MM
2018-02-14 18:24:11 UTC
What a truly abysmal speech this morning from Boris Johnson. Even
Matthew Parris on the PM programme declared some symptahy for him.
But here's John Crace with a withering look at the crusader for
Brexit:
"The foreign secretary had no hard facts to back up his Brexit vision,
just a few lame tropes."
"It was the pathos rather than the hypocrisy that really struck home.
The entertainer who used to sell out the O2 and now cant even buy a
gig as a warm-up act in front of a captive afternoon audience of
retirement home residents. Boris Johnson tried all his familiar
tricks. He smirked. He trotted out some bad gags. He spoke a bit of
Latin. He went off on predictable riffs.
"All things that had worked so well for him in the past but now fell
completely flat. He was a man with only his own narcissism for
company. And theres no lonelier place than that. He coulda been a
contender. He coulda been someone. Instead of the bum he now is.
"This was the speech in which the foreign secretary was supposed to be
making the positive case for Brexit. But like so much of what Boris
does, the subtext was all about him. His need to justify his own
decisions. His need to be taken seriously. His ambition. He spoke a
lot about unity and bringing people together, but right at the end he
couldnt even bring himself to say he wouldnt resign from the cabinet
and launch his own leadership bid if Theresa May didnt deliver his
Brexit vision.
"Boris began on familiar ground. Betrayal. A subject about which he
has plenty of first-hand knowledge, as theres scarcely a member of
his own family, let alone his friends and colleagues, whom he hasnt
betrayed at some time. Just about the only thing he hasnt betrayed
are his principles. And that only because he doesnt really have any.
Principles are like mayflies for Boris. Here today, gone tomorrow.
"It would be a huge betrayal if the government didnt deliver on the
one true Brexit. Which may have been rather different from the Brexit
he had peddled during the referendum campaign, but that was then and
this was now. So all those who had voted remain had to buckle down and
get on with it. He was fed up with people talking Britain down. What
remainers had to realise was that they were suffering from false
consciousness. All their worries about Britain becoming small-minded,
racist -- dont mention Turkey -- and broke were just nonsense. The
negotiations were all going brilliantly.
"The foreign secretary didnt really have any hard facts to back up
his Panglossian vision of a deregulated world with Britain at its
centre, free to do whatever it chose, whenever it chose. What he did
have was a few lame tropes. Britain wouldnt be inward-looking. People
would still be free to go off to Thailand to indulge in a little
casual sex tourism. No one laughed. A bead of sweat broke on Boriss
forehead. It was all going horribly wrong. He then squeezed in a
dogging reference. Still no one laughed.
"By now he was beginning to look a bit panicky and started bouncing up
and down on his heels. Willing his audience to show him the love he
craved. He tried a funny word. Brexichosis. Nothing. In desperation he
even fell back on the tired Prosecco joke.
"Somebody asked him for clarity. 'Carrot,' he said, hoping for one
laugh from somewhere. None came. 'Carrot,' he repeated, digging
himself in still deeper. Clarity carrotty. Even the hardline Brexiters
in the audience now realised this was the wrong speech by the wrong
person at the wrong time.
"He did end with one act of unintentional self-awareness. 'Ive always
been loving and caring,' he said. He has. But only for himself. When
he left the stage, the applause died almost before it had started.
Only then did a deeper layer of pathos become apparent. Because
however delusional Boris may have been, his speech must have been
signed off by the prime minister. Bums together, down on the
waterfront."
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/feb/14/boris-digs-himself-deeper-as-his-usual-tricks-fall-flat
MM
Matthew Parris on the PM programme declared some symptahy for him.
But here's John Crace with a withering look at the crusader for
Brexit:
"The foreign secretary had no hard facts to back up his Brexit vision,
just a few lame tropes."
"It was the pathos rather than the hypocrisy that really struck home.
The entertainer who used to sell out the O2 and now cant even buy a
gig as a warm-up act in front of a captive afternoon audience of
retirement home residents. Boris Johnson tried all his familiar
tricks. He smirked. He trotted out some bad gags. He spoke a bit of
Latin. He went off on predictable riffs.
"All things that had worked so well for him in the past but now fell
completely flat. He was a man with only his own narcissism for
company. And theres no lonelier place than that. He coulda been a
contender. He coulda been someone. Instead of the bum he now is.
"This was the speech in which the foreign secretary was supposed to be
making the positive case for Brexit. But like so much of what Boris
does, the subtext was all about him. His need to justify his own
decisions. His need to be taken seriously. His ambition. He spoke a
lot about unity and bringing people together, but right at the end he
couldnt even bring himself to say he wouldnt resign from the cabinet
and launch his own leadership bid if Theresa May didnt deliver his
Brexit vision.
"Boris began on familiar ground. Betrayal. A subject about which he
has plenty of first-hand knowledge, as theres scarcely a member of
his own family, let alone his friends and colleagues, whom he hasnt
betrayed at some time. Just about the only thing he hasnt betrayed
are his principles. And that only because he doesnt really have any.
Principles are like mayflies for Boris. Here today, gone tomorrow.
"It would be a huge betrayal if the government didnt deliver on the
one true Brexit. Which may have been rather different from the Brexit
he had peddled during the referendum campaign, but that was then and
this was now. So all those who had voted remain had to buckle down and
get on with it. He was fed up with people talking Britain down. What
remainers had to realise was that they were suffering from false
consciousness. All their worries about Britain becoming small-minded,
racist -- dont mention Turkey -- and broke were just nonsense. The
negotiations were all going brilliantly.
"The foreign secretary didnt really have any hard facts to back up
his Panglossian vision of a deregulated world with Britain at its
centre, free to do whatever it chose, whenever it chose. What he did
have was a few lame tropes. Britain wouldnt be inward-looking. People
would still be free to go off to Thailand to indulge in a little
casual sex tourism. No one laughed. A bead of sweat broke on Boriss
forehead. It was all going horribly wrong. He then squeezed in a
dogging reference. Still no one laughed.
"By now he was beginning to look a bit panicky and started bouncing up
and down on his heels. Willing his audience to show him the love he
craved. He tried a funny word. Brexichosis. Nothing. In desperation he
even fell back on the tired Prosecco joke.
"Somebody asked him for clarity. 'Carrot,' he said, hoping for one
laugh from somewhere. None came. 'Carrot,' he repeated, digging
himself in still deeper. Clarity carrotty. Even the hardline Brexiters
in the audience now realised this was the wrong speech by the wrong
person at the wrong time.
"He did end with one act of unintentional self-awareness. 'Ive always
been loving and caring,' he said. He has. But only for himself. When
he left the stage, the applause died almost before it had started.
Only then did a deeper layer of pathos become apparent. Because
however delusional Boris may have been, his speech must have been
signed off by the prime minister. Bums together, down on the
waterfront."
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/feb/14/boris-digs-himself-deeper-as-his-usual-tricks-fall-flat
MM