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Comment by chvid | Hacker News Reader

The media has been fairly biased wrt. Brexit up to the referendum but after the result is in they have just gone completely stupid.

Boris Johnson is an excellent future leader of the conservatives and will do very well as a prime minister. That he was able to become mayor of London shows his broad appeal to what is traditionally a left-winged and very EU-positive place.

What will happen now is much more about the future of the EU and how to create a well-functioning alternative for the many EU-countries who are not willing to go towards a federation.

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Living in London I find your respect for Johnson surprising. Here is is a summary of his achievements, most of which began before he was involved:

http://www.londonlovesbusiness.com/business-news/politics/ex...

The push for a better and bigger airport on the estuary was a good idea IMO, even if it failed, otherwise it struggle to think of any concrete achievements.

I doubt he'll make it to prime minister though, for one he's too intelligent and self-centred to want to preside over the dissolution of the United Kingdom and the difficult compromises that will be required if the uk wants access to European markets. I can't imagine a less persuasive figure than the affable but clownish boris to lead the uk in these difficult brexit negotiations.

On the future of the EU, that won't be decided by the UK who will have very little influence after they leave.

My point is merely that he got elected in London which is not an easy thing for a conservative.

UK's decision and how it will be handled will have very big influence over the rest of Europe and will set the agenda for the growing EU opposition here.

The media frames this as an (almost isolated) UK problem but it really is not.

It is about the EU.

Boris is not a conservative in the typical sense though. He's a populist like Trump.

And for at least the next few years it will all be about the UK. In particular all the internal work of redefining its relationship with the EU e.g. diplomatic, trade as well as figuring out what to do about EU regulations.

I would be surprised if any EU country has the appetite to hold another referendum when they see what it is in store.

> That he was able to become mayor of London shows his broad appeal

The expression I heard a couple of times from my Londoner friends was that he canvassed "The Doughnut" which is the term for the wealthier classes living around the peripheries. His predecessor Livingston had shaped policy to suit the more urban residents.

Johnson is great at campaigning, and speaking and though he comes across as a buffoon he's a very shrewd guy. But I believe he's the dancing monkey rather than the organ grinder. He is untested in policy formation. I don't believe he has the stones to do the heavy political lifting that will be needed to lead the UK post-brexit.

well there is a chance for him to be the prime minister who lost scotland for the queen. and yesterday he looked regreatful so maybe his plan was to lose the referendum, continue to campaign against eu and win the next elections without having to remove britain from the eu.

"lost scotland for the queen"

I don't think there would be any desire to replace the Queen as head of state in an independent Scotland. The same royal family was head of state before the Union and could easily be afterward a split in the same way that she is Head of State for Canada, Australia and quite a few other countries.

Edit: I personally would prefer a non-political President as Head of State, but I suspect few other people think that and I don't have hugely strong views on it. I also wouldn't want any change to happen in the lifetime of the Queen.

Comrade Boris is the Churchillest boy in the choir. (Does that phrase sound strange now, or what?)

I've been a reader since his blog/Torygraph op-ed days, and I expect to get a lot more from him. Heck, I've even bought a book he wrote, and read half of it so far.

He mostly knows his stuff, and may even be right about some of it. Bikes and all.

It'll be interesting.

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