Is Boris Johnson Pm Material?

[jake-the-peg]

Now I'm not a fan of Boris Johnson, I don't like him very much personally nor his politics.

But the main problem with him as PM is I don't think he can think on his feet under pressure.

I think we saw this in the debates for Mayor of London and yesterday we saw another prime performance

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21916385

In these days of media advisors and spin doctors is this still a handicap? do you still need grace under pressure?

[jake-the-peg]

Em

I call him a buffoon

I've met him - take it from me he's a buffoon

[emmie]

well i would like to meet him to make up my own mind,

[missnemesis]

Mick be assured it's nothing to do with being Scottish it's to do with being bloody fed up hearing about it at every and all opportunity, whether relevant or not. Despite what lots of (English) people think it really isn't the answer to life, the universe and everything.

There is so much that, as a nation, England has and should be proud of. Perhaps if they let this particular well worn out example go after 40+ years they could see that, move on and give the rest of the world peace.

[jake-the-peg]

Well getting back to the point

a) Can he think on his feet under pressure? - I don't think so he always seems to retreat into comedy and try and charm his way out of a tight corner

b) Is thinking on your feet under pressure still an important attribute for a PM?

[anotheoldgit]

Mick-Talbot

/// I know AOG, I have witnessed how your patriasm manifests itself. ///

Surely a true patriot would at least know how to spell patriotism?

[emmie]

Miss, not all English people bang on about the football, personally i can't stand the game, it had some integrity once, but not any more, and one more thing, you won't get more high minded, passionate, call it what you will, about football, than the Scots.

[missnemesis]

Personally I'd be more convinced by someone who thought for themselves, on their feet or otherwise, rather than some well scripted spin written by others and trotted out parrot fashion.

[anotheoldgit]

I wonder if all those who are set on calling Boris names, could achieve the position that he has, that being Mayor of London?

[Mick-Talbot]

You tell that to my Ipad AOG.

[emmie]

b] yes of course. However don't keep on waylaying the bloke on whether he wants or would like the top job, does no one see that is putting him and Cameron in a very difficult position, all the while we are in a financial mess, so why don't the BBC, journalists and uncle tom cobley and all stop asking him the bloody question. He is popular, there is no question of that, whether he has the qualities needed for PM who knows. and look where Blair got this country, second hand car salesman down to the perma tan and cheese grin, he was popular as well.

[TWR]

On Mrs Browns Boys maybe?

[missnemesis]

Em I get what you're saying :) I think every nation should be proud of who they are and where they come from I just think it's time that some other drum was found to be banged on England's behalf.

[Gromit]

Boris is clever and the buffoon act is a ploy he uses to get out of tight situations. It is fine and entertaining when he does it on HIGNFY (where he was asked the same question about Darius Guppy). But when he tries to avoid questions on a serious political show by going into a childlike waffle then it is just embarrasing.

The interview was hard and difficult. If he is to be prime minister then he needs to cope with hard and difficult. The interview was not left wing and biased. The questions he failed to answer properly were valid.

I do not believe he is Prime Minister material, but then, I didn't think he was London Mayor material, so who knows what might happen.

[missnemesis]

To be fair to Boris Gromit how many MPs do actually answer straight questions with straight answers? It's not as if Boris is the only one who uses ploys to get out of tight situations. Some people get up and storm off.

[andy-hughes]

Boris is an individual of contradictions.

On the one hand he peddles this buffoonish image of himself which was catapaulted into high-profile status after he burbled his way through Have I Got News For You, and on thew other he is a serious hight-quality journalist and editor.

That does not make him PM material, where presentation is a large part of the role - together with the ability to delfect difficult questions - which are qualities that Boris does not appear to possess.

I don't think a 'buffoon' as an atitdote to slick spin is a valid alternative, because our PM has to present policies to world leaderss, and laughing stocks do not make a good impression on other nations, much less to the domestic electorate.

I don't agree with AOG's assertion that Eddie Mair's interview was the result of 'left wing bias' - I think any politician should be ready to get into the bear pit with the media - it goes with the territory.

[emmie]

but he is not a buffoon, and i do think he plays up that image somewhat to get out of answering a direct question, one that he cannot answer for fear of prejudicing the case.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Some might think that the former editor of the Spectator's buffoonery is an affectation.

[joggerjayne]

I think he'd do quite a good job.

[anotheoldgit]

andy-hughes

/// I don't agree with AOG's assertion that Eddie Mair's interview was the result of 'left wing bias' - I think any politician should be ready to get into the bear pit with the media - it goes with the territory. ///

Well that is your personal assertion, just as mine was, although I am not alone in my assertion, it has been widely been criticised of 'left-wing bias'.

There was also no need for Eddie Mair to bring Boris's personal life into the interview, would he have done this if Boris had happened to be a homosexual for example?

This was no interview it was 'a grilling', all totally unprofessional.

[Quizmonster]

For those who think Boris Johnson's election as London Mayor was an "achievement", perhaps they should grasp that less than 40% of the eligible electorate even bothered to turn out and that - in the run-off against Ken Livingstone - Johnson got 51.5%. Not a helluva lot in it, really.
Given that he's a Tory, I clearly don't have a lot of time for him as a politician, but I quite like him and his act as a bumbling buffoon, 'cos it IS an act. Whether that would work in a Prime Minister I rather doubt.