Boris Johnson’s advice to benefit claimants is insulting. I say: act on it!
Money, money, money: Boris Johnson has made loads of it by scrounging from other people and his advice to low-paid workers is clearly that they should do the same. Start with your Tory MP, if you have one.
UK prime minister Boris Johnson has told working people on poverty pay, who have to claim benefits to make ends meet – and are facing a £1,000-per-year cut in those benefits – he’ll do nothing to help them.
He won’t legislate to ensure they are better-paid and he won’t cancel the Universal Benefit cut.
According to the Mirror,
Mr Johnson insisted “most” Brits want to see people’s “wages rise through their efforts” instead of claiming benefits.
Mr Johnson told broadcasters: “My preference, my strong strong preference, and I believe this is the instinct of most people in this country, is for people to see their wages rise through their efforts – rather than from taxation of other people put into their pay packets, rather than welfare.”
Read it for yourself, here:
PM tells 2.3m poverty pay Brits to use 'their efforts' to claim fewer benefits https://t.co/J2hn2m1gcT
— Clare Hepworth OBE (@Hepworthclare) August 28, 2021
And here are a couple of other takes on the same story:
“People on Universal Credit should rely on their own efforts not money given to them by others” says man who asked others to pay for his new curtains and a nanny. pic.twitter.com/0jOPHo9Dfr
— David Schneider (@davidschneider) August 26, 2021
Who do you think you are @BorisJohnson telling working class people to rely on their own efforts when you go round with a begging bowl to Tory donors to pay for your posh new wallpaper and moan that you can't live off your £150,000 salary? Disgusting.https://t.co/RD1MPhwjcS
— Angela Rayner 🌹 (@AngelaRayner) August 27, 2021
As you may have noticed from the above tweets, his words have been met by a certain amount of… resistance.
There’s a good reason for it, as the following examples make clear: Johnson himself is the biggest scrounger in the entire country. He’s just a big, fat hypocrite – and so are his cabinet colleagues who support his policy.
Man who literally lined his walls with gold using someone else's cash, tells Universal Credit claimants to "rely on their own efforts".
If it ever meant anything, Levelling Up is officially dead, and so are honour, irony and decency.— Dominic Minghella (@DMinghella) August 26, 2021
So Rishi Sunak is building a new swimming pool in one of his properties, Boris Johnson has golden wall paper, Dominic Raab spends £40,000 on a holiday and yet there are over two thousand food banks and hundreds of baby banks in the UK. How can this be right?
— Daniela Nadj (@DanielaNadj) August 27, 2021
https://twitter.com/withorpe33/status/1431190996558176256
This one from Super Tanskiii is particularly spicy:
Just another fan letter to Johnson.
I say fan letter, it’s mostly facts and we all know how hard he’s trying, to eradicate them.#BorisTheLiar#oneruleforthem pic.twitter.com/2OcMC2j9zb
— Supertanskiii (@supertanskiii) August 27, 2021
Shop workers, drivers, NHS workers, all the lowest paid workers have kept this country going through the pandemic, the millionaires, billionaires, and tory MPs have just got richer and told the rest of us to fuck off.
— Anne Laird 💙 (@AnneLaird31) August 27, 2021
Why does Johnson succeed in scrounging all this cash from donors and friends? Well, he might deny it (as suggested by this parody account) but the huge bungs of public money he’s been handing out to his donors in dodgy government contracts might have something to do with it. Do you think?
https://twitter.com/GetBrexit_Done/status/1431368903754756100
It’s all very well complaining about it, and it’s all good fun satirising it, but – knowing This Site as you do – you’re probably wondering what’s to be done about it.
My advice: take Johnson at his word and follow his example.
So you write to Tory politicians and businesses – start with those in your own Parliamentary constituency, obviously – and ask them for donations.
Promise them all a huge bung when you’re hugely successful in your chosen career.
I’ll certainly be writing to my own MP, Fay Jones (Conservative, Brecon and Radnorshire). It’ll say something like:
“Dear Ms Jones,
“I am writing in accordance with Boris Johnson’s advice to people on low pay – that we should ‘rise through our efforts’. It seems clear to me that he wishes us to follow his example, which is to subsidise his own salary with large donations from other people.
“My house has not been decorated for more than 20 years and is in desperate need of new, gold, wallpaper. The cost should come to around £240,000 and I am sure that – as a responsible constituency MP, you will be delighted to donate towards this good cause. Shall I put you down for £50k?
“From media reports, I understand that I will not be expected to provide large contracts to you or any other funders in return for your donations now, but rest assured that when I am rich and successful, your contribution – whatever it may be – will not be forgotten!”
“I await your cheque eagerly. Or would you like to pay by BACS?”
Do this thing. It may improve your life and if enough of you do it, it will certainly bring home the facts of their actions to Tory MPs.
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
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The ‘fiscally competent’ Tories are in trouble over party funding. Their reliance on big donors has let them down big time.
In 2019 the Tories declared donations of £55.7million but in 2020 this dropped dramatically by 70% to only £17.2million leaving the Tory Party with a massive deficit of -£5.4million. (compared to a surplus of £13million in 2019)
http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/English/Accounts/ST0023741
This is really interesting when combined with a tweet I’ve just read, saying that one of the reasons Corbyn was attacked as Labour leader was the way he eliminated the party’s reliance on corporate donations. The claim is that fear over what a party will do when it is totally independent of corporate influence motivated the attacks against him and his supporters.
This also implies that corporate donations really are made to give business bosses control over politicians.
It’s a good idea Mike but I suspect that desperately skint people will live on their wits rather than writing letters to MPs. Some will be tempted to do a spot of cash-in-hand work to get by, mowing lawns, painting fences, filling skips, pulling pints, whatever. Others may resort to shoplifting, street robbery, drug dealing, weed growing, prostitution. The Tories will turn us right back to Dickensian/Victorian times if they get the chance. They have deliberately wrecked our Social Security system and Society falls apart as a result; higher crime, homelessness, suicides, debt, arrears, poverty, foodbank use, etc.
Nothing will change if we don’t actually affect the quality of our Tory MPs’ lives.
So if these desperately skint people behave as you suggest – and I’m sure you’re right in most cases – then they will be contributing to their own impoverishment, and that’s a silly way to behave.
Same old fascist tory lies and the fascist boys especially that greedy corrupt little fascist dictator duck johnson knows that constantly telling impoverished women and men to ‘work harder’ ensures all the stupid peasants believe these lies! Remember peasants – it’s your money the greedy fascist tories are stealing and giving to their greedy corrupt fascist cronies!
Also remember to write to your MPs and demand they donate at least £50,000 to your ideas of increasing your miniscule wealth! Fascist tories will be delighted to part with their wealth!
The man’s a clown don’t they realise it’s our taxes that put food on their mouths it’s our taxes that wipes their arses hmm clowns I’m ok jack his is motto and the rest of them are no better MPs should made to live on benefits for yr before they can claim their wack ouch
People will never be able to ‘rise by their own efforts’ while the system is set to up to allow companies to pay ludicrously low wages that it’s impossible to live on. I’ve been in the situation where I was paid so little while working full-time that I was eligible for ‘Working Tax Credits’, which was basically benefits to bolster my low pay. I’m sure there are tens of thousands of people in the same boat. As long as companies are allowed to pay fat payouts to their investors, while paying breadline wages to their employees, no-one at the bottom can have a hope of improving their lives without a handout from the government. That’s capitalism for you.