Johnson’s deflections won’t stop us seeing through his weasel words
Pretty hats: Boris Johnson probably thinks the sight of him in a turban will stop most people from being angry at him for partying it up in breach of his own rules and then lying about it.
Isn’t it a bitter indictment against the UK’s Tory government that, while his own MPs debate whether he can be allowed to continue as prime minister, Boris Johnson is playing ‘fancy dress’ in India.
After a Parliamentary motion for Johnson’s behaviour – in attending Downing Street parties and telling falsehoods about it – to be investigated by a committee of MPs was passed “on the nod” – without even a vote, after Tory resistance crumbled, he was asked for his comment.
And of course he dissembled,
saying that people wanted the government to “get on and focus on the issues on which we were elected”.
We should be able to see through this kind of doubletalk by now. People do want a government that focuses on the issues facing the UK – but Johnson didn’t say anything about doing that!
He didn’t say anything about what he would be doing – he just gave us a bit of flannel about what we all know we want.
That’s part of the reason he has to go.
Back home, another leading Tory spoke up against Johnson: Tobias Ellwood, chair of the Commons Defence Committee, dismissed suggestions by Johnson’s allies that he should stay in post to manage the Ukraine crisis as using the war as a “fig leaf”.
[He] said Conservative MPs were “deeply troubled” and warned that the ongoing row about lockdown parties was doing “long-term damage to the party’s brand”.
He accused No 10 of lacking “discipline, focus and leadership” and predicted the prime minister would face a vote of no confidence, which could force him out of office.
And Johnson loyalists seem to be declaring civil war on the likes of Ellwood, along with Steve Baker and others who spoke in the debate yesterday.
Conor Burns, minister of state for Northern Ireland, told the BBC some of his colleagues had never supported Johnson.
“If the prime minister stepped off Westminster Bridge and walked down the Thames on top of water they would say it was because he couldn’t swim,” he said.
This Writer looks forward to seeing Johnson’s attempt to walk on water, as Mr Burns seems to think him capable of it.
Until that far-off day, I shall have to satisfy myself with observing the fallout in the Tory ranks.
There’s rancour in the ranks – and it’s likely to get a lot worse.
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I have to agree with Boris – I want the government to get back to dealing with the important matters affecting our country, and, the sooner the better! But FIRST he needs to stop treating the people of this country like uneducated idiots and stop trying to convince us that he did not know what he did at No 10 was acceptable behaviour. WE followed the rules he clearly laid out for us to follow – which WE DID! He needs to acknowledge the elephant in the room and resign. He has been caught out and he really needs to stop trying to pull the wool over everyone else’s eyes – we know he thought the rules did not apply to him/ that he was above the law. The rules DO apply to him and he is NOT above the law….and never will be!
This is a case of 3 strikes – in his case, lies – and you are out!
I agree with Johnson – NOT Boris; he’s not our mate – that I want the government to deal with the important matters affecting our country. It won’t be getting back to those matters, though – it would have needed to have dealt with important matters affecting our country at some time in the past and we all know that the Johnson government just waves at them as they pass it by.
I also agree with you about Johnson and Partygate – although I don’t think it’s a case of “three strikes and you are out”. If that were true, he’d have been gone before the end of July 2019!