Boris Johnson's own brother quits his floundering government

You really should have blurred infected by the Bene Gesserit with a genetically-targeted STD that turns you into a pustulent floating poisoned bag of a man since it’s mentioned in the Dune prequels.

:smiling_imp:

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I presume you know about this one :slightly_smiling_face:

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BoJo: “Where’s my doctor?!”

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Add nepotism, and you also end up with Trump. :smiling_imp:

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“Cheers” for the Dune reference, “Jeers” for that reference being from one of the prequels by Herbert the Lesser and his writing partner, The World’s Worst Living Science Fiction Author.

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When my grandmother got really deep into Alzheimer’s, she would constantly try to hit on me thinking I was her husband. I wonder how long it will take for people to realize Trump is knee deep in dementia. Hopefully before he starts some kind of stupid war.

I don’t think that’s the issue behind Trump’s creepy obsession with his daughter. He has been sexually objectifying her since she was an infant.

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Good point. As a father of two awesome girls, Trump just makes me stabby.

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6VbP5la

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I imagine he’s been sexually objectifying literally every woman or girl he has encountered since the time of his own early adolescence.

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It’s not like there are multiple definitions. To reiterate, there is zero evidence that Jo was favoured by his brother, especially since two previous Prime Ministers had already considered him qualified enough to serve in Cabinet. I think the same goes for the appearances bit. The fact that Jo was a Remainer is actually evidence to the contrary, as is his resignation if you think about it. Perhaps I am not nearly as cynical as you.

Following on the heels of 22 other M.P.'s, Cabinet ministers and former Cabinet ministers rebelling against the Johnson government and being kicked out of the party. Stands to reason that “familial relationship” was not the real reason for his resignation. Translation: “I don’t want to speak out against the actions of the P.M. since he is family so I choose to resign instead.”

I wouldn’t give much stock to Boris’ thought processes. In the light of this week’s events you might want to rethink that, since clearly he miscalculated.

Edited for accuracy.

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Yeah, but you said that by definition if someone is qualified it can’t be nepotism when that clearly isn’t true if we agree on what nepotism means. If could have multiple qualified candidates and choose someone with personal ties to me because of those personal ties and that would be favouritism.

I believe appointing your sibling to anything is on it’s face the appearance of nepotism. With someone with the qualifications of Jo Johnson it probably doesn’t raise any eyebrows. But having talked it through here, I’m more and more of the opinion that Boris Johnson probably did favour a sibling. Either I put stock in Johnson’s thought process, or I overlook it (as you suggest) and think about how narcissistic wanna-be authoritarians tend to like nepotism.

Plus, there isn’t “no evidence” that Jo Johnson’s familial relationship with the PM interfered with the job. There is a quotation from Jo Johnson that specifically says it was part of the reason for the resignation. You can think that’s not true, but “no evidence” is different than “evidence I choose to discount.”

Anyway, this has gotten way too philosophy-class to me. I don’t think there was anything improper about Jo Johnson’s appointment, and if it turned out that there was a conflict between duty family and duty to country then Jo Johnson has resolved in appropriately.There’s also really no question about the quality of Boris Johnson’s character or judgement either, so I don’t care whether the appointment of a sibling was an oversight, well thought out, or done by throwing darts at pictures of MPs.

You have put me in the difficult position of defending the decision of a politician I dislike, but I do it on principle because I think the meaning of words is important and people need to be precise. I believe that politicians I disagree with, even “wanna-be authoritarians” as you say, can also be capable of pragmatism at times. People are complex and multi-faceted. You have made the claim that Jo’s appointment was nepotism, therefore the burden of proof is on you the to prove it and you haven’t. By any stretch. The simple act of providing a job to a family member is not nepotism; the key word is ‘favouritism’. And your only evidence is a vague quote from the press-release of a resigning politician (the nepotee himself!), which could be interpreted in a variety of ways. Besides, if it was all as nefarious as you say Jo would still be sitting loyally in Cabinet beside his brother plotting would he not? I do agree however that this discussion has grown tiresome so there’s that! Adieu.

Nepotism isn’t about ability, it’s about access.

If your sister is a good plumber, and you’re a city official that makes sure she always gets first pick of jobs instead of similarly talented plumbers, it doesn’t matter that her ability is great, it’s still influenced by nepotism.

Another person could have put him in cabinet, and cabinet picks can be based in cronyism, so I don’t think it’s that important here in the long run. In this one case, maybe he got a slightly more stable position in the middle of the dumpster fire that is Tory politics. What a prize!

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It looks a little improper when you make your brother a cabinet minister.

Several years ago we had Richard Prebble as an MP and minister for various things. Meanwhile, his brother Mark was working for Treasury and eventually became the State Services Commissioner.

They made a decision that they wouldn’t meet privately - at all - while they both worked in and for government. So for about 20 years they never had a dinner, a Christmas, a holiday, or a birthday together, didn’t go to the christenings of each others’ children, or to their 21st’s. It was never really made a big thing of, until some time after one or the other had retired and the need to demonstrate they weren’t influencing or favouring each other went away.

At the time I thought it was admirable, but odd. This kind of thing makes me realise it’s also necessary. It sucks for the family, but choices have consequences.

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I think that ship has sailed. Beerboy Brett wasn’t technically entitled to a seat on the Supreme Court, and it wouldn’t have been in anyway unfair - or socially or financially crippling - for him to have missed out.

And yet, here we are.

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Said Johnson “I’m resigning because I want to spend less time with my family.”

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Any plumb job is about access, with or without family connections. ; ) That’s what ‘networking’ is about; it’s why people with more social connections have more employment opportunities generally.

If I was made head of Public Works, and my sister had already proved herself there for six years, then I gave her a job that was commensurate with her qualifications and experience, it would not be nepotism. Jo Johnson was Minister for Universities and Science under Theresa May. His brother made him Minister of Transport. A slightly larger portfolio, but nothing out of the ordinary considering his time in service. The salary is the same afaik.