Prime Minister Boris, and other things that ... happened?

[Gary Oswald]

Discuss this article by @Charles EP M. here

 

[Thande]

Glad somebody pointed out the daftness of it.

Then there was the one where the titular 'never happened' PM in question was the then current Leader of the Opposition. edit: Which I see Charles mentions.

 

[Gary Oswald]

Glad somebody pointed out the daftness of it.

Then there was the one where the titular 'never happened' PM in question was the then current Leader of the Opposition.

Dale almost certainly hopes that all the title people do become PMs so he can get a boost in sales as a result.

 

[Thande]

Dale almost certainly hopes that all the title people do become PMs so he can get a boost in sales as a result.

There should be a law.

 

[Charles EP M.]

Then there was the one where the titular 'never happened' PM in question was the then current Leader of the Opposition.

That was one hell of a gamble. I like how instead of one PM Corbyn story, we got two: one anti-Corbyn where he gets everything wrong and one pro-Corbyn where he's a canny street warrior manipulating things.

 

[RyanF]

That was one hell of a gamble. I like how instead of one PM Corbyn story, we got two: one anti-Corbyn where he gets everything wrong and one pro-Corbyn where he's a canny street warrior manipulating things.

Same idea with the two Boris ones presented.

 

[Ricardolindo]

Before reading the entire title, I thought this was a review of that book.

 

[Hendryk]

But what is Johnson’s Brexit withdrawal plan? We don’t know.

Even OTL Boris doesn't know what his withdrawal plan was, so that part rings true.

Mayer decides to split the story into two timelines ala Sliding Doors

Note that Sliding Doors was itself the lighter and fluffier version of Blind Chance, about a man in late Communist Poland whose life will take a different turn whether he makes it to the train or not.

 

[ChrisNuttall]

Glad somebody pointed out the daftness of it.

Then there was the one where the titular 'never happened' PM in question was the then current Leader of the Opposition. edit: Which I see Charles mentions.

A bit of an embarassing title, in hindsight <grin>

Chris

 

[Charles EP M.]

Same idea with the two Boris ones presented.

That one was weirder because it's the same writer arbitrarily altering how competent Johnson is to winkingly cover his bases (while still clearly disliking the man), whereas with Corbyn they got two different writers. Though that makes it more obviously cynical

 

[Gary Oswald]

Before reading the entire title, I thought this was a review of that book.

The original title that Charles sent to me was "Prime Minister Boris: and other things that never happened." which is much cleverer but wix's formatting doesn't allow you to actually do.

 

[RyanF]

That one was weirder because it's the same writer arbitrarily altering how competent Johnson is to winkingly cover his bases (while still clearly disliking the man), whereas with Corbyn they got two different writers. Though that makes it more obviously cynical

Point. I do think there are a few essays spread throughout that series in different collections which cover the same subject. Might be interesting to compare them but soon going to be putting them all in storage (why, yes, I do have President Gore).

 

[Thande]

Incidentally, I see my twitter post about this has now been retweeted by Iain Dale himself @Charles EP M.

 

[Charles EP M.]

Incidentally, I see my twitter post about this has now been retweeted by Iain Dale himself @Charles EP M.

THE BIG TIME

 

[Alexander Rooksmoor]

Even OTL Boris doesn't know what his withdrawal plan was, so that part rings true.

Yes, at risk of breaking laws about discussing current politics here, I think this is one reason why these alternatives got so much 'right'.

Johnson in fact created his own 'Sliding Doors' moment when he prepared two speeches, one supporting Brexit and one supporting remaining. Him coming in on the side of Remain is unlikely to have tipped the balance in the referendum, but certainly would have altered his own career significantly. Would he be on the way to being a less effective Ken Clarke, sniping from the Remainer sidelines?

 

[Ricardolindo]

@Alexander Rooksmoor No offense, but I recommend you fix the quote.

 

[OwenM]

Boris has supported more bike lanes as PM, admittedly.
Also, quick proofreading note; I think I saw a Kier instead of a Keir somewhere?