For quote of the day, few will match Boris Johnson on Today this morning as he discussed the strikes – referring to his role as the token right-winger calling for a clampdown on the unions:
“It’s like so
me kind of Indonesian puppet theatre and I’m kept in the wings and wheeled on like some kind of ogre to say this terrifying play that old Johnson has, we’ll do it unless you shape up. People really need to start thinking seriously about it.”
Interestingly, however, Johnson was not as gung-ho as you might think, admitting that now may not be the best time to tighten laws governing industrial relations.
“It is a tactical question, they’ve got to make a judgement about whether this would be inflammatory… would it make moderate unions switch from willing to compromise over some of the difficult things they have to do like pension reform.”
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey