All posts tagged: Boris

Boris Johnson Left Squirming In BBC Interview After Voters’ Damning Verdict

Boris Johnson Left Squirming In BBC Interview After Voters’ Damning Verdict

Published by Sam

Boris Johnson was left squirming in a BBC interview as he was forced to defend being a liar. The former prime minister was appearing on Radio 5Live in an attempt to drum up interest for his memoir, ‘Unleashed’. Presenter Matt Chorley told him there was “one word that comes up” in most of the messages sent in to him by the channel’s listeners. “It begins with ‘l’,” he told Johnson. “Do you want to guess what it is? “It’s liar. Lots of people think you’re a liar. Are you a liar?” The ex-PM, who was forced to resign in 2022 after dozens of his ministers resigned, replied: “No. And I think that if … you know … whether it’s the bus, which in fact was the bus of truth.” That was a reference to the infamous Vote Leave bus from the 2016 Brexit referendum, which claimed that leaving the EU would save the UK £350 million a week that could be spent on the NHS instead. Chorley told him: “You admit in your book that …

BBC Cancels Boris Johnson Interview Over Notes Leak

BBC Cancels Boris Johnson Interview Over Notes Leak

Published by Sam

The highly-experienced presenter admitted the “embarrassing and disappointing” gaffe in a post on X on Wednesday night. She said she had been intending to send her briefing notes for the interview to her team, but sent them to Johnson instead. Johnson had been due to interviewed by Kuenssberg to coincide with the publication of the former prime minister’s memoir, ‘Unleashed’. But in her statement, Kuenssberg said: “While prepping to interview Boris Johnson tomorrow, by mistake I sent our briefing notes to him in a message meant for my team. “That obviously means it’s not right for the interview to go ahead. It’s very frustrating, and there’s no point pretending it’s anything other than embarrassing and disappointing, as there are plenty of important questions to be asked. “But red faces aside, honesty is the best policy. See you on Sunday.” Source link

What Tory leadership candidates should learn from the mistakes of Boris Johnson – and Silvio Berlusconi

What Tory leadership candidates should learn from the mistakes of Boris Johnson – and Silvio Berlusconi

Published by Sam

The Conservative party is choosing a new leader, with four candidates still in the running: Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat. Each is pitching to a party in dire need of a new direction and the path ahead is far from clear. Our recent research suggests the candidates could learn a lot from two phenomenally successful party leaders of the recent past in the weeks ahead – but probably more in terms of what not to do. We’ve looked at Silvio Berlusconi, who was prime minister of Italy three times between 1994 and 2011, and Boris Johnson, more briefly prime minister of the UK from 2019 to 2022. Both were unusual politicians, media-driven leaders who dominated with a combination of three “Ps”:-personalisation, performance and populism. As political celebrities they used, and manipulated, the media to create unending controversy (much easier for Berlusconi as he owned such a large part of it). It appeared that their approach paid off at the ballot box. Berlusconi won three elections and reshaped Italian politics, while Johnson …

Storm Boris rages on in eastern and central Europe

Storm Boris rages on in eastern and central Europe

Published by Sam

This aerial photograph taken on September 15, 2024 shows a view of the flooded city center in Glucholazy, southern Poland. SERGEI GAPON / AFP One person has drowned in Poland and four people are missing in the Czech Republic, authorities said on Sunday, September 15, as Storm Boris lashed central and eastern Europe with torrential rains and flooding. Since Thursday, swathes of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia have been hit by high winds and unusually fierce rains. The storm has already caused the death of four people in Romania, and thousands have been evacuated from their homes across the continent. Read more Subscribers only After a year of records, heatwaves and floods continue to rage across the planet “We have the first confirmed death by drowning, in the Klodzko region” on the Polish-Czech border, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday morning. Tusk was travelling through the southwest of the country, which has been hit hardest by the floods. Around 1,600 people have been evacuated in Klodzko, and Polish authorities have called …

Boris Johnson’s Ex-Wife Slams ‘Damaging’ Effect Of Rwanda Act

Boris Johnson’s Ex-Wife Slams ‘Damaging’ Effect Of Rwanda Act

Published by Sam

Boris Johnson’s ex-wife has cast serious doubt on one of his flagship policies, the controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. The Conservative government, now led by Rishi Sunak, pushed to get the Rwanda bill passed into law – but it comes with major risks. Marina Wheeler KC – currently a workplace harassment adviser to Labour – said on Tuesday that the ongoing legal challenges to the scheme are “of concern”. Channel 4 News’ Cathy Newman asked the barrister if the government’s decision to ignore the courts’ fears around the act damaged the UK’s “reputation of legal probity”. Wheeler said she still thinks the country is a “beacon of legal probity”, but added: “The new [Rwanda] act doesn’t abide by the Supreme Court’s rulings, and I think that is very damaging. “An act that says we should ignore the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights is also very damaging.” The ECHR declared the deportation plan was unlawful in June 2022, and said British judges needed to examine the arguments against it more …

Susanna Reid Skewers Calls For Boris Johnson’s Return

Susanna Reid Skewers Calls For Boris Johnson’s Return

Published by Sam

Susanna Reid effortlessly demolished calls for Boris Johnson to return to frontline politics on Tuesday by reminding his supporters about nothing other than partygate. Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, former Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman said he would install Johnson as party chairman with a seat in cabinet, and make sure he got elected to parliament at the next general election. He claimed: “He’s a great campaigner and we really are missing that now – we’ve seen that at these disastrous local elections.” “You remember partygate?” Reid interjected. Johnson actually stepped down as an MP days before the Commons privileges committee was set to announce he deliberately misled parliament over partygate when prime minister. But, Campbell Bannerman said the ex-PM was “set up” on that, as Johnson’s keen ally Nadine Dorries claims in her book, The Plot. Reid said: “Sorry, he was set up? Set up by whom?” When the ex-MEP said it was Johnson’s own staff who were setting him up, Reid reminded him: “Boris Johnson was in charge during lockdown, [there was] …

Susanna Reid Skewers Calls For Boris Johnson’s Return To Government With 1 Stark Reminder

Susanna Reid Skewers Calls For Boris Johnson’s Return To Government With 1 Stark Reminder

Published by Sam

Susanna Reid questioned campaigns to get Boris Johnson back into government ITV’s Good Morning Britain Susanna Reid effortlessly demolished calls for Boris Johnson to return to frontline politics on Tuesday by reminding his supporters about nothing other than partygate. Some Tories want to “bring back Boris” following huge losses at last week’s local elections, even though the ex-PM resigned from parliament in 2023. Speaking on ITV’sGood Morning Britain, former Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman said he would install Johnson as party chairman with a seat in cabinet, and make sure he got elected to parliament at the next general election. He claimed: “He’s a great campaigner and we really are missing that now – we’ve seen that at these disastrous local elections.” “You remember partygate?” Reid interjected. Johnson actually stepped down as an MP days before the Commons privileges committee was set to announce he deliberately misled parliament over partygate when prime minister. But, Campbell Bannerman said the ex-PM was “set up” on that, as Johnson’s keen ally Nadine Dorries claims in her book, The Plot. Reid said: …

Reform dismiss claims Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage are in talks | Politics | News

Reform dismiss claims Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage are in talks | Politics | News

Published by skeptic

Reform leader Richard Tice dismissed claims his party is hoping to do a deal with Boris Johnson. Allies of the ex-PM and Nigel Farage were said to have been in contact to discuss a realignment of the right after the general election. But Ms Tice said Mr Johnson was “obsessed” with green targets and putting up taxes, which would put him directly at odds with Reform’s plan. Asked about talks between the two men, Mr Tice said: “I don’t know but I very much doubt it. If you look at what Boris stands for politically and what we stand for actually, they are quite a long way apart. “Boris is for raising taxes, he is for higher government spending, he’s obsessed with net zero. Mr Tice told Times Radio: “That’s the opposite of what we are trying to do. We are trying to create growth in the country by reducing taxes and reducing wasteful spending.” It followed a report in a Sunday newspaper that suggested Mr Farage would fight to win Clacton in Essex for …

Boris Johnson couldn’t cast vote without photo ID, due to his own election integrity law

Boris Johnson couldn’t cast vote without photo ID, due to his own election integrity law

Published by skeptic

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who passed a controversial law requiring a photo ID to vote, was turned away from a South Oxfordshire polling place Thursday for leaving his at home. The former Conservative Prime Minister couldn’t cast a ballot for the district’s police and crime commissioner as polling place staff were legally mandated to deny him, AP News reports. Johnson, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022, pushed the 2022 Elections Act through the Conservative-led parliament. Thursday was the first election in which the bill governed vote-casting, two years after fielding criticism from the U.K.’s Electoral Commission and advocates for the potentially discriminatory effects of such a scheme. Also included in the bill were provisions to change elections for mayoral and police commissioner positions to a first-past-the-post system, where the candidate with the most votes takes the seat, much like in the United States.  Moving from the previous supplementary–or ranked choice–system, Johnson’s government was accused of changing the rules to benefit Tory candidates.  Johnson, unlike the up to …