RE: Disinformation threatens humanity24 Jun 2021 12:35
Hi MrGnome,
"When the history books are written, will Boris Johnson still get away with it?"
This was asked by a woman in the Q and A at the Wimbledon Book Festival.
There have been 55 prime ministers since Robert Walpole became the first around three hundred years ago, and all are to greater and lesser extents ‘historical’ figures. Like it or not, Johnson, even if he left tomorrow, is already on the ‘greater extent’ side of the ledger, the Brexit in which he has played such a key role being an event of genuinely historic import, however it plays out in the future.
As to how history will see him, that depends on what happens as post-Brexit Britain unfolds, and what happens in the rest of Johnson’s career and life
"Will he still get away with it?"
Her ‘still’ carried with it a hint of exasperation, that a man could tell so many lies, make so many mistakes, display so many character flaws, but ‘get away with it’. The lies and false promises, helped deliver the biggest constitutional change to our country of recent times, with consequences both foreseen and unforeseen that have done damage to our economy, our trading arrangements, our ability to travel and do business, the Northern Ireland peace process, our power, our rights, and our standing in the world.
Yet the scale of his Brexit getting away with it was such that he was elevated to the highest elected office in the land on the back of it. Then Covid-19 provided a perfect breeding ground for the character flaws and mistakes to come together and deliver one of the worst pandemic mismanagement's anywhere in the world, his getting away with it largely down to a successful vaccination programme, one good thing serving, with the pro Tory media’s help, to drown out so much that was bad!
So ‘still’ he is well ahead in the polls and grandstanding on the world stage, with much of our media, print and broadcast, coming over as a cross between a BoJo advertorial and a Cornwall Tourist Board promotional campaign.
Cornwall is a lovely holiday destination, at a time when thanks to the mistakes, travel guidance chaos and PCR-test rip-off-ology, more and more people are looking to holiday at home, is beyond doubt.
That the Johnson we know – and that includes the journalists reporting on him – bears any real resemblance to the Johnson they were describing in reports that could have been written and edited in Number 10 or Tory HQ – is less certain!
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