Brexit Party leader and European Parliament member Nigel Farage has noticed that new U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson uses similar rhetoric as U.S. President Donald Trump.
Both men have characterized their respective countries as “the greatest place on Earth,” or at least potentially so in the case of Johnson’s phraseology.
Last week, Trump said “I like Boris Johnson. I always have.He’s a different kind of a guy, but they say I’m a different kind of guy too. I think we’ll have a very good relationship,” Reuters reported.
Johnson ascended to the premiership mainly because he has pledged to implement the Brexit referendum. On June 23, 2016, a majority of the electorate voted to separate itself from the European Union and reclaimed the country’s sovereignty over laws, trade, and immigration.
Arrogant, out-of-touch, elitist politicians in both the Conservative and Labor Parties have failed to deliver a “proper Brexit” to keep faith with the British public.
Grassroots Conservatives and millions of Labor voters (equivalent to Reagan or Trump Democrats) are pro-Brexit, while parliament is dominated by Remainers.
Since becoming PM, the charismatic politician with the Three Stoogers haircut has adopted a very “Trumpian style,” and has supposedly “modeled himself” after the POTUS, Farage observed on his LBC radio show.
In 2016, former U.K. Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister under David Cameron claimed that Boris Johnson is “like Donald Trump with a thesaurus.”
BoJo’s speeches in various settings (and the PM is required to appear regularly for sometimes hostile “Question Time” in the British parliament known as the House of Commons) have been high-energy, positive, and upbeat as he promotes an aggressive, Britain-first legislative agenda. This is a huge difference from Theresa May, his failed and lackluster predecessor.
More than 100 times, May promised to take the U.K. out of the European Union by March 29 only to extend the deadline. She also vowed that no deal is better than a bad deal, another empty promise. May and her “deep state” Europhile team negotiated a withdrawal agreement that constituted Brexit in Name Only (BRINO), and for different reasons, parliament voted it down three times.
Johnson and Trump
Although they both have had colorful personal lives, Johnson and Trump don’t have that much in common, career wise. Johnson was an irreverent, upper-class journalist before serving two terms as London mayor and then winning a seat in the Commons. Parenthetically, Johnson’s successor as London mayor from the Labor Party is more obsessed with Trump bashing than solving the city’s skyrocketing violent crime rate.
A former Democrat and independent, Trump obviously was a business mogul before running for president as a first-time candidate on the GOP ticket. Both men are on the portly side, share a tendency to make non-PC statements, and have the same hair color or alleged color.
On July 23, Johnson received about 66 percent of the vote of less than 200,00 Conservative Party members, easily defeating rival Jeremy Hunt, thereby becoming the party leader. Since the Conservatives currently control parliament by just a handful of seats, BoJo became prime minister the very next day. Unlike in the U.S., there is no three-month transition in the U.K. for the handover to the new chief executiv. May, who had previously announced her resignation under political pressure, had to vacate the PM’s residence at 10 Downing Street, London, more of less immediately.
In a way, it’s sort of like the catchphrase from Top Chef, in which each cooking competition loser is told to “please pack your knives and go.” Most of May’s cabinet were also promptly sacked.
Boris Johnson claims he is willing to leave the EU with or without a deal on October 31. If Johnson is unable to follow through, the Conservative Party — which has lost a tremendous amount of its market share already –is essentially done for.
A no-deal Brexit would trigger World Trade Organizations rules, allowing the U.K. to strike agreements with individual countries. President Trump has said he would prioritize reaching a trade deal with the U.K. Meddling in the June 2016 election at the time, Obama said that the U.K. would find itself very low on the priority list in a post-Brexit scenario.
“With Johnson at the helm, Trump is looking to ‘strengthen the special relationship between our two countries,’ a senior administration official said,” according to Reuters.
The Remainers A.K.A. the Remoaners
As alluded to above, most of the sore-loser parliament as currently constituted is hell-bent on blocking a no-deal Brexit, even though it’s the country’s most effective bargaining chip to secure independence from the heavy handed Brussels-based EU bureaucracy. If Johnson follows through (a big if), or if he doesn’t, the ensuing turmoil could splinter the Conservative coalition, prompting a election in the fall. Absent the government collapsing, the next general election is in 2022.
“Johnson, 55, has promised to complete Brexit on Oct. 31 with or without a deal, even though lawmakers say they will bring down any government that tries to leave without one,” Reuters explained.
In the U.K., the government is essentially equivalent to the prime minister’s cabinet rather than elected officials across the ideological spectrum. There is no distinction between the executive branch and the legislative branch, and as such, members of parliament simultaneously serve in the cabinet.
Should their be an election, and pro-Brexit voters divide their ballots among the Conservative Party and the upstart Brexit Party, this could allow Labor under Marxist Jeremy Corbyn to win enough seats to take over the government.
In domestic, multi-party elections, the U.K. operates with a “first past the post” process in which the winner essentially takes all. Thus, 31 percent or so victories are hardly unheard of in parliamentary elections. Typically, voters in swing districts have to vote tactically, even if unenthusiastically tactically. That is, vote Labor to keep out the Tories or vice versa.
The anti-establishment Brexit Party is changing that paradigm.
A Pro-Brexit Parliamentary Coalition?
Given this scenario, there have calls for Conservatives (a.k.a. Tories) and the Brexit Party to reach an election accommodation in Leave-leaning constituencies to avoid dividing the Brexit vote that would allow far-left, anti-Semitic Labor to conquer.
According to CapX, “Boris unveiled an unambiguously Leave-supporting Cabinet…Far from clinging to office and avoiding the electorate, the Johnson strategy is clearly to make good Britain’s departure from the EU in fifteen weeks’ time – and then face the electorate soon after. For the first time since the EU referendum three years ago, the UK has a government unambiguously prepared to deliver what the electorate asked for.”
The sometimes wishy-wash BoJo himself has said that it the Conservative majority kicks the can down the road again, it will kick the bucket. Time will tell.
Conservatives in Name Only?
Writing in the London Telegraph, Nigel Farage made these observations, including the possibility of suspending (or proroguing) the House of Commons to enable no deal to go through.
“The European elections were a sobering experience for the Tories. Their support fell to only 10 per cent of the vote and I already know of several large-scale Tory donors who switched to the Brexit Party overnight. Arguably, the Conservatives’ future is already in doubt. Suddenly, it is ‘do-or-die’ not just for Brexit, but for the Conservative Party as well. Mr Johnson should realize that he is going to have to risk his longed-for position as PM to ensure Brexit is enacted properly. There is no prospect of a meaningful Brexit thanks to the views of most sitting MPs. And any attempt to prorogue Parliament will lead to the PM being brought down by his own side. The inescapable truth, therefore, is that he must hold an Autumn general election. That is his only way out. Doing so will take enormous courage. Inevitably, it will trigger a split in the Conservative Party. But the country is crying out for leadership and a resolution to the Brexit crisis. For this strategy to work, he will need the support of the Brexit Party…Even on Brexit, he was very late to the cause. He will have a lot of convincing to do to persuade us that an early election will lead to a clean-break Brexit on 31 October. If he is able to convince us, then together we would electorally smash the Labour Party, he would assume a big working majority, and he would go down as one of the great leaders in British history. All this is possible, but is Boris Johnson brave enough?”
In late June, a neighbor (who is pro-Remain) called police after he heard a loud argument between Johnson and his girlfriend at their apartment. Cops arrived, checked things out and left shortly thereafter after determining that “all occupants of the address, who were all safe and well.” The mostly globalist, London-centric media demanded that Johnson provide more details on the incident. Johnson refused to play their game, which proved to be a wise strategy, because the story wound up evaporating in about 72 hours. Moreover, he obviously retained the support of the Conservative grassroots.
Despite his tendency to create needless feuds (such as the recent one with the Squad, which was ill-advised when the Democrats were fighting among themselves, Donald Trump has similarly taught other Republicans — if they are willing to learn — how to fight back against the Democrat-media complex. (Anyone remember the Access Hollywood tape scandal?). British MP and Johnson ally Jacob Rees-Mogg has pointed out that Trump’s impulsive tweet obscured the point that the Squad consists of far-left socialists.
In the coming weeks, British politics under Boris Johnson could become as contentious as on this side of the Atlantic.
[Featured image credit: U.K. government, Wikimedia Commons, Open Government Licence v3.0]
