Boris Johnson calls coronavirus pandemic a 'massive opportunity' the Tories can exploit

[Denzil_DC]

Speaking to Tory activists, the Prime Minister said his party would use the fallout from the pandemic to 'short-circuit' the state and slash taxes

The Prime Minister has explosively described the deadly coronavirus pandemic as a "massive opportunity" that his party can take advantage of.

Boris Johnson said that the Conservatives would use the fall out of the crisis to "short-circuit" the country and impose a right-wing agenda of tax cuts and reduced support for the unemployed.

And he urged activists to keep the faith as he promised that he would slash taxes as soon as the Spring.

Speaking at a Q&A session at Conservative conference on Sunday, he said: "We have a massive opportunity now to use this unquestionable crisis, I mean it's been a huge thing for our country, to build back better."

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-calls-coronavirus-pandemic-22790194

No great surprise - never let a good crisis go to waste, after all - but sort of refreshing to see it set out so bluntly.

In terms of the Shock Doctrine, I'd have thought the impending no-deal Brexit might have been enough to do the trick on its own, but I'm sure Johnson/Cummings know best.

[dhill926]

1. Why would he say "build back better?"

awfully strange...

[Denzil_DC]

3. Cummings and the Tories are very big on three-word slogans.

See: Get Brexit Done.

I think it's modelled on past hits like "Arbeit macht frei".

Build Back Better's been around for a while.

It's basically projecting carte blanche for presiding over an unfathomably incompetently managed disaster then cobbling whatever's eventually left into a form that suits Tory donors and nobody else.

[dhill926]

4. But it's Biden's slogan....

strikes me as very odd...

[Denzil_DC]

5. It may have different connotations in the USA.

Its recent use internationally seems to have begun with UN approaches to improving resilience after disasters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_Back_Better

There's even a UN publication with that title: https://www.unisdr.org/files/53213_bbb.pdf

In the UK, it's been a campaign bringing together groups from Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth to Quakers and the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants: https://www.buildbackbetteruk.org/

The slogan's been co-opted by the Tories in recent times.

The main problem lies in how you define "better" and who things end up better for.

[dhill926]

6. Ah...thanks for the info...

[T_i_B]

2. Maybe it could have been a massive opportunity for the Tories

If only they had done a good job of containing Coronavirus. But they didn't.

And whatever else I may think about grassroots Tories, I don't think even they can see any scope for tax cuts given the catastrophic effect of Coronavirus on government finances.

[abqtommy]

7. Yeah, since the Tories have done such an exceptional job exploiting the manipulated Brexit

vote in 2016...