Boris Johnson referred to the police for suspected further breaches of lockdown regulations.

Oreo

Aveline

I can't quite understand why anyone thought/thinks that any politician is a beacon honesty and integrity. It's a dirty business and always has been the only difference is that with modern media and social media we know about it.

👏🏻👏🏻
That’s exactly it.All we can do is vote for those who put forward the policies we approve of and hope they will really put them into practise and not be too bad in other ways.All political parties have some really bad apples and some incompetent ones and some that will be money greedy and so on and some that will have sex scandals.They always have done and they always will do.

But isn't it depressing if this is the reality? Do we really not deserve better from our representatives? Unless we call it out, pursue the wrongdoers, and demand better then we're complicit in the stinking mess.

Oreo

Aveline

I can't quite understand why anyone thought/thinks that any politician is a beacon honesty and integrity. It's a dirty business and always has been the only difference is that with modern media and social media we know about it.

👏🏻👏🏻
That’s exactly it.All we can do is vote for those who put forward the policies we approve of and hope they will really put them into practise and not be too bad in other ways.All political parties have some really bad apples and some incompetent ones and some that will be money greedy and so on and some that will have sex scandals.They always have done and they always will do.

That’s exactly it.All we can do is vote for those who put forward the policies we approve of and hope they will really put them into practise and not be too bad in other ways.All political parties have some really bad apples and some incompetent ones and some that will be money greedy and so on and some that will have sex scandals.They always have done and they always will do.

Well we seem to have hit the jackpot with this lot since 2019 because we've had the full card!

Aveline

I can't quite understand why anyone thought/thinks that any politician is a beacon honesty and integrity. It's a dirty business and always has been the only difference is that with modern media and social media we know about it.

👏🏻👏🏻
That’s exactly it.All we can do is vote for those who put forward the policies we approve of and hope they will really put them into practise and not be too bad in other ways.All political parties have some really bad apples and some incompetent ones and some that will be money greedy and so on and some that will have sex scandals.They always have done and they always will do.

LizzieDrip

^They may have cared if it had come out at the time but not now.^

I disagree Oreo. Those people who lost loved ones and couldn’t sit with them, hold their hands etc will never forget. I, for one, feel empathy with those people, and I believe that many others do too. Because something happened a couple of years ago does not excuse it - those in power; those making the rules, must be held accountable for their actions.

Oh I feel empathy alright and think the rules were far too severe. I have no empathy for Boris Johnson but he has paid in full for not obeying the rules his government set.He could still be PM if he hadn’t lied and been found out.

MayBee70

Don’t you think our former PM shouldn’t appear in public like that?

MayBee70
Best not dwell on it - not a very healthy obsession.

Siope the clip I saw started with BJ standing by the boot of his car and he wasn’t really priming himself at first. As the pursuit persisted, BJ then decided to turn it to his advantage. Unsurprisingly.

I actually felt some sympathy for the way BJ was ambushed in the airport and I thought BJ handled it very well

Ambushed? You can see the moment Johnson decided he was going to speak to the journalist, who was being kept at a distance by security. He - Johnson - ruffled his hair, to create his ‘lovable eccentric’ look, and then ambled over.

Don’t you think our former PM shouldn’t appear in public like that?

Fortunately the crack wasn’t visible on my phone and poor eyesight spared me!

Seriously?

What really bothers me is that no one asked BJ about the dates in his diary which were periods of time out of lockdown.
So much for the calibre of legal investigation in the Cabinet Office.
And again rather than keep the ‘investigation’ in-house, it makes headlines. I wonder why? Who is fuelling this?
I don’t care very much if Trump and BJ meet up - it might keep them sane as they are both targets. The question now is why does anyone bother to stand for public office?

I’ve watched it again and, as he adjusted his rucksack, not only was his shirt exposed but it exposed his ‘intergluteal crack’ ( I had to look up a better way of describing it). I couldn’t believe that someone representing our country would appear like that in public. Ok, it happened because of his weight but, to be fair to Trump, unlike Johnson, at least he dresses properly. I wish I had imagined it. Or better still not seen it at all. Oh, of course it’s all Sky News fault for hounding him. It’s never his fault. Nothing ever is….

Does it not bother you that he was meeting up with Trump? Or do you find him ok too?

MayBee70 were we watching the same clip? Well I clearly missed whatever you saw that made you blush. Did you imagine it?
I actually felt some sympathy for the way BJ was ambushed in the airport and I thought BJ handled it very well.
It’s interesting that no one cares about what he said.

Did anyone see Johnson being interviewed at the airport on Sky News? Not only was his shirt hanging out as per usual but ( and I blush to say this) that wasn’t all that was on show. This is a man who is still representing us on the world stage. And he’d met up with Trump. And is still going to be handing out honours ie bribes….

growstuff

I don't understand the logic in this. Just because things happened in the past which we didn't know about (or maybe just turned a blind eye) doesn't mean that they are acceptable or that we should continue to turn a blind eye..

The 'logic' is that because the event is in the past and has only come to light in the present where, conveniently, there are "more important things" to worry about - we should "move on".

I don't get it either.

Of course - it will depend on who the politician is - if you remember Ed Miliband, his past was dug up and made relevant. In fact his father's history was even thrown into the mix, things that allegedly occurred before Ed Miliband was even born!

So, hmm, it's all a bit selective, isn't it!

Oreo

I think Dickens that believing politicians in government have high moral standards is quaint and outdated.

Whilst it might be quaint and outdated to expect them to have high moral standards, I would assume it's not too 'olde worlde' to demand that a politician who persistently lies and involves himself in cover-ups; is paid to represent his constituents but goes AWOL to earn handsome amounts of money through public waffling speaking; babbles on about delivering and getting on with the job of "levelling up" and all the other meaningless mantras which have amounted to sweet Fanny Adams... is held to account just a tad?

Or are we so far down the rabbit hole now that as long as a politician says what you want to hear and gives you what you hope to get, that we can just do away with any ideas of propriety and let them drop the bar as low as they like? Or do we draw a line at some point - obviously, not one too narrow - we can't restrict their freedom to obfuscate, manipulate and make promises they've no intention of keeping, that would be asking too much. Nevertheless I do think quite a few people might like there to be lines / boundaries which they can't cross. I realise it's a lot to ask - but they are paid out of the public purse, so I think some of us might feel justified in expecting the reins to be tightened a little now and then.

I don't understand the logic in this. Just because things happened in the past which we didn't know about (or maybe just turned a blind eye) doesn't mean that they are acceptable or that we should continue to turn a blind eye..

I can't quite understand why anyone thought/thinks that any politician is a beacon honesty and integrity. It's a dirty business and always has been the only difference is that with modern media and social media we know about it.

I think Dickens that believing politicians in government have high moral standards is quaint and outdated.

Well, Oreo, I'm registered with YouGov, who run a daily poll on issues in the news. I realise that the respondents are self selecting and not a carefully selected representative sample of the population, but on the question of the further revelations of Johnson's almost certain breaches of the covid regulations the number of respondents who cared a great deal about it exceeded by a huge margin those who thought it no longer mattered.

So may be thinking that having high standards is 'quaint and outdated' isn't as common as you might want to believe.

MaizieD yes indeed Johnson’s own diaries which we have not seen. Are we likely to see them?
It’s the fact that Johnson’s own lawyers felt the need to pass them on so we now give our judgment.. a trifle prematurely but that’s the way of the world.

Goldieoldie15

We should all CARE that a consummate liar and a dangerous clown was elected to occupy the highest office. Those who voted for him just must have been deranged. The lies he spun were in plain sight.

Well the electorate don't choose the PM but I'm pretty sure those that voted Tory would've chosen him anyway - and some voted Tory for the first time (they say) because of him.

Did they know his background 'history' - or even care?

He gave the voters what they wanted, and that was all that mattered.

Far too quaint to think that being a consummate liar should raise questions about whether he was fit to be the PM.

ronib

Siope we are not allowed by MaizieD to address sources of information and ways we form our opinions. It belongs to a new thread.

The current source of information has nothing whatsoever to do with Sue Grey. It is Johnson's own diaries

They may have cared if it had come out at the time but not now.

I disagree Oreo. Those people who lost loved ones and couldn’t sit with them, hold their hands etc will never forget. I, for one, feel empathy with those people, and I believe that many others do too. Because something happened a couple of years ago does not excuse it - those in power; those making the rules, must be held accountable for their actions.

Siope we are not allowed by MaizieD to address sources of information and ways we form our opinions. It belongs to a new thread.

ronib

MaizieD I was running with your comment on ‘the highest level of government’. It reminded me that Sue Gray was very much involved with the writing of the Partygate report at the highest level of government.
Something about highest level and government doesn’t sit well for me….

And that’s another unfounded slur on a woman whose probity the Tories were lauding to high heaven until she announced her move to work for Starmer.