FOLLOWING the long-awaited Sue Gray report and the unsurprising refusal of the Prime Minister to seriously take responsibility for his serial failures and resign from office, Mark Brown’s analysis of the character and history of Boris Johnson was both entirely accurate and timely (“PM is more savvy and dangerous than tousle-haired circus clown image”, May 27).
History will remember Johnson as our mini-Trump, an arrogant, entitled and shamelessly narcissistic Prime Minister. As Mr Brown states, the numerous scandals that comprised the “Partygate” farce should shock no-one who has followed the Tory leader’s career to date.
The recent tragedy of the school shootings in Texas reminds us of Johnson’s appalling remarks in The Telegraph following the Dunblane massacre in 1996 and the subsequent introduction of new gun laws. He wrote disparagingly that “nanny is confiscating their toys. It is like one of those vast Indian programmes of compulsory vasectomy.” His adolescent sneering and latent racism are clearly in evidence here and sadly it appears little has changed in his temperament, as Mr Brown transparently explains in his column, citing his remarks about Hillsborough, Muslim women and African people as tangible evidence of his deeply unpleasant views.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson faces no-confidence vote risk as more Tory MPs call for his resignation
Eddie Mair’s interview with Johnson in 2013 also provides clear and unequivocal proof of the Prime Minister’s ruthless and amoral character as it emerged that he was willing and able to aid and abet one of his old public school chums in assaulting a journalist.
In short, Boris Johnson is a vile and unethical egotist who has surrounded himself with nodding donkeys and mediocrities to, as Mr Brown observes, act like a reactionary and decadent Roman emperor. The Tory party’s Faustian pact with Johnson has witnessed the loss of their moral compass and political soul. It will take the professional courage of a large number of Conservative MPs to remove the cancer from their midst.
Owen Kelly
Stirling
IN typical style the Prime Minister, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, has sought to hide from proper scrutiny by weakening the Ministerial Code, so that ministers can lie to parliament and not have to resign.
No careful consideration of the long-term consequences of the changes in the code, just the usual panicked attempt to protect Johnson’s own skin!
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, desperate to protect his incompetent and often corrupt government from investigation, has already attempted to curtail Freedom of Information requests from journalists and lawyers, and to limit judicial reviews of their actions.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson 'failed to improve standards' with new ministerial code, says think tank
The impact of all these shenanigans is to make MPs, the press and media increasingly uncertain and wary about the reliability of the information coming from Tory government ministers, both in parliament and elsewhere. It further undermines the credibility of that government.
Parliament, when making laws, will have to make decisions and vote based on recommendations from ministers that may well be flawed and inaccurate. The resulting legislation from such inaccuracies, perhaps even lies, will go to the Queen to be made law. It will not be the first time he has lied to the Queen.
More immediately significant, it confirms that Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson knows he lied to parliament about the drunken and noisy parties at Downing Street and is fearful that his lies are going to trap him into resignation.
READ MORE: Why does the Speaker permit all of Boris Johnson's jibes?
Interestingly all reference to honesty, integrity, transparency and accountability have been removed from the Ministerial Code of Conduct. This immediately places a sinister shadow over the whole government, fuelling the assumption that one now cannot trust the word of any of them.
Does this mean they will all abdicate the use of the title Right Honourable in future? Surely there cannot be honour without honesty and integrity?
The government could have tried much harder to be accurate and truthful, to act with honesty and integrity and be transparent and accountable. But instead “Al” Johnson has gone for cover-up and deception, distraction and lies.
No wonder the Downing Street cleaners are so annoyed, its carpets must be extremely bumpy and lumpy with so much being swept under them!
Pete Milory
Trowbridge, Wiltshire
YOU would think that someone at the Met would recognise a serial offender when they see one. Particularly when the suspect in question has a long history and reputation for pathologically lying. You might also think that the evidence would be examined and the suspect questioned, especially when the suspect holds the highest law-making office in the UK.
The Met showing fear and favour should never be tolerated.
READ MORE: What will Boris Johnson plan to bring back next – the workhouse perhaps?
If the suspect says he thought that no laws were being broken, ignorance of the law is no excuse or defence in a courtroom. How low can it get if the law-makers break the law and the upholders of the law don’t enforce it?
Watson Crawford
Melrose
LET’S cast our minds back to the pre-investigation of our FM and the report into whether or not she had broken the Ministerial Code.
Can you just imagine for one minute “the Murdo” and others if our First Minister had had the power to change the rules on breaking the Ministerial Code and she had done so just hours before the report was published?
The outrage would have been detected high on the Richter scale. But hardly a murmur from the toxic Tories on their lying, corrupt, law-breaking leader.
There isn’t a backbone between them or their gutless counterparts in the cesspit of Westminster.
Ken McCartney
Hawick
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