All things Boris: has it really come to this?

[Svartalf]

I'm not sure he actually does. At this stage, I wouldn't be sure he even knows what truth is.

[Scot Dutchy]

Like all tories.

[Brian Peacock]

He's a pathological confabulist. It probably served him quite well at school.

[Scot Dutchy]

I bet you he was a good fag.

[Scot Dutchy]

Boris Johnson’s rule is a throwback to the 18th-century golden age of sleaze

This prime minister is a reminder of an era when government jobs were sold and political leverage was bought with cash

Corruption is a word used nervously in the UK. We’re quite happy applying it to other countries; but in Britain even critics of the status quo can be surprisingly reluctant to describe as corrupt our society’s tight, often concealed circulation of power and rewards.

Partly, this is because corruption is a slippery concept. “There has never been a single, fixed, universal definition,” wrote Mark Knights of Warwick University in 2016. “Notions about what is unfair, unjust or immoral change over time.”

As a small, centralised country with a huge capital city, Britain has for centuries been run by elites with overlapping memberships and interests, and offered a wide range of services to foreigners with dubious fortunes. To attack this system as corrupt is to risk being called unworldly – and experience feelings of deep frustration and futility. From the House of Lords to the City of London, the capital is lined with ancient institutions that anti-corruption campaigners have failed to cleanse.

Yet there are periods when the charge of corruption suddenly acquires potency. Having struggled for two years to find an effective way of criticising Boris Johnson’s government, Labour seems finally to have discovered one. “Corruption,” said the party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, on Monday, “is rife right through this Conservative government.” Keir Starmer, often too measured, has become just as blunt about the issue.

Johnson’s response – “I genuinely believe that the UK is not remotely a corrupt country” – has been floridly unconvincing even by his standards. Most voters disagree with him. According to YouGov, 80% think there is “a lot” or “a fair amount” of corruption in British politics, and only 1% think there is none . Since the corruption controversy took off, the Tories have dropped in the polls.

Chumocracy

[rainbow]

Chumocracy

Think of something new to say.

[Scot Dutchy]

Why? That is what is happening in Anglo-Saxon land.

[Scot Dutchy]

[Brian Peacock]

Ouch.

[Scot Dutchy]

A laughing matter:

PM accused of lying after No 10 officials caught joking about Christmas party

Exchange between Ed Oldfield and Allegra Stratton took place last December days after alleged party took place

Boris Johnson is facing accusations of lying after senior No 10 officials were filmed joking about a lockdown Christmas party that Downing Street insists did not take place.

Johnson and his aides have repeatedly denied that the event, reportedly held for staff at No 10 in December last year, broke Covid rules or took place at all.

In the leaked video of a mock televised press briefing, an adviser to Johnson is seen joking with Allegra Stratton, the prime minister’s then press secretary, about “a Downing Street Christmas party on Friday night”.

The footage, obtained by ITV, was shot on 22 December 2020. The Friday before was 18 December, the date on which multiple sources have said there was a staff party inside Downing Street, which would have contravened strict Covid regulations in place at the time.

It shows Stratton, prime ministerial adviser Ed Oldfield and other staff making a series of jokes about a party, including references to “cheese and wine”, the lack of social distancing and making the excuse it was a business meeting.

Quizzed in the leaked footage, Stratton laughingly says: “This is recorded … This fictional party was a business meeting and it was not socially distanced.”

Of course 10 Downing Street is above the law.

[rainbow]

Why? That is what is happening in Anglo-Saxon land.

Stick your finger in a dyke.

[PsychoSerenity]

Merry Christmas everyone! My Christmas wish is that the song "Boris Johnson is STILL a Fucking Cunt" tops the charts for the holidays this year. They've released a number of versions to get as many sales counting towards the total as possible. My favourites are the destruction remix which has more detailed lyrics about why Johnson is a fucking cunt, and the Last Night Of The Kunts Mix which is to the tune of Ode to Joy. If you buy them before midnight they count towards the Christmas charts.

[JimC]

[Brian Peacock]

[Scot Dutchy]

Boris Johnson can ‘get away with things’ others can’t, says David Cameron

Ex-PM also says Johnson has presided over a more adversarial relationship with media

Boris Johnson can “get away with things that mere mortals can’t seem to”, the former prime minister David Cameron has said, while suggesting there has been an “arms race” between politicians and the media to outwit one another.

Johnson’s team have significantly changed relationships with the media – hiring personal photographers on to the No 10 staff who often snap key events instead of photographers from media organisations.

Johnson has also used taped clips to make announcements – including most recently the announcement of no new restrictions before Christmas – instead of appearing at a press conference or in front of MPs.