Boris Johnson’s long history of bluster and bluffing
At Prime Minister’s Questions on 13th May Labour leader Keir Starmer put Boris Johnson on the spot about the Government’s official line on whether COVID-19 would or would not be a concern in care homes. As Starmer pointed out the view at least until March 12th was that it was unlikely to be an issue. It turned out to be a dreadful and perhaps even deliberate error (an independent inquiry will need to look at that). Johnson of course did not own up, attracting considerable media comment.
Whether Johnson cares about that (or anything much beyond his own ambitions) is open to question. Starmer did an effective job in calling Johnson to account but the wider question is, who didn’t know? Those who did not vote Tory and for Johnson one suspects already knew that Johnson is a perpetual BSer and worse. Those who did vote Tory one must presume did know in the main and either don’t care or think Johnson’s behaviour is in some way admirable. Whether there is a significant number who really don’t or didn’t know about Johnsonism means the polls may tells us in a bit.
A brief reminder though of the history. In 2012 Johnson was London Mayor and after the riots in August 2011 was under pressure to show what he had been doing (very little obviously). Sonia Purnell’s biography Just Boris details one episode.
Johnson claimed to the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee that he had massively cut young reoffending rates. He hadn’t. He used figures which were unreliable and that he knew to be so. He was called out by Sir Michael Scholar Chair of the UK Statistics Authority. Johnson claimed Scholar, a former Private Secretary to Thatcher, was a ‘Labour Stooge’. Johnson went on to boast about his youth reoffending achievement, based on the at best dodgy stats in both the Sun and the Telegraph.
It is a pattern of behaviour of someone whose relationship with truth and reality is a conditional one.
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