is there any obvious alternative? oh, there are. i could think of quite a few, but i don t want to ruin their chances by saying who i think would do it perfectly well. what i do think is when it comes to the referendum campaign on scotland, which apparently we re going to have sooner rather than later, it s terribly important for conservatives and labour and liberal democrats to be on the same side and arguing for the union, so you ve got to think of the sort of politicians who could do that convincingly and would be happy to work with others. and, what, you don t think borisjohnson could make the case in scotland for staying in the united kingdom? i think it s very difficult to see how he could do it. you look back at some of the politicians who ve previously argued passionately against scottish independence, likejohn major, like tony blair, and they would work, whatever their political differences, perfectly well together, but it s quite difficult to see that happening with mrjohnson
i could think of quite a few, but i don t want to ruin their chances by saying who i think would do it perfectly well. what i do think is when it comes to the referendum campaign on scotland, which apparently we re going to have sooner rather than later, it s terribly important for conservatives and labour and liberal democrats to be on the same side and arguing for the union, so you ve got to think of the sort of politicians who could do that convincingly and would be happy to work with others. and, what, you don t think borisjohnson could make the case in scotland for staying in the united kingdom? i think it s very difficult to see how he could do it. you look back at some of the politicians who ve previously argued passionately against scottish independence, likejohn major, like tony blair, and they would work, whatever their political differences, perfectly well together, but it s quite difficult to see that happening with mrjohnson. lord patten, thank you for coming on hardtalk.
comments about mrjohnson in my diaries, and i m not going to lie now and think he s ideal far from it. what i do worry about. is there any obvious alternative? oh, there are. i could think of quite a few, but i don t want to ruin their chances by saying who i think would do it perfectly well. what i do think is when it comes to the referendum campaign on scotland, which apparently we re going to have sooner rather than later, it s terribly important for conservatives and labour and liberal democrats to be on the same side and arguing for the union, so you ve got to think of the sort of politicians who could do that convincingly and would be happy to work with others. and, what, you don t think borisjohnson could make the case in scotland for staying in the united kingdom? i think it s very difficult to see how he could do it. you look back at some of the politicians who ve previously argued passionately against scottish independence, likejohn major, like tony blair, and they would wo
comments about mrjohnson in my diaries, and i m not going to lie now and think he s ideal far from it. what i do worry about. is there any obvious alternative? oh, there are. i could think of quite a few, but i don t want to ruin their chances by saying who i think would do it perfectly well. what i do think is when it comes to the referendum campaign on scotland, which apparently we re going to have sooner rather than later, it s terribly important for conservatives and labour and liberal democrats to be on the same side and arguing for the union, so you ve got to think of the sort of politicians who could do that convincingly and would be happy to work with others. and, what, you don t think borisjohnson could make the case in scotland for staying in the united kingdom? i think it s very difficult to see how he could do it. you look back at some of the politicians who ve previously argued passionately against scottish independence,
that i don t see a strong cabinet around borisjohnson, and she had downed our majorfigures in her cabinet prepared to stand up to her, and i don t think borisjohnson has that. so we are relying on backbenchers and junior ministers. what i think we might see is a slow drip of resignations and, you know, possibly some backbenchers voting against him on critical votes. this is going to be a slow process, i think, but i recognise the situation, i was there for the last 18 months of margaret thatcher, and it was slow, a first leadership challenge, you know, she could see a kind of process where she became ever more detached from reality. sorry to interrupt, just finally and briefly, caroline, talking about that slow process, is that what we are seeing in your opinion? yes, it s like a slow car crash,