Boris

I wonder would that change if he no longer needed DUP seats to prop up his government? I remember a minor controversy during his time as mayor when he disallowed a pro-life group to hire billboard space in London for a pro-marriage or family campaign

I'm living in England. Like a lot of people here, I have made an executive decision to switch off from Brexit for stress-related reasons, so can someone who has been following it tell me what exactly will Boris be able to do that others haven't?

By the way, for those cheerleading for Brexit people I know who work in the British government have told me that people have been instructed not to throw away out-of-date medicine, as they expect a serious crisis in supplies if a no-deal scenario materialises.

I say this because for many Brexiteers there seems to be very little awareness of the real-life consequences for many people. It's not just entertainment, which is why I am tiring somewhat of the "EU as the Fourth Reich" model relentlessly put forward by many people.

Seeing as how one of the main planks of the Brexit campaign was lies about how much money was being paid to the EU and how much could be diverted to the NHS (spearheaded by Boris, let us not forget), I very much doubt it.

Boris has both surprised and impressed me with his most recent actions in Parliament as of late. First by telling the EU Britain was leaving by the end of October deal or no deal, which is nothing new, May said similar thinks but hand wrung all the way to the current day without pressing the leave button. But then he goes ahead and tears up the backstop, while promising Britain will honour the Good Friday Agreement and all it entails (which is really what matters, because Brexit does not abrogate the agreements made between Ireland and Britain vis a vis the North, and intimation that it does or will lead to violence here in the North are lies of the most outrageous sort) while telling the EU that either they will renegotiate a fairer deal or there will be no deal at all. This is the backbone May was lacking all throughout the debacle that was her term, the EU has been utterly inflexible even when presented with the most agreeable terms that outraged her own parliament, so telling them to be reasonable or get bent is absolutely appropriate. Its also relevant because people familiar with the economic relationships between Britain and Europe will know Britain leaving will be a disastrous shake up to the already shaky Euro (and the Euroe's shakiness and the economic shenanigans it entailed was another, less talked about motivation for Brexit), Britain leaving on its own wouldnt break the Euro, but Brexit plus everything else going on just might, and lets be honest, we've all seen what the EU has done to Greece, they've brought this on themselves. So Boris calling the EU's bluff, which May never did, is actually the best possible tactic to bring about an actual working deal because the EU now has to deal with someone who wont fold and isn't afraid to bloody his nose to break their jaw.

He also promptly sacked all the remainer Tories in Cabinet and packed it full of Brexiteers, which means at the very least, he seems to be serious about delivering Brexit. I have no illusions about him fixing literally anything else about Britain though, but then, no one else would have, or were inclined to either, except perhaps Mogg. He's a typical Business Tory, not a High Tory or a populist Tory, so I dont expect much on things like Immigration and Religion, British Culture, the Multikultistan-ification of London, etc. At least he'll probably be funny and Trump friendly, so economically, Britain has a trade deal to look forward to with America.

As for Ireland I actually agree with the National Party's leader on this matter. when the votes were passed, Ireland should have immediately went to London and said 'Look, we'll back your plan and negotiations with the EU for a Brexit trade deal, so long as you back us up on the situation between us economically, so the border doesn't become a problem when you leave the Union.' Which would have been the smart thing to do for Ireland, and calm economic fears all around. And in the beginning stages of Brexit, it actually seemed like Dublin was going to do exactly that until suddenly their tunes changed and they went full in for backing Verhofsdat and the EU's side of the argument, drowning out all actual facts on the ground and countering arguments. Of course if you've been paying attention for the past 20 years, it shouldn't surprise anyone why this turn of affairs came about or why it did.