WHEN the political obituaries for Boris Johnson are written – hopefully sooner rather than later – praise will be heaped upon those who played important roles in hastening the demise of his career.
These will be the heroes of the opposition … as opposed the leader of the actual official opposition, whose attempts to force out of office the worst Prime Minister in living memory have never merited a stronger adjective than feeble.
These heroes have played a devastating role in Boris Johnson’s downfall and we owe them all a massive debt of gratitude. Our heroes – in no particular order – are:
Pippa Crerar
THE Daily Mirror’s political editor is the great myth buster of what used to be called Fleet Street but which today would be more accurately termed the mainstream media (MSM). The first myth to bite the dust is that journalists in the MM are too busy cosying up to our political leaders to go after them with the necessary vim and vigour to cause them real problems.
It’s true that the mainstream media – particularly those practitioners who live and work south of the Border – don’t have a handle on issues surrounding Scotland’s independence and therefore constantly disappoint those of us waiting and waiting an waiting for a news story that acknowledges that independence might actually be a good thing, or at least something that will not lead to Armageddon.
But Crerar shows the damage than can be inflicted on a hypocritical political leader by a good journalist who has the bit between her teeth. It’s enough to make fans of good journalism cry, if only for all the effort expended on stories which fail to hit their target with the impact of Crerar’s run of revelations on the parties held at Downing Street and Tory Central Office at the height of lockdown restrictions last Christmas.
The second myth to bite the dust was that in the age of social media and a bewildering number of online news platforms there is no such thing any more as a genuine scoop. Crerar has left other journalists eating dust as her genuine exclusives have dominated the agenda.
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These stories have stripped the façade of a chummy man of the people to which Boris Johnson has so desperately clung and revealed who he really is: a cynical elitist who cares not a jot about the sacrifices “ordinary” people choose to make to keep those they love safe and in fact sniggers in secret at the trust they place in his pleas for restraint. They have shown the moral bankruptcy of a political class which genuinely believes itself superior to the “little people” who struggle with the knowledge their loved ones died alone in order to keep safe idiots like those who partied the night away at the Prime Minister’s official residence.
Crerar’s stories may not be quite enough to shame Johnson into resigning – it’s impossible to think of any story which would pierce the entitlement bubble – but they will destroy the last vestiges of respect the public hold for this buffoon and begin his journey to oblivion. When that journey ends we will always remember where it started and give praise that journalism can still, despite everything, do good in a bad world.
John Bercow
THE former speaker of the House of Commons knows more about manners, principles and behaving with dignity and style than Britain’s current Prime Minister will learn if he lives to be 120.
The former prominent Tory, who defected from the party and joined Labour (no one’s perfect) in June, is articulate, polite and incisive … everything that Boris Johnson is not.
He took aim at the Prime Minister when he was being interviewed on Good Morning Britain show last Friday and he did not miss.
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First he described Johnson as “a serial dissembler, an habitual liar, somebody who has made his career through ducking and dodging and diving and dissembling and deceiving people”.
Then he added that the Prime Minister’s behaviour was “incredibly serious and enormously damaging” not just to himself but to the reputations of “everybody involved in politics and on the House of Commons in particular”.
Just for good measure he added: “His natural instinct is not to be open, not to be transparent, not to be accountable, but narcissistically to think, what suits me? How can I extricate myself from this awkward situation? By what means can I arrogate blame somewhere else?
“This is way below the standard that the British public are entitled to expect.”
He swatted aside suggestions from some Tories that the media should concentrate on more serious issues than wallpaper in Downing Street – a reference the controversy over who paid for refurbishing of the PM’s Downing Street flat – by saying: “If there isn’t a basic level of trust in the most senior minister in the government, it’s very difficult to operate a democratic polity at all. That’s the problem.
“This guy stinks in the nostrils of decent people.”
Just to make sure there was no mistaking the disdain he feels for the Tory party leader, he said: “I’m sorry to say it, but I’ve known 12 prime ministers in my lifetime, and by a country mile Boris Johnson is the worst”.
Overall it was a devastating critique of Boris Johnston the man, delivered with aplomb more than earning Bercow the status of hero.
WHILE Keir Starmer – the leader of the party that is still the official parliamentary opposition – hummed, hawed and pulled his punches the SNP’s leader at Westminster went for the jugular.
While Starmer inexplicably concentrated on arguing that Boris Johnson should apologise – I mean, who cares – Ian Blackford cut to the chase and demanded his resignation.
He has previously risked parliamentary censure from Commons Deputy Speaker Dame Eleanor Laing by calling the Prime Minister a liar in the chamber.
But after the parties scandal came to light he stepped up his game and demanded that Johnson be removed from office.
In a powerful speech which – unlike Starmer’s – reflected the seriousness of the party stories Blackford said, “Downing Street wilfully broke the rules and mocked the sacrifices we have all made, shattering the public’s trust”.
He recognised that the public “had sacrificed births, funerals and spending time with loved ones in their final moments during lockdown” and that the K Government “has laughed in our faces”.
He said: “It is clear that this Prime Minister has lost the support of the public and now even his own benches, this is not a grin and bear it moment, this is a moment of moral reckoning.’’
There are times you wonder what exactly the SNP is doing at Westminster, particularly during Bexit debates that the Prime Minister used to mock and insult Scotland’s democratically elected representatives. There are times you wonder if the party would not be more effective by calling their MPs back home. Blackford’s poised and dignified speech was most definitely not one of those times. It was half an hour which by itself justified why the party of government in Scotland should register’s Scotland’s disapproval in the UK Parliament.
The guy who took over the official UK civil service Twitter account
Arrogant and offensive. Can you imagine having to work with these truth twisters?
— That Civil Service tweet twice a day (fan account) (@ThatCivilTweet) December 15, 2021
AN anonymous worker somehow managed to post on the civil service account: “Arrogant and offensive. Can you imagine having to work with these truth twisters?”
The tweet was deleted pretty quickly. I want to believe the poster is still working in the civil service, undetected and unpunished. Actually I want to believe his identity was discovered and he was promoted but deep down I know that’s too much to hope for.
The story does have a happy ending. The tweet lives on thanks to the sterling work of That Civil Service – @ThatCivilTweet – which shares this hero award for posting the tweet every 12 hours twice a day, to much acclaim. Wednesday’s posts attracted more than 3000 likes. More than 29,000 people follow the site. LEGENDS.
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