Boris Johnson......the next PM?

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   Boris Johnson: David Cameron and I have danced Gangnam style
   

The London Mayor admits he enjoys Korean pop singer Psy's cult hit dance track as he reels off a list of outlandish London exports at the Conservative Party Conference.























12:09PM BST 09 Oct 2012




Boris Johnson and Michael Gove at Conservative conference: live


In a speech studded with jokes, Mr Johnson called for the "can do" attitude of the Olympics to be applied to the economy, with British firms becoming "gold medal winners".


On several occasions, Mr Johnson had delegates in gales of laughter with his exuberant delivery.


As he ticked off the various products which London exports to the world - from cakes for the Champs Elysees to bicycles for Holland, mosquito repellent for Brazil and aerials for Korean TVs - he dreamt up the surreal image of himself and Mr Cameron dancing to South Korean pop hit Gangnam Style.


"Gangnam Style is very good," he said. "The Prime Minister and I danced Gangnam Style the other day, you will be shocked to discover."

====================

Boris has 3 more years as Mayor of London, what's the betting there will be a resignation before then and a Tory MP will give up his seat for Boris to campaign as MP .

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   How Gangnam Style and Fifty Shades gave culture a spanking
   

It’s time to set aside embarrassment and celebrate the two great masterpieces of 2012, says Boris Johnson.












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TelegraphPlayer_9761768













By Boris Johnson

8:33PM GMT 23 Dec 2012


43 Comments




When the cultural historians come to look at 2012, they will conclude that this was an amazing year for the arts. We had a Diamond Jubilee whose centrepiece was a river pageant explicitly modelled – in spite of the rain – on a scene by Canaletto. We had a glorious cultural Olympiad, in which operettas were performed on canals and spectators jumped up and down on a bouncy Stonehenge. We have had another Tudor novel from Hilary Mantel, more songs from Adele, and just about the best Bond movie that any of us can remember.


We have built a gigantic mutant trombone by Anish Kapoor, this country’s largest and most eccentric piece of public art. All of these, amigos, are merely the foothills leading to the twin peaks – the Everest and Annapurna of this year’s artistic achievement. There are two phenomena that dwarf the rest of the cultural landscape. They have changed the way we think and the way we behave.


As the year hurtles towards its climax, now is the moment for decision. In the cultural hit parade, it’s time to reveal what is Number One this Christmas. I know that some aesthetes will object to this simplistic hierarchy. You will say that it is like being forced to choose between Beethoven’s Fifth and the Sistine Chapel. Others will be partisans for one masterpiece or the other.


Ladeees and gentlemen, as we come to Christmas Eve – with the last spasm of guilt-stricken shopping under way – the two most maddeningly successful productions of 2012 were … (drumroll) … Fifty Shades of Grey! and … (drumroll) … Gangnam Style! There can be no serious doubt of that.


The question is: which is the greater work of art? Which of them really changed the world? They have, on the face of it, much in common. Both of them emerged from the internet. As I understand it, EL James had an online market for her porno maunderings long before the bookshops started to be full of those tasteful pictures of lush silver ties on a black background. As for the great Psy, the Korean rapper, he has just chalked up a record one billion views on YouTube. Even allowing for multiple viewings, that is a sizeable chunk of the world’s population who have dialled up the song and watched his deranged performance. Both the British bondage expert and the Korean Orpheus have provided an important lesson in the contagious power of the web; both of them have spawned endless imitators; and both of them have had a thoroughly peculiar effect on the habits of good and law-abiding people in this country.



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As soon as Fifty Shades took off, the DIY shops reported a troubling surge in the demand for rope, of a kind that could be used to strap your partner to the bed without doing unnecessary damage to her wrists. Some couples said that their relationships had been saved. In other cases, it was said, there were chaps who felt a bit unmanned by the sudden feminine demand for reef-knots and general masterfulness.

As for the Korean dance, its effects are still rippling across the country this Christmas. Can there be a household that will not attempt to brighten up a long family binge by going to YouTube and turning up the volume on the laptop? Soon the whole family is pretending to flick the reins, while the knees go up and down like pistons and overweight uncles snap their hamstrings. I have read of at least one sad death caused by the strain of performing the absurd pony-like prancing, and feel sure that others will succumb in the days ahead.

Above all, both Fifty Shades and Gangnam have exposed things we never dreamt of about the way the world really is. It is here, perhaps, that we are able to make a key distinction – and appoint the winner. For us men, the whole Fifty Shades phenomenon was really a bit shattering. Every single member of the female sex seemed to read it; every woman on the Tube; everyone at the office. And they didn’t read it furtively, guiltily. They would look up from their alternative world – where men were men, and women were lashed to bedsteads – and fix you with an accusing gaze.

What else were they supposed to do, their eyes seemed to say, when the world was so populated by weeds and wets? The book was so ubiquitous that it seemed to speak of some aching need, some lack, some gap in a modern woman’s life that we feminist males had never really bargained for. It seemed to be as revolutionary, in its way, as the Female Eunuch – and yet it was nothing like as seismic as Gangnam Style. Let’s be frank, I think most of us had only a very hazy notion of Korea before Psy appeared before us. We had heard of a land of kimchi and roast dog, where giant chaebols produced excellent cars and machine tools. We had no idea about a district called Gangnam, where the women drive a Mercedes-Benz and take group exercise by waving their bums on the banks of the river.

We had no idea that it was thought cool in Gangnam to drink your coffee straight off – down in one – while it is still scalding hot. Psy the rapper has alerted us to an extraordinary fact: that the Koreans are so darned clever that not only can they make cheap and efficient cars. They can also make number one smash hits. He has taken the image of his country and done it a power of good. The whole planet now knows about K-pop, or K-rap, as it is called – and we feel that watcher-in-the-skies feeling, when a new planet has swum into our ken.

So there you go, my friends. On the grounds that there is absolutely no embarrassment in being caught watching it on the web, and because it is innocent, hilarious, surprising and can be enjoyed by all the family, I hereby announce that this year’s winner for the greatest cultural masterpiece of 2012 is Gangnam Style, with Fifty Shades narrowly beaten (in every sense) into second. All we need now is Fifty Shades of Gangnam – but then I expect someone has already done it.

================================

I'm shortening the odds of him becoming PM.......

Tories preparing Boris Johnson's return to Parliament


Several Conservative MPs in safe seats are prepared to resign and allow Boris Johnson to return to the Commons within weeks of the next general election, Tory sources have revealed.








Boris Johnson






By James Kirkup, Deputy Political Editor

10:00PM GMT 25 Dec 2012





Mr Johnson, currently Mayor of London, could become an MP again “in weeks” if David Cameron fails to win a significant Conservative majority in 2015, a well-placed source said.


Despite his frequent and colourful denials of any leadership ambitions, Mr Johnson’s career is the subject of persistent speculation at Westminster.


Some Conservative MPs regard him as a more effective advocate of traditional Tory values than Mr Cameron. Polls also suggest that Mr Johnson is a more popular figure among voters.


Tory rules dictate that only sitting MPs can stand for the party leadership and Mr Johnson gave up his Henley seat to become mayor in 2008.


Mr Johnson was re-elected in London this year, and has promised to serve his full four-year term.


Some Conservatives predict that Mr Johnson will seek to return to the Commons at the 2015 election -- or even before it – in order to give himself the option of being a candidate.

But a senior party figure close to the Mayor told the Daily Telegraph that Mr Johnson is more likely to wait to see the result of the election first.

“There is absolutely no need for Boris to show his hand so quickly. He can wait for the result and play it by ear,” the source said.

If Mr Cameron fails to win the election, he would almost certainly be removed by Conservative MPs, he added.

Mr Cameron’s leadership would also be vulnerable to a challenge if he won only a slim Tory majority.

In either case, Mr Johnson could attempt a swift return to the Commons.

“Getting a seat is no problem for Boris. There are several he can have whenever he wants,” the source said.

“It wouldn’t take long at all. It could be done in weeks, if it was necessary.”

Earlier this year, it was reported that Zac Goldsmith, the Tory MP for Richmond upon Thames, had offered to give up his seat to allow Mr Johnson to replace him.

However, Mr Goldsmith has only a 4,000-vote majority over the Liberal Democrats, and the mayor’s ally said he was much more likely to opt for a much safer Tory seat.

Mr Johnson has repeatedly insisted that he has no ambition to replace Mr Cameron in Downing Street, and predicted that his fellow Old Etonian will lead the Conservatives to a decisive victory in 2015.

In a US television interview earlier this year, Mr Johnson dismissed questions about his prime ministerial prospects.

“My chances of being Prime Minister are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive,” he said.

---------------------------------------------------------

Boris will be Mayor of London until 2016........for him to run as PM in the 2015 Election, he would have to resign as Mayor in 2014, get elected as an MP and then become Leader......a tall order , but if Cameron does not improve his standing, the Tories might force him to step down before the next election is due.

Boris recently said he wished to remain mayor of London.... A test of his sticking to his word seems on the cards.

malena stool wrote:Boris recently said he wished to remain mayor of London.... A test of his sticking to his word seems on the cards.

Hi malena, the Conservative MPs know Cameron is a lame duck and will not want him fronting the next Election. Remember how Maggie Thatcher was ousted ????? The problem is of course that Boris has only just been voted Mayor 2016.....tricky situation.

I know i am in the minority but I think he would make a very good PM, he acts the buffoon but has a goood personality, is down to Earth and when was the last time we had a PM with a sense of humour.

Panda wrote:

malena stool wrote:Boris recently said he wished to remain mayor of London.... A test of his sticking to his word seems on the cards.

Hi malena, the Conservative MPs know Cameron is a lame duck and will not want him fronting the next Election. Remember how Maggie Thatcher was ousted ????? The problem is of course that Boris has only just been voted Mayor 2016.....tricky situation.

I know i am in the minority but I think he would make a very good PM, he acts the buffoon but has a goood personality, is down to Earth and when was the last time we had a PM with a sense of humour.

I think perhaps he might understand the needs of individuals in the electorate better than Cameron and yes he might even be better respected by the backbenchers within the Tory party. But as to being a good PM... he would need more than a sense of humour to sort out the disaster left by New Labour, and compounded by coalition trade-offs.

malena stool wrote:

Panda wrote:

malena stool wrote:Boris recently said he wished to remain mayor of London.... A test of his sticking to his word seems on the cards.

Hi malena, the Conservative MPs know Cameron is a lame duck and will not want him fronting the next Election. Remember how Maggie Thatcher was ousted ????? The problem is of course that Boris has only just been voted Mayor 2016.....tricky situation.

I know i am in the minority but I think he would make a very good PM, he acts the buffoon but has a goood personality, is down to Earth and when was the last time we had a PM with a sense of humour.

I think perhaps he might understand the needs of individuals in the electorate better than Cameron and yes he might even be better respected by the backbenchers within the Tory party. But as to being a good PM... he would need more than a sense of humour to sort out the disaster left by New Labour, and compounded by coalition trade-offs.

After the election results, I thought please please do not make a coalition with that idiot Clegg and his idiot party. I would rather have had another election, or let them do their self serving deals with the labour party. Playing one off against the other should have been enough warning for Cameron. Labour must be laughing their socks of that the Conservatives got stuck with them.

The results of all of it is to the cost of the country. Now we look with bewilderment at the three parties and we know that we have no chance at all, however the next election goes! Unless of course there is a major shake up and My God the country needs it. We are on our knees whilst the powers that be argue and discuss just about everything except sorting the blasted mess we are in.

I for one am not interested in the issue of reforming the House of Lords! I am not at this particular time interested in wind farms and being green. I am not interested in global warming and all the rest of the nonsense that costs taxpayers money. I am not interested in the gay marriage debate. Neither are my gay friends who all think that a civil partnership is absolutely fine and do not require anything further.


No wonder UKIP is doing well, what other choice is there?? At least they are concerned about the real issues - immigration, economy, jobs, the benefit scroungers and the EU. I believe that is what the majority of the British public are very concerned about. The only ones not to care about this are well off people living in areas that do not have the immigration problem, and can afford the enormous cost of living in this country These people cover many political persuasions. There are many champagne socialists about !!

I can honestly say Tony Blair is responsible for much that is wrong with Government today, The worst thing he did was to get rid of the Civil Servants, they who were permanent , knew more about the the Departments than the MP's ......."Yes Minister" springs to mind.

fuzeta said
Quote
After the election results, I thought please please do not make a coalition with that idiot Clegg and his idiot party. I would rather have had another election, or let them do their self serving deals with the labour party. Playing one off against the other should have been enough warning for Cameron. Labour must be laughing their socks of that the Conservatives got stuck with them.

The results of all of it is to the cost of the country. Now we look with bewilderment at the three parties and we know that we have no chance at all, however the next election goes! Unless of course there is a major shake up and My God the country needs it. We are on our knees whilst the powers that be argue and discuss just about everything except sorting the blasted mess we are in.

I for one am not interested in the issue of reforming the House of Lords! I am not at this particular time interested in wind farms and being green. I am not interested in global warming and all the rest of the nonsense that costs taxpayers money. I am not interested in the gay marriage debate. Neither are my gay friends who all think that a civil partnership is absolutely fine and do not require anything further.


No wonder UKIP is doing well, what other choice is there?? At least they are concerned about the real issues - immigration, economy, jobs, the benefit scroungers and the EU. I believe that is what the majority of the British public are very concerned about. The only ones not to care about this are well off people living in areas that do not have the immigration problem, and can afford the enormous cost of living in this country These people cover many political persuasions. There are many champagne socialists about !!
Unquote.

Hi fuzeta, Hope you had a great Christmas....I could not believe that the drooling oaf Brown, after being involved in and contributing to, the worst 13 years of the worst and most corrupt Parliament of our Nation’s history refused to stand down after his party was roundly thrashed at the polls. I welcomed the fact that Cameron and Clegg saw fit to slam the door into the face of New Labour attempts to remain in office. Previously I had always voted Labour, but seeing both Blair and Brown destroy the Labour Party, the country and its economy turned me from all Labour policies.

Like you, I’m not interested in the rubbish the coalition is trying to push through Parliament. The idea of the coalition was and is to put the country back on the rails again and not to appease individual party memberships there will be plenty of time for that extravagance once we as a country are stable again. Cameron’s coalition might have had more success if he had invited one or two of the less radical and extremist New Labour MPs into posts on the coalition cabinet although the choice of suitable candidates is a bit restricted.

While UKIP do seem to be enjoying an increase in popularity, so are extremist groups becoming an attraction to many of our disaffected youths. Our youth, who with no work (some are 2nd generation without a job) see jobs they could and should have being taken by European and Asian immigrants, their benefits are being withdrawn, prices rising, no chance of a house of their own, are turning to groups such as the BNP and the EDL.

Panda wrote:I can honestly say Tony Blair is responsible for much that is wrong with Government today, The worst thing he did was to get rid of the Civil Servants, they who were permanent , knew more about the the Departments than the MP's ......."Yes Minister" springs to mind.

Hi Panda, hope you had a great Christmas. Yes, I believe the scriptwriters drew on knowledge of the Civil Service/Ministerial relationships to write and produce the show....
I thought it was brilliant.

While Cameron introduces Gay marriage in a church as a priority, Clegg wants reform of the Lords, Labour sneers at the ineptitude of George, not one Member of any Party demands a curb on immigration, the most important problem Britain has.

I agree Malena about slamming the door on that dreadful New Labour who ruined the country. Problem is this shambles we have got in now will never win at the next election unless they make some radical changes and do something the electorate want them to do. Then look what we would be stuck with, that idiot Ed Milliband and his merry men. No hope Im afraid.

Could someone please take that idiot Nick Clegg to the middle of the outback and lose him for good

[quote="Panda"]While Cameron introduces Gay marriage in a church as a priority, Clegg wants reform of the Lords, Labour sneers at the ineptitude of George, not one Member of any Party demands a curb on immigration, the most important problem Britain has.[/quote

Absolutely right Panda

malena stool wrote:

Panda wrote:I can honestly say Tony Blair is responsible for much that is wrong with Government today, The worst thing he did was to get rid of the Civil Servants, they who were permanent , knew more about the the Departments than the MP's ......."Yes Minister" springs to mind.

Hi Panda, hope you had a great Christmas. Yes, I believe the scriptwriters drew on knowledge of the Civil Service/Ministerial relationships to write and produce the show....
I thought it was brilliant.

Hi malena, I had a good laugh on Christmas day, watching the Morecambe and Wise snippets and a couple of Only Fools and Horses I hadn't seen before......but was completely shocked at the end of Downtown Abbey.!!!!!!! " Yes Minister " was Maggie Thatchers favourite show ...Peter Jay was one of the Writers. Maggie was an Economist so understood finance and always fought Britains corner in the EU. One thing that never should have been done was the Privatisation of the Utilities , railways yes, because a lot of money needed to be spent on modernisation which the Country couldn't afford.

It's not just Britain now, it's the World which is in chaos , sounds selfish but I'm glad I am not growing up today , what a legacy we have given to the young today.

[quote="fuzeta"]

Panda wrote:While Cameron introduces Gay marriage in a church as a priority, Clegg wants reform of the Lords, Labour sneers at the ineptitude of George, not one Member of any Party demands a curb on immigration, the most important problem Britain has.[/quote

Absolutely right Panda

Hi fuzeta.....the recent news that the Border Agency has a backlog of 300,000 immigrants tor process , another 200,000 unaccounted for is disgraceful, especially after the tube and bus attacks proved how easy it was to infiltrate and carry out those atrocities .

This new year, raise your glass to a Buy British campaign


A taste of English wine shows how we can put the sparkle back into home-grown products, writes Boris Johnson








A toast to the future: part of the highly successful Chapel Down vineyard in Kent Photo: Alamy






By Boris Johnson

5:55AM GMT 31 Dec 2012


5 Comments




I have drunk a prodigious quantity of wine over the past few decades without bothering to learn anything about the difference between one vintage and another. So when my hand passes along a row of bottles on a supermarket shelf, there is nothing scientific about the process of selection.


I tend to discount bottles that are obviously too cheap. And I am suspicious of the expensive stuff, since in my experience it never really tastes better than the stuff that costs about £5 or £6 less. So I tend to look for bottles that are in the middle of the price range and have a colourful label or zany vineyard – and if they offer the extra convenience of a screwcap, so much the better.


In the course of getting in some supplies the other day, I found myself pausing in front of a bottle that seemed to meet all my criteria: reasonably priced, bright label, screwcap, funky vineyard name.


Then I looked closer. Hello, hello, hello, I said to myself. This wine comes from England! I almost left it at that, and passed on to the adjacent offerings from other EU countries or the New World. And then my hand wavered back, as if of its own volition. An English wine – of the kind that the Romans grew, and briefly favoured; an English wine such as flourished here during the warm period of the Middle Ages.


Might it be time to try it? Most people of my generation have grown up thinking that there is something slightly bonkers about drinking English wine, like doing Morris dancing, or singing madrigals or getting down on your hands and knees in Essex churches and doing brass rubbings. But as I looked into its pinkish depths – it claimed to be a rosé – I remembered reading some very flattering verdicts on this liquid.



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Didn’t they do a blind tasting with a load of French oenophiles, in which the French unwittingly plumped for English sparkling wine over their own champagne? This was a British product, and even if the labourers who picked it almost certainly numbered some hard-working immigrants from Eastern Europe, to buy this bottle was surely in some sense a patriotic act. I would be supporting a British firm, helping its cash flow in a tough time; and as my fingers fastened around the neck of the bottle I was filled with a sense of mission.

Imagine if we all bought English wine, as well as British beef and British milk.Imagine if every government-funded function were refreshed with English wine, rather than Chilean cabernet sauvignon. Think of the boost for jobs and growth in the wine sector in this country. Think of the difference to the balance of trade – now about as bad as it has been in our lifetimes. Think of the difference to this country’s prospects if – ceteris paribus – we bought British.

You don’t have to tell me about previous Buy British campaigns, and how they ended in derision and dismay. There was the famous initiative launched in 1968 by five Surbiton secretaries. They were so worried about the state of the economy that they announced they would work an extra half day per week – gratis, all for the sake of boosting national output.

Within days, several national newspapers had taken up their cause. Every party leader endorsed them. The Duke of Edinburgh said it was the finest thing he had seen all year, and soon the entire nation was in the grip of a movement called “I’m Backing Britain”.

Among other acts of selfless supererogation, a disc jockey called Jimmy Savile volunteered to work for nine days, without pay, as a hospital porter at Leeds Infirmary. Then the saintly Robert Maxwell leapt on the bandwagon, going on The David Frost Show and calling on people to “Buy British”.

Then things began to go wrong. First the unions objected to the whole concept of unpaid labour. Then it turned out that the “I’m Backing Britain” T-shirts had been made in Portugal.

After that, someone had the temerity to point out that Maxwell’s Pergamon Press printed most of its stuff in Eastern Europe, and that much of his output consisted of hagiographical accounts of Soviet bloc dictators. The whole campaign was wound in general sneering and ignominy, and the poor Surbiton secretaries complained that they hadn’t been able to do any work anyway, because they had been so busy giving interviews to tub-thumping newspapers.

Yes, the last great Buy British movement was a fiasco, and yet I can’t help feeling that the idea still has great merit. I am not calling for tariffs or protection – far from it. I don’t want the Government to pick winners, and I don’t want the taxpayer to cough up for mad attempts at import substitution, such as Tony Benn’s Meriden Motorcycle Co-operative, or Lymeswold cheese – a brand that never recovered from being compared in flavour to banana toothpaste.

But it is surely common sense that if we collectively make more of an effort to buy goods and services where value has been added in this country (I say nothing about ownership), then we will be helping to boost employment, and helping to reduce the costs of welfare that we all fund in our taxes. All we need is to be more aware of what we produce – and when you dig into it, the answers are amazing. It is a pernicious myth that “we don’t make anything any more”.

We make just about everything you could imagine: clothes, toys, food, drink, household goods, consumer electronics, cars, planes, missiles. Check out the Buy British website. We forget that we are still the sixth largest manufacturer on earth. There are thousands and thousands of British firms that are struggling to compete in the global export market, and whose ambitions would certainly be helped by stronger domestic consumption.

You don’t have to be out of pocket; you don’t have to buy some shoddy domestic product rather than a snazzy imported one. But when there are two virtually identical products, and the only difference is not price but nationality – then it surely makes sense to Buy British. That’s my New Year’s Resolution, and I hope it will be yours as well.

The wine was terrific, by the way.

=============================

You must admit he writes well,good humour and would be the type of PM to inspire the Nation. Just think of the alternative candidates for PM

You're on a mission, Panda! Boris for PM!

wjk wrote:You're on a mission, Panda! Boris for PM!

At least he is interesting wjk, and judging by the number of hits, others think so as well. He did say if he is elected

he will see me alright because he understands the importance of Forums like ours to reach a wider public..

Panda wrote:

wjk wrote:You're on a mission, Panda! Boris for PM!

At least he is interesting wjk, and judging by the number of hits, others think so as well. He did say if he is elected

he will see me alright because he understands the importance of Forums like ours to reach a wider public..

Boris Johnson: I can't promise I would vote yes in EU referendum


Boris Johnson has refused to say whether he would vote to keep Britain in the European Union, after David Cameron promised a referendum on the issue.








Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London Photo: GETTY





By Rowena Mason, Political Correspondent

3:54PM GMT 24 Jan 2013

58 Comments




Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Mayor of London said his "overwhelming instinct" would be to opt for staying in the EU in the event of a public vote.


However, he left open the possibility that he would vote against Britain's EU membership if Mr Cameron cannot secure a new relationship with Brussels.


"I can't say now," he told Bloomberg TV. "But my overwhelming instinct would be that we can get sufficient changes, reforms and improvements to the treaty to make it sensible for most people in my country to vote to stay in the single market."


The Mayor praised the Prime Minister's proposals for reform of the EU, followed by a referendum, as "bang on the money".


He also said they sound achievable, despite Nick Clegg, the deputy Prime Minister, claiming that the plan is "wholly implausible".



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"I think there are a lot of them who secretly think, if we can nail this and make sure we give the Brits what they want, more or less, and they vote to stay in the single market - which is almost certainly what would happen - then that would be a very good thing for Europe," he said. "That whole sense of the Brits whingeing and being the back-markers and bickering - that would be over."

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Mr Cameron has not explicitly said he would vote for Britain to stay in the EU in every circumstance. However, he has made it clear he would campaign for the UK to be a member of a reformed EU if a poll is called in the first half of the next parliament.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, today echoed this pledge by saying he supports Britain's membership of a "reformed and competitive" EU.

"Europe has to become a competitive place where companies can succeed and jobs are created and young people have careers," he said in an interview with CNBC in Davos, Switzerland.

"In the end you can't ignore the growing gap between the governed and those who claim to govern."

Boris heaps pressure on Osborne to abandon his austerity measures


Boris Johnson yesterday heaped pressure on George Osborne to abandon his austerity programme, saying it was time to ditch the "hair shirt" agenda.







By Hayley Dixon

12:55AM GMT 26 Jan 2013




In a direct challenge to the Chancellor's economic strategy, the Mayor of London said Britain was being held back by "talk of austerity".


Speaking shortly after figures revealed the Britain was heading for a triple dip recession Mr Johnson urged Mr Osborne to invest in major infrastructure and housing developments to get the country back on track.


Not enough is being done to boost spending and growth and one of the major problems facing the UK is a lack of confidence due to gloomy economic predictions, he claimed.


Addressing a lunch for business leaders he added: “The hair shirt stuff, the Stafford Crips agenda – that is not the way to get Britain motoring again.”


Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Johnson set out his own seven point plan to get Britain back on track after the economy remained flat through 2012.



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The Mayor said: “We need to junk talk of austerity and recognise that the single biggest inhibitor of demand is lack of confidence and that if only some of the people in this room would invest some of the cash in their balance sheets we would see that confidence rewarded in a virtuous circle.”

He added: “I don’t think austerity is a terribly useful concept in this sort of climate. You have to do stuff that is counter-cyclical – that is my view. That is why I talk about investment in housing, investment in transport. These are the things that make the big difference.”

Mr Johnson stopped short of a personal attack on Mr Osborne - instead focusing his attentions on the Bank of England.

He said that the UK had “huge potential” but needed to ignore the “mutterings” from the Threadneedle Street which are “not the stuff to give the troops”.

Supporting his fellow Conservative he added: "This morning's news demonstrates why the Chancellor is pursuing measures now that will boost confidence, further stimulate demand and bring growth, through investment in housing, transport and infrastructure.”

Figures for the last three months of 2012 showed the UK economy dipped 0.3% which has led to fears that the country will lose its triple A rating.

Mr Johnson insisted that a concerted programme of house building would drive the economy and give Britain the “growth boost” it needs to hang on to its AAA status.

Mr Osborne has vowed to that he will not “run away” from the problems facing the economy.

Stafford Cripps was chancellor in the late 1940s and used taxes and rationing to try and drag Britain out of the postwar slump

Panda wrote:Boris heaps pressure on Osborne to abandon his austerity measures


Boris Johnson yesterday heaped pressure on George Osborne to abandon his austerity programme, saying it was time to ditch the "hair shirt" agenda.







By Hayley Dixon

12:55AM GMT 26 Jan 2013




In a direct challenge to the Chancellor's economic strategy, the Mayor of London said Britain was being held back by "talk of austerity".


Speaking shortly after figures revealed the Britain was heading for a triple dip recession Mr Johnson urged Mr Osborne to invest in major infrastructure and housing developments to get the country back on track.


Not enough is being done to boost spending and growth and one of the major problems facing the UK is a lack of confidence due to gloomy economic predictions, he claimed.


Addressing a lunch for business leaders he added: “The hair shirt stuff, the Stafford Crips agenda – that is not the way to get Britain motoring again.”


Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Johnson set out his own seven point plan to get Britain back on track after the economy remained flat through 2012.



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The Mayor said: “We need to junk talk of austerity and recognise that the single biggest inhibitor of demand is lack of confidence and that if only some of the people in this room would invest some of the cash in their balance sheets we would see that confidence rewarded in a virtuous circle.”

He added: “I don’t think austerity is a terribly useful concept in this sort of climate. You have to do stuff that is counter-cyclical – that is my view. That is why I talk about investment in housing, investment in transport. These are the things that make the big difference.”

Mr Johnson stopped short of a personal attack on Mr Osborne - instead focusing his attentions on the Bank of England.

He said that the UK had “huge potential” but needed to ignore the “mutterings” from the Threadneedle Street which are “not the stuff to give the troops”.

Supporting his fellow Conservative he added: "This morning's news demonstrates why the Chancellor is pursuing measures now that will boost confidence, further stimulate demand and bring growth, through investment in housing, transport and infrastructure.”

Figures for the last three months of 2012 showed the UK economy dipped 0.3% which has led to fears that the country will lose its triple A rating.

Mr Johnson insisted that a concerted programme of house building would drive the economy and give Britain the “growth boost” it needs to hang on to its AAA status.

Mr Osborne has vowed to that he will not “run away” from the problems facing the economy.

Stafford Cripps was chancellor in the late 1940s and used taxes and rationing to try and drag Britain out of the postwar slump

And that was the time when we had our own industries, (and we had lots of them) the country was setting up the Welfare State, we supported armed forces many times larger than those of today that were mainly serving our own interests and a population with a far greater belief and trust in their elected leaders.

It is our so called leaders, our elected representatives who are at fault for today's turmoil. They are arrogant, corrupt and self serving to the point of treason, obsessed with their own elitism, their narcissism and developing their personal wealth before all else.
Party politics is no longer an issue, any one of them could change his side of the House and unite his ideals in to the policies of the party he had just joined if it suited his own ends.

We no longer have a Democracy, we have a three party dictatorship.

Rant over... ms

There is not a Brain among them capable of getting us out of this mess , Cameron is tainted by his relationship with Murdoch and Brooks, Osborne is tainted by his visit to a yacht owned by a Russian I think, Hunt, the new Health Sec. by his contact with Murdoch during the Sky proposal to buy up the remaining shares. We are heading for a triple dip recession, losing our AAA status, the list goes on. Labour are even worse , what started this rot I wonder , I remember when you could walk out of one job and into another on the same day.

Boris blotted his copy book a couple of times but essentially he has the right ideas and is very popular with a good sense of humour and as President of Eton's Union proved he is no slouch behind the buffoonery . He is admaant that there should not be a 3rd runway at Heathrow and suggests Stanstead , nice Airport and quite capable of enlargement.

Why must develop take place at London or Stanstead Airports? There is already an ongoing nightmare of trying to get into and out of Heathrow... Stanstead would need a complete motorway system building to serve it, having only the M11 as an access at this time.

Why not develop Birmingham instead? It is a far more central site for the entire country there are already motorways in place which could be upgraded and therefore far better able to serve the whole of England and Wales. This would have the effect of lessening the load on placed on Heathrow at this time.

But obviously the narrow minded and blinkered, 'London comes first' brigade need demand all resources to centre on London and the effluent affluent south.

The 'provinces' have always played second fiddle when development and funding are concerned, which would perhaps be fair if the funding for this development wasn't coming from countrywide raised public taxes.

malena stool wrote:Why must develop take place at London or Stanstead Airports? There is already an ongoing nightmare of trying to get into and out of Heathrow... Stanstead would need a complete motorway system building to serve it, having only the M11 as an access at this time.

Why not develop Birmingham instead? It is a far more central site for the entire country there are already motorways in place which could be upgraded and therefore far better able to serve the whole of England and Wales. This would have the effect of lessening the load on placed on Heathrow at this time.

But obviously the narrow minded and blinkered, 'London comes first' brigade need demand all resources to centre on London and the effluent affluent south.

The 'provinces' have always played second fiddle when development and funding are concerned, which would perhaps be fair if the funding for this development wasn't coming from countrywide raised public taxes.

malena, Boris mentioned it as an alternative. I think the Midlands is possibly too far away for a lot of People , especially Business People who meet in London. Whatever is decided eventually there will be dissent if homes have to be destroyed etc.

I do think Boris, if he was elected PM would be more for the people than Cameron has been .

I hate Heathrow even though it is nearer for me, I prefer Gatwick.