The Tribune

Imagine the worst politician you’ve ever seen. A liar, adulterer and buffoon who makes himself, his party and his country look a laughing stock. What can you do with such a person. Well, it’s obvious isn’t it? Make him Prime Minister.

Barring a miracle that defies every poll that’s almost certainly going to be the case in London later today when Boris Johnson takes over the leadership of the Conservative Party and makes his way into Number 10 Downing Street on Wednesday.

Can Britain take much more after month after month of Brexit back and forth? Brexit, you will remember, was driven by Boris and a few zealous anti-Europeans who seized on the influx of Eastern Europeans into the UK and declared, Enough is enough, the EU can go to hell.

No one was more shocked than Boris himself when the campaign actually succeeded by the tightest of margins, plunging the country into an interminable, painful debate which eventually cost Theresa May her job and put Boris within grasp of the premiership.

All the signs are - despite predictions of 73 percent support from party members - Boris’ rule is going to be a challenge from the moment it begins.

Ministers - including the current Chancellor Phillip Hammond and Justice Secretary David Gauke - have already declared they won’t serve in a Boris cabinet.

Others are certain to follow.

As a sign of how things play out around Boris one of the contenders for the leadership, Rory Stewart, met with Boris yesterday to be asked if he would join the cabinet. Stewart later revealed he didn’t believe Boris actually knew who he was and was shocked when Stewart revealed he didn’t support Boris’ idea of walking away from the EU with no deal in place. A perfect example of how Boris doesn’t do his homework, jumps at the first solution and invariably gets its wrong.

Many are expecting a Boris government to provide as much controversy as that produced by President Trump in the Oval Office.

Both men are incredibly thick-skinned, convinced of their own brilliance and seem happy to stumble from one self-created fiasco to another leaving whatever chaos they’ve created for others to try and clear up.

For the people of Britain - and indeed for all its neighbours and friends, ourselves included - these are worrying times.

How is Boris going to deal with the likes of Iran? A few days ago the Iranian Republican Guard seized a British-flagged tanker in international waters under the noses of a British warship. Why? Because of the UK’s sycophantic relationship to to the US in enforcing trade restrictions on Iran which have brought the country to the brink of an economic collapse.

Is Boris going to be a strong, independent voice in Downing Street able to whisper sound advice to President Trump after he sends out a threatening tweet to Tehran in the middle of the night? We doubt it.

If you haven’t already take a few minutes and enter Boris’ name in your search engine. Trust us, you’ll be hard pressed to find a single commentary or interview which serves him well. Outside the Conservative Party everyone knows this but is powerless to stop the process about to be completed.

Some months ago there was an announcement Britain was intending to reopen an embassy here in The Bahamas. After months of Premier Boris we suspect there could be many hands in the air among the diplomats at the Foreign Office who would fancy the posting to get away from the mess the UK has created for itself.

As if BTC didn’t have enough problems already

As if Bahamas Telecommunications Company didn’t have enough problems with its own unions, up stepped Paul Maynard yesterday to pour petrol on the fire.

The Bahamas Electrical Workers Union president - speaking in his capacity as first vice president of the National Congress of Trade Unions Bahamas - let rip at BTC’s CEO Garry Sinclair.

For a moment you could imagine it was President Trump doing the shouting.

“Put him on a stop list... get your * back to Jamaica... no foreigner going to speak to Bahamians like that.”

All very spicey and confrontational and certain to wind up the troops. All that’s missing is the idea we put up a wall to keep the damn foreigners out.

Mr Sinclair’s crime? He’s asked his own unions to heed his warnings that BTC - like many companies today - is in a fight for survival and must adapt to modern working practices if it is to survive. He’s not threatening compulsory redundancies rather a voluntary severance programme with terms better than any BTC has offered before.

We remember a similar programme at BPL when Whitney Heastie came in as CEO and offered a voluntary severance programme along the lines Mr Sinclair is suggesting. BPL got knocked down in the rush by the numbers who applied.

Time will tell whether BTC’s staff will be as combative as their union leaders - even with Mr Maynard cheering on from the sidelines.

BTC’s own unions have already set down their marker declaring they reject Mr Sinclair’s leadership and want him gone.