Lincoln Imp
Well-known member
- Feb 2, 2009
- 5,964
Despite the dreadful week, there does seem to be a clear strategy here. Boris is clearly aiming to be so "balls to the wall" on Brexit that The Brexit Party itself will be nullified in any General Election.
His first hurdle will be how to handle the 31st October deadline. Assuming that he does comply with the new law, he will at least be able to fight the GE by saying his hand was forced and that he simply had no choice. That would even be true and would probably prevent TBP eating into the Conservative vote too badly.
His second hurdle, and I would suggest this is likely to be a bigger problem, is fighting a GE against the backdrop of a fractured party. Over the years pollsters have consistently found that a divided party is political poison. Losing your brother and another minister within a few days plays into that narrative. However, a GE could be as much as a couple of months away. That could even be forgotten by then when so much is happening.
If I was Johnson I would get the extension and then within about 15 seconds go into full electioneering mode, using the fact that I was forced into doing it by the dark and undemocratic forces of remain that we, the people led by me, the messiah, will together grind into the soil in glorious and perpetual victory. The only thing I wouldn't be sure about is the music. Something by Elgar I suppose.