Boris has no more interest in football than I have in croquet, but he milked the English teams’ success for all it was worth. Unflattering photographs of him in an England shirt and equally grotesque flag displays at Downing Street, worry him not. After all this is the man who was pictured sliding down a rope wire waving union jacks. His hypocrisy in condemning racism when he’s been pivotal in unleashing an atmosphere of intolerance was breath taking. But he’s both shameless and shameful.
The bonhomie and joviality’s all a ruse to mask his underlying nastiness. That’s been commented on before perhaps most succinctly by the then BBC journalist Eddie Mair. Pointing out past sins not simply indiscretions, he accused him of being a “nasty piece of work” and he was right. It’s worsened since as he’s had the power of the highest office in the land.
The real Boris Johnson not the faux one displayed in those stunts was shown in Parliament last week. First up was the announcement that the Universal Credit uplift of £20 will be ending. A small amount to the likes of Johnson but a vital lifeline for many struggling to survive. But what does he care given his declared inability to live even on a PMs pay?
That was compounded by proposals to require ID for voting. I’ve been involved in elections since the mind 1970s and the number of incidents of fraud I’ve been aware of I can count on one hand. This is from the American playbook where it’s been routine in southern states. There it impacts largely on the black community, here it’ll be both BAME and the poor. But it suits him, and he doesn’t care about others, if it entrenches his power.
Topping it all off was his equally odious sidekick Priti Patel’s Nationality and Borders Bill demonising asylum seekers and treating them as criminals to be hounded and transported, rather than the tragic and vulnerable people they invariably are.
No one should be fooled by Johnsons veneer, the feigned jocularity’s only to mask the nastiness that lies underneath.