I do not think it is alright to hi-jack a thread about Boris Johnson with links to articles accusing other politicians of misdeeds dating back years.
It reminds me of when one of my kids was being told off for doing something wrong and they tried to deflect the blame by reminding me that their brother or sister had done something naughty on a previous occasion - such diversionary tactics do not wash with me. I used to remind them that it was their conduct that was under discussion, not anybody else’s.
A suspect in the dock cannot be absolved of a crime by reminding the Jury that other people have committed more serious crimes.
If one wishes to discuss something Tony Blair did years ago when he was a PM or something that another politician who has never been a PM did, they are both separate discussions - their behaviour does not make Johnson’s conduct any better or worse.
As for Boris, yes he misleads, but so do all the others and they are just hypocrites, who say look at that naughty man, but I’m such an angel, sorry to burst your bubble Boot, but they’re not, so as I’ve said, I’m not sure if you’re delusional or trying to mislead.
To repeat my reply to the comment you addressed to me personally, you do not need to feel sorry about “bursting my bubble” - you are not doing that.
You are posting your own opinion, which you are entitled to do, even though I think some of the posts were off topic. It seems to have become a common political defence to excuse one’s own bad behaviour by pointing the finger at someone else’s bad behaviour - as if that lets the transgressor off the hook.
I am posting my opinion about Boris Johnson’s behaviour (which is the topic of this thread) and I am trying not to turn it into a personal argument with any other forum member.
Starmer, Rayner, Rigby, Burley, Sturgeon and everyone else all broke lockdown rules. I ended my pandemic in February 2020 and broke the rules, so what.
This was never about breaking rules, it was everything to do with getting rid of Boris Johnson by the left and by the tories who hated him. Bernard Jenkins, a tory Boris hater (probably for sidelining him over Cummings) now faces the scourge as Johnson as it is revealed, he too is a two faced hypocrite and also went to “parties” in Downing Street (see the earlier post by @wendeey )
We really should move on from this nonesense and focus on the damage that lockdowns did our country by following bullshit figures from the likes of Sage and in particular Neil Ferguson.
Its a lot less about press conferences than it is about what he said to parliament directly. But whenever he said something he surely would be in the best position of anyone to know the rules. All these staffers in Downing Street were the people shaping and defining the rules. And Johnson, as PM, would have been given the first and most comprehensive briefings. . It is simply not acceptable or understandable that the prime minister “did not know the rules”. Even if he only heard about them at a party…
Obviously if he had been out of the country for a bit then he could not possibly know what was going on. As soon as you leave the shores of the UK, as you pointed out earlier, it is simply impossible to get any news or information about what’s happening back home. But Johnson did not have this excuse. It is simply that he was not capable of being a responsible minister.
What Johnsons said in Parliament was based on what information he had at the time. If that information was incorrect, then that’s not Johnsons fault, that is the fault of the people who gave the wrong information to him. He asked his advisors persistently if what was happening was within the rules and time and time again he was told he was.
It wasn’t a case of Johnson not knowing the rules it was a case where Johnson knew the rules and was told he wasn’t breaking them from advisors within Number 10.
The privileges committee has concluded that Boris Johnson deliberately misled the House of Commons, committing a serious contempt.
The Privileges Committee concludes Boris Johnson should have been suspended from the House for 90 days.
It says he deliberately misled the House, the Committee, impugned the Committee and was “complicit in the campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation of the Committee.”
It adds “We recommend that he should not be entitled to a former Member’s pass.”
Blimey … the whole 9 yards - no wonder BJ was somewhat peeved …
The committee says the contempt committed by Johnson was made more serious because he was prime minister.
It says that there is no precedent for a prime minister to have deliberately misled the House of Commons.
“He misled the House on an issue of the greatest importance to the House and to the public, and did so repeatedly,” the report says.
The committee has also commented on Johnson’s resignation as an MP and his criticism of the committee members.
The report says that as well as criticising the fairness of the committee’s procedures, Johnson “attacks in very strong, indeed vitriolic, terms the integrity, honesty and honour of its members.”
“This attack on a committee carrying out its remit from the democratically elected House itself amounts to an attack on our democratic institutions.”
The report says that Johnson’s conduct in this regard also amounts to a “serious further contempt”.
So you’re going along with politics as it is now, it doesn’t matter if politicians mislead the electorate. Well it matters to me and why I didn’t vote for many years.
Amongst other things in his 1700 word statement, he says:
"The committee now says that I deliberately misled the House, and at the moment I spoke I was consciously concealing from the House my knowledge of illicit events.
“This is rubbish. It is a lie. In order to reach this deranged conclusion, the committee is obliged to say a series of things that are patently absurd, or contradicted by the facts."
Trump Tactic #7 - Allege that your “opponents” are insane
Boris Johnson ends his fierce rebuttal to the report by calling it a “charade” that has “twisted the truth”.
He says the report marks “a dreadful day for MPs and for democracy” and accuses the Privileges Committee of functioning in an “anti-democratic way”.
This is doing for Johnson exactly what the democrats are doing to Trump in the USA.
Johnsons base is hardening, his support is increasing as anyone with a brain realises this is a complete witch hunt over someone who ate a piece of cake.
