Boris Johnson Is Here To Stay
After about a year in the political limbo, Boris Johnson emerged as the Leader of the Conservative party and therefore the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on the 24th of July 2019. His most important appeal, the reason he won, was his promise to take the UK out of the EU by October 31st.
He seems to have delivered, at least partially as he managed to negotiate a Brexit deal with the EU. Its an agreement that even Jean-Claude Juncker (President of the European Commission) calls, “a fair and balanced agreement”. On Saturday October 19th, the UK parliament will vote on this deal. Predictions indicate that 259 (conservative) MPs will vote ‘aye’ while 306 (Labour, SNP, DUP, IGC, PC, Green along with 9 independent) MPs will vote ‘No’. This leaves 74 MPs (Hard Conservatives, some labour and independents) up for grabs to reach the magic 320 votes to approve the deal. The outcome of the voting is widely speculated to result in a ‘No’.
However, regardless of the outcome, Boris Johnson will emerge politically victorious. Opinion polling in the UK shows the conservatives leading in the polls by about 9 percentage points (Conservatives 34% vs Labour 25%). The most likely allies of the conservatives, the BP (Brexit Part) is polling at 12% . When asked “Which of the following do you think would make the best Prime Minister?” and offered a choice between Boris Johnson and…
