The political leader of this great country is an inveterate liar. Lying comes as easily to him as breathing does to most people. His lies have been well-documented and yet he continues to get away with them. It is as if his life is charmed. He's like a roguish young lad with tousled hair denying that he scrumped the neighbour's apples even though his satchel is stuffed with the stolen fruit.
In June 2019, as Great Britain was heading towards a general election, Johnson was asked by Talk Radio's Ross Kempsell how he likes to spend his spare time
This was Johnson's bizarre response: “I, well, I like to ... paint. Or I make things. I like to ... I make, I have a thing where I make models of, when I was mayor of London we built a beautiful – I make buses. I make models of buses. So what I do, no, I don’t make models of buses, what I do is I get old – I don’t know – wooden crates ... Right? And then I paint them. It’s a box that’s been used to contain two wine bottles, right, and it will have a dividing thing. And I turn it into a bus. I paint the passengers enjoying themselves on a wonderful bus.”
Johnson was smirking as he poured out this drivel - as if it was some kind of hilarious Old Etonian mind game. The thing is, no one has ever seen one of his cardboard buses and it is 99.9% certain that he has in fact never made one. It was all a lie. Naturally, he has never apologised for making it because he never genuinely says sorry about anything.
I remain utterly baffled as to how our country has ended up with an ego-maniacal buffoon at the top. The blatant lie that I have alluded to here simply shows the true character of the man. There have been far more serious and impactful lies such as his three word election slogan - "Get Brexit Done". Will it ever be done?
Of course most national leaders lie strategically or cunningly twist the truth. It is part of the territory but in a western democracy with a history of basic decency in high office, Johnson's propensity for lying and then getting away with it is quite staggering.
£350million for the NHS was a rather more significant one. It's interesting that all his errors, lies and buffoonery will be forgotten if the vaccination programme actually leads us out of Covid and we don't get a Third Wave.
ReplyDeleteIronically, our excellent vaccination response has had far more to do with NHS leaders than Johnson and his motley crew.
DeletePS are you still getting spam? I dislike comment moderation.
ReplyDeleteNot so much "spam" Graham as unpleasant trolling activity. I know that if I drop comment moderation those snide voices will be back because I have had to delete several comments since I instigated comment moderation. I don't like comment moderation either but I hope you will keep coming here.
DeleteI may or may not be the first to comment that the best response was "I wonder what he paints on the side of them".
ReplyDeleteWhen asked about his hobbies, I am surprised that he did not mention playing games of rugby with small boys and knocking them over.
DeleteMy impression is that, whatever political stripe - blue, red, yellow, any kind of rainbow hue - they all lie. All the time.
ReplyDeleteBut some lie more than others. Johnson is in the first category.
DeleteI'm glad that 'our' Boris is gone. I don't miss the bullshit at all.
ReplyDeleteYes. It was good to see the back of that self-obsessed loon. He was such a fake. Fake hair. Fake complexion. Fake promises. Fake loyalties. Fake ideas.
DeleteIt is so mind-blowing to me how much Johnson is like Trump. He's Trump, Jr. Trump Lite. Even to the bizarre blond hair. But especially as pertains to lying. Thank all the gods that be that our version of the blond Lucifer Bozo was kicked to the curb at the last election although of course, his blind followers (they must be deaf, too) insist that the he was not.
ReplyDeleteJohnson has manipulated Britain's right wing media very cleverly. He seems to be able to get away with anything.
DeleteHe's a sociopath or psychopath. You might find this article interesting.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy_in_the_workplace
Actually, I think that Jennifer (below) has offered the most accurate term to describe Johnson.
DeleteHow about "There will be no border down the Irish Sea… over my dead body." British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaking to The Irish News in August 2020.
ReplyDeleteOf course that is a much more sinister lie than the lie about model buses.
DeleteI think Bojo played the buffoon because it worked for so long, but how people can't see through this eejit is beyond me. "Running with the hares and hunting with the hounds" springs to mind regarding his "loyalties" or "policies"!
ReplyDeleteTo Johnson it is all an ego trip.
DeleteAfter enduring years of Trump, it's hard to see other bad politicians as being but so terrible. The bar after him is so low that a snake could vault over it.
ReplyDeleteBut Johnson is a bit of a.....wanker? Is that what you folks across the pond would call him? :)
Gulp! We would indeed say that but not in polite company!
DeleteI think Boris would lose to Trump in a lying contest. By a lot. Still, the bald faced and open dishonesty is appalling. Didn't politicians used to be sneakier? Now they don't even seem to care.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Margaret and the cardboard bus lie demonstrates that very blatantly.
DeleteHe obviously has taken lessons from Trump. Jerks all around.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, British prime ministers are not given quite the same amount of power as American presidents.
DeleteMany people didn't believe him when he told the interviewer what his hobby was, me included, but have we had any proof he doesn't do such things, or are we guessing?
ReplyDeleteWe are assuming with confidence - based upon his long history of lying.
DeleteAh! So this blog post is an assumption then. Thanks.
DeleteAssumption is never invalid if its soundly based on past knowledge Jane. This is even true in courts of law.
DeleteTo me, this seems quite similar to what people in our country tried to do with President Obama. They chose to pick on something, in this case his citizenship, and hounded them relentlessly about it. Obama was left with two negative options, not showing his birth certificate and thus appearing to have something to hide or showing it and opening himself up to every wannabe expert about how it was forged. As we know, Obama chose the latter route and paid for it.
ReplyDeleteTo me, Boris has the same dilemma here. If he doesn't show his hobby of painting boxes, he is a liar. If he does, I'm sure he would be ridiculed mercilessly by the British press over his skills which would undoubtedly be compared to his ability to be a leader.
Fortunately none of this makes our press over here these days since we got problems of our own.
Johnson knew that when he was spinning the model bus yarn that it was all pure nonsense - a game. I struggle to see the parallel with President Obama.
DeleteDrivel is a perfect way to describe it. The trouble is I was at a speech he gave as Mayor of London 10 years ago and before he arrived I hated him, half way through the speech I was laughing and I never would have believed I would. That is how he as got as far as he has I'm afraid and I think we may be stuck with him for a while.
ReplyDeleteIf I want to see a clown I will go to the circus.
DeleteThe getting away with lying is what mystifies me. The people let him away with lying. Our media lets people away lying. We have to make lying a criminal offense . But it'll never happen.
ReplyDelete"Lying in public office" should be a crime indeed REd.
DeleteWhile Trump may have taken lying when in office to a whole new level, he has dragged many leaders up with him, in your country, in mine and many others. The question is can the Emperor without clothes have another term in office.
ReplyDeleteBritain's right wing media have sullied our Labour Party to the point that I do not expect them to be in office again in my lifetime.
DeleteIts not just the lying - humans lie - it's the what he lies for: he's where he is entirely to fill his own egotistical goals not because he has one iota of belief that he has anything to offer as the leader of a country. For him its image without substance.
ReplyDeleteWell put Tigger. Exactly so.
DeleteHeavens YP, why ever do you expect any politician, irrespective of party, to tell the unvarnished truth!
ReplyDeleteI guess I have a streak of optimism in me CG.
DeleteSomehow all politicians never meet our expectations of being honest; forthright and engaged.. even the ones much loved come up short (like JFK) To be a politician you would have to have a mighty ego.. a confidence in oneself that no one can shake - maybe that's the problem!
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how President Joe Biden runs his team and if he succeeds in making a difference. I have no idea who you would have as your British Prime Minister but in these testing times it requires someone with vision and fortitude.
Perhaps we get the leaders that we deserve.
DeleteI'm sure he thinks the absurdity of his response somehow made it more clever. He's a mess.
ReplyDeleteHe was clearly making the unpremeditated lie up on the hoof.
DeleteThere was a theory that his comments on busses were a way to 'game' the Google search results away from the (in)famous Brexit Bus lie. All politicians have loose relationship with the truth - and with logic. I recall a wonderful interview with Michael Ignatieff the philosopher who briefly led the Canadian Liberal Party - he describes how all he had to offer was brought to nought because politics is not actually about reason and compromise and logic - but about getting what you want regardless. The 'Overton Window' in which politicians operate is too wide to bring any consistency and truth to principle - Brexit and indeed the Pandemic are merely the most topical examples.
ReplyDeleteIf asked what they like to do in the spare time, I am convinced that even Theresa May, David Cameron and Gordon Brown would have been more honest, more straightforward - not developing a ridiculous lie on the hoof.
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