Does Boris Johnson ever tell the truth?

In answer to your thread title- Probably not. Not on purpose anyway!

It is a word with which he is not familiar.

I have always maintained that after telling lies to your spouse, children, mistress, employer, probably face to face, then telling lies to the mass electorate is easy. Especially when many of them just don't question what you say or ignore the lies as long as it suits them.

They all lie, they all make promises they don't keep. I wouldn't trust any politician.

Not all politicians are the same. I’m sure most politicians can be economical with the truth, but generally they appear to be upstanding and keen to do their job as MP well. But Johnson and his little band seem entirely unaffected by the concept of truth.

Does any politician ever really tell the truth or do they just repeat snippets of statistics and information they are given in order to suit their purpose? Weapons of mass destruction spring to mind.
I am not for a minute saying I believe everything that comes out of his mouth, or any other politician's for that matter but we all know don't we how the media manipulate stories to get people frothing at the mouth? Look at the recent forecourt fuel 'crisis' caused by the boss of the Road Haulage Association conveniently leaving out a very important part of a report to give a completely untrue picture that the media then pounced on.
Unfortunately it's very difficult to find out the true and unbiased picture about very much these days as the media, whichever their persuasion, is determined to keep up this divisive narrative and set us all against each other.
Boris's 'lies' in the Twitter link can do doubt be shown to be true with the use of cherry picking statistics and the removal of information that might show otherwise and who is to say that the person taking him to task isn't leaving out pertinent information in order to reinforce his argument.

While there has always been differing political opinions it feels like it's never been like this before in that it seems that no one is allowed have a difference of opinion without it descending into vitriol and in some cases violence. Or maybe it's just because it's always there, 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I do recall when we first got married we only ever bought the Sunday paper and rarely caught the daily news. Perhaps we were better off not knowing it all.

Now I know its not nice to make fun of people because of how they look, but sometimes its worth making an exception.

Here's Johnson lying about being a policeman and about his ability to get himself dressed in the morning.

Ange27

Does any politician ever really tell the truth or do they just repeat snippets of statistics and information they are given in order to suit their purpose? Weapons of mass destruction spring to mind.
I am not for a minute saying I believe everything that comes out of his mouth, or any other politician's for that matter but we all know don't we how the media manipulate stories to get people frothing at the mouth? Look at the recent forecourt fuel 'crisis' caused by the boss of the Road Haulage Association conveniently leaving out a very important part of a report to give a completely untrue picture that the media then pounced on.
Unfortunately it's very difficult to find out the true and unbiased picture about very much these days as the media, whichever their persuasion, is determined to keep up this divisive narrative and set us all against each other.
Boris's 'lies' in the Twitter link can do doubt be shown to be true with the use of cherry picking statistics and the removal of information that might show otherwise and who is to say that the person taking him to task isn't leaving out pertinent information in order to reinforce his argument.

While there has always been differing political opinions it feels like it's never been like this before in that it seems that no one is allowed have a difference of opinion without it descending into vitriol and in some cases violence. Or maybe it's just because it's always there, 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I do recall when we first got married we only ever bought the Sunday paper and rarely caught the daily news. Perhaps we were better off not knowing it all.

Absolutely spot on.

Alegrias1

Now I know its not nice to make fun of people because of how they look, but sometimes its worth making an exception.

Here's Johnson lying about being a policeman and about his ability to get himself dressed in the morning.

I am not a fan of the PM however, saying he is lying about being a policeman is not correct.
He has been with a drug squad (I believe in Merseyside) whilst they are carrying out raids.

Alegrias1

Now I know its not nice to make fun of people because of how they look, but sometimes its worth making an exception.

Here's Johnson lying about being a policeman and about his ability to get himself dressed in the morning.

He does love a bit of dressing up!

I knew that was going to happen.

It's for comic effect.

I know I'll never get on Live at the Apollo but just go with me on this, hmm?

It is in the interests of the rightwing press to ignore Johnson's lies and/or encourage the cynical "all politicians are liars" narrative.

The truth is that some other politicians may lie and/or distort the truth to suit themselves some of the time but Boris Johnson is in a league of his own.

Having a proven habitual liar as PM has seriously damaged the UK's standing in the world.

Nobody trusts him and so they don't trust the UK. Our international reputation as a fair and honest nation has been well and truly trashed.

varian

It is in the interests of the rightwing press to ignore Johnson's lies and/or encourage the cynical "all politicians are liars" narrative.

The truth is that some other politicians may lie and/or distort the truth to suit themselves some of the time but Boris Johnson is in a league of his own.

Having a proven habitual liar as PM has seriously damaged the UK's standing in the world.

Nobody trusts him and so they don't trust the UK. Our international reputation as a fair and honest nation has been well and truly trashed.

... this!

HowVeryDareYou

They all lie, they all make promises they don't keep. I wouldn't trust any politician.

NO they don't- not like Johnson. Sometimes 'promises' cannot be kept for all sorts of reasons- but Johnson makes said promises, signs Deals, etc, knowing full well that he has NO intention whatsoever of keeping them. NONE. In a League of his own.

You have summed up the situation very well Ange27
I completely agree with you,

He has been with a drug squad (I believe in Merseyside) whilst they are carrying out raids

He didn't need to travel that far to find drugs did he? He could have had a "sniff" around his offices.

Does any politician ever really tell the truth or do they just repeat snippets of statistics and information they are given in order to suit their purpose?

I do not believe that the majority of serious politicians repeat unproven bits and pieces that they have been told to say by their staff. They are not performing parrots. To say such a thing is not fair to the many politicians who take their elected positions seriously and are actually in politics for the good of the people, not themselves.

The media manipulate stories but many (most?) people are able to appreciate that all media have a bias and are able to interpret the news with that understanding. Some, sadly, seem to be unable to do that.

When a politician tells an outright lie, anybody with any experience of the real world is able to tell it’s a lie. Usually. e.g. There wasn’t a party, but if there a party was all the rules were followed. A 3-year old would come up with a better lie. (Johnson has a tell, have you noticed? Silly little smirk and he wrinkles up his eyes.)

Everyone is allowed to have their own opinion. But to tarnish the reputation of politicians who are not in the job just for themselves, along with not knowing the difference between opinion and fact, is not something to be proud of.

So everybody saying how Ange27 is spot on – reconsider. Because she’s not.

I passed a tv in our local shopping centre this afternoon when that interview was taking place. The tv was muted and when I saw Boris Johnson’s face and “drug squad “ in the subtitles I thought there had been a raid in the House of Commons.

GrannyGravy13

Alegrias1

Now I know its not nice to make fun of people because of how they look, but sometimes its worth making an exception.

Here's Johnson lying about being a policeman and about his ability to get himself dressed in the morning.

I am not a fan of the PM however, saying he is lying about being a policeman is not correct.
He has been with a drug squad (I believe in Merseyside) whilst they are carrying out raids.

Has been trying them out too, just to make sure ?

Grannynannywanny

I passed a tv in our local shopping centre this afternoon when that interview was taking place. The tv was muted and when I saw Boris Johnson’s face and “drug squad “ in the subtitles I thought there had been a raid in the House of Commons.

The answer to your thread title is probably’Not if he can possibly help it’
I don’t believe a word any politician says, they’re all out for themselves and sod everyone else. Our (far too longstanding) MP is possibly the most devious, two-faced individual that I have ever had the misfortune to meet with, yet he’s voted for time after time ?
He’s only interested in cosying up to the rich and titled, not the common man for whom he has very little time.

Alegrias1

I knew that was going to happen.

It's for comic effect.

I know I'll never get on Live at the Apollo but just go with me on this, hmm?

I got it…

I think he's voted for time after time, Blue Balou because far too many people think the way that you do about the integrity of politicians.

I assume that you never vote, because how on earth could you make up your mind who to vote for if you don't believe a word that any politician says?

Trouble is Johnson probably lied when he was a child and he got away with it, now he is an adult and thinks he can still do the same.