble Donald Trump’s. 'He’s got what it takes,' Trump, who will visit Britain early in June, has ominously proclaimed of Johnson. The adulation has been reciprocated. Both are men gifted in the dark arts. With Johnson as leader, the chances would increase of a so-called 'Hard Brexit' — Britain crashing out of the European Union at the new deadline of Oct. 31 without any arrangement to govern its future relationship with its neighbors."

From "Britain on the Brink of Boris Johnson and Chaos/Theresa May exits but the Brexit impasse will endure for the simple reason it makes no sense" by Roger Cohen in the NYT. Boldface added.

78 comments:

Howard said...: popcorn anyone?; 5/26/19, 5:56 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: ...the unscrupulous, ramshackle, flip-flopping, dissembling ...

So... like Obama?; 5/26/19, 5:58 PM
rcocean said...: The very fact that the NYT dislikes him, makes me root for him. Boris will deliver on what the Tories promised. Brexit.; 5/26/19, 6:02 PM
rcocean said...: What does "ramshackle" mean when talking about a person? Did the NYT mean "Disheveled"?; 5/26/19, 6:04 PM
Michael said...: Boris, like Trump, is hated and feared in Europe thus making him the perfect guy to negotiate Brexit. Or to get a hard Brexit which is even better. No other UK politician is both hated and feared.; 5/26/19, 6:06 PM
Freder Frederson said...: When Johnson delivers a no deal Brexit (and he is probably a big enough twit to actually let it happen), the English will learn that the Tories, not the EU, are their problem.

Like him, do you have any idea what chaos a no deal Brexit will cause? Just the Irish border alone is a huge problem. Britain can't feed itself: How on earth are they going to replace the food that now comes seamlessly from Europe? It will be worse than if Trump were really stupid enough to close the Mexican border like he threatened.; 5/26/19, 6:16 PM
Michael K said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/26/19, 6:22 PM
Michael K said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/26/19, 6:22 PM
Michael K said...: Economist Freder is teaching us about BREXET.

Personally, I'll take this analysis.; 5/26/19, 6:23 PM
Michael K said...: Blogger acting up again.
And again
And again.; 5/26/19, 6:24 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: too bad his wife isnt named 'Natasha' so we can hear a few more years of Russia Russia Russia

Hang in there, Dr. K !!!; 5/26/19, 6:35 PM
JaimeRoberto said...: Britain can't feed itself: How on earth are they going to replace the food that now comes seamlessly from Europe?

They will still be able to trade with other countries under WTO rules. The world won't end.; 5/26/19, 6:36 PM
John henry said...: What "dark arts"?

Getting things done?

Pissing off the fascists like cohen?

Defeating globalism?

Making their countries great again?

I'm thinking that I like thes dark arts.

John Henry; 5/26/19, 6:43 PM
buwaya said...: Britain runs a trade deficit vs the rest of the EU, and is a large net payee of EU funds.

And moreover is a large net source of remittances to EU countries, such as Spain and Portugal.

It seems very unlikely that the EU will stop exporting to Britain, or stop taking British money. Or even mistreat Britain on trade, as the British have the upper hand.; 5/26/19, 6:43 PM
iowan2 said...: When Johnson delivers a no deal Brexit (and he is probably a big enough twit to actually let it happen), the English will learn that the Tories, not the EU, are their problem.

If Trump is elected the stock market will never recover.

You Trump haters have no shame. Keep making worthless predictions based on your anger of not being right about any predictions.; 5/26/19, 6:46 PM
Michael said...: FrederF
You like the EU telling you the size of bananas you can eat, eh? You think European farmers are going to enjoy those fifty mile queues to cart their goods to the UK or that they will be cool letting those goods rot. Trade works two ways Ireland will sort. The constituates in the EU well break ranks lickety split. Yes, there will be “chaos” of the sort the press describes about the White House. Temporary.; 5/26/19, 6:50 PM
tcrosse said...: Meanwhile, the Brexit Party is crushing the Tories and Labour in the EU elections.; 5/26/19, 6:52 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: Freder, the entire non-EU world trades without being in the EU. Britain will do what it did before it joined the EU. There will be some disruption, but the keeping money in the UK that would have gone to the EU will go a long way toward smoothing it over. In the end the UK will be far better off.; 5/26/19, 6:58 PM
Hagar said...: This column makes no sense. If there was a large "extent of rabid pro-Brexit sentiment among Tories," Brexit, hard or soft, would have been a done deal long ago.

Actually, if they do finally just say, OK, we are done here, and drop it, I suspect that nothing much will happen immediately. Everybody need everybody else too much, so deals will be made - in the open or out back behind the barn, but they will be made.; 5/26/19, 7:02 PM
Josephbleau said...: The no deal brexit has left the building, May’s actions have made it the only possibility. Junker will laugh and sneer in his cups but who will get the last laugh?; 5/26/19, 7:13 PM
Anonymous said...: Without bothering to read the article I will say that what we are seeing is the common man (and woman) getting tired of being lied to and shit on. Trump is not anomaly he was just the first of many.; 5/26/19, 7:13 PM
mockturtle said...: "Britain crashing out of the European Union at the new deadline of Oct. 31 without any arrangement to govern its future relationship with its neighbors."

Deadline of Oct. 31. Brits are certainly patient. Remember the Falkland Island operation? Didn't it take them weeks to actually get there? Still, it was successful. Like a low-speed car chase a la OJ. They should have done a 'hard Brexit' from the get-go. One shouldn't have to ask, 'Mother, may I?' to leave an untenable situation like the EU.; 5/26/19, 7:13 PM
narciso said...: Well he writes for the times foreign desk, most recently covering the European front after sucking up to the qataris; 5/26/19, 7:15 PM
Josephbleau said...: Juncker, (spell check).; 5/26/19, 7:16 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: Apparently Frau Merkel is going to send out the U-boats once again to blockade England. The things one learns on the Althouse blog!; 5/26/19, 7:21 PM
narciso said...: This Juncker is a luxembourger with a vichy collaborator in his family tree, and at least two scandals in his native land as prime minister; 5/26/19, 7:25 PM
chuck said...: It's hilarious to read these folks. They thought they were riding the arc of history to a screaming consummation and now they discover that they were humping a stump.; 5/26/19, 7:29 PM
rcocean said...: Went to BBC site. EU Elections - the Tories are getting about 10% of the Vote. Brexit Party 31%. LoL!

Just leave.; 5/26/19, 7:37 PM
rcocean said...: "Like him, do you have any idea what chaos a no deal Brexit will cause?"

Supposedly, babies will die. Starving mobs will roam the streets, and Buckingham Palace will collapse.

And that's just the first day.; 5/26/19, 7:40 PM
J. Farmer said...: Nigel Farage: You CANNOT trust Boris Johnson with Brexit; 5/26/19, 7:40 PM
narciso said...: As I pointed out elaborating on buwayas point, the framework does not accept a Brexit as an option:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/live-blog/2019-05-14/european-parliamentary-elections#5CEB0926B2240001; 5/26/19, 7:40 PM
narciso said...: Dony forget dogs and cats living together human sacrifice and mass hysteria; 5/26/19, 7:41 PM
rcocean said...: "This Juncker is a luxembourger"

If you came from Luxembourg you'd think nationalism was silly to. Luxembourg isn't a country - its a highway rest stop.; 5/26/19, 7:43 PM
narciso said...: The strongly anti immigration league won out over the more heterogeneous populists 5th movement; 5/26/19, 7:44 PM
J. Farmer said...: Boris Johnson is a colorful figure in British politics, but he is not the person to lead Brexit. He is too divisive a figure. Jacob Reese-Mogg would be my preferred candidate, but I doubt he's even going to put his hat in the ring.; 5/26/19, 7:44 PM
J. Farmer said...: @rcocean:

f you came from Luxembourg you'd think nationalism was silly to. Luxembourg isn't a country - its a highway rest stop.

Not quite. It's a country club for the European leisured class. A better example would be Belgium, which Nigel Farage helpfully described, during his scathing rebuke of Herman Van Rompuy in the European Parliament: "You appear to have a loathing for the very concept of the existence of nation states - perhaps that's because you come from Belgium, which of course is pretty much a non-country."; 5/26/19, 7:46 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Narciso:

The strongly anti immigration league won out over the more heterogeneous populists 5th movement

What's so idiotic about the European left is that their redistributionist policies in general are quite common. They could easily get majority support for them, so long as they stopped pushing mass immigration. But so strong is the Establishment's desire for cheap labor, they are willing to sacrifice even that on its altar.; 5/26/19, 7:47 PM
narciso said...: Well it's of a piece, one might argue their anti fatalist policies have dictated their immigration stance, labour is losing out to the liberal Democrats; 5/26/19, 7:51 PM
rcocean said...: "You appear to have a loathing for the very concept of the existence of nation states - perhaps that's because you come from Belgium, which of course is pretty much a non-country."

Their waffles are pretty good.; 5/26/19, 7:51 PM
narciso said...: Well they have the Flemish walloon split to consider.; 5/26/19, 7:52 PM
rcocean said...: We were going to visit Luxembourg but I blinked my eyes while driving to Paris.; 5/26/19, 7:52 PM
Josephbleau said...: Scene of starving children in a Frozen English field, “Tell us again, father, how it was before the Brexit.” (Apologies to IowaHawk.); 5/26/19, 7:55 PM
Ambrose said...: Could be an upside in a master of the dark arts. Just sayin'; 5/26/19, 7:59 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: this Juncker-- will he turn out to be just a Nothing-bourger?; 5/26/19, 8:03 PM
mockturtle said...: this Juncker-- will he turn out to be just a Nothing-bourger?
;-D; 5/26/19, 8:10 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: @Mock
how are those Bison-bourgers up there?; 5/26/19, 8:16 PM
Narayanan said...: When Will the Hoover Institution and National Review type learn to talk in words of no more than three syllables and sentences not paragraphs?

Don't they know deplorumbles are not ejumacated.; 5/26/19, 8:29 PM
Sebastian said...: "Boris Johnson, the unscrupulous, ramshackle, flip-flopping, dissembling former foreign secretary..."

Well, if Cohen hates him this much, I'm for Boris. Looks like Farage is trying to stiffen his spine just a tad. But the main thing is to be willing to leave by the deadline. I think Boris will at least know how to use the deadline for leverage.

But ramshackle? WTF?; 5/26/19, 8:33 PM
n.n said...: Rabid diversity, anti-nativism, pro-immigration reform, and other PC in progress.; 5/26/19, 8:47 PM
narciso said...: Indeed:

https://mobile.twitter.com/alimhaider/status/1132807471981047809; 5/26/19, 8:50 PM
narciso said...: The parliament is advisory, its thr commission (which is unelected) that makes the rules.; 5/26/19, 8:52 PM
Ken B said...: Reading that prose, if anyone sounds rabid it's Cohen. I am not sure how one could be a “rabid” Brexit supporter. The act was passed, the *sober* and *calm* position is that the laws should be followed. It's like saying one is a rabid supporter of not committing murder.; 5/26/19, 8:54 PM
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...: J Farmer - thanks for the info.; 5/26/19, 9:31 PM
The Godfather said...: May "tried" a negotiated Brexit, and it didn't work. Why waste time trying the same thing again? Elect Boris, the mad-dog, who announces that the UK is leaving, PERIOD. The Brussel sprouts will probably believe him, and engage in negotiations to minimize the damage to the EU economy. If they don't, they'll have to negotiate AFTER the UK leaves. My guess is that the UK's leverage will be greater then.; 5/26/19, 9:33 PM
buwaya said...: "When Will the Hoover Institution and National Review type learn to talk in words of no more than three syllables and sentences not paragraphs?

Don't they know deplorumbles are not ejumacated."

The National Review style was not at all like that. This was not the English-fu of Buckley or his favorites like Florence King. Their way was not prolix but pithy.

"Showing up at school already able to read is like showing up at the undertaker's already embalmed: people start worrying about being put out of their jobs.”
― Florence King, Reflections in a Jaundiced Eye; 5/26/19, 9:36 PM
Seeing Red said...: Do I buy on a Tuesday or sell on Tuesday?

Between this and the trade war, it’s getting very interesting.; 5/26/19, 9:46 PM
Seeing Red said...: I still say Brexit and BRAFTA.; 5/26/19, 9:46 PM
Big Mike said...: Somehow I reached the conclusion that Cohen doesn't much like Boris. Donald Trump either, now that you mention it.; 5/26/19, 10:22 PM
Sam L. said...: Jut ONE MORE REASON for me to despise, detest, and distrust the NYT.; 5/26/19, 10:23 PM
narciso said...: You may be right?
https://www.politico.eu/article/belgium-far-right-surge-elections-2019/?fbclid=IwAR1I3lyt0iaX6X4b0g_vce-ZV8LIfJjTU32TdB19PyVLOD0vi8sI_xKhnl0; 5/26/19, 10:39 PM
Anonymous said...: Hey, that's your paper isn't it?; 5/26/19, 10:57 PM
narciso said...: They still are deluged
https://www.thelocal.se/20190526/sweden-eu-parliament-election-results-2019-europe-exit-polls; 5/26/19, 11:01 PM
mandrewa said...: The reality is that Boris Johnson is pretty much a moderate. He may talk in a dramatic fashion at times but reading his essays he almost always backpedals from the mildly controversial things he says later on. Probably the most controversial thing he's ever said is likening the EU to Nazi Germany -- which is a bit over-the-top -- but I don't think he really meant it.

The problem with Brexit is that it is all quite complicated and there are many different issues at the same time.

Something that I've been trying to figure out for sometime is what it is that motivates Remainers. I think they are ashamed of Britain's past, and dislike the ordinary English people. For its sins they think Britain deserves to ruled from afar and the English culture (specifically and especially the non-left-wing part of it) diluted and shut up.

Now there is a minority of Remainers that seem genuinely convinced that the UK will suffer economic harm if it exits the EU. But whether these fears make sense or not, I disbelieve that this is what is motivating most people that support Remain.

Brexiteers want home rule, and there are a long list of grievances they have about what the EU has done, not just in the UK, but more specifically what has happened in other parts of Europe. People see what the EU has done to Greece and Cyprus and Italy, and they are, I think quite justifiably, fearful, and they do not want to be part of this.

Those are the two sides, and it's really a cultural war, and the government bureaucracy, and most of the media, and the teachers in the schools, and most of the politicians, even the ones that are allegedly Conservative, are all on the side of Remain.; 5/26/19, 11:04 PM
cubanbob said...: Freder The Economist hasn't figured out that the EU exporters to the UK aren't going to stop exporting to the UK and the UK government's revenues from the new import duties will be pretty much zeroed out by not paying in to the EU CAP. UK exporters will still make their exports compliant with EU regulations and EU exporters will be making their exports to the UK compliant with UK regulations and both will no doubt come to a tacit if not formal acceptance of their respective regulations and standards. Business is business. For the average Brit, they won't notice much other than they will need a passport to vacation on the Continent. The real difference is the EU attempt at being a super state won't impact much the UK in it's internal affairs once it's out of the EU.; 5/26/19, 11:09 PM
Fen said...: rabid pro-Brexit sentiment among Tories

Rabid? Rabid creatures get put down. Do you think they might be a tad biased?; 5/27/19, 3:33 AM
Fen said...: Oh, it's the NYTs again.

Hey, let's give the gossipy Fish Wife a platform and treat her like a credible source.

The only reason the NYTs has influence is because idiots treat it seriously.; 5/27/19, 3:35 AM
Clyde said...: Funny how Trump and Johnson are portrayed by an MSM apparatchik as some sort of Aleister Crowley-types, and yet it's their opponents who are more likely to be the sort who believe they can send literal curses down on their enemies. "Gifted in the dark arts," indeed!; 5/27/19, 3:42 AM
Tina Trent said...: Buaya, Florence King books can be had for a penny plus shipping on Amazon used books. More than worth it.; 5/27/19, 4:47 AM
stlcdr said...: Blogger Freder Frederson said...
When Johnson delivers a no deal Brexit (and he is probably a big enough twit to actually let it happen), the English will learn that the Tories, not the EU, are their problem.

Like him, do you have any idea what chaos a no deal Brexit will cause? Just the Irish border alone is a huge problem. Britain can't feed itself: How on earth are they going to replace the food that now comes seamlessly from Europe? It will be worse than if Trump were really stupid enough to close the Mexican border like he threatened.

5/26/19, 6:16 PM

These are the words of a clueless dolt. These issues are not big problems at all; this is the mindless repetition of the talking heads whose jobs would fade into nothing unless they keep people on the line about the world ending.

this meowling is only based on the belief that people are dependent on government, which is a blatant falsehood.; 5/27/19, 6:31 AM
stlcdr said...: The ‘chaos’ is caused by the government doing nothing. Britain needs to just walk away from the country club.; 5/27/19, 6:35 AM
Kate Danaher said...: Too bad I can't post images... https://i.imgur.com/lAbFOcf.jpg; 5/27/19, 6:42 AM
DEEBEE said...: There will be no hard Brexit. Too much money involved. The money is trying to make it the low cost solution to them. Buying it through the govt. if not, then it is only a bit more complicated — to pay money a lot than a few in the govt. hard Brexit is psychological warfare term to accept half a loaf and so is the threat of a second referendum, to boo the hell out of the Brexiters.; 5/27/19, 6:45 AM
Temujin said...: Boris = Chaos.

I have seen the words Boris and chaos paired together more than once over the last couple of days. I suppose it's much easier to follow the thinking of the herd than to come up with new ways to attack him. Journalism!; 5/27/19, 6:59 AM
Swede said...: So, not a fan then?

Doom and gloom if Boris becomes PM?

The NYT does love them some doom and gloom when it comes to world leaders they don't like.

But they're still waiting by the phone, hoping Maduro calls.; 5/27/19, 7:53 AM
TJM said...: LOL - who cares what the increasingly irrelevent and idiotic New York Slimes has to say?; 5/27/19, 8:06 AM
chickelit said...: @TMJ: What a way to slime Slim. Heh.; 5/27/19, 11:01 AM
chickelit said...: Britain can't feed itself: How on earth are they going to replace the food that now comes seamlessly from Europe?

Perhaps they can buy more from the former Colonies under a brand new trade deal.; 5/27/19, 11:03 AM
JamesB.BKK said...: Seems Roger Cohen took a hit on that one. He's spewing. Freder needs to advise Singapore to join up with Malaysia and Hongkong to fully integrate with Red China. How else will those people get food seamlessly?; 5/28/19, 2:40 AM